Why “Her Best Enemy” is One of Maggie Shayne’s Best Stories

New York Times bestselling author Maggie Shayne‘s RITA Award-winning novella “Her Best Enemy” is in stores once again in a new reissue of the paranormal romance anthology Night’s Edge, which also features stories by Sookie Stackhouse creator Charlaine Harris and prolific author Barbara Hambly. Read on to learn what inspired Maggie’s novella and why she thinks it’s one of her best…

by Maggie Shayne, author of “Her Best Enemy”

You just never know what’s going to inspire the best ideas.  For me, in the case of “Her Best Enemy”, my story in the Night’s Edge anthology, the idea came from a song.  I’m a big fan of Sting, so it should come as no surprise that I find pleasure in his work.  But this was only the second time a story idea came from it. The first time was with an old, out of print, rights-reverted novel called Fairytale and I don’t remember what song inspired that one.  I do know it was Sting, though, because the working title of the project was “Sting, On a Horse.”  (That title being for my eyes only, of course. And it was important to extend the pause where that comma is.)  I wrote that novel with a picture of Sting, brooding, right above the computer, and I bored into it with my eyes when I described the hero doing the same.   Ah, brooding heroes!  Aren’t they the greatest?  But I digress….

In this second case, my inspiration was a song called “It’s Probably Me” that grabbed me like none before and just refused to let me go.  The lyrics seem like the setup for the perfect romantic story.  I can’t print them here without a lot of permissions, but the song’s hero seems to be singing to its heroine, saying that if everything in her life went wrong, and it seemed she was alone in the universe, and if there were only one person in all the world who would come to her rescue, “I hate to say it, but it’s probably me.”

The song’s two characters-the singer and the singee, let’s call them-were obviously each other’s worst enemy.  They were even more obviously, madly in love.  I would listen to that song over and over again, just knowing there was a book in there for me, somewhere.

Rather than waiting for the book to come to me, though, I tried to force it.  And I came up with a story for those two that was really out there.  Considering who’s writing this blog, folks, trust me, that’s saying a lot.  In the story, the heroine found a cursed statue that turned her into a cat.  She would go from woman to cat and back again, throughout the story, her cat-self losing its inhibitions and rubbing over the hero’s leg, or butting his chin or licking his face.  I thought it was cuter than . . . er . . . heck.  My editor thought it was gross.  C’est la vie.  I wrote a different book, and put the starcrossed couple aside.

Years later, I was invited to headline Night’s Edge, and so I went back through old story ideas that had never been written for one reason or another, in search of inspiration, and there I found them waiting.  Kiley and Jack.  I hadn’t known their names until that very moment.  So I pulled them out, and with a lot more experience under my belt, began to plot a story for them.  A paranormal, but slightly more believable story.  The characters themselves, however, and the inspiration of that song, remained exactly the same.  Even better, in fact.  This time, when I put the two on the page, their story flowed in that magickal way that some stories do.

When that book was released, I had been nominated for 12 RITA Awards, and had yet to win a single one of them.  I was in strong competition for the greatly UN-coveted title of “The Susan Lucci of romance.”  And that year, I received two more nominations.

“Her Best Enemy” took the prize I’d been dreaming of for so long, and that golden statue holds a place of honor on my shelf.  I think the story deserved it, too, which makes it even better.

And now, it’s coming out again, in a gorgeous edition with beautiful new cover art.  I couldn’t be happier about that.  Even as I, just a few weeks ago, completed what will be my fiftieth novel, “Her Best Enemy” stands out as one of my favorites and I think, one of my best.

And now the obligatory “what’s up next” portion of your blog, also known as the shameless self promotion segment.  Drum roll, please . . . .

Three brand new books I also think are some of my best ever, KILLING ME SOFTLY, KILL ME AGAIN, and KISS ME, KILL ME (aka the Secrets of Shadow Falls trilogy, from MIRA Books) will be hitting the stands in July, August, and September of 2010.  They’re romantic suspense, and they pick up with Dawn, from my previous romantic suspense trilogy, untitled as a group, but known to fans as the “Mordecai Young series.”  A lot of you have been asking about Dawn and Bryan from those books, so here they come!

Vampire fans, don’t fret.  There will be more of those. The series I fondly call the original Twilight vampire novels, but officially known as Wings in the Night–yes, that includes all of them–will be back with brand new tales, just as fast as I can move my fingers over the keyboard.  And yes, some of the old crew will be back.  And yes, the twins will have a story.  Promise!

Until then, enjoy some of the others, including Night’s Edge.

And for the record, I still think there’s some merit in that feline-heroine book.

Best,

Maggie

Use the widget below to read the first chapter of all three novellas in Night’s Edge - “Dancers in the Dark” by Charlaine Harris, “Her Best Enemy by Maggie Shayne, and “Someone Else’s Shadow” by Barbara Hambly.

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