Sandra Hill
“Truth is stranger than fiction” is a quote everyone is
familiar with, but let me take that one step farther. Truth is
funnier than fiction, too.
When readers ask where I get the ideas for my books, I tell
them to look around them. Life is funny.
For example, I laughed when I watched the Dixie Chicks video
of “Goodbye Earl” for the first time because my initial reaction
was, “Wouldn’t it be fun to do a medieval version of this
storyline?” Thus was born the premise for my upcoming VIKING IN
LOVE. In the video, the girls kill Earl, the abusive husband of
one of them and dump him in a lake. In my book, five Viking
princesses kill the abusive husband of one of them…an earl, of
course…and dump him somewhere really funny.
Then there was the day my husband came home from playing
golf and said, “Guess what? Jerry Gold’s penis (not the word he
used) has taken a right turn.” Fictional name but a real
disease, presumably the reason Paula Jones was able to recognize
Bill Clinton’s private parts. But this launched the idea for THE
BEWITCHED VIKING where the king’s you-know-what took a right
turn.
Every time I see the ad for Cialis on TV, I snicker. The
one that says if the man gets a four-hour erection he should go
to the emergency room. Hah! My husband says if he gets one of
those he’s calling all his friends to brag. Anyhow, I was
talking about this at a conference last year when a nurse came up
to me and said, “You won’t believe how many men end up in the
emergency room. They figure if one of those blue pills can
create magic, why not take two…or three…or five?”
My best friend was having marital problems, which eventually
led to a divorce, but she called me one day and said, “You won’t
believe what my husband wants to do to cure our marriage.
Ballroom dancing lessons!”
When one of my sons was about twelve, a girl gave him a
birthday gift. Boxer shorts imprinted with the word “No!” all
over. I figured, odd gift, but in those days teens often wore
boxers as outer wear. What I didn’t realize was that these were
glow-in-the-dark undies, and when the lights went out they said,
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Have you ever been in a beauty salon where they have warm
wax machines for hand massage? You put a hand in and the wax
immediately hardens. Not hard like a facial masque, but firm,
like a really tight glove. When you tug it off, slowly, it is
the most erotic sensation. So, my brilliant hair stylist says to
me, “Wonder what it would be like if a guy stuck his penis in one
of these?” (And don’t think for one minute that guys wouldn’t
jump at the chance.) Thus was born my Navy SEAL Geek’s idea for
an Internet product called www.penileglove.com in my Viking Navy
SEAL series.
Years ago, I read a book about Casanova that said he used
halved lemons for birth control, sort of like a uterine cap. So,
in writing VIKING IN LOVE, my hero Caedmon mentions hearing about
that practice, but they had no lemons readily available in tenth
century Britain. His clueless men were not undaunted. They
tried it with small, halved apples. Hilarious!
Tell me about some of the funny experiences in your life.
Maybe they’ll end up in one of my books. And please visit my
website at www.sandrahill.net for news, videos, free novellas,
contests, and freebies.
This packrat has learned that what the next generation will value most is not what we owned, but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we loved. In the end, it’s the family stories that are worth the storage.
I love your books and can’t wait to get this one.I wish something funny would happen to me my life is so hard latly I could use a laugh.but your books allways make me smile and thats good.
sasluvbooks(at)yahoo(dot)com
PamS: LOL here.
Hi Sandra,
I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Viking in Love. I absolutely love your books! LoL thanks so much for the laughs as usual on your great post. I really needed that after pulling an all nighter designing fliers for a client’s grand opening.
Your comments reminded me of a booboo I made once on a client’s ad. Normally I write/post for his real estate business (he’s an NY broker). However, his aunt own’s a restraunt and he helps her out from time to hiring staff, subbing for a chef, etc. The task at hand was to write up a small ad to place on craigs list for the restuarant needing employees.
In a hurry to get things posted before my internet died, my ad read Cock Wanted, Top Pay Call *** anytime day or night, we keep late hrs. Needless to say the restuarant got all sorts of calls none of which were applying for the position of a cook…
Warm Wishes!
Pam S
Hi Sandra,
Thanks. *G*
And oh yes, kids are the best at sayign the funniest things! Whenever I go out to restaurants or wherever and the little monsters are around, my ears perk up–I know something good will soon be coming up. *L*
Best of luck!!
Hugs,
Maithe
Hi Sandra,
I don’t really have any funny stories to tell, but I do love your viking romances! They are so much fun and I really love that time period as my ancestory dates back to that peiod as well.
Best wishes,
Chris Mead
When I was 10 my parents were in an accident and my mom lost her leg. to the grandkids this was normal for their memaw. In the car one day we were all talking and the word prostitute poped up. Well the little one wanted to know what that word was. We scrambled to find a way to explain it in a nice enough way for a child. We ended up saying it was a woman who sold body. He got a big smile on his face and said “cool, we can get memaw a new leg.”
Maithe (lovely name!) and Jillian: I think kids come out with the funniest stuff. When my husband picked up our five-year-old grandson recently, he asked, “What’s new, Max?” And Max replied, “I have issues, PopPop. I can’t discuss them, but I have issues!”
Hi Sandra!! I love, absolutely love your books!! I got hooked with the Cajuns and worked my way through those yummy Vikings–fun all the way!! *L* I got several of my friends hooked on you too. *L*
Hmm, off the top of my head I don’t have anything that funny. The only thing I can think of was when my son was about 5 years old, he got in trouble for doing poorly in school. When his counselor asked him what happened, he sighed and said in a woeful tone of voice “I did crappy work.” Our eyes bugged out and we all had to turn away before we burst out laughing. *L*
Oh my!
The bit about the lemon/apple halves made me laugh out loud!
I adore your Viking books, Sandra…My Fair Viking is absolutely hilarious. I love your humorous take on Viking stories…so much fun to read! And it sounds like you have fun writing them!
I can’t say I have any amusing and/or embarrassing stories off the top of my head…though recently I had a strange conversation with my niece. She asked me what a stripper is and, not wanting to corrupt her innocent spirit, I told her a stripper is a lady who dances for a living.
…I think you can imagine her mother’s reaction when her 5-year-old daughter told her she wants to be a stripper when she grows up!
Though I absolutely love your Viking books, Jinx books and Creole books, I was going to ask you if you have any plans to write any more books like Frankly My Dear, or Sweeter Savage Love? However, I just found out that the novella in the anthology Ladies Prefer Rogues has something on the order to those books. I am really looking forward to reading it. In fact, I already ordered the book.
I have a correction to make. I mentioned earlier about a kilt name. I also have another favorite author whose first name is Sandy. It is with her fan club that I have the kilt name. I am always mixing you two up. I have read all her books also. Viking should have given me a hint which favorite author I was blogging. You were probably wondering what I was talking about. I guess the mind is the first thing to go.
Dottie: I first got interested in Vikings when doing a family genealogy. Turns out that my family tree on my father’s side goes all the way back to the tenth century and Hrofl the Ganger, first duke of Normandy (known then as Norsemandy). Thanks for asking.
Enjoyed reading the comments. I haven’t had any of those kinds of funny things happen to me but I recall once in my early married life I got upset with my husband so i made sure I washed his white briefs with a red shirt. He was very upset.
Before I got married, I was on break at work one day and started talking to another woman there. We began talking about our boyfriends in Vietnam. As the talk went on, there were several similarities, until finally, I realized we were talking about the same person. My husband has never lived that down. He swears she was a girl he dating way before me. Yea, I’ve heard that before. However, after forty years of marriage, three children and eleven grandchildren, we are still happily married.
How did you originally come up with the idea to write about Vikings? I have read all your books, as well as, every Viking book you have written including VIKING IN LOVE. In fact, I reviewed that one. I just love your work and I am in your fanclub. In fact, I even have a kilt name.