C.S. Harris / Candice Proctor

Candice is in my writing group in New Orleans. Like me, she began with an academic career. Then, while this world traveler was living in Australia, she turned to writing full time. Candice has penned a number of historical romances under the Proctor name, and is now writing an historical mystery series as C. S. Harris for NAL. This series has great titles such as What Angels Fear and When Gods Die, despite the fact that Candice once claimed to be absolutely terrible with titles.

I haven’t read any of Candice’s mysteries yet, but I’ve read some of her historical romances, which draw you along in the story by virtue of their compelling characters. One thing I’ve also learned about Candice from our writing group is that she is an absolutely meticulous craftsman. Most readers want a good story and are not terribly concerned with the aesthetics of the prose, but Candice manages to craft an exciting tale and still produce a polished prose that those of us who like lyrical writing can appreciate. She does it all with hard work, so check out her link on my blog.

Candice recently did a signing at the American Library Association conference, which was held here in New Orleans, and she and her husband Steve Harris, who is also in our writing group, brought each member of the group goody bags stuffed with Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) that they got at the conference. I suppose only another bibliophile can imagine the quickening heartbeat and dilating pupils of one who is about to peek into such a bag of goodies. One item they brought me was an ARC for Stephen King’s latest novel, which is a rare treat since King is so popular that his publisher almost never sends out ARCs. Another book they brought me was The Space Opera Renaissance, an anthology of and about Space Opera, a favorite genre of mine. I looked through this last night and realized it’s not only going to be fun reading but a gold mine of reference information for my own writing. Did I tell you that Steve and Candice are good people? Yup, they are.