Juno Books

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.
==============
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
==============

Thanks first to Lillian’s comment below about Kathy Sedia’s first novel — I was unaware of it! Duh!

Some sort of “stomach flu” hit Wiscon yesterday — both Chris and Sylvia were victims — but unless there are delayed symptoms, I think I’ve avoided. Also avoided personal interaction with thunderstorms.

I did go to my first two panels — the two I was on. The first had such a strange premise, something about publishing being a meritocracy or a social construct, I’m not entirely sure what it was about. Sharyn November moderated admirably, Gavin Grant and Andrea Hairston were brilliant: I contributed nothing, really. The second — on 21st century publishing — was at 10 PM. I think the only later night panels I’ve ever done before were on things like “dark erotica” or the like. Not exactly the same thing…

Jeremy Lassen was moderator. Jeremy usually doesn’t do a lot of panels because he is busy selling Night Shade books. This year NS didn’t have a table and it freed him to do more. He certainly did a great job as moderator and panelists Rachael Swirsky, Fred Schepartz, and Stephen Eley contributed well. I found I had more to say than I thought, but it was also something I’d like to consider more, uh, more profoundly. (I occasionally wish I had time to write opinionated and / or informative articles/essays. Don’t worry, it passes quickly.) I forget, these days, all the things I’ve done in the last 14 years with what used to be called “new media”.

So, again, I’m the last person you’d want to get any sort of report from on Wiscon. As always, it was good to get out of the Cone of Isolation in which I work alone from home and never have face-to-face conversations with peers and readers and writers and all. On the other hand — well, this is the sort of con where “Prime People”, for lack of a better description, thrive — literary fantasy lovers and creators (and, in this case, academics). With Juno more oriented to the masses these days… well… maybe it is just not a priority for me to even go to such gatherings? Enjoyable, informative, yes; helpful to have me along, but hardly worth the cost to the business.

* * * *

FYI — I am not getting all my email right now, so I will have to catch up with that later when I get home. I’ll also catch up with new subscribers and posting the newsletter then, too.

As expected — with the exception of lunch with Ellen Datlow — a full day at the table. Reports of good panels drifted in, a street fair and farmers market outside in lovely weather (I did walk through it)… but obviously, I’m the last person to give you any sort of report on the con due to my limited point of view. I did at least get a chance to see the rest of the dealers room and chat a bit with folks.

One discovery has been collectible perfume oils — BPAL (Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab) — a phenomenon I was entirely unaware of until now. Tsk! To be so behind the times! Ekaterina Sedia, whose second novel, ALCHEMY OF STONE, will be out from Prime in July, brought a box of samples of the “Steamworks” collection that enticed many to our table. (Don’t miss her phenomenal THE SECRET HISTORY OF MOSCOW, btw.)

Sean hosted our three awesome Juno authors — Sylvia, Lori, and Chris — for dinner. After which, I promptly walked the wrong direction to get back to my hotel. Sigh. I really meant to freshen up and go back for some parties, but, again, fuddy-duddiness o’ertook me. Obviously staying in the con hotel rather than elsewhere is necessary to my ability to socialize.

[I also discovered I never actually posted this yesterday! — P]

Got here around 11:30 this morning, checked in, and toting a bag with 25 lbs of books discovered the con hotel was a great deal further away from my hotel (and uphill) than I had thought. I soldiered on and made it to the dealers room where Sean and Jen (his wife) had the table all set up. Sylvia Kelso was there, too, but as I was busy dying, I barely greeted her. (Made amends later when I had recovered.)

Have also already met Lori Devoti and talked to Chris Howard…and, of course, lots of other people. Sales have been quite brisk, so I see why Sean likes Wiscon. It is also obvious that I will be pretty firmly attached to the table most all of the time.

We had poor Jen completely bored rather quickly babbling publishing gossip and I suspect her previous aversion to attending cons with us publishing types has already returned. (Any sane person would feel the same.)

Had dinner with Cecilia Tan — Publisher (Circlet Press), writer (erotica and baseball), and all around keen person. We talked about, of course, publishing. Her new erotica collection, White Flames, just came out. If you like fantastic short erotica — don’t miss it. Her anthology, Best Fantastic Erotica is also available now.

One topic was how amazing it is that so many of the “new” erotica publishers and writers — thriving for the most part with an e-book base — have never even heard of Masquerade (which not too long ago was the world’s largest erotica publisher). Come to think — I’m sure a lot of folks are entirely unaware of Circlet, the first press devoted primarily to erotic science fiction and fantasy.

A whole lotta folks owe more than they probably know to CT’s ground-breaking efforts.

Anyway, I found my way back to my hotel, but am considering skipping the trek BACK to the con hotel for parties tonight. There will be parties tomorrow…

A view of Madison, WI:

According to a New York Times article older brains may really be wiser. Research has found that forgetting a name or the like is the result of the aging brain simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit. The findings are in a new edition of neurology book, “Progress in Brain Research.” Quoting the NYTimes article:

Some brains do deteriorate with age. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, strikes 13 percent of Americans 65 and older. But for most aging adults, the authors say, much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to latch onto just one fact, like a name or a telephone number. Although that can be frustrating, it is often useful.

“It may be that distractibility is not, in fact, a bad thing,” said Shelley H. Carson, a psychology researcher at Harvard whose work was cited in the book. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind.”

For example, in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases, adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean, older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling over the extra information, but are taking it in and processing it.

When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers, the older adults responded much better than the students.

“For the young people, it’s as if the distraction never happened,” said an author of the review, Lynn Hasher, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. “But for older adults, because they’ve retained all this extra data, they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.”

Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world, where it is not always clear what information is important, or will become important. A seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. Or extra details that stole your attention, like others’ yawning and fidgeting, may help you assess the speaker’s real impact.

“A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more about a situation and the indirect message of what’s going on than their younger peers,” Dr. Hasher said. “We believe that this characteristic may play a significant role in why we think of older people as wiser.”

…Jacqui Smith, a professor of psychology and research professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, who was not involved in the current research, said there was a word for what results when the mind is able to assimilate data and put it in its proper place — wisdom.

The Juno Books News went out earlier today (and a correction directly thereafter). If you aren’t subscribed, you’ll just have to wait until I get around to re-posting it here Or, of course you COULD JUST subscribe!

According to today’s Wall Street Journal,
Barnes & Noble Inc., the nation’s largest book chain by sales, has assembled a team of executives and advisers to study the possibility of acquiring No. 2 chain Borders Group Inc., according to a person familiar with the situation. Marketwatch further reports shares of Borders Group Inc. jumped 14% Wednesday on the basis of the report.

As WSJ’s Jeff Trachtenberg notes, it is unclear if “such a deal would pass antitrust hurdles…Barnes & Noble has about 20% to 22% of the retail book market, while Borders controls 10% to 12%…Web giant Amazon.com Inc. has [an estimated share of] 15%.

“Borders put itself up for sale in March after surprising investors by disclosing a potential liquidity issue. The retailer suggested that declining sales in the second half of the fourth quarter, the tight financial market that made borrowing difficult and the failed sale of some foreign assets were in part to blame. The company has a market value of $384.1 million, although a buyer would have to assume the company’s debt of $548.6 million.

“That Barnes & Noble is contemplating a bid illustrates how competitive book retailing has become.

“Not only have Amazon and other Web retailers taken a significant portion of the $15 billion consumer book business, but also book sales have shown little real growth in recent years.

“A purchase of Borders would give Barnes & Noble a chance to significantly boost revenue and profit. Such a deal also would create cost savings. One potential stumbling block for Barnes & Noble is concern about some of Borders’ store leases and store locations in proximity to current Barnes & Noble stores.”

MarketWatch, shares of bookstore operator Borders Group Inc. jumped 14% Wednesday on a report in The Wall Street Journal that its larger rival Barnes & Noble Inc. is studying a possible bid. However, as a pundit there pointed out, “We continue to believe that Barnes & Noble is better off waiting for a lower price, ideally in their case after a Chapter 11 filing should that come to fruition, as that would allow them to pick and choose the stores they want” from Borders. Further, the analyst said, Barnes & Noble, which also owns mall-based B. Dalton bookstores, also can wait for Borders’ situation to “deteriorate” as the backdrop of the consumer-spending slowdown may further derail a Borders’ turnaround.

Jeff VanderMeer has featured Juno Books on the AMAZON.COM OMNIVORACIOUS BLOG, Dropp by, check it out, comment!

Here’s the purty pikchur he used :

– and on sale for a week on Fictionwise: PERSONAL DEMONS by STACIA KANE (And don’t forget the other new ebooks from Juno!

(And, no, BLACKNESS TOWER is still missing…maybe next week…)

. . . at Fantasyscifibookreview.

On this day in 1907 Daphne, Lady Browning DBE, better known as Dame Daphne du Maurier, was born. (She died April 19, 1989)

To quote an obituary by Richard Kelly:

If Daphne du Maurier had written only Rebecca, she would still be one of the great shapers of popular culture and the modern imagination. Few writers have created more magical and mysterious places than Jamaica Inn and Manderley, buildings invested with a rich character that gives them a memorable life of their own.

In many ways the life of Daphne du Maurier resembles that of a fairy tale. Born into a family with a rich artistic and historical background, the daughter of a famous actor-manager, she was indulged as a child and grew up enjoying enormous freedom from financial and parental restraint. She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, who married her.

Her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. While Alfred Hitchcock’s film based upon her novel proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca….

While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced ‘old-fashioned’ novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience’s love or fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.

In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism…In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story. The nameless heroine has been saved from a life of drudgery by marrying a handsome, wealthy aristocrat, but unlike the Prince in Cinderella, Maxim de Winter is old enough to be the narrator’s father. The narrator thus must do battle with The Other Woman - the dead Rebecca and her witch-like surrogate, Mrs Danvers - to win the love of her husband and father-figure. The fantasy of this novel is fulfilled when Maxim confesses to the narrator that he never loved Rebecca; indeed, he hated her, a confession that allows the narrator to emerge triumphantly from the Oedipal triangle.

The Freudian subtext of Rebecca is embodied in a form that represents the first major Gothic romance of the twentieth century and perhaps the finest written to this day. It contains most of the trappings of the typical Gothic romance: a mysterious, haunted mansion, violence, murder, a sinister villain, sexual passion, a spectacular fire, a brooding landscape and a version of the mad woman in the attic. Du Maurier’s work, however, is much more than a simple thriller or mystery. It is a profound and fascinating study of an obsessive personality, of sexual dominance, of human identity and of the liberation of the hidden self.

Rebecca and the two short stories, ‘The Birds’ and ‘Don’t Look Now’, stand out among du Maurier’s work as landmarks in the development of the modern Gothic tale. She breathes new life into the old form of the Gothic novel to come up with a classic tale of The Other Woman. Millions have identified with the plain, nameless narrator of Rebecca, a woman who defines her personality by overcoming the mother-figure of Rebecca to win the lasting love of her father-lover. ‘The Birds’ and ‘Don’t Look Now’ established the twentieth-century sense of dislocation. The accepted order of things suddenly, and for no apparent reason, is upset. The great chain of being breaks and people find themselves battling for their lives against creatures they always assumed inferior to themselves: birds and children. The continuity of time itself is in question in ‘Don’t Look Now’ as the future bleeds into the present….

Now available (and discounted 15% for a week) on Fictionwise:

Or there is also a page for all the Juno Books titles available!

Personal Demons and Blackness Tower were supposed to go up this week, too, but there were technical glitches, but they should be available next week.

California Lutheran University multimedia students created three book promos for
Clockwork Heart. (Author Dru Pagliassotti is a professor there.) There is a direct link to all three here
And, as they are uploaded to YouTube, I’ve embedded two below, but my favorite one of the three doesn’t yet have any sound on YouTube, so view it on Dru’s site.

Okay, just to be fair—

(Again, all images from iStockphoto.com.)

House of Whispers: Mystery, romance and ghosts come together in this first-class tale. The mystery will keep you guessing until the end while the romance ties the story together nicely. But the paranormal elements set this novel apart and will keep readers engrossed. (4.5 stars)

Clockwork Heart: Escape to the fantastic and captivating three-tiered city Pagliassotti has created. The plot is intricate and has multilayered chracters who perplex, entertain, and gratify. This is a wonderfully written book — one for the keeper shelf. (4.5 stars)

Personal Demons: Kane’s clever story is packed with supernatural action and unique characters….the love interest…zings with sexual tension. Surprises throughout keep tension high and pages turning…. (4 stars)

There was also a less than enthusiastic two-star review of Blackness Tower I will not quote. One doesn’t reply to reviews, but I will say as someone who has written a lot of reviews: This was obviously a mismatch of reviewer to book. That happens sometimes. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I’m entitled not to blog it

Mark Henry and the “Book Club” at League of Reluctant Adultsis discussing PERSONAL DEMONS this week. Drop by and make a comment! Today’s topic: “Stacia served [demons] up three different ways. You got your scary, sexy and comic all in one. Who was (were) your favorite(s)? Why?”

Rambles.net:

Dancing with Werewolves had everything going for it that makes a book good. Delilah Street is a likable and interesting character. Her nightmares and spotty memories indicate some past issues and her behavior is consistent as well. She’s the kind of girl who will adopt a big dog even when her own future is in doubt….Author Carole Nelson Douglas has an amazing ability to bring readers to a place.

The plot keeps you reading as well. There are quite a few satisfying and macabre twists.

While Dancing definitely falls in the fantasy classification, paranormal romance readers should find enough action to keep them interested. Anyone who enjoys Simon R. Green’s Nightside series may very well like this book as well.

Bookshelves of Doom:

…the world building…was, hands down, my favorite aspect of the book. Dru Pagliassotti dropped me right into (well, technically above — Taya is flying when the book begins) Ondinium and let me get acquainted with the world as I read. As the book progressed, the world got bigger and bigger, the technology became more and more interesting, the politics got increasingly more complex, and my perspective was constantly affected by snippets about the history of the world and by the different opinions of the characters. The interactions between different castes had me fascinated and I’m very curious about the world outside Ondinium.

I really hope there will be more books set in this world, whether they are a continuation of Taya’s story or about completely different characters.

Okay, except for occasionally bragging about my outstanding children and the like, I rarely mention anything too personal here. I don’t know why, but I feel like I should make some sort of public announcement — and the Net is as public as it gets (although I sometimes think people forget that). Today marks a major event in my life. I think. I am, as of about three hours ago, no longer married. I’ve been married longer than I was single, so that must be a milestone of some sort. Despite my little graphic here, I’m not actually divorced — I am “dissolved”. I can’t say this is something to celebrate, but I am, for the most part, glad the day has come.

And no, I’m not returning to my maiden name. Never liked it much anyway and, after all, I like have the same last name as my four kids and (so far) one daughter-in-law. Besides, I’m probably the most famous “Guran” in the world (so far)

(Now I bet you want to know what my maiden name was, huh?)

Yes, we all make fun of “man titties” and the like. But have you ever thought about what books would look like with, uh, regular guys on the cover? Maybe we don’t want to go there…(All images from iStockPhoto)

FantasyLiterarture.net (four stars):

Though it doesn’t exactly have the most original and distinctive plot ever, Personal Demons holds its own. I could have wished to see a little more of Megan actually performing her job of radio talk show host. On the other hand, I like the interesting line that Personal Demons walks between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I’d definitely say it leans more to the latter, while adopting a few more paranormal romance-like traits in a way that I could really appreciate. I mean, hello, it’s not told from first person POV. I honestly developed a little bit of a girl crush on Ms. Kane for that, because I was beginning to think it was illegal or something to write an urban fantasy in anything but first person.

I waffled a bit with the score for Personal Demons. I wasn’t quite sure I’d call it a four star book, but it wasn’t really a three star book, and even three and a half didn’t quite cover it. In spite of its flaws, Stacia Kane has really created something quite delightful here. So in the end I decided to just round up.

Fallen Angels:

House of Whispers by Margaret Lucke is Book One of the Supernatural Properties and an excellent start for her new series. The book contains all my favorite elements: strong, independent characters, intense sexual attraction between the main characters that might lead to a lasting relationship, spooky paranormal occurrences and the underlying thread of danger that builds the suspense up to a climatic ending! And best of all, Ms. Lucke plans to do it again as this is just the first book of the series. I really like the character of Claire and it sounds like she will continue to find additional “problem” houses in the future for the other stories in the series. I can’t wait. I was drawn into Claire’s story from the first page and could hardly put the book down for wanting to know what could possibly happen next. Well done, Ms. Lucke! (Five Angels)

Huntress Reviews:

Like Barbara Michaels, Phyllis Whitney, and Victoria Holt, Ms. Lucke weaves a spell around her readers. Unlike modern urban fantasies, the pacing is very deliberate, taking time to build, rather than running at a perpetual motion machine, with constant action that never lets you take a breath. House of Whispers blends the old and new effectively, efficiently, and no pun intended, hauntingly.

Agony Column

Sure, it’s a simple setup, but handled with enough class and cleverness to keep you reading and just as importantly, prevent you from thinking. You’ll live in this tightly plotted supernatural mystery right up till the last page; not surprisingly, Margaret Lucke was nominated for a Best First Mystery Anthony for ‘Relative Stranger.’ I don’t know that I could bring this to our beach as yet, but if you and your beach are ready, here’s a fine book to fill your life with other lives, to whisper in your ears like the ghosts of the dead – and it won’t command you to solve any murders.

I Read Whatt??:

This was a very quick read for me, overall an enjoyable read. It is a blend of romance, mystery, and paranormal. While reading “House of Whispers” I was wishing that it would get spookier, but I was happy with the romantic mystery. I will probably pick up the next in the series for a quick read.

And, although there’s no review, Fresh Fiction made it a “Fresh Pick of the Week”.

As far as I can tell, all submission received before April 10 have, one way or another, been responded to. There are a few I responded to with “this is still under consideration.” I have received a number of new subs just in the last couple of weeks. (They seem to come in bunches for some reason…)

As usual, people are still ignoring the guidelines and sending all sorts of unsuitable material: male protagonists, techno-thrillers, bad erotica, collections, young adult material…if it is obviously way, way offbase, I’ve taken to hitting “reply” and typing: Please read our guidelines (and supplying the URL). I’m sure some folks think this is rude, but, really, isn’t it a little rude to submit without reading the guidelines?

However, for those who think I am being an Evil Editrix: Note the Evil Queen’s throne in the image below…aha! Yes, a PEACOCK throne…mwahahahahaaa!

Although you can’t really make much out, you can see that this article with my smiling face and some recognizable Juno covers is in Swedish! Here’s the whole page in PDF from Dagens Nyheter, the largest Swedish morning newspaper. (”Dagens nyheter” means “news of the day” in Swedish.) http://www.dn.se/No, I didn’t get to go to Sweden. A very nice reporter, Johanna Paulsson, phoned me and did the interview. I can guess at what some of it says because I vaguely remember what I answered. “Ja och nej,” for instance is “Yes and no.” The part about Sherlock Holmes and urban fantasy is some quotation of me talking about one of my theories about why UF is popular these days. (The world is so full of problems we have trouble believing they are solvable through rational thinking and human action, so we enjoy reading about people with supernatural connections or magical powers solving problems rather than rational detectives like Sherlock Holmes.)

I’d never heard about Cover Cafe until someone mentioned they have their < a href="http://www.covercafe.com/contest/2007/coverintro.shtml">2007 Cover Contest nominees posted and thought that maybe a Juno cover or two should have been mentioned. Not, I hope in the “worst cover” category. I think all we would ever qualify for is “alternative reality” or “romantic suspense”. These are supposed to be “romantic”, so that would have left Mortal Glamour out as a historical, although Euryale would be okay. (Not that I think these folks would care for either cover.)

If you are interested, you can nominate 2008 covers here.

Publishers Weekly reports publishers, booksellers, and others are fighting yet ANOTHER new censorship law, this one in Oregon. The new Oregon law criminalizes the dissemination of sexually explicit material to anyone under age 13, or the dissemination to anyone under age 18 of any material with the intent to sexually arouse the recipient or the provider. The new statute, which makes no provision for judging the material as a whole, nor for considering its serious literary, artistic or scientific value, went into effect January 1.
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Harlequin’s parent company, Torstar, has reported book sales down 12 percent to $CN110 million, and
operating profit down 15 percent to $CN16 million for the first quarter. The drops were smaller “excluding the impact of foreign exchange,” with North American retail sales flat, but the main reason cited is “the strong publishing schedule a year ago.”

The release also says: “We continue to expect modest growth from Harlequin for the year unless there is a major economic slowdown in the US retail environment. The uncertainty in the US economy does not appear to have affected Harlequin’s US sales in the first quarter. However, if the US economy softens further it could have a negative impact on the remainder of the year. Harlequin will begin to realize revenue and operating profit in the second quarter of 2008 related to the agreement with SoftBank to provide digital manga content.”
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Little, Brown has announced Stephanie Meyer’s first adult novel, The Host, will have a first printing of 750,000 copies of teen-reader sensation Meyer’s first book for adults, THE HOST. “This is probably the biggest printing we’ve had for a first adult novel.” Considering she has more than 7.5. million books in print worldwide of her vampiric “Twilight Saga” for teen readers, they arn’t taking much of a risk
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And, while I was having the flu and missing the Romantic Times Con, Steve Segal (Weird Tales editorial & creative director and Juno’s cover designer) was frolicking about at NYComicCon talking up the 85th Anniversary makeover and getting his picture made with Neil Gaiman