Lynne Connolly: Born To Be Wild

I went to the kind of school that judged you on your academic prowess. I was okay. Not particularly brilliant, but not bad. I got by. So the school didn’t get excited about me. I wasn’t headed for a brilliant academic career, at least they classed me like that.

I could get by without doing too much work. So I started to play around, sag off, as we called it. I got my essays in on time, parsed whatever Latin they wanted and slipped away. I became adept at being in two places at the same time, playing people off against each other.

Very naughty. But I’ve never been good at obeying the rules.

At night I went to discos, and lots of concerts. I saw bands, and sometimes I was lucky enough to get backstage. In those days it was a bit more chaotic. I made Alice Cooper a cup of tea, or rather, Vince Furnier, who is a completely different person. Honest he is. I met other people, rock stars and then I dated a roadie. He wasn’t the type of roadie with no teeth and baggy, filthy jeans. Even then they were a dying breed. He had several vehicles, equipped with specialist storage equipment for the ultra-expensive instruments. I met some really famous people, who turned out to be, shock, horror, real people.

Who would have thought that my profligate youth would have worked out so well? But my first contemporary romances were about a rock band, who happened to be shape-shifters. The Pure Wildfire series has been a constant seller ever since and now it’s been joined by the Nightstar series. Each book is about a different member of the band, but the background is as authentic as I can make it. The reviews and responses seem to say that it’s worked. Sail to the Moon is getting a fantastic response, and Born To Be Wild, about the band’s Japanese-American keyboard and guitar genius is out next week at Ellora’s Cave.

So now I have to dream up another band. Any ideas? Should I go paranormal again, or straight contemporary? Either way it’s going to be a hell of a ride!

So who says a misspent youth can’t work out?

You can buy Born to be Wild here from Friday http://www.ellorascave.com/born-to-be-wild.html

My website is http://lynneconnolly.com