Welcome to New Faces, where we are delighted to introduce some of the newest authors on the romance scene. This week we're pleased to feature the husband-and-wife writing team of Lori and Tony Karyaianni, who write for Harlequin Temptation under the name of Tori Carrington. Their debut book, Constant Craving, is on the shelves now. Welcome, Lori and Tony!

What are your backgrounds, and how did you come to be writing together?

Lori: I was born and raised in metropolitan Toledo, Ohio, along with my younger brother Carl, Jr. (two stepbrothers, Jamey and Stephen, came later). Writing, I guess, has always played a fundamental role in my life. When I was younger, it was a way to pour out emotions I didn't dare bare to anyone else. Just like a large percentage of others, I suspect, I have old letters that were never meant to be sent, and poems that will never be seen by anyone's eyes but mine. At fifteen, I even wrote my first full length romance, but that will never be seen by anyone either, simply because it no longer exists. My stepmother stumbled upon a few chapters, realized how autobiographical in nature it was despite the use of third person, and the entire six hundred and some handwritten pages are surely compost by now.

Being a practical Capricorn, however, it never occurred to me I could make writing a career. That came a couple years after Tony and I first met. So in my sophomore year, I transferred from a Catholic high school to a vocational/technical school where I majored in computer science and accounting, and became a certified computer programmer. It wasn't until five years later -- after filling two programming positions -- that I realized I found the prospect of stepping in front of a bus preferable to writing and debugging one more uninspired program. By then, Tony and I had recognized and had begun to nurture our love for the written word, so I figured that if I had to work, I might as well choose a position that involved people, something that gave me more time for writing. So I starting taking on temp jobs that led to an ultimately more satisfying office managerial position, then a job as a sales/service clerk -- the former in the engineering division, the latter the international sales division -- with Owens-Illinois, the largest U.S. glass manufacturer, headquartered here in Northwest Ohio.

Then my father died suddenly in '91 at the age of 51. Everything changed. I took a go-for-broke approach to my life and our writing. I hung up my secretarial/clerking cap (it was either that or start advancing into an international sales position, because we Capricorns must climb, and I wasn't interested in that), we contracted with an agent we've since left, and I've been writing full time since.

Tony: I was born the youngest of seven children in a mountainside village near the mythologically rich city of Olympia, Greece -- where my family still owns two homes and an olive grove -- but was raised for the most part in Athens. As the youngest and the most indulged, I drifted from job to job, two of the most notable as a photographer and a drummer in a popular Greek band. When I was in my early twenties, my hunger for adventure led me to the U.S. But with no clear cut goal, or family to lean on, I learned the hard way that the road to heaven is not always paved with gold.

It wasn't until I met Lori in the spring of 1982 that everything started to come together for me.

I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't always a big reader, simply because books other than text books were not readily available to me during my childhood. But I've always been a big movie fan, and fondly remember that in the summer the Greek theaters were moved outdoors, much like the old drive-ins here, but with tables and chairs.

Lori, on the other hand, always seemed to be reading a novel of one sort of another, and we'd often engage in long, through-the-night discussions of why this movie had affected me, or why that fictional character had found a place in her heart. We'd draw parallels between these works and the timeless stories I'd grown up with, then discuss how we might alter the contemporary plots, or further flesh out the main characters, to make them more compelling. It was from these passionate discussions that our own desire to write was born. We began devouring everything about writing we could lay our hands on, enrolled in and aced Writer's Digest's School's Writing to Sell Fiction course, and sweated out our first book, written in the tradition of Harlequin Romances. It was then we began collecting files full of what Lori calls our oxymoronic "really nice rejection" letters.

It took fourteen years of constant writing, a library full of how to books, and countless finished manuscripts -- among them a hard-boiled mystery, a thriller, two women's mainstream contemporaries, and countless romances written for various category lines -- before Brenda Chin of Harlequin Temptation finally took a chance on us.

Despite the long haul, I can safely say that if a Genie or another otherworldly figure were to appear now and offer us a different path, one that included selling straight out of the gate, we'd both refuse without hesitation. The experiences we've collected, the obstacles we've overcome, the friends we've made...well, they make seeing our first published book on the shelves all the more meaningful.

What led you to write romance?

We've occasionally veered away from writing straight romance, but even our thriller has strong romantic elements. Given our own closeness, we suppose it's that more than anything that led to our first and subsequent books being romances. They tell you to write what you know. Well, our own enduring romance is what we knew and know best.

What are the challenges of balancing a writing team with a marriage? How do you handle disputes?

The great thing about working together is that at day's end, we're both more than willing to put writing aside and concentrate solely on each other. But since we share such a tremendous love for each other as well as for what we do, our writing is an integral part of our lives, so the line often blurs. Take for example, our travels. Not only do we delight in traveling for the sake of enjoyment, we also record items we might use in future books. And every writers' conference we attend also becomes the perfect opportunity for a mini-vacation.

Disputes. We'd say the most important ingredients in handling disputes is what we call the three C's: consideration, cooperation, and compromise.

Prior to publication, we handled our disputes the way every mature adult does: we traded off on those few ideas we weren't able to sell to the other, e.g. "okay, we'll work on this idea now if we use this other one you didn't find appealing for our next project." Now? Our editor Brenda Chin is our wise and funny mediator. We trust her judgment and even indulge in a little wagering before turning to her on particularly sticky points that results in playful games of "I told you so" after decisions are made. Brenda seems to enjoy these conversations as much as we do.

Having said that, we'll add that remembering to have fun makes a whole lot of the difficult stuff easier.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

Constant Craving is set in a fictional bayou town near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. We decided on this locale for several reasons. First, we knew we wanted to give our heroine Eva a Greek-American background, but didn't want to fall back on the clichés (e.g. "You're Greek? Do you know so-and-so Greek who owns a carry-out/restaurant). Since fishing is a still a major industry in Greece, as well as in Louisiana, we thought drawing parallels would be easier and it was.

Second, in all our travels so far, Louisiana (especially the area in and around New Orleans), consistently makes our top ten list of favorite places to visit.

Third, and most importantly, we chose Louisiana for the atmosphere. You can't beat the decadent...steaminess when writing a hot romance.

We then drew from personal experiences gained through our visits, and proceeded to scour every book written on the area. Our problem is in knowing when to stop researching.

Who are your influences as writers?

Lori: Tough question, because there are so many authors and books that have influenced me both on a small and grand scale. I could start by saying my love of books comes from my mother, who is a life-long member of The Doubleday Book Club. While my classmates in junior high were giggling over the infamous scenes in Wifey, I was cutting my teeth on racy, commercial bestsellers like Judith Krentz, early Jackie Collins and Harold Robbins, Robin Cook, Susan Isaacs, Danielle Steele, Sidney Sheldon and June Flaum Singer. Now Maeve Binchy, Jenny Crusie Smith, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips are some of my current mainstream/single title fav's, while Candace Schuller, Emilie Richards McGee, Vicki Lewis Thompson, and Anne Stuart are among my favorite category authors.

Having been raised in a society where the old tales and philosophies permeate everyday life, Tony points first to Aristotle, Aristophanes, and Homer for shaping much of his interest in story-telling. But it's the old American movies -- especially epics and westerns -- he viewed in Greece that stole his heart. He points to contemporaries Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, teleplay and screenwriter Chris Carter, Teresa Medeiros, Suzanne Brockmann, Maggie Shayne and Jude Deveraux as some of the authors he admires.

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

They are all unconditionally proud. Our twenty-three year old niece, Elena, who resides in Athens, is especially overjoyed. She has just about every Arlekin (the Greek Harlequin imprint) ever published, and has a suitcase full of keepers she stores under her bed. We bring a few back with us during our twice-a-year trips and have the authors we know or know we'll be seeing autograph them for her.

Of course, some family members now think we're enormously rich and jokingly ask when we're gonna share the wealth. They also want to know "when is that movie coming out anyway."

Tell us about plans for future books.

We received the news from Brenda on Thanksgiving Day that our next Harlequin Temptation, LICENSE TO THRILL, due out July '99, will be the first in our own hopefully six book series, THE MAGNIFICENT McCOY MEN. As if we didn't already have enough for which to be thankful! Look for more details as they become available on our web site at www.temptationauthors.com/tori

How can readers get in touch with you?

We'd luv to hear from you! If you're curious to learn even more about us (Lord forbid), would like to enter our drawings, take a peek at photos of friends, family and other authors, or read our monthly newsletter, check out our web site (a definite labor of love given Lori's background in computer science) at www.temptationauthors.com/tori You can e-mail us from there, or send us one directly at tori@temptationauthors.com Or, if you'd prefer, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to us for an autographed bookplate and response at P.O. Box 12271, Toledo, OH 43612.

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to share a bit of ourselves with you. Here's wishing you all romance, love, and happy reading!

Best of luck, Tony and Lori! Readers, check out our review of Constant Craving.

December 10, 1998