Behind the Scenes in Acquainted With the Night: Greek Food

I like to write about places I've visited. So I wasn't surprised at all when the characters in Acquainted With the Night went to Greece.

Kalambaka is a small town that sits in the shadows of Meteora, the cliff-top monateries.

Here's Varlaarm Monastery, perched atop a boulder. It was amazing to drive up and see these pillars rising into the fog. Like a dream.

Since food is a major issue in our family, we visited many sidewalk cafes and tavernas.

I developed a deep affection for the dark, mysterious, flavorful kalamata olive.

Moussaka is pure comfort food.

And I ate many gyros--these are pita-wrapped (homemade-in-Greece pitas).

I will eat chick peas straight from the can, so I was in Foodie heaven when I found hummus. 

And for dessert--baklava.

Naturally (because I'm a natural Foodie), I have a desperate need to feed people. I love feeding my characters while I'm writing, so Caro and Jude enjoyed several authentic Greek meals. I ended up cutting some of the descriptions because AWTN is a thriller, not a food-fest, but my characters didn't lack for calories. :-)

I wish I could sink my fangs into a thick, sweet chunk of baklava right now.

What about you? What's your favorite Greek food?

New 56-Second Book Trailer for Acquainted With the Night

I am down for the count with a summer cold. But the good news is, I had free time to make a couple of short book videos for AWTN.
Here's the first. Enjoy!

Would you like to be acquainted with my new book? Coming November 29, 2011

I've barely left my house this summer. I've been writing, writing, writing.

I finished the "First Pass" on my upcoming novel, Acquainted With the Night. A "First Pass" is the author's last chance to find typos in a manuscript.

When I began writing the book in the winter of 2008, I wasn't thinking about publication, much less seeing the book on Amazon or that AWTN would be a Brillance Audiobook--unabridged, no less. This is a 544 page book.

In three months, Acquainted With the Night will be in bookstores. I keep pinching myself to see if this is really real.

In thirty years of writing fiction, I've never gotten so caught up in a book. I was a bit scared to veer away from Southern settings and heroines, but for once, I let my heart guide me.

The novel opens in southern Bulgaria at the Perperikon Archeological complex, a real dig site. Here's a view of the southern Rhodope Mountains.

Here's a peek at the video: