Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Dear Ms. Liu,

I’m a fan of your Dirk and Steele series, so I’ve been looking forward to your urban fantasy debut for a long time. I’ve always found your paranormal romances to be very action packed so I assumed the transition to urban fantasy would be an easy one. Good thing I didn’t bet any money on that.

A long time ago, demons once walked the earth but through the combined efforts of demon hunters and godlike beings, they were imprisoned behind a veil that keeps their realm separate from our own. There used to be many wardens who kept the demonic prisoners in check but now there is only one: Maxine Kiss.

Maxine comes from a line of hunters whose progenitor struck a deal with the very same demons they fight. This pact is embodied by the tattoos that cover Maxine’s body. By day, the tattoos form impenetrable armor; by night, the tattoos come alive and her demon bodyguards take flesh. The only catch is that the demon tattoos are passed down from mother to daughter, and once the exchange is made, the now-defenseless mother often becomes …

Marjorie Liu, author of the soon to be released, The Iron Hunt, has been writing for Marvel Comics in starting in August, her books will be relanuching the NYX X-book series featuring mutant teens living homeless in the streets of New York City.

You can read more about the creative team’s efforts in this IGN interview.

Dear Authors,

While many readers dislike anthologies because the good stories are often outnumbered by the bad, I’m not one of them. I love anthologies. They let me sample many different authors at once — old favorites and new-to-mes. And sometimes all it takes is one perfect story to make an anthology worthwhile.

The follow-up to My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon presents nine authors covering the spectrum from paranormal romance to straight urban fantasy. The variety is the anthology’s strength. I think there’s something for everyone who likes these genres. On the other hand, some of these stories aren’t as accessible to new readers as they could be and the quality varies widely.

“Stalked” by Kelley Armstrong
I’m a huge fan of yours and the werewolves are my favorite characters from the Otherworld series, so I was greatly pleased to read this story. Set two years after the birth of their twins, Elena and Clay are enjoying their honeymoon, which amused me because they’re technically not married. (It’s more of a symbolic gesture than anything else.) It’s meant to be …

Dear Ms. Liu:

I had never read you before and as the Dirk and Steele series became longer, I became more intimidated by the idea that I would have to read 3 or 4 or even 5 books to catch up. When I was sent Soul Song as part of Dorchester’s Buzz Campaign, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try. After all, the book was free, and if I didn’t like it, I could always set it aside without having wasted any money and very little effort. I was intrigued from the very beginning when the protagonist is forced to steal the soul of a woman against his will.

Kitala Bell is a world class violinist. Her concerts are sold out everywhere because her music has a way of striking to the heart of the listener, evoking emotional responses. Kitala is obviously no ordinary musician and her skill with the violin is not her only otherworld quality. Kitala is cursed with seeing visions of people’s deaths, usually violent ones. Most days she attempts to ignore these visions but one day she sees a woman with death stamped on her face …

For those not familiar with Dear Author, we are running a reader contest in conjunction with the RITAs (reader defined as any person who reads romances regardless of occupation ;) ). The RITAs are the highest industry award that a romance writer can receive. The RITA winners are announced every summer in July at a convention awards banquet. This year, we created a contest. Any reader can fill out a ballot and submit their guesses for who will be announced the RITA winner in July. The reader's ballot closest to being right will win a basket full of RITA winning books. We’ve had some spectacularly generous publishers who have donated books, like Harlequin and Dorchester.

The ballot is very easy. It consists of 12 drop down boxes that provide the names of the author, book and publishing house. You need only provide your email address to be entered. The whole process shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. We hope …

The April 23, 2007, issue of Time magazine contained an article on buzz marketing. Proctor & Gamble signed up 500,000 mothers to evangelize P&G products. P&G sends those women marketing materials and coupons but the volunteers can say anything they want, even negative things, about the products. Recent research has indicated that most people, however, will keep their negative opinions to themselves.

Dorchester Publishing is trying something similar by giving away a number of Advanced Copies of New York Times Bestelling author, Marjorie Liu’s July release, Soul Song. Dorchester will decide who gets the ARCs but there are no restrictions on what you can say about the book. Ms. Lui says:
If you are chosen to participate in the buzz campaign, please post a review on a) Amazon, BN.com, Powell’s and/or any online bookstore of your choice; b) write up a review on your blog; or c) let folks on the message boards know what you think of the book! Please don’t feel obligated to post a good review if you don’t like SOUL SONG.
You have to fill out …

I admit to having not read Liu, although I did buy her last one, but this book sounds awesome. To quote Sybil, me want.
Marjorie Liu’s THE IRON HUNT, one of three books in the Hunter Kiss series of dark, sexy urban fantasies featuring a woman of unique powers whose body is covered in living tattoos — her own personal demons to call on when the sun goes down, who both protect her life and are destined to end it, to Kate Seaver for Ace, in a significant deal, by Lucienne Diver of Spectrum Literary Agency (NA).

I know this is completely a knee jerk reaction to the title, but eh. Love sex and glamour in the sky? I’ll pass
Marisa Mackle’s CONFESSIONS OF AN AIR HOSTESS, to Catherine Cobain at Little Black Dress, in a nice deal (World).

Sounds pretty interesting.
Winner of Japan’s Naoki Prize (with 500,000 copies sold there) Keigo Higashino’s THE DEVOTION OF SUBJECT X, the story of a shy math teacher obsessed with his beautiful neighbor — and with covering up the crime he knows she has committed, to Keith Kahla at St. Martin’s, in a nice deal, by Anna Stein at the Irene Skolnick Agency …