back then,

whatever the opportunities were in say the US, North America for publishing,

this is we have to say this is pre-endy publishing, pre-e-books even. Whatever the options were, you have to narrow that

down again and again and again by the time you get to New Zealand because very few publishers were taking submissions from outside either the US or the UK and even you know had to be books had to be set in America quite often or if you're going for the UK publishers that had to be set in London and I hadn't traveled anywhere at that point.

I was a high school kid, right?

And one of the only publishers that was accepting worldwide submissions

and we're publishing books at worldwide was Harlequin,

Milton Boone, and then later, you know, silhouette sort of became part of that too.

So for me thinking of how am I actually going to get published it made a lot of sense to

start with the contemporary side of things and start by submitting to you know know, Harlequin or so away.

That was the voice of Nalini Singh.

One of the first women of color to write extensively in the paranormal romance space, which is something

she's going to talk about with us, author of both the first and second seasons of the

side changing series.

I love that.

I love, I love the way she thinks about that.

Along with the Guild Hunter series, the Rock Addiction series, and category romances.

We're going to talk to Nalini about her journey through romance.

The way she perceives herself, the role of New Zealand, romance authors,

and what it's like to send your first manuscript off

when you're a teenager.

The best.

...