Authors Dish: What Inspired Aletta Thorne’s Debut Novel?

May 2018: Debut Novel Inspiration
~ Aletta Thorne ~

CTR asked:
QUESTION: What inspired you to write your debut novel?

Aletta Thorne said:
My debut novel, eh? Well, that depends on what your definition of debut is. You see, I’m hardly a debutante! In fact, I’m a writer and a poet (under another name) who’d published a good body of work: young adult books, several collections of poetry, a bit of journalism…but never a spicy romance.

So there I was at the writing retreat in the nice hotel with a bunch of colleagues from my fiction publishing house. We were there to write, promote our books, do a Facebook live event, and drink wine—LOTS of wine. And most of the gals (we were all gals) came from the other end of the publishing house. You know, the romance end. The erotic romance end.

The erotic romance authors soon discovered that it was quite easy to make me blush. They were only slightly merciless about it. Aletta Thorne, my romance-writing alter ego, was born as I sat, nursing my glass of Wayne Gretzky wine–and blushing. (We were in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, and Wayne Gretzky wine is a thing there.)

“Write a grown-up book,” the erotic fiction authors said.

“Come on over to the dark side,” they said. “We have cookies!”

(Actually, they just had more Wayne Gretzky wine and potato chips, but I digress.)

Insult to injury: those authors were younger than me. Like, a lot. And they kept making jokes about how their mothers would or would not be able to hack their books. One of them couldn’t imagine her mom actually having…you know. Hahaha! The gal who said that was young enough to be my daughter.

The dark side, huh? Women my age not able to hack…hey, wait a minute! I’ll show you the dark side!

I should add here that Aletta Thorne is the name of my great-grandmother, who would be utterly horrified that I came home from that retreat with an idea for my first spicy romance, The Chef And The Ghost Of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins. As Aletta Thorne, I write ghost stories for adults. The Chef and The Ghost asks the question “what happens if you have a one-nighter with a Revolutionary War era ghost?” Bartholomew’s pretty tempting, The Chef is a young woman in the pirate-ship world of food in the 1980’s, and the book is a total romp. And yeah, I blushed, copiously, while writing it. I’m also really proud of it. It’s funny, sexy, and scary—and it was an Evernight Press Editor’s Pick.

The spicy romance I’m working on now has a heroine my age—in her sixties—two ghosts, a tiny house, an Amazon Echo, and a great, big pipe organ. Also, a shocking and unexpected death, a dorky but adorable widowed Episcopal priest, and an out-of-control silly funeral. And a shocking and unexpected pregnancy (obviously not my main character). I find myself laughing AND blushing as I write it, so stay tuned! And don’t believe for a minute that gals my age can’t hack it!

– Website – https://chrispygal.weebly.com/the-wicked-aletta-thorne

The Chef and the Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins

[Paranormal Holiday Romance]

Halloween, 1982. MTV is new, poodle perms are the rage, and life just might be getting better for Alma Kobel. Her ugly divorce is final at last. Her new job as chef at Bright Day School’s gorgeous old estate is actually fun. But the place is haunted—and so is Alma’s apartment.

Bartholomew Addison Jenkins’ ghost has been invisibly watching Alma for months. When he materializes one night, Alma discovers Bart—as he likes to be called—has talents she couldn’t have imagined … and a horrifying past. Can you have a one-nighter with a ghost? And what happens if you decide one night is all you want—and end up ghosting him? Some spirits don’t like taking “no” for an answer.

Available in Ebook:

– Kindle – https://www.amazon.com/Chef-Ghost-Bartholomew-Addison-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B076WJK63L
– Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-chef-and-the-ghost-of-bartholomew-addison-jenkins-aletta-thorne/1127358798?ean=9781773395753
– Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-chef-and-the-ghost-of-bartholomew-addison-jenkins
– Evernight – https://www.evernightpublishing.com/the-chef-and-the-ghost-of-bartholomew-addison-jenkins-by-aletta-thorne/

More Authors Dish about their debut novel inspiration.

– Read the authors of Day One: https://coffeethoughts.coffeetimeromance.com/ad2018-may-debut-day1/
– Read the authors of Day Two: https://coffeethoughts.coffeetimeromance.com/ad2018-may-debut-day2/