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As far back as I can remember I have been an avid reader. For that I thank my mother, who being a reader herself, read aloud to me and my sisters and filled our house with books. We both also shared a love of history. To this day I still possess one of my favorite Christmas presents as a child, a somewhat tattered, history of the world done for children by Life Magazine. To my child’s eyes it was a spectacular book filled with photographs of actual relics and glorious artist’s renditions of the material culture of most of the world’s important ancient civilizations.

My mother and I shared two other loves—old movies and historical fiction. We often spent Saturday night watching old films from the 30s and 40s. She introduced me to authors like Thomas Costain, Samuel Shellabarger, Frank G. Slaughter, Anya Seton and Frank Yerby. She also introduced me to Tyrone Power, IMHO, one of the hottest male actors of his or any time.

One of my favorite Tyrone Power’s films was Prince of Foxes which was based on a book by Samuel Shellabarger. It was filmed in black & white with lots of odd camera angles. I was fascinated by the Renaissance sets, costuming and the character of Cesare Borgia as portrayed by Orson Wells. It was a story filled with intrigue, romance and swashbuckling adventure—utterly up my teenage alley.

When I wrote Mistress of Deception, which is set in 1501 Italy and features Cesare and Lucretzia Borgia, I definitely had Tyrone Power and Prince of Foxes on my mind. Although it is my second book and has had a title change which I will explain later, it is the book of my heart and a tribute to the exciting costume adventure films of my childhood.

Many books on writing suggest that you should write what you know. Good advice, but even better advice, I think, is to write what you love. Whatever the story is that I’m trying to tell I look to my passions and let them be my guide.

Mistress of Deception will be released April 10th by Cerridwen Press.