Bitchin' Blog Posts
April 11, 2008 | Friday at 4:00 am | 19 Comments
Marianne Mancusi forwarded me news about romance novel covers making the news, thanks to her efforts:
I recently worked with Dorchester to do a story on how a romance novel cover is created, from concept to finished product. We followed CL Wilson’s next book through the process. The piece aired on our affiliates yesterday and now it’s up on our website.
Wanna see? Check it out. Am I the only one who is fascinated by the behind the scenes creative stuff?
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April 10, 2008 | Thursday at 8:19 pm | 11 Comments
Reader Tibbles writes:
I’m looking for two books given to me several years ago in a box of books from a friend’s older lady neighbor. When my hubby and I moved a bunch of my books ended up wet and molded and got thrown out while I wasn’t around to write down fav titles.
The book starts in England with the female being in business or something (Historical). She ends up sleeping with the hero because he catches her at something she isn’t supposed to do. She ends up sick wherever he took her and he and she have sex before he realizes its not just an excuse. They go their separate ways and then end up meeting up at a party some time later. Their one day of “pleasure” has resulted in pregnancy. He forces a marriage and they move to America. Someone comes back and attempts to blackmail her. At first I had thought it was the Flame and the Flower (Woodiwiss) but when I bought that book, it turned out not to be. Help!
The second book starts in somewhere like Maryland during the revolutionary war. The h lead female is nicknamed Cottontop because of her hair. …
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April 10, 2008 | Thursday at 6:35 pm | 62 Comments
In light of Amazon’s decision regarding Print-on-Demand services that are not their own, and the mutterings of “anti-trust” and grumblings of “lawsuit” following that decision, an article in the Washington Post last weekend caught many a Bitchery reader’s eye. Thanks to Jill and Mary for giving me the heads up about this story: who battles whom in the bookstore wars?
Used to be that independents battled the Big Book stores. Now, the Big Books are in danger, as well as the independents, as shoppers start taking a look for books at Target, Costco, and other very inexpensive vendors.
Costco, Target, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club aren’t just moving in for the kill with big discounts on the latest Stephen King or John Grisham page-turners. They are also engaging the culturally connected, targeting readers who delight in cocktail or book-club conversation about the latest titles. About 34 percent of book buyers made purchases at such locations last year, according to the Simmons National Consumer Survey.
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April 09, 2008 | Wednesday at 11:25 pm | 63 Comments
This may sound odd, but…I was looking for new fodder for cover snark, and after looking for several minutes at appalling computer-generated images, I found myself longing for simpler days—days when a woman didn’t have hair, she had tresses, and they flowed, oh how they flowed. Days when a man proclaimed his masculinity by daring to tuck his unbuttoned shirt into his belt. Days when a woman knew her place: kneeling at a man’s feet, gazing up in supplication, the froth of her skirts throwing themselves with gentle futility against his rock-hard thews.
Only one thing could assuage my hunger.
Clinch covers. Up on the chopping block this week: Avon Romance.
That’s right, kittens. Grab your panniers and set your hairspray to “Stun.”
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April 09, 2008 | Wednesday at 9:24 pm | 18 Comments
Thanks to Beth for the link: a librarian gives the righteous fug treatment to READ posters featuring shoddily dressed celebs holding books in their hands and vacant expressions on their faces.
Word. I hope she keeps it up.
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April 09, 2008 | Wednesday at 6:28 pm | 23 Comments
Bitchery reader Vicki writes:
I was wondering if you guys know any websites that sell romance novels in Greek?
My mum is desperate for more Harlequin (or Arlekin as they are known) and other romance books. Winter is fast approaching here in Australia, and she’s threatening to go (more) insane with no books to tide her over on those long cold(ish) nights; one can only knit so many scarves.
She’s cleaned out the local libraries, and the foreign language bookshop sells those Harlequins for around 25-30 bucks each. Seeing as she reads one of these suckers a day, that just aint gonna happen.
Anyone got any ideas? And I have a question, too: do Greek language readers want to read about the Greek Tycoon’s Secret Baby or the Greek’s Virgin Mistress? Or does the nationality change? Maybe it’s The Canadian’s Frosty Virgin?
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April 09, 2008 | Wednesday at 10:44 am | 22 Comments
There are two things you need to know about this book: you like tortured, healing heroes who are genuinely good guys? Go find this book. O’Reilly’s mastery of the incredibly sexy, almost-three-dimensional man continues in this book.
Second, I was unfortunately predisposed to dislike it. I knew that Daniel is a widower whose wife died in the World Trade Center. And so when I read the first sentences:
Since the summer he turned eleven, Daniel O’Sullivan woke up every morning the same way. With an aching hard-on. After he was married, the first light of dawn became his favorite time. He’d roll over, impatient hands searching for his wife. After making love to her, he’d shower, shave, and together they’d take the subway to work. What more could any guy want?
But then one September morning seven years ago, bright sunlight mocking in the sky, that all exploded, along with two airliners, two buildings and two thousand, seven hundred and forty people—one of whom was his wife.
Gone.
For the next five years he rolled over to look for her, impatient hands searching blindly, and she wasn’t there. And so…
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April 09, 2008 | Wednesday at 3:49 am | 4 Comments
The disbursal of prize booty may take a bit longer, but graphics? We got yer graphics right here!
For Colleen Gleason, who won the tournament for her book The Rest Falls Away, a fancy shnazzy graphic proclaming you teh winnah:
For Laura D, whose pointacular bracket allowed her to gain the people’s ovation and fame forever, we have:
For Joyce D, whose equally pointactular bracket in the 2nd Chance Tourney has allowed her a sizeable portion of that ovation and fame referenced above, we have:
But wait… there’s one more! One more prize for your enjoyment!
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April 08, 2008 | Tuesday at 8:33 pm | 17 Comments
Thanks to Randi, thanks to me, and thanks to Fabio phones are ringing all over the country, as Fabio sends messages of love and support to those lucky people in my life who made the mistake of giving me their phone numbers.
This is too much fun. And Fabio. Is there such a thing as too much Fabio? Nah. Not at all.
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April 08, 2008 | Tuesday at 5:03 pm | 26 Comments
I’m assuming this is yet another site that everyone else knows about but me, but check this out: enter a book & author, and find out what books you may like next.
I’m curious about the database behind it. I entered “High Noon” by Nora Roberts, and was told I’d like a mixture of historical and contemporary romance - kind of a gamble, I think. Personally, I do like both but I know more than a few romance fans who stick almost exclusively to one or the other. My recommendations:
Brighter Than the Sun - Julia Quinn (Read it, love it, but like “The Duke and I” better). Mirror Image - Sandra Brown (Now that is a book I read a long, long time ago, and I did rather enjoy it, in a campy 80’s miniseries sense.) Heartbreaker - Julie Garwood (Never read it) You Only Love Twice - Elizabeth Thornton (See above- also, isn’t this historical?) The Barefoot Princess - Christina Dodd (meh) Fast Women - Jennifer Crusie (Not my fave Crusie but not bad by a long shot either) Dust To Dust - Tami Hoag (Never read it) Full Speed - Janet Evanovich, Charlotte Hughes (Never read…
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April 08, 2008 | Tuesday at 3:58 pm | 23 Comments
Yesterday I received the following press release from Dorchester:
I think you and your readers might really enjoy something Dorchester Publishing is doing on its web site in the weeks leading up the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention and the Mr. Romance Contest. We wanted the readers who cannot attend RT this year to be able to participate in the event in some way, so we came up with a really fun idea.
We will be featuring a contest through our site where readers can vote for their favorite Mr. Romance contestant. Each day, beginning Monday, April 7, two gorgeous men will be revealed. After four days of revealing hunky contestants readers will come back to vote for their favorite. On April 19th the winner with the most votes will be announced and will win an American Express gift card from Dorchester. Please take a look at the contest on our site and tune in on Monday to see the first two contestants!
Click here to see the contest info.
I hope you and your readers will enjoy this!
While I love an Amex Gift Card as much as the next person, beefcake really isn’t my thing. Cake, I…
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April 08, 2008 | Tuesday at 11:00 am | 34 Comments
Tear down the streamers. Deflate the balloons. The Dance is over (that’s what they call the NCAA Tournament). The winners of the first annual DA BWAHA are as follows:
Colleen Gleason’s The Rest Falls Away is our champion and is awarded
A bad ass feather quill pen with which to pen her next romantic opus
The graphic proclaiming her book the winner
A free one-month ad space on both Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and Dear Author, month and content to be determined.
Pimpage like nothing else, guaranteed.
A $50 gift certificate for irreverently awesome style from Lochers.com
The burning question was how does it feel to be the winner of the first annual DA BWAHA Tourney?
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April 08, 2008 | Tuesday at 3:55 am | 38 Comments
Christine Brashear, currently at Samhain Publishing and a 5% shareholder in Ellora’s Cave, has filed civil suit against Ellora’s Cave, Tina Engler/Jaid Black, Patricia Marks, and various affiliated individuals and companies.
To read the 19-page PDF of the civil suit filed in Summit County, Ohio, last week, you can search by Last name or you can download your own copy here. Brashear’s complaint asks for “damages and injunctions for breach of contract; breach of statutory and common law duties, breach of fiduciary duties and defamation.”
Say what now?
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April 07, 2008 | Monday at 7:57 pm | 31 Comments
Jane at DearAuthor has a post up regarding reader and writer allegations surrounding Highland Press, specifically addressing conduct by one individual:
Among other things, Highland Press [and “secret co-publisher, DeborahAnne MacGillvray”] [are] purported to do the following:
* Banning authors from author loops for speaking out against Highland Press
* Sending emails to subsequent publishers of those “problem†authors demanding that stock photography that the author purchased for the covers of her Highland Press books not be used by subsequent publishers. These stock photos can be used, as we know, by every publisher out there. I’m not sure on what basis Highland Press claims that stock photo cannot be used.
* Using MacGillivray’s position to delete reviews she has provided to these problem authors and deleting reviews of the author’s friends. (Of course, these are MacGillivray’s reviews and she is entitled to do whatever she wants with them).
A corollary to this is that the co-publisher uses a Yahoo Group list, Ladies in Waiting, change her Amazon reviews. When MacGillivray she gets a bad review, she tells the loop to click on the link to the Amazon page and vote “no†and then “report abuseâ€. With enough…
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April 07, 2008 | Monday at 6:26 pm | 10 Comments
Some individuals are composites, some details have been changed, and author Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House is “not a work of ‘nonfiction’ in any meaningful sense of the word,” according to the Boston Globe, but yet it is marketed as a “true story.” The movie 21, based on the book, opened this weekend in the #1 spot, and I knew a few neighbors who were hiring babysitters to go enjoy the behind-the-scenes story of how a group of MIT wundergeniuses hosed Vegas for millions by counting cards at Blackjack. To give you an insight into why hiring a babysitter to see a movie is significant, let me share: I have not seen a movie in the theatre since The Incredibles was in the dollar theatre in North Bergen, NJ. It takes a hell of a movie to convince me to go to a movie theatre as opposed to waiting for the DVD.
So is it a true story? Depends on how you define the words “is” “it” “true” and “story.”
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