Feb 12 2008
Best Anthology Ever?
moar funny pictures
You might have seen the news in Publishers Marketplace that Meljean Brook sold an anthology story to Cindy Hwang at Berkley this past weekend. What you didn’t read is who else is in that anthology.
Are you ready? Do you want to make guesses? Shall I torture you with the knowledge until you send death threats?
Nah. I’m willing to spill else why would I write the post? Summer 2009 will feature an anthology collection featuring
!!!!!
I know! That was my response as well. It might be the most perfect anthology collection ever. My question to you would be what would be an anthology collection you would like to see offered?
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Feb 12, 2008 @ 14:40:14
My problem is that I haven’t read Andrews, Singh or Harris. Perfect anthology for me: Patricia Briggs, Sarah Monette, maybe Stephenie Meyer (she’s writing her first adult book, Host) and Ms. Brooks and -! Don’t know who else. Sometimes two big names is enough to get me to purchase an anthology. But I rarely buy them.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 14:40:30
Squeeeee! I must have it. Um, I can’t think of anything that would top that.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 14:45:07
Keishon – I cannot believe you haven’t read Andrews. Am sending you a fictionwise thing for her book.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 14:45:33
My dream anthology…
J.L. Langley
J.M. Snyder
Josh Lanyon
Samantha Kane
Sienna Black
Feb 12, 2008 @ 14:55:18
Oh Teddypig, I’d sooo buy that one.
Nalini, Meljean and Charlaine? Le. Sigh.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:03:21
Ooooooh! Oooooh! Oooooh! Rockin news! Congrats Meljean and Nalini!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:04:08
Wow. Thank you so much, Jane! I’m so flattered.
Being in anthology with Charlaine, Nalini and Meljean is all kinds of awesome. I’m still a bit shellshocked.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:07:06
Sounds awesome. I’ll be lining up to buy it.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:13:29
Holy moses, that is an awesome lineup. Is it out yet? How about now? ;)
Congratulations to the authors, what a great set of talent.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:18:35
I think my brain just exploded with the WIN.
So excited for all 4 ladies! Congrats!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:21:53
I squealed embarrassingly loud (in the middle of McDonald’s playplace) when my agent called. edited out title at request I squealed louder when I heard about Charlaine, Nalini and Ilona.
Hmm, to make it my favorite anthology, you could get rid of me and put in Marjorie Liu *g*
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:28:04
I think I need to start reading Ilona Andrews, too. I’m so-so on Charlaine Harris (the Sookie books get progressively more annoying) and the rest sound good. I think it’s a solid, high quality anthology. When is it out?
Pour moi, the perfect combination would be short historicals from
- Loretta Chase (humour)
- Jo Goodman (angst)
- Anne Stuart (anti-hero)
- Emma Holly (spice)
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:33:16
I stand corrected – yes, yes I have. You reviewed it. My bad. She also has a sequel coming out soon, I think.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:49:50
Crap. I forgot to congratulate Ilona, too. I suck.
Congrats Ilona!!!
Oh and the perfect anthology? Me, Nora….does the rest matter? ;-)
Feb 12, 2008 @ 15:59:47
SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! *die*
What else can I say?
Feb 12, 2008 @ 16:00:04
Jaci:
Ilona Andrews, Master of Disguise. I fade into the woodwork like a ninja. You never saw me. I was never here. These are not the droids you’re looking for…
Thank you for congratulations, lol. I am terribly excited. My God, I may actually throw South Beach to the wind and eat some bread tonight to celebrate. :P
Feb 12, 2008 @ 16:00:48
Oh, how awesome! I can’t wait – can’t we get it this summer instead?
Feb 12, 2008 @ 16:08:56
There was much, much squeeing on this side of the world, too, when I heard the news. I’m so excited to be part of this!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 16:13:14
Perfect for me would be:
Nalini Singh, Jaci Burton, Shiloh Walker, and Lora Leigh. Someone should arrange it.
Congrats to all the authors!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 16:23:59
WOW!! I cannot wait!! Congrats to all of the authors! I can barely contain my SQUEE!!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 16:42:58
Congratulations! Since I can’t read even a stand-alone novella that connects to other books unless I’ve read them all, I can see I have some reading to do to catch up. I’m not going to miss out on the best anthology ever. :)
For me the ideal anthology would be…
Nora Roberts, Stephen King, John Grisham, and Shannon Stacey.
(That would buy me a lot of Dunkin Donuts iced coffees, no?)
Oh hey, doesn’t Charlaine Harris run more than one series? Do we have a hint as to which this might connect to (if it does) so I don’t have to hunt down Every. Single. Book?
Feb 12, 2008 @ 16:46:25
I am not a big fan of anthologies, but this one sounds like a reader’s dream. :)
Feb 12, 2008 @ 17:23:56
I have been vibrating with the WIN!!!! since I read this.
Yay!!!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 17:44:35
Congrats, Meljean, Nalini, and Ilona! This is going to be a cool book! My dream anthology…me, Jaci and Nora :::heh, heh:::, hey, I can dream too, Jaci. Or, me, Marjorie Liu and Jade Lee. It is my dream to see Lee, Liu and Low on the cover of a book, all sporting Asian heroines ;-). Just another dream.
Congrats again, girlfriends!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 17:47:32
Gennita – that’s actually a cool idea for an anthology. I’d buy it…unless marketing slapped the word ‘harajuku’ on it.
:)
Feb 12, 2008 @ 18:02:00
Just add Ms. Liu to the anthology and you have the best one period ever!!. Or is that greedy since the rest are favorites of mine? You just made my day by posting this. I just want it NOW! It is so cruel to make us wait….specially with that line up.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 18:17:47
Congratulations, ladies! Tis rocken indeed. :-)
Gennita, that sounds totally kick ass.
Patricia Briggs, Kelley Armstrong, Anne Fraiser would make for an interesting antho, methinks.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 18:47:08
Gennita….you and me need to talk to Nora, you know, seeing how we’re all bff’s and all… ;-)
And Lisa…I like that anth combo…yes, someone should arrange that!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 19:06:25
Oh my. Much squeeing is happening here! I just finished up Nalini’s latest and adored it. And loved Magic Bites and can’t wait for the sequel. I’m planning to go on a Meljean glom vewwy soon. Got them all, it’s just that I haven’t managed to read all of them. There’s this, I dunno, want to savor having good books, so sometimes I don’t read them right away? Makes no sense, but there you go. I’ve been doing the same thing with the last few Dante Valentine books by Saintcrow, too.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 19:19:12
Congrats to all authors involved. Meljean and or Nalini make any book an auto-buy for me! :) So excited for this one!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 19:58:49
What a terrific line-up!!! Congrats ladies.
And, for the record, I would like to have a novella in the anthos mentioned by Jaci, Gennita and Stacey. Just saying…
Feb 12, 2008 @ 21:02:08
Congratulations to Charlaine, Ilona, Meljean and Nalini!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 21:20:27
This anthology will be wonderful! My ideal grouping would be Nalini, JR Ward, Angela Knight, and Lora Leigh. Can ya tell I’m a paranormal junkie? LOL Congrats, authors!
Feb 12, 2008 @ 21:27:45
Has Ward ever done an antho? I’ve seen Knight and Leigh in one together.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 22:28:45
I want an anthology with JD Robb, Linnea Sinclair, and Susan Grant, plus one or two new-to-me authors that I’ll love once I finally get around to trying them. I’m sadly behind on the new rising stars.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 22:56:32
I’d buy that!
I’d like to see: Patricia Briggs, Loretta Chase, Georgette Heyer (yeah, I know she’s dead, but I can dream), Martha Wells, Lois Bujold,
Feb 12, 2008 @ 23:26:36
Jane: It is my understanding that Ward is contributing to an anthology that also includes Kenyon (and others, I imagine) sometime in the near future. Ward has indicated this on her message boards as recently as November 2007. No release date or title was given. If I recall correctly, Kenyon mentioned this at a book signing I attended in August 2007 as well.
Feb 12, 2008 @ 23:48:32
This sounds like an awesome anthology. While I’m not very familiar with Meljean yet, Charlaine has been on my must-buy list for years (vampires and mysteries), Nalini has been a must-buy since her first, Slave to Sensation, and I loved Illona’s Magic Bites and can hardly wait for the sequel. Good additions to my dream anthology would be Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn and Kelley Armstrong.
Feb 13, 2008 @ 00:42:08
Well, I think anything with me in it has to be good. lol. Seriously, I’ll be buying this one. My dream anthology would be:
Neil Gaiman
Stephen King
Charlaine Harris
Tanith Lee
or
Deanna Raybourn
Tasha Alexander
Lorraine Heath
Laura Lee Guhrke
or
Kathryn Smith
Jeaniene Frost
Jill Myles
Colleen Gleason
We’d take over the world, babies! lol
Feb 13, 2008 @ 09:20:18
Jaci:
“And Lisa…I like that anth combo…yes, someone should arrange that!”
Maybe a Psy/Changeling working with Breeds, Shiloh’s Hunters, and your Demon Hunters. That would definitely rock!
Feb 13, 2008 @ 10:39:40
My dream anthology would be a historical romance anthology and would include four authors of historicals who either aren’t writing romance any longer, or haven’t had a new book out in a while.
Laura Kinsale
Patricia Gaffney
Judith Ivory
Eva Ibbotson
All writing historical romance again. I know, I know, this isn’t likely to happen but I can dream, can’t I? That’s what makes it a dream anthology.
Feb 13, 2008 @ 10:46:50
Janine, I would be the first in line for that particular antho (I thought we were just talking paranormal authors) but Historical romances being my absolutely fav this would be an auto-buy (and most likely auto keeper). I think I’d throw Jo Goodman and Laura Lee Guhke in there too, even though they’re actively writing historical romances.
Feb 13, 2008 @ 14:30:55
I’d be right behind you, Vanessa. I was strict and didn’t pick writers not writing romance at the moment. But wouldn’t this be an absolutely beautiful anthology?
Btw, I’ve never heard of Ibbotson… or if I have, doesn’t she write YA?
Oh, and if we’re talking pure fantasy, throw in Tom and Sharon Curtis (Laura London?) for a short historical.
Feb 13, 2008 @ 15:41:35
Vanessa, you can’t be first in line because that’s my spot! And no one is taking it away from me! And Meriam, you’ll just have to be third in line. :)
Meriam, yes, Ibbotson writes children’s books now but she used to write historical romances, and what fabulous books they were. Like the other three authors I listed, Ibbotson really has a way with words. Here’s a sample two paragraphs from A Countess Below Stairs:
The day was hot and the suitcase heavy, containing as it did not only Anna’s meagre stock of clothing, but all two thousand and three pages of Selina Stickland’s Domestic Compendium. What the Torah was to the dispersed and homesick Jews and the Koran to the followers of Mahommet, Mrs. Strickland’s three-volume tome, which clocked in at three and a half kilos, was to Anna, setting off on her new career in service.
‘”Blacking for grates may be prepared by mixing asphaltum with linseed oil and turpentine,” she quoted now, and looked with pleasure at the rolling parkland, the freshly-sheared sheep cropping the grass, the ancient oaks making pools of foliage in the rich meadows. Even the slight air of neglect, the Queen Anne’s lace frothing the once-trim verges, the ivy tumbling from the gate-house wall, only made the environs of Mersham more beautiful.
Recently some of Ibbotson’s romances have been reprinted as YA books, but they were actually written for adults. Two of my favorites, Madensky Square and Magic Flutes, are not among the reprints, unfortunately, but A Countess Below Stairs (also published as The Secret Countess in Britain, I believe) is back in print and really worth purchasing.
Feb 13, 2008 @ 20:28:25
Janine, thanks for that. I’ll add The Secret Countess to my February book binge on Amazon. I went onto Wikipedia earlier and noticed she loved to set her books in Austria, which is cool because when I was younger, I used to read a boarding school series (The Chalet School) set in the alps. I wanted more than anything in the world to live there.
Feb 13, 2008 @ 21:16:35
The Secret Countess sounds good to me too, Janine! The other two you mentioned might be at the library, I’ll have to check.
Feb 14, 2008 @ 11:35:51
The American title is A Countess Below Stairs. It’s the story of a Russian countess who escapes the Russian Revolution to come to England, where she becomes a maid. Of course, she falls in love with an English earl. Maybe I should reread and review the book sometime. Jayne, Jan and I are all Ibbotson fans and it would probably be a good idea to spread the Ibbotson love around more.
Edited to add: Meriam, if you are interested in Austria then Magic Flutes, Madensky Square, and The Morning Gift are probably the Ibbotson books for you. Madensky Square is not exactly a romance but it is a lovely book. Ibbotson also has a romance set in Manaus, Brazil called A Company of Swans.
Feb 14, 2008 @ 11:40:48
Janine said,
I need more books to read like I need a hole in the head, but still *begging eyes* Pretty please?
Feb 14, 2008 @ 11:44:39
Okay, I will put reviewing A Countess Below Stairs on my ever-growing list of things to do.
Feb 15, 2008 @ 00:25:47
Mine would have to be:
Jim Butcher (can’t live without Harry- I about had a heart attack when I found out he was releasing the first few chapters of the new Harry book online squee!!)
Patricia Briggs (so happy I came across her)
Tanya Huff ( I need my Henry fix)
Charlaine Harris (of course)
Colleen Gleason
That’s my Dream Team!
Escapist Newsletter: (Vol. 2 Issue 1) | Literary Escapism
May 05, 2008 @ 13:19:45
[...] I get to read stories by authors I love as well as find some new talent. A new one was just announced for release summer 2009. It is going to include Ilona Andrews, Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, and [...]
Jun 02, 2008 @ 18:28:26
This anthology is going to make people stare at me when I do a happy dance in the middle of the store when I buy it. :)
Another awesome lineup would be Angela Knight, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, and Yasmine Galenorn.
Sep 12, 2008 @ 18:35:54
Yeah! Ilona and Charlaine! Never heard of the other two in the anthoology but if they’re being grouped with Charlaine and Ilona they have to be good. I can’t believe some people have never heard of Charlaine though, especially with TrueBlood starting last week on HBO (Soooooo Good!) I love Ilona’s work especially as she an her husband went to school out where I grew up. And nothing happens in Western NC.
I’d love to see an anthology with Ilona, Charlaine, Patricia Briggs, Karen Chance, Kim Harrison, Larissa Ione, and Christine Warren.
What’s Your Dream Anthology? | Jaci Burton's Muse
Jan 24, 2011 @ 08:36:57
[...] couple weeks ago Dear Author posted a few of my favorite authors has signed on to do an anthology together. (Congrats again, [...]