Juno Books

REVIEW from FALLEN ANGELS:

Are you looking for something different to read in the paranormal genre? Personal Demons by Stacia Kane kicks off a new series with a sexy demon, a number of humorous secondary characters and situations, and a kick-butt fun heroine who intends to save the world, all set in a contemporary urban setting! Megan is intelligent, caring, and determined to succeed even if she is completely out of her element and over her head. Generally Megan’s psychic abilities have kept her out of trouble but this time they just make her that much greater of a target for the demons. Grey is a demon, literally, and drop-dead gorgeous and sexy. He is the ultimate bad boy! Then there are the three cockney guard demons which remind me a little of the three stooges, a host of personal demons with a vendetta, a witch with a bad attitude, a super old demon with world domination in mind, and a reporter following her around ready to expose all her secrets to the world. All of this descends on Megan simply because her radio show producer insists she say she will “slay personal demons.” The plot and dialog are very entertaining in this tale and the story reads fast. I enjoyed the book and laughed out loud at some of the antics of the secondary characters and was glad I was reading this during the day in other parts of the story. I am looking forward to the sequel Demon Inside for further adventures of Megan and her friends!

Stacia Kane’s PERSONAL DEMONS is getting some notice as a JULY SUBFEATURE on the Barnes & Noble Paranormal & UF Forum.

#2 Jade Tiger
#3 Personal Demons
#13 A Mortal Glamour
#14 Seaborn
#15 Clockwork Heart

Complete List

FROM BITTEN BY BOOKS:

The debut book of the Supernatural Properties series, House of Whispers is a fantastic addition to the world of paranormal. The author not only provides views from the main characters but also from one of the wounded spirits in the house. This was a wonderful part of the book for me and helped to provide closure at the end. I enjoyed this book tremendously and I am enthusiastic about reading the next in the series. (5 of 5 Tombstones)

Back in 1993, Jackie Collins has prefaced her next steamy romance “American Star” with: “While ‘American Star’ contains descriptions of unprotected sex appropriate to the period in which the story is set, the author wishes to emphasize the importance of practicing safe sex and the use of condoms in real life.” The New York Times quoted her as saying, she couldn’t bring herself to include condoms in every sex scene, even contemporary ones. “Quite frankly, not everyone in life uses them,” she said. “But I feel the disclaimer gets the message across without hammering it over the reader’s head every time a character has sex. And my characters have sex a lot.”

There are two trains of thought: (1) This is fantasy, so we can fantasize and such things as condoms need not intrude. (2) It is irresponsible and unrealistic not to address safe sex. Some publishers have established policies. Some writers have personal policies.

Of course with a supernatural lover — demons, vampires, whatever –- a character can toss off “I am not susceptible to human diseases nor can I pass them on” and then not worry Hmm. Is this another reason for the popularity or paranormal romance/urban fantasy? But that’s another topic…

I’ve also noticed that there’s something of a generational divide. For people younger than a certain age (which I exceed), “safe sex” tends to mean using a condom. I grew up sexually in the era of “free love” and post-Stonewall/pre-identification of AIDS. We women “protected ourselves”, usually with the Pill And, of course, we weren’t protected from anything except pregnancy. I think writers of my generation sometimes have a tendency to take contraception consideration when writing sex, but don’t always think about disease prevention.

Of course, we also live in a world in which even 16-year-old TV stars say, when pregnancy is discovered: “It was a shock for both of us, so unexpected. I was in complete and total shock and so was he.”

As the Coalition for Positive Sexuality says: You have the right to complete and honest sex education. Demand information from your school, healthcare provider and parents. Notice they don’t mention novels or films.

Along with other good news on her blog, Saskia Walker (THE STRANGELING and UNVEILING THE SORCERESS) has sold two paranormal erotica books to Harlequin Spice.

[BTW — I only know such news if authors tell me, so if I’m missing similar news from others…I’m not psychic! ]

Romantic Times Booklovers Magazine has given SEABORN four out of five stars with a review that reads:

Howard’s fantasy tells the story of a woman who is seaborn and must fight to win back kingdoms as the wreathbearer. This novel is graphic in violence and leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to mutilation and death, but readers who love a good fantasy can overlook the gory descriptions to see what happens to the heroine of this fascinating read.

Opinion is opinion, and we certainly appreciate the stars and “fascinating read”, but I think it is fair to correct factual errors. So: The term is “Seaborn” with a capped “S’; it’s “Wreath-wearer”, not “wreathbearer”. She is not really winning back any kingdoms as no kingdoms ever belonged to her and the current ruler is her grandfather, so it is still in her family. Nor are there kingdoms, plural, involved. Only one. There are, however, two heroines, not one.

The summary (which I won’t quote) supplied included further factual errors:
“Kassandra has known since birth she is the wreathbearer.” — I recall no reference made to her knowing anything since birth and, again, “Wreath-wearer.”
“…win back the kingdom…” — See above.
“…Aleximor, who Kassandra imprisoned years before.” — Aleximor had been imprisoned for 200 years; Kass is not quite 20. Aleximor was imprisoned by Kassander, an ancestor of Kassandra for whom she is named. (This is referenced several times in he book.)

Okay, so maybe I am being too picky?

On Fictionwise:
Beyond the Hedge by Roby James
Jade Tiger Jenn Reese
The Strangeling by Saskia Walker
A Mortal Glamour by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Curled Up With A Good Book:

This is a really enjoyable read with great pacing and some interesting settings. While not particularly innovative, it still feels fresh, and the variety of characters add to the interest…Megan herself is well-drawn… a likeable and believable character. Greyson Dante is necessarily mysterious and his motivation hard to fathom, but he is an appealing character and the sparks between him and Megan are well-written. …overall a good read and the beginning of what seems to be an interesting series featuring Megan and Dante. (5 Stars)

Just sent out a quick update to newsletter subscribers. You blog-readers are already aware of some of the news like the submissions hiatus and the e-versions of SEABORN, but you don’t know:

• The SEABORN Web page is now live complete with a mini-interview with author Chris Howard.
• Four more ebooks should be available on Fictionwise next Monday: JADE TIGER by Jenn Reese, BEYOND THE HEDGE by Roby James, A MORTAL GLAMOUR by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and THE STRANGELING by Saskia Walker. Check the blog Monday to see if they are up.
• The hardcover edition of AMBERLIGHT is just now shipping, but we have some copies at Juno Books Headquarters in Maryland. So, you can order direct from them right now and not only be the first kid on the block to own the hardcover of AMBERLIGHT, but receive a SPECIAL DISCOUNT, too! You can buy the HARDCOVER EDITION of AMBERLIGHT - list price $29.95 - for only $20! But that’s not all: You’ll get free shipping, too! (This offer is good only in the United States.) BUT — you need the SECRET COUPON CODE to get this great deal and the only way to get that code is to subscribe to the newsletter.

Being obsessive about publishing and preoccupied with Juno Books, when exposed to normal people I often find myself babbling about these topics — most likely to their utter boredom. The other night I was doing just that and wound up trying to explain about “returns” and the history thereof. I won’t get into it here, but if you are interested, Lynn Neary of NPR’s Morning Edition did a nice summation last week: Publishers Push for New Rules on Unsold Books. It is less than seven minutes long, so give it a listen if you have any interest in the book business.

Of course, returns apply to trade paperbacks and hardcovers, not mass markets paperbacks, which are “strippable”. My diatribe included this subject matter as well, of course. NPR hasn’t tackled this subject (as far as I know), but Richard Curtis included a lot of pertinent info in an article he did some time back you can find re-published on the International Thriller Writers Web site: The Rise and Fall of the Mass Market Paperback.

Now, if you ever run into me and I babble about these two topics, you can say, “Paula, I know all that background stuff, clam up!” And, since you have the background info now, I bet you are dying to hear my solution to it all, right? I hope not, because I don’t have one. Of course, no one else does either.

We’re temporarily suspending novel submissions until further notice. We need time to catch up
responding to what we already have. So, please hold off sending anything in until we reopen. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Fictionwise now has multi-format ebook versions of next month’s print release, SEABORN by Chris Howard, available. As a new release, the book is currently 15% off.

And you can wirelessly download SEABORN to your Kindle.

And here is the final front for the PRINT EDITION cover. (I still do not have a copy of the final-final back cover myself.)

This is Malcolm, my grand-dog, who is three, and his new baby sister, Dewie. They are Brussels Griffons, but Dewie looks a little like a tiny Ewok, doesn’t she? Dewie got adopted a week ago when Malcolm and his people, Mark and Allyson, brought him to enjoy the graduation festivities for Mark’s youngest brother, Erik. (They live near Chicago.)

I was a little concerned Malcolm would not want to give up his status as “only dog”, but he seems to like Dewie.

Well, we’ve made it this far: it is posted in the Kindle store for pre-order. And, if all goes well, Fictionwise will have it there on Monday…

I’m sure that you folks, like me, get plenty of email offers for enlarging your manhood and various solutions for problems with tumescence. (Hey, I am TRYING to avoid attracting spam here.) But have you noticed that in the history of spam, there are no longer (as there once were) similar messages concerning making your bosom bigger? And I don’t recall any solicitations for repairing any intimate womanly…lacks. Nor do we get email about lonely guys just waiting for our IMs.

Of course, I am thankful for this. I just wonder what it REALLY means.

There was a Q&A with Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com by Walter Mossberg in Monday’s Wall Street Journal. The most interesting point to me was that although he still won’t divulge how many Kindle units have sold, He did state, “We have 125,000 book titles available for Kindle. When you look at Amazon’s physical book sales of those same titles, the Kindle sales are now more than 6% of those total sales.”

As for the number of Kindle units sold — to quote a recent NY Times article: “One publisher estimated that Amazon had sold roughly 10,000 Kindles, while another estimated that as many as 50,000 electronic-book readers of all types are in general circulation. But both publishers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that those figures were little more than educated guesses.”

however, has come up with so,e interesting estimates numbers based on data from a daily news service covering the Taiwanese IT market reporting on sales of the
e-ink screens used by both Kindle and Sony Reader:

In a story entitled PVI EDP shipments to grow sharply in 2008, that PVI expects EPD module shipments to reach 120,000 units PER MONTH in the second half of 2008.It further explains that the unit price of the screens are $60-$70 per unit and that the current volume has been 60-80,000 units PER MONTH.

Also intriguing is the article’s claim that 60% of the EPD’s go to Amazon and 40% go to Sony. This is an important factor as it implies
that there is a market beyond Kindle – a very, very strong market. Taking the figures at face value, Sony was selling (or at least
manufacturing) an average of 28,000 readers per month (I took 70,000 units as the average sold per month and then 40% of that). Using this
monthly rate, the annual sales of the Sony Reader are at nearly 350,000 units. Using the same formula, Amazon is ordering an average of 42,000 units per month, which will add up to over 500,000 units sold this year.

With production ramping up to 120,000 units a month these numbers will look much better — to the tune of a combined 1.4 million units over 12 months! Even with the Kindle out of stock for a big chunk of the first and second quarter, combined sales of these two e-ink devices in 2008 will most likely top 1 million…. I found that ebook buying on either the Sony Reader or the Amazon Kindle ranges from 5 ebooks to over 100 ebooks. Assuming that anyone who buys an e-ink ebook reader is doing so to read ebooks, lets assume that 10 ebooks a year is a reasonable purchase estimate. Using this logic, we should see 10 million ebooks purchased for these two devices in 2008….I can easily imagine the success of Kindle and Reader dramatically expanding next year and growing by a factor of five. If that happens, then the formula above leads to a completely new ebook economy. Five million devices would mean ebook sales of $1,200,000,000, which, by my estimation, is 1.3% of the current global book market of $90,000,000,000….I personally don’t see publishing becoming a 50% digital business as books and cd’s are completely different animals. But I sure can see that the 3% - 4% I once predicted isn’t such a crazy notion any more.

Completely overlooked in all of this, of course, is the huge success of women’s erotica in ebook form. According to Ellora’s Cave Author Info, it averages sales of over 65000 e-books per month. Do the math: 780K a year from the one publisher. Not hard to guesstimate that all the erotica ebook publishers together easily account for more than 1 million books a year — and since they sell most of their ebooks directly, they aren’t sharing with Amazon or anyone else.

As for the future of ebooks, I personally theorize that the “great change” will come through colleges. With college textbooks priced outrageously high, and of limited use, ebook versions make more sense there than anywhere. When colleges start requiring texts to be available in ebook format and that students must have a reader (as many colleges now require a laptop and consider it part of your expected educational expense) — the tide will turn.

Even though I won’t give up my print books, I’d love to have a portable device for ebooks, too. But until they cost around $50 — or someone gives me one — I don’t see myself owning one. And, as I sot in a chair and work all day in front of a screen, I don’t want to read for pleasure there.

Once you get past the idea that this is a business in which the producer pays a manufacturer to make more units that the producer knows will sell, then sells the product, at a huge discount, to a middleman who then delivers the goods to a retailer who can return the product for full credit . . . yeah, i know, getting past that is not easy, but that’s the business. Anyway, once you get past that then you have situations like the recent departure of the most powerful and successful woman in publishing, Jane Friedman, from HarperCollins. The New York Observer has an interesting article: “Why Jane Jumped: Forensics on the End Of Friedman at HC”.

Although this isn’t the interview, just a blog mention of it, Nancy Davis Kho has SEABORN author Chris Howard well pegged as a multitasker! (And you find out a little about his “real life”).

Blackness Tower (5 Angels):

This story is truly a cross-genre book. Blackness Tower by Lillian Stewart Carl contains elements of historical mysteries through flashbacks in time with Lauren’s “sight;” science fiction or paranormal elements in the mysterious skull shaped watch that holds untold powers and from the ghostly presents in the tower; suspense elements in that someone from either now or the past wants to stop Lauren from finding her answers; and romance for Lauren and one of the men at the tower. This is a wonderfully entertaining story!… Anyone who enjoys any of the genres mentioned above will love this book!

The Eternal Rose (4 Angels):

The exceptionally complex relationships of the Iliasti (four women and five men in a group marriage with a psychic connection) are tested to the extreme when demons mess with some of the people in the group and when Stone is murdered. The story line is intricate, too, and full of political intrigue that keeps the suspense high as the family deals with another country’s leaders and laws while trying to do right by their own citizens. They also need to rid the world of the demons so that everyone is protected from the demonic influence. I enjoyed The Eternal Rose, but plan to read this with minimal interruptions so that you can follow the complicated story.

WIND FOLLOWER by Carole McDonnell has been nominated for the 2008 Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction.

Personal Demons is currently #1 and Clockwork Heart is # 3 among the Top Ten Fantasy Bestsellers on Fictionwise.

Overall they are #8 and #19:

1. The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn [ROM]
2. From Dead to Worse [Southern Vampire Series Book 8] by Charlaine Harris [DARKFANT]
3. Blood Noir [An Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Novel] by Laurell K. Hamilton [DARKFANT]
4. At the Bride Hunt Ball by Olivia Parker [ROM]
5. Odd Hours [Odd Thomas Series Book 4] by Dean Koontz [FIC]
6. Sons of Lyra: Slave Princess [Sons of Lyra Series] by Felicity Heaton [ROM]
7. Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning [ROM]
8. Personal Demons [Megan Chase Book 1] by Stacia Kane [FANT]
9. Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase [ROM]
10. Three Nights of Sin by Anne Mallory [ROM]
11. The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter [ROM]
12. Body Language by Suzanne Brockmann [ROM]
13. The Atlantis Prophecy by Thomas Greanias [SUSP/THRILL]
14. The Queen’s Bastard by C. E. Murphy [FANT]
15. Odd Thomas [Odd Thomas Series Book 1] by Dean Koontz [SUSP/THRILL]
16. The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur [ROM]
17. Deep Storm by Lincoln Child [SUSP/THRILL]
18. Secrets of Surrender by Madeline Hunter [ROM]
19. Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti [FANT]
20. Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson [ROM]

eReader.com has this neat display of the four current bestselling fantasies. Look and you will see Charlaine Harris’s latest Sookie book and C.E. Murphy’s THE QUEEN’S BASTARD (which I just finished and loved!) Charlaine and Catie are honorary Juno authors anyway

Of course — these may all change by the time you look for them!

http://teachmetonight.blogspot.com/2008/06/iaspr-and-jprf-call-for-people.html”>Teach Me Tonight had issued “a Call For People, rather than a Call For Papers,” stating:

It is time for an academic society for the study of popular romance fiction, with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereunto, like a journal and conferences. So we have decided to start one! “We” being myself, Eric Selinger, and a few other people who are already interested in being involved.

The society will be called The International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR) and the journal will be an online, open-source journal called The Journal of Popular Romance Studies (JPRS).

So, we’re looking for people who might be interested in helping us build these institutions. Do you want to get in on the ground floor? Do you already have experience in the hierarchy of an academic organization or with an academic journal that you’d love to share with us, even if you don’t want to be involved in the day-to-day aspects of running either? Please let us know! For minimum involvement, for example, we’re going to need people to act as peer reviewers for the journal, so please let us know your specific area of interest in romance novels (paranormals? inspirationals? Regencies? heroes? romances published in the 1950s?). For maximum involvement, we’re going to need journal editors and IASPR board members. We especially need the input of people who might have done any of this before, so you can at least tell us what to avoid!

For now, the contact person for both the society and the journal is myself, Sarah Frantz. Comment here with a way to contact you and I’ll email you post-haste. (Or you can contact me at my Gmail account, which is my full first and last names as one word.)

Let me know what you’re interested in doing (A highly-valued affinity for numbers? You could be Treasurer! Technical Know-how? We need Web Gurus! Organization? We need a Membership Chairperson!). Or if you don’t know specifically what you might be able to contribute, but are really interested in being a part of the process, let us know that, too! We promise, we’ll find a use for you.

More serious study/critique of romance is sorely needed, so huzzah!

Other than the usual Juno-work, preparing for (spring cleaning at least the “public areas” of a house that defies ever being clean all at one time) and then celebrating my youngest’s graduation from high school (ahem, as class president he delivered an inspiring speech in his ever-dulcet baritone) — I’ve been catching up a little on the news out of Book Expo America. Not surprisingly, according to many, things seemed a little more downbeat and apprehensive than usual.

But one quote/comment from Laura Miller at Salon made me smile in agreement: “In unguarded moments…publishers complained that they received more pitches than they had a chance to deliver. “It’s relentless,” one sales rep sighed at a party for Connelly in L.A.’s Union Station. “Every time you turn around, someone’s shoving a manuscript into your hands. I keep telling them I’m not an editor, but they don’t seem to understand the difference.” Aspiring writers planted themselves in autograph lines in a bid to pass unpublished manuscripts to established authors or to beg celebrities to plug their book on TV. (Apparently, all those Americans who claim to be too busy to buy or read books can still find plenty of time to write them.)” [Italics mine.]

This is not particularly true of folks who seriously want to write genre. (Although with Writers.com I have run across a few folks who decided they could write “a novel like Stephen King” because they had watched a lot of movies and there are invariably people who try to write short stories who seem to have never read one.) Romance and urban fantasy readers seem to be avid consumers of the sort of fiction they want to write.

Although it is probably a good idea for an established professional to not read something too close to their own work, one does have to at least be aware of what else is going on. But more than fiction, it is important for a fiction writer to to read everything but: history, biography, philosophy, theology–you name it. So, good writers are still good readers.

Romance Junkies

Dru Pagliassotti makes a stunning debut into the writing world with CLOCKWORK HEART….CLOCKWORK HEART is a beautifully written adventure. The world is so original that it’s a breath of fresh air. Ms. Pagliassotti creates Ondinium in such a way that it’s as if it’s as clear and easy to relate to as our own. Every tiny detail is written in with such art as to portray the meaning without cumbersome explanations that detract from the plot and characters. The author uses brilliant description and vivid characterizations to draw the reader into the story so deeply as to have them feeling the crunch of the road beneath their feet and the wind sweeping beneath metal wings.
This reviewer will say that five isn’t a high enough rating for the brilliance of this book. Ms. Pagliassotti’s masterful use of language crafts a story that will entertain and make the reader question society as a whole. Thought provoking and intense, CLOCKWORK HEART is a book to be kept and reread.

Liz Henry reviews AMBERLIGHT on the SF Feminist Blog

On the plane on the way home, I read Amberlight, by Sylvia Kelso. It was very lovely!

I loved its odd and poetic language, very leapy & coiled & springy - and the gender reversals & oiled men with gilded calves kept in Towers by their grim warrior politician artist wives who are also super rich and powerful because of matriarchal hereditary ability to communicate with alien consciousness energy/electric/magic stone called qherrique, which they quarry (WHILE ON THEIR PERIODS, DUH) & sculpt and which is a thinly veiled metaphor for political power. They sell the statue things to foreign governments who use them to oppress & conquer. Tellurith, the protagonist, rescues a guy from being left for dead in the gutter after brutal gang rape, and he’s got amnesia. HURT/COMFORT ALERT.

Tellurith thinks he is really hot and objectifies him at every turn especially when he’s fierce yet helpless; angry & psychologically damaged; reluctant yet tarting himself up with the gold nipple paint for her anyway. Let’s just say, it’s kind of hot, but also problematic and instructive. Total reversal of the male gaze.

I very much enjoyed the motivations of the characters and the HUGE BATTLES with lasers and mirrors and catapults & explosions. Warrior pride! Defend your city! But OMG agonize over the injustice of capitalism in private, which your oiled amnesia boy has shown you with a few deft words and eyelash batting, impudent pouts as he paces around the room like a captive lion!

Trashy, yet political!

Do people give up privilege and power easily? NO THEY DO NOT. The end!

In short it is super awesome. But only if you like that sort of thing.

FANTASY DEBUT:

CLOCKWORK HEART by Dru Pagliassotti was a treat to read. In fact, since finishing it I’ve found myself flipping back to reread my favorite parts, always a sign of a good book. If I’m going to be honest I have to admit I was hooked by the characters and the setting more than by the plot…The setting was exceptionally well-imagined….Then there are brilliant little linguistic touches….The characters themselves come to life on the page….Ultimately this book is a keeper. Its weak points are amply offset by the things Pagliassotti does well. The world of CLOCKWORK HEART drew me in, and I fell in love with the characters.

Publishers Weekly carried an item about Penguin reporting “e-book sales from the first four months of 2008 have surpassed the house’s total e-book sales for all of last year. According to the publisher, the spike is ‘more than five times the overall growth in sales, year-on-year, through April 2008.’ Penguin Group CEO David Shanks said he attributed the jump, in large part, to the growing popularity of e-book readers.”

I tried to track that news to an original source and have had, as yet, no luck. Why? Because PW had inexplicitly added this: “That said, the publisher has been doing its part to add premium features to its electronic content. To that end, the house is developing properties like the Penguin Enhanced e-Book Classics; the first title in that series, Pride and Prejudice, will debut this summer and include such bells and whistles as reviews (of the original publication), a filmography, recipes and notes on etiquette. Nine more titles will be released as Enhanced e-Book Classics throughout the fall.”

That bit of “news” has nothing whatsoever to do with the first bit of news. The “enhanced classics” were announced back in March and entirely irrelevant to a report about first quarter sales since the first such was not issued until May.

We guess the “gold standard” of reportage at PW is now as tarnished as its reviewing.

* * *

Meanwhile The Bookseller reports US bibliographic provider Bowker claims a “staggering rise” in the number of print-on-demand titles published with Bowker now reporting these books separately:

Based on preliminary figures from US publishers, Bowker is projecting that US title output in 2007 increased to 276,649 new titles and editions, up from the 274,416 that were published in 2006. However, the number of short-run books published rose massively to 134,773, pushing the grand total for projected 2007 US book output to 411,422 books. It is the first year Bowker has begun tracking the p.o.d. titles separately: last year it reported a total output figure of 291,920 titles.

“The most startling development last year is the reporting of ‘On Demand’ [p.o.d.] titles, leading to a stunning five-fold increase of new titles in the unclassified category, which mostly consists of reprints of public domain titles and other short-run books,” said Kelly Gallagher, general manager of business intelligence for Bowker. “It will be interesting to monitor this category in 2008 in order to get a sense of whether this is a sustainable trend or a one-year spike.”

See the Bowker news release for more detailis, but…

I am confused. Maybe I’m wrong, but doesn’t this mean that Bowker was counting POD titles before as part of the whole whatever the category? So aren’t the previous statistics inclusive of such titles? If, of course, they were “new titles.” One assumes that means “not published before”? So this “unclassified category, which mostly consists of reprints of public domain titles” would not be NEW titles, but old ones?

Or is Bowker reporting any new ISBN as a “new title”? Or what?

* * *

I’m too confused to even mention that Borders’ new Web store went live today or about their Q1 report. Or that every Juno title that they haven’t ordered for their store shelves is miraculously available through their Web site…

The ebook edition of BLACKNESS TOWER was released today on FICTIONWISE. It is currently 25% off.

I’ve posted it in PERSONAL DEMONS by STACIA
KANE was released in April. In it, Megan promises listeners to her new radio
call-in show that she’ll “slay their personal demons,” and they believe her. So
do the personal demons. Although she doesn’t know it, Megan is the only human
without a personal demon on her shoulder. This, coupled with her psychic
abilities, makes her a valuable weapon for any demon “family” that can gain her
allegiance. It also makes her a serious threat — not just to the personal
demons, but to a soul-sucker known as The Accuser who has an old score to
settle. Megan and her allies — a demon lover who both protects and seduces her
with devilish intensity, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney
guard demons — have to deal not only The Accuser, the personal demons, and the
ghosts of Megan’s past, but a reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s career.

On the Web site, you’ll find Q&A with the author, excerpts from both PD and its
sequel, and even a yummy recipe mentioned in the book!
(http://juno-books.com/personal_demons.html)

PERSONAL DEMONS has been getting great reviews from urban fantasy lovers. You
are sure to find it wickedly entertaining!

UPDATE: TOUCHING SILVER

I am truly sorry to announce that Juno Books will not be publishing TOUCHING
SILVER by Jamie Craig. The novel was an exciting sequel to last year’s CHASING
SILVER, but we could not persuade the chain stores to stock it.

We suspect that corporate belt-tightening and reduction of titles have something
to do with this. If you are aware of publishing industry news, you’ve probably
read about Borders announcing in March that it’s, more or less, putting itself
up for sale; Barnes & Noble predicted “recessionary pressures in this uncertain
economic environment will make 2008 an especially challenging retail year.”

The authors behind “Jamie Craig” — Pepper Espinoza and Vivien Dean — do not
yet know the future for the “Silver” series. I’m sure they would be happy to
keep you updated. Check their Web site
http://www.jamie-craig.comor
blog or contact directly:
jamiecraigbooks@gmail.com

On to better news . . .

NEXT BOOK: SEABORN by CHRIS HOWARD

We’ll be releasing SEABORN in ebook form before its June 20 print release
because, well, because CHRIS HOWARD, the author, is just so wonderfully geeky,
it seemed appropriate. How geeky is he? Well, of course he has a writer’s blog
and a Web site for the book.

Then there is audio of Chris reading Chapter One of SEABORN in three formats:

• mp3
• m4a
• wma

Video? Three book trailers

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DCdmYNyTe4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JaTdpBZrR8
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfYJgzS9Rr4

Original art by the author:

• http://the0phrastus.typepad.com/photos/portfolio/index.html
• http://the0phrastus.deviantart.com/

An essay about underwater acoustics: How Do Mermaids Hear?

The SEABORN Playlist (What Chris listened to while writing SEABORN)

T-shirts, stickers, bags, and other Seaborn stuff:
Seaborn at Spreadshirt
Seaborn at CafePress

Oh, sure, maybe non-geeks would do all that, but would they have this?
The SEABORN PUBLISHING TIMELINE
AND four other formats:

• VSD - Visio 2003 format
• VDX format
• SVG format
• 600 dpi PNG

Then there’s the SEABORN countdown timer

We are not sure of the ebook publication dates, yet, but watch the Juno blog for
more. . .

For now here’s a sneak peek at a few chapters!

ANOTHER BOOK

The long-awaited hardcover edition of AMBERLIGHT has gone to press. It will be
at least six weeks before we see this puppy, but we’ll let you know when it is
available. Please note that this edition will be limited to 1000 copies and most
of those are already ordered. IF you want to reserve a copy email
info@juno-books.com with AMBERLIGHT HC as the subject and let us know. Don’t
worry - you aren’t committing to anything or putting money down When the
books are available we will notify you immediately and then, if still
interested, you may place an order.

EBOOKS AVAILABLE

If you’ve been reading the blog, you know we have more ebooks available through
Fictionwise. We’ve recently added:

• AMBERLIGHT by Sylvia Kelso
• APRICOT BRANDY by Lynn Cesar
• CLOCKWORK HEART by Dru Pagliassotti
• HOUSE OF WHISPERS by Margaret Lucke
• PERSONAL DEMONS by Stacia Kane

These are all currently 25% off (I think).

BLACKNESS TOWER by Lillian Stewart Carl will be available (I hope) next Monday,
May 30.

You can access Fictionwise through http://www.juno-books.com/ebooks.html

Juno Books titles are available in “multiformat” that includes:

• Adobe [.PDF]
• Microsoft [.LIT]
• Palm Doc [.PDB]
• Rocket/REB1100 [.RB]
• Franklin [.FUB]
• Hiebook [.KML]
• Sony Reader [.LRF]
• Isilo [-IS.PDB]
• Mobipocket [.PRC]
• Kindle [.MOBI]
• OEBFF Full VGA [.IMP]
• OEBFF Half VGA [.IMP]

THITHER & YON

Sean Wallace and I will be going to WISCON this Friday in Madison, Wisconsin.
I’ve been to Madison before (for World Fantasy Con) but have never attended
Wiscon. We’ll have a table in the Dealers Room which, as usual, will say “Prime
Books” because we only own the one custom tablecloth I’ll probably be
hanging out there most of the time.

Juno authors Chris Howard (SEABORN, July) and Lori Devoti (AMAZON INK, spring
2009) will be at Wiscon, as will Sylvia (AMBERLIGHT) Kelso (all the way from
Australia) who will be presenting her academic paper: “Out of Egypt: The
Palimpsest of Speculative and Other Fiction(s) in Carole Mcdonnell’s ‘Wind
Follower’”.

Otherwise, Sean will be on the panel “Inside the Magic Book Machine” (Sunday,
1:00 PM). I’ll be on “Publishing: Meritocracy or Social Construct?” (Sunday, 4
PM) and “The Brave New World of Twenty-First Century Publishing” (Sunday, 10:00
PM)

NO-GO

Although coming down with Type “B” Influenza meant I did not make it to the
Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Pittsburgh last month as planned, Juno
was well represented by CAROLE NELSON DOUGLAS (who received recognition for her
pioneering efforts in genre), LILLIAN STEWART CARL, JANET LORIMER, and LINDA
ROBERTSON. (Linda’s VICIOUS CIRCLE will be out next year). They had samplers
(BLOOD BARGAIN by Maria Lima/BRIMSTONE KISS by Carole Nelson Douglas and SEABORN
by Chris Howard), postcards, PERSONAL DEMONS bracelets from Stacia Kane, and
lots of freebie books. So a big personal thanks to them for representing us so
well and especially to Linda for hauling all that stuff there!

SUBMISSIONS

All submissions received through April 10 have received a response; quite a few
past that date have received replies, too. Again, if you are considering
submitting, PLEASE READ THE CURRENT GUIDELINES
before doing so.
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QUOTATION

“Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are
fiction and non-fiction. And even there, who can be sure?” — Tanith Lee
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