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

Dionne Galace restarted the serial novel, for me at least, with the series on her blog. Lilith Saintcrow, an author with Orbit who pens the Dante Valentine Series and the new Jill Kismet Series, is launching her own free serial novel: Selene.
From the press release:
Set in the world of the Dante Valentine series, Selene expands on the Saint City adventures of Selene and Nikolai. New chapters will be posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The serial will be available on Lilith’s site at http://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/selene/ You can subscribe to the rss feed here: http://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/selene/feed/

Dear Ms. Saintcrow,

While I haven’t finished your Dante Valentine series, I enjoyed enough of what I read to seek out the first book in your new Jill Kismet series. I’ve said in the past that I do like reading about unsympathetic characters provided they’re compelling and the text doesn’t want me to believe the character’s destructive behaviors are healthy and idealized. It’s when these things diverge that I often have the more violent reactions to books, like flinging them across the room. When a character is unlikeable, I want them to face the results of their flaws. I don’t want to read about them getting pats on the head for a job well done because chances are the job was not well done and they should be facing repercussions. So having read your Dante Valentine books, I knew what to expect in this regard. Unfortunately, I also learned I have my limits.

Jill Kismet works as a hunter, taking down demons and bringing in the possessed to be exorcised. Six months ago, her mentor was betrayed and killed by his lover. She’s been trying to live …

Orbit Books, the SFF branch of Warner Books, posted last week that Urban Fantasy is growing in popularity and the evidence is the number of books showing up on the bestseller lists. According to Orbit, in 2004, only 1 Urban Fantasy was on the Fantasy Bestseller list and in 2007, there were 7. SB Sarah has a nice interview with Devi Pillai of Orbit Books about the surging popularity of urban fantasy. In sum, it’s all about us girls.

Also, romance readers rarely stick to one genre. They are more open about reading everything—from historical to thrillers to women’s fiction. So they same way they’ve opened up other markets and genres, they’ve expanded from romance to read more fantasy, which I think was a harder genre for them to get into as for many years it was very boy-centric. But now, with more interest in the girls-who-kick-ass and with more female authors, it that has opened up to the female readership.

A few weeks ago, Patricia Briggs‘ Iron Kissed made it to the top of the NYTimes Paperback Bestseller List. One of my favorite urban fantasy authors is Ilona Andrews. In a sign …

There are plenty of contests and giveaways on the web but Orbit’s “Near Future Dystopia Survival Kit” is a hoot and full of completely non essential but seemingly cool tech items. According to the Orbit newsletter, the Electric Church by Jeff Somers is

A ‘kickass thriller” (1), “fun, cyberpunky noir SF” (2) and “an exhilarating example of powerful and entertaining storytelling.”(3)

To celebrate, they are giving away a Near-Future Dystopia Survival Kit from thinkgeek.com, packed with items that might just help you elude Dennis Squalor’s electric monks. The kit includes:

an RFID Blocking Wallet to keep your info hidden from scanning monks
a Lazer Tripwire set to help secure your computer from SFF snoops
a Wall Safe that looks like a power outlet to keep sensitive info away from prying eyes
a Super Ear that can amplify sound up to 50 decibels to monitor chatter outside your safehouse
And a Ninja remote – which gives you control over most tvs, and might even shut down an Electric Church monk in a pinch.

To enter, just send an email to orbit@hbgusa.com with the words "Electric Church Sweepstakes" in the subject line. ()Official Rules)

Did I send in my email? …