Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Romance Author
Thanks to my friend Karin for sending these photos of cats being, well, cats. Because they’re cats, they will sleep anywhere they want!
Hope you all enjoy the photos and weekend! Also, prepare for a packed week next week. On August 4 I’ll have Raul Ramos y Sanchez blogging about his new release and also, Amanda McIntyre sharing her latest novel, Tortured, on August 5th. Don’t miss those blogs and the chance to win some prizes.
But now, without further ado, let sleeping cats lie. . .
My sister brought me a present yesterday – a package of FRUIT STRIPE gum. As I unwrapped it, the fruity smells assailed my nostrils and brought back memories of hot summer days in Levittown.
The flavor doesn’t last long on FRUIT STRIPE gum, but somehow that never made a difference back then. Sitting on the grass in front of someone’s house or along the curb in between rounds of stick ball, we would unwrap the gum, smile at its fanciful stripes and then enjoy that blast of fruity flavor.
And we didn’t toss the gum wrapper or use it to discard the now flavorless gum. Hell no, those gaily striped gum wrappers were bounty to be added to our ever-growing gum wrapper chains. Maybe that’s one of the reasons we prized the gum so much – those colorful wrappers sure made a statement on our gum wrapper chains! Wrigley’s gum also made great additions, especially the Juicy Fruit version.
I remember my chain was several feet long before I finally stopped adding to it. Some people never stop adding. Check out Gary Duschl, the current record holder and his chain. You can visit Gary at www.gumwrapper.com and even send him some gum wrappers so you can be part of his chain as well.
Hope you enjoyed this fruit-flavored blast to the past and that it brought back pleasant memories of your own summer days.
It’s fun to research the places where you’ll be setting your novel and I always try to visit those places as well. That’s why part of the book takes place in Philadelphia, one of my favorite cities, and also why the rest of the book is set on the Jersey Shore. I love the Jersey Shore and taking time to explore its unique towns this spring and summer has been a blast.
When it came time to find somewhere intriguing for the big finish, there were lots of places to consider. Cheesequake State Park and the Twin Lights came to mind. Then I remembered taking a trip to the tip of Sandy Hook and knew where those scenes would take place – Fort Hancock.
Fort Hancock has played a major role in the defense of New York Harbor, from its days in the late 1800s when the Nation’s first concrete gun batteries were built there, to World War II when it was used to watch for German subs and the 1950s, when the Nike Air Defense missiles were housed there to protect against airborne attack.
In 1958, a series of Nike Ajax missiles exploded at the park, killing ten people. You can visit the memorial at Guardian Park in Fort Hancock. To read more about this, you can click here.
The invention of ICBMs made the Nike system obsolete and the Fort was decommissioned in 1972 and the National Parks Service took over the area.
The fort has a number of gun batteries, some of which you can visit, and some which are closed off due to their delicate state. Beneath those batteries are tunnels and ammo storage areas that provided a perfect place for me to set some scenes! You can click here for some great photos of the area and tunnels.
If you’re in the area, drop by and check out Sandy Hook and Fort Hancock. It’s a beautiful park, the buildings and batteries are fascinating to see and you have an amazing view of New York Harbor as well.
For more behind the scenes looks at the SINS OF THE FLESH, please check out these other posts!
November 2009 – Grand Central Publishing 
Caterina Shaw’s only chance for survival is a highly experimental gene therapy – a risk she willingly takes. Now Caterina has new, terrifying powers and she’s been accused of a savage murder, sending her on the run. Mick Carrera is a mercenary and expert at capturing elusive prey. Yet the woman he’s hunting is wounded, vulnerable, and a mystery of medical science. Caterina’s innocent sensuality tempts Mick to show her how thrilling pleasure can be. The heat that builds between them is irresistible, but surrendering to it could kill them both. Preorder at Amazon |
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Awakening the Beast
I was searching for a friend’s website the other day when I ran across some nice comments about him at a blog site. I sent him the link and suggested that he set up some news alerts so that he would know about such comments.
I thought he was cute in OCTOBER SKY, but when I saw this poster it was like – Wow, who is this hot guy?