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

Dear Ms. Singh:

Book four was a bump in the road for my love of this Psy/Changeling series. While the worldbuilding was strong as usual, the relationship arc didn’t work for me. Despite that, I was still looking forward to reading this entry but I admittedly worried about the setup of the Psy woman with the Changeling man because we’ve read about that dynamic twice before.

Ashaya Aleine has been secreted in a lab formulating a secret Psy chemical that could make a radical change in the world. But Ashaya is no ordinary Psy. Psy’s have mind powers. I think the idea of the Psy is that they are able to tap in at varying degrees of success to the unused power of the brain. Physiologically speaking they are the same as humans, but mentally much more powerful. Each Psy has a special gift that has differing skill levels. Some might be empathetic. Some might be able to foretell the future. The Psy are all connected to the PsyNet which is like a computer server that links all these other minds together. If you go …

This is a slim pickings month for Dear Author. There were quite a few of competently written entertaining books but very few that we were excited about. Maybe the readers can use this as an open thread to discuss the books that they liked and didn’t like this month.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Set in the future, The Hunger Games takes place long after natural disasters, war, disease, and famine destroyed society as we know it. From the ruins of North America rose the nation of Panem, which consisted of a powerful Capitol ruling over thirteen surrounding Districts. The Districts didn’t like the Capitol’s oppressive rule very much and soon rose up together in a rebellion. Katniss is one of the strongest heroines I’ve encountered in YA fiction. She’s smart and clever. Her skills in illegal hunting and foraging gives her an advantage in this year’s Games. She can hunt her own food. She knows which plants are safe to eat. She knows what she needs to do to survive.

I admit I have a fondness of half-feral girls and Katniss is definitely that. …

moar funny pictures

You might have seen the news in Publishers Marketplace that Meljean Brook sold an anthology story to Cindy Hwang at Berkley this past weekend. What you didn’t read is who else is in that anthology.

Are you ready? Do you want to make guesses? Shall I torture you with the knowledge until you send death threats?

Nah. I’m willing to spill else why would I write the post? Summer 2009 will feature an anthology collection featuring

Charlaine Harris
Ilona Andrews
Meljean Brook
Nalini Singh

!!!!!

I know! That was my response as well. It might be the most perfect anthology collection ever. My question to you would be what would be an anthology collection you would like to see offered?

Dear Ms. Singh:

When I first read you a year ago, you made me realize how truly integrated romance, science fiction, and fantasy could be. I know that my reaction toward your stories is due to your ability to seamlessly blend romance and with the otherworldly aspects that create a true fantasy escape for the reader.

Judd dropped out of the Psy network when his sister committed suicide. He took his entire family with him and disappeared. He’s lived in an uneasy truce with the SnowDancer clan. The uneasy truce was developed because the SnowDancer’s know a predator when they smell one and Judd Lauren is a danger. He was an Arrow, a man who could kill with his mind. To protect himself and be the Psy weapon he was trained to be, he is cold and unfeeling.

Brenna Kincaid was a cosseted and carefree member of the SnowDancer clan when she was abducted and then mind-raped by a serial killer. The serial killer has been caught and apprehended but since her capture, Brenna has …

Dear Ms. Singh:

Visions of Heat is the sequel to your debut novel Slave to Sensation. While Visions of Heat didn’t quite live up to StoS, it was still a good read. This alternate realty romance provides a rich otherworld filled with three distinct groups: Psy, Changeling and human. Like Slave to Sensation, Visions features a strong Psy female and a delicious Changeling male.

Faith Nightstar is an FPsy, a foreseer, who is worth untold millions to the Nightstar clan due to her ability to foresee economic changes in the future. She has been making predictions since the age of 3 and not one of her predictions, unless intervened, has been wrong. As any valuable asset, Faith has been protected and hidden for all of her life. FPsy’s often go mad toward the latter end of their usability and then the Psy use those people for parts or scientific study. Faith has been able to stave off madness, but she has some concerns when she begins to have strange, non financially related visions. These visions lead …

During the last couple of months, I read several books written by authors who live outside the U.S. I know from our contests that there are many international readers but I didn’t quite grasp the breadth of the international author. But authorial success and continued contracts rely primarily upon sucess within the U.S. The NYTimes, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Oprah, Starbucks, Daily Show and all of those other book power brokers, are U.S. entities.

It got me to thinking about the challenges that international authors have in reaching the US audience and writing for the US audience. I cajoled a number of international authors to share their thoughts with us about what it is like to write for US audiences and market to US audiences in the face of geographic and cultural barriers.

First up is Nalini Singh national bestselling author of Slave to Sensation. Her sequel, Visions of Heat, is released tomorrow.
Do you have modify the language in the books to exclude colloquialisms from …

Nalini Singh created her own meme to generate publicity for her upcoming March release, Visions of Heat (Berkley Sensation). If you post the meme on your blog, you’ll be entered in a contest to win a $50 Amazon voucher and an Advanced Copy of Book 3 of her series, Caressed by Ice. Do it. You know you want to.

Nalini Singh is giving away an ARC a week until the end of January. You have to review the book somewhere before the end of February if you win. Karen S posted that Singh’s book, Slave to Sensation, was the best paranormal of the year.

The winner of the last week’s ebook contest was Rocky. Please email me with your address so I can get you the copy of the much loved Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation.

11 out of 11 bloggers think Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation is the bomb. That’s a quorum, right? I’ve excluded DA as I think Jayne and I cancel each other out. Click on the More link for the contact form.

The winner of the Nalini Singh Viral Blogging Experiment is Barbara Samuel, chosen by the Random Number Generator at Random.Org. (can’t get more random than that, right?) We had a total of 152 posts and 144 unique posters. What I did was click on the Random Sequence link and entered the numbers 1 to 149 (taking out Deidre Knight, Nalini Singh, Nephele Tempest). The first number was the winner. Which was 82. The 82nd person listed was Barbara Samuel. Congratulations! An email will be sent to you shortly.

Let’s talk about the experiment. First, we made sure everyone knew it was an experiment. I didn’t want to mislead anyone unlike other successful but questionable viral marketing campaigns. I cribbed the idea from Anne Frasier (aka Theresa Weir) who is currently running her own viral blog marketing scheme.

Frasier blogged about her …