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Author Archive
February 2001
by Betty Cox
I have been a devout fan of
award winning Mariah Stewart since I had the honor, and great
pleasure to review DEVLIN'S LIGHT in July of 1997. Since that
time I am proud to say that we have become “cyber-friends”
and I’ve garnered a few facts about this amazing lady through
our correspondence. I know that Mariah is married, the mother of
two teen-aged girls, and until a few weeks ago held a full time
job. This amazing lady is a native Pennsylvanian living in
the Philadelphia area. She loves to write about small towns
located near lakes or beaches. Her latest novel, VOICES CARRY,
is now on the bookshelves, and is another winner! VOICES CARRY
is a Romantic Times Top Pick for February, and is a Rhapsody
Book Club Featured Alternate for the month of February.
BC: First, I want
to wish you a very happy New Year and thank you so much for
agreeing to be interviewed for The Romance Readers Connection.
Is there anything I have left out about you that you would like
to share with our audience? Hobbies, pets, etc.
MS: It's my pleasure
- thanks so much for thinking of me! Hobbies...hobbies...I have,
as you mentioned, two teenage daughters (one a junior in HS, one
a freshman in college) and two totally rambunctious golden
retrievers. The girls have always played sports, and I've
enjoyed watching their games (field hockey and lacrosse, tennis,
volleyball). I think my favorite past time is reading, though. I
absolutely love to find a book that keeps me up all night.
BC: So many of
today’s novelists started out writing category romance, but
you went directly for the tough market of “mainstream” with
your first book “MOMENTS IN TIME” in 1995. What made you
decide to do this?
MS: It wasn't
planned, that's for sure. For the most part, I was a
mystery/suspense reader, I wasn't aware of this whole wonderful
world of romance! For that matter, I didn't even know I'd
written a romance until my agent told me she was taking the
manuscript to Linda Marrow, who at that time was Sr. Editor at
Pocket Books. Linda liked my voice and offered me a two-book
contract. She sent me a box of books that she'd edited so that I
could get an idea of what kind of romances Pocket published (McNaught,
Deveraux) and I've been hooked on romance ever since!
BC: Your stories
portray a great deal of realism with strong familial bonds and
some romance depicting very delicately handled and non-graphic
sex. Do you find that you have as many contemporary fans as
romance fans?
MS: I think probably
as many mainstream fans as romance and with the publication of
BROWN-EYED GIRL last year (April '00), I got tons of mail from
suspense and romantic suspense readers, which was a lovely
surprise! Family is very, very important to me, and that
is one theme that runs through all of my books, the mainstream
romances as well as the romantic suspense.
BC: Where do your
ideas come from?
MS: They come
from everywhere. I got the idea for VOICES two summers ago when
we went out to western PA to visit the lakeside home of my
husband's aunt. There was a great family reunion, this is a
place where Bill's family has summered for 60 or so years and
his cousin (hi, Bonnie!) told us about an abandoned camp ground
a few miles down the road. Well, of course we had to see!
We all piled into this mega-van my DH had leased to make the
trip from the Philadelphia area and drove over there. It was
quiet. It was creepy. The cabins were still standing, their
windows broken and the screens in shreds. And then Bonnie told
us the story of how the camp had been closed down because one of
the counselors had been abusing the kids. And of course, the
first thing I wondered about was who had blown the whistle on
him and what had eventually happened to her. And that's when
Genna Snow was born. I really do think it's the best book I've
written so far, and I'm very proud of it. It's also a
sentimental favorite for me, because it's the last book I'll be
writing for Pocket Books.
BC: Who are your
inspirations for your main characters?
MS: I'd love to be
able to say that I pluck people from my neighborhood or that I
pattern them after my relatives, but the truth is, I make them
all up! I did try to use a friend as a prototype for a character
once, but when it came time to make the character do something I
knew this friend would never in a million years do, I realized
that simply wouldn't work for me.
BC: BROWN EYED
GIRL, released in 1999, and your first psychological thriller,
was quite a departure from your previous writings. I’m still
amazed that the author of the beautiful and award winning
MOONDANCE (chosen RT's Reviewer' s Choice as Best Contemporary
Romance of 1999) could come up with such a vile character as
Raymond Lambert. How in the world did you create such a villain?
MS: Wasn't he a
nasty bugger? LOL. I don't know where he came from, truthfully.
He was just there when the story needed him. I think for the
most part, once the story settles in, the characters are there,
they just take over and tell the story in their own words. I've
never written a book where I knew from the beginning who all the
characters would be. They never fail to surprise me. For
example, Wally, the elderly man who lived next door to Zoey in
WONDERFUL YOU, just appeared in a scene one day and wouldn't
leave and now he's such a favorite of mine! And Chrissie, a
character in my new book, came out of nowhere.
BC: What does the
future have in store for Mariah Stewart?
MS: More romantic
suspense, at least for now. VOICES CARRY will be in the
bookstores by 2/1/01. It's the story of Genna Snow and her
one-time love, John Mancini, the FBI agent from BROWN-EYED GIRL
who shared some history in that book. In VOICES, they are teamed
up to investigate a rash of mysterious and seemingly unrelated
abductions of young women from different parts of the country. I
don't want to say much more than that - I wouldn't make a good
reviewer because it's hard for me to tell about the book and not
give things away!
In May '01, I'll have a short story in a romantic suspense
anthology along with stories from Karen Robards, Andrea Kane and
Linda Anderson. The book is titled WAIT UNTIL DARK and my story
is TILL DEATH DO US PART. If you read my short story in Pocket's
Christmas anthology (the book was UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR), you
might remember the Hollister and the McAllister families from
Larkspur, Montana. I thought it might be fun to revisit them for
this newest story, which brings Valerie McAllister and Sky
Hollister back together again. It's a little creepy, but I'm
finding creepy to be so much fun.
With my next book (the one I just started) - THE PRESIDENT'S
DAUGHTER - I'm moving to Ballantine Books.
BC: Is THE
PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER another romantic suspense?
MS: Yes - it's
the story of a thirty year old woman who discovers that she is
not who she thinks she is, and that everything that she thought
she knew about herself is a lie. And when I say I just started
it, I'm not kidding...I'm on page 17!
BC: One last
question, please. Your Enright series - DEVLIN'S LIGHT,
WONDERFUL YOU and MOON DANCE - were so popular. Any chance
you'll be doing another book in that series?
MS: So many people
have written to me about the Enright's - it seems that everyone
wanted to have a Mom like Delia, if only for a little while!
But I'm afraid those stories are, for the most part, finished.
Pocket didn't want me to do another, though I did have a little
tie-in to PRICELESS. I would, eventually, really love to
do another trilogy, though, and would most like to pick up where
PRICELESS left off. Sam McGowan had two sisters, Daria and
Iona, who lead pretty exciting lives. And I do know where
Jackson's been all these years he's been missing...would be a
shame to leave him there! Archaeology has always held great
fascination for me, so this family of archaeologists and
anthropologists was a natural! I'd like to do a trilogy
based on these characters and tie them all together with a
suspense that runs through the three books. I do have something
sketched out, but it's not time to do those right now - I've
other contractual obligations right now. But with the very
thin tie to the Enright's, we can check in with them from time
to time and see how they're doing.
BC: I want
to thank you again for being my very first interview.
Think I'll just stick to reviewing after this!
MS: Thank you. (You
done good, Betty!).
(Click here
for a review of Voices Carry)
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Mariah's Backlist
BROWN-EYED GIRL - April 2000
SWEPT AWAY - July 1999.
(UNDER THE BOARDWALK Anthology)
PRICELESS - June 1999
MOON DANCE - January 1999
WONDERFUL YOU - July 1998
IF ONLY IN MY DREAMS - November 1997
(UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR Anthology) DEVLIN's
LIGHT - August 1997
CAROLINA MIST- August 1996
A DIFFERENT LIGHT - November 1995
MOMENTS IN TIME. 3-1995.
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