During the bite of the Great Depression, sole female dominant Joan Fuller struggles against the rise of cruelty among her alpha counterparts. The men tolerate her interference--until she breaks from the pack and allies with a witch and a vampire. Now the Boston alpha intends to bring them all forcibly back into the fold--and teach her a lesson she may not survive.***
Seamus Whelan and his werewolf bootleggers intend to retire from smuggling and savor their fortune, but first they must do a favor for an old friend: escort some female wolves to safety. An easy job, if their leader wasn't a prim ex-debutante with enough power to challenge Seamus himself. Chance makes them allies; powerful need makes them lovers.
Together, they have the opportunity to build a sanctuary for their kind, but first they must free themselves from Joan's past, and the powerful man who would see her destroyed.
Why the Great Depression?
In our contemporary paranormal series, we have a paranormal culture that was twisted when the wrong people took power. It made sense to us that the quickest way to overcome natural selection was an event that transcended power and struck at the heart of survival.
The Great Depression seemed like the perfect time for money to overtake tradition and let a new set of rules come into play. So when we decided to go back and write about this turning point, there was no other choice!
What research challenges did you face?Much of A SAFE HARBOR and its sequel, UNDERTOW, takes place on a remote island off the coast of Maine. In many ways, we were writing frontier level technology in a Great Depression setting, which meant we had to know what our characters would have--and what they'd be missing!
The other challenge was feminism. Our werewolf society has progressed somewhat backwards from human society. Our contemporary female wolves had very little power in their paranormal lives but relative freedom in their human ones.
When writing A SAFE HARBOR, we had to reverse our thinking, and try to think about how women who had different roles in human society would be changed by the power they'd had in their paranormal lives--and how difficult it would be to have that power taken away.
How have you handled adding paranormal elements into this era of history?
As with any era, the most important thing for us is to make sure that the paranormal aspects work with the world around them. In this instance, we already had a world. We knew how the bits and pieces fit together. Our challenge was considering how our cultures had progressed through the years.
What other historicals eras (if any) have you used for settings?
In March 2011 we'll be seeing our first alternate Wild West paranormal romance hit the virtual shelves. It's a little bit steampunk, a lot paranormal and a wild campy ride. It's been fun to write something that gets to be a little more out there, since A SAFE HARBOR and UNDERTOW are relatively serious books set in a dark world. (As can be expected...the Great Depression is not the most cheerful time period!)
Who is Moira Rogers?
Our biography asks the important question: How do you make a Moira Rogers? Take a former forensic science and nursing student obsessed with paranormal romance and add a computer programmer with a passion for gritty urban fantasy. Toss in a dash of whimsy and a lot of caffeine, and enjoy with a side of chocolate by the light of the full moon.
By day, Bree and Donna are mild-mannered ladies who reside in the Deep South. At night, when their husbands and children are asleep, they combine forces to unleash the product of their fevered imaginations upon the page. (Disclaimer: crime fighting abilities may appear only in the aforementioned fevered imaginations.)
What's up next for you?
In October we'll see the publication of our second historical novella, UNDERTOW, as well as a short story in the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2. After that we'll be returning to contemporary times and the Deep South for our third Southern Arcana novel. Then a trip to the gunslinging wild west in March!
In other words...we keep busy.
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Would you like to try out this tasty unusual treat? Just leave a comment or question for our dynamic writing duo. Maybe: What are your thoughts about a romance set in the Great Depression? What about mixing paranormal elements with historical settings? I'll draw one winner at random next week, who will win a digital copy of A SAFE HARBOR. Void where prohibited. Best of luck!
