Welcome to our New Faces column, where we're delighted to introduce some of the debut authors in the romance genre. This time we're visiting with Pam Rosenthal, whose first romance is Almost a Gentleman from Kensington Brava.

Pam, welcome to TRR! Tell us about yourself.

I'm a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn, but my husband and I have lived in San Francisco since the early 70s. We have one grown up son (how did that happen so quickly?) who's now a New Yorker himself -- he's a grad student at Columbia University. Since he and our mothers and lots of other relatives still live on the East Coast, we visit every chance we get, and consider ourselves blessed to call two vibrant cities home.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

I've been a computer programmer in SF's financial district for twenty-three years -- and still am. Before that I was a bookseller. My husband's been a bookseller all along -- if you're in San Francisco, stop by Modern Times Bookstore in the Mission District and say hello to Michael Rosenthal. It's great to have a bookstore in the family.

What led you to write romance?

I'm not a longtime romance reader, but I've always loved big over-the-top historical costume movies. My husband says I have a Technicolor imagination -- I love elegant, romantic escapist stuff. I did have a writing background, though. Over the years I've published essays and reviews as well as some more obscure fiction (under another name).

I got the idea for a romance after reading a historical study of bookselling and book smuggling before the French revolution. The study centered around a real historical bookseller, a cutthroat businessman who drove his competitors out of business. I hated him, and found myself thinking, "suppose there were a poor but honest competitor, who was able to stay in business because customers liked his daughter, a fetching bookish girl with inkstained fingers? And suppose the book smuggler was really the second son of the meanest Duke in Provence?" I guess my movie background had kicked in. Whatever -- I knew I wanted to write a romance.

Tell us about your road to publication

. It was a rocky one. I had an idea for a book, and I had a little bit of craft at my disposal. I did a lot of research on the period -- far too much -- and set myself to learning about the genre. It took me a long time to get the hang of it. Thank heavens for RWA -- I joined the San Francisco Area Chapter and tried to learn as much as I could from those who'd been there before me. And thank heavens for my agent, Helen Breitwieser, who loved and believed in The Bookseller's Daughter from the moment she read the sample chapter I sent her. The trouble is that nobody else did. Well, some editors thought it was original, even "intelligent," but nobody wanted to publish it, especially since France is such a hard sell in the romance market. Helen was undaunted. She was heartened by the interest some editors had shown and asked me if I had anything else to show around. Amazingly (since I think of myself as easily discouraged), I had started another -- this time a dark, sexy regency, Almost a Gentleman, which Kate Duffy at Kensington loved enough to buy (along with The Bookseller's Daughter, which I'm rewriting at this moment).

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

I've got about 15 feet of bookshelf space devoted to France in the eighteen century -- it's great, as I said, to have a bookseller in the family. I read about history, philosophy, literature, art, clothes -- and the French revolution. Also about some real historical characters who have walk-on roles in my book (Monsieur Rigaud, of course, the Marquis de Sade, and Benjamin Franklin, who was the American Ambassador to Versailles; my characters are fervid partisans of the American revolution, as many of the French were at the time).

Tell us about your debut book.

Almost a Gentleman is the story about a woman who masquerades as a Regency dandy. Having survived a dreadful marriage, she's decided to avail herself of a man's power and prerogative -- everything from leading on the dance floor to walking alone in the middle of the night to aggressive sexuality. This works fine until she meets a man who makes her wonder if she might not like to be a woman again. There's a bit of a mild suspense plot as well, but mostly it's about the romantic and sexual encounter between my hero and heroine.

Who are your influences as a writer?

My main influence as a genre novelist is Stephen King: he keeps me up at night and makes me miss my stop when I'm reading him on the way to work. Among erotic romance writers, I cherish Susan Johnson for her buoyancy and flair, and Robin Schone for her unrelenting commitment -- to a woman's right to satisfaction and a man's right to be loved and understood.

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

My husband and son revere books and reading as much as I do. They're delighted -- and they're tough, valuable critics, my best critics in fact. Actually, all of my family is thrilled. Especially my mother, who's a lifelong, avid reader (she was still reading when they wheeled her into the delivery room to give birth to me). It was a wonderful moment when I handed her Almost a Gentleman, and she opened it and saw that it was dedicated to her. She likes it a lot -- though she did tell me that it's got rather too much sex for her generation.

Tell us about plans for future books.

The Bookseller's Daughter will be coming out in January 2004. And I'm also contacted to Kensington Brava for two novellas. The first has a name "A House East of Regent Street" and a concept -- no words on paper yet. And the other -- well, there are concepts, but they're pretty vague.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Check out my shiny new website www.pamrosenthal.com or email me at pam@pamrosenthal.com

Pam, thanks for joining us, and best of luck! Readers, we have a review of Almost a Gentleman in our Historical section. June 15, 2003