others . And that leads her into

textbooks ; and much more ,

solving a mystery , in the first

very easily . Equally , I ' ve never

book .

been arrested or in jail , so I had

to dig up information on what

Over the course of the four

that ' s like so I could describe

books , Sara deals with

what happens to Sara when she

murderers , mobsters , corrupt

finds herself in that situation .

politicians and her own demons .

There are also a hundred little

She also copes with medical

details : the menu at a particular

school , residency , marriage ,

restaurant , what day of the

kids and all the other everyday

week Christmas fell on in 1989 ,

problems of life . The series

and so forth .

provides a mix of suspense and

How did you start your

mystery , along with romance ,

Have any of your characters

writing career ? I ' ve always

and a lot of more mundane

been modeled after

been

issues that readers will be able

yourself ?

writing , at least since high school . But I wrote the first draft of what would become

“ Dream Student ” over a decade ago . I was thrilled to have finished a novel , but I didn ' t think it was good enough to try and get published , so it just sat on my computer . Years went by , and I finally got the inspiration to go back to it when a good friend got published , and I decided “ why can ' t I do it , too ?” I rewrote that first draft into something much better , and it turned from one book into a series of four ( so far ).

Tell us about your current book . It ' s four books ; I released the Dream series all at once . The books follow Sara

to relate to . I really think these books offer something for everyone .

Entice us , what future projects are you considering ?

Aside from book # 5 in the Dream series ,

I ' ve got several ideas I ' m playing with .

One is a “ Romancing the Stone ” style adventure / romance / comedy starring one of Sara ' s college friends . Another is a

science fiction retelling of the story of

Lady Jane Franklin ( she was the wife of th an 19 century British explorer who disappeared with his entire expedition in the Arctic . She spent the next 25 years searching for him , or at least proof of what exactly happened to him ).

Where do you research for your books ? The Internet is my friend ! I had to do quite a bit

Not exactly . The closest is Brian , Sara ' s boyfriend ( and later husband ). He ' s the kind of man I aspire to be . But many of the background characters , especially in

Dream Student , are modeled on people I actually knew in college ( Sara ' s school ,

“ Crewe University ” is basically my college , Case Western Reserve

University , with all the names changed ).

What are your hero and heroine of the story like ?

At heart , they ' re both good , hard- working , unselfish people . I think that ' s something that ' s kind of rare in a lot of stories today . We tend to celebrate people who make poor choices , who look out for themselves first , and so forth , and I didn ' t want to write about people like that . Sara and Brian pretty much always try to do the right thing .

They may make dumb mistakes from time to time , but their hearts are always in the right place .

Barnes , who thinks she ' s an

of research for the Dream

ordinary , average young

series . I ' ve never been to

Tell us about your next

woman … until the dreams start .

medical school , and honestly I

release . Book 5 in the Dream series

At first she doesn ' t know what

didn ' t know a thing about it

is tentatively titled “ Waking Dream ” and

to make of these new , strange dreams , but she soon realizes that they aren ' t her dreams at all – she ' s seeing the dreams of

before writing Dream Doctor .

But you can find memoirs of students and their experiences ; class schedules and syllabi ;

it ' ll be out this fall . In this book , Sara ' s going to face a new challenge – a rival dreamer who ' s got the same talent she does , and who ' s using that talent for evil rather than to help people .