Welcome to Gaelen Foley's guest blog!

Hi there!

My name is Gaelen Foley and I’m really excited to be with you today as I celebrate the release of my brand-new book that just went on sale yesterday. It’s a Regency Historical titled MY WICKED MARQUESS, and I am eager to tell you about it, but first, here’s a little about me, for those who have not heard of me before.

A quick aside about my books--I write the darker style, emotionally intense, “sexy and dramatic” (as my UK editor describes them) big Regencies. My books usually have an adventure or suspense/thriller subplot, and I would say I am best known for my sexy, dangerous, complex alpha heroes.

I am from Pennsylvania, but I have lived in Atlanta, Charleston SC, New York, and New Jersey over the years. I come from a blue-collar Irish Catholic background here in the Rust Belt city of Pittsburgh, famous for its sports teams and, more importantly, its unpretentious, goodhearted people. I am married to my college sweetheart, Eric. We have been together since we were 19 years old, and I look forward to being one of those adorable little elderly couples one day that you see every now and then who have been together for 60+ years. We don’t have kids, just a very adorable bichon frise for now, but someday who knows?

As for my writing, I was one of those artsy, free spirit, bohemian types who knew I wanted to be an author since childhood. I studied literature in college because the creative writing track seemed like a waste of time to me. Honestly, what can a bunch of college freshmen teach each other with their fledgling attempts at short stories, compared to what a serious student can gain out of studying Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, etc.? I thought it seemed better to study the “greats” first before I tried writing my own juvenilia. So, I only started my first attempt at a novel after I graduated from college.

I didn’t want anything to get in the way of my writing, so I mostly worked as a waitress at night (some other part time jobs, too) in order to keep my mornings/days free for writing. Even if I never got published, it was worth it to me to live my life doing what I love each day, because who knows how long any of us actually have got on this earth. Of course, I was a terrible waitress because my head was always off in a story somewhere. I would forget what people had ordered as soon as I walked away from the table, LOL. Not good! But it was a great job for getting to know and love and understand and observe people. For a good portion of that time, I worked in a restaurant/sports bar, and in the slow times, the bartender, one of my dearest friends (aspiring actor at the time, along with me, the aspiring writer), we used to give free “counseling” to the regulars and other barflies who would come in, pull up a stool, and want to tell somebody their problems. We gave them the most outrageous advice we could think of, but at least we cheered them up. It was pretty fun.

All this time, I was writing and writing. It took me five and a half years and several complete manuscripts before I made my first sale. Shauna Summers was the (goddess!) editor, then with Ballantine (now she’s with Bantam) who bought The Pirate Prince out of the slush pile. (Meaning I didn’t have an agent.) That was in 1997, and my first book was an August 1998 release. The Pirate Prince won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best First Historical Romance. I was so thrilled by that. I still have the winning plaque on my office wall.

I went on to publish 13 books with Ballantine, though my original editor left. I got to work with a number of other, also terrific editors. My main project with Ballantine was a long series about the aristocratic Knight Family, which turned into a 10 book saga. The final book in the Knight series was called Her Every Pleasure and was a print list New York Times bestseller. (A huge thank you to all my loyal fans who made what is every author’s dream come true for me.) If you like family series with lots of drama and intensity, please visit my website for a list of all 10 Knight family books in order. All of these books were bestsellers and won many awards. Most readers decide on one particular “Knight brother” who becomes their favorite. The nice thing is all the books are done now, and all are still available, so you don’t have to wait in between releases.

When the last Knight book was completed last year, I took some time off to recharge my creative batteries, and then came up with a wild new series idea—The Inferno Club. I showed it to my agent (Nancy Yost—love her) and she knew right away there would be a lot of interest in it. I was lucky enough to have an auction for my Inferno Club project with a few different publishers interested, and I ended up going with Avon.

Seeing what a masterful job Avon does with historical romance, I knew I would be very happy there long-term, because as some of you may have heard me say, I am very committed to staying in historical romance. We have all seen so many wonderful authors make it big in historicals and then leave for greener pastures, and while they have to do what they have to do creatively, I also know how disappointing that can be for readers. For me, Regency Historicals are my first love and my passion, and I like to think that it shows in my work! Ok, so now, if I may…let me tell you about The Inferno Club!

The Inferno Club

The Inferno Club is a scandalous gathering of wealthy libertines and highborn rakehells devoted to their wicked pleasures.
So the Club’s members are known to London Society.
But little does the world suspect the true purpose of the Inferno Club—or the danger that looms over England—which these select, powerful lords are secretly sworn to fight.
Recruited as lads from noble families, trained in an array of deadly arts, and sent into various countries throughout Europe to hunt down and destroy their targets, they are the operatives of an agency so secret that few beyond the Crown and a few top officials even know it exists.
Their mission: to stop the insidious spread of an evil, centuries-old secret society with tentacles in every court in Europe and members among the uppermost reaches of power.
The dissipation of the Inferno Club is merely their cover whenever they return to England for further orders from their handler.
With Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the agents of the Inferno Club believe their shadow war is over, too; but as it turns out, their not-quite-vanquished enemies still have a few evil tricks up their sleeves.
In the meanwhile, the agents try to get on with their lives as civilians, and this means finding wives and siring heirs to carry on their titles. Each book centers around one of the lords of the Inferno Club and the lady who teaches him to love.

First up is Max St. Albans, the Marquess of Rotherstone, in My Wicked Marquess. ON SALE NOW, did I mention? *gg*

BACK COVER BLURB:

Max St. Albans, the scandalous Marquess of Rotherstone has decided it’s time to restore the family’s good name. But as a member of the Inferno Club, he knows there is only one way to redeem himself in Society’s eyes: marry a lady of impeccable beauty and breeding, whose reputation is, above all, spotless.

Someone quite unlike Daphne Starling. True, she’s temptingly lovely, but a jilted suitor has nearly ruined her reputation. Still, Max cannot resist her allure—or the challenge of proving London’s gossips wrong. He would do anything to win her hand . . . and show that even a wicked marquess can make a perfect husband.

TITLE INFO
Book Title – My Wicked Marquess
Author’s Name – Gaelen Foley
Publisher – Avon
ISBN Number – 978-0-06-173395-6
Price of Book – $7.99 US/$10.99 Canada
Date Due in Stores – June 30, 2009

If you would like to read an excerpt from MY WICKED MARQUESS and “meet” Max and Daphne in their first face-to-face encounter, please visit: http://www.gaelenfoley.com/novels_wicked_marquess.html#excerpt

OR you can go to my home page and play my “theme song” music and it’ll convey to you in under 2 minutes what the emotional tone of a Gaelen Foley romance is like. *g* (Printable booklist is also available there for those who might want to check out the Knight series.) http://www.gaelenfoley.com

Thanks again for letting me come here today to blog with you, and please don’t hesitate to chime in with your questions, comments, or random musings!

Love,
Gaelen

Contest:
5 Lucky winners will get a Cover Flat Prize Pack.(Includes autographed cover flat, bookmarks, bookplates, etc.), so stop by and say hello. Look for the winners tomorrow morning, because you have only 7 days to contact me under danny @ loveromancesandmore.com