Welcome to our New Faces column, where we are pleased to introduce debut romance authors. This time we're visiting iwth Jennie Klassel, whose first release was She Who Laughs Last, from Leisure. Her second release, Girl on the Run, will be out soon. Let's meet Jennie.

Jennie, welcome to TRR! Tell us about yourself.

I’m a "Joizy" girl. New Jersey, that is. When I headed out to the great heartland of America to attend Washington University in St. Louis, my accent betrayed me and for the next four years I was "Joizy" instead of Jennie. I spent an inordinate amount of time hanging around the university theater – acting, directing, mopping the stage – but somehow I managed to earn a degree in Architectural History. I actually intended to go on to graduate school, but you know how it is – "The best laid plans…" I sailed off to England to study acting in London, met and married an English architect, and spent a year driving across Asia in a Land Rover (back when you still could). We ended up living in Singapore for two years where I co-founded an English-language theater company. My daughter, Sidonie Gabrielle, was born there. Now I live in Boston.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

Sometimes I feel as though I became a romance writer by falling into a rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland. For a number of years I did a little bit of everything – acting, building kayaks, shepherding visiting dignitaries around Harvard University, and writing commercial copy for catalogs. Four years ago life sort of threw me a curve (as it will), and I bowed out of the working world due to illness. At that time I would have laughed myself silly if anyone had suggested I was heading down the long and winding road toward becoming a romance writer!

What led you to write romance? Are you a longtime reader?

I have to be honest and say that until four years ago I didn’t read much romantic fiction. Well, that’s not exactly true: I can practically quote Pride and Prejudice line for line, and I would die happy if in my lifetime I could write even one chapter as well as Jane Austen.

It wasn’t "what" led me to write romance, it was "who." My daughter showed up on my doorstep one day, told me to stop feeling sorry for myself, and shoved a box of romance novels at me. "Read them," she ordered. "And then get off your duff and write one." So I did. It was a contemporary and, in a word, a disaster. I sent it out to every agent recognized by RWA and every agent recognized by RWA rejected it. It lives with the dust bunnies under the bed (although I may pull it out one of these days and cannibalize the good bits), but I can now see it for what it was: a one-year course in how – and how not – to write a romance novel.

Tell us about your road to publication.

I’m not sure why I chose to make my second effort a medieval historical, probably because that long-ago degree in Architectural History centered on medieval cathedrals and castles. I sent She Who Laughs Last out to about ten agents; only one expressed any interest at all, but ultimately she rejected it, saying – and I quote -- "I’m not sure what this is, but I’m sure it’s not a romance." I had just decided to let it rest in peace when I happened to see an announcement on line about the 2002 New Historical Voice contest sponsored by Romantic Times and Dorchester Publishing Co. I said to myself, "What the heck," and rushed to the post office to send it off by Express Mail because the submission deadline was two days away. To my utter amazement, I was a co–winner with Shari Boullion (A Stolen Time), and we each received a contract with Dorchester. So it took me about three years to get published.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

Despite some familiarity with the medieval world through my college studies, I did a huge amount of research on the role of women in medieval society. One excellent book is Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England, 450-1500 by Henrietta Leyser. There’s nothing like original sources, and although it’s hard going, I re-read The Canterbury Tales, and excerpts from contemporary chroniclers such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, and John of Salisbury. Frances and Joseph Gies have written several excellent books about medieval life and Barbara Tuchman’s From a Distant Mirror is a brilliant study of life in the fourteenth century. Since I was writing a comedy, I had some fun at the movies: Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood, Richard Burton’s Camelot, and of course that hysterical spoof, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Tell us about your debut book.

I wanted to write a book about how a clever woman could take control of her own destiny in a male-dominated society in which women were often nothing more than chattel. I set She Who Laughs Last in an imaginary medieval kingdom in the Mediterranean, but was careful to make it a historically accurate reflection of life in the thirteenth century. Here’s a brief précis of the story:

"Lady Syrah Dhion prides herself on her expertise at the game of chess. When it comes to strategy and the ability to read another player's intentions, she's the equal of any man. So, when her hateful cousin seizes her hall and tries to coerce her into marriage, she comes up with a foolproof strategy to send him packing. All she has to do is kidnap a prince, collect the ransom, and hire a legendary mercenary to provide the muscle. How hard could it be?

But then, chamber pots simply hadn't figured in Lady Syrah's clever plan. Not to mention rampaging dromedaries, an aphrodisiac with an unexpected twist, and an education in amatory sport quite unfit for a lady.

Crown Prince Jibril Chios is the most brilliant military tactician in the realm. He harbors no doubt that in the end the game will always be his. And if only he hadn't let his libido get the better of him one night in a smoky tavern, he wouldn't have found himself at the mercy of an intriguing lady kidnapper intent on selling him back to his father the King, as though he were a bull in the market square.

When two brilliant minds meet, two stubborn wills collide, and two hearts join in the dance of love and desire, it's adventure, it’s farce, and of course, it's romance."

Who are your influences as a writer?

No matter the genre, I look for good writing. I love the great ladies of mystery –- Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey, Ngaio Marsh, PD James, Elizabeth Peters, Anne Perry, Nevada Barr, JD Robb. And the quirky humor of Teresa Medeiros, Amanda Quick, and Jennifer Crusie. Julie Garwood is a terrific storyteller. And Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum is a hoot –- and a "Joizy" girl!

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

They giggle a lot.

Tell us about plans for future books.

Dorchester signed me for two more books after She Who Laughs Last. The sequel, Girl on the Run, will be out this June. Sometimes a character simply won’t go quietly at the end of a book: The irrepressible Eben Dhion, my favorite character in the first book, has materialized again at age twenty-eight -- as alpha a male as you’d ever want to meet. He finds himself in hot pursuit of a young woman who’s determined to find a way to travel eight-hundred years into the future to a world in which women are allowed to learn to read and write and choose their own husbands. Just who ends up catching whom depends on your perspective!

Another medieval comedy, The Lady Doth Protest, will be published by Leisure in March 2005, and I’m also working on two contemporary comedies.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that "’Tis the good reader who makes the good book." I hope readers will visit me at my web site, www.jennieklassel.com, and will feel free to get in touch with me at jennieklassel@earthlink.net. I try to answer all e-mails individually, so if readers have questions or just want to chat I’d love to hear from them.

Jennie, thanks for joining us, and best of luck! Readers, we have a review of She Who Laughs Last here at TRR - check it out!