I believe an introduction is in order...

Greetings! I'm Susanna Fraser, and Elena Greene was kind enough to invite me to be a guest poster here with the Riskies on the third Friday of every month. So I suppose I should begin by telling y'all a little about myself.

It's all Sean Bean's fault.

Eleven years ago now, when I was busy writing my first, extremely rough draft of the book that eventually became my second published novel, A Marriage of Inconvenience, my dear Mr. Fraser and I went to see Fellowship of the Ring on its opening weekend at Seattle Cinerama. I loved everything about the movie, but above all I just couldn't take my eyes off one character.

When I got home, I went straight to the Buffy board that was then my main internet community and said, "WHO is that actor who plays Boromir?"

One of my friends, knowing I was working on a Regency romance, said, "Oh, honey, are you ever in for a treat!" and pointed me straight at the Sharpe's Rifles series. So I rented them, one by one--I think most of them were videotapes rather than DVDs, since this was Ye Olden Days. Once that was done, I read the Sharpe books and the Aubrey-Maturin series, and, as is my custom since I'm that much of a history geek, decided I needed to learn more about the real history behind my new favorite books.

I haven't looked back. Every book I've written since has had a military hero, and for the second book I wrote (and the first to be published), The Sergeant's Lady, I couldn't resist the temptation to make my hero a rifleman. Next thing I knew, my research bookshelves started to look like this...

...and I found myself developing something of a historical crush on this gentleman:

That's right, Diane Gaston and Kristine Hughes! Consider yourself put on notice that I will not allow you to monopolize my dear Artie's affections.

I look forward to future posts, when I shall probably talk food, music, football, baseball, and my next book, among other things. But in the meantime, I'll leave you with some Five Favorites lists. Please feel free to share your favorites in the comments so I can get to know you, too.

My Five Favorite Current TV Shows:
1) The Legend of Korra
2) Castle
3) Game of Thrones
4) The Daily Show
5) Chopped

My Five Favorite Romances Read (but not necessarily published) This Year
1) Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (not out till November, but I bought the eARC)
2) Catching Jordan
3) Doukakis's Apprentice
4) The Wives of Bowie Stone
5) My Fair Concubine

Five Authors I Love
1) Jane Austen
2) Lois McMaster Bujold
3) Dorothy Sayers
4) Julia Spencer-Fleming
5) Jacqueline Carey

Five Fictional Crushes
1) Aral Vorkosigan (from Bujold's Vorkosigan saga)
2) Lord Peter Wimsey (from Dorothy Sayers' mysteries)
3) Marcus Didius Falco (from Lindsey Davis's mysteries)
4) Joscelin Verreuil (from Carey's Kushiel series)
5) Tenzin (from Legend of Korra)

Finally, a warning that I may be a little slow on commenting. I have a day job with little non-work internet access, and my dear Mr. Fraser turns 40 tomorrow. Tonight Miss Fraser (age 8) and I are taking him to a Mariners game, and tomorrow is his party.