Gather.com has announced the winners of its First Chapters Romance Writing Competition (a contest sponsored by Simon & Schuster, Borders and Gather.com) and we are thrilled that the winner of the grand prize is a Dear Author regular. Meredith McGuire, a 28-year-old PhD University of Chicago student also known on Dear Author’s comment threads as “Emma,” has 
won a publishing contract from Simon and Schuster and a $5000 advance.
Meredith’s historical romance, currently titled The Shadow’s Kiss, set in India during the Mutiny of 1857 and in England in 1860, and featuring an English heroine and a part-English, part-Indian hero, will be published by Pocket Books in the spring of 2008.
The runner-up in the contest, Starr Toth, a 56-year-old Michigan horse farmer, has also been awarded a publishing contract from Simon and Schuster, along with a $3500 advance. Starr’s contemporary romance, currently titled Trust Me will be published by Pocket Books in the fall of 2008.
Congratulations to both Starr and Meredith!
Borders is offering its 30,000+ employees the opportunity to be published. Starting now and ending in January of 2008, Borders is running a fiction writing contest for its employees. The winner will be awarded a book deal with marketing from Borders including “being featured in the Borders “Shortlist,” an e-mail promotion for Borders Rewards(R) members, which now number more than 19.5 million.”
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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. 
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