Comments on: REVIEW: Taken by the Viking by Michelle Styles

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:33:34 +0000

Hmmm, so it appears (if I understand this correctly) that it’s going to be a long, long time before this book is released in the US. Bummer for those who want to read it.

“Because of the success of Harlequin ebooks, Mills and Boon will be releasing its frontlist as ebooks sometime in 2008.”

Now that is good news!

By: Michelle Styles

Michelle Styles — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:26:27 +0000

Taken by the Viking will be released in the US at some point, but the current plan is for my Viking books to be released one after another. So three months of vikings from Michelle Styles. This is to make it easier for readers. As it can be frustrating to miss one of the books in a linked series. They are being released in the UK as and when I finish them. It is how they do things and it does mean with something like this that a rather newish author like me is not put under the pressure of really tight deadlines.

Part of the problem is that I keep writing other books in between writing Viking stories. For example, A Christmas Wedding Wager which will be released in the US in December was written just after Taken, because I really wanted to that story and my sr editor wanted it written. Then I wrote Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife (to be released in the UK in June 08) and then because my daughter begged and begged I wrote a linked story to ACWW. I think the date of UK publication is August 08.
And then my editor really wanted a Regency duet from me, and because of the way they do schedule things with duets, my current contract had to cover those two books, rather than the next Viking.
My editors are eagerly waiting the third Viking from me. And then there is a question mark over whether or not I will do Thrand, the half-brother’s story. (ie my editor wants a story about Thrand but we have both agreed that he needs to grow up a little and we will revisit the question after I write Ivar’s story) My daughter also thinks Thrand would make a good hero…

Personally I think scheduling is a nightmare. A lot of things come into play with scheduling — such as time period, type of story and author. And it is up to the editors to co-ordinate these things.

Because of the success of Harlequin ebooks, Mills and Boon will be releasing its frontlist as ebooks sometime in 2008.

I hope it is not too confusing.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:57:14 +0000

“For example Louise Allen’s Virgin Slave, Barbarian King (that word agai!) is out in December in the US. Louise is better known to the HM&B historical readership for her Regencies. Personally, I am really looking forward to it as it is set in the dying days of the Roman empire. And Lousie tells me that they are publishing it first in the NA market and then in the UK market.”

Yes, I’ve read one of her Regencies and have been meaning to try something else by her. This one sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the heads up!

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:50:25 +0000

Keishon, this book at least is available through amazon.ca. It seems that about every other book of hers is released at the same time here as in the UK. Makes no sense to me either. I noticed that it’s not available through eHarlequin either unless I managed to miss it somewhere.

By: Keishon

Keishon — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:16:50 +0000

I clearly don’t understand the distribution problem with her books in the US. She sounds like a talented author but her books are unavailable to potential readers who read your reviews and want to read her books here in the US. What’s the deal with that?

By: Michelle Styles

Michelle Styles — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:23:32 +0000

I think they weere surprised when the findings came out last summer. I know they have certainly been trying to get some of their established authors to write in unusual time periods.For example Louise Allen’s Virgin Slave, Barbarian King (that word agai!) is out in December in the US. Louise is better known to the HM&B historical readership for her Regencies. Personally, I am really looking forward to it as it is set in the dying days of the Roman empire. And Lousie tells me that they are publishing it first in the NA market and then in the UK market.
And much of the credit for the change in thinking, and the publishing of unusual historicals needs to go to Linda Fildew, the sr editor. Linda was responsible for helping to set up the initial Masquerade line that preceeded the Historical line as an assistant editor type. Her first love has always been Historicals and she is personally interested in a wide range of time periods. for example, one of the reasons I got to write my Victorian Christmas novel –A Christmas Wedding Wager was that Linda and I got into a discussion over lunch about Brunel and civil engineering as she had been on some sort of tour of the tunnel he built under the Thames…

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:30:11 +0000

Michelle, that is bizarre that the time period is still so popular yet M&B and Harlequin Historicals don’t seem to want to publish many MS set before medieval times. And for years they haven’t seemed to want to publish anything outside of the Regency era. Perhaps this is the breaking of a bold new dawn.

Now I remember that the words “virgin” and “mistress” are what spur your m-i-l’s friend to buy, buy, buy.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:20:39 +0000

Teddy, you’re right. That is a fabu page. I want a fabu page for DA.

By: Michelle Styles

Michelle Styles — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:31:30 +0000

Jayne,
As ever thank you for the thought provoking review. Your reviews always give me ideas on how I can improve my writing.
You asked several questions and I will try to answer them.
The reason Viking is used in the title is that the lovely editors at HM&B historicals did some research to try to discover which time periods were actually the most popular. And to their surprise, they discovered that while they did not get many Viking/Angl Saxon set manuscripts, the time period had histoircally proved popular. And as far as I understand it that is why they are using Viking as a key word in titles.

You asked about Viken and viking. Viken is the name historically given to the area around the Oslo fjord. There is speculation that eventually the meaning was widened. Vik simply means a creek or bay in old Scandanavian. Viking is a verb and came to mean to go trading or failing that to plunder — in other words to go and make your fortune. By the ninth century, it had come to mean raiding.

One way for people to try to get their hands on a copy is to visti the Unusual historicals blog http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com/ I did a Q&A for them, and have offered a copy of Taken as a giveaway. The winner will be drawn from people who leave a comment before 20October (Saturday)

FWIW

All the best,

Michelle Styles

By: TeddyPig

TeddyPig — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:16:32 +0000

Yeah, but she don’t rate her own fabu wiki page.