When JoAnn Smith Ainsworth carried wood so her Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, the pre-teen wasn't thinking, "I could use this in a novel someday." Yet almost 60 years later, the skills she learned from her horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into a backdrop for her historical romance novels.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd. bought Out Of The Dark, a medieval romance with a touch of paranormal and a lot of suspense.

It will be e-pub released June 2008 and as print-on-demand trade by 2009.

Ainsworth completed four historical romances before selling this one and is currently writing a paranormal suspense story.

She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a masters from Fairleigh Dickinson University and M.B.A. studies from Pepperdine University. To learn more about Ainsworth and her novels, visit www.joannsmithainsworth.com.