Archive for July, 2007
In a high school in Jena, Louisiana, a beautiful shady tree became a symbol of the racial tension. The high school allowed the school property to be coopted by the whites and it was known as a “whites only” place for students. A black freshman decided he would like to sit there and went to the principal about the tree. A day later, after the freshman requested to sit under a tree, three nooses were hung.
A few of the star football players, who were black, staged a protest by standing under the tree. The incident was reported to the principal who called the incident a “prank” and suspended the offenders for three days. This incident led to heated racial tensions. At an all white party in the fall, a black student was struck over the head with a bottle. The white offender was charged with a misdemeanor.
In another incident, a white man pulled a gun on a group of black kids. The black kids wrestled the gun away and reported the incident to the police who charged them with attempted robbery of the gun.
The …
Going to the bookstore this week? We’ve perused our advanced reading copies and come up with a buffet of books with something that should appeal to a wide range of tastes with everything from Highland romance to contemporary drama to erotic fantasy romance.
 Bewitching the Highlander by Lois Greiman made for a surprising read with its mix of magic, humor, and search for treasure. Keelan is a charmer whose best gift is his way with words and he uses this skill to embroil himself with the evil Lord Chetfield who is not who he says he is. Cherrie is using her bosoms and a facade of vacuity to insinuate herself into Chetfield’s household. Both Keelan and Cherrie want some of Chetfield’s but getting it will take some teamwork and a bit of magic. Recommended by Jane.
 Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney. This one is for anyone who has ever been in a long term relationship and wondered “what if.” Dash Bateman starts to ask these questions after the loss of her …
Dear Ms. Mullany,
 Like Jayne (who recently reviewed this book), I read and enjoyed your debut, Dedication, shortly before the Signet Regency line went kaput. I had liked the book enough to hope that you might get a contract before too long. Luckily for me, not one, but two publishers were smart enough to offer you a contract.
The Rules of Gentility is the result of the first of these contracts, with Avon (The second is for Forbidden Shores, an erotic historical which I eagerly await, to be published as a Signet Eclipse in October under the pseudonym Jane Lockwood).
Written in first person journal form, and, even more unconventionally, in present tense, The Rules of Gentility chronicles the delightful courtship of Philomena Wellesley-Clegg and Inigo Linsley. Both Philomena and Inigo's points of view are included, as each writes about their encounters and adventures while negotiating the tricky waters of the marriage mart.
Philomena is the second oldest daughter of a family in Trade (they own a coal mine), whose mother wants her to break into the rarified world of the ton. As Philomena, …
Three weeks ago, the Romance Writers of America handed out its RITA awards which is deemed by the industry to be the highest award an author can achieve. It’s an award, though, that is the target of a great deal criticism for everything from its categories to the entrance fee to the way in which the judging is carried out.
Each year seems to have at least one controversial win. This year’s controversial winner was Caridad Ferrer’s book, Adios to My Old Life. Ferrer’s book was originally entered into the Young Adult category but lack of contest entrants forced RWA to eliminate the category. Per the rules, Ferrer was given the option of choosing other categories for her book should she desire to continue in the contest. Ferrer chose New Book and Contemporary.
She won for Best Contemporary.
There were arguments made on either side as to why this award was appropriate or inappropriate. Some argued that it was not a romance. Others maintained a YA book should not have won. What no one said, though, …
In a case of either monumental stupidity or poor judgment (or both), Intel choose to run an ad for its new Core Duo processor by showing six black men (who all look the same) in a crouched position with one Dockers clad white middle management wank in the middle. The black men are supposed to be sprinters, but the visual imagery of these six black men in a near kneeling position with the white guy standing in the middle is just bad, bad, bad.
Even taken at face value, without the horrible symbolism that could be read into the ad, the fact is that the ad is selling the black folks as the workhorses and the white folk as the pants clad office management. See. Bad all around.
Copyranter claims that it is reverse discrimination, suggesting that Intel is calling him slow and suggest an Intel boycott for the reverse racism against crackers. (This is tongue in cheek, obviously, before anyone goes off on copyranter.)
Me thinks that some Intel Ad Exec is dusting off his resume and looking for a new job.
Via PenciledIn.
Dear Ms. Mullany,
I read your first novel, enjoyed it, and was dismayed to hear that Signet wouldn’t be publishing any more. Then Signet pretty much folded and I was afraid that was that. Huzzah to Harper Collins for picking you up (as an author) and giving us this delightful spoof of (almost) every Regency novel. The comedy is delicious, the characters are fantastic and I can only hope we’ll see more of this style from you.
Long before there were designer shoes, apple martinis, and speed dating — there were great bonnets, punch at Almack’s, and the marriage mart.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman of fortune and passable good looks amuses herself in London with fashion, philanthropic works, and flirtation, until a suitable gentleman makes an offer. I consider the pursuit of bonnets and a husband fairly alike — I do not want to acquire an item that will wear out or bore me after a brief acquaintance, and we must suit each other very well.”
Meet Miss Philomena Wellesley-Clegg, a young Regency heiress whose often comical struggle to find a bigger purpose
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 Nan Talese, editor and publisher of James Frey’s fictional autobiography called A Million Little Pieces, struck back after enduring months of scorn and anger, much of it fueled by Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey featured James Frey on her show and was later appalled to find out that a great deal of the non fiction story was actually fiction. She had Frey and Nan Talese back on her show to question them about the truth behind the book.
Oprah: James Frey is here and I have to say it is difficult for me to talk to you because I feel really duped. But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers. I think it’s such a gift to have millions of people to read your work and that bothers me greatly. So now, as I sit here today I don’t know what is true and I don’t know what isn’t. So first of all, I wanted to start with The Smoking Gun report titled, “The Man Who Conned Oprah” and I want to knowâ€â€Âwere they right?
James: I think most of what they wrote
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The Knight Agency was founded in 1996 by Deidre Knight, an author and agent whose background was the entertainment business. Today, the Knight Agency has sold over six hundred books for its hundred-plus clients. It specializes in romance and women’s fiction. Elaine Spencer is one of the seven agents of the Knight Agency and agents books such as Melissa Mayhue’s Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband from Pocket; Fearless from Dorchester; and Beyond Cool from Berkley.
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 Tell us about your background. What made you decide to become a literary agent? How did you get started in your career? What made you decide to agent on behalf of romance authors?
I started at the Knight Agency fresh out of college. I am a lifelong book lover and a voracious reader. In college I majored in English, Comparitive Lit and Economics. I wanted the competition involved in the business world, but I couldn't quite give up my love to retreat into a good book. When I heard about an opportunity at the Knight Agency, I applied …
 I receive a few newsletters from ebook retailers such as Fictionwise, eReader, Books on Board and All Romance eBooks. I’ve begun to notice large price discrepancy between ebook prices, depending on the e-tailer. I first thought that only price matters but when I sat down to make out a list of what I looked for in an ebookstore, price was only one component.
In shopping online, the following are important features:
- Eternal bookshelf. I want to be able to redownload my purchase as many times as I want.
- Paypal. I think I am twice as likely to spend as a payment option
- price
- Wishlist. Where I can store books that I am thinking about purchasing but haven’t quite made up my mind
- Rating System. I like to see what others are saying about a book that I am thinking about purchasing.
- Bulk Download. Fictionwise offers this and it is great when you are setting up a new computer.
- Timeliness. Fictionwise is terrible in that they release books on a Monday instead of Tuesday so their releases are ALWAYS one week behind. I hate that.
Things that I don’t find …
New Vanity and Subsidy Publisher Definitions from RWA were announced after a board meeting on July 25th. This is the entirety of the decision found at RWA website.
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At the request of members, the Board has re-visited the definitions of “Subsidy Publisher” and “Vanity Publisher.” After considering the advice of legal and industry professionals, along with suggestions by our Publisher Recognition Task Force, the board met in a telephonic board meeting on July 25th and redefined the terms “Subsidy Publisher” and “Vanity Publisher” as follows:
“Subsidy Publisher” means any publisher that publishes books in which the author participates in the costs of production in any manner, including publisher assessment of a fee or other costs for editing and/or distribution. This definition includes publishers who withhold or seek full or partial payment or reimbursement of publication or distribution costs before paying royalties, including payment of paper, printing, binding, production, sales or marketing costs.
“Vanity Publisher” means any publisher whose authors exclusively promote and/or sell their own books and publishers whose business model and methods of publishing and distribution are primarily directed toward sales to the author, his/her relatives and/or associates.
RWA's mission is to promote the …
Dear Ms Ruger,
After being pleasantly surprised by “Eight Minutes,” I decided to take advantage of the February romance sale at Fictionwise and try some of your other stories. I bought “Dessert for Two,” “Morning Coffee,” and “Jason Taylor Kissed Me” along with the trilogy of novellas included in “It Must Be Love.” While I enjoyed the novellas, I think you excel in distilling a story down to the essence needed for the short story length. Alas, I’m not as thrilled with the price charged by Fictionwise (even on sale). Yes, yes, I know you as the author have no control over that but those short stories are pricey.
The short stories are all contemporaries and mostly deal with slightly older characters (mid to late 30s) finding the possibility of love. The novellas are historicals (2 Regencies and 1 medieval) and with the longer length allow you to bring the romances to a HEA conclusion. I do feel the need to warn readers that you play a little fast and loose with Regency conventions which, though OK to a point, might annoy purists. Your editor might want to watch more closely for …
Dear Ms. Greiman:
I have never read a Greiman book before. I always meant to read and have, in fact, purchased your contemporary books, Unzipped and Unplugged before. But with the muscle bound chests and arms and titles with “Highlander”, I wasn’t terribly excited about reading the historicals. As I said a few days ago, I kind of feel that my Scottish historical days are past. My blogging partner, Jayne, puts her Scottish malaise down to too many book with faux Scottish dialect but this is a book I would recommend to her and, in fact, I am going to send this to her.
While there is plenty of dialect in this book, none of its seems faux. In fact, its downright lyrical. I loved the speech patterns of the characters that held true not only in their conversations with each other but in their own internal dialogue.
“I did na ken what I was doing.” And that was the bloody truth. “I swear to the saints. I did na ken. And I was hungry. ‘Twas three days
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I admit to drinking alot of bottled water, particularly when I read (this is my attempt to make this post relevant to books). I hate the taste of my local tap water and if I didn’t have bottled water, I am sure I would be in a constant state of dehydration. However, I don’t buy bottled water believing that it is taken from a pure mountain spring. I assume, unless it states otherwise, that it is filtered and purified.
 However, the labeling of bottled water leaves something to be desired. Consumer action group, Corporate Accountability International, has been working to get bottled water manufacturers to be more truthful in its labeling and marketing. Pepsico’s Aquafina, the largest bottled water brand in the US, is purified water from municipal sources rather than a natural mountain spring water. The Aquafina logo is a mountain which makes a statement that could be misleading. On future labels, the words “public water source” will be included.
Corporate Accountability International is urging Coca Cola (Dasani) and Nestle Waters North America (Pure Life) to follow lead since their …
 Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler are the writing duo named Sydney Croft. The name is part Sydney Bristol, part Lara Croft and the story is all steamy action. Their first book, Riding the Storm, is due out September 2007. This is their story of how two action heroines, disguised as writers, made their first single title sale.
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 Larissa starts: Stephanie and I met online around four years ago. I don't even remember how we started critiquing, but somehow it happened. I'm pretty sure it was me who one day, out of the blue, said, "We should write something together!� I think she thought I was nuts.
Steph continues: I thought Larissa was nuts. For the record, I still do. But sometime in February of 2006, we were both really getting impatient, both waiting to hear on individual projects that we'd submitted. So I sent her the first scene of a story I'd started back in back in September of 2006, the day …
Bookstores are scaling back on the comfy chairs because they feel too many people are lounging around and not enough people are buying the books. Shelf Awareness pointed out an article in the Baltimore Sun by Rob Hiassen that bookstores are reducing “soft seating” because of “homeless squatters, overly enthusiastic young lovers, food trash left behind.”
Borders has eliminated 30% of the soft seating replacing it with benches and backless stools because they are finding many people are staying for hours but not actually buying books. Some are reading entire books while at the store and then leaving a mess behind.
Barnes & Noble hasn’t reduced the “soft seating” yet because it believes that bodies in the chairs means eventually sales at the register. Mitchell Klipper, COO of Barnes & Noble,says. “Let them read all they want. We encourage them to stay a while. They will show up at the register eventually.”
Dear Mr. Moore,
 A few things I know for sure when I start one of your books: it’ll be different, it’ll be funny, and somebody will die. In the case of this book, lots of people will die but then when the main character is a Death Merchant, it kind of goes with the territory.
I feel “Dirty Job” is a cross between the film “Jack and Sarah” and the short lived cable show “Dead Like Me.” Charlie is left to raise his daughter alone after his wife’s sudden death following the delivery and it’s at the moment of her death that he joins the others in San Francisco whose job it is to retrieve the object containing the soul of each dying person. No soul retrieval equals horrific Underworld upheaval. Like George, the teenage soul releaser who didn’t understand her job and didn’t initially want to do it, Charlie is left to flounder around until he finally gets his hands on “The Great Big Book of Death” (”The cover was shiny, like a children's picture book, with a colorful illustration of a grinning …
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold a purported 8 million copies within the first 24 hours but because of deep discounts bookstores made almost nothing on the sales. What it did do, however, was sell alot of other books, mostly Potter related books. In another first, the top 15 is dominated by one author with nearly every entry in the Potter collection selling enough copies to outpace authors like Rhonda Byrne, James Patterson and Nora Roberts.
I had predicted that Linda Howard’s Up Close and Dangerous would debut in the top ten but I had forgotten about Pottermania. It appeared at number 19.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPré (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic), $34.99, No. 1 (debut).
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6), J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPré (Scholastic), $9.99, No. 2 (Peak 1). 93 weeks on list.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Deluxe edition, J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPré (Arthur A. …
Dear Ms. Carlyle,
 At this point, I think I’m going to stop with this trilogy even though the hero who’s left is a character I initially had the most interest in. I had problems with Never Lie to a Lady and they’ve only got worse with Never Deceive a Duke. For one thing, the plot of commoner suddenly being raised to the height of the British peerage is not a favorite of mine and for another, none of the main characters in this book ended up appealing to me. I got tired of their angst, I didn’t see them fall in love and the suspense plot was even weaker than in “Lady.”
First thing: Need does not equal Love. Gareth needs to be needed and Antonia is very needy so in the end, I guess they found the Right Person and might be very happy together – as long as Antonia doesn’t become the independent woman she tells Gareth she wants to be.
Antonia – you tell us she so strong (actually she tells …
Dear Ms Leone,
 Most American Civil War books I’ve read are set in the South so finding that takes place in Pennsylvania is a treat, especially when it deals with the Underground Railroad.
As the Civil War rages, Kay Lane does what most women do–she works to keep her country home intact, struggles to manage her family’s small shop and waits for word that the chaos that’s invaded their lives will soon come to an end. She hopes, too, for word of the man who has claimed her heart. Marsh was one of the first to volunteer for duty, and now that he’s gone Kay wishes they had married before he left. But regrets won’t win a war, and as Marsh fights his battles, Kay wages her own crusade for freedom. She becomes a conductor for the Underground Railroad, using her ancestral brooch to signal the arrival of new fugitives. But will Kay and Marsh’s shared love and unerring belief that freedom belongs to all be enough to shelter them through the next big battle? Gettysburg looms and the hands and hearts that hold the brooch will be
…
Dear Ms. McCarty:
 This book brought back my early days of romance reading. It reminded me of a time when Scotland was the setting du jour and revenge and deceit were the main plot devices. Theresa Medeiros gave the cover quote and the book, at times, reminded me of Medeiros’ old historicals such as Whisper of Roses.
The book opens with a heartwrenching scene. Margaret MacLeod is being returned to her clan by MacDonald of Sleat who repudiates her on the basis of a physical defect. Margaret is sent through a barrage of villagers in a manner designed to inflict the most amount of humiliation. Rory MacLeod, Chieftan of the Clan MacLeod, watches and his rage against the MacDonalds grow. (Of course, I did wonder why he didn’t rush in and save her right away instead of watching).
Two years later, the King of Scotland has ordered the MacLeods and the MacDonalds to cease their endless warfare and has required Rory MacLeod to accept as his bride, Isabel MacDonald, Sleat’s niece. Rory sees a chance …
SB Sarah invited Dear Author to engage in a once a month cross blog debate. Our first was going to be . . . well, I can’t remember anymore, we threw around so many ideas. Out of the THREAD THAT WOULD NOT DIE however, came a very interesting concept about personal attacks and where the line should be drawn, if it could be drawn.
While much of the blog posting is about one particular blog in question, it is used as illustrative of an example that we believed was over the line, in terms of personal attacks. You may disagree. I think this is really an important topic because I see it discussed briefly from time to time. We want to know your opinion as to what is appropriate in terms of criticism.
Please join us, after a deep breath and some chocolate as Sarah says, at the Smart Bitch site for the first of the Smart Bitch/DearAuthor Cross Blog Debate.
Dear Ms Smith,
 I’ve loved several of your Regency novels in the past. I liked this one too. But, sad to say, I didn’t love it.
Mary Anne Judson has an idyllic country life, except perhaps that her Uncle Edwin is of a casually larcenous nature. When he liberates an abandoned–and smuggled–cargo of fine silk and finds himself pursued by the handsome London draper, Mr. Robertson, life becomes rather hectic. And Mary Anne suspects there is more to the stylish draper than meets the eye.
Readers who are sick of reading about London Seasons and how to properly address an Viscount’s second son should check into your books. Several of the ones I’ve read have been set in the country or in towns other than London. I get tired of the seeming belief that there was only one city in all of England during the Regency era.
Mr. Robertson is a hero with a secret – but at least he’s not over in France spying. He stays in England and only decodes. I find this a much more likely scenario than a peer dodging back and forth across the channel. …
This Publishers’ Weekly article made my stomach churn. In my agent interview series, I’ve asked the agents whether they think it is a detriment to be a woman in the publishing industry. Most have answered no, but the glum fact is that if you are a woman, you are being paid 60 cents on the dollar that a man earns. The average publishing salary for a man is $99,442 and $63,747 for a woman. Publishers’ Weekly identifies the huge divide in that editors, who are mostly women, are paid substantially less than the management side, comprised of mostly men.
Editorial personnel in the high-priced Mid-Atlantic region earn an average of $51,000, while management averages a much more respectable $140,000. Sales/marketing employees in the region average $69,000 and those in operations earn $60,000.
Is there anyone else who thinks this is backward and should be changed?
Via Galley Cat.
You probably couldn’t miss the business reports of the Harry Potter sales that dominated headlines yesterday. The first run printing was 12 million copies and a reported 8.3 million sold in the first 24 hours according to figures in USA Today.
When I look at the Potter mania, partly induced by the media, partly induced by the publishers, but most induced by the millions of fans anxious to read the books, I sigh with regret. Not because I hate Potter mania, but because I wonder if there will be something like that around for my daughter to experience. It struck me how influential these books were when I read about the girls and boys who started reading at the age of 12 and now they are adults but their whole life was marked by reading a Harry Potter book almost every year of their childhood.
There was no series where I hotly anticipated the release of a book every summer. There was no book mania in my childhood, other than my own self created one. In 2004, NEA released a Reading at Risk study which cited that in the years …
Dear Ms. Martin:
 I like romantic suspense and the description of the book which had a bit of the paranormal to it which can make an ordinary suspense a little more captivating. Unfortunately, the book started out with stereotypical characters and never deviated.
Autumn Sommers had a vision once which she ignored and it came true resulting in tragic consequences. Twelve years pass and she is having new dreams of a young girl being kidnapped. Determined to make a difference this time, she identifies the girl and then tracks down her father, Ben McKenzie. Ben is angered that Autumn has raked up this past tragedy his family suffered when his daughter, Molly, was abducted years ago. Confronted with facts that Autumn shouldn’t know, Ben reluctantly joins Autumn in the search and hopeful rescue for his daughter.
Autumn was a fairly standard romance heroine. She was a shy good girl without much sexual experience but she had the floozy best friend. She liked homey things rather than anything trashy (see floozy best friend). Ben was a quality guy. He generally only dated starlets …
Don’t like the covers on your books (me neither)? Kate Spade has some downloadable covers for your books. I don’t know if they will last or whether they fit a paperback as they use hardcovers for examples but they are free. On Kate’s summer reading list is one that Jayne read and recommended: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.
Via Styledash.
Lately I’ve been getting a number of Shelfari invitations from authors who think I might be interested in viewing their virtual bookshelf. While I like to know what people are reading, I’m not interested in getting spam. There was a suggestion at Angie W’s blog that Shelfari overtook your address book and sent out the invitations without your consent.
This sounded so wrong that I was surprised I hadn’t seen something about it on one of the tech blogs I read so I signed up myself and emailed the company. You can opt out of sending invitations but you can also opt out of receiving them too. From the Shelfari folks themselves:
To remove yourself from receiving any future invitations to Shelfari, go
http://www.shelfari.com/actions/emailoptout.aspx.
 Jessica Faust of BookEnds, LLC is an agent who knows and loves the romance genre. While BookEnds represents the gamut from romance, women's fiction, mystery, thrillers, and suspense to self-help nonfiction, in Faust’s blog, you can see the attachment toward the genre that we love–romance. When I was at RWA’s National Convention, I had the good fortune to hear Faust speak on the state of erotic romance. She gave it to the authors straight so that they could arm themselves with market information but she also charged them that regardless of the market, a good book will sell.
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Jane: Tell us about your background. What made you decide to become a literary agent? How did you get started in your career? What types of books do you primarily agent?
Faust: I began my publishing career in 1994 as an editorial assistant at Berkley Publishing. The two editors I worked for at the time handled primarily romance and mystery including Nora Roberts. Ironically I had not read a lot of either of these genres, but discovered very early on that I loved them both. I always think I …
 Red Sage Publishing was one of the first erotic romance publishers in the market. The first anthology was published in 1995 and since then, Red Sage has gone on to publish 18 Anthologies and one single title, The Forever Kissby Angela Knight. I heard rumblings that Red Sage would be moving into ebook publishing, I was excited because my local stores have never been very good about stocking Red Sage and because they are often stocked in the Self Help section, I forget about them. Alexandria Kendall, Publisher of Red Sage, graciously answered some questions about Red Sage and its new endeavor. At the end of July, we readers should start to see Red Sage ebooks on the internet. I, for one, am excited about this.
Jane: How did Red Sage start?
ALEXANDRIA KENDALL: I started Red Sage in 1994 and our first book was published in 1995. Red Sage means passionate wisdom. Don’t laugh. :) I had attended several RWA conventions and kept hearing the authors complain about their publishing houses not letting them write the sex they wanted to write …
Dear Ms. Howard:
 I am a big fan girl and while I haven’t loved your last few books (okay since Open Season), I still look forward to your new ones. While Up Close and Dangerous isn’t going to sit on my keeper shelf with Dream Man or After the Night or the Kell Sabin series, it still was a good read and more romantic than your previous three.
Widow Bailey Wingate is going on vacation, a much needed one. She’s currently the trustee of her two spoiled stepchildren’s trust funds and these two adult children, Seth and Tamzin, make her life hell. She decides to go on a river rafting excursion with her family and takes a corporate jet from J&L Executive Air Limo to get there. Cam Justice (the J in the J&L) has to step in to fly her when his partner becomes violently ill. Cam dislikes Bailey for being cold and stuckup every time J&L has flown her and Bailey dislikes Cam for acting like a superior ass. While flying over the mountains in …
 If Robin/Janet, Wendy, Lawson can’t convince you to read Demon Moon then perhaps the fact that Demon Moon just received an A- from Entertainment Weekly reviewers might. Congratulations Meljean and how timely that romance would get an awesome review in a print publication. Sure, it isn’t the New York Times, but somehow I don’t think Brook cares.
From fellow blogger, Sybil.
Dear Ms Cach,
 I said that this was one of my favorites and I’m finally writing a letter why. This has all the ingredients that make me love The Changeling Bride. Great hero, great heroine, fun, humor, everything.
George is a pro wrestler whose new age sister somehow transports him back in time while she’s trying to hypnotize him. He winds up in a small English village that has been paying a yearly virgin tribute to a dragon for 30 years. Only one of the virgins, Alizon, fought back 12 years ago and has been saving each year’s new offering, keeping them safe and hidden on the island where the dragon lives. They may be safe but they’re also trapped as the superstitious villagers would stone them if they tried to return. Alizon’s old friend has called on magic for a hero to slay the dragon in order to protect her own daughter and George is who she got.
George is great. I love this man. He has a great sense of humor and a tender heart underneath all that shiny, silver stretch Lycra. He’s intelligent, kind, cleans up after himself and can …
 Shiloh Walker fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has translated that love into writing paranormal fantasy romances of her own. For those who don’t believe in Young Adult romances, Walker fell in love and married her high school sweetheart at the age of 19. She continues to serenade her fans with her happy ever after books but expect to suffer while getting there. Her recent release, Heart and Soul, is in bookstores now. Happy ever after doesn’t come easy but sometimes a first sale can.
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My sale to Berkley is pretty cool.
I was online when I got an IM from my friend, Lora Leigh. She wrote, I need your phone number. Of course, I’ve given it to her…. uh… twenty times by now? But I know Lora so I sent it to her, along with my standard question, Why…what did I do now? She just replied, LMAO. I’m calling. You’re going to die.
Phone rings, I answer …
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According to the readers at Romantic Times, JR Ward is moving to hardcover in 2009 with Rhevenge’s story. The print schedule looks like this:
- October 2007, Lover Unbound (Vishous)
- April 2008, Phury’s book
- January 2009, Rhevenge’s book, in hardcover
Thanks Sybil.
Editorial note: This review/letter may contain spoilers. It is also not entirely a review but more of a diatribe. If you read this series, you may not want to read this post. Again, if you do read this and are spoiled, don’t blame us. We warned you. The book is due out on July 31, 2007. You can pre-order it at Amazon.
Dear Ms. Slaughter:
 I have tried to rewrite this letter many times since I’ve read the book because I try to come off as a reasonable person and this letter is angry and bitter. After trying to rewrite it for the nth time, I’ve just decided to own the fact that this letter is angry, bitter, and even juvenile. I can’t help my emotional response and I am not going to apologize for it so that I can appear levelheaded.
I am an emotional reader. I invest emotionally with the characters, particularly those whom I have read over the course of many years. I recall buying each Grant County book in hardcover. I remember …
Nora Roberts pushed the young adult book down to 6 to claim the number 2 spot with High Noon. The writing corporation of James Patterson is number 1 with The Quickie.
Other than the Nora Roberts entrance, the rest of the list looks similar to last week, with only small changes in the order. Next week is a release week which means that the list should look substantially similar to this one except Linda Howard’s Up Close and Dangerouswhich was released on the 17th will be in the top ten.
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High Noon, Nora Roberts (Putnam), $26.95, No. 2 (debut).
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn (Avon), $7.99, No. 10 (Peak 4).
Lean Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s Press), $27.50, No. 11 (Peak 1).
Twelve Sharp, Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s Paperbacks), $7.99, No. 15 (peak 3 as a paperback release). Paperback release of hardcover…
The NY Times has a review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book even before the book goes on sale. (use bugmenot.com for username and password) This is actually quite normal for all books but with Potter, no review copies were sent and no copies were supposed to be sold until Friday night.
Times hasn’t said where they purchased the book and no one else in NY is crowing about purchasing it. DeepDiscount.com is supposed to have shipped it early but the Times posted the review on July 18 and the earliest reporting of those who received the book was on Tuesday, the 17th. I guess its possible that the reviewer sped read the book and composed a review in time for it to appear in the NY Times the following day but it doesn’t really pass the smell test to me. Am I the only one who thinks that the NY Times got a copy of the pirated version and wrote the review from that?
I’m not going to cite the review because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, but you can go to the review and read the …
Dear Mr. Mills,
 Your first novel takes place in the summer of 1947 on Long Island, in and near the Hamptons, where the wealthy have summer homes. Not far from the Hamptons is Amagansett, a working class community. The two communities coexist side-by-side, but not without tension. Through political maneuverings in the state government, the wealthy are trying to take the fishing rights away from the local fishermen.
As the book opens two Amagansett fishermen, Conrad Labarde and Rollo Kemp, pull up something unexpected in their net: the body of a young woman in her twenties.
Both Conrad and Tom Hollis, the police officer who is sent to the scene, notice that the dead woman drowned while still wearing her earrings. And that makes both of them suspect foul play.
After investigating for a bit, Hollis identifies the woman as Lillian Wallace, daughter to a very wealthy businessman. Lillian’s grief-stricken brother Manfred is a man with political ambitions.
Why and how was Lillian murdered, and can the crime be proved? The main characters are Tom Hollis and Conrad Labarde, who both want to know the answers to these questions.
Hollis is a former New York City …
Over at the Smart Bitches, a controversy is raging over the appropriateness of the outfits worn by Marianne Mancusi, Liz Maverick, and Sherrilyn Kenyon at the Literacy Signing. The Literacy Signing was attended by over 450 authors. It is open to the public and the goal is to sell as many books as possible to fund literacy. Over $56,000 was raised. It is the only event open to the public but not the only event open to the press. There is a press room at RWA and it has a table full of books for press people to take.
Many things were bandied about such as dressing in costumes leads to greater disrespect for the romance genre to the costumes being unprofessional to some very distasteful. One commenter, Author Deborah Smith, accused the women dressing as pedophile luring schoolgirls. One of the last of the 100+ comments was made by Corrina, an aspiring author.
I think what we're discussing is the balance between them and where the line is drawn and if we can choose that line for ourselves or if the publishers will
…
 The final version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is on the internet for anyone to view, if you are good enough to google it. The book has been photographed, two pages at a time, by someone (I assume a bookseller or a distributor). There are slideshows and photographs that reveal the deaths and the ending (for the record, it is nothing like the previous spoiler). edited to add: link seems to be down. Having seen some of the photos, it looks like the real deal to me. So if you want to be spoiled, the answer to the Harry Potter question is out there despite excessive and extreme security attempts.
The trucks Bloomsbury will use are fitted with satellite tracking systems costing up to 1,000 pounds each, which will reveal whether any of the vehicles deviate from their intended route. The books are on sealed pallets fitted with alarms to prevent tampering.
Torrent Link
P.S. If you click and are spoiled, don’t blame me. Blame your poor impulse control.
Dear Ms. Graham:
 This is a vampire novel with great atmosphere. A little bit scary, with a whole lot of secret set in the mother of all vampire homes – New Orleans. The best part of this book was its creepy overtones, making the suspense more intense because the foreboding that was woven through the beginning of the novel.
Lauren Crowe is hosting a bachelorette vacation with her girlfriend, bride to be, and one other when they came across a fortune teller. Lauren feels uneasy but her girlfriends press her to choose one and have their fortunes read. She chooses a woman who gives them carefully worded futures whose nuances seem ominously clear to Lauren.
Shortly after Lauren’s arrival in New Orleans, the city becomes terrorized by a serial killer who is lopping off the heads of women and leaving them in the water. Mark Davidson believes the serial killer to be a vampire who he has been tracking for decades, even centuries. Mark and Stephen were once in a tragic love triangle that ended with Mark’s fiance’s death. When …
So my list is way late and you’ll expect another one tomorrow, right? Better late than never. The July 8, 2007, list has a surprise with Lisa Harrison’s 8th Clique novel, Sealed with a Diss, at no. 3 above even Janet Evanovich’s 13th Stephanie Plum novel, Lean Mean Thirteen. Julia Quinn’s first non Bridgerton book in 8 years, The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, drops only two spots to no. 6.
There were only two debuts on the list but those were by established authors, Christina Dodd and Lori Foster.
***
Lean Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s Press), $27.50, No. 5 (Peak 1).
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn (Avon), $7.99, No. 6 (Peak 4).
Country Brides, Debbie Macomber (Mira), $7.99, No. 7 (Peak 5).
Fool Me Once, Fern Michaels (Zebra), $7.99, No. 8 (Peak 9).
Twelve Sharp, Janet …
Dear Ms Gaia,
 I love books set during WWII. There’s so much scope for drama, heartbreak, courage and bravery. Your book appealed to me because of the setting and the fact that from the blurb, the heroine looked like she is more in charge of her own sexuality than in most historicals and that it would make sense in the context of the story.
Resting in London after his tour of duty in France, Richard Hart is called upon to investigate a stolen Picasso that has surfaced in New York. With Leslie Havens by his side, Richard boards a steamer to New York and becomes embroiled in identifying art smugglers who are selling confiscated artworks on the black market. To his chagrin, his mother, Nanette (Hart) Bishop, is involved, and Claire’s old flame is one of the prime suspects.
I’m sad to say that although there were parts of the story I liked, there was a lot that didn’t work quite so well for me. From looking at your website, I know you’ve done a lot of research and there is a lot of period detail in the story. But …
Dear Ms. Roberts:
 Most readers say the same thing about you and that is you consistently deliver good, solid reads. But as with all authors, particularly those with ginormous backlists (and yes, ginormous is now an official word), some books are better than others. When I started this book, I was a little apprehensive wondering if this was Eve Dallas redone. While I saw hints of Eve Dallas, mostly in language idiosyncracies, Lt. Phoebe MacNamara is a character all her own and High Noon is one of the best Roberts books I’ve read.
Phoebe MacNamara is a negotiator whose life has been marred by tragedy. You wouldn’t know it to see her in action, talking jumpers off the edge and hostage takers into the light. While Phoebe is out saving strangers everyday, she can’t seem to save her own family. When Phoebe was a young girl, she and her family were taken hostage. She was able to prevent physical harm to her family but her mother became agoraphobic and has not left the house for decades. …
Wal-Mart owns a chain of super market stores in Britain known as Asda. According to Bloomsbury, the publisher of Harry Potter books, Asda owes them money and until the bill is paid in full, no books for them. Bloomsbury, aka the Soup Nazi, is canceling the shipment to Asda as of now. Asda claims it is because it criticized Bloomsbury for the high retail price ($37) of the last Potter installment. We’ll see who blinks first.
Update They’ve kissed and made up.
Via USA Today.
RWA is a writer’s conference. It is about the business and craft of writing. As a non aspiring writer, I went as a fan and a blogger to see what it was all about.
While some authors were not happy to see readers and bloggers at RWA, most everyone that I met was delightful. Of course, the first question that springs to mind is whether I will be reviewing these authors in the future. Absolutely. I would think that the authors I met would expect that I be fair and honest else they wouldn’t visit in the future and neither would the rest of you. Further, all these authors deserve to be given an honest and non patronizing review. To do otherwise would indicate I have no respect for them.
Wednesday for me, and for RWA, is all about the literacy signing. When I arrived at the Marsalis ballroom, I was met with quiet and peace. I had no idea what was coming. We worked for hours, unpacking and repacking and counting the books. Then alphabetizing these hundreds of books. When I left at noon, …
Dear Mr Silverberg,
 The idea of time travel fascinates me. Imagine being able to go back and see not only the great events in history but the little, ordinary day to day lives of the Average Joe/Jayne. We could clear up some of the Great Historical Mysteries, find out things that had been forgotten in the mists of time, enjoy spending a day (or 30) living among our ancestors. And in the end, head back home to better medical care, air conditioning / central heating and the internet. What’s not to like?
Edward Davis of the Time Service is on a rescue mission. Eighteen months ago, two Service personnel going to Tiberius’s Rome were lost when their Jump Field missed and put them in Thebes around 1390 B.C. Now that the Service has finally calculated their location, Edward, with his background in Egyptology, is to go back 35 and a half C’s to bring them home … if they’re still alive.
I’ve mentioned in reviews of other novellas that I expect an author to make use every word when working in such a short format. You do and yet manage …
 Kristin Nelson is one of the first agent blogs that I started reading. Her Pub Rants blog is famous amongst aspiring writers for no nonsense and candid advice. As a reader, I find the peak behind the curtain posts illuminating. I admit that she is the inspiration for the series so I was doubly glad that she shared her thoughts with the Dear Author crowd on agenting.
***
Tell us about your background. What made you decide to become a literary agent? How did you get started in your career? What made you decide to agent on behalf of romance authors? Young adult authors?
Nelson: I have both an M.A. and a B.A. in English (from Purdue University and the University of Missouriâ€â€ÂColumbia respectively). I had always wanted a career in publishing but didn't want to move to New York to pursue it. When the opportunity arose to work for literary agent Jody Rein, I jumped at it. That's what got me started.
As for the genres I rep, I've always loved reading romance as well as other genres such as SF and Fantasy. Jody did mostly nonfiction, …
Dear Ms Louise,
 I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like yours before.
The Beals live in a upper middle class neighborhood in the mid 1960’s. Frank is a jingle writer who is having more than a little trouble coming up with a shoe polish jingle. Trying to keep up with the neighbor’s expensive tastes is a full time job in itself. But when Frank butts heads with a Voodoo practicing Brazilian gardener, he gets much more than he bargains for, especially when he is distracted by all the spells flying back and forth, with a force strong enough to turn his wife into a love-starved siren and his children into well-behaved angels.
I loved picking out the jingles and slogans from past and present ad campaigns. Lots of them took me back several years and I found myself humming “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us…” along with several other TV jingles. After suffering through Susan’s safety compulsion, I’m glad it turns out for the best since it’ll get the family into the neighbor’s pool! Tito and Tilly …
Best Traditional Romance
 Barb Hannay is from Australia and was not present to accept her award.
Claiming His Family by Barbara Hannay, Harlequin Mills & Boon, Romance – (373039077)
Kimberley Young, editor
Best Short Contemporary Romance
 Jessica Bird/J.R. Ward
From The First by Jessica Bird, Harlequin Enterprises, Silhouette Special Edition – (0373247508), Stacy Boyd, editor
Best Long Contemporary Romance
 Lori Handeland who has an urban fantasy series debuting in 2008
The Mommy Quest by Lori Handeland, Harlequin Enterprises, Harlequin Superromance – (373713347), Johanna Raisanen, editor
Best Inspirational Romance
 Tamera Alexander, whom I accosted as she was trying to make her way back to her room. She was accompanied by her lovely mother and editor
Revealed by Tamera Alexander, Bethany House Publishers – (0764201093), Karen Schurrer, editor
Best Romantic Novella
 I took a picture of Roxanne St. Claire, who looked beautiful by the way, but somehow it was eaten by my camera.
“‘Tis the Silly Season” in A …
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