As Cathy would say, "AAAWWWWKKKK!!!!!"

I hadn't intended to blog today. I was sitting at the computer, minding my own business, trying to get back to work on a manuscript, when this came my way:

Kathleen Valentine and Dan McAlister are on a promotional tour for their very different viewpoints—she’s a sensualist and he’s a moderate. Everyone thinks they’re strangers, but the hot chemistry between them is the lingering effect of their long-ago affair…the one they’re tempted to rekindle. And when these two extremes meet, the result is explosive!
"He jerked open his eyes and saw Kathleen. Naked. Dripping wet. Heat and ice washed over him at the sight of her body, just as she had appeared in so many guilty dreams. He turned away quickly, but he’d caught it all...every sexy inch of her. Desire spiked in him and the only thought running through his head was how much he wanted her."

That is from Going to Extremes by Dawn Atkins, a "sizzling" (her definition) romance novelist. The person who sent it to me was doing a search for my blog when she came across the above and thought I'd enjoy it. Well, I do. It has absolutely nothing to do with me except my name but I'd rather have my name in a steamy romance novel than in a book about serial killers or corporate lawyers.

It reminded me of something that happened with one of my characters a few years back. I had posted exerpts from my first novel on a web site as a promotional project while courting agents. One of my favorite characters in that book is a tough, roguish former-mariner-turned-tavern-owner names Sal Testaverde. I chose the name because I had a friend back in Erie, Pennsylvania (the setting for the novel) whose last name was Testaverde and I love the name Sal, Salvatore, because of its meaning--salvation. A few weeks after I published the site I got an email in my Inbox from one Sal Testaverde. You could have knocked me over! I didn't know Sal knew how to use email!!! well, it turned out to be a very nice guy who had come across his own name on my site and got a kick out of the description of Sal in the exerpt posted. We carried on a brief correspondence and I sent him a few sections from the novel in which Sal had a prominent part. He wrote back to say that he enjoyed reading them, was looking forward to reading the whole book and concluded by saying he wished his life was adventurous as my Sal's was. What fun.

I always knew there was a Kathy Valentine who is part of the popular rock group The Go-Gos. She is cute and talented and cool. However, this "Extreme" Kathleen Valentine is quite different. She sounds intimidating. Now I'm wondering if I have the courage to read what she is up to.

Thanks for reading.