Dear Author » Deaths

Monday News and Deals: Publishers Glum About Digital Future

Jane — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:18:05 +0000

There are two big tech publishing conferences that take place in the spring. One is Digital Book World and the second is Tools of Change. (The latter is one that I’ve gone to for 3 years). Different companies collect data and present that data at these conferences. One such survey conducted by Forrester Research Inc. says that publishers aren’t looking forward to the rise of digital because it doesn’t appear that digital format is bringing about more book purchases. Indeed, with the adoption of tablets, reading may actually decline. Anecdotally, when I first got my Kindle Fire, I spent about a week watching video and not reading.

* Readers will be better off, 61% in 2011, down from 74% in 2010
* More people will read books than did before, 60% in 2011, down from 66% in 2010
* Readers will read a greater number of books than before, 47% in 2011, down from 66% in 2010

When asked about their own companies, the pessimism became more pronounced: Only 28% of publishing executives think their company will be better off because of the transition to digital, down from 51% a year ago.

I’m not sure why readers aren’t better off. I’d be interested in hearing how publishing executives think that readers will be worse off. I suspect it is because they believe that it will reduce the number of options that readers will have in stores? Or possibly reduce the variety or quality of book?

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The Guardian did a nice obituary for Penny Jordan.

Penny Halsall, who has died of cancer aged 65, was a prolific writer of women’s fiction, and one of Mills & Boon‘s most popular authors, under the pen name Penny Jordan. She wrote more than 200 books in a 30-year career and was phenomenally successful, with sales of 100m worldwide. Her work was translated into 25 languages.

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The Guardian also picks up on the flameouts between authors and reviewers arising out of negative reviews on Goodreads (and elsewhere). I think this falls under the rubric of all publicity is good publicity at this point.

Whose book is it anyway? The hardest thing a writer has to learn is that once you publish a book, it’s no longer truly yours – even though it’s got your name on the front and it lives inside you. It belongs to the readers now. All you can do is steel yourself as you push it out into the world, stay gracious, and get busy with the next one.

And if you can’t stand the heat of the blogosphere – don’t Google yourself.

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The week discusses McDonald’s move toward offering books. A book with every Happy Meal? I’m totally down with that.

“The latest big name in books isn’t Amazon — it’s McDonald’s,”says Lindsay Goldwert in the New York Daily News. For the next month, the fast-food giant is replacing the plastic toy in every British Happy Meal with a book. The giveaway books — six installments of Michael Morpurgo’s Mudpuddle Farms series — are a tie-in with Steven Spielberg’s new film adaptation of Morpurgo’s War Horse.

As an aside, Ned took the tot to see War Horse and she cried during the entire movie. Two kids and a few horses are shot. It was pretty traumatic for her. Getting back on topic, selling books in non traditional places is something about which I am a big fan. I’m still waiting to see the Berkley Heat + Victoria Secret connection.

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I was somewhat surprised to see an advertorial for BlueInk Review, a company that will sell review services to self published authors. The company says that many of its reviewers also review for respected literary institutions. I am wondering if the reviewers’ identities will be kept a secret like at Publishers Weekly and Kirkus?

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There don’t appear to be any great new deals. The discounts I’ve seen are ones that I’ve posted about in the past so I’ll wait until Wednesday or Thursday and do a big post rounding up the sales. Dukes are still on sale! You can click here to see past deal postings.

Thursday Midday Links: Steve Jobs Passed Away

Jane — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:00:59 +0000

I don’t have any beautiful eulogy to give Jobs and it’s not that I don’t believe that he deserves a beautiful eulogy. He does. He transformed our collective lives. But I have neither the connection nor the knowledge from which to give voice to a remembrance. I’ve read several and these are few I thought were amazing:

Brian Lam’s account of his difficult relationship with Steve Jobs, particularly after Gizmodo’s acquisition of the lost iPhone 4.
The NYTimes multimedia timeline of Jobs’ impact.
Wired homepage.
Steve Jobs’ Ted Talk on “How to Live Before You Die.”

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Tim Cook gave the keynote address on Wednesday of the new iPhone 4S. Sadly it was uninteresting to most although Apple probably had more important things on its plate. There was an empty, front row reserved seat at the keynote. It’s faster and it has a digital assistant called Siri. Siri can set your alarm, make appointments, find restaurants close to you. Unfortunately, Siri has a woman’s voice. Maybe that will change in the future and people can choose the sound of the voice. Assistants aren’t always women.

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There have been a couple important copyright decisions of late:

UCLA won the right to stream DVDs to its students without permission of the original copyright owners. The judge in the case also appeared to hold (although without explicitly reasoning) that anticircumvention of DRM is appropriate if you had a legitimate purchase of the item such as ripping the DVD that you purchased. Via Ars Technica.
Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a software company that sued to prevent the resale of software. The software company asserted that software purchase was a license and not a transfer of ownership but the lower appellate court ruled in favor of the consumer and allowed the resale of the software. Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., 10- 1421.
Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of music artists who wanted to be paid a performance fee everytime someone downloaded a song. The lower appellate court ruled that the download was not a public performance and the artists were not entitled to a performance fee. A download is considered a reproduction rather than a public performance according to the lower court. ASCAP v. United States, No. 10-1337

Up next is a decision on works taken out of the public domain by Congress.

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Romantic Times reported on the US Publishers Marketplace semi-annual look at the reported publishing deals. As with all data compilations about publishing, the deal marketplace reports are incomplete. Many authors don’t report their deals, particularly the biggest names. However, according to the report, publishers are buying more and spending more than they did in previous years.

Statistics are showing that out of the seven most popular sub-categories, only mystery and crime book sales have been increasing. Categories including debut novels and general fiction have held steady. Romance, women’s fiction, science fiction and fantasy have had a slight decline. But the real news — sales for thrillers and inspirational novels have decreased sharply which means there will be fewer of these types of novels on the bookshelves in the upcoming years.

More at RT.

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Vook, an enhanced ebook production company, will no longer be selling content. Instead it is looking to license a digital publishing platform. In January of this year, Vook announced it had raised over $5 million in investment capital.

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I’m still trying to wrap my head around this business venture. Perseus announced that it has created a self publishing distribution platform called Argo Navis. It will only work with agented authors. The author will receive 70% of the proceeds of each book whereas the distributor keeps 30% of the net. For this fee, Perseus will distribute your ebook to Amazon, BN, Google, Kobo, Sony and Apple.

In an effort to solve the problem of how to help readers discover e-books without print counterparts on tables in bookstores, Argo Navis will provide basic marketing services, like placing product pages on retailer Web sites. It will also make more extensive marketing services available for a fee.

Seriously? Basic marketing services is getting a product page on a retailer web site? Isn’t that what happens as a result of uploading the content? Publishers Marketplace ran the numbers and said the following (reg required):

That means an author publishing via Argo Navis with a title priced between $2.99 and $9.99 would gross just half of the roughly 70 percent proceeds they would get directly from Amazon (and 65 percent proceeds from B&N). The math is simple: Perseus pays 70 percent of 50 percent (the wholesale price) — which equals 35 percent.

At 35% off the cover, an author, particularly a genre author, would be better off going with Samhain or some other established digital publisher.

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Audible is hiring some major stars to narrate some big books. I think this is a great move. I’ve been enjoying the heck out of the Richard Armitage narrated Heyer books Sarah Wendell recommended.

Actors lending their narrative pipes will include Kim Basinger for “The Awakening,” Anne Hathaway for “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Samuel L. Jackson for “A Rage in Harlem,” and Nicole Kidman for “To the Lighthouse.” Others slated to perform include Annette Bening, Jennifer Connelly, Colin Firth, Dustin Hoffman, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet.

I love Susan Sarandon’s voice. I’d buy any book just to listen to her.

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Reviewers make mistakes. We do it all the time. The more books you review, the more mistakes you’ll make. Harriet Klausner has written in one a gem for Meljean Brook’s Heart of Steel:

Mercenary Lady Corsair airship Captain Yasmeen leads her crew to Fladstrand, Denmark. Their arrival frightens much of the townsfolk as the lady Corsair has a merciless reputation. She is here to meet with author Zenobia Fox to inform her she killed her brother treasure hunter Archimedes Fox by dumping him into a Venice canal amidst zombies for his concealing who his late sire was.

…..

The latest Iron Seas steampunk thriller (see The Iron Duke) is a great tale starring two fascinating protagonists in what may be the strangest courtship in years. The story line is filled with action as the Heart of Steel and the roguish treasure hunter make for an endearing couple. Fans who relish something different in their novels will want to read Meljean Brooks’ Yasmeen and Zenobia’s excellent adventure.

No, readers, the romance is not between Yasmeen and Zenobia.

REVIEW: Twilight’s Dawn by Anne Bishop

Jia — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:00:47 +0000

Breaking from our usual procedure at Dear Author, this is an early review. Twilight’s Dawn doesn’t come out until next March but Jane and I believe that readers should be forewarned. The first half of the review is spoiler-free. The second half, however, is not. I’ve clearly marked where that section begins so readers can skip the spoilers if they so wish, but this is one of those cases where you don’t want to skip the spoilers. Trust us.

Dear Ms. Bishop,

I’m a long-time fan of your Black Jewels books. The series has occupied a place on my comfort reading shelf ever since I devoured Daughter of the Blood over a decade ago. The series has had its ups and downs since then, but I have a soft spot for them despite their flaws. Alas, all things must come to an end and unless I’m mistaken, this collection of four novellas is our farewell to the Black Jewels world. And what a farewell it is. As for whether that last sentence is a compliment, I’ll leave that up to the readers to decide.

“Winsol Gifts” takes place after Tangled Webs, in which Surreal escaped a haunted house with the help of Lucivar. I wish I could find something meaningful to say about this novella, but I can’t. It’s 75 pages of domestic antics as the characters we’ve come to know and love speed towards the Black Jewels’ version of Christmas.

There’s nothing especially new or original here. It features the character dynamics and interactions Black Jewels readers know well: Lucivar and Daemon being confused by their women and the things they do, Saetan laughing at his sons, and Daemonar destroying everything in his path.

It’s familiar and comforting, and I can see why people would like this sort of story. But speaking for myself, this isn’t why I read books. If I wanted to see my favorite characters in domestic scenarios, I would read fanfiction. In fact, I have read fanfiction of this sort. That said, “Winsol Gifts” sets the stage for the three novellas to follow and echoes the larger theme of the Black Jewels books: the ties that bind families, both blood and chosen, together. D

“Shades of Honor” immediately follows “Winsol Gifts” and covers both Surreal’s emotional healing from the events of Tangled Webs and Lucivar dealing with his second-in-command, Falonar, who’s grown dissatisfied with the Eyriens’ lot in Kaeleer. Readers may also remember that Falonar is Surreal’s former lover (as shown in the original Black Jewels trilogy) and that in the Lady Cassidy books (The Shadow Queen and Shalador’s Lady), we learned that something unfortunate happened to him. “Shades of Honor” details the events leading up to that fate.

To my surprise, this novella ended up being my favorite of the entire collection. It featured the intensity and drama I loved about the original trilogy. It also focused mostly on Surreal and Lucivar, which is always a plus in my book. One of my biggest disappointments with Tangled Webs was that Surreal lacked the bite I’d come to expect from my favorite courtesan-assassin, and I think we see her regain a bit of that edge here. I also enjoyed the closer look at Eyrien society and what it means for a race of warriors to live in a place of peace.

Like “Winsol Gifts,” “Shades of Honor” sets the stage for the two novellas to follow, especially with regards to Daemon and Surreal. B

Fast forward ten years, and we come to “Family.” The story opens with Lady Sylvia, the Dhemlan queen and Saetan’s former lover, taking her two sons for a visit at another Blood family’s estate. We soon discover that not all is right at the estate, a serial killer with a penchant for young boys is on the loose, and things take a rapid turn for the worse.

The first chapters of this novella are misleading. Maybe “Shades of Honor” set me up for false expectations but based on the novella’s opening, I thought we’d be getting a more mystery/thriller-based storyline. Serial killers, missing children, hostages, ransoms… The premise and what happens in those first pages certainly lent support to that assumption, as far as I’m concerned. Unfortunately, that tension peters out quickly and the drama is resolved easily, leaving the final chapters to reprise more of what we saw in “Winsol Gifts.” It was a little disappointing to see the tone shift but I think some readers might be interested in the resolution to the Saetan and Sylvia issue. C-

The interesting thing about Twilight’s Dawn is that the novellas all build upon one another, leading from one to the next. We did see a similar effect in Dreams Made Flesh, the previous Black Jewels novella collection, but I don’t recall the thematic arcs and foreshadowing being as strong there. I mention this because the first three novellas in Twilight’s Dawn serve as the foundation for the final one, “The High Lord’s Daughter.”

Before I continue with the review, I must give a very strong SPOILER WARNING. I cannot talk about this novella without spoilers, and they are going to be detailed spoilers, and I am not going to hide them behind a spoiler cut because I think these are spoilers that Black Jewels readers should know before going into this collection. Why? Because I think these spoilers are potentially series-destroying, in the sense of being able to destroy a fan’s love for a series. If readers absolutely do not want to be spoiled, then stop reading now. But don’t say I didn’t give advanced warning. I think what I am about to say will be of great interest to the readership of Dear Author, which in the end is a romance blog. I consider myself a fantasy reader first and foremost and even I am aghast at what happens in “The High Lord’s Daughter.”

We have always known that the great romance between Daemon and Jaenelle would not last forever. Like his father, Daemon comes from one of the long-lived races. His lifetime will span millennia. For all that Jaenelle is Witch, dreams made flesh, she does not come from the long-lived races. By comparison, her life is short and fleeting. We have always known this in the back of our minds.

But I never expected the Black Jewels books to go there. I never expected it to happen on-page. And to be honest, given the Mary Sue-nature of Jaenelle’s character, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see her become something akin to a god, complete with extended lifespan. That doesn’t happen here. Jaenelle grows old. She grows old with Daemon, and fans may be pleased(?) to know they kept sexing it up well into her 80s, but you can’t fight the onslaught of time. She dies.

Yes. She dies. And that’s not all.

Now how does Surreal play into all this? After all, she’s enjoyed more page time in these novellas and there’s been heavy foreshadowing about things to come. There’s a reason why I kept bringing her up and it’s not just because she’s my favorite character. When I reviewed Tangled Webs, I wondered why Surreal couldn’t seem able to find her true love, her grand romance. Why, as with Falonar, they always tended to fail. “The High Lord’s Daughter” finally answers that question.

At some point after “Family,” Surreal became Daemon’s second-in-command. She’s also taken on the unofficial role of scaring off women who’ve come to harass Daemon, especially in Jaenelle’s later years because what could Daemon — still in the prime of his life — possibly want with an old woman like that. And so, as should be no surprise to anyone who’s read a Harlequin Presents, Surreal is also in love with her boss, Daemon.

Surreal being in love with Daemon is actually not a surprise. Like I said, when that was explicitly stated in the text, so many pieces fell into place. We already had a hint of this in the very first Black Jewels book, when we first meet Surreal and learn about the awkward state of her relationship with Daemon. Readers may recall that she’d wanted to know what it’d be like to sleep with him (as the Sadist) and of course, he obliged in all his cold rage. (This was pre-Jaenelle.) Time, and Jaenelle’s presence, healed that rift but it’s something that’s always lurked in the background.

Before she died, Jaenelle made Daemon promise that he’d mourn for only a year and then would go on living again (including finding love again). He does obey this final command from his Queen but only to a certain extent. He never lets another woman into his heart. Surreal is willing to go along with this, and they probably would have continued on doing so but then Saetan dies. And after his father’s death, Daemon assumes the mantle of the High Lord of Hell. And in their shared grief, Daemon and Surreal have a one night stand. After which Surreal becomes pregnant.

Yes, that is correct. The “daughter” in the title does not refer to a daughter of Daemon and Jaenelle. They never had any children. The “daughter” refers to the child of Daemon and Surreal. And I think it was at this point that my already-taxed suspension of disbelief snapped and catapulted straight into WTF-land. I say this well-aware of the fact that I probably left many readers behind on the page where Jaenelle died.

This is a very tricky narrative. I actually like the idea of this narrative. It’s a storyline I would like to read elsewhere: two people have known each other forever but one married someone else, and then when that someone else dies, they find love again with the person they’ve known forever. Unfortunately, the characters involved are Daemon and Surreal and a part of me recoils at the thought, even though I like Surreal and the idea of Daemon and Surreal as a couple makes sense once you stop and think about it (and pretend Daemon and Jaenelle never happened).

However, the Black Jewels series is centered around Jaenelle. Jaenelle is dreams made flesh. She may never have had a narrative role in the novels but without her, there would never have been a story to drive these novels. Even when I thought the books should have moved on to other characters and stories, she was still there and ever-present in her influence (the Lady Cassidy books, for example). Because of everything we’ve seen before, I cannot imagine a Black Jewels story without Jaenelle and I don’t even like her.

And for Daemon to find love again with Surreal is upsetting in two ways. First, it bluntly reminds us that HEAs don’t last forever, even in fantasy worlds featuring near-immortals. If HEAs can’t happen there, then where can they happen? Secondly, Surreal still doesn’t really find her grand romance! She plays the role of the second wife who Daemon will never love as much as his first. And while I think the narrative was trying to show that Daemon’s two loves for Jaenelle and Surreal were different but equal, I was never 100% convinced. And I know part of that is because we saw Daemon’s love for Jaenelle shown over the course of several books and novellas while Daemon’s love for Surreal is depicted in a single 100-page novella through the lens of raising their daughter. That’s a tall order and it falls short here.

If “The High Lord’s Daughter” is meant to provide closure to the Black Jewels series, it does do that. I’m not talking about the general WTF reaction to the premise to the novella but in terms of the narrative itself. Daemon and Surreal’s daughter is also dreams made flesh but a different set of dreams than the ones that gave rise to Jaenelle Angelline. I suppose you could say it brings the series full circle. Some people don’t like that sort of thing but I’ve always been fond of that kind of indulgence, even if the execution ends up being twee here. Of course, this is the Black Jewels world we’re talking about so accusing something of being twee is silly. The main problem, however, is that this closure is overshadowed by the premise.

I’m very conflicted about “The High Lord’s Daughter.” It has many aspects I like, many ideas I normally love, and a core concept I would be all over if it’d been executed well. Weighing all those things against each other, I would probably have given this novella a C.

But the premise still leaves me speechless even now. I would not at all be surprised to see many Black Jewels fans swear off any and all future Anne Bishop books because of this novella, especially if they go into it unaware. (The cover copy does hint at what’s to come but I don’t think it encompasses the full WTF factor.) To be honest, there’s still a part of me that wonders if I had read bad fanfiction because Daemon and Surreal read like caricatures of themselves, even accounting for their ridiculously long lives and a love that developed over decades.

Because of this, my grade changes from a C to a Do Not Read At All. That’s not a proper grade but it’s the only way I know to express my feelings. I cannot send any reader, let alone a Black Jewels fan, towards this collection and especially the final novella without any warning. If a reader loved the Daemon and Jaenelle romance, never wanted to see it split apart on-page, never wanted to see Jaenelle die, never wanted to see Daemon find love again (and especially not after only twenty years instead of something properly over the top like five thousand), then I hope that reader does herself a favor and skips this book. Maybe they can pretend the original trilogy (and maybe The Invisible Ring) is the only thing that exists. I’m sure it will prevent heartache and book rage. Because I am still boggling. I suspect I will be boggling for a very long time.

My regards,
Jia

The digital links won’t work until closer to the release date.

Remembering Kate Duffy

Jane — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:00:44 +0000

Last Sunday, Kate Duffy passed away. She was a pioneer in the industry. She founded a number of authors and published some of the favorites of romance readers. In 2001, the Brava line was launched with Bertrice Small’s Intrigued. Today, erotic romance is nearly passe. It’s worth remembering her just one more time. Sue Grimshaw reached out to the industry and gathered a number of memories. It’s a lovely tribute.

Hilary Sares pointed out:

In a way, Kate Duffy isn’t gone and never will be. To paraphrase a famous epitaph for someone else who was equally talented, if you would visit her memorial, walk into any bookstore. And start at the romance, mystery, and fantasy shelves.

Why don’t we remember Kate by recommending one of “her” books; either a book by an author she edited or a book in a line she founded:

Authors (e.g. Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, HelenKay Dimon, Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis, Bonnie Vanak, Lori Foster, Jacqueline Frank, Heather Graham, Judith McNaught, MaryJo Putney)
Lines: Simon & Schuster Silhouette, Pocket Tapestry historicals, Harlequin Worldwide Library, Kensington Brava

Tuesday Midday Links

Jane — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:25:16 +0000

Maili is guesting over at Victoria Janssen’s blog home about her favorite category books. Sadly so many of them are out of print. I’ve read all but one of the stories recommended by Maili and they are worth hunting down and not just because Jane is the heroine in one of the books. Really.

You never really know what you may get when you pick up a category romance. Will it be another tale of cookie-cutter characters, much-peddled-and-tired old story line, and insane fillers that makes you want to bang your head against a wall, wondering why you spent money on something wasteful?

Or will it make you sit quietly after it ended, musing about how much you enjoy being a romance reader?

The Daily Beast, a blog run by Tina Brown, has inked a deal with Perseus Books to create “Beast Books”. Beast Books will release the titles in digital format first, followed by a print run, the quantity of the print run determined by the sale of the digital title. The books will be primarily political and cultural and about 45,000 words.

Perseus is paying The Daily Beast a five-figure management advance to cover the costs of editing and designing the books, and Perseus will distribute the titles through its existing sales force. The writers will receive low five-figure advances from Perseus, then split profits from the sale of both the e-books and paperbacks with Perseus and The Daily Beast. Ms. Brown said writers were not required to give Beast Books a right of first refusal on any book ideas they might generate.

John Biggs of Tech Crunch writes a…something for Washington Post (I’m not sure if it is an editorial or a tech piece) about Disney’s move to provide a subscription ebook service. For under $10 per month, you can allow your child access to over 500 Disney titles. The book can be read aloud to your child or they can read along, clicking words for pronounciation help. Biggs is strangely outraged at this:

You can add up to three kids for $8.95 per month or $79 for the year. $8.95 so your kid can prop a laptop on your kids bed and let him or her read Toy Story while you fix yourself a Tom Collins. Seriously. Is this what Disney wants? We have enough trouble convincing the kids not to ask to play Mario Kart Wii all day let alone equate reading with dragging a pointer across a laptop screen.

I’ve been a user of kidthing.com, a similar digital book experience for my tot since kidthing’s release. It is certainly no replacement for a parent reading to the child, but neither is it the sign of the apocalypse. And frankly, if I had the choice of my child playing Mario Kart Wii or accessing the Disney digital books, I’d much prefer the Disney digital books. And 500 titles for under $10 per month? I can see paying that. BUT! We need a better, cheaper tablet device folks.

Self published authors can now reach a broader audience by selling through the Sony eBookstore. Smashwords is providing a self publishing portal in conjunction with Sony.

Self-published authors can now visit the Sony Publisher Portal and click on Smashwords to sign up for a free publishing account. Then they can format a book in Smashwords’ style andchoose their distribution preferences, and their book will be made available for immediate sale at Smashwords.com. The book can show up a few days later on Sony’s eBook Store.

There are some lovely tributes to Kate Duffy around the web:

Smart Bitch Sarah’s post. Kate Duffy is the Julia Child of romance.
Squawkradio: She ate buttered scones on Wednesday.
Sue from Borders: Kate & I came from similar spirits -’ that direct, no nonsense kind of approach -’ man could we dish it!

Kate Duffy, for those who don’t know, was the founding editor of Silhouette Books at Simon & Schuster, founded Worldwide Library at Harlequin and Tapestry imprint at Pocket. At one time, Kate edited a stable of who’s who in romance: Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, Lori Foster, Heather Graham, Judith McNaught, Mary Janice Davidson, Jacqueline Frank and Mary Jo Putney.

It’s Banned Book Week and despite the ridiculous opinions of the editorial in the Wall Street Journal to the contrary, books are being challenged all the time. According to the ALA, over 70-80% of the challenges are never reported. A Google map was created of all the banned book challenge in 2008. Of Mice and Men was challenged in Newton Iowa. Really Newton? How embarrassing for you.

Wheel of Time Author, Robert Jordan, Passes On

Jane — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:36:54 +0000

Robert Jordan, author of a seemingly endless Wheel of Time series, died peacefully on Sunday afternoon. He had been ill with amyloidosis for some time so the end was not a surprise. Fans of the series expressed sadness as Jordan’s death and frustration with the lack of conclusion to the series.

RIP JOrdan.

Via Media Bistro.

Ronda Thompson Passes On

Jane — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:12:03 +0000

I heard at the signing from Sue Grimshaw that Ronda Thompson had died, maybe due to pancreatic cancer. Thompson was recently well known for her books on the Wulfs of London series. Condolences to the Thompson family. Related posts: The Grand Dame of Romance, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Passes Away REVIEW: A Lover’s Call by Claire Thompson [...] Related posts:

The Grand Dame of Romance, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Passes Away

Jane — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:50:31 +0000

Kathleen Woodiwiss is often credited by my generation of readers as having penned their first romance novel. She set a standard with books like The Flame and the Flower that others would attempt to emulate decades later. According to a post on a fan forum, she passed away on July 6, 2007.

Hello. I am very sorry to inform you all of the death of my mother Kathleen. She took the death of my brother a bit harder than we thought and the cancer came back with a vengence. She passed away Friday morning at 0630 in Princeton, MN. I just want to thank you all for all of your support and being such great fans. My Mom was amazed at all of the people that supported her. Her final book is done, but not finished. We will be trying to polish it up for her. Her editor at Harper Collins has been a great source of stress for my Mom and the rest of us as well, so I am not sure how that will work out, but we are trying to get the book published as fast as possible. We all want this to be her greatest book ever. Thank you again for all of your support.

My best to the Woodiwiss family. Ms. Woodiwiss’ work provided many wonderful hours of reading for this reader.

Kurt Vonnegut Dies at Age 84.

Jane — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:02:12 +0000

Acclaimed author Kurt Vonnegut died last night. He was 84. Vonnegut had suffered a fall several weeks previous and could never recover from the ensuing brain trauma. His seminal work is probably Slaughter-House Five published in 1969. It was science fiction novel which explored the effects of bombing during war.

Via New York Times.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. dies

Jane — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:16:02 +0000

Last night, two time Pulitzer Prize winning author, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr died as a result of a heart attack last night in New York City. He was 89.

Schlesinger won the Pulitzer Prize for the books The Age of Jackson and A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. A Thousand Days was also a recipient of the National Book Award.

His most recent work, War and the American Presidency, was a critical look of President Bush’s foreign policy.

Via Shelf Awareness, Wikipedia, and the New York Times.

Audio Book Voice, Kate Fleming, Dies

Jane — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:12:04 +0000

In a tragic occurrence in her home, Ms. Fleming became trapped in her basement studio as rainwater flooded the home. Ms. Fleming, as Anna Fields, was the voice of several Susan Elizabeth Phillips books and was once nominated by the Audio Publishers Association “Audies” for her work on Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Breathing Room. In 2004, she won an “Audie” for reading of Ruth Ozeki’s novel All Over Creation.

Thanks, Sybil. Via the Seattle Post Intelligencer.