Hi —
I’m so excited that my new release, PRINCE OF THE PLAYHOUSE, comes out on Monday, April 4th. (See a note at the bottom of this post about a special sale!!) Lots of people have been waiting for this story, so i thought i’d share 10 random facts about the new book and the writing of it — just to get you in the mood! LOL Here are 10 Cool Things About Prince of the Playhouse.
1. There actually is a Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, California. It’s been there for many years and has year-round productions of plays and musicals with Actor’s Equity performers — often big names, but few as big as my hero, Gray Anson.
2. The idea for Ru’s “secret past” didn’t exist before i started writing the story. Ru “told me” about it as i wrote chapter one.
3. At one time, Laguna Beach was considered one of the primary “gay meccas” in the US — with estimates up 
to 30% of the population being gay. Today, while some maintain that the gay population is still as high, gay people are far more assimilated and the city no longer flies its Rainbow quite as high.
4. The character of Gray Anson is not based on any single actor — but certainly on all the super action stars who have been rumored to be gay over the years. It’s hard to imagine what these actors have gone through — whether they’re actually gay or not.
5. The scene in which Gray does his own car crash stunts is based on my viewing of some real stuntmen and women at work on a stage set. It’s very scary!
6. Laguna Beach and other parts of Orange County, California play a role in well over a third of my books! I should definitely get Chamber of Commerce points!
7. Laguna does have an Art Walk as shown in the book where stores stay open late and often serve wine and refreshments.
8. While most of Orange County is SUPER conservative, Laguna is wildly liberal. When the Mormon Church picketed all of southern California up and down the coast during the Prop 8 debacle, the line of picketers stopped dead at Laguna. They weren’t welcome!
9. I’ve written many “flamboyant” characters, one of whom, Shaz, is the star of Knight of Ocean Avenue. Ru, the hero of Prince of the Playhouse, is flamboyant, but not to the bone like Shaz. He has a grit to him that suggested his secret life to me.
10. Prince of the Playhouse is not the last book in the Love in Laguna series. At least one more, Lord of a Thousand Steps, will come out later this year.
I’m writing this on March 30th. If you read it before close of day on April 1st, you can get Prince of the Playhouse for 25% OFF in pre-order from Dreamspinner Press. Act fast!