Welcome to Mandy's Madhouse
Home of Romance Author
Madeline Baker/Amanda Ashley

From Romantic Times Magazine interview:

MADELINE BAKER CHASES THE LIGHNING AND FINDS GOLD IN HER LATEST TIME TRAVEL

This is a spirit horse,” Walker on the Wind had said. “He is as swift as lightning, as surefooted as a mountain goat, as reliable as old Father Sun. Treat him well, and he will always carry you away from danger.”

After inheriting a huge house in Arizona and loads of money from her wealthy uncle, Amanda Burkett is thrown for an even greater loop the moment Relámpago, a mysterious white stallion, and his sexy owner Trey Long Walker, wander into her yard needing help. It isn’t long before Amanda learns that not only has Trey stumbled 132 years into the future (thanks to Relámpago’s nose for trouble), he’s also been shot during a profitable bank heist—one that took place in 1869, no less!

That’s right. Trey, a half-breed Apache bank robber and his “ghost horse” have time traveled all the way from the rowdy real life era of “cowboys and Indians” into the equally dangerous twenty-first century. Bounty hunters still thrive, albeit in smaller numbers, and are now the “muscle” behind the United States penal system. Amanda’s fiancé; is bounty hunter, Rob Langely, the great-great grandson of Bob “Wolf” Langely, the man who so aggressively pursued Trey way way back in the 1800s.

Trey had not only meant to rob J.S. Hollinger’s bank—the man he holds responsible for his father’s death—it was also his intention to take Hollinger’s life. However he is unable to pull the trigger of his Colt handgun and instead winds up with a satchel full of cash and feeling as though he’s failed his family, especially his Apache grandfather, Walker on the Wind. But all hell breaks loose when a bank employee is fortuitously shot by one of Trey’s cohorts and because of this, Wolf Langely is hot on Trey’s trail, holding him liable for the fallen man, and ready to claim the reward money offered on Trey’s head.

“Trey was such an interesting character to write,” award winning author Madeline Baker (aka Amanda Ashley) says of the hunky hero in her October time travel, CHASE THE LIGHTNING. “Gruff yet sweet… Like a hot fudge sundae, really. The life he offers Amanda is an unstable one; it’s mystical and marvelous and what’s more, it’s exciting! And poor Rob—talk about plain vanilla ice cream!—just isn’t able to match that level of excitement to Amanda’s liking.”

It is Relámpago who jumps the fence, so to speak, from time period to time period. It is his destiny as “spirit horse” to rescue those in perilous situations by transporting them to safer soil. But are such “spirit” or “ghost” horses actual mythological figures or a machination of the author’s fanciful imagination?

“Well, neither really,” laughs Madeline. “The idea was given to me by an online friend and fellow author, William Burkett. I told him that I needed an idea and he then told me about the ‘ghost horse,’ which was purely his invention. That was what sparked the rest of the book for me.”

Not only would William supply Madeline with the crux of her story (keen readers will take notice of the heroine’s last name—a subtle homage to her internet muse), he worked with her on making the depiction of Arizona as authentic as possible as well as provide a male perspective on the story.

(For Madeline’s diehard vampire and paranormal fans, it is not coincidence that Amanda Burkett shares the same name as Madeline’s alter ego, Amanda Ashley. Says Madeline, “I used the name Amanda for lack of anything better. Then, when the book was completed, it was too late. Amanda was, well, she was an Amanda.”)

Names of characters aside, the compelling writing style and intricate meshing of the past versus the present is 100 percent Madeline. She considers herself a “typical” romance writer, but especially enjoys writing her time travels and vampire tales as they’re suitable vehicles for her fun-filled, topsy-turvy brand of story telling.

In January 2002, look for the Signet release, LAKOTA LOVE SONG, about a young woman who finds a wounded Indian on her ranch and in February 2002, her next Amanda Ashley is due, titled MIDNIGHT EMBRACE, which her editor, Alicia Condon has dubbed, the “perfect vampire romance.”

The tentative release date for RECKLESS EMBRACE, the fourth in her Recless series, is March of 2003. Those fans waiting for Blackie’s story needn't wait any longer (well, until 2003, that is)! And Hannah and Shadow are alive and well, Madeline reassures her readers.

“When I sit down to write, I need to be able to see the story play out in my mind, like a television show or a movie,” Madeline says. “I don’t use an outline or plot point A to point B. Somehow I just figure it all out in the end.”

Top of Page