Nicole M. Miller

  During a long visit to the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland I became intrigued with why Highland Clans no longer occupied the Highlands. You’ll find the surprising answer in my book Masquerade Marriage. I’m of Scottish ancestry as are so many Americans, and bagpipes music makes my heart sing. I fell in love with the awesome country and the friendly, complex people. So, being a writer, of course I had to write of what I knew. I love the clear fresh air, the handsome people, the amazing openness of the country, the castles, and the Scots violent, adventurous history. In the next few years I plan to add Cailin...

  I don’t usually take events from real life and make them into a plot. (If you knew my plots, you’d know this was a good thing!) But I do try to push plots in a certain direction to make a point. Like “How can a slave girl with no physical strength or weapons be brave and accomplish amazing things?” My main character, Kee, is that slavegirl. Her master’s infant son has been kidnapped to a hostile kingdom and all the brave knights got nowhere when they went looking. So she hatches a plan to go looking herself, hiding in plain sight, masquerading as a runaway slave who was caught...

It’s believed my great, great+ grandfather might have been Chief Red Eagle/William Weatherford of the Creek Indians. The legend I’d always heard was that he jumped off a cliff to save his people. Lying in bed early one morning, I wished I could read the story in a novel. (I luuurve historical fiction.) The next logical thought was that I should be the one to write it. Outside of high school, I’d never written before, but figured I’d give it a go. During research, I came across Pickett’s History of Alabama, the most thrilling history book you’ll ever read. It was written in 1851 in story-book fashion. The author interviewed...

  The idea for the novel came first as an image of a man, Michael Archer, standing on ridge looking down on a small town. As I asked myself why he was there, the story unfolded: He was there to attempt reconciliation, a prodigal by proxy, of a son, Ben Carstairs, hung for a crime he didn’t commit and his estranged father, Sam. The characters grew out of the story. I don’t know how else to describe it. Michael meets the stunning Rachel Stone while waiting for Sam to return from a business trip. Beautiful yet guarded, Rachel is running from a past as dark as Michael’s, and the last...

  Lady in the Mist released from Baker Publishing February 1, 2011 and has already been picked up by Crossings Book Club and by Thorndike Press for large print. The whole thing started thirteen years ago. I was in graduate school studying history with the duel purpose of wanting to write more serious historical fiction, so wanting more knowledge, and possibly teaching history. I do both now, but not as I expected. But that’s a different story. My first semester, I took two classes—Research Methods and The History of Medicine. In the former, I had to write a long research paper. In the other, I had to create a project,...