Archive for December, 2008
Dear HRH Thermopolis*:
 I just finished reading your debut novel, Ransom My Heart. Itās a good novel but flawed, but what can you expect from your debut novel that you wrote while your heart was breaking over the loss of your boyfriend Michael when he went off to Japan to court the Asian honeys. Iāve read many of your journals in the past, although not all of them, but I did pick up the conclusion of your personal story which brought Michael back into your life.
The story of Ransom My Heart has a more loutish hero that I would have expected from a Mia story so ultimately I wasnāt quite sure whether your creator, Meg Cabot, was channeling you while writing (which explained some of the over the top quirks to the heroine) or whether it was just Meg Cabotās voice and you were a marketing ploy. It could be both, I suppose.
Ransom My Heart is a medieval, designed to appeal to those readers who started with Meg Cabot and the Princess series back in 2002. (The promotional materials suggested that the readers āgraduateā to the Ransom My Heart book). …
You know how in romance novels, the heroines sometimes go to the brothel and pretend to be a working girl or sometimes they go with the hero? Well, in a real life Belle du Jour case, a Polish man is surprised, to say the least, when he visited a brothel and saw his wife working there. The two are now getting a divorce.
 Loading ... Last week I wondered on Twitter if the recession would hurt the book market. It doesn’t look like it will hurt the romance book market. One twitterer pointed out that movies did great during the Great Depression and apparently it was during that time that the Harlequin imprint really took off.
And if Somerville sounds less worried than many about the hard economic times ahead, perhaps that’s not surprising: it was during the Depression of the Twenties and Thirties that the imprint really took off. “People wanted to escape the hardship of the depression and general strikes,” she explains. “What women wanted, and what we could make money out of, was light fiction. They concentrated on ramping up the light fiction of the time, and the growth of the lending libraries in the Thirties was a great conduit for romantic fiction.”
Is light fiction just romance fiction in general or is it light hearted? In any event, the poll question I have is whether these darker economic times will increase the demand for frothier or funnier romance fiction.
Terry Pratchett, author of many Discworld books, was knighted for his literary achievements as well as his fierce advocacy against Alzheimer's Disease. Pratchett suffers from Alzheimer's himself and has donated large sums of money to researching the disease. Congratulations Sir Pratchett.
Dear Ms. Townsend,Ā
 Books set in ancient Rome or Roman Britain automatically get points from me. I dunno why. Maybe it’s the thought of those strong men running around in skirts and draped bed linens. But anyway, I’ve sought them out for years from back in the days when you couldn’t find one for love nor money. So kudos to you for choosing this setting for your book. Now for the bad news. I would have liked this book more if I’d read it ten years ago. As it is, I’ve read so many books, regardless of the setting, with similarly acting characters that I can’t appreciate it as much as I would like.
Marcus Brucetus has finally shown up to claim what his adopted mother left him after her death. A house in Bath, land in the country and five town slaves. If only he’d be an absentee landlord and leave them alone, Flavia and the others would be happy as pigs in slop. When he starts asking questions about how and under what circumstances the Lady Valeria died, Flavia gets cold chills at the thought of what might happen to them all if her subterfuge is discovered. Rome isn’t known for its kindness to slaves. But they all soon discover an even worse threat in the person of Lucius Maximus, the new decurian of Bath, who is man who goes after what he wants – which is almost everything.
Dear Ms. Donovan:
 Your new book, The Girl Most Likely To reminded me very much of your first two books (Knock Me Off My Feet and Take a Chance on Me), which are my clear favorites of the Donovan oeuvre.Ā The likeable hero, the quirky heroine, the family secret, and the goofy dog are all back for another round in a highly readable if slightly troubled tale of retribution, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
For almost twenty years Kat Cavanaugh has been thinking about how her best friend and first love Riley Bohland would react when he found out that he had a son.Ā Dumped on the very night she was going to tell him that she was pregnant, and unceremoniously hustled out of town by her mother (who was fearful of Kat’s stepfather’s reaction), Kat hitched a ride with a truck driver who dropped her off with his kindly protective sister in Baltimore.Ā Meanwhile, back in Persuasion, West Virginia, Riley had no idea about Kat’s pregnancy or why she left town.Ā You see, he was under a lot of pressure from his father and his coach to put some distance between him and …
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 Sarahand I have kicked this idea around for a while but didn’t do anything about it until our fairy godmother, Morgan from Miss Media Productions came along and waved her special wand and made it happen. Ā This is our first podcast. Ā I’m driving, Sarah is too close to the phone, and we generally don’t know what the F we are doing. Ā I know that this makes you want to listen all the more eagerly. Ā
This is the feed to the podcastĀ and you can click on this link to add it to iTunes. Ā We can’t curse on the podcast due to iTunes content restrictions. Ā But we try.
Feel free to give us content suggestions, tips on how to do this whole thing better, or general wtf-ery comments. Ā It’s all welcome because a) we are new to this and b) we don’t really know what we are doing so the wtf comments are probably all valid. Ā The email address for the podcast is sbj.podcast@gmail.com
In an effort to become THE entertainment retailer on the internet, Amazon is constantly improving itself which is why, in part, we hate it and love it in equal parts. Amazon has now launched "Author Stores ". Every Author Store includes a bibliography and can include biography, author photos and a discussion board. I would expect that Amazon would allow the author's blog to be placed on its "Author Store" as well. (See Nora Robert's Author Store ). Authors must rely on Amazon to provide the content. You can't upload your own picture or add to your own biography without contact "Author Central" with requests. If you don't have an Author Store, you have to wait until Amazon decides to add you although you can ask to sign up . I really like the idea of Author Stores and it would be great if Amazon let the consumer "favorite" the Stores and then be able to store a list of the Author Stores that she, the reader, would like to revisit.
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This week Harlequin has been giving a book away a day at its ebook site. Ā The first day, I bought a couple of other titles, as the free book looked lonely in my cart. Ā I wondered how many others actually bought books with their free book download.
Lerner Books published "Angel Girl", a kid's book based on Herman Rosenblat's big deception on how he met his wife when they were two kids in concentration camps. The book is now being pulled from the store shelve s and the publisher is offering a refund. For some hilarity on the subject of fake memoirs and Oprah's part in the hype, read the Gawker piece on Oprah's Liar's Club. Somehow I think it will be a long, cold hard day before Oprah endorses another memoir which is kind of too bad because they are clearly her thing.
Today’s guest opinion is brought to you by Jessica from Racy Romance Reviews. Jessica started blogging in 2008 and has provided some great reviews as well as thoughtful commentary. She first came to my attention by Janine linking to one of Jessica’s posts. (Word of Mouth, isn’t it grand?). Jessica started reading romances in 2007 after a decade of not reading fiction. She, like us, is the typical romance reader which is to say she’s not typical at all. She’s a self described feminist, a Ph.D., and most of all, a lover of the romance book.
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more animals
Romance is defined by its exploration and celebration of romantic love. That said, Iāve been surprised and delighted by the number ofĀ otherĀ important themes that are explored in the genre. I think it behooves romance readers to discuss these non-romantic themes, because romance writers tend to bring a unique focus to these themes, and because highlighting the ways that romance authors approach nonromantic themes can help to forge links between a belittled genre and more respectable ones.Ā Ā Ā …
Dear Ms. Adrian:
 I have to confess that I like the longer wait between your books. In part because some of the past stories, particularly Lucanās and Teganās, wherein the heroes tended to overshadow those around them. This can linger beyond the story. When I picked up Veil of Midnight, enough time had passed that I felt new to the world of the Breeds and the power of the others’ stories had faded.
Veil of Midnight features Nikolai, described as a ācombat-lving adrenaline junkieā and Renata, a Breedmate with a powerful gift. Nikolai is sent to Montreal to make contact with Sergei Yakut, a Gen One vampire. Gen One vampires across the world have been the subject of assignation attempts. Most have been successful and Nikolaiās Order is reaching out to gather up a coalition to fight those behind the assignation attempts.
Sergei Yakut is law unto himself and he does not need any protection or alliances to fight off the Gen One killers. He has his own bodyguards including a human female, Renata, who is also a Breedmate. Breedmates are gifted humans who, by some genetic whim, …
Dear Ms. Myers,
 This book isn’t sunshine and rainbows. Scott and Marisol have both been forced to take classes in the school of extremely hard knocks. So I’d advise any readers who just want a happy, pep-me-up after a hard day at work to save this for a time when they’re looking for something with a bit more depth. A story with a bite to it.
When I say hard knocks, I mean it. Hard as in accusations of, and being on trial for, murder, methamphetamine addiction and, for Marisol, returning to a town for which she harbors few good memories. In the past few years, both these two have hit rock bottom and had the strength to start again.
Marisol has always kept herself to herself which didn’t make it easy for her growing up as a minority maid’s daughter. When a famous basketball player fell for her and moved her into a life of luxury, it was just one more escape for her. She puts on bravado in public but she has to learn to let someone past the wall the protects herself behind.
I like the fact that Scott is the one who’s …
From my inbox, apparently historical author and new paranormal author Suzanne Simmons/Elizabeth Guest has passed away. She was part of the Running with Quills blog. You can share your thoughts and remembrances with the group.
Thanks Gennita for the heads up.
Thanks to JFerg for the link to this op ed piece in Sunday’s New York Times. Staff writer, David Streitfield, argues that used bookstores are primarily responsible for the declining publishing industry. In other words, the sky is falling because of the secondary market.
Donāt blame this carnage on the recession or any of the usual suspects, including increased competition for the readerās time or diminished attention spans. Whatās undermining the book industry is not the absence of casual readers but the changing habits of devoted readers….In other words, itās all the fault of people like myself, who increasingly use the Internet both to buy books and later, after their value to us is gone, sell them.
One owner of an independent bookstore chain calls this “tragic.” Another bookstore owner told the writer that by buying a used book, he “was taking Ms. Lesserās work while depriving her of an income, and that [he] would regret [his] selfish actions when all the physical stores were gone.”
The author herself viewed the resale optimistically saying she gained a reader.
The idea that the internet UBS is killing the publishing industry is a balm to publishers who have run their business …
I went to upload a new book into my personal content shelf for the iPhone/iTouch at Fictionwise this morning and my previously added books were completely gone. Further, I can’t add any new content. I am sure I have back ups of all the books that I uploaded to the Personal Content Server but if this isn’t a lesson about the importance of backups and not relying on someone else’s server, I don’t know what is.
Calibre is a software program that is developed by a devoted reader and brilliant programmer, kovidgoyal. The program is free and open source, available for MAC, Windows PC, and Linux users. This week I’m going to address Calibre as the eBook management tool, a program I think is a must for every ebook reader regardless of what device she uses (except maybe the Kindle). The Part 2 of this article will address Calibre as a format conversion tool
Calibre As an eBook Management Tool
In it’s most simplistic use, Calibre is intended to be an ebook organization tool. You can organize your books by author, title, series, publisher, personal tags, and personal ratings.
It doesn’t matter if you never plan to convert your books into any other format. This program can serve a library tracking system. You can make notes about each read, rate the book, and add identifying tags that can be searched later. It’s beyond easy to use this program for simply managing your ebook reading. Simply drag and drop all your files onto the Calibre window. Calibre will import the files and fill in the information in …
Just a day after defending Herman Rosenblat's Holocaust memoir, Berkley announces that it will be canceling the publication and seeking a return of the advance that the author and agent have received. It's unknown whether the movie adaption will be made. The producer, Harris Salomon, wants Rosenblat to go on Oprah and do a James Frey/Nan Talese groveling show. Hey, maybe Rosenblat can serve as a Gawker intern in an attempt to rebuild his public image ala Frey.
Dear Ms. Brooks:
 I bought this book at the WH Smith 50% off sale thinking that I hadn’t bought this before, but alas, I had. Ā Fortunately I only paid $1.57 (1.07 £ ). Ā When I wrote up this poll the other day, I thought of your books or at least the ones that had this storyline: Ā man falls for woman who is emotionally battered from a past relationship. Ā He pursues her relentlessly and refuses to give up even when the woman rejects and rebuffs him and essentially throws his love back in his face. Ā The Millionaire’s Prospective Wife has that storyline wherein theĀ hero who really loves a heroine and goes balls out to get her, no matter the roadblocks.
Cory James, a social worker, is out walking her aunt’s dog. Ā Against her aunt’s advise, Cory allows Rufus off the lead and he runs amok in the park ending his romp by knocking over Nick Morgan. Ā Much to Cory’s chagrin, Nick is “tall, lean and muscled with an aggressive masculinity that was rawly sexyāor that the jet-black hair topped a face that was out-and-out dynamite.” Ā Rufus destroys Nick’s phone and slobbers all over …
Loading ... SB Sarah mentioned on her twitter feed that she reads in the car alot. Ā I know that sometimes I can read in the car and sometimes I can’t. Ā I think it depends on whether I am reading with my glasses and whether I’ve eaten decent food.
I am generally able to read in an airplane or bus. Ā Like SB Sarah says, the ability to read while traveling is a blessing. Ā What about you? Ā Is this something you can do or do you get too queasy? Ā Are you able to read in paper form better than eform in the car?
Ā
(Sorry for the poll answers, I got a little punchy there. Ā Too much holiday spirit).
Welcome to First Page Saturday. Individual authors anonymously send a first page read and critiqued by the Dear Author community of authors, readers and industry others. Anyone is welcome to comment. You may comment anonymously.
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ā¦The sentient planet Earth, weary of global warming, concrete, asphalt, poisons in Her water and atmosphere, and the destruction of Her lovely forests, made a change. Using Her vast, unknowable powers, She called forth a lover from the glorious universe who brought seeds to fertilize a new and different world. Soon new forests erupted through Her soil everywhere, breaking away the artificial blight on Her Earth. Lovely flowers with life changing pollen touched living things, and many life forms changed.
Ā
It caused cataclysmic upheaval for humansā¦
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Wichita, Kansas, 02 years PC (Post Cataclysm)
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Jess flew to the top of the newly completed section of wall and inspected the work. It was well done, built of salvaged brick and steel, mortared and welded together. Finding the fuel for welding had been the hardest part, in this changed world. But this wall was strong and would provide a measure of protection to Night City. They didnāt want to …
From CNN: A 22 year old Miami woman claimed that her 5 month old had gone missing, triggering a statewide search. The story was invented to get an ex-boyfriend back "by pretending he had fathered a child he did not know about."
Gabriel Sherman of The New Republic first broke the news that Angel at the Fence by Herman Rosenblat, Holocaust memoir, might be fabricated. Professor Kenneth Waltzer, the director of the Jewish Studies program at Michigan State University, became aware of the story and was suspicious of the details Rosenblat recounted. Waltzer was convinced that the way in which Rosenblat tells the story of meeting his childhood love in Holocaust camps was not logistically possible. Waltzer contacted Berkley, the publisher, and received no response.
Sherman himself attempted to read the editor but instead was directed to the publicist who claimed that the book had been fact checked. Penguin stands by the memoir even though more individuals are coming forward, including Rosenblat’s sister-in-law, to state Rosenblat’s claim is fabricated. Three other survivors, at least one friend of Rosenblat, also claim that the story is false saying that Rosenblat became “intoxicated” with the response to his story.
According to Sherman, Penguin’s fact checking was “bare bones” or “nonexistent” and that a simple phone call to Holocaust scholars would have raised serious red flags.
I do wonder whether …
Updated: There are ebooks for sale at WH Smith eBookShop for 50% off. There are titles there that don’t appear to be in eform in any US ebook stores including A Man in A Million by Jessica Bird that I reviewed the other day. It’s in both Adobe and Mobi format.
Every week, Fictionwise offers 2 or 3 books with 100% micropay rebate. Essentially, it’s a buy one and get the entire purchase amount to be used at a later date. Today through December 31, Fictionwise is reprising every micropay rebate it offered during 2008. This includes a number of romance titles such as the third book to Sign of Seven trilogy, Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts; Darkest Fire by Gena Showalter; Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold; Dark Needs at Night’s Edge by Kresley Cole and so forth.
Thanks Sasha for the heads up.
Dear Ms. Lane,
 Whenever I see a non-Regency Harlequin Historical, I make sure to check it out. Since I enjoyed your last book, “On the Wings of Love,” I also had high hopes for “The Borrowed Bride.” Though it doesn’t break any ground as far as the setting or the plot, it hit the spot, providing me with a well told story of two unlikely people falling in love.
Hannah Gustavson and Quint Seavers have been an item in tiny Dutchman’s Creek, Colorado for years. Everyone’s just been waiting for them to get married. And so Hannah can’t believe that Quint is actually going to leave even as she stands on the train platform with Quint and his sour old mother. Edna Seavers has never made any effort to hide the fact that she doesn’t think Hannah, a daughter of the poor but hardworking Gustavson clan, is good enough for her second, and favorite, son. As soon as Judd, the eldest son, disembarks from the incoming train, Quint will be off to make his fortune in the Klondike gold fields.
But Hannah’s not the only person he’s leaving. In an effort …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jeaniene Frost burst onto the paranormal scene just three books ago with her Night Huntress series. The third and newest entry into the Bones / Cat saga, At Grave’s End, is available in stores starting December 30, 2009.
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Like most authors, I started out as a reader, but it wasnāt until I found my motherās copy of Skye OāMalley by Bertrice Small that I became anĀ avidĀ reader. From that book on, I started reading every romance I came across. I even measured my allowance in terms of how many books it could buy.Ā
My other love from an early age was horror movies. Vampires quickly became my favorite creature, to the point that I always rooted for Dracula to win over Van Helsing. My love of the paranormal was a bit of an oddity in my family. When we came home from school, my sisters would watch soap operas, but Iād watchĀ Tales From the CryptĀ and then read one of my romance novels. *grin* My books …
Authors are advocating that used bookstores pay royalties for the books they sell. This would require an amendment to the Copyright Act which codifies the First Sale Doctrine. The First Sale Doctrine allows anyone who buys something the right to resell their property without permission of the original copyright holder. Requiring the reseller to pay a royalty on that item would require new law.
Because of limitations on digital copies, resale of digital purchases are not allowed. It looks like novelists want to impose similar restrictions on physical property. I hope that Novelists Inc. and other organizations move to require libraries to also pay a royalty for every book lent. I think that would really revitalize the publishing industry. //sarcasm off.
Via Teleread.org
USA Today is offering its daily newspaper to Kindle readers for a subscription fee. USA Today is the top selling newspaper in the nation and the flagship publication of Gannett. The paper is printed Monday through Friday so the first issue will be December 29, 2008, but a free issue is available to Kindle users tomorrow, December 26, 2008.
Is this one way to survive the doomed economy? In November, USA Today cut 5% of its newsroom.
Via Angela James.
Whether it’s Oprah’s endorsement of the Kindle or the idea that technology can save publishing, more and more mainstream publications are revisiting the concept of ebook reading. The New York Times reports on the Kindle which is out of stock and the Sony which has sold 300,000 readers since 2006. Currently, sales of ebooks appear to account for less than 1% of the overall revenue stream for mainstream publishers but that the momentum indicates that the time may be ripe for ebooks.
Thanks to JL Wilson and JFerg for the link.
The Nation suggests that book publishing is no longer recession/depression proof given the number of alternate entertainment sources and the increasing costs of books and that perhaps the Age of Publishing, as we know it, is coming into decline to be saved by, perhaps, smaller, nimbler, more responsive businesses.
Salon posits that it was the conglomerate publishing business model that has led to the current economic crisis within publishing. Salon, like the Nation, argues that it’s indie publishing that will rise along with those who can harness digital technology to their benefit.
“There were hedge fund guys with no background in publishing buying up publishing houses,” says AndrĆ© Schiffrin, founder of the New Press and author of “The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read.” He explains that corporate owners of major publishing houses expected impossible 15 to 20 percent profit margins in an industry with traditional margins of 3 to 4 percent. “They were part of that whole feeling that you could make money by buying and selling companies, rather than by selling books. At some point it comes to a dead end.”
Dear Ms. da Costa:
 You are one of SuperLibrarian’s favorite authors and I’ve always resolved to give your books a try. Ā This Harlequin Spice Brief seemed like a good way for me to get an introduction to your writing. Ā In the context of a short, short story, I learned a couple of things. You can write very sexy work and everything said in British slang sounds less dirty than told in American slang. Ā As part of the constraints of the short, short story, however, the love story is less than convincing.
Rose is working a temporary job at Blaystock Manor, the home of a marquis. Ā She’s got a job waiting for her in a few weeks as a junior manager of a luxury resort in the Caribbean. Ā Until then she cleans, helps with renovations as Blaystock is turned into a hotel. Ā As part of her cleaning duties, she stumbled upon a small hidden room with an old VCR and a bunch of tapes. Ā Rose describes herself as being “irredeemably nosy” and thus just has to discover what are on those tapes. Ā
The home movies show the marquis indulging in his sex fantasies which comprise …
Yes, it’s Christmas Day and we could take a holiday today but not everyone celebrates Christmas. And even amongst those that do, two thirds will spend over an hour online today so we might as well put up content, right? The year end lists are kind of fun to do because they allow some reflection on one’s reading tastes. I would love to see you readers comment on the books of the year. (It will provide good inspiration for the DA BWAHA)
I confess that I think some of my A reviews were given out in some post reading euphoria. I’m going to be more stingy with A’s in this upcoming year. But this was a year of discovery of new to me authors and re-engagement with some old favorites.
I read a bunch of category books in 2008 and found that there are some who really hit me just right. I’ve a renewed appreciation for the Harlequin categories. It isn’t easy to fit in a well crafted tale with three dimensional characters within such a constrained framework and word length. One author I really enjoyed who didn’t quite make it on the …
This is a fascinating article sent to me. Ā It discusses the idea of the female gaze and why art Ā for the female point of view is so completely different than art for the male gaze. Ā It’s easy to see the comparisons to m/m fiction.
One of the commenters, spankingfemme, made a point that the female gaze was concerned with passion and connection. Ā The latter point is one that I think is missing from the male gaze art that was provided as an example. Ā The whole concept of romance is about the connection between the characters (which is why I think some readers who don’t find an HEA believable say that a book is not romance when in essence I think they are saying that don’t believe in the romance or the connection).
Dear. Ms Cooney,
 Your book got put in my Fictionwise Wish List a while back when I was suddenly overcome by the desire to check out Young Adult titles listed there. I was looking for something that wasn’t about cliques, or BFFs, or clothes or boyfriend problems.
Lily has settled into life in Connecticut after her parent’s divorce but it’s been harder on her eight-year-old brother Michael. After their mother remarries, her brother chooses to go live with his father in Washington, D.C., until the day he calls home from the Baltimore-Washington Airport where his father has abandoned him. Lily is home babysitting her baby stepbrother when she answers the phone. She has no idea the extent to which her faith in God will be tested. There is no choice for Lily. She will rescue Michael, but will she be able to rescue herself from the bitterness and anger she feels?
Yep, this description fit the bill. When Fictionwise offered their awesome filled micropay rebate, I loaded up on books including “A Friend at Midnight.”
When I decided to buy it, I completely missed the part of the blurb that makes the book sound much …
Dear Ms. Bird:
 I was cruising the new Mills & Boon ebook offerings when I saw A Man in a Million in e-form. I’m not terribly familiar with your category backlist although I do have a few in my TBR pile that I haven’t yet read (they are in paper form and those tend to languish). In any event, I bought the ebook even though I hate Adobe DRM.
Madeline Maguire has all the trappings of a poor little rich girl. She owns nearly a third of a giant supermarket chain but has never taken an interest in the family business, mostly because of her sucky family. Instead, Mad took up sailing and became a world class sailor competing in events like America’s Cup. Despite her personal success, she is still very insecure on dry land.
Part of her insecurity is due to the constant degradation she received at the hands of her father and then her brother, who tried to gain the respect of their father by being a better and bigger asshole. Part of it is due to the comparisons she suffered with her sister …
ćøć§ć¼ć³(JÄn) is probably the reader most responsible for introducing me to the fantasy and science fiction books. I actually read George RR Martin because of her!! But she also has recommended some great romances to overtime. She’s uncannily good with her recommendations, tailoring them to your tastes rather than just recommending her favorites (although sometimes those coincide). She doesn’t read a ton of romance anymore, but she’s provided us insight into that wildly popular manga/anime sub genre.
- Love Mode ā Yuki Shimizu – completed 11 vol mxm romance series
- Sand Chronicles ā Hinako Ashihara – ongoing mxf contemporary manga
- Duke of Shadows ā Meredith Duran – mxf historical novel
Dear Ms. Mitchell:
 Considering I put this book both on the Recommended Reads for December and on my Best of 2008 list, I figured I should actually review it. Not that it’s not a pleasure to reread such a great story.
I love the way this book starts:
Eighties dance music blasted through the Yarisās speakers as Joey Miller flew down the passing lane of I-10, dancing in his car.
That tells us everything we need to know about Joey. He’s cute, he’s expressive, he’s impulsive, and he’s very very gay. Seconds later, he witnesses an accident and, do-gooder that he is, stops to help an unconscious woman trapped in a minivan and calms her toddler. At the accident, he meets Aaron Chase, a paramedic, equally well-described in his first words:
Flashing lights, sirens and caffeine were near the top of Aaron Chaseās very short favorites list. All three gave him a rush that was almost as good as sexāwhich took up at least the top five on that list.
They are attracted to each other and fuck in Aaron’s ambulance after all the excitement is over, starting a tentative connection that they both work hard …
Dear Ms. Johnson:
 I’ve re-read some of your backlist titles so many times, the cover fell off the paperback copies. I think you were writing erotic romance before erotic romance was even a commonly used term. What I loved most was the lush beauty of the writing that some might even accuse of being ponderous at times. Yours were books I tended to savor, reading each word carefully to fully imbue myself in the experience. In recent years, though, my experience with your books have been less than satisfactory as you moved more to writing straight contemporaries to the point that I actually stopped reading them.
I bought this because I wanted to read another Susan Johnson historical. I wondered whether part of my problem with these books were my intimacy with your writing. The plot, the rhythm, the texture of the characters, their conflicts, were all done by you before and done better. The emotional journey in At Her service was so similar to previous books that it made for tedious reading. To a new reader, someone who has never …
Our newest reviewer, Joonigrrl aka Loonigrrl aka Leslie, presents the following list to you. I’ve been an avid follower of Loonigrrl’s reviews on Amazon. They’re smart, articulate, and insightful and I thought wouldn’t she be a nice addition to Dear Author. Luckily for us, Joonigrrl agreed to be part of Dear Author and we will be seeing more of her in 2009 (metaphorically and digitally speaking).
- Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
- Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
Karen of KarenKnowsBest.com is having some server issues and until those get resolved (ie. ditching the old host and breaking in the new one), she’ll be at http://karenscott.wordpress.com/.
Trying to capture a greater share of the reading public in India, Mills & Boon (a division of Harlequin) is hosting a writing contest for Indian writers. I can't wait to read these, not just to discover new authors, but to see what cultural differences show up in the books. I did read a Mills & Boon book by Penny Jordan that was set in India . The hero was the Maharaja's brother. Other than the location and the clothes, it read like a classic HP.
 Congratulations to Carin from heabookclub.blogspot.com! You spread the good word about Victoria Dahl’s awesome release that will be in stores soon (if it isn’t already) and you won an iPod Shuffle, a $75 Gift Certificate to the iTunes store, a copy of Dahl’s super fabulous book about the dirty girl and the police chief she takes home to her lair.
If you didn’t win, you can buy the book at Borders.com and get $1.00 by entering (HAR1222D at checkout.
Built into the Copyright Act of 1976, the Copyright Act, is the right of First Sale. First Sale powers eBay, Craigslist, used bookstores and garage/flea market sales all over the country. Essentially the right of First Sale says that if you bought something, you can do what you want with that item, even resell it!!! and not pay the original creator another dime. Obviously copyright holders are no fans of First Sale doctrine which is why ebooks and digital music should be such a crowd pleaser amongst those who earn their living based on first sales of their items. There is no way, really, for a purchaser of ebooks or digital music to legitimately resell their purchases. This is one argument readers make in pushing for lower prices. Bopaboo is a new entry into the digital social club market which seeks to carve out a place within the First Sale doctrine for digital purchasers. Is it lawful? Time and lawsuits will tell us.
In the year end letter to her company, CEO for Simon and Schuster, puts on her happy face (after the grim one which dispersed the layoff information) and gives out the good news :
- New website coming in 2009 (which I've heard will be author centric)
- eBook sales quadrupled in 2008.
- More ebooks to come (like 5,000 of them).
ScrollMotion has convinced a number of New York mainstream publishers to make its content available for sale on the iphone. That's the good news. The bad news is that each individual book is an individual application. The iPhone has a self imposed limit of 148 applications and 12 fit on a "page" on the iPhone screen. I'm guessing this is for the casual reader because I can't see the readership here enjoying their home pages of the iPhone cluttered with a 100+ books and limited to only a certain amount. ScrollMotion is offering the one touch buying experience which I think is important, but it needs to allow for purchase within the application and store the books within the application instead of creating individual apps. The reason for the individual apps, of course, is the unreasonable insistence of publishers and authors for DRM.
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The following is a guest op ed from Heather Massey of the fabulous Galaxy Express. Ā Heather’s blog is an example of a lover of books filling a need within the book community. Ā There are science fiction blogs and fantasy sites but Heather’s blog is devoted to talking about science ficiton and fantasy with an emphasis on romance. Ā She’s gained a great reputation within the science fiction/fantasy community and she is often found defending and supporting the romance genre. Ā It’s people like Heather that will help to elevate this genre that we love in the hearts and minds of others.Ā If the other worlds are your kind of thing, then Heather’s blog should be on your daily blogroll. Ā
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Romance has birthed various subgenres that have already begun to separate and individuate. However, this evolution is never a straightforward path or one that lends itself to easy prediction.
After all, itās art and thatās part of the mystery and excitement, right? It germinates and launches on a life of its own.
Yet no matter how circuitous this path, there remains the practical issue of brand identificationāwhether meticulously nurtured …
Dear Ms. Griffin,
 I’m always up for reading more young adult novels.Ā In fact, reviewing more YA novels is one of my more nefarious goals for Dear Author.Ā But your debut reminded me why “problem” YA novels often don’t work for me.
Parker Prescott is an ice princess, both self-identified and labelled by friends and family.Ā After all, it’s better to be an ice princess than it is to be pathologically shy.Ā Ice princess means choice is involved.Ā Shyness implies a character flaw.Ā When you’re a teenager seeking acceptance, one is definitely preferable over the other.
Parker has the usual teen problems.Ā A family that doesn’t understand her.Ā An older sister who’s the beloved golden child who can do no wrong.Ā A younger brother who’s the cherished miracle baby.Ā A hot ex-boyfriend she’s still in love with.Ā A cool best friend she wishes she were more like.Ā An enemy determined to ruin her reputation as revenge for a past wrong.Ā A rival for her ex-boyfriend’s affections.Ā I think that’s my main problem with the book.Ā It has all the pieces we expect to find in a “problem” YA but they don’t immediately come together in …
From Dec 23 – Dec31st at www.eBooks.eHarlequin.com, there will be a free eBook a day given away. You'll need an ebook account, but the price is right (FREE).
I can’t remember the first time I asked Robin to join us here at Dear Author. I remember seeing her comment at AAR and she often commented here at Dear Author. I just know that from the first, I admired her mind and her thoughtful commentary. Robin and I have had spirited debates about romance and the romance genre. She always seems to be able to convince me to take another look at my position even if she can’t quite get me to change my mind all the time.
- The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanne Bourne
- Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
- Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase
- Dark Desires After Dusk (Cade and Holly’s story) by Kresley Cole
- The Price of Desire by Jo Goodman
- Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins
- Like No Other Lover by Julie Ann Long
- Sex Straight Up by Kathleen O’Reilly
- The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal
- Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
Honorable Mentions:
- Demon Night by Meljean Brook
- A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure by Victoria Dahl
- Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran
- From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
- Broken Wing by Judith James
- The Price of Passion by Susan Napier
- Ember by Bettie Sharpe
Loading ... I’ve only put two choices in the poll because I really want to know, given your druthers, which story you would pick up first. Right now, because there are so many of the “hero in pursuit” stories, I tend to like the heroine in pursuit, but I’ve always had a weakness for the undeterred hero such as the ones that Helen Brooks writes about. I feel like the hero in pursuit first came to real prominence with Stephanie Laurens, but there is a difference between hero in pursuit of marriage and a hero who really loves a heroine and goes balls out to get her, no matter the roadblocks.
What about you?
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Open Threads at Dear Author. Want to know what new releases are out this month and what readers are excited about reading? Check out the threads below. 
We donāt like to censor comments nor do we endorse the comments of any poster. We do reserve the right to moderate comments but most of the time will not, believing, as Justice Brandeis did, that the greater good is in āmore speech, not enforced silence.ā
