Welcome to the New Faces column, where we are delighted to spotlight some of the newest authors on your romance shelves. This week we welcome Lisa Cach, whose time-travel romance The Changeling Bride is now available from Love Spell. Let's meet her!

Tell us about yourself.

I'm from Portland, Oregon. I've lived here all my life, except for college and a year I spent in Japan.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

This past summer I finally quit my job as a crisis hotline counselor working the graveyard shift. I'd been promising myself I'd do so as soon as I got my foot in the door with romance writing. Psychology was fascinating to learn about, and I enjoyed listening to people talk about the intimate details of their lives, but the job wasn't where my heart was.

What led you to write romance?

I've read romance novels since I was teenager. I used to think of them as a bit of a guilty pleasure, but now I know better. My psychology courses pointed out to me something that should have been obvious: people grow emotionally through their relationships with others. In romance novels you get to watch that happen for both the hero and the heroine. So you see, the books are good for you, besides for being the most entertaining pieces of literature you could ever hope to read.

Tell us about your road to publication.

I wrote my first romance novel about ten years ago. It got mounds of rejection letters, but I kept trying. My next book, never finished, got plenty of rejections based only on query letters. I grew disheartened, and gave up for a while. I went to Japan to teach English, then went to graduate school and got into counseling. I knew all through it, though, that writing romance was what I wanted to do. I started writing again while counseling part-time, and although I went through a year of rejection letters for my time-travel romance "The Changeling Bride", I finally got "the call" in February of this year (1999). Since then, things have taken off.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

Lots of costume history, certainly. I also went to England as a combined vacation/research trip. I spent ages trying to find information on the developments of bathroom plumbing, and eventually did find an early example of 'the facilities' in a museum in York. It often takes hours or days to find one little piece of information that is necessary to the story.

Who are your influences as a writer?

Jude Devereaux's A Knight in Shining Armor was the first time-travel romance I read, and I absolutely loved it. I couldn't get enough of it even while I was reading it. Jane Eyre and Gone with the Wind are two of my other favorite books, along with piles of mysteries, science fiction, thrillers, and of course romance. I especially like books with a light, humorous touch.

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

I think my family was even more excited about my getting published than I was. My dad, who dislikes books "where men wear lace", took my copy of the cover art down to the coffee shop where his cronies all hang out and made them all admire it. When he first saw the published version of the book, he opened it at random and started to read, and his eyes bugged out. He'd opened it to the middle of a sex scene.

Tell us about plans for future books.

I have a novella in the anthology Seduction by Chocolate coming out in January, 2000. My second novel, Bewitching the Baron, will be out in March. It's about a healer/witch in the 1730's. I'm just finishing up a ghost romance that I was contracted to write, but I don't yet know the release date. I'll also have a paranormal Christmas novella coming out at the end of next year.

How can readers get in touch with you?

I can be reached via e-mail at: cach@teleport.com

Lisa, thanks for joining us, and best of luck! Readers, we have a review of The Changeling Bride on our Time Travel/Fantasy page.

November 18, 1999