Travel Tuesday - Topkapi Palace

Since Tuesday is the day for both travelling and temptations, our columnist Annie West couldn’t resist talking about a luscious temptation in the heart of one of her favourite cities: The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

I have fond memories of Istanbul. Friendly people, scrumptious food, fabulous historical sites everywhere you turn, markets full of spices and ceramics, leather, metalwork and jewellery; fresh cherry juice, ferries plying the Bosphorus on crisp Spring days and a sense of being somewhere utterly unique. It’s a city that spans two continents and thousands of years of history. It’s foreign and exotic yet in so many ways familiar.

And one of its jewels is Topkapi, the palace of the Ottoman Sultans, located on a tip of land surrounded on two sides by water. It’s a sprawling mass of buildings and gardens surrounded by high stone walls. Not a single large building like Buckingham Palace. For centuries each sultan added to the palace site as he saw fit. Topkapi is haphazard, but no less stunning with its interconnecting buildings, courtyards and gorgeous free standing pavilions set among lawns and sweet-scented roses.

Start reading a little about the place and you realise this place is the heart of so many stories: about women brought in to please a sultan and live in his harem, tales of intrigue and sinister power plays that would curdle your stomach and tales of love as well. Even the names you read as you walk around sound like something out of an old story, like the Gate of the White Eunuchs and the Gate of Felicity. Unlike many historic buildings that look as if they’ve never been lived in, this place is alive with the shades of the past, and all the richer for it.

If you enjoy organised tours, I’m sure there is one, but it’s wonderful just prowling around with a map or guide book or following the signs to discover the palace yourself.

You can see the sultan’s throne, the pavilions like tiny weekend cottages used by various rulers, rooms where state councils were held and of course the massive complex that is the harem. The latter consists of around 300 rooms and even had its own hospital. There are marble courtyards, porches, bathrooms and fantastic frescoes and tile work. You can see where the sultan, his mother, wives and odalisques lived as well as the eunuchs who guarded them.

Even the prosaic kitchens in this place are fascinating, seeing where meals for 4,000 people were once prepared, especially since those rooms are now full of gorgeous antique Chinese and Japanese porcelain.

Topkapi is a repository for the most amazing collection of riches I think I’ve ever seen (and yes, that does include the crown jewels in London). There’s antique silver ware and jewelled ceremonial armour. There are exquisitely embroidered robes of silk or velvet. How about a diamond studded dessert set on a matching gold tray? Aigrettes (bejewelled and feathered ornaments) to decorate a turban or even one, studded with an emerald, for a horse. Jewellery such as the amazing Spoonmaker Diamond (all 86 carats) or the unbelievable Topkapi Dagger with a hilt built around three massive emeralds (and sadly this picture doesn’t do it justice). There are music boxes and clocks, a massive gold throne studded with peridots and illuminated manuscripts as well.

If you’re overwhelmed by riches the sultan’s portraits are a fascinating display, especially as you try to link each character-full face to the stories you’ve heard about them. There’s also a museum devoted to the personal belongings of the Prophet Mohammed.

If you’re not into history or treasures, just wandering the enormous complex is a treat. The view out over the Golden Horn to bustling Istanbul on one side is fantastic. And on the other you can sit and enjoy a meal at an outdoor restaurant, looking at the boats slipping by on the Bosphorus.

This is a place you can immerse yourself in for a whole day (at the risk of being overwhelmed) or take in small chunks, stopping for refreshment and a million dollar view. And, take it from me, it’s the perfect setting to spark imaginings that might just take the form of a category romance.

Have you visited a place that inspired you to dream exotic stories of romance and seduction? Or where the ghosts of the past seemed so real you could almost reach out and touch them?

Parts of Topkapi Palace inspired Annie when creating Middle Eastern palaces for her stories. Gazing at fabulous jewels, secluded courtyards and luxurious pavilions was great research!

Annie’s thrilled to have two books available now. THE DESERT KING’S PREGNANT BRIDE is an April Presents Extra release in North America and BLACKMAILED BRIDE, INNOCENT WIFE is available online now before its release in UK stores on 1 May. You can read excerpts from both on her website.

Male on Monday - Robert Pattinson

Today Donna Alward joins the leagues of fans around the world who are crazy about Twilight's Edward....actor Robert Pattinson!

I'll admit, it might seem a little odd for me to be doing a MoM for a man 14 years younger than myself. My defense is that I'm certainly not dead and I do have eyes. I also enjoy reading my daughter's YA stuff and held my breath through most of watching Twilight. So it follows that I'm perfectly entitled to have an appreciation for the guy behind Edward's topaz eyes...Robert Pattinson.

Pattinson was born in London on May 13, 1986 (which does indeed make him a little young for moi). He began his modeling career when he was twelve years old, but it wound down only four years later. Pattinson explained in December of 2008, "When I first started I was quite tall and looked like a girl, so I got lots of jobs, because it was during that period where the androgynous look was cool. Then, I guess, I became too much of a guy, so I never got any more jobs. I had the most unsuccessful modeling career." Pattinson appeared in the advertising campaign for Hackett's Autumn 2007 collection.

He had supporting roles in the made for television film Ring of the Nibelungs in 2004 and in director Mira Nair's Vanity Fair, although his scenes in the latter were deleted, and only appear on the DVD version. In May 2005 he was slated to appear in the UK premiere of The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre, but was fired shortly before the opening night and was replaced by Tom Riley.

The world finally clued into who Rob was later that year when he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Consequently, he was named that year's British Star of Tomorrow by Times Online. He also has more than once been touted as the next Jude Law. (I couldn't believe it when I saw this pic and realized how very young he looks here. The Goblet of Fire was not my favourite HP movie, but I do remember Cedric seeming older and more confident than Harry and very attractive to Cho.)

But he truly exploded on to the scene this past year. Pattinson plays Edward Cullen in the movie Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling novel of the same name, which was released on November 21, 2008 in North America. According to TV Guide, Pattinson was initially apprehensive about auditioning for the role of Edward Cullen, fearful that he wouldn't be able to live up to the "perfection" expected from the character. He is reprising his role as Edward Cullen in the Twilight sequel, New Moon.

I picked a picture of him with Bella because the true magic of Pattinson is the intensity he brings to the screen. I think I had a permanent cramp in my chest through the whole movie. He and Kristen Stewart did sexual tension very well.

In case you're worried about him being typecast as a teenage hearthrob (not that there's anything wrong with that, to quote Jerry Seinfeld), pay attention: He has the lead role in Little Ashes, in which he plays Salvador Dali.

Pattinson plays guitar and piano, and composes his own music. I didn't know this until I'd watched Twilight; in the scene where he plays piano for Bella I could tell he was actually playing it. He also appears as the singer of two songs on the Twilight soundtrack: "Never Think", which he co-wrote with Sam Bradley, and "Let Me Sign", which was written by Marcus Foster and Bobby Long. The songs were included in the film after director Catherine Hardwicke added Pattinson's recordings into an early cut without his knowledge, and he agreed that "one of them specifically, it really made the scene better. It was like it was supposed to be there." US Magazine reported that Pattinson has recorded 3 songs for the upcoming film "How to Be."

Aside from recording for the soundtrack, Pattinson has said, "I've never really recorded anything - I just played in pubs and stuff", and when asked about a professional music career, he said, "Music is my back-up plan if acting fails."

He's also been touted as the new "Di Caprio" which is all right with me. I never quite fell for Jack in Titanic (not like I have for Edward, anyway) but Leonardo definitely grew up well (yum). Regardless, I think there will be great things in store for Robert Pattinson.

Donna's next book is Hired: The Italian's Bride, coming this June . Currently she's on chapter sixteen of Twilight and looking forward to reading the other three in the series.

Wild Card Weekend - The Big Easy

Jennifer Lewis joins us this weekend to talk about the sultriest of cities - New Orleans!

There’s really no better place to have a wild weekend, with or without cards, than New Orleans. The city has always fascinated me and called to my writers’ imagination. Everything is just a little spicier there, a little hotter, and whole lot steamier. I’d been longing to write a Desire set there, and when I came up with the idea for the third book in my Hardcastle Progeny series The Heir’s Scandalous Affair, I knew it had to be set in New Orleans.

Samantha Hardcastle has traveled to the city on her quest to find her late husband’s scattered children. The sultry atmosphere and the kindness of a handsome stranger lead her into that stranger’s bed. And the next day she finds out she’s accidentally slept with her long-lost stepson, Louis DuLac. Is New Orleans not the perfect place for this kind of madness to happen?

I first arrived New Orleans many years ago in the heady final days of Mardi Gras. I’d always lived in large cities filled with revelers, but I’d never walked along streets that literally reeked of beer. The whole bare breast/bead throwing/masked craziness of the place made my eyeballs pop. My first sight of crawdads had the same effect. They were so… big! I’m sure I made several people’s eyeballs pop as well, since I kept falling asleep everywhere—on the grassy banks of the Mississippi, in the trolley, on the white tablecloth in a smart restaurant… It later turned out I had advanced Lyme disease, but I bet they just assumed I was even drunker than everyone else!

Once Mardi Gras was over, a friend and I drove out of the city and around the nearby bayou. What an enchanted and amazing place. The past hovers everywhere like fog. I couldn’t get over the oft-repeated sight of a new, modern house built right beside the remains of the family’s ramshackle old house. They’d just left it there, like a ghost in the garden.

The lush tropical climate of Southern Louisiana produces a riot of greenery that threatens to swallow everything alive. Spanish moss and kudzu crawl over everything that isn’t moving. The bayou is a watery wilderness, getting more watery all the time. A fascinating book called Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast by Mark Tidwell explains how dams all along the Mississippi prevent the river from flooding and pouring rich silt out into the river delta. Farmers no longer have to worry about floods, but with the natural process that built the whole bayou region interrupted, the land is sinking into the ocean and disappearing. It’s shocking to look at satellite photos and see how many thousands of acres are lost every year.

The culture of the area springs from its unique mix of people. Cajun and Creole cooking, Jazz music, Zydeco and—of course—Mardi Gras don’t exist in the same form anywhere else. You can tell when you’re talking on the phone to someone in Manhattan because there will be a siren wailing somewhere in the background. My mother lived in New Orleans for several months last year while I was writing this book and several conversations were interrupted by a sudden thundering of noise: “Wait just a minute, there’s another parade going by!” When Hurricane Katrina happened it almost looked like this magical place might disappear off the map, but happily New Orleans has proved it’s not going anywhere, and the good times are still rolling. I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating this unique and special place in my book.

Have you been to New Orleans or have you always wanted to go? Do you have any favorite books set there? One person who leaves a comment will win a signed copy of The Heir’s Scandalous Affair.
www.jenlewis.com

Friday Film Night: The Lake House

Today, Fiona Harper does a little time travelling as she talks about the wistful, romantic movie starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock - The Lake House.


First things first: you have to watch the trailer...

The Lake House is a beautifully shot, emotional romance with a little time-travelling twist. Kate, a doctor, moves out of her unusual glass home on the edge of a lake and leaves a note for the next tenant. Alex, whose father actually designed and built the house, moves in and discovers her note. All very straightforward, you think – until they realise that Alex actually lived in the Lake House before Kate did and that, somehow, they are communicating through the house’s mailbox, even though he is living in 2004 and she is living in 2006.

Now, I’ve read reviews of this film where people get their knickers in a twist about the time-travelling element, saying the timelines aren’t possible and there are problems with paradoxes…yada, yada, yada. I’m quite happy to suspend my disbelief (as we all do with all stories to some extent) and just enjoy the romance. In fact, the same reviewers who can’t get past the time travel issue, are unanimous in their praise for the chemistry between the two stars. So…forget everything you’ve learned from watching too much Star Trek and just enjoy the sweet, slow build of the relationship between Kate and Alex. It’s worth the wait.

And The Lake House is about waiting. Waiting for that special person who is right for you to come along. Should we wait? Are we kidding ourselves if we really believe they are out there? Do we always jump from relationship to relationship, thinking that something or someone better is around the corner? What if we don't rush in and end up spending our whole lives waiting fruitlessly?

Alex has followed in his father’s footsteps and has become an architect but, unlike his brother, he can’t stand to join the family firm and have to pay his dues for years before he’s allowed to build anything. He’d rather join a construction firm that builds cookie-cutter houses than be patient. Kate, however, seems to be stuck in limbo, living without direction. She seems lost and lonely – as if she’s waiting for something, but doesn’t really know what that is.

The Lake House, made completely of steel and glass is an unusual place - and not only for its lack of privacy! Somehow, it's a magical place where people feel they can be their true selves. It captures the light and shines it inwards, illuminating the lives of those who live there, helping them see what they really want (and need) in their lives.

Alex and Kate’s letters to each other move from information about boxes in the attic and forwarding mail to baring their souls to each other. These two seemingly unconnected people start to fall in love with each other. But, as the film progresses, clever twists reveal that they do meet and that their lives are more intertwined than they originally thought. It’s not an accident that Kate ended up living in the Lake House.

Eventually, they arrange to meet in the same time frame, even though Alex will have to wait two years once they set the date. Kate chooses an exclusive restaurant where Alex books the date for two years in the future. Kate turns up and waits…and waits. Alex never shows up and Kate is so heartbroken that she ends their relationship, not prepared to wait any longer for the perfect man she wants to give her heart to, who may never actually arrive. But later, she realises that Alex’s impatience has had tragic consequences. Can she communicate with him one last time and convince him to wait for her so they can finally be together?

The last scenes in this film when Kate realises what has happened and is desperately hoping Alex has got her last message choke me up every single time. And there are many wonderful romantic moments in this film, and it looks fabulous too. I wish I could take a holiday in that Lake House (sigh) but, unfortunately, it was specially designed and built for the film and was deconstructed afterwards. Probably really chilly too… Hey, but who needs to think about practicalities and reality when you can snuggle up on a cold spring evening and lose yourself in a great romantic film?

Fiona's next release is Blind-Date Baby, part 2 in the Blinddatebrides.com trilogy from Harlequin romance

From first date to wedding date!

Meet three very different women from around the world and follow their stories as they find friendship, love and their happily-ever-afters with a little help from the world of online dating!

Watch the stories unfold @ Blinddatebrides.com !

Thursday Talk-Time - Where Do Your Characters Live?

Welcome to Thursday Talk-Time with Karen Sandler - and a post on how she decides where her characters live...

First, full disclosure—I am the polar opposite of a pantser. As a former software engineer, I plan out my books to the nth degree before I ever sit down to write page one. I complete a detailed synopsis and fill a file with copious notes before starting chapter one.But even before creation of the synopsis comes my favorite part of the process—extensive character sketches. I like to know everything about my hero and heroine from where they went to school to what their favorite color is, from who their parents were to key turning points in their lives.

Most of the character sketch deals with the hero/heroine’s pasts, what made them who they are today. But there’s one important element that pertains to the here and now—where my hero and heroine currently live. Since much of the plot often revolves around their home and home town, I need as concrete as possible an image of what that happy (or not so happy) home looks like.

Once I’ve chosen the locale for my hero/heroine’s abode and decide if I want their residence to be an opulent estate or a one bedroom apartment, I then turn to a handy Internet resource—real estate websites. Sites such as www.realtor.com and www.realestate.com allow me to search their database of listings by location, price, number of bedrooms, acreage, etc. Most of the listings have at least one photo of the home for sale, some have multiple pictures, interior and exterior. Some even include video “tours,” animated views of the home in question.

For instance, in my March 2008 book, HIS MIRACLE BABY, the hero is a wealthy man who lives on a large estate in Granite Bay, CA. The estate had to include a guest house where the heroine would be living while she acted as surrogate for his implanted embryo. On the Realtor.com webpage, I searched for homes with 5+ bedrooms with a price above $2 million (hey, I said he was rich). I found a lovely farm style house on four acres with a small “granny flat” on the property.

I copied the photos from the listing and pasted them into a Word document for later reference. Then, when I needed to describe the grounds or the living room, I had the pictures at my fingertips. I also printed the original listing with all the details about the home, further ammunition for my descriptive passages.

Once I have a specific address, I can use a mapping program such as Mapquest to calculate driving distances to various locations mentioned in the story. For instance, when the heroine feels sharp pains halfway through her pregnancy and fears she may be going into labor far too early, I want to know the hospital is only ten miles away, but a twenty minute drive from the hero’s home. In my May 2008 book, HER MIRACLE MAN, it’s an important factor in the story that the hero’s isolated mountain retreat is at least an hour away from the sheriff’s station in Lake Tahoe, a route he’s loathe to drive with a storm raging outside.I’m not a slave to reality when I choose a home for my hero or heroine. I adapt the actual house to what works best for the story. If I need a small room upstairs to serve as the nursery, I put it there in my fictional home. But the information gleaned from the real estate websites gives me a framework with which to start and some good visual images to act as a launch pad for my creativity.

http://www.karensandler.net/

When Jana McPartand is deserted by the no good boyfriend who got her pregnant there's only one person she can think to turn to--her long-time crush Sam Harrison. Sam's known Jana since she was a kid and feels responsible for her, so he's glad to give her a hand. What neither one bargains for is the powerful attraction between them, despite Jana's expectant state. Can Sam remain free of entanglements when he wants nothing more than Jana in his bed and in his life?

Fostering Family: Love. Home. Family. They're what life's all about...THEIR SECOND-CHANCE CHILD, Silhouette Special Edition, February 2009

THE FAMILY HE WANTED, Silhouette Special Edition, April 2009

Writer's Wednesday - Do You Believe in the Muse?

A big Pink Heart Welcome back to Kimberly Lang, asking us on this Writer's Wednesday, "Do you believe in the Muse?"

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I don’t believe in the Muse. Inspiration and creativity are such slippery ideas, I understand why some people want to believe there’s an external and uncontrollable something that can be blamed when this writing gig isn’t as easy as we thought it would be.

At the same time, I don’t like to think that creativity and ability is at the whim of some elusive, temperamental, fairy-like creature. I’m too much of a control freak for that. I also don’t have the luxury of time – time spent waiting for my Muse to come back from her trip to Jamaica just so I can finish this book, that is.

In grad school, I did some research on where creativity comes from and how it’s understood. (Okay, so I read the conclusions of people who are a lot smarter than I am and were willing to actually do the research and draw the models. It still counts.)

There is a certain irony in the literature – all these researchers are trying to create models of how creativity emerges, to find a logical pattern to how creative types think. Isn’t logic antithetical to creativity? And yet, no matter how many conclusions they draw, no matter how nifty the models look on paper, or how nicely they lay out the creative steps, none of the researchers were able to define why one person’s thinking would be “creative” while someone else’s would be “analytical.” Why is it that when presented with the same problem and background, some get creative and others don’t? They call it “Birth of an idea, “ “Ideation,” “Conception,” or even “Vision.” At some point, there’s a leap – and creative types make that leap when analytical types don’t. And they can’t explain why.

It’s almost like having scientific papers existing solely to prove the woo-woo exists. With no other explanation emerging, I can understand why it’s easier to invoke the Muse. It makes as much sense as anything else.

(Should you be interested in reading a synopsis of the research, you can find one here: http://www.directedcreativity.com/pages/WPModels.html)

Several of the models argued creativity was part of the subconscious, and I liked that idea. Instead of a Muse, the ideas were coming from inside me – even if I didn’t fully understand where or how. While several researchers claimed that the subconscious nature of creativity meant it was outside of the thinker’s control, I like D.N. Perkins’ argument instead. He agrees that subconscious mental processes are behind all thinking, but argues that just because we cannot fully describe those thought processes, it does not mean we’re not in control of them. His example: we cannot begin to describe all of the subconscious mental processes engaged in the simple act of picking up a coffee cup, but we are certainly in control of the overall act.

I kinda like that. I may not know how or why it works, but I’m in charge of it. It all comes from me. Even if there is a Muse involved in there somehow, I’m not totally subject to her whims. I’m ultimately in control. If I’m stuck, I don’t have to wait for the Muse to save me – everything I need is in my subconscious; I just need to get those ideas to the forefront.

Of course, the down-side is there’s nothing to blame when the writing isn’t happening. That’s still me, too.

Sigh. We creative types are a little nutty sometimes. But that’s a whole different topic…

So, do you believe in the Muse?

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Help from the Muse or not, Kimberly is celebrating the release of two books this month! Her first US release The Secret Mistress Arrangement from Harlequin Presents and her second UK release, The Millionaire’s Misbehaving Mistress from Mills and Boon Modern Heat! Squee! You can keep up with Kim at her website at www.booksbykimberly.com!