Author Interview - Carsen Taite (Bold Strokes Books)

Describe your book in five words or less.

Nothing but the Truth (January 2011): hot romance, nail-biting courtroom drama
The Best Defense (July 2011): thrill of the chase

How did the ideas for your books come to you?

I get book ideas from all kinds of sources - overheard conversation (yes, I eavesdrop), current events, and the ether. Nothing but the Truth was inspired by an actual case I worked on as a criminal defense attorney. The Best Defense is a spin off from It Should be a Crime, my second novel. I created a secondary character in It Should be a Crime, Skye Keaton, and found myself wanting to tell more of her story, so I let her take the lead in a novel. Last year’s arrest of the Hutaree militia inspired the plotline for Skye's story.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?

The hardest part for me is getting started. The easiest part is coming up with ideas. I brainstorm story lines all day long, but putting the first few chapters on paper is a chore. The biggest challenge for me is focusing on the project at hand without getting caught up in plotlines for future works.

What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?

I am currently working on a mystery novel, hopefully the first in a series. The first novel in the series is titled Slingshot and it's about a bounty hunter, Luca Bennett. It's a different sort of adventure for me because even though Luca has an active love life, romance is not the central focus of the story. Also, I’m telling the story in the first person point of view which brings a unique set of challenges and opportunities.

If you’d like to sample my foray into the world of Luca the bounty hunter, she will make her first appearance in a short story anthology, Women of the Mean Streets: Lesbian Noir, due out in August from Bold Strokes Books. www.boldstrokesbooks.com

Why did you choose to write for specific genre?

I chose to write lesbian fiction because that’s what I enjoy reading. Don’t get me wrong, my reading taste is very broad, but there’s no substitute for the comfort of seeing characters you can relate to in the pages of a book. I write about crime and courtroom drama because my day job provides an endless source of inspiration for story ideas. And, I write romance because I’m a sap J.

What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?

Completely and totally awesome. And humbling. I’m proud to have a solid fan base and it’s important to me to write quality works that keep readers coming back for more.


What was your road to publication like?

Fairly smooth, but I did a lot of research before I submitted my first novel. It was important to me that I find a good fit right from the start. I was very fortunate to be signed by my first choice, Bold Strokes Books, and I couldn’t ask for a better publishing family. I will publish my sixth and seventh novels with BSB in 2012, and I look forward to a long and prosperous relationship.

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Author Bio:



Carsen Taite works by day (and sometimes night) as a criminal defense attorney in Dallas, Texas. Her goal as an author is to spin plot lines as interesting as the cases she encounters in her practice. She is the author of five novels , truelesbianlove.com, It Should be a Crime (a Lambda Literary Award finalist), Do Not Disturb, Nothing but the Truth, and The Best Defense. She is currently working on her sixth novel, Slingshot, which, like several of her prior works contains a heavy dose of crime. Learn more at Carsen Taite



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