Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Cindy Spencer Pape. Thanks for being here today Cindy, welcome to FAR!

Hi, Tammy. It’s great to be here.

To start, will you please tell us a little bit about your current release The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride the first book in the Love at the Crazy H series?

The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride is a contemporary western romance with just a touch of paranormal. It’s set at Christmas, but the story is really more universal than that. Afraid of love, Allison had agreed to what she expected to be a comfortable, friendly marriage. On the day of the wedding she discovers that her politician groom is just using her as cover for a long-standing gay relationship. Allison takes off, only to find herself lost in a Wyoming blizzard. A mysterious shape helps her decide which way to turn, and she finds herself taking shelter at the Crazy H ranch. CJ is struggling to handle the ranch on his own in the storm, as well as babysitting his infant nephew, so Allison offers to help out. When the storm clears, he invites her to stay on until she figures out what to do with her life, and she gets to experience the holidays with CJ’s big, boisterous family, most of whom are trying to fix her up with CJ’s younger brother. She also learns that the Hall family has a guardian ghost, and wonders if that’s what she saw at the crossroads. Allison and CJ are falling in love, but both have to come to grips with their own past hurts in order to open themselves up to the possibility of love.

From your website I learned that you currently work in environmental education. Can you tell us a little of what you do?

I work for a nature center/camp facility, though I recently cut my hours back to just a few per week, both due to a knee injury and so I can concentrate more on my writing. We get groups from schools, scouts, and even corporate groups, and my job is to teach or facilitate whatever programs they request. I do everything from live bird-of-prey programs (we have a wildlife rehab center on the property, and do educational work with a few of the permanently non-releasable animals—like a one-winged hawk) to canoeing or our low ropes-team building program.

If you could go anywhere, be anyone, do anything for 24 hours, what would it be?

What to do would be travel. Where to go? The list is endless. But space travel would be incredibly cool. Or one of those submersibles to the bottom of the ocean.

Do you have any bad writing habits?

Procrastinating.

I've been seeing a number of discussions on the Yahoo groups about Happily-Ever-After. Do you feel that HEA is necessary to a romance novel?

For me, it’s crucial. I read romantic fiction to feel good-if I want to be depressed, I’ll read the newspaper. I can respect any well-written book, and there is certainly room on the shelves for all kinds of books, but if I’m reading for pleasure, I want the hero and heroine together at the end of the book. I can handle a romantic resolutions spread out over a couple of books in a series, but I want to know it’s coming eventually. For me, the HEA is what it’s all about—that’s why my email tagline is “Faerie Tales for Grown-Ups.”

What is your favorite type of genre to write?

Paranormal, far and away. Even my cowboy stories have paranormal elements (ghosts, so far.) I read fantasy and SF as well as romance, and love to mix them all up. I love the limitless possibilities of paranormal. They really are fairy tales for grown ups. And it also saves on research . It’s fun to just make stuff up.

Crazy for the Cowboy, the second release in the Love at the Crazy H series is due out soon. Can you tell us about it?

This was such a fun book to write! I really fell for CJ’s younger brother Fitz, who is the county sheriff, and the crankiest member of the Hall family. He’s been hurt badly in the past, and absolutely does not believe that city girls have any place in tiny Shirley, Wyoming (a fictional town I named for my mother.) So I knew Fitz needed a transplanted urbanite, and I knew he needed a free spirit. Rhiannon inherits the bookstore beneath Fitz’s apartment, and one morning they wake up in the same bed. She’s a new-age vegetarian who can talk to the ghosts, and he’s a by-the-book alpha male, but of course, they can’t resist each other.

You also have Curses and Dragon in the System both paranormal romances due out soon. What can you tell us about them?

I’m really excited about the March release of Curses, an e-book from Triskelion Publishing which is about a witch and a werewolf. It is set in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula, and it’s got everything from humor to hot sex and suspense. Melissa is a witch whose family has been under a curse for over a hundred years, preventing them from successful marriages. Jonas is a hereditary werewolf who has vowed not to pass his curse on to another generation. When their summer fling becomes serious, each of them has to come to grips with their heritage.

Dragon in the System is a little more light-hearted, though it still has a bit of suspense. Computer Science professor Eric is given the job of finding a hacker on campus. When he sees what looks like a giant lizard tail in the steam tunnels below campus, he goes to herpetologist Lori for information. What the two of them find in the steam tunnels is more than either of them ever dreamed!

Since everybody needs a break, even when doing something they love, how do you like to spend your time away from writing?

Besides reading? Umm—Is it safe to admit I still play Dungeons and Dragons on the weekends? You can take the geek out of college, but you can’t take college out of the geek…

Could you tell us a little bit about what you’re currently working on?

Sequels. I’m working on the third cowboy brother for Wild Rose Press, and on a sequel to Dragon in the System for Cerridwen. I’ve also got a mer-man story I’m trying to finish for Triskelion. Having three publishers is kind of crazy. But loads of fun.

Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers today?

It has been such an eventful year for me, going from unpublished to multi-published, and I’m still reeling. I’d love to thank all the wonderful authors at Triskelion, Wild Rose and Cerridwen for all the advice and support, and of course, thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to buy my books! If you’re an aspiring writer out there, I have to tell you to keep at it. I’m living proof that persistence pays off!

Thank you for taking time to speak with me today Cindy.

You’re very welcome. Any time.

Readers be sure to check out Cindy’s website.

And don’t forget to drop me a note while you’re there! I love that.

Interviewed by: Tammy