Dear Ms. Nash,
I keep trying your series set in Roman Britain because I love the time period. “Celtic Fire” had some problems for me and unfortunately so does “The Grail King.”
Owein (the brother of the Celtic heroine in “Celtic Fire”) lives alone in the ruins of his village. He had come to live [...]

What are you buying?

Dear Ms. Holly:
This is probably my favorite book you have written so far. It’s a fairly traditional romance set in the Far East featuring young friends who have a close friendship and then are torn apart by one child’s family. While it is marketed as a paranormal and your worldbuilding is based upon [...]

Dear Mrs. Kenner,
I first read this book last year when it came out in trade paperback but when Jane got a MMP copy this month, she asked me to refresh my memory, do a letter and then we give it away to some lucky reader. I said sure, will do. Well, I ended up [...]

I have heard that sales of historicals are down; that the historical is dead or dying. I attribute the death of the historical to the fact that there has been a publishing concentration in one sub genre and one location (Regency England) that the nothing in the historical market is fresh. To some [...]

There are two competing factions in the ebook reading industry. No, not authors v. readers or readers v. publishers (that story is for tomorrow ;) ), it’s IDPF v. OpenReader. The idea is to create an ebook standard that would enable customers to buy any book from any online source and view it [...]

It’s the end of Daylight Savings Time. Set your clocks back 1 hour tonight.

James Webb is the author of several “historical novels that describe wartime horrors in Vietnam and people dealing with the aftermath of combat.” (MSNBC). His opponent, Sen. George Allen, is now urging Virginia residents to vote against Webb on the basis of his books containing explicit sex scenes. I hope he breaks out [...]

Dear Readers,
For those interested in trying Dinah Dean who don’t want to pay a fortune for her Russian set Regency books, this is one that was reissued in the US and which is easier (and cheaper) to find. It’s a sweet, more old fashioned type of book (it was written in 1982) and is [...]

Google is offering a number of public domain scary stories to get you in the right mood for Halloween. Via Teleblog.

Is Sarah. Thanks for participating.

Dear Ms. More,
“Allegiance” caught my eye as I’m always looking for a good western and it’s harder and harder to find them in print anymore. Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll like to read my opinion of it.
Amy Baker and her brother Jeb are headed downriver to New Orleans on a Mississippi River boat. They [...]

Said tongue in cheek. Keishon reports his presence on Top Idol and Gizmodo features him helping out the Best Buy Geek Squad.

Dear Ms. Brockway:
I have loved you in the past and while I have dreaded favorite historical authors move to contemporary, I figured if anyone could do it, it would be you. After all, people complain that your historical voice was too modern. A contemporary would fit you like a glove. Unfortunately, I [...]

Dear Ms. Brockway,
I had no idea you were moving to contemporaries. Uneasy feeling number one: I usually don’t like it when traditionally historical authors move in that direction. Why? I dunno. I guess I just get used to them writing about the past, their historical “voice” and style. I suppose Jane would say I’m used [...]

We’re having dueling reviews and giving away a copy of the book to a random commenter of any post here at DearAuthor so long as it is made on Thursday

Dear Ms. Martell,
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book as I know next to nothing about the dominatrix lifestyle or activities. Sure I have an image of a woman clad in skintight black vinyl or leather wearing wearing killer shoes/boots and wielding a whip but what else would you do with the [...]

Dear Ms. Madden:
I confess that my only experience with Black Lace has been Emma Holly and at the time, she took me places I had never been. It was a bit of an eye opener for this girl. Since then, I’ve read, it seems, reams of erotic fiction and erotic romance but I [...]

From Deep Genre comes the news of Audrey Niffenegger’s serialized ghost story in the Chicago Trib. Use Bug Me Not to register.

Keishon posted new pub date of May 2007.

Dear Mr. Greenberg,
I haven’t laughed out loud this much while reading a book in months. My cat was eyeing me. Even my dog, who is usually the world’s most placid (and enormous) sofa throw (unless he’s in the back yard and sees a rabbit at which point he becomes jet propelled), raised his head [...]

Dear Ms. Bast:
If pressed, I would probably say that you are my favorite EC novelist. I am eagerly awaiting your Berkley releases. I bought Water Crystal during my Bast glom and thought, despite the title, that it was a contemporary given the cover. It is not a contemporary, but rather a futuristic. [...]

Dear Mrs. Connolly,
Even if I have to wait for the next two new books about Richard and Rose, I’m so glad that Mundania will be releasing the entire series to some new fans. “Harley Street” takes up where the third novel in the Richard and Rose series, “Venice,” left off. The series follows the courtship, [...]

Dear Authors:
This past week readers have been talking websites and how we really like them. Author websites provide us with information on what is next, what you’ve written in the past and whether we will like your books if you are new to us. Essentially, they are an online sales brochure which help [...]

This post isn’t really about ebooks but it is about technology and something that we all use on a regular basis so what the heck. I guess this falls under “I’m running out of ebook content.” I don’t want to recycle stuff until I am desperate (which may be next week) so I [...]

Dear Ms. Cole,
A variety of supernatural beings walk the earth in the world you have created in this book. The heroine, Emmaline Troy, is half-vampire, half-Valkyrie. Her Valkyrie mother died in childbirth and Emma has been raised by the Valkyries, warrior maidens who don’t know anything about her vampire father.
Vampires are capable [...]

We could all use a little love.

Dear Ms. Darcy
I don’t know how you got your book included as the free book in the Sony Reader but you did. And now I have to tell everyone at MobileRead that Italian’s Stolen Bride is not indicative of the romance genre. Your book includes all the hallmarks of a series romance and [...]

Dear Mrs. Wynn,
If I had to describe your writing I’d say it’s a nice, quiet style that reminds me of Laura Matthews and some of the “older” style authors. You gets your facts straight without making a big deal of it or info dumping the reader. And in “The Parson’s Pleasure” we read a [...]

Dear Ms. Waddell:
I was talking to a sci fi aficionado the other day and bemoaning the fact that there are so few true sci fi / futuristic romances these days. When Tara Marie mentioned that she liked it, I paid attention and picked it up.
Cullon Gavriel and Danna MacFadyen are part of [...]

Dear Ms. Reid,
This time the dark, oh so handsome hero of your book is, no surprises here, a Spaniard. But the heroine is the same pale, blonde, slim though curvaceous, Englishwoman I’ve seen in the two other books of yours I’ve read. Again, the hero is a wildly successful businessman, rich beyond belief. The [...]

I have been challenged by a male online reader who has been questioning of the romance genre to find the following:
Does there exist such a thing as a mystery or suspense romance that doesn’t have a lot of sensual sexual physical or erotic stuff going on?
Help me make a convert here. First, give [...]

Dear Ms. Halladay:
I know this letter isn’t fair because I picked up your book thinking you were another author, Gemma Bruce. In my defense, you were in the romance section, but I think your book is better classified as a chick lit whodunit with all the accoutrements of the chick lit book. All the [...]

Dear Ms. Rusch,
I wasn’t aware when I bought this that it is a short story. But I was an ebook novice then and thought I had just gotten a good deal on the price. I know authors have no control over price and compared to Quinn’s famous Second Epilogues this one is cheap but [...]

Dear Ms. McCarthy:
Jay, the poor misguided fool who thought she wanted to be a lawyer and now who cannot read for pleasure because all she does is read opinions, really enjoys your books and has been trying to get me to read them for months now. You Don’t Know Jack was an ebook and [...]

Dear Ms. Dallas,
I remember reading about this book a few years ago when it was first published. For some reason, I never bought it then but I thought about it from time to time. When I saw it was available in ebook form, I took the plunge. So much of it reminded me of [...]

Part One was the delivery of promises and Part Two was about the promise itself. Part Three is about the breaking of promises or what I like to think of as When Good Authors Go Bad. There are spoilers in the post below, so reader beware.
There was a lively discussion back in September about [...]

Let me state my opinion right up front so you don’t have to slog through the pictures or the features if you aren’t interested. This device is for readers who are technologically savvy and want the best screen available for reading. For the others, I would suggest getting Ebookwise or a PDA for [...]

Dear Mrs. Hake,
I wasn’t quite sure what I’d get when I impulsively picked this book at the bookstore. I had vaguely heard of Bethany House and thought it publishes inspirational literature. I am religious and a Christian but don’t care to be preached at, if you know what I mean. Happily, I found that [...]

Summary: Kaderin the Coldhearted lives to kill vampires. Sebastian Wroth was turned against his will and longs to die. They meet and discover that Kaderin is his blood bride. Kaderin resists. The annual Hie is starting (the paranormal answer to the Amazing Race). She’s got a prize to win and [...]

Dear Ms. Abé:
The Dream Thief is a sequel to The Smoke Thief. Lia Langford, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Chasen/Marquess of Langford (one of the two), is a dreamer. She dreams of future events and many of those events involve her lover being pitted against her family, against her friends.
Zane, former [...]

Dear Ms. Rowe,
While reading “Must Love Dragons” I kept getting feelings of deja vu. I think other readers will as well since there are a lot of similarities with “Date Me, Baby, One More Time.” I feel that a reader’s response to that book will determine their grade for this one.
You left [...]

Dear Ms. Spencer:
Haven is your debut work and I have been excited to read it since I first heard of it back when we ran our first ebook contest. I didn’t know what to expect and did not read the excerpts purposely. I like to be surprised when I read a book. [...]

Dear Ms. Havlir,
Several of your books were nominated during our monthly ebook contests but it’s taken me until now to try one. Unfortunately, it didn’t work too well for me.
You describe your heroine as super intelligent, a woman who graduated from college at age 16 and who at age 26 is a trauma [...]

Dear Ms. Rosenthal,
What a wonderful, challenging, envelope-pushing, smart and astonishing book you’ve written. Reading it wasn’t always easy or comfortable, but in the end, it was more than worth every penny of the $14 I spent on it and the effort it demanded of me as a reader.
At first glance, the relationship between Kit [...]

Dear Ms. Page:
Let me start out by giving you the good news. My neighbor bought and read this book and liked it and so did Tara Marie. Yours was the only Aphrodisia that Bookseller Jolie has been able to finish to date.
While this is not the worst erotic romance, it is [...]

Dear Ms Gibson,
I’d have to say that most of your books have worked for me on some level and a few are favorites. But unfortunately while I enjoyed parts of this book, it doesn’t equal your past efforts.
On the day of her best friend’s wedding, Clare Wingate is shocked to find her metrosexual [...]

Dear Ms. Shinn:
Before I start fawning all over this book, can I say something about the cover? What is with this guy’s lips? They’re huge! They look like they are stolen from Angelina Jolie. The more I look at this guy, the less attractive he is to me. All right, [...]

Shaorn Shinn has graciously agreed to stop by this evening and answer your questions. Take a gander at our interview with Ms. Shinn first, and make sure your question hasn’t been asked already. If it hasn’t, please post it in the comment section here. Thanks! :)