Marie Force Celebrates Her "Fatal" Series

posted by tony margareth

Our guest today is my good writer-buddy and frequent visitor to the Lair, Marie Force. Here are a few things you might not know about her:

Since 1996, Marie has been the communications director for a national organization similar to RWA. She is a member of RWA’s New England, From the Heart and Published Author Special Interest Chapters. While her husband was in the Navy, Marie lived in Spain, Maryland and Florida, and she is now settled in her home state of Rhode Island. She is the mother of Emily, 15, Jake, 12, and a feisty dog named Brandy. Marie is the author of a romantic suspense series, FATAL AFFAIR (June 2010) and FATAL JUSTICE (Jan. 2011), Books 1 and 2 in her new Fatal Series from Harlequin’s Carina Press. Book 3, FATAL CONSEQUENCES, is coming in July 2011, FATAL DESTINY in September 2011 and FATAL FLAW in February 2012.

AC: Welcome back to the Lair, Marie!
We’re thrilled to have you here to celebrate the release of your latest, Fatal Justice, the second book in your romantic suspense Fatal Series for Carina Press. Please tell us what your two lead characters Sam and Nick are up to in this latest story.
Marie: Hi there Aunty and all the Banditas! I’m so happy to back for another visit. Thanks for having me!
Sam and Nick return for another adventure in Fatal Justice. They’re newly in love and working out the boundaries of their relationship in the context of two high-pressure jobs: she’s a D.C. homicide detective and he’s a U.S. senator. In this book, Sam investigates the murder of a Supreme Court nominee with the added caveat that she and Nick were two of the last people to see the victim before he was killed. Also in Fatal Justice, Sam pursues a new lead into her father’s unsolved shooting that leads to danger for her. I’m really excited to get book 2 out to readers!
AC: And I can't wait to read it! What particular challenges have you faced in writing a series with the same couple as the main characters?

Marie: While writing Fatal Justice, I was enduring the roller coaster ride of Fatal Affair being on submission. I was disappointed that romance editors weren’t interested in a series featuring the same couple in every book. Boo! Thankfully, the ladies at Carina Press love the idea, and readers are telling me they do, too! I had a feeling they might…

The primary challenge as the series continues is keeping Sam and Nick’s relationship conflicted enough that it stays interesting but no so conflicted that it’s unrealistic. I found that to be a particular challenge in the third book, Fatal Consequences, which I finished in November. I’ve decided that readers don’t want to see them “fighting for their survival” in every book, so they will grapple with a lot of the stuff everyone deals with but in the context of their high-profile Washington lives.
AC: Sounds juicy! (rubs hands together with glee) What were some of the rewards?
Marie: I love slipping back into the Fatal world. It’s like putting on a comfortable pair of slippers. I’m working now on Fatal Destiny, the novella that will feature Sam and Nick’s wedding, and it gets easier with every book to submerge myself in the new story. I know the characters very well at this point. I said to someone recently that the scenes featuring Sam and Nick almost write themselves because I know exactly what each of them would say in most situations.

I’m also really enjoying the secondary characters, including Sam’s partner, Detective Freddie Cruz, Detective Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales, Sam’s father Skip Holland, the O’Connors and the rest of the cast. I gave Freddie, Gonzo and Detective Jeannie McBride major subplots in Fatal Consequences and expect to further develop their characters in future books. Freddie is also prominently featured in Fatal Justice. He’s a trip to write!
AC: Since you also write contemporary romance as well as romantic suspense, do you use a different process?

Marie: I wish I could say my process is different for the suspense books, but I tend to fall back on the same chaotic seat-of-the-pants madness that has fueled all my books. I sold Fatal Consequences and book 4, Fatal Flaw, on proposal, which required synopses. While writing Fatal Consequences, I never once referred back to the synopsis , so it was the same process all over again even though I had done some initial plotting. I really hate knowing what’s going to happen ahead of time. I often have no idea “who done it” until Sam figures it out. I like it that way. It keeps me engaged in the book and the mystery.
However, one of these days my head is probably going to explode from keeping all this stuff locked up in my brain! That’s why I recently hired one of my Beta readers to index books 2 and 3 for me. I did the first book, Fatal Affair, myself and it took an entire weekend. Since I’m staring down a Feb. 28 deadline, I’m very grateful to my friend Aly for taking over the indexing job for me. As I write the fourth story, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep track of all the details, so it will be great to have a series “bible” to refer back to while working on future books.
In reference to the differences between contemporary and suspense, they don’t require different techniques mostly because the Fatal books are also contemporaries. However, it does take a significant amount of brain cells and bone marrow to keep the suspense portion of the Fatal books moving along at a good clip and to end up with a reasonable conclusion to the murder mystery.
AC: Where can readers find the Fatal series?
Marie: They’re available at Carina Press http://ebooks.carinapress.com (just look under "romantic suspense" on the sidebar) and everywhere e-books are sold. I’ve been asked a lot about where Nook users can find Fatal Justice if it’s not yet available on barnesandnoble.com, where it will be eventually. Nook users can download the ePub format from Carina.
AC: What’s next for you?
Marie: I have a print book out on Feb. 1, Everyone Loves a Hero. Also in February, I’ll be running a promotion to give readers the opportunity to plan Sam and Nick’s wedding. Watch my website at www.mariesullivanforce.com for details about how you can participate and win some great prizes.

Fatal Affair will be released in print by Harlequin in July via the eHarlequin website. Also in July is Fatal book 3, Fatal Consequences. The free wedding novella, Fatal Destiny, is out in September as part of Harlequin’s romantic suspense week. Book 4, Fatal Flaw, will be out in February of 2012.

I also recently posted two of my unsold contemporaries, True North and The Fall, to Amazon and have been blown away by the response from readers. That’s been very exciting!
AC: WOW! My head is spinning! 2011 promises to be a very busy year for you. Did you make any resolutions? Or do you have plans or wishes you hope to see fulfilled?
Marie: I never make resolutions and tend to avoid writing goals. I don’t like to set myself up for failure. However, I do hope to exercise more in 2011 and I have set just one goal for my writing career: to finally sell the book of my heart, Treading Water. We’ll see if either of those things happens! Let’s put it this way—the slim chance of a book sale is probably far more likely than the exercise! LOL!
I’m looking forward to chatting with the Banditas today! I’m always curious about what readers think of romance series featuring the same couple in numerous books. So let me know what you think of that, tell me some of your resolutions and the most important question of all: will Bachelor Brad actually choose one of the women this time around? Inquiring minds want to know! I’m happy to give away a copy of Fatal Justice to one of you!

Thanks again for having me.
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Marie Force Is In The Lair!

posted by tony margareth

Welcome back to the Lair, Marie! So glad to have you with us again. Can you please tell us about your new release?


Thanks for having me back, Aunty! It's always a great pleasure to stop in for a visit with the Banditas. And I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at RWA!



Here's the skinny on Fatal Affair: On the morning of the most important vote of Senator John O’Connor’s career he is late—again. His best friend and chief of staff, Nick Cappuano sets off to O'Connor’s apartment expecting to roust him from bed and hoping he is alone. But what Nick finds is that O’Connor, the handsome, amiable Senator from Virginia, has been brutally murdered, and Nick’s world comes crashing down around him. Complicating the disaster, the detective assigned to the case is none other than Sam Holland, Nick’s one-night stand from six years earlier, the woman who broke his heart and haunts his dreams. With six years worth of unfinished business hanging between them and more than a few scores to settle personally and professionally, Nick and Sam set out to find the senator's killer while trying—and failing—to resist the overwhelming attraction between them that seems to have only grown over the years.


It soon becomes clear that the senator’s past holds secrets that not only led to his death but now endanger Nick and Sam as well. Working together to find a killer and to rediscover the love they thought they lost long ago, they must put the past behind them and build a future that offers a world of new opportunities for both of them—including an offer from the Virginia Democrats for Nick to finish the last year of John’s term. Find the book at http://ebooks.carinapress.com.


What other exciting things have been happening with you?


There's a really cool story behind the sale of Fatal Affair. When we put it out last year it didn't sell, primarily because editors were looking for a new couple in the second book, but I saw the series as Sam and Nick, their cast of supporting characters, romance, suspense and politics. Because I was already halfway through the second book I wasn't willing to retool the series idea at that point. So when I heard that Fatal Affair hadn't sold, I had to figure out what to do about that second book, Fatal Justice. After I had a big ole pity party, I decided to finish the book, which I did—a full year after I started it.



When Carina Press opened its doors last November, claiming that no great story should go untold, I figured why not? Carina bought Fatal Affair in February and Fatal Justice in May. Fatal Affair was released June 21 to wonderful reviews and in the latest issue of RT Magazine, I was named a Future Star of Romantic Suspense. From dead on arrival to future star in four months' time. Pinch me please!



Fatal Justice will be out in January. We've submitted the proposal for book 3, Fatal Consequences, to acquisition, and I've been chipping away at that as well as another contemporary I'm excited about. I guess my story with the Fatal Series just goes to prove that you never know what's going to happen in this business! I'm very excited to have the opportunity to write the series I wanted to write, and I'm thrilled to have connected with an editor and publisher that sees the series unfolding the same way I do.



What a FANTASTIC story about preserverence and believing in your work! Thanks for sharing that with us, Marie!



What are some of the challenges you've faced in writing your first series versus your stand alone titles?


That's a great question. As I begin book 3, I'm starting to feel the challenge of multiple characters and situations and relationships and plot lines. Remaining true to each of them is going to be a huge task. I was joking last week that I need to take a vacation to do a series bible, but since that's not going to happen any time soon, I'm soldiering through!

Here’s a little excerpt from Fatal Affair:


“Why haven’t you ever gotten married?” Sam asked Nick

“I don’t know. Just never happened.”

“Surely there had to have been someone."

“There was this one girl...”

“What happened?”

“She never returned my calls.”

Shocked and speechless, Sam stared at him.
“You asked.”

Tearing her eyes off him, she accelerated through the last intersection before the turn for the public safety parking lot. “Don’t say that to me,” she snapped. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do.”

She pulled into a space and slammed the car into park.
He grabbed her arm to stop her from getting out. “Calm down, Sam.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” She tugged her arm free of his grasp. “And save your cheesy lines for someone who’s buying. I don’t believe you anyway.”
“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be so pissed right now.”
“Do you want to know what happened to your friend?”
With one blink, his hazel eyes shifted from amused to furious. “Of course I do.”
“Then you have to stop doing this to me, Nick. You’re winding me up in knots and pulling my eye off the ball. I need to be focused, one hundred percent focused on this case, and not on you!”
“What about when you’re off duty?” The teasing smile was back, but it didn’t steal the sadness from his eyes. “Can I wind you up in knots then?”
“Nick...”
Fixated on the drab-looking public safety building, he sighed. “We’re about to go in there and take John’s parents to see him laid out on a cold slab, and yet, all I can think about right now is how badly I want to kiss you. What kind of a friend does that make me? To him or to you?”

His tone was so full of sadness and grief that Sam softened a bit. “You were a great friend to him, and in the last twenty-four hours, except for the whole kissing thing, you’ve been helpful to me, too. Can we keep it that way? Please?”
“I’m trying, Sam. Really I am, but I can’t help that I feel this incredible pull to you. I know you feel it, too. You felt it six years ago—as strongly as I did—and you still do, even if you don’t want to. If we had met again under different circumstances, can you tell me the same thing wouldn’t be happening between us?”
“I have to go in now.” Her firm tone hid her seesawing emotions. “His parents are probably waiting for me, and I don’t want to drag this out for them. Are you coming?”
“Yeah.” He opened the door. “I’m coming.”


OOOO! Thanx for sharing that great excerpt, and for guesting with us today Marie!

Thanks you have having me, Aunty!

Now I have a question for readers: What do you think of a romance series with the same couple headlining every book? What are the things you like and dislike about this type of series? Thanks in advance for your input!
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