Hi Cristina:

You asked about the characters in my stories. I use real historical people, but my hero and heroine are made up. In THE LILY AND THE FALCON, Cristiano de' Medici is cousin to Cosimo. And Bianca degli Albizzi is cousin to Rinaldo. Whether either family turuy had cousins by that name, I don't know.

I also use historical facts, such as the hanging in the piazza and several other facts that I can't mention or I'll give away the story.

SURRENDER TO HONOR is about the beginning of the mafia. This subject was interesting to research. There weren't as many political figures in Palermo at the time that my story would benefit from. But I didn't need it. I wrote one very feisty heroine and a hero (Antonio, the stablemaster in THE LILY AND THE FALCON) who abhors violence and doesn't carry any weapons. The poor hero is surrounded by his mother and three sisters. When Prima comes along, he is terribly frustrated with all women! I really enjoyed writing this book. It will be dedicated to my mother, God rest her soul.

As for my favorite books, I have only one: THE WOLF AND THE DOVE by Kathleen Woodiwiss, who passed away recently. Books 25 or 30 years ago had heroes who were overbearing and often not nice. They forced the women into sex. Still, it was the hero in that book that I fell in love with.

Favorite authors? Hmm. There's Ms. Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey (She writes the best dialogue.), Sandra Brown and Amanda Quick. I also love reading my author friend, Anne Marie Bradley. She's up and coming and has several short stories in anthologies for Highland Press. She writes ghost romances. They're quite good.

As for other books I like to read: I love autobiographies and biographies about movie stars in the twenties and thirties. And I absolutely love books about soccer, whether it's about a player or a team's history.

You mentioned the dates for the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This is one area that is contested by many historians. It seems they can't agree on a date when the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began. I believe that is the reason there is overlapping dates. Some editors see my books as Medieval, others see it as Renaissance. I prefer Medieval.

Good to hear from you, Cristina.

Grazie e ciao.