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My Dragonfire series features heroes who are also dragon shape-shifters. Their "species", if we can call it that, is an old one and a genetic trait passed through the male line. They call themselves the Pyr, from the Greek word for "fire", and get along with each other about as well as you'd expect a bunch of dragons to do. They're independent, fierce, loyal, passionate and inclined to lose their tempers. This puts the Pyr squarely in the realm of the alpha males so often found in the romance genre. Since these are romances, each book focusses on one Pyr and his romance with a human woman - the Pyr mate with normal women and the meeting of a Pyr with his destined mate is a sensation called the firestorm. The firestorm is legendary among them as each Pyr gets only one firestorm and the consummation of the firestorm always results in the conception of a son.

I've always found dragons fascinating. Not only are they powerful creatures that possess a terrifying beauty, but they have a long history in human storytelling. In fact, I think it's the stories, the volume of commentary on dragons that intrigues me.

Although it could be argued that dragons are fictional, the focus of my reading on dragons has been in the non-fiction section. I'm less interested in how other authors have played with dragon lore than in the lore itself. Playing with these stories - and twisting them around to suit my nefarious needs as a storyteller - is part of the fun of dragons. There's so much to choose from.

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One of the most fascinating parts of writing fiction for me is hunting and gathering my research materials. There's a certain heft of materials that makes me feel ready to begin, a particular quantity of stuff spread around my office that signals the time to begin writing.

My husband calls this "clutter".

I call it "research".

I know other authors who work in monastic conditions, reading and making notes off site, then returning to a pristine desk to write. They need the clarity to focus. I need the chaos to create. They can work anywhere, while I need to return to my mess to hear my characters speak.

There's a particular order to my hunting and gathering - it's not random after all these years. First are the maps. I love maps, big maps, and will usually buy a big folding one of the area in question. I snag a few travel guides to that area, heavily post-it note and bookmark them, and grab some articles from online.

Dragonfire is interesting in this because the heroes have a backstory, often in a different location from the site of the book. It's usually also at a different point in time. Quinn, in Kiss of Fire, was strongly affected by an incident during the Albigensian crusade. Donovan, in Kiss of Fury, had a memory of his father joining the pirates in Tortuga. Erik, in Kiss of Fate, recalls his Viking roots, his time in early medieval England, and his lost love in the 18th century. (Erik required a lot of maps - I'm bracing myself for the other older Pyr, like Rafferty, who will probably give me a world tour.)

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You might be thinking that I'm going to talk about my husband here, but he's a comparatively recent love compared to my love of books. Books and I go waaaaaay back. I don't remember when I learned to read - it just seems as if I always have - and books have always been a big part of my life.

I still have my first books. MY BOOK HOUSE is a twelve volume set, compiling children's stories. The leather spines are shaded from green through blue, with each book a different colour. They'd look good on a shelf even if they were never used - mine are dog-eared. My mother has a fun photo of me with the first of those books open in my lap and all my stuffed toys arranged around me as I "read" to them. I must be all of two in that photo, so it's unlikely I could actually read the text. Maybe I had the story memorized. Maybe I was making things up, even then. My love of books, though, was already established.

I remember getting in trouble in fifth grade for reading the dictionary inside my desk instead of listening to the math lesson. Fiction didn't have an exclusive hold on my heart. I remember a bookstore on Bloor Street when I was a student that sold "hurt Penguins" - with a little sad face on the sign - at a discounted price. Yes, we have several shelves worth of those orange-spined Penguin classics. I remember going into bookstores when I was travelling in Europe, even though I couldn't read in the local language, just because I missed books and bookstores so much.

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Deborah Cooke is our guest blogger during the week of November 17th. If you have any questions for Deborah Cooke, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about Kiss of Fury:

Alexandra Madison has discovered an invention that could change the world. When her partner is murdered and their lab destroyed, Alex knows she has to rebuild her prototype in time...

Donovan Shea knows the Madison project is of dire importance to the ongoing Pyr/Slayer war. So when he sees Alex being followed by a Slayer, he reacts and defends her, never imagining that she’s his destined mate...

As Slayers close in on their prey, Donovan knows he’ll surrender his life to protect Alex—and lose his heart to possess her...