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Gayle Carline: I read across genres, and I write across genres because there are so many interesting stories out there to discover, and I don't care what shelf they're on. Any tale with compelling characters trying to answer a big question about life draws my attention.

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Hi, my name is Gayle Carline and I'm the author of 16 books, a humor columnist for the North County News Tribune, and currently serve as president of the Placentia Library District Board of Trustees. Trust me when I say that books are my jam. Humans have been storytellers since before any written language, and we will continue to tell stories across whatever platform, media, language that's available. No matter the delivery, I'm convinced that we will always seek an outlet for the stories within us. The visual of film doesn't always get the job done. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes we need those words to define what we're seeing.

I read across genres, and I write across genres because there are so many interesting stories out there to discover, and I don't care what shelf they're on. Any tale with compelling characters trying to answer a big question about life draws my attention. My own books range from contemporary mysteries set in my hometown of Placentia, to fantasies about girl pirates and dragons set in the 18th-century Caribbean, to memoirs told in First Person Horse.

As you can guess, my ideas come from anywhere. As Katharine Hepburn says in the movie Desk Set, many things remind me of many things. Before I put pen to paper, I make certain I know why I'm telling this story. Am I trying to say something important? Am I curious about an aspect of the human condition? Am I just trying to entertain? What's the point? I want my stories to entertain you, but I also want you to be invested in my heroes and heroines. I want you to step inside the big picture I'm trying to paint and think about themes like the nature of love and sacrifice, what success means, or achieving equality in a world that is anything but equal.

My latest book is a cozy mystery, Paws on the Pier, featuring a mouse detective who helps solve murder among humans despite the fact that she hates people. It's part of the Magic Mouse Keepers series along with Mouse in the House by DeAnna Drake and Lessons In Latte by Merrie Destefano. Being chock full of ideas, I'm currently working on a sequel to my romantic suspense Murder on the Hoof.

I'm really excited about this next chapter in the story of Willie Adams, widow, engineer, and amateur horsewoman. As usual, she'll be up to her neck in danger and surrounded by sexy suitors, but her bigger question will be how to truly live in a world that's messy and horrible and glorious and fulfilling without trying to control everything around her, including her own heart.

I hope you can join me on my characters' journeys. Thank you for your time.

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