Cindy: On the weirdness: Weird (I have discovered) is a relative term. Apparently not everyone has lived in numerous haunted houses, on islands in the Caribbean - and survived hemorrhagic Dengue, Ciguatera and driven through a tornado. While most of Florida is catching up to me, very few have experienced enough hurricanes to become a connoisseur of them, as I have. My favorite hurricane so far was Hortense in Puerto Rico. The eye went directly over us. A tornado whipped over our tin patio roof and exploded our acacia tree like a milkweed puffball in a jet engine blast. We were standing outside, under the patio, watching the storm at the time. The list of weirdness is virtually endless.

On computer engineers writing romance: Geeks need love, too!

Tammy: What do you like to do when you're not writing. Do you have hobbies you enjoy? Traveling? Pets you spend time with?

Cindy: I make lace. I love the ocean. I prefer snorkeling to scuba diving because the scuba gear is a pain in the ass to deal with, but when there is something tasty or beautiful at deeper than twenty feet beneath the surface, I will don the dreaded scuba suit. Damsel fish? Those cute little blue aquarium kind of fish? They are the meanest damn fish in the ocean. Do NOT screw with them. Just say no.

My family and I have traveled quite a bit. We never venture too far from an ocean, though.

I have many pets. I have three cats, two birds, three snakes and a dog. The dog believes she is a cat, though, so four cats total.

Tammy: Do you have time to read for pleasure? If so, who are some of your favorite authors and what kind of books do you prefer?

Cindy: I read a TON of books for fun and I slip in one book a month for career edification. I have too many favorites to list. My mood changes and suddenly an entirely new batch of writers are added to my "favorites list."

Tammy: Did you have an author, or authors, who really inspired you to write?

Cindy: Tough one. I have no idea what inspires me to write. I think it's more that there are so few people willing to talk to me at four in the morning. I have no choice but to write all my thoughts out before they are lost.

Tammy: How did you start writing? When did you decide you were going to be an author?

Cindy: I've been writing forever. I let other people read what I wrote starting a few years ago. I decided to be an "author" when RT tagged me to write their "Path to Publishing" column. I never seriously thought it was even possible to have something I wrote published until I won their contest. I figured I had better succeed or the other writers would be seriously bummed.

Tammy: What genre would you consider REVENGE GIFTS to be? Straight romance, romantic suspense, or something else?

Cindy: Something else. I've pondered all the categories at length and finally christened it "A romance for the lunatic fringe."

Tammy: Would you mind telling us how you came up with the idea of an Internet revenge gift Website, and the story to go with it?

Cindy: Ask anyone and they will tell you that at some point in time, at least once a day, they've contemplated getting even with someone. It's a universal desire. Even plants get a little revenge when people invade their space. If you are going to write about love, then you have to include the bad side of it for balance. Giving revenge in the form of a gift is up-close, personal, and as creatively evil as a human being can get. For the record, I do not consider fart machines, whoopee cushions, or itching powder to be revenge gifts. They are technically novelty products. I searched the Web, and, other than a woman who sells packaged doggie-poo, I didn't see any Website that qualified. And, quite frankly, the doggie-poo is more of a message than a revenge - sort of a reverse love note. Close. But revenge should do damage to the recipient.

My mother was lamenting her impending death on the phone one afternoon and insisting that my sisters and I have her cremated. Mom is generally MIA most holidays, spending her time with my oldest sister or at home with her birds. I basically told Mom that not only would I have her cremated, I would create Seasonal Urns in which to store her ashes so she could spend the holidays with all of us at once. The kids could hang Grandma on the Christmas tree and hunt her at Easter. The gifts in the book are all similar to the Seasonal Urns.

Tara, the heroine, is a computer geek. It was only natural to set her business on the Internet.

Tammy: Could you tell us more about Sam (the blonde hunk with sunglasses) - like will he have his own story?

Cindy: You learn a LOT more about Sam in the second book of the series, ENVEY.EXE.

Tammy: And what's up with the ghosts?

Cindy: Oh, you can't have a book about revenge without ghosts! Think of how lame Hamlet would have been without the ghost.

Tammy: LOL! Maybe you could tell us a little more about your whole story, since there are so many people and things that happen, for me to name only a few and still give an accurate picture of the book.

Cindy: Tara Cole has dropped out of the rat race and disappeared to the Florida, Keys. She lives in a bungalow owned by best friend and sorority sister, Sherry, and fills in at Sherry's dock bar in exchange for free rent. She runs a Website business selling revenge gifts in her spare time.

Tara discovers a gris-gris bag hanging over her car one night after work, a reversal of fortune curse, courtesy of the voodoo queen girl friend of a Haitian drug lord who afoul of Tara's silk metallic boxers at Miami International. Instantly, Tara's previously sucky life starts turning up roses. One of the roses is Howard. Howard wants to use her Seasonal Urns for a 'Funeral at Sea' business. But, more than that, he wants to break her ten-year dating dry spell in inventive and spectacularly interesting ways.

Tammy: How difficult is it to write the sex scenes? How much importance do you place on love/sex scenes in what you read or write?

Cindy: The sex scenes in REVENGE GIFTS were kind of tricky. The book is set over a time span of thirteen days, bridging a full moon in the middle. I know everyone thinks people hop into bed at the drop of a hat, but after ten years of dodging it for career reasons, Tara needed a wee tad more than a hat dropping. I decided it would require a goat sacrifice at a minimum.

Tammy: Has access to the Internet been an encouragement to write and does it affect your writing in any way?

Cindy: The Internet is like my car. I need it to get places. I could get there using other modes of transportation, but putting the top down and meandering at my own pace, down whatever road I take a fancy to, is my preferred form of conveyance.

Tammy: If you could choose to be one character from REVENGE GIFTS for a day, who would you choose and why?

Cindy: I would be Precious. Everyone should be a cat at least one day in their life.

Tammy: I know you're in the process of writing a sequel to this story - could you tell us a little about it?

Cindy: I can't tell you much about it without giving away who dies in the first one. Sigh.

Tammy: One last question - what happened to the title? It was originally REVENGE GIFTS.COM, and now is just REVENGE GIFTS.

Cindy: We changed the name of the Website to Revenge-Gifts.com, because the original RevengeGifts.com was already owned by someone who didn't want to sell it. The book title was changed to REVENGE GIFTS for mysterious catalog reasons I never quite grasped. Oh well. Revenge-Gifts.com currently points to my play site. I have plans to set up a faux Revenge-Gifts.com soon!