Welcome to our New Faces column, where we're pleased to introduce some of the newest romance authors of the genre. This time we're visiting with Lisa Jensen, whose first historical romance is The Witch from the Sea, available from Beagle Bay Books.

Lisa, welcome to The Romance Reader! Tell us about yourself.

I'm a California girl who's never lived more than a mile from the ocean. I was born in San Diego in 1952, grew up in Hermosa Beach (Los Angeles County), and moved to Santa Cruz ‹ on the north end of the Monterey Bay ‹ to attend the University of California. Santa Cruz is Lotus Land, and I've never wanted to leave. Especially after I met my future husband, James. He owned a comic book store at the time and I was writing for a weekly newspaper. Now, he's a full-time artist and muralist, I've just published my first novel and we've been married for 23 years.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

Right out of UCSC, I worked in a movie theater and a bookstore, to satisfy my favorite addictions - movies and books! Then I became the film critic for the weekly Santa Cruz paper GOOD TIMES, a position I've held for (gulp) 26 years. For about 15 years, off and on, I also reviewed books for the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, where my specialty was historical fiction and women's fiction.

What led you to write romance?

Well, everybody loves a good love story! I reviewed a lot of women-oriented historical fiction for the CHRONICLE, and there's only so long you can spend analyzing and critiquing other peoples' work before you start thinking "I could do that." But it was probably reading Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" that really drove me over the edge and made me feel I HAD to write a book of my own. I did not, unfortunately, review it for the CHRONICLE, I just happened to pick it up on my own, but I went totally nuts - the history was so immediate and alive and the characters so rich! In the case of Gabaldon, I never had the gall to think "I could do that". I wish! But it was a wonderful piece of storytelling to aspire to.

Tell us about your road to publication.

My road to publication was not only extremely rocky, it was downright weird. An earlier draft of my book was published in 1998 - in German! No, I didn't write it in German. At the time, the New York agency I was with sold it in manuscript form to a publisher in Munich who had it translated into German. It came out in hardcover with original art on the cover, a stitched-in silk bookmark, altogether a beautiful production - but no one I knew could read it, including me! And my agent was never able to sell it to a US publisher. Editors praised the writing and characters, but they all said historical fiction was "impossible" to market.

Then, in 2001, I opened my mailbox and found the trade paperback edition of my German book. It was another beautifully-produced book, but unfortunately, still in German! But I decided to dust off my ms, do one last rewrite and try again. By this time, I'd parted company with my NY agent. She was a great editor and had shepherded me through two revisions that made the book so much stronger, but there wasn't anything more she could do for me. So I started looking for a smaller publisher who might take a chance on a smaller book that didn't fit the "blockbuster" profile. I found Beagle Bay Books on the Internet. They were small enough that I didn't need an agent to approach them, and they were actively seeking female-oriented historical fiction. It was a perfect fit.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

When I decided to write a pirate novel, I first went to the public library to read all their pirate books. Okay, there weren't all that many, but from these general pirate histories, I was able to pinpoint which era of piracy I wanted to write about. I decided to pass on the so-called "Golden Age" of piracy (ca 1700); I didn't want comic-opera pirates clomping around in high-heeled buckled shoes and enormous wigs. I settled on the 1820s, when the West Indies were in real ferment and sensibilities would be a little more modern. We were lucky enough to go on vacation to the Virgin Islands back in 1988, to visit relatives. I spent the whole time snapping photos of the landscape, the vegetation, the clouds, the beaches, the water, everything, while scribbling copious notes in a succession of little pocket notebooks that I carried around everywhere. Back in Santa Cruz, I went to the University library and checked out every book they had on the West Indies of the 1820s to get a sense of the people and the lifestyle of that era.

Who are your influences as a writer?

Diana Gabaldon, of course. Dear old Patrick O'Brian; I love his seafaring Aubrey-Maturin series. I'm crazy about Sharon Kay Penman, who writes big, dense historical novels about medieval English kings and queens. And I confess a weakness for the 19th-Century novelists: Dickens, Thackeray, the Brontes and the swashbucklers of Alexandre Dumas.

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

My husband has been there cheering me on through every phase of my writing/publishing adventure and he's delighted that I finally have a book in a language we can read! He's always been my best and most critical audience. I read every version of every book to him out loud, and he's quick to point out sentences or scenes that don't work. I don't always agree with him, but most of the time, his ideas are pretty sound. But when a scene works, his responses are completely unedited. I've actually seen him cry during a dramatic scene. And when I read a love scene that works, well, a splendid time is had by all!

Tell us about plans for future books.

My second book, "The Playmakers," a sequel to "The Witch From The Sea," is already written. I think it's my best book (she says, modestly) and Beagle Bay has expressed interest. The story takes place in the British Leeward islands, where my heroine and hero take up the life of "buskers" (street performers) ashore. They befriend a former slave on a secret mission, run afoul of a villainous island constable who wants to destroy them, and find themselves taken up by the "ton" of English colonial society - all while struggling to conceal their outlaw past. The book features intricate plotting, rollicking action and some very provocative love scenes. My third book, the last in the series, is called "A Comedy Of Marriage." It's still under construction, but I can reveal that it relocates my characters to the West Country of England where they join a troupe of roving players.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Everyone is welcome to visit my website at www.witchfromthesea.com. You can contact me through the website or email me directly at lisajensen@sbcglobal.net. Or you can write to me in care of Beagle Bay Books, 3040 June Meadows Road, Reno, NV, 89509.

Since I always see things in cinematic terms, I can't help imagining my book as a movie. I would love for readers to write and tell me who they would like to see cast in the movie version of "The Witch From The Sea!"

Lisa, thanks for joining us, and best of luck with your trilogy! Readers, we have a review of The Witch from the Sea on our Historical page.

October 2, 2001