In the cold

Molly Swanton and Carla Peltonen were born in in Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A. on January 22 and September 12. In the late 60s, both newly returned frombumming around the world, they met in Aspen in the Red Onion, an Old Westsaloon. They were both new brides, wet behind the ears. It was several yearslater that they dreamed up Lynn Erickson, the pseudonym a combination oftheir husbands' names. They had read every romance put out in the early 70sand started saying, "We can do better than this." Well, they couldn't, butwhat the heck? The wrote two fat novels before we chanced onto an agent andmade a sale. His first words to them: "The manuscript is flawed, but..." They published their first novel as Lynn Erickson in 1980. Their early bookswere historical romances, full of blood and guts and murder, then theyturned to contemporary women's suspense. "We've set almost all of our booksin Colorado, especially in Aspen, a town where the truth is usually strangerthan fiction. Aspen is a character in our books, not just a setting. We loveto drop inside jokes about the quirks and fancies of our hometown. Thescenery truly is glorious, the mountains magnificent, the skiing and hikingand fishing and horseback riding legendary. We cover the arts, too - theworld-renowned music festival, the shops full of museum-quality paintingsand sculptures. Southwestern art is big, of course: paintings and potteryand Navajo rugs."