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New and Upcoming Books!

June 6, 2008 by Linda O. Johnston in category Events, Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Silhouette Nocturne

by Linda O. Johnston
www.LindaOJohnston.com

I’m really fortunate: I’m multi-published and love it! Sometimes, I even have more than one book published a year. Not this year, though. DOUBLE DOG DARE, the sixth in the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery, is a June release, and it’s my only book of 2008. Which is fine with me.

Then there’s 2009, coming up way too fast! I will have three, maybe four, books published then. My first Silhouette Nocturne, now titled ALPHA WOLF, will be a January release, and I will have a Nocturne Bites available as an e-novella that same month, also based on the Wolf Force. My second Nocturne, working title MORTAL OPTIONS, has been scheduled for June. The seventh Kendra book, NEVER SAY STY, will be out in April. And there’s a small possibility that the eight Kendra book could come out by year-end, since they tend to be published around eight months apart.

As my last Slice of Orange blog indicated, I’m already going nuts running to various events to publicize my books, and that’s so even with just one out this year. Am I complaining? Absolutely not! I realize how lucky I am. But I mentioned cloning myself in my last post here, and that was before I was given publication dates for my Nocturnes. Now it seems like an even better idea.

Better yet, I’ll send Kendra! She is my alter ego, after all. She and I are both lawyers who live in the Hollywood Hills with our Cavalier King Charles Spaniels named Lexie. Unfortunately, though, the similarities end there. Or maybe not so unfortunately. My practice of law as a real estate attorney is a lot less exciting than hers as a litigator, specialist in Animal Dispute Resolution, and murder magnet. But she’s very busy practicing law, pet-sitting and solving crimes in her spare time. I suspect that she’d very nicely but firmly tell me to do it myself.

And I will!

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A Fantasy Life

May 27, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn

by Janet Quinn Cornelow

Rayna was the first character in the Augeas series. She had been sitting on the front porch with Grandmother for several years before I figured out who she was and where she belonged. There are now six Augeas stories and more in the works. Unfortunately, I write faster than my artist draws so my picture collection is behind.

This month has been filled with all the publishing part of the writing process. Iâ€™ve had to do edits and a galley with more galleys coming. However, as I read the galley for the re-release of Yesteryearâ€™s Love, I thought about the fantasy part of time travel. It isnâ€™t as hard core fantasy because the characters just move between one time frame and another and the author has to stay true to both time frames. Of course, if the characters went forward in time, then the author would need to create a new world.

With time travel the first thing an author has to figure out is what propels the character through time. There are many options, but finding a new one is a challenge. I chose a stain glass window. I came up with all types of reasons why the stain glass window was a portal. It was charmed before it was imported to nowhere. It was over a scared spot that the Native Americans knew about. Actually, none of it matter. It moved people through time and space and how it did so was never explained nor needed.

Then, if the character returns to her own time, how much time has passed since she left. Does time move at the same rate so that if she is gone for a year, a year has passed in her time? Or, does no time pass and does she return to where she started? It can work either way or something in between.

Then, if the character is going back in time, what about bathrooms? Who wants to use a chamber pot or the outhouse. Itâ€™s amazing when flush toilets came into being and the different types of bathtubs that were around in the 1800â€™s. Arenâ€™t bathtubs, hot water and toilets important? Itâ€™s bad enough to do without microwaves, cell phones and computers.

Art work by Jasmine Tanner – http://veildandy.deviantart.com

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Desperation — and Inspiration!

May 19, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Writer on the Verge by Kate Carlisle tagged as Kate Carlisle, Writer on the Verge

By Kate Carlisle

The best of intentions get blown into the wind like a dandelion sometimes. Take this blog, for instance. Earlier this week, I had every intention of getting up bright and early this morning and posting a blog all about the need for meeting our deadlines.

How ironic.

Instead, yesterday morning I drove 140 miles out to the desert to take care of some things for my mother. I spent all day and part of this morning out there, then drove back home–and only then did I remember that I had a blog to write.

Ah, well. Anyway, instead of my brilliant and passionate spiel about meeting deadlines, I’ll simply make everyone’s day and post a photo of the man who inspired me as I wrote the hero in my new mystery series. My character is a former British Commander turned security agent. With that sort of background, who else could inspire me more than … well, you know.

So here’s a little inspiration for the remainder of your Sunday afternoon.

Cheers!

Kate Carlisle writes the Bibliophile Mysteries for NAL. Watch for the first book in the series, HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER, in February 2009.

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The Write Way………..

May 17, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category The Write Way by Maureen Child tagged as Maureen Child, The Write Way

It’s so hot right now, it’s really hard to work……especially for those of us who do NOT have A/C–(that’s right, weep for me!) So, instead of writing my own words, I’ve been indulging in reading everybody else’s.

As writers, we all got into this because we love books. All books. Any books. I have so many books in my house, my dh insists that when the ‘Big One’ finally hits Southern California, they’re going to find my body under a mountain of books….For me, doesn’t like such a bad way to go.

Since I became a writer though, reading sort of took the back seat. I get so involved in my own worlds, with my own characters, I sometimes feel that I don’t have nearly enought time to simply read anymore. I can go a couple of weeks, even a month without feeling the overpowering urge to read….then it hits.

And boy, when it hits, it hits hard. In the last month or so, I think I’ve read more than fifty books. And I seem to be on a Regency England kick at the moment, which is odd since I stopped reading (and writing) historicals years ago. But I’ve rediscovered the magic of an earlier time. I’m thrilling to the Alpha male in a British drawing room. I’m loving the sweep of the moors and the delicate beauty of an English garden. And oh, the dialogue. The wit. The banter.

So in the midst of my reading binge, I’m realizing again just what first drew me to the magic of the written word. I’m remembering the passion for writing. The simple joy of being able to create worlds for a living.

And I’m hop

ing that somewhere out there, readers are enjoying MY books as much as I’m enjoying everyone else’s.

So what are YOU reading?

Maureen Child is the author of more than 100 romance novels, but at the moment, she’s sitting in front of her fan, pretending she’s in Mayfair………

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So Many Writing Events!

May 6, 2008 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Silhouette Nocturne

Iâ€™ve come to the conclusion that there are too many writing events and not enough time! (Does time seem like a recurring theme in my Slice of Orange entries? I think I’m obsessed!) I recently returned from Malice Domestic in Crystal City, Virginia (near Washington) and the Mystery Lovers Festival in Oakmont, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh). The Romantic Times BookClub conference was held in Pittsburgh earlier in April, and I considered attending since I grew up in Pittsburgh, but couldnâ€™t do all of them. By choosing Malice, I got to network with editors and publicity people from my mystery publisher, Berkley Prime Crime, plus see my agent and meet her new baby. However, I missed the L.A. Times Festival of Books, and I didnâ€™t go to the Edgar Awards in New York, partly because I needed to get back here not only to write, but also because I was on a panel at the Palm Springs Book Fair last weekend. Of course going there meant I missed the Sisters in Crime meeting, and I also wound up not having time to attend the special Julia Quinn workshop held by the Los Angeles Chapter of RWA on Saturday.

Upcoming are BEA (Book Expo America) here in L.A., plus the American Library Association conference, also in this area. Iâ€™ll be in the Chicago area for a bridal shower for my future daughter-in-law (yay!) and it happens to coincide with the Printers Row Book Fair hosted by the Chicago Tribune, so Iâ€™ll have an opportunity to sign my newest (June release) Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery there, DOUBLE DOG DARE. Iâ€™ll be back in time for the next OCC meeting.

Iâ€™m registered for the Romance Writers of America annual conference in San Francisco, and hope to actually attend despite all my other plans for this year. I donâ€™t have time to go to Bouchercon or Thrillerfest, and I missed Left Coast Crime this year, too, although Iâ€™m considering going next year since itâ€™ll be on the Big Island of Hawaii. I will, however, be giving a talk during the Kern County Libraryâ€™s adult summer reading program, as well as another talk for the new East Valley Chapter of RWA. Iâ€™ve been enlisted for a panel at the West Hollywood Book Fair and am also scheduling authors for the Mystery Writers of America booth… only I may wind up missing it since that may be the weekend my older son gets married.

Did I mention I have a couple of book deadlines? Iâ€™ve already blogged here about how adorable –and time-consuming–my Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are these days, especially with the new puppy. Oh, and Iâ€™m still engaged in my â€œtemporaryâ€ part-time law position…

Well, DOUBLE DOG DARE is about cloning. Maybe I can figure out a way to clone myself.

Linda O. Johnston
www.LindaOJohnston.com
www.KillerHobbies.blogspot.com

Linda O. Johnston is the author of 14 romance novels as well as the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime–and has 2 Silhouette Nocturnes upcoming!

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