Anne: Well, I started out writing gothics, which are essentially romantic suspense in a historical (usually Victorian) setting, so it's only natural. I love romantic suspense for the darkness and danger - plain love stories are usually too sweet for me to write (though I can love a well-written one). The historicals are a wonderful contrast to the darkness of the kind of romantic suspense I write.

Mary: Why romance? Why do they appeal to you as an author?

Anne: I'll tell you a story from my childhood. When I was eight years old, I was visiting my aunt in Boston and she took me out to see "Around the World in 80 Days," which was a very long movie (even had an intermission). Apparently I sat through the entire thing whispering, "When do we get to the love part?" Guess I'm just a born and bred romantic - though I like to have something else going on (e.g., suspense or adventure).

Mary: Is there anything you haven't tried writing that you'd like to?

Anne: Oh, I've had a World War II story for decades that I've wanted to write. RAF pilot and all that. In a way, maybe it's sort of nice to have something waiting. I don't know if I'll ever write it or not.

Mary: What makes a romantic suspense, particularly one set in contemporary times, a gothic?

Anne: It's a question of mood and setting. There's a darkness to a gothic, and a sense of claustrophobia almost - one reason why they're often set in big old houses or haunted castles or the like.

Mary: BLACK ICE is a stunning book. Bastien is sublime and sooo dark. You seem to delight in taking your heroes right to the edge of evil. (And your fans love it!) Is there a limit to how far you can go and still make them into romantic heroes? (Are you anywhere close to reaching it?)

Anne: Thanks for the kind words. Well, I've gone over the limit a number of times for a lot of readers. It all depends on whether one can follow my particular fantasy or not. INTO THE FIRE (the book preceding BLACK ICE) got a very funny review in Publisher's Weekly, calling it "troubling." The hero in my new book has had to do things in his past that a lot of readers might find unacceptable. I just go as far as the character demands, and if the readers won't go with me then that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Mary: Why do you think dark heroes and bad boys are so irresistible?

Anne: There are all sorts of sociological reasons. The taming of the beast, the domesticating of the wild man, the female need to have the strongest male around to defend her children from saber-toothed tigers and all that. For me it's something else. If my heroes are that dark, and I put them and the heroines through that kind of hell, then when they come out the other side you know they'll survive. You know they have to belong together, that there won't be any nasty surprises waiting. If the heroine has seen the hero at his darkest and worst and somehow managed to hold on, then she can hold on through anything.

In terms of fantasy, I like danger. I like going to the very edge. Maybe because that kind of intensity seems to put day to day problems in the shade.

Mary: So ... personal preferences: Heathcliff or Mr. Darcy? Rhett or Ashley? Angel or Spike?

Anne: You aren't going to believe this. Mr Darcy, because he's humbled by love. Heathcliff is a psychopath who's never redeemed. All he has going for him is his love for Cathy, and it's not enough.

And omigod, Spike. Believe it or not, I just dreamed about him last night, and Buffy's been off the air for years. One of my all time favorite characters. For me, Angel was more of a comic character.

But ... it's Ashley over Rhett. I know, that's nuts. But about the only thing Rhett ever did that appealed to me was carry Scarlett upstairs. For one thing, I always adored Leslie Howard. My heroes tend to the elegant rather than the crude, and Leslie Howard would make a far better vampire than Clark Gable. (And my heroes tend to be vampires, even if they don't suck blood.) And for another, Rhett spends most of the book/movie adoring Scarlett for exactly who she is, and then when he marries her he wants to change her and eventually leaves her because she's not his ideal woman. She's never anything but honest with that son-of-a-bitch, and he gets all emo when it suddenly doesn't match his idea of womanhood. Grrrrr.

Mary: You and your books have earned a ton of awards and honors. What career goal would you like to achieve in the next thirty years?

Anne: Hell and damnation, I want the New York Times list! I deserve it! I want money and fame and editors to bow down and worship at my feet.

Failing that, let's just hope I can keep writing what I want to write and make enough to survive. The one thing I won't do is write what I don't want to write. (Probably the reason why I've been thirty years in the business and still awaiting my chance at the big time.) I don't have a career plan, I'm not practical, I have to go with my gut, whether it's a smart career move or not. I'd like my noble devotion to my art to be rewarded, but I'm not counting on it

Mary: What's the best advice you've ever received? The worst? What's the best advice you've ever given?

Anne: Best advice? Probably with my second book, when my mentor told me to throw out the first chapter and start with the second. In terms of career advice, it probably came from Jill Barnett (and others) who've said, "It's not personal, it's business." Wish I could really be steely enough to understand that.

The worst advice - someone told me not to be a diva when dealing with my publishers. Now, I'm a lovely diva - charming, firm, with not unreasonable demands. As a diva I know my worth, and people respond to that (even if they may not agree). Renouncing my diva-hood (which I did because I trusted the advice-giver completely) left me without resources or power, which is a bad way to be in this business. The bad advice giver didn't mean any harm - it was just very bad advice for me. Might have worked fine for her.

Mary: Is there a question you wish that nobody would ask you again? What's a question you wish someone would ask?

Anne: Oh, it would be a toss-up between "Where do you get your ideas?" and "Why do you write under a pen name?" (Which I don't - I was born Anne Kristine Stuart, was always called Krissie, wrote as Anne Stuart, and then married my husband and took his last name. But Anne Stuart is the first and last name I was born with.) And a question I wish someone would ask? "What do you think about Japanese rock?" (Trust me, no one is going to ask.)

Mary: THE DEVIL'S WALTZ is your February 2006 release from Mira. Would you please tell us a little about this book?

Anne: Oh, I love it! It's a Regency era historical, and it's light and charming with a slight gothic touch. I had a delightful time writing it, and it's probably going to fade into oblivion because historicals are tanking and Mira isn't going to try, but c'est la vie. As we depressed writers say, "We're building our backlist." Sometime it will get reprinted and find its true audience.

Mary: You've written COLD AS ICE, the sequel to BLACK ICE. What's the release month for this book and what would you like to share with us about it?

Anne: Aaah. I love COLD AS ICE. It's coming out in November 2006, and it's just ... well, what can I say? I love it. The hero is Peter Jensen, who appeared briefly in BLACK ICE, and he's had an interesting past (I haven't done revisions yet so I'm not sure if they're going to make me tone things down a bit), and the heroine is someone who fights back a bit too much, getting herself into more trouble. We start with a hijacked yacht and go from there. Sex and blood and violence and a happy ending. Plus we end up seeing Bastien and Chloe (I wasn't sure whether they were going to show up, but as I was writing it they just marched in and demanded to be put on the page).

Mary: Anything else that you'd like your readers to know?

Anne: I can't really think of anything else - your questions cover a lot. I love my stories (I was going to say I love what I do, but trust me, the profession of being a writer sucks). But I love what I write, and I'm incredibly blessed that there are people out there who love what I write, too. When life gets me down I remember that, and know that I'm incredibly lucky.