Welcome to our New Faces column, where you'll meet the newest romance authors on your local bookshelves. This time we're visiting with Jennifer Ashley, whose first release is Perils of the Heart from Leisure Books.

Welcome, Jennifer! Tell us about yourself.

I currently live in the southwest, but I've traveled all over the world, and lived for a time in Japan and in Germany. I love the southwest for its weather and beauty, but I still travel as much as I can. Like my heroines, I have a yen to see the world. Currently, I live in a small house with my husband and cat and lovely desert garden.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

I have an MA in English, and for a time was an editor at a publishing company (which has since closed). But I've been writing all my life, since the age of eight, when I figured out that writers were people who made up stories and wrote them down. Hey, I could do that! I published my first short story in 1994, in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. A dream come true!

What led you to write romance?

I was a fantasy writer at first. I started to realize that every time I created a hero, I created a heroine to match him. I also loved the romantic elements in the fantasy, mystery, and historical novels I read. So I thought, why not just write romance? So I grabbed a pile of historical romances from the library and started to read. I was hooked!

Tell us about your road to publication.

My first foray into publication was painful and discouraging. In the mid-1990s I finally decided to get serious. I read "how to get published" books, started reading Writer's Digest, joined on-line writer discussion groups, and attended conferences. I fully expected to meet an author, agent, or editor who would love me instantly, grab my manuscript, and take me straight to stardom!

That didn't happen, needless to say. I got a couple short stories published, but my first novel, a very bad Regency, was firmly rejected (good thing!). I searched for an agent, but no luck. Soon after that, I had surgery for a GI-tract problem, and I stopped writing for a time.

Then in 1999, I decided again to get serious again. I sat down and wrote several manuscripts, concentrating on plot, romance, and characterization, and not worrying about what was "hot" in the romance world. I threw away my expectations of becoming an instant star. This time, I found an agent fairly quickly, simply by sending out a query letter. (Unfortunately, she was already cutting back her business and she finally closed her doors entirely.) I also started winning or placing in contests, including RWA's Golden Heart.

Meanwhile, I'd written Perils of the Heart, a novel that I simply had fun with. It's an outrageous action/adventure romance and I pulled out all the stops. I mailed a partial manuscript myself to Leisure, and to my surprise, received a request for a full. My former agent put in a good word for me as well, and at last I got The Call.

Well, I got The Voice Mail. I had just returned from the eye doctor and my pupils were so dilated I couldn't see a thing. So here I was listening to my messages, scrambling to find a pen and look up my former agent's phone number, dancing with excitement and half blind. I'm sure I was a funny sight. My cat thought so.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

Perils moves from on board ship to Havana to Boston. The hero is the captain of a merchantman who formerly served in the Continental Navy during the War for Independence. So not only did I research sea travel in the late eighteenth century, but American maritime history, British naval history, shipboard life, the history of Cuba, and life in Boston in the late eighteenth century.

I had just returned from my first visit to Boston when I began the book. Boston is a beautiful city and I wanted to include it in my story. On the other end of the country, I visited the Star of India, a merchant/passenger ship which is docked in San Diego (it's still a functional sailing ship). Though the Star of India was built in a later time period, and is much larger than Austin Blackwell's ship, it gave me a good feel of what it was like to stand on the deck of a tall sailing ship and watch the sails billow and listen to the wind in the rigging. It must have been exhilarating.

Tell us about your debut book.

Let's see. Evangeline Clemens, an English spinster, travels to America to take a post as a governess. Halfway there, she is thwarted by a beautiful, but sinister pirate woman who seeks to hijack the ship. She recruits Evangeline to distract the captain while the mutineers take over. Fearing the woman will murder Evangeline, her stepbrother, and the captain, Evangeline tremulously agrees. She enters the captain's cabin to find a handsome, stern-faced man who both frightens her and stirs her desires.

Austin Blackwell suspects that Evangeline has come to steal the papers he carries to the American government, papers that, if they fall into the wrong hands, could begin another war with England. He should, of course, simply turn Evangeline away. But her beauty distracts him and he finds that his desires, which he thought dead long ago, have awakened with a vengeance.

Can Austin and Evangeline foil the pirates and return safely to Boston? Will Austin retain command of his ship, his passions, and his sanity? Will his crew laugh themselves silly as he pursues the bespectacled spinster who is driving him mad? And what about the English lord Evangeline accidentally rescues? Will that suave gentleman succeed in stealing Evangeline away? The answers lie inside Perils of the Heart . . .

Who are your influences as a writer?

Romance authors I love to read over and over are: Mary Jo Putney, Amanda Quick, Jo Beverley, Jane Feather, Christina Dodd, Laura Kinsale, Loretta Chase, and Barbara Samuel. These ladies made me want to write historical romance!

What does your family think of having a romance author in their midst?

They love it! My husband is so proud of me. Everyone in his office is breathlessly waiting for the book's release (or maybe they just want him to be quiet). I can't go into a restaurant without someone asking about the novel--he's told everyone in town. My mother has informed an extensive network of people all over the country and many of them have already pre-ordered the book. My mother-in-law, who is a voracious romance reader herself, is absolutely thrilled. My friends and family have given me greater support than I ever would have dreamed. It has really touched me.

Tell us about plans for future books.

I am working on a two-book series featuring two pirates who once were partners and now are fierce rivals. One is a blond-haired, blue-eyed bad boy; the other is a dark hero who was once a southern gentleman. Each meets a sweet heroine who tames him, but in very different ways. I'm really enjoying writing these books.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Readers can reach me through my Web site, www.jennifersromances.com. I have an e-mail link to me there (jenniferashley@jennifersromances.com), or they can sign my guest book. I am always running contests on my site for free books and goodies!

Jennifer, thank you for joining us! Readers, we have a review of Perils of the Heart in our Historical section. November 16, 2002