Karin's News

Karin's upcoming release schedule:

• WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE, Pocket, Jan '08
• JADED, Pocket, June '08
• MASTER OF SURRENDER, Pocket, June '08
• ITALIAN STALLIONS, Kensington, July '08
• HAVE YOURSELF A NAUGHTY LITTLE SANTA , Pocket, November '08
• MASTER OF TORMENT, Pocket, Dec '08

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GOOD GIRL GONE BAD has recently sold in Germany!

I'm pleased to announce the sale of GOOD GIRL GONE BAD to Futami in Japan.

Watch for Siren Sounds, an AOL group from Karin. Coming soon!

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From Antioch Press

Get your own 'Good Girl Gone Bad'

Monty Norris
Published 09/15/2006 - 2:42 p.m.

Brentwood writer Karin Tabke, whose first full-length novel is scheduled to arrive in bookstores this week, knows very well what it takes to succeed in the competitive world of publishing.

“Never give up,” she said. “The only unpublished writers are the ones who quit.”

Her novel, entitled “Good Girl Gone Bad,” is what she describes as “sexy romance suspense.” An excerpt of the novel will appear in the November issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The story’s main protagonist is a woman police officer who gets pulled unwillingly out of her cozy niche in the department’s internal affairs unit to team up with a macho male detective who needs her for an undercover assignment. She can’t abide her new partner, however, and that sets the stage for plenty of friction between the two.

“She gets yanked out of internal affairs and gets thrown to the wolves,” Tabke said of her female character, named Philamina Zorn. “She’s a by-the-book type who follows the rules to a letter. But the guy she’s teamed up with is a street cop who operates more by instinct and considers rules merely as flexible guidelines.”

Tabke’s first published work was a novella that appeared in an anthology released in January called “The Hard Stuff.” Her second novel, “Skin,” is scheduled for release in April of 2007.

The original title she chose for her first novel was “Internal Affairs,” but she said her editor thought that was “too boring.”

Tabke started writing in earnest five years ago. But success eluded her for a long time. “I’ve got a file full of rejections,” she said of her early work. “And believe me, some of them aren’t very nice.”

She said one editor even asked if English was her first language. “That was really hurtful, but I’ve learned to develop a thick skin,” she said. “She apparently didn’t understand that the protagonist spoke with an accent because English wasn’t her first language.”

Nevertheless, following her own advice, Tabke remained undaunted.

“You have to believe in yourself and persevere,” she said. “I really never considered giving up. I was determined.”

Tabke said all of her female protagonists are strong women. “My heroines are very empowered women,” she said. “They don’t need rescuing.”

She said that sexy romance suspense novels are a growing genre. “Readers drive the market,” she said. “And modern women want these kinds of stories. They want strong female characters they can identify with. They want to go into the bedroom with them, too.”

Tabke writes Monday through Friday. “I go into my office and start writing, just like it was regular job,” she said. “I’ve got to get something on the page – no matter how good or how bad. It’s always a lot easier to edit a written page than to edit a blank page. I try to write at least five pages a day.”

Tabke works from a storyboard to give her some direction, but she isn’t locked into a set plot line.

“I like to have a pretty good idea of where I’m going, but how I get there is the fun part. I want to be free to be creative as I go along,” she said.

She creates her characters first, she said, but doesn’t write lengthy biographies of each character, which gives her the freedom to develop them as she writes.

“My characters pull me along,” she explained. “What happens is the characters take over. New characters pop up sometimes and start taking over. But I tell them, ‘Shut up! You’ll get your own story some day.’”

Her novels provide authenticity in terms of police procedure, thanks to her husband, Gary, who is a retired cop.

“Everything I know about police work I get from him,” Tabke said. “He checks everything for me to make sure it’s accurate and realistic.”

A book signing is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 23 at Grazie! on First Street in downtown Brentwood from 2 to 4 p.m. Tabke said that anyone who cannot make the book signing can buy a copy at Barnes & Noble at Slatten Ranch Shopping Center before the book signing. There will be post-its at the front desk, where customers can write whatever they want inscribed in the book. Tabke will sign the book, which can then be picked up at the bookstore any time after Sept. 24.

Copyright Antioch Press