Читать книгу Tears of the Renegade - Linda Howard - Страница 2

Dear Reader,

I’m honored that Tears of the Renegade has been chosen to be a part of the Famous Firsts Collection, which celebrates Harlequin’s 60th Anniversary. Writing back then was vastly different from writing now, because this book was pre-computer, at least for me. Back then, an electric typewriter seemed like heaven, and now we look at using one as archaic. I did have a real desk; for the few books I wrote before this one, I balanced the typewriter on top of a two-drawer filing cabinet. I wrote in the unfinished room over the garage, which true to stereotype, was cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but at least it wasn’t an attic.

Tears of the Renegade was inspired by a vision I had, that of a broad-shouldered man in a great tux, sauntering through the open veranda doors into a formal party, and everyone who saw him falling silent. I saw their heads turning, the cool, dangerous expression in his eyes, and Cord Blackwell took center stage in my imagination. The entire book flowed from that one vision, that one scene, but often that’s how a book forms for me. I’ll write an entire book to get to one scene, one expression, one line of dialogue that was, to me, the heart of the idea.

He was a renegade and a rascal, someone who delighted in scandal and who thumbed his nose at the people who looked down on him, so of course the perfect woman for him was a perfect lady, and thus Susan came into being. It was a delicious situation then, and all these years later the memory of that opening scene still brings a smile to my face.

I hope you enjoy the book, because I dearly enjoyed writing it.

Sincerely,