Rougaroux Social Club by Lynn Lorenz

Some have asked me why I named this series Rougaroux Social Club. Well, the answer is both simple and complex. This series is set deep in south Louisiana, in the heart of Cajun country. In Cajun cooking, the first thing a good cook must know how to make is a roux. It’s the basis for most soups, like a good gumbo. The roux is everything. This is basically a mixture of flour and some sort of fat, like butter or oil. It’s slow cooked, with constant stirring so’s not to “burn the roux.” Once it’s burnt, the taste is ruined and you should start over.
So, that explains the roux part of Rougaroux.

Now, the Rougarou part – in Cajun legend, the dreaded swamp wolf is called the rougarou, or rugarou, and it’s basically our version of a werewolf. So I combined the cooking with the legend. And no, I didn’t create Cajun cooking werewolves, although most of their maman’s (that’s french for mama) probably make a mean roux. I know Scott’s maman Darlene can cook circles around most chefs, at least in Cajun cooking.
That explains the Rougaroux part.

Now, let’s look at the Social Club.
In the south, especially in New Orleans and southern Louisiana, groups of people form “social clubs” where they can get together to dance, party, eat, and mostly do good works. Sometimes they’re called “social and pleasure” clubs. I stuck with just social.
So I have this pack of werewolves, who are mostly Catholic, who need a place to meet and hold pack meetings, so where better than to form a social club, give it a tease of a name, and also use it to do good deeds, especially for pack members. Think of it as hiding in plain sight.
Yes, my werewolves are Catholic, and yes, the priest knows about them. He’d have to, if you think about it.

And to make it even more fun, the town where this is set, St. Jerome, like most small towns in Cajun country, holds its very own Rougarou Festival, to celebrate the legend of the Rougarou. The social club is the sponsor of the event, and each year, they hold a costume contest for the best Rougarou costume.
As you can see, I had a lot of fun with this whole series, from Bayou Dreams to Bayou Des Enfants, there is a strong element of humor in each book. And the person who brings the funny is hands down, Scott’s maman, Darlene. She’s a hoo-doo voodoo practicing Catholic who doesn’t know her own powers or at least, she thinks she does. Having her casting spells on the men she loves is fun. I get to mess with these men, disguised as her.

But even though there is humor, each of the book explores serious issues, like how a straight man can have a gay wolf inside him, whether love and fated mates can overcome fear and distrust, and how to build a family when two parents aren’t quite ready. Frequently we find the pack in jeopardy from internal stresses and external pressures. Hard choices have to be made, mates have to be found and wooed, and voodoo has to mess up a few lives.

I hope you’ll give my Bayou wolves a try. Come on down to Cajun country. Make a fais-do-do and pass a good time. Eat some gumbo and fried oysters. Sit on the bank of the bayou and cast a spell or two. But watch out for maman’s cat.

If you’re interested in buying them, on Amazon, click this link. Thanks! If you’ve read them and enjoyed them, please think about leaving a review!
Bayou Dreams
Bayou’s End
Bayou Loup
Bayou Des Enfants

New Release for Lynn Lorenz!

Tomorrow, Loose Id will release the next book in my Rougaroux Social Club series, Bayou Des Enfants.
I’m so happy that it’s going to finally come out, since it’s been a while since I’ve visited St. Jerome and the pack. This time, Scott’s mother is up to her old tricks and more than anything she wants grandkids. But it’s a problem, since Scott and Ted are gay, and neither are sure they want kids now.
But with this pack, the swamp, and a little voodoo hoodoo, anything is possible. Here’s the link at the site – http://www.loose-id.com/rougaroux-social-club-4-bayou-des-enfants.html It should be up on Amazon tomorrow.

If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s set in south Louisiana, deep in the swamps of Acadiana, in a little town called St. Jerome. This town has a secret – it harbors a pack of rougarou, werewolves – and they’re living in plain sight. The alpha of the pack is Scott Dupree and he’s also the sheriff. His beta Mike is the chief of the fire department. To stay hidden, they create a social club, it’s mission is to do raise money to help first responders in times of trouble. So every year they put on the Rougarou Festival, a weekend of food, drink, music and a costume contest for the best Rougarou.

Trouble starts in book one, Bayou Dreams, when Scott’s mother, Darlene Dupree, also known as Maman, does a little voodoo hoodoo in the swamp and prays for her son to get his mate. Only she forgets to say Scott’s mate should be a woman. When Ted Canedo shows up, a gay PI from New Orleans, it’s insta-lust, but for Scott, who is not gay, it’s a shock to find out his wolf is gay. And wants to claim Ted the only way it knows how – to mate with him. Scott and Ted turn to Maman to break the spell, because if she doesn’t Scott might have to fight to the death to keep his position as alpha and as sheriff. http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Dreams-Rougaroux-Social-ebook/dp/B004Y5MWZI/

In the second book – Bayou’s End – Billy Trosclair, one of Scott’s deputies, meets Peter, an artist from the first book, and realizes the damaged young man is his mate. Peter’s a werewolf, running from his past and the pack who threw him out when they discovered he was gay. Billy has to build trust with Peter, but when he has to arrest Peter for theft, all bets are off. http://www.amazon.com/Bayous-Rougaroux-Social-Club-ebook/dp/B005SIISYO/

Book three finds the ex-alpha and former sheriff, Bobby Cotteau, looking for a one night stand. He’s gay, but his wolf wanted a woman, so for most of his life he’s been married to a wonderful woman. But when she dies, he’s left alone and if he doesn’t find another mate soon, he’ll slowly die. He knows the chances are not good for him, and he’s resigned to his fate, but when he meets Mark Bradford, he finds a flicker of hope. But Mark is looking to show the world wolves live in the swamps, and it’s Bobby’s duty to protect the pack, at all costs. http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Loup-Rougaroux-Social-ebook/dp/B00AT392AM/

I hope if you haven’t given the men of St. Jerome and the Rougaroux Social Club a try, you check them out. You can find out more about them on my website http://www.lynlorenz.com

Louisiana – A State of Mind

I loved that slogan – it was on our license plates for a few years. Far more apt than Sportsman’s Paradise, I suppose. Living in such a diverse state, which some have likened to a banana republic, takes a certain kind of mental state, for sure.

When I think of Louisiana, I think of home, even though I now live in Texas and have since 1989. My heart is still there, along with friends and family. Even though my dad is dead now, I still find reasons to return to New Orleans, my hometown. As if I needed a reason.

I can always claim it was for research for my next book. I’ve got quite a few books set in Louisiana and in New Orleans, in particular my Hearts of New Orleans series of novellas is set before, during and after Hurricane Katrina, a defining moment for the city, forever etched in its physical and emotional memory. Those first few years of struggling back from the brink of annihilation, the next few of getting on its feet, people returning, businesses reopening, and the Saints winning the Super Bowl has redefined it as a survivor. My Rougaroux Social Club series, about a pack of Cajun werewolves, is set in southwest Louisiana bayou country.

Nowadays, New Orleans is a city with its legs firmly under it and standing tall again. Sure, there are still problems, but the Crescent City will get over them and survive. It always has and always will.

Now anyone who has ever been to New Orleans knows it is not like any place else on earth and its people are what make it so special. And along with its people, its food is the shining star. Not just in New Orleans, but all over the state.

My aunt lives up north, in Monroe, La. That’s the redneck part of the state. It’s not Cajun and Catholic like in the southern part, it’s country and southern Baptist. I remember going there as a kid, being shown Bossier City (they had gambling!!!) and wondering what the big deal was – after all we had Bourbon Street. Been there – done that. But I never had better chicken and dumplings, corn bread, and greens.

And one of my favorite parts of the state is the middle. Okay, don’t laugh, but it’s truly beautiful, if you love tall pine trees, small towns, antiquing, and haunted plantations. Give me St. Francisville any day, and I can wander its roads and tour its grand houses until my heart’s content. Try having finger sandwiches and tea in a cozy shop or fried catfish for dinner.

As a kid, I remember driving with my dad down the river road to the very end of the road. Literally. The blacktop ended at Shell Beach where a restaurant on stilts looked over the marsh. We’d eat fresh from the Gulf oyster and shrimp po’boys and drink Barq’s, then get back in the car and drive home.

On Friday afternoons once my dad got home from work, my family would sit on the front porch steps with a sack of fresh oysters and shuck them, slurping them down with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of hot sauce. We’d eat boiled crabs and shrimp that we caught, either out on Lake Ponchatrain or crawfish from a ditch on the side of a country road. I learned how to mix cocktail sauce by about six years old and could pinch the tails and suck the heads with the best of them. But so could everyone. No big deal.

So if you read my books, and I hope you’ll give them a try, you’ll find deliberate and mouth watering descriptions of food in each of them. What’s a book about Louisiana without talking about the food? Hell, I’m not sure you can talk about the state and not mention food. Try it. I dare you.

And when you’ve failed, don’t be sad. I’ve given up on it. I don’t have that much energy – I need it for eating, especially when I go there. I usually come back to Texas with a few bags of “necessaries” – Hubig’s Pies (the factory burned and they’re trying to rebuild), muffalettas, pralines and Zapp’s potato chips.

My Mom’s Shrimp Creole recipe — not sure where she got it, but we ate it at least twice a month. (we had a rotating schedule – red beans were always on Monday and cooked with ham, spaghetti with either meatballs or meat sauce (which we called red gravy) on Wednesday, pot roast or ham on Sundays, and in between, she experimented on us with recipes she’d find in the Times Picayune, or shared with friends.)

3 tbs oil
2 lg onions, chopped
1tbs flour
4 lbs shrimp
2 green peppers
1 can tomato paste
1 can tomatoes (1lb)
1 cup each shallots, parsley, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups water

Heat oil, add onions and cook on low flame until light brown. Stir in flour and add shrimp and peppers. Cook a few minutes.
Add tomato paste, tomatoes, and garlic, stirring. Cook til tomatoes turn deep red (about 10 minutes)
Add water (enough to cover shrimp), parsley, shallots, bay leaf and cayenne.
Salt and pepper.
Cook 30 minutes.
Serve with white rice.
Serves 8

Good eating!

Lynn Lorenz is having a blast writing about romance and giving her characters a hard time before they get their happily ever after. She believes everyone deserves a HEA and that if you open your heart you’ll open your mind.
You can reach her at lynnlorenz@live.com or her websitewww.lynnlorenz.com
Find her books at http://www.loose-id.com http://www.amberquillpress.com and http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com
She’s blogging here twice a month at Love, Lust and Laptops and weekly at Lynn Lorenz’s Open Hearts http://www.lynnlorenz.blogspot.com