Who is Eileen Wilks

Eileen Wilks' first book, a Silhouette Desire published in 1996, hit the USA Today Bestseller List and was nominated for Romantic Times' Best First Short Contemporary award. Since then, her books have appeared consistently on national bestseller lists. With thirty two books in print and novellas in nine anthologies, she has been a finalist in the prestigious Rita Awards three times, as well as receiving several nominations from Romantic Times, including one for Career Achievement in Series Romantic Suspense.

Each book in her World of the Lupi series gains a larger audience. It was originally sold in the Romance section of bookstores, but more and more you will be able to find copies cross-shelved under Sci-Fi and Fantasy as the popularity of the series grows!

Eileen has lived in the West Texas town of Midland, TX for over 30 years--three years as a young teen, and the remaining years since she moved back here as an adult. When she first started writing over 10 years ago, it hit her like the first drink for an alcoholic . . . or the first kiss for Romeo and Juliet.

She came to writing romance in a roundabout way. Having read and loved science fiction for years, that's where she first tried her hand when the writing bug bit. Somehow her stories always ended up having a strong romantic subplot, but she hadn't read a romance since the early 80's and didn't think "those little books" were her kind of stories. But when a friend in her critique group began working on a romance novel, Wilks decided she needed to give the genre another try. She asked her friend to recommend some titles--and quicker than you can say "Jayne Ann Krentz," she fell in love. The genre had been busy growing up while she wasn't watching. These days, with romances comprising over 50% of the mass market books published in the U.S., there are romances to appeal to almost every taste--historicals, paranormals and contemporaries that range from romantic suspense to romantic comedy, from inspirational to sizzling.

Eileen covered a lot of territory before coming home to Midland, having lived in Canada and Venezuela as well as twelve U.S. cities in five states.

Favorite books: (changes often!)
Jim Butcher's CURSOR'S FURY
The third installment in his CODEX ALERA series.
DIME STORE MAGIC by Kelly Armstrong
ALL TOGETHER DEAD by Charlaine Harris
Patricia Briggs's MOON CALLED

All-time treasures:
The Lymond Chronicles series by Dorothy Dunnett
The Miles Vorkosigan adventures by Lois McMaster Bujold
J.D. Robbs "Naked in . . . " series
The Grand Sophy by Georgette HeyerAbilene.
Read an interview with Ms. Wilks at RBL Romantica.

EMAIL EILEEN - EWilks@Mac.com

Age: 28

Height: 5'2-1/2" (she insists that I mention that 1/2 inch)

Weight: 120

Eyes: very dark

Hair: black, thick, straight; usually gets long enough to brush her shoulders before she gets it trimmed

Race: Chinese ancestry

Description: Even features, well-balanced in an oval face; honey-and-cream skin

Favorite music: Eclectic. Current favorites include Yo-Yo Ma, anything from Tsaikovsky, some pop, some jazz. Recent purchase: Not Too Late by Norah Jones.

Profession: Until recently she was a homicide cop, but last fall a special unit within MCD (Magical Crimes Division) of the FBI recruited her.

Education: Associate degree in law enforcement/criminal justice from the University of California; graduated first in class at San Diego Police Academy .

Magical Gift/Nature: A touch sensitive. Lily can feel magic tactilly, but it can't affect her.

Habits: Likes order, hates clutter. Practices judo regularly; second degree black belt. Runs for exercise. She has a large, messy family and is owned by a huge orange cat she calls Dirty Harry. Lily's deepest need is to stop the monsters-human and otherwise-who prey on the vulnerable.

Age: Looks about 30. Looks are deceiving.

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 185

Eyes: Dark brown

Hair: Mink brown, worn short

Race: Lupus; European ancestry

Description: Narrow face with skin taut over cheeks that might have been sculpted by the wind; crooked nose, wicked eyebrows. Built lean in the hips, broad in the shoulders. Muscular thighs.

Favorite music: Loves music, period, but especially fond of opera; considers Beethoven the greatest composer of all time; loves jazz; entranced by violins. Recent purchase: Csárdás Hungarian Gypsy Music.

Profession: Prince, according to the press, but the title annoys him. He's the Lu Nuncio or heir of the Nokolai Clan. His duties include managing the clan's finances; answering any Challenge to his father, the Rho; representing his clan and his people in public; and generally looking out for the interests of the clan and, when called on, the welfare of individual clan members.

Education: Unknown, but he speaks several languages and is well-versed in economic theory and practice.

Magical Gift/Nature: Werewolf; he also carries the heir's portion of the Nokolai mantle, which some believe possesses magical properties beyond its ability to unite the clan.

Habits: Wears black. Secretive. A true alpha with a deep sense of duty, Rule has always lived up to the well-known lupus distaste for monogamy and has dated some of the most photogenic women in the country, so the gossip columnists are buzzing over the woman who recently moved in with him. Lily Yu is attractive, but ordinary in comparison to some of his former lovers. Yet she seems to be the only woman in his life now.

Age: 32

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 135

Eyes: Whiskey-colored

Hair: Very short, spiky style; bleached blond

Race: Caucasian; possibly Scandinavian or German descent--doesn't know

Description: Built like an Amazon or a centerfold, yet men may notice her body second because of the tattoo filligree covering almost every inch of skin like inky cobwebs.

Favorite music: punk, rave, some hip-hop; new interest in world music shows in recent purchase: Toumani Diabate's New Ancient Strings.

Profession: Currently an FBI agent with the Unit, a division of MCD (Magical Crimes Division), but she's done a bit of everything in the past.

Education: Associate degree in criminal justice acquired through online courses; FBI Academy

Magical Gift/Nature: Cynna's a Finder. If the has a good pattern for a person or object, she can Find it if it's within 100 miles. Her magical training is from the msaidizi path, an African practice (misnamed in the U.S. as Dizzies) that calls for spells to be inscribed on the body as tattoos.

Habits: Messy; lives in a hotel room. Highly altruisitic, though she doesn't realize this; converted to Catholicism as an adult, partly as a refuge from her tumultous early years, partly to protect herself from demons. Cynna's friendly streak is unimpaired by a heaping dose of cyncism--she doesn't trust people, but she mostly likes them.

Age: He's not thirty, but he looks about that age.

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 170

Eyes: Bright blue

Hair: Cinnamon without the sugar; often shaggy since he doesn't bother with haircuts.

Race: lupus; mixed European ancestry

Description: The face of a debauched angel; he moves like music given form. Strangers stop and stare when he goes by. Built lean, like a runner or the dancer he is.

Favorite music: Like all lupi he's enjoys a broad range of music, but he's especially keen on all types of drumming; also classic and hard rock. Recent purchase: Europe's Secret Society.

Profession: Dancer/stripper

Education: Claims to have gone to medical school, though there's no record of it.

Magical Gift/Nature: He's both werewolf and sorcerer. Though lupi are not supposed to possess a Gift, he does-a strong Fire Gift. In addition, he sees magic as energy and can manipulate it directly or through spells. His refusal to give up sorcery caused his expulsion from his original clan, Etorri, and estrangement from his father.

Habits: His temperment follows his Gift-bright, mercurial, likes to burn things. Doesn't admit how important dancing is to him. Holds grudges. He's a scholar of magical theory and history, interested in all forms of spellcraft--to the point of obsession, according to some.

List of all Series titles
(organized alphabetically by series title)
Dynasties: The Ashtons (Entangled)
Dynasties: The Barons (With Private Eyes)
Dynasties: The Connellys (Expecting...and in Danger)
Just A Little Bit (Just a Little Bit Pregnant, Just a Little Bit Married)
At Midnight (Midnight Promises, Midnight Choices, Meeting at Midnight)
Tall, Dark & Eligible (Jacob's Proposal, Luke's Promise, Michael's Temptation)
World of the Lupi ("Only Human", Tempting Danger, "Originally Human", Mortal Danger, Blood Lines, "Inhuman", Night Season, Mortal Sins)

List of all titles in print
(organized by release date)
Mortal Sins (03/09)
Night Season (03/08)
"Inhuman" (08/07)
Blood Lines (01/07)
Mortal Danger (11/05)
Entagled (Silhouette Desire #1627, 01/05)
Tempting Danger (10/04)
Meeting at Midnight (Silhouette Desire #1605, 09/04)
"Originally Human" (in the Cravings anthology, 07/04)
With Private Eyes (Silhouette Desire #1543, 11/03)
"Only Human" (in the Lover Beware anthology, 07/03)
"A Matter of Duty" (in the Broken Silence anthology, 05/03)
Midnight Choices (Silhouette Intimate Moments #1210, 03/03)
Expecting...and in Danger (Silhouette Desire #1472, 11/02)
Her Lord Protector (Silhouette Intimate Moments #1160, 07/02)
Michael's Temptation (Silhouette Desire #1409, 12/01)
Luke's Promise (Silhouette Desire #1403, 11/01)
Jacob's Proposal (Silhouette Desire #1397, 10/01)
The Pregnant Heiress (Silhouette Desire #1378, 07/01)
"The Proper Lover" (in the All I Want for Christmas anthology, 11/00)
Night of No Return (Silhouette Intimate Moments #1028, 10/00)
Midnight Promises (Silhouette Intimate Moments #982, 01/00)
Proposition: Marriage (Silhouette Desire #1239, 09/99)
"Pandora's Bottle" (in the Charmed anthology, 08/99)
Midnight Cinderella (Silhouette Intimate Moments #921, 04/99)
"A Tempting Offer" (in the To Tame a Texan anthology, 03/99)
Just a Little Bit Married (Silhouette Desire, 12/98)
"Simple Sins" (in the Rough Around the Edges anthology, 06/98)
The Virgin and the Outlaw (Silhouette Intimate Moments, 05/98)
Just a Little Bit Pregnant (Silhouette Desire #1134, 03/98)
Cowboys Do It Best (Silhouette Desire #1109, 11/97)
The Wrong Wife (Silhouette Desire #1065, 04/97)
The Loner and the Lady (Silhouette Desire #1008, 06/96)

Welcome to Eileen Wilks's World of the Lupi, of "strange magic [and] fantastic realms,"* where some sins are so dark and unlikely, no one thought to forbid them.

FBI agent Lily Yu is in North Carolina with her lover and mate Rule Turner, lu nuncio of the Nokolai werewolf clan, where he is to take custody of his son from the boy's grandmother. It's a purely personal trip until Rule, in wolf form, finds three bodies in a shallow grave. They carry the stench of death magic, which makes the murders a federal crime. Lily takes charge of the investigation, and soon realizes that nothing adds up-not the motives, not even the accused killer, who's behind bars when death strikes again.

But murder, however bizarre, is an everyday affair for Lily, who was a homicide cop before being recruited into the FBI's Magical Crimes Division. A more personal shock arrives in the person of Rule's son's mother. Why is she challenging Rule's long standing plan to bring his son to live among the Nokolai?

But family must take a back seat when the violence escalates, and there's no rhyme or reason for the killer's next strike-a killer who may not even be of this world...

5th book in her "World of the Lupi " series
Lupi Books
1: Tempting Danger - October 5th, 2004
2: Mortal Danger - November 1st, 2005
3: Blood Lines - January 2007
4: Night Season - January 2008
5: Mortal Sins - February 2009