Journalist Emma Portland would do anything to save her career, even go undercover at the 31st Annual GalaxyCon in search of a story. Emma thinks she’s hit pay dirt when she meets Luke Evans, a bestselling scifi author whose readers have turned against him. She has no problem getting close to the sexy writer to get the scoop on his downfall. Except the more time she spends with Luke, the more she has a different kind of exposé in mind…

Luke can’t believe he’s found the one woman at GalaxyCon who hasn’t heard of him and can look that hot in a bikini. For the first time he’s opening up about himself…and the secret that torpedoed his writing career. Too bad his former fans are out for blood—and out to sabotage his budding relationship with Emma.

But amidst rival reporters, eager fanboys and overzealous role-players, it’s Emma’s secret that may put the brakes on their sizzling attraction for good…

How does one decide to write set a romance novel set at science fiction convention?

You read Pat White’s Got a Hold on You first.

I cannot express how much I adored this book. A-dored it. It’s not very often a book will get a belly-laugh out of me. I may chuckle, snort, smile in amusement, but belly-laugh?

Hardly ever.

Man, I hee-hawed my way through this book. You see, Got a Hold on You, is about a professional wrestler. Now, I’m not talking the Olympic style wrestling. I’m talking, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, sequences and tassels, wrestling. And it was AWESOME!

When I finished that book, I was pumped. I wanted to let my imagination go wild with zany settings, crazy secondary characters, and a love story readers would cheer for too!

What better way to do that than with something I know, and know well?

Geeks!!

Just like that the idea of Defying Convention was born. I had a freaking riot writing this book. How could I not with angry role-players (or larpers for the geekly knowledged) determined to teach their favorite author a lesson, an unwilling hero forced to play along, and a heroine so far outside her element she felt like she’d entered the twilight zone. Not to mention all the cult classic references I got to throw in. Rocky Horror Picture Show anyone?

Most of the story came pretty easy for me. The larpers gave me the creative outlet to have some major fun and put my hero and heroine in situations you’re not going to find in everyday life. Emma was fun to write. The poor chick only went to the convention to sniff out a story, but she got more than she bargained for—with the larpers and Luke. Then there was Luke.

Sigh. Luke. Luke. Luke. He just didn’t want to cooperate with me at all. In fact, a little over a year and half ago, I wrote a blog about how difficult he was being. I thought I’d share a portion of it with you. You can read the entire blog here.

January 23, 2010

I’m writing a romantic comedy. While it is a comedy, the hero has a secret. I’ve written this story believing his secret was nothing too heavy, just an awww poor guy sort of thing. Why? Because that’s what he told me.

As I got deeper into second edits, I realized Luke was much angrier this go round. There is no way he is this screwed up over what he’d told me. It wasn’t possible. Let me put it into perspective for you: Mountain meet mole hill. Yeah, that bad.

So we had a chat last night. It went something like this:

Me: “Dude, what the hell?”

Luke stared me down, jaw rigid. “I told you everything that happened.”

I banged my fist on my desk. “If that’s the case, you need major counseling. Because,” I waved my hand at the computer screen, “that pile of crap you gave me to begin with is not going to fly with your current attitude.”

He shrugged. “Not my problem.”

“Not your…Ooh! Listen, you pain in the butt, you came to me. If you want your story told, then I need the whole story not half-truths, Luke. It’s all or nothing. Which is it?”

A vein ticked at his temple as he glanced away. I was relieved to see this reaction. I was worried I was embellishing things just a tad bit in my interpretation of his story. But nope, there he was in all his angry glory. What seemed like a freaking eternity later—man, silence really can be deafening—he finally looked back and met my eyes, doing the whole if-I-look-furious-enough-maybe-she’ll-back-off-thing. Been there, done that, doesn’t work on me.

I looked at my invisible watch. “It’s late. Kids have school in the morning. You know the way out.”

I stood and walked toward the door. As I opened it, he finally spoke. One deep, sharp word. “Fine.”

Now that could have been taken one of two ways: fine leave or fine I’ll talk. But knowing him the way I do, I closed the door and returned to my chair. Picking up my pen and pad of paper, I said, “I’m ready to listen.”

Then he told me his story. And what a story it is. Now if he’d just told me this from the dang beginning we wouldn’t have had this conversation.

Yep, that was Luke Evans for me, a royal pain in the rear, but in the end, my struggle with Luke was worth it. I love the story. It’s one of my favorites I’ve written and I’m thrilled that Carina Press took a chance on it and allowed me the opportunity to share it with you. Thank you, Carina Press!

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CONTEST!!!!

So in appreciation of my release of Defying Convention, available now at Carina Press, I’m throwing a CONTEST!!! Not only am I giving away a copy of Defying Convention to one random commenter, I’m also giving away two $5 Amazon gift certificate to two more randomly chosen winners. That’s three chances to win people. Don’t say I’m not generous:) All you have to do is comment about what you go geek about.

I’ll start: Hello, my name is Abby. I’m a Harry Potter geek. I love everything Harry Potter. I even bought my son a shirt with Muggle written across it, and yes I did a happy squeal dance when I found it. I would’ve bought one for my daughter, but she refused my offer with “I’m not wearing something from the boy’s section.” She’s going to have to get over that. My Goonies t-shirt came from the men’s department. I love that shirt!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share this with you today!

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Abby Niles has always loved to read. After having twins and becoming a stay-at-home mom, she started doodling stories to keep her sanity. She mixed her love for laughter in with her writing and found she had a knack for humor. Nothing makes her happier than having a LOL written beside one of her favorite lines from one of her fabulous critique partners.

Abby is also published under the name Esmerelda Bishop. Esmerelda write erotic romance and has a paranormal titled The Panther’s Lair published with Carina Press.

When Abby’s not writing, you can find her playing ‘Just Dance’ with her kids on the Wii or trying to catch up on her never-ending to-be-read list. She also loves Zumba, and refuses to admit she looks more like Animal doing his Muppet flail than a sensual latin dancer while doing it. You find Abby at the following places: Twitter, Facebook, and her Website.