Trixie
Stilletto
Dear me! It appears that Mme Enchanté
was altogether too Enchanté'd
by Mrs. Rambler's little incident last week with Randy.
You remember, when he tied her up and did his own little
interview? Goodness me, that poor lad hasn't served a
decent pint since Rambler took her revenge!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, Mme Enchanté
asked Eddy (Randy's brother) to demonstrate some of *his*
knot-tying skills, and it turns out they are a lot better than
his knot-UN-tying skills. On discovery of this minor
detail, Mme Enchanté
was forced to despatch Eddy to meet the delectable Ms. Stilletto, while she
gnawed her way to freedom.
If you have an alias or pen name, what is it?
I write erotic romances as Trixie
Stilletto and traditional romances as Karen Troxel.
Tell us about yourself?
I am married to the man who inspires
all my heroes. We live in a suburban Buffalo New York. I'm a
transplanted Tennessean and probably will never get used to the
winters we have in Western New York but the summers are
spectacular. We've been married for 15 years and together for
over 20.
Anything special the readers should know about you?
I'm really very shy and quiet.
How long have you been writing?
I can't remember not writing but when I
started writing professionally as a journalist in 1980. I toyed
with writing fiction in the early '90s but didn't make my first
sale until April, 2001.
Where do you typically find your inspiration?
I think of ideas and characters more
than calling it inspiration. Sometimes, a story idea will come
to me and then the characters find their way into the story.
Other times, it's the characters that come first and demand I
give them a story.
What genre do you write in? Do you cross over to other genres?
Is it harder or easier to stay in one genre or to move back and
forth?
I write contemporary as Trixie but have
written a time-travel as Karen. Contemporary is where I'm most
comfortable but if a character or story demanded a certain genre
then I wouldn't hesitate to give it a shot.
Who has influenced you in your writing?
Oh, that's a tough question because
truly I'm a big fan of romance writers. I adore Nora Roberts,
Janet Evanovich, Jayne Ann Krentz, Elizabeth Lowell, Linda
Howard, Tami Hoag. Basically, I love good stories and all these
women have delivered those time and again. I also love some of
the newer writers like Catherine Snodgrass, Paris Dixon,
Dakota Cassidy, Mary Janice Davidson.
What books do you have out? And do you have something new
coming out? Where can they be purchased?
Let's see, right now, I have the first
four books of my erotic series "Scarecrow & Betsy
McGee" out. This series is my salute to the great couples'
television shows like Moonlighting, Remington Steele and of
course, Scarecrow & Mrs. King. I also have "Hero
Adrift" which is a short story about a United States Coast
Guardsman. The Scarecrow series and Hero Adrift are available at
http://www.amberquill.com
I also have other short stories available through Amber Quill
and a full length contemporary erotic romance called "Hot
Off the Presses" available at http://www.phaze.com
Are you doing any signing or appearances soon?
My next appearance will be at the
Romantic Times Convention in Daytona Beach, May 16-21.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Write every day even if it's only for a
few moments. While you're writing, soak up as much as you can
about technique and focus on finding your voice. Once you find
your voice, be true to it.
Do you have a website or a blog?
I don't blog but I do have a website ( http://www.trixiestilletto.com
)
Do you prefer for your fans to mail or email you?
Email is good and I love to hear from
readers! My email address is: trixie@trixiestilletto.com
Other than being a writer, did you ever picture yourself doing
anything else?
Well, I've been other things and didn't
like them. It was too much like working for a living (LOL). But
I think I had to express myself somehow in words. It's too much
a part of me to have ignored it long.
If you had time off to do whatever you like, what would you do?
Travel and, as strange as this sounds,
write. I never have enough time to write even when I'm working
constantly.
Is there a favorite author you haven't met that you'd like to?
I would like to meet Elizabeth Lowell
and Jayne Ann Krentz. I was fortunate enough a few years ago to
meet Nora Roberts and she was wonderful!
If you have a book coming out soon or
just out would you like to
give us an excerpt?
I would love to give you an excerpt of
Hero Adrift. This is the opening scene. Enjoy!
"Okay everyone, stay calm!"
Abby called. "I'm sure someone will be here to help us as
soon as possible."
She turned quickly to her teacher's
assistant, a young man who looked almost as frightened as the
nineteen six-year-olds who made up her class. They were part of
a large group of first-graders taking a tour on a sightseeing
boat that traversed the Niagara River between Buffalo and
Niagara Falls. With parents and children, there were nearly one
hundred people on the boat called the Niagara Belle, and they
were currently dead in the water. Abby tried to smile
reassuringly again. Things were not looking good.
Abby's class was from the Buffalo
School. Things had been going extremely smooth on this
late-spring sightseeing trip and the children had been having a
great time, in addition to learning a lot about the history of
the great river and the Erie Canal. In fact, things had been
going so well Abby had finally relaxed. But that's what she got
for letting her guard down. Now things were looking bleak. She
could feel her throat tighten and her panic begin to rise.
The water of the Niagara that had
looked calm and peaceful at the start of the tour now looked
dark and dangerous. The wind had picked up and was whipping in
off Lake Erie, bringing with it the cold bite of winter still
lingering over western New York and lake waters that hadn't
begun to warm for the summer. Worse, there was a large black
cloud coming in from the west. It appeared to Abby as if it was
being pushed by a rocket on a collision course with them.
Add to all this the danger of the river
and the dead tour boat...her captain apparently suffering a
heart attack. Abby sucked in a deep breath. Well, it wouldn't do
to panic. She had to be strong and self-assured or her children
would pick up on her fears.
"Okay, kids, everyone find your buddy and line up in a
straight line behind Mr. Stella," she called. "Let's
let the crew and Dr. Bailey do their work."
Dr. Bailey and one of the chaperones,
who was a nurse, were working feverishly on the captain. The
boat had an emergency medical kit and Abby knew that calls had
already been made to 911. In fact, as she looked out over the
bow, she could see a large white-and-red boat coming to them.
She smiled again. Everything's going to be fine.
She wouldn't even think about the fact
it seemed as if the Belle was drifting closer and closer to the
large International Railroad Bridge that crossed the Niagara
from Buffalo's Black Rock neighborhood to Fort Erie, Ontario.
What could happen? Just because the bridge had been built in
1870 and was still used today, surely a ninety-foot long cruise
and tour boat built in the 1990s could handle ramming into the
bridge supports. Right?
Abby closed her eyes as another wave of
panic threatened to overcome her. She'd put that right out of
her mind. That just left room for the thought of what would
happen if a bridge meant to carry the weight of freight trains
collapsed on top of their relatively modern boat. "Look,
Ms. Smithton. The Coast Guard is coming," one of the
children
cried.
Abby looked back out over the bow and
could now make out the markings on the white boat. The child was
right. It was the Coast Guard. And Abby could see there were
other boats speeding to their rescue as well. Abby smiled,
starting to really relax. "Yes, I see. I told you there was
nothing to worry about. Now hurry up and find your buddy."
Abby refused to think about how they
were going to get everyone off the Niagara Belle and onto the
other boats. Well, maybe they'd just tow the Belle and her
passengers back to shore. There probably wouldn't be any danger
of anyone having to step over the water. At any rate, Abby knew
the Coast Guard and all the other rescue teams were the experts.
She'd let them handle it.
She wasn't afraid of water...she just
didn't like the fact she couldn't see the bottom. She wouldn't
think about what it would be like stepping across a chasm
between two heaving decks. It probably wouldn't even come to
that. "Everyone, here I am," called John Stella, her
teacher's aide.
Some kids were scurrying to obey, while
a few others lingered at the rail. Abby went over to hurry them
along. She felt a tug on the bottom of her blouse and looked
down at the excited face of Billy Borrelli. "Ms. Smithton,
do you think the Coast Guard will ram us?" he asked with a
mixture of fear and excitement on his cherubic face and in his
voice.
"No, Billy, they will not ram
us," she said firmly.
"Oh." He looked a bit crestfallen. "Well, it
could happen."
"Only on a computer game," she replied. "Now
hurry up and find your buddy and get in line. We want to be able
to do everything the Coast Guard tells us when they get on
board, okay?" Billy nodded and took one last long look at
the boats drawing up to
them. Another child called her name and she turned away, one
thought in her mind--getting everyone safely off this boat and
back on land.
* * * *
The U.S.S. Comfort pulled aside the
Niagara Belle and Petty Officer Oliver Robinson balanced his
weight on the balls of his feet as the skipper, Lieutenant
George Danheiser throttled back and sent the diesel engine of
their forty-seven-foot Motor Life Boat into idle. The current on
the Niagara River was fast, with wind whipping up around twenty
knots causing whitecaps to swell. The Belle was being pulled
closer and closer to the International Railway Bridge and no one
wanted to see whether ship or bridge would win that battle. The
destruction was one thing, the possible disruption of the
commercial railway traffic between the United States and Canada
another. In fact, Oliver looked over and saw a boat from the
Canadian Coast Guard tearing up river, as well as support craft
from the local law enforcement agencies.
The plan was to position the Comfort in
front of the Belle and, using a tow line, keep her steady while
they transferred the passengers to smaller crafts and returned
them to land. Perhaps in normal situations, they would just
leave the passengers aboard and tow the Belle back to port. But
this wasn't a normal situation. They had a report the Belle's
captain had collapsed with a possible heart attack. They also
had learned the Belle was hosting over a hundred elementary
school students from the area. No one wanted to risk anything
happening to the youngsters, so the decision had been made to
take everyone off the Belle, just in case.
Search and rescue were the prime
functions of the Coast Guard and one of the biggest reasons
Oliver had signed up. Of course, since he'd been in, things had
changed with the Guard taking on more and more responsibilities
for law enforcement and homeland security. But search and rescue
had always held a special spot in Oliver's gut. It was the thing
he'd miss most when he left the Guard.
This rescue was a little trickier than
normal because of the children involved, but he also felt a
little relieved. Oliver had just been transferred to Buffalo
after spending eight months at Air Station Miami, where the duty
was always exciting and hazardous. Buffalo normally wasn't quite
so active, but with his shoulder still acting up after he had
been shot on his last Miami op by the drug dealer they were
trying to capture, Oliver could use a little light duty. He
turned his thoughts away from Miami. There was no use going over
it again because thinking about that evening just pissed him off
and he couldn't do anything to change what had happened. He also
didn't need to have those thoughts in his mind when he was
facing a rescue.
One thing Oliver had learned early in
his CG career was to never take any rescue for granted and keep
his mind one hundred percent on the job. The Comfort was in
place and Oliver saw the signal from Danheiser that things were
ready. Seaman Joe Poreda stepped from the Comfort onto the
Belle, temporary anchor in hand, and headed to the stern. He
made quick work of securing the anchor and then tying off a
couple of lead ropes as well, making sure the Comfort would help
keep the Belle steady.
"Man overboard!"
The shout sent a chill down Oliver's back and he looked all
around the Belle. He saw the flash of orange of a P.F.D., a
personal floatation device, off the port side. God, it was a
child. Oliver knew the average water temperature of the Niagara
River in the middle of May was 45.2 degrees. An adult would be
exhausted swimming in that temperature in around thirty to forty
minutes. Then there was the speed of the current and the real
possibility the victim was injured and would drown even with the
P.F.D. But this was a child. That ratcheted things up quite a
bit. He wouldn't have a child drown. Not on his watch.
In the time it took him to pull his
protective waterproof headgear into place, another call rang
overboard. "Man overboard times two!"
Damn. This simple rescue had gone to shit in an instant he
thought as he flipped over the rail and headed for the first
flash of orange he saw.
Many
thanks to Trixie for speaking with our barman, Eddy!
You can find
out more about Trixie on her website, here:
http://www.trixiestilletto.com
:-)
