Category: Books & Authors

08-08-08 — And Conference Pictures

Oooh, I think I’ve mentioned before that I love eights. I know my blog defaults the date to August 8, 2008, so I had to bring attention to the triple eights in the blog title. Note that I also set the blog to post at 8:08 a.m.! Yes, I’m obsessive, but only in a nice way, I assure you.

Today, as promised, I’m posting pictures of Conference. First up, the ChickLit party, held Wednesday night at Annabelle’s Bar and Bistro in the Mosser Hotel across the street from the Marriott (the conference hotel).

Left to Right, Heather Roth, Kelli Estes, and Christina Arbini.

I first met Heather at the ChickLit party in Dallas last year. However, she was Heather Dodge then. Now she’s wearing a bunch of sparkly on her finger that has transmorphed her into Roth. Why is Heather so memorable, you ask? Because she convinced myself and Lexi Connor, among others, to imbibe in Lemon Drops at the bar in Dallas last year until the ungodly hours of the morning. I stayed up way too late and had to wake up at 6 the next morning for a group breakfast. Heather did not get me in her clutches this year, although I was tempted. The tiredness from this damn summer cold was already creeping in.

Kelli is a new ChickLit chapter member and Christina is a member of the Dancing Divas, from way back in Reno (you had to be there).

Thursday Pictures:

Moi and Kathleen Irene Paterka

Kathleen was nice enough to buy a copy of Penny’s first book at the Literacy Autographing for a friend. Kathleen and I have known each other in email for years—how nice to put a face to a name.

 With my Red Sage editor, Theresa Stevens, at the Red Sage Coffee Mixer.

Fellow Red Sage authors, Leigh Court and Mia Varano.

Mia Varano with publisher Alexandria Kendall at the Red Sage author dinner held at Roy’s. Yum!

Mia and I also had dinner together on Tuesday night, plus she made me walk all the way to the Coit Tower Wednesday morning, earning Moi a tiny blister on my pinky toe of right foot that required band-aids for the duration of conference. Bad, bad Mia. However, I must confess, it was my idea to visit the Coit Tower. But! It was her idea to walk. 😉

Friday:

Amber Quill Author Dinner: Karin Story, Natalie Damschroder, and Karin’s mom!

Karin is my editor at Amber Quill. Yes, she’s responsible for the brilliance of my books! Actually, I’m responsible, but she keeps me on the straight and narrow (you didn’t think I’d let her hog all the credit, did you?). Natalie is a fellow Amber Quill author I’ve known on the loops for years. She’s also a fellow Capricorn, which naturally endears her to Moi.

Fellow Amber Quill authors Linda McLaughlin and Caitlyn Willows.

Note that I sport the same squishy-eyed grin in every photo!

I really missed catching up with my buddy, Jamie Sobrato. We were supposed to have dinner Saturday night, but she fell ill and had to cancel. Sob. I did run across her a few times during the conference, but I’m used to seeing her a lot at conference, so now I’m suffering Jamie Withdrawal. Anyone have a cure?

Thanks also to my roomie, Natale Stenzel, for putting up with me (or was that the other way around?) Heh, heh. 

Three Books and a Movie

First up, Middlesex. If you haven’t read this book yet and you love literary fiction, what are you waiting for? What an exemplary read! This is another book The Queen of Sheba brought home from her winter in Mexico. She thought it would suit my tastes, so she passed her copy to me. I devoured Middlesex, and I ain’t giving back the book! It’s nothing like Middlemarch, which I was forced to read for the Lit degree, so don’t let the similar titles fool you. Jeffrey Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for Middlesex in 2002, and the story hooked me from the beginning, so it’s easy to see why.

Middlesex is the story of a child mistakenly labeled a girl at birth who grows into a teenage boy. It bounces between the present, where the adult Cal struggles with revealing his biological truths, so to speak, to his would-be female lover, and the past, depicting the family history in Greece and then America and following Cal as Calliope through her tumultuous adolescence. Honestly, compelling stuff. It’s going on my keeper shelf.

Numero deux (I don’t know how to make the accent over the E in the first word so just trust me when I say I’m typing French and not Italian or Spanish), Natural Born Charmer, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. After two commenters in my I Need Me More S.E.P. blog raved about Ms. Phillips’ latest offering, I couldn’t help myself. I had to zip out and buy it, and I consumed it a couple of weeks ago. Natural Born Charmer does not disappoint. The story features Dean Robillard, who was a secondary character in Match Me if You Can, and Dean is a member of the Chicago Stars football team that figures in a great number of Phillips romances. But Natural Born Charmer isn’t set in the world of football. It’s set, for the most part, in Tennessee. It’s pure characterization, great story, and wonderful romance. The secondary plot between rocker Mad Jack Patriot and Dean’s mother April is very enjoyable, too.

Third up, Their Secret Child, by Mary J. Forbes. I interviewed Mary a few weeks ago for my website, but didn’t get a chance to read her latest offering from Silhouette Special Edition until last week. Mary and I are former critique partners and friends (well, we’re still friends and quite good ones at that), so some might say I am naturally inclined to love her work. However, Their Secret Child has hit #10 on the Waldenbooks Series Romance Bestsellers list, so clearly I’m in good company.

I have to say, I think this is my favorite of all Mary’s books. She develops the secret baby hook perfectly, and, in my opinion, there is not one wasted word. SSEs have shortened in word length in the past year or so, which can be challenging for some authors accustomed to writing books 5000 – 10,000 words longer than what the line now publishes. Mary J. Forbes rises to the challenge, delivering an emotionally satisfying romance. Hurrah!

The movie? I heartily recommend Hancock starring Will Smith and Charlize Theron. My Liege and I went to see it recently. Now, it’s very difficult for me not to enjoy a Will Smith movie, and it’s not just because one of my old high school friends once shared a scene with him in another film (honest! tres cool, huh?) (drat, don’t know how to put the accent over the E in tres, either). Hancock is the story of a super hero who doesn’t give a crap…and why he should. I won’t say anything else, because the fun of this movie is learning the why behind the first part of my description and the how of the second. Or something like that. Really, after my clever logline, you expect me to continue to deliver? I have my limits!!

There’s only one thing I didn’t like about Hancock, but I’m putting it in white font because it’s a spoiler. Highlight the following paragraph if you want to read the spoiler. And, don’t forget, I am WARNING YOU that I’m including a spoiler:

Okay, Charlize Theron is supposedly a super-hero character like Will Smith’s character. They have skin of steel. Needles bend when they try to get injections, etc., etc. The only time one of them could get injected or, let’s say, get their ears pierced, would be when they’ve gotten close to one another and therefore begin losing their super powers. However, whenever they get close to one another and start losing their powers, that’s when the bad guys of the world try to kill Hancock. So, what I want to know is, why, why, WHY show the Charlize Theron character wearing big, huge, dangly pierced earrings in a scene where her skin WOULD be tough as steel to pierce because she and Hancock’s character are separated. I can not fathom that Charlize’s character would have chosen one of the episodes where she and Hancock are fighting for their lives against bad guys (ie. when they get too close together) to take a break and go off and get her ears pierced. These types of inconsistencies really bother me in movies. Don’t get me started on Pretty Woman.

Spoiler Rant done!

Any books or movies you wanna recommend? 

Books to Film…or Not?

Agent Elaine Spencer has an excellent post up at Kwana Writes about the possibility of your novel getting made into a movie. The prospects are not great, but the post is very comprehensive about explaining why.

That’s not to say the news is entirely dismal. But the movie production industry works very differently from publishing, and what looks excellent on paper might not translate well to film, yada, yada. That said, it does happen, and not just for Stephen King. Gemma Halliday’s HIGH HEELS MYSTERIES series is being developed into a TV series for the USA Network, and Ally Carter’s Young Adult novel, I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU has been optioned for film.

Have you read any books you think would make excellent movies? What are they, and why do you believe they would translate well to film?

Profiling…Kate St. James

Well, I’m not profiling Kate St. James. But Candy Ready is. This week is Kate St. James Week at www.candyready.com. And seeing as Kate is not only a wonderful writer but a fantastically close friend, I’m passing along the news.

Candy is interviewing Kate today and tomorrow, then Wednesday will feature an excerpt from Kate’s first Secrets novella, Good Vibrations (out now, in Secrets Volume 21: PRIMAL HEAT, for those not in the know), and Thursday will feature an excerpt from Kate’s upcoming novella, Exes & Ahhs, appearing in Secrets Volume 26: BOUND BY PASSION, December 2008. Yes, that’s a long time to wait for the anthology, but Kate’s excerpt will wet your whistle! Caution, though, these excerpts are for Adult eyes only. If you’re under 18, Candy doesn’t want you visiting her website and Kate suggests you buy her books as soon as you reach your 18th birthday…and not one second sooner.

Friday features a giveaway! Kate will mail a free autographed copy of Secrets Volume 21: PRIMAL HEAT, which includes her novella, Good Vibrations, to one lucky commenter who comments this week on Candy Ready’s blog.

Over and out.

More than Magic Results!

I’m very excited to announce that BORROWING ALEX took second place in the Romantic Comedy category of the More Than Magic contest. This is the contest where I was up against Vicki Lewis Thompson in the finals with her single title, OVER HEXED. ‘Natch, Vicki won. Congratulations, Vicki! I fully expected to beat your pants off. Yes, yes, I did. Uh-huh. We all believe me. 😉

Maybe next time. Watch out! (heh, heh).

Sharpe Writing

I recently finished Isabel Sharpe’s WOMEN ON THE EDGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKTHROUGH. Thanks to my pal Jamie Sobrato for talking up Isabel’s first women’s fiction release on her blog last year, because I loved this book (yes, I’m ashamed to admit it can take me a year or longer to buy and read a book that’s on my Must Buy list). WOMEN ON THE EDGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKTHROUGH is like a slice of Desperate Housewives on paper. Hmm, I guess that sounds wonderful if, like me, you love Desperate Housewives. If you don’t dig the ladies of Wisteria Lane, try WOMEN, anyway. After all, I’m recommending it. What more do you need?

Because I bought this book based on Jamie’s recommendation and because I’m familiar sharpe_edge.jpgwith Isabel’s category romance career, I bought it during an Amazon binge without reading the back cover copy. From the cover, I assumed it was a murder mystery, but it isn’t. As I read, I realized the cover reflects more of a “Mother’s Little Helper” vibe, which suits the story to a tee. Plus, well, I don’t want to give away the plot, but the red carpet on the cover is symbolic.

Back cover copy:

Welcome to Kettle, Wisconsin, a town where everyone knows nothing bad ever happens.

Enter Lorelei Taylor—notorious, glamorous, and hot off a not-guilty murder verdict that stunned the nation. To the women of Kettle, bad things seem suddenly inevitable . . .

Sarah Gilchrist—A perfect house and garden can’t quite make up for a marriage that’s a wreck. Sarah is determined to rise above her opinion of Kettle’s dreadful newcomer and give her a perfect welcome. But in the face of Lorelei’s outrageous provocations, Sarah’s control starts to unravel.

Erin Hall—What her husband does to her behind closed doors stays hidden. But Lorelei’s acquittal gives Erin hope for the first time. Convinced Lorelei did kill her abusive lover . . . and got away with it, Erin thinks she may have some power after all.

Lorelei Taylor—In Lorelei’s eyes, peaceful, heavenly Kettle could not look any more like hell. She vows to shake up the town—smug, priggish Sarah; mousy, downtrodden Erin; and while she’s at it, her widowed neighbor, Mike. Except the harder she shakes, the more the shake-up is happening to her.

Sometimes the only thing women on the edge need . . . is a push.

We won’t get into who pushes whom. Nope, you have to read the book to find out.

I notice on Isabel’s website that her second women’s fiction release, AS GOOD AS IT GOT, is also now available. You can bet it’s going on my Must Buy list. And this time it won’t take me a year to read it. (She says bravely).