First place for Christine Keach!
Christine Keach finished first place in the series contemporary category of the “Romancing the Tome” contest with her manuscript, Fractured Paradise. And what’s even better? A request for a partial! Go, Chris!! [2/23/07]
ARWA writers a triple threat in “Great Expectations”
Three ARWA authors have finaled in NTRWA’s Great Expectations contest!!
Marjorie Allen has finaled in the Romantic Suspense category with her manuscript, A Deeper Blue.
Deb Yates finaled in the Historical category with A Secret Heart.
Jane Myers Perrine finaled with Love, Life and Maggie Baldovino in the Mainstream with Romantic Elements category.
Hooray, ladies! Good luck in the final round! [2/19/07]
Dorchester Books Actively Acquiring for New Line
Dorchester Books is actively acquiring for a new line of speculative romance aimed at a “younger, hipper audience.” Shomi books will debut in July 2007 and will feature paranormal, futuristic or fantasy romances with “a noir-like narrative voice and a heroine caught between realms.” The books have Manga-like graphic covers.
Senior Editor Chris Keeslar is editing the line. Books should be 85,000 to 95,000 words. Dorchester accepts agented and unagented material.
Please send a cover letter telling the genre, word-count and one paragraph summarizing the book, a synopsis of the complete book, and the first three chapters. The cover letter should be “short and sweet.” Some of the books they’ve already acquired for the line include a “post-apocalyptic trucker romance - set during a future time when the highway system is the only mode of travel” and a book dealing with “time travel and the consequences of time travel (think - the Butterfly Effect).”
Check out the website at http://www.shomifiction.com/index.html
Clare Wood finals in “Southern Magic”
Congratulations to our own Clare Wood who finaled in the Historical category of the Southern Magic contest with her manuscript, Warrior’s Revenge. [2/13/07]
Christine Keach is a double winner
Christine Keach’s latest romantic suspense, Resisting Ryan, took 3rd place in the Hudson Valley “Hook, Line and Sinker” Contest. Her short contemporary, Fractured Paradise, took 5th place in the same contest. Go, Chris! [2/11/07]
Deb Yates wins in “Finally a Bride” Contest
Deb Yates’ manuscript, Heaven Sent, won the historical category of the Oklahoma RWA’s “Finally a Bride” contest. Bravo! [2/11/07]
My Five Romance Novels I Would Want on a Desert Island
by Emma Clair
In a recent bout of midnight wakefulness I tried to turn my brain away from worrying about work, my children, the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of my house and making a vet appointment for my dog, by focusing my thoughts on something really useful – what five romance books would I want with me if I were stranded on a deserted island?
The first book was an easy choice: Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. Dain is the ultimate hero-in-need-of-rescue, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s big and hulking. Yum. Jessica is a far cry from a squeamish miss and is just the woman to torment and handle Dain. This story is one of my “comfort books” because it never fails to make me sappily happy and remind me why I fell in love with the romance genre in the first place.
Next, I’d choose Perfect by Judith McNaught. I know that this book has a slight cheese factor, but I honestly don’t care because the characters are so engaging and believable. I am always deeply touched by the opening chapters where we meet the heroine as a young girl who struggles with illiteracy. Reading has always been such an integral part of my life that I can hardly comprehend how difficult it must be for someone who doesn’t have that skill.
My third choice was a bit more difficult. I knew I would want a Julie Garwood book with me, but which one? The Gift always makes me laugh, The Secret astounds me with the gruesome descriptions of childbirth in the medieval era, but I finally settled on The Wedding. Not only does it make me laugh out loud, but I enjoy watching the sweet love story unfold between Brenna and Connor.
We probably all have a fondness for one of the first romance novels we read and mine is A Rose in Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss. I’ll admit that it’s been many years since I’ve re-read this book, but the characters and plot have always stayed with me. (Between you and me, I’m secretly a bit afraid to re-read this story because it might not hold up to my golden memory.) The main part of this plot involves the hero masquerading as a injured and scarred man to teach his new wife a lesson, but the joke’s on him when she falls in love with him anyway. I’m a big sucker for this kind of thing. Big. Sucker.
Now we come to my fifth and final book and I’m going to cheat. Yes, blatantly cheat. I choose the Quinn brothers (Chesapeake Bay) series by Nora Roberts. However, lucky for me, the four books are now available in a boxed set, so that helps offset my sin a bit. If you’re still deeply offended, I can be persuaded to take only the first three stories (Sea Swept, Rising Tides and Inner Harbor) because they truly are available bound together in one book. If you want to exile me to a deserted island without Seth’s story (Chesapeake Blue) I’ll do my best to bear it.
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By day, Emma Clair is a Marketing Consultant. By night she is the mother of two teenagers, wife to a rock band husband, and is happily NOT PTA president any longer. The rest of the time she is a budding romance author writing a steamy short contemporary and paying her dues as President for the Austin RWA. Contact her at emma@emmaclair.com.
Marian Stevens finals in the Linda Howard Award of Excellence
Marian Stevens finaled in the LINDA HOWARD AWARD OF EXCELLENCE contest with Single In The City in the Single Title category. The manuscript will go to an editor at Pocket! [2/7/07]
Dede Harper earns 2nd place in Dixie Kane contest
Congratulations to Dede Harper! She won 2nd place in the long contemporary category of the Dixie Kane Contest with her manuscript Perfect Strangers. [2/6/07]