Hey, if Laura Kinsale can build a radio and an airplane in Regency times….

Good question. Thus far, I have discovered that once you publish, there are still innumerable things that you worry about–covers, blurbs, nobody buying my book…. The worries just keep on coming!

This is a really good question, and I really wish I knew how to answer this! Every time I thought I “knew” what a book was about before I started writing it, the book twisted itself around to be about something else entirely. I write books for a reason, but I usually don’t know what it is until I get there.

3. What’s the biggest historical roadblock you’ve hit? In other words, what would you have loved to do, but historical accuracy prevented it?

Nothing. I love the fact that historical accuracy imposes on me; that’s where a lot of my plot arises.

There are only two things that I can think of offhand:

1. I can’t use the word “metastasize.” I love that word!

2. I really wanted my hero in PROOF BY SEDUCTION to be able to grouse that cold doesn’t flow, but he can’t realize that until people had a kinetic theory of temperature, which did not exist in 1836. I ended up cheating on this one–he grouses that cold can’t flow. It’s not historically accurate. I went back and forth and forth and back and decided that I loved the line, it fit, there was not another good substitute, and maybe one person would notice. Of course, everyone will notice now that I’ve disclosed it. So shoot me.

4. If cavemen and astronauts got into a fight, who would win? Note: No weapons.

Astronauts. I was originally going to say cavemen, because they are scrappy, but cavemen basically all suffer from malnutrition and astronauts train physically, are in top physical form, and must pass mental and physical exams that put them in the top percentage of today’s population. The cavemen don’t stand a chance.

2. What particular challenges come with writing historical fiction?

3. What’s the biggest historical roadblock you’ve hit? In other words, what would you have loved to do, but historical accuracy prevented it?

4. If cavemen and astronauts got into a fight, who would win? Note: No weapons.