Posts tagged with: new release
Posted by Gwynlyn MacKenzie Mar 25 2013, 12:05 am in change, contemporary romance, Hope Ramsay, Last Chance Book Club, new release, romance, Ruby Release
Savannah White is running from a bad situation, back to the only place she ever really felt loved. But much has changed since she last visited Last Chance. For one thing, it’s cold. Savannah always visited during the summer. Thanks to the the early spring chill, the town feels different than she remembers. For another, Aunt Miriam, whose practical caring offered a welcome respite from Savannah’s critical, impossible-to-please mother, seems to be fading since Uncle Harry died.
The changes discomfit Savannah, but it’s what remains the same that presents the real problem: Dash Randall, her childhood nemesis, is back home with Aunt Miriam. Money precludes staying elsewhere, and proximity to Dash demands Savannah acknowledge that the snide, gangly boy she loathed is now downright drool-worthy. Even so, the animosity founded in their youthful rivalry blinds her to the man the boy has become.
Dash, for his part, has a similar problem. Savannah is as welcome in his world as another knee surgery. Less welcome, actually. The surgery cost him his career; Savannah might cost him the life he’s managed to cobble together since.
Old resentments and jealousies rear their ugly heads. Forced to live in the same house as Savannah, to notice things that might soften his antipathy, Dash ruthlessly resurrects those feelings lest he yield to his unexpected attraction to the princess whose annual visits made his life hell.
Despite her uncertain future and her best efforts to remain apart, Savannah finds herself becoming woven into the weft and warp of Last Chance, going so far as to play peace-maker when the book club ladies rebel against reading dreary literary tomes and clamor for a romance. Savannah suggests Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a book of sufficient literary merit to appease the town librarian, the driving force behind the book club, while still appealing to everyone else.
As it turns out, Savannah and Elizabeth Bennett have much in common.
You’d think a release announcement would be easy to write. The topic is set in stone. The book is read (and, in this case, enjoyed). All that’s necessary is a brief summation to introduce the story to the world.
You’d be dead wrong.
Last Chance is a place we’ve come to know as well as we know our own home towns. It’s become real, filled with people who could be our aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, or the crazy cat-lady down the street. It’s familiar, comfortable, welcoming.
Most of us dislike change. The very idea makes us shudder and mutter something like “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” even as we know what doesn’t change stagnates. It takes a brave soul to mess with success.
There is no denying Hope Ramsay takes a risk in her new release, Last Chance Book Club. There are changes aplenty. The Sorrowful Angel has gone to her eternal rest. We see brief cameos by the townspeople we know, but few play a major role; fans of Miz Ruby will see little of her in this tale. Even the church ladies take a back seat, appearing only now and again to stir the pot and keep the town’s character alive.
Instead, several secondary and mentioned-in-passing characters have taken center stage—to good effect. Some will be immediately recognizable to anyone who has visited Last Chance in the past, some will tease memories—including the war veteran with a knack for woodwork and matching people with the animals he’s rescued.
Oh, and did I mention he keeps company with a ghost?
This is a story about change, growth, understanding, and self-discovery, none of which would work with the beloved characters from previous books.
Some risks are worth taking. This is one of them.
* * * * *
Thanks, Gwynlyn, for writing such a lovely summary of Last Chance Book Club. Since this is the beginning of another series of stories that follow members of the book club, the life of Nita Wills, and a new character names Zeph Gibs, I felt I needed to shift the focus just a bit.
In the next few books, readers will be learning more about some of the younger folks in town. This allows me to also keep tabs on what’s happening in the lives of previoius heroines and heroes. Readers have made it clear they want to know.
Which brings me to an important announcement I would like to make here at the RSS blog. If you’re a fan of the Last Chance stories and want to connect with other readers to gossip about what’s happening in town, or discuss the books, there is now a place to do so – the virtual Last Chance Book Club, which is has been set up as a Facebook group. You can visit and join the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lastchancebookclub/. I’ll be hanging out there on a regular basis, but I’m hoping that the group will give readers a place to connect with each other. And I’ll be doing special giveaways and other stuff there from time to time. But mostly it’s a place for folks who have read the books to come and socialize.
How do you feel about characters in a series of books? Do you want to know what’s going on in the lives of past heroes and heroines? Or are you a person who’s happy to leave it at happily ever after? One commenter on today’s blog will receive an autographed copy of Last Chance Book Club.
Hope Ramsay was born in New York and grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but every summer Momma would pack her off under the care of Aunt Annie to go visiting with relatives in the midlands of South Carolina. Her extended family includes its share of colorful aunts and uncles, as well as cousins by the dozens, who provide the fodder for the characters you’ll find in Last Chance, South Carolina. Hope earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Buffalo, and has had various jobs working as a Congressional aide, a lobbyist, a public relations consultant, and a meeting planner. She’s a two-time finalist in the Golden Heart, and is married to a good ol’ Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her heroes. She has two grown children and a couple of demanding lap cats. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia where you can often find her on the back deck, picking on her thirty-five-year-old Martin guitar.
Her books are available through Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.
Posted by Laurie Kellogg Feb 13 2013, 1:00 am in Laurie Kellogg, new release, romantic suspense, Valentine Reads
This year Valentine’s Day falls on the same day as our Winter Writing Festival check-in, so I’m celebrating a little early. Happy Valentine’s Day!
People in young relationships traditionally do something romantic and often extravagant on Valentine’s Day. However, as a relationship matures and becomes settled, we frequently become complacent and neglect to observe this holiday for lovers.
Sometimes it’s because we’ve become overly practical and decide we don’t need to be romantic on cue. As a result, some of us celebrate some other day when there’s no wait for a table at a good restaurant, roses only cost $9.99 a dozen, and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are marked down to 50% off. And then there are some who have trouble thinking of ways to be romantic and simply don’t do anything. If you’re like me and you married one of those individuals you might want to read a Ruby blog I wrote in 2010, Valentine’s Day Encouragement for the Romantically Challenged, for a bit of consolation.
In my opinion, rescheduling your personal Valentine’s Day to a more opportune time is great as long as you don’t ignore spending time with your sweetheart and showing him or her the depth of your love. My family moves holidays all the time to accommodate everyone’s schedule. We’ve permanently moved Mother’s Day to the Saturday night before to avoid the mobbed restaurants, so is it any surprise I moved Valentine’s Day?
I must confess, the WWF check-in day wasn’t the only reason I wanted to celebrate today. The other reason is I officially launched my debut novel, The Memory of You, last year on Valentine’s Day here on the Ruby Blog, although, the book was actually published on February 6th. (Incidentally, that book is presently FREE at Amazon to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Operation Homecoming.)
This year, I (and my alter ego, L.L. Kellogg) pushed hard to publish our seventh novel by February 5th, simply so I could say I published seven books in one year. Silly, I know, but it was my goal. And anyone who’s participating in the WWF knows how good it feels to meet an especially challenging objective.
The third reason I wanted to officially launch this book today is because the story actually opens at eleven p.m. on the night before Valentine’s Day. So without further ado (drum roll please), I’m proud to announce my alter ego, L.L. Kellogg, has just released The Naughty Never Die, Book 2 in the Seduction series.
Anyone who’s read Book 1 of the series, Hypnotic Seduction, knows there was a minor suspense element in the story, however, it wasn’t substantial enough to categorize the novel as suspense. This new release was originally called Finding Trouble (the title under which it won the Ignite the Flame and Touch of Magic contests and became a Daphne DuMaurier finalist). It was SUPPOSED to be strictly a romantic comedy, too.
Much to my dismay, however, L.L., in her usual obnoxious way, took the story places I really didn’t want to go, because I DON’T WRITE SUSPENSE. But would L.L. listen to me? NO WAY. She insisted on bringing out the inner Snookie in my uptight, prissy Jersey Girl heroine and threatening her life.
(So maybe you can understand why I locked L.L. in her room today and refused to let her attend this launch party. You should’ve seen the floozy outfit she planned on wearing.)
Anyway, we once again ended up writing a fence-straddling plot. The romance half of the book is laugh-out-loud funny, whereas the suspense subplot is dark and edgy and scandalous enough to make our philandering politicians seem like choir boys. It’s still a Red-hot Romance that’s a Little Naughty and a Lot of Fun, but it’s definitely different than my other novels.
If only the good die young,
then New Jersey’s virtuous First Lady should be a cinch to kill.
Unless….deep down she’s really quite naughty.
The Beauty—a chronic people pleaser who’s had enough of her goody-two-shoes life
Since her mother’s untimely death, crusader Josephine Callahan has served as New Jersey’s First Lady. Acting as her father’s official hostess in the governor’s mansion is tantamount to living in a fishbowl, which makes S-E-X extremely difficult. On the brink of a nervous breakdown, frustrated Josie loses her usual good sense along with her cool and lets her assemblyman boyfriend sweet-talk her into an impromptu romantic getaway–something she would never consider if she had a clue someone is trying to kill her.
The Beast—an incurable bad boy who refuses to admit beneath his scars lurks a hero
A deliberately twisted message, via the governor’s spiteful assistant, misleads ex Special Forces officer, DJ Ryder, as to the true objective of his freelance assignment. He’s told to, not only track down the governor’s classy daughter and hold her in protective custody, but to also teach her a lesson by letting her believe she’s been kidnapped.
When Josie discovers the scarred, but still sexy, badass has played her for a fool, she retaliates by feigning a raging case of Stockholm syndrome, teasing the brute until all he can think of is the ‘hold her’ part of his orders. How can Ryder concentrate on keeping Josie safe when he’s busy avoiding the danger she poses to his heart?
Now that I’ve shared what my heroine, Josie, will be doing for Valentine’s Day, how about you? What plans to have with your sweetheart?
Do you ever have trouble keeping your plot from going places you’d prefer not to visit—like the sick mind of a psychopath?
Leave a comment to be eligible for a drawing to win a $25 American Express Gift Card.
Posted by Laurie Kellogg Nov 9 2012, 12:01 am in Laurie Kellogg, new release, sisters, surrogate mothers
Have you ever wondered where the idiom, sticking your neck out, originated? Some believe the saying is a metaphorical reference to turtles, which become vulnerable when they poke their heads out of their shells. If a turtle remains inside, it’s safe from predators. However, a turtle also can’t locate food from within its shell, so if it doesn’t ever risk its neck, it’ll starve.
There’s a lesson in this for writers. Publishing is a risky business, and editors pass up wonderful books all the time because they’re unwilling to take a chance on stories that don’t fit the current trend. On the other hand, the books that are given the biggest advances and the most publisher support are also frequently novels that are different enough to grab readers’ attention. That’s why acquiring editors constantly say they want something different—but not too different.
Negotiating that balancing act can be really tough, but if a writer always plays it safe, chances are she’ll go the way of a turtle who refuses to stick his neck out. She”ll starve as an author. If your keeper shelf is anything like mine, the authors of your favorite novels broke some so-called rules. One of the reasons LaVyrle Spencer’s and Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s titles dominate my bookcase is because they aren’t afraid to tackle tough subjects that some might consider taboo or unpopular. They take risks.
For example, in Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s novel, Ain’t She Sweet, the heroine, Sugar Beth, did something most readers would consider unforgivable. And, yet, SEP managed to instill sympathy in her audience for this character, who by rights, everyone should hate. In The Fulfillment (which helped inspire my holiday release), LaVyrle Spencer managed to write a compelling romance involving infidelity and still managed to keep all of the characters heroic.
These authors’ ability to craft such irresolvable conflicts and to find ways to, not only keep the characters likable, but still give them a happy ever after, has always left me in awe. It’s books like these that reinforce my belief that characters can do anything in a story and still remain heroic if the author gives them sufficient and proper motivation.
My newest release, No Exchanges, No Returns, is this kind of risky story. It received a lot of mixed opinions and scores in contests. Judges either loved it or hated it. And, yet, this book got closer to selling than any of my other novels, which I believe is because its surrogate-mother plot pushes the boundaries.
At the same time, this à la Jerry Springer story defies the romance genre’s conventions enough that I feared it would incense some of my audience. Therefore, I considered leaving the manuscript under the bed for my pet dust-bunnies to feast on. In the end, however, my alter ego, L.L., refused to let me leave it unpublished. Any regular visitors to the Ruby blog have undoubtedly met L.L in my past posts and know what a bully she can be. I realize there are other, more fitting adjectives for my alter ego than bully, but this is a PG-rated blog.
Anyway, L.L. kept screaming in my ear, “Grow a pair, you wimp! So what if the heroine ends up with her sister’s ex-husband. Things like that actually happen. This is a great story about sisterly love and sacrifice. Even if some people don’t enjoy No Exchanges, No Returns, a lot of readers will love it. It’s touching, it’s funny, it’s real, and it’s hot—what’s not to like? Do you think E.L. James didn’t worry her Fifty Shades of Grey would offend some readers? Her book has over four thousand 1-star reviews. Name a book that’s hit the New York Times Bestsellers list that doesn’t have something a little different or offbeat in it.”
Don’t tell my alter ego I said this, but she made a valid point. I was being a coward. So I stuck my neck out and published the book—mostly to shut L.L. up. Now I’ll just have to wait and see what the readers’ response is.
No Exchanges, No Returns
A new twist on O. Henry’s classic tale, The Gift of the Magi
There were never such devoted sisters…
Dr. David Lambert and his wife, Brianna, received the ultimate Christmas gift from her fraternal twin. They gratefully accepted it, of course, because everyone knows you can’t return a baby like an itchy sweater. Yet, that’s essentially what Brianna does when she has a meltdown and unexpectedly divorces David. She runs from their home in Redemption, Pennsylvania, and leaves their surrogate—her sister, Casey—pregnant with his little bundle.
When David chose her beautiful twin over her, Casey McIntyre hid her hurt behind a wall of sarcasm. Now that her sister has divorced her husband, it’s increasingly difficult to remember why the hunky pediatrician is supposed to be off limits—especially since Brianna doesn’t seem to want him or care if Casey and he get involved.
David always liked and admired his selfless ex-sister-in-law—despite that the sassy preschool teacher is always busting his chops. Consequently, after his wife bails on marriage and motherhood, it’s only natural he turns to Casey for sympathy. Unfortunately, the exasperating pixie becomes more irresistible with each day she carries his child. He already mistook lust for love once and jumped way too fast into marriage. He’s not about to botch up his life that way again.
Casey wants whatever happiness she can grab, whether it’s temporary or not. The only problem is, if she lets herself love her baby (or David), what will happen to her when her sister inevitably realizes her mistake and returns to Redemption?
To celebrate my holiday release of No Exchanges, No Returns, I’ll be holding a random drawing for a digital copy of the book from the list of commenters.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!
Now it’s your turn to share. In which of your favorite novels did the authors take chances and how? In what way are you sticking out your neck in your current WIP? What concerns do you have about pushing the boundaries of the romance genre?
Posted by Gwynlyn MacKenzie Oct 3 2012, 12:01 am in Christmas romance, Christmas story, Hope Ramsay, Last Chance Christmas, new release, Ruby Release, small town romance, sorrowful angel
(Looking for the MAKE IT GOLDEN Contest finalist list? Jump to here.)
I love, Love, LOVE Christmas stories! Since I also adore the beguiling denizens of Last Chance, put both in one book, and I can’t resist.
Visiting Last Chance is always a joy, but Hope Ramsay has outdone herself this time. She took a difficult hero, a wounded heroine, familiar characters, added a little Christmas magic, and—Voila!— gave us a story sure to touch the Scroogiest of hearts.
This story brims with subtext, emotion, difficult questions and situations. It draws us back to a painful time when tensions—and prejudices—ran deep, compels us to remember and forgive, and reminds us that healing, redemption, and love are the true gifts of Christmas.
Thus, rather than interview one of the story’s characters, I opted to peek into the mind that gave Last Chance, and all who dwell within it, life.
Hope, tell us about Last Chance. Is it a real place? An amalgamation of places? Or a product of your imagination?
Last Chance and Allenberg County, South Carolina are made up places. But the town is very loosely based on Denmark, South Carolina—a place with one stoplight that you’d miss if you sneezed while traveling through. A couple of aunts and uncles lived in Denmark, and I went visiting there every summer as a child. Denmark was as far away from New York City, where I lived the rest of the time, as a place could get. When I first set out to write about Denmark, I used the real place, but I soon discovered that reality can be a major drag, especially when I wanted to give Denmark a quirky miniature golf course. So I reinvented it. And of course my imagination took me to a whole different place altogether. One setting is authentic, however. The Edisto River Country Club is a real place in Bamberg County, and I’ve described it exactly as it truly is. As you can see from the photo, the water really is the color of iced tea.
What inspired you to write about a tiny South Carolina town filled with colorful characters?
I know this is going to sound weird, but I’ve always known that someday I would write a story influenced by my childhood memories. I can’t even tell you when I decided that – sometime when I was very young. When I finally sat down to write the first Last Chance story – a novel called For Love or Money, which finaled in the 2009 Golden Heart – I had the oddest feeling that I had come home. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was meant to write these stories. So I guess you could say that the inspiration came from on high or something.
What imp had you name the Rhodes children Stone, Clay, Tulane, and Rocky (aka Caroline)?
Rhodes is a family name. And when I was a child I thought that my Cousin Clayton’s name was funny, especially since a lot of the roads in South Carolina were unpaved at the time. If you ventured onto one of those red clay roads during a summer thunderstorm, you just might get mired deep in some slippery stuff. My 2009 Golden Heart book, which will forever remain under the bed, thank you — was a sideways retelling of Cinderella. My heroine, an early version of Caroline Rhodes, heroine of Last Chance Beauty Queen, was the Cinderella stand in. She needed stepsisters, but stepsisters have been done, so instead I gave her a bunch of good ol’ boy brothers. I thought it would be fun to give them silly names. Clay was easy. Stone followed Clay pretty fast. I jettisoned Dusty, because it’s done before. It took some serious thought to come up with the third name. My husband and I were riding down a two-lane road brainstorming ideas when the name, Tulane, presented itself. We laughed until we cried.
Golfing for God is so well planned. Does such a place, or something similar, actually exist? Or is this another gem mined from your imagination?
Once again I have to go back to my 2009 Golden Heart manuscript. In that story Caroline has to take a visiting English baron on a tour of South Carolina. Caroline wants to show the baron all the sights of the New South. The baron wants to go slumming. He’s got a guidebook with various roadside attractions that he wants to see. So, of course I had to consult www.roadsideamerica.com to see what kind of roadside weirdness existed in the real world. (I’m dying to visit the alien visitors’ center located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, but I digress.) While researching I came across a putt-putt located in Tennessee that was Bible themed. That place is no longer in business, but I’ve seen photos – the holes were all New Testament and kind of lame, if you want to know. So I decided to have fun with the Old Testament, especially with the plague of frogs, which always struck me as funny when I went to Sunday School. And once the idea sprouted, it was like Topsy, it just grew.
Many of the town settings in your books are revisited again and again. Do you have a map? Layouts of Ruby’s salon? How do you keep it all straight?
Yup, I have a map. It started as a map of Denmark and it’s grown. I also created a map of the golf course, because so much action takes place there, I had to know which hole was located where. You can see the golf course map here (http://www.hoperamsay.com/GFG/GFG.htm). I keep a world building Bible that has all kinds of stuff in it. Not just maps, but time lines that go all the way back to the Civil War. I’m seriously OCD.
Having met Stone in previous books, he seemed a hard nut to crack. Is that why his is the story told during the season of miracles? Did you always intend for it to be so? Or did your publisher desire a Christmas book?
Wow, that’s weird, Gwynlyn. Years ago, when I was first plotting Stone’s book I gave it the working title: “A Hard Nut to Crack.” Did you know that?
I had no idea!
Anyway, the heroine in that early outline was going to be a ballerina on the lam and I was trying to figure out how to work in the Nutcracker story. So, yeah, it was going to be a Christmas book from the get go. I didn’t get very far with this early outline. And Stone’s book got shelved for a long time (years) while I worked on selling the series. Once I made the sale, the series story elements had moved on, and Haley’s angel had come into being. So the Nutcracker idea was jettisoned and I went with Christmas angels instead. The publisher also wanted a holiday book, so luckily we were all on the same page.
Last Chance Christmas is rife with subtext, more so than any of your other books. Was this a conscious decision? Or did it result from the many threads this book finally ties?
It’s a complicated story for a couple of reasons. The first is the obvious one that I needed to resolve a bunch of story lines, most important, the one involving Haley Rhodes and her sorrowful angel. But, at the same time, I gave my heroine, Lark Chaikin, a very dark story goal. She’s come to town to scatter her father’s ashes at the golf course, but she’s undertaking this last request without understanding why her father wanted to be interred there. She very quickly discovers that in 1968 her father spent some time in Last Chance and became involved in an ugly racial incident. Lark, a photojournalist by trade, is compelled to learn the entire truth of the matter. In effect, Lark shines a light into the darkness of the past. At the same time, the town is putting up Christmas lights, lighting Hanukah candles, and basically celebrating the darkest night of the year as we do every December. The theme of light and dark runs like a heartbeat through the story, and that was not by accident, because Christmas is, at its heart, a Winter solstice celebration. Even my heroine’s profession mirrors the theme of light in darkness. She captures light with her camera.
Will there be more Last Chance books now that the Rhodes children have all met their soul-mates?
There will be more books set in Last Chance. The next series of three books revolve around the members of the Last Chance Book Club, led by the town librarian, Nita Wills, who is an important minor character in Last Chance Christmas. The first book in this series, Last Chance Book Club, will be published in April 2013. In this book, Miz Miriam Randall starts matchmaking for her nephew, Dash. Any resemblance to Pride and Prejudice, the book club’s book of the month, is entirely coincidental.
Cover Blurb
Dear Reader,
I’ve been wishing for a miracle for my oldest boy, Stone, and this Christmas my prayers might just be answered!
Her name is Lark, and she’s here in Last Chance looking into her father’s past—and stirring up a whole mess of trouble without meaning to. As the chief of police, Stone sure has his hands full trying to keep up with her. Ever since his wife died, Stone’s put everything into raising his daughters and dodging the Christ Church Ladies’ Auxiliary matchmakers. And it’s clear Lark has been through some trouble and could use a place to finally call home. I only hope Stone can let go of the past soon enough to keep her…
Goodness, I need to stop talking and finish up Jane’s highlights so we can make the town tree lighting. You come back by because the Cut ‘n’ Curl’s got hot rollers, free coffee, fresh-baked Christmas cookies—and the best gossip in town.
See you real soon,
Ruby Rhodes
Hope Ramsay was born in New York and grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but every summer Momma would pack her off under the care of Aunt Annie to go visiting with relatives in the midlands of South Carolina. Her extended family includes its share of colorful aunts and uncles, as well as cousins by the dozens, who provide the fodder for the characters you’ll find in Last Chance, South Carolina. Hope earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Buffalo, and has had various jobs working as a Congressional aide, a lobbyist, a public relations consultant, and a meeting planner. She’s a two-time finalist in the Golden Heart, and is married to a good ol’ Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her heroes. She has two grown children and a couple of demanding lap cats. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia where you can often find her on the back deck, picking on her thirty-five-year-old Martin guitar.
Hopes books are available in e-book and mass market format at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
* * * * *
To celebrate Hope’s book release, one lucky commenter on today’s blog will win a copy of Last Chance Christmas, and a pretty little Angel wreath lapel pin. Just to get the conversation going, tell us about your favorite Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa tradition.
Posted by Cate Rowan Jul 19 2012, 11:49 pm in cover art, new release, pinterest, Ruby Release, self-publishing, story magic
When magic happens, don’t get in the way.
That was my mantra last month during Camp NaNoWriMo. I’d had every intention of working on The Soul of Magic, a book that’s been in the works at various stages (and titles) since 2001. Soul is the chronological link between my two full-length novels, so I’ve been feeling urgency (and guilt) about it not being done and published. And yet, two other characters elbowed their way to the front of the queue. Okay, three characters. No, two. Hmm. Does it count if one character is actually two—one human, and one not so much?
Actually, that’s pretty much my heroine’s question. Poor Sofia. She’s a cynical LA artist who must reluctantly pet-sit for her young niece’s frog—and then discovers magic in the terrarium.
See, there’s that magic again. Because there I was, hastily trying to write things down so I could get back to Soul, when Sofia’s story merged with that of a Regency-prince-turned-cursed-frog, Alexander, to become the novella Kiss That Frog: A Modern Fairy Tale. (You can nab Frog today at Amazon, ARe, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords, and soon at Apple.)
That’s when I learned not to stand in the way when a story is eager to get out. There are plenty of times when writing is hard, and I almost made NaNo harder by getting obstinate and trying to stick to My Original Plan. I’m a perfectionist and I want things to be Just So. And I want to be in charge of my muse. Or I at least want her to listen to me.
But you know what? When a story comes to you without a struggle, let it. Climb aboard and ride the creative process for all it’s worth. Because then getting to The End is sheer joy. And what writer doesn’t love that?
It’s a funny thing, but it almost feels like the Universe is celebrating the magic with me. It’s been a fun month, with The Romance Reviews giving a great review and a Top Pick award to The Source of Magic, plus brand new covers for all three books in my Alaia Chronicles fantasy romance series. Oh, and I joined Pinterest! (Come follow me. 
)
Speaking of covers, here’s a before-and-after. Let me make it clear that I loved the original covers of Kismet’s Kiss and The Source of Magic. I was particularly proud of Source because I did it myself, and I would have loved to keep both covers. The problem was that they just didn’t look like part of the same series. With the related short story Swords and Scimitars, I did my best to make the cover resemble Source, but then Kiss became the odd one out. See for yourself:
And now the new covers:
To me, the unique flavor of each book got toned down a bit (waaaah), yet now the series is visually branded, even at the tiny thumbnail size Amazon uses in its “also bought” lists. Plus I was able to include the series name on each cover. I look forward to finding out whether the cover changes help. (And if they don’t, the beauty is that I’m an indie—I can always switch back or shift to something else. )
So that’s been my magical month. Your turn: what’s your favorite memory of story magic? I’m giving away two e-copies of Kiss That Frog to non-Ruby commenters, so let us know!
Posted by Cate Rowan Feb 17 2012, 1:01 am in fantasy, fantasy romance, indie, new release, publishing industry, self-publishing
I have a new release to tell you about, but first, let me get this out of the way: I used to write to please others.
It’s not that I don’t take other people into account anymore—not at all. I have a readership, and their opinions of my work matter to me.
But I no longer write to please the traditional publishing industry. I’ve learned a fine lesson about that.
A panel of editors and agents once shot down my query letter at the RWA conference. It was a query letter workshop for Golden Heart finalists, and the panelists were to say “stop” when they reached the point in a query where they wanted to quit reading. The entire panel yelled stop as soon as they learned that my book’s hero, a sultan, already had six wives.
The industry consensus was that a book like that wouldn’t succeed. Under the paradigm of that time, they were likely right to shoot it down.
I hired several agents over the years who did their best, but Kismet’s Kiss was a tough sell. Despite two Golden Heart finals, it clearly didn’t fit the New York marketing boxes, and editors were afraid it wouldn’t make the publishing house enough money. That’s understandable; it was a risk. I was pushing boundaries.
But I knew romance, and understood my contract with the romance reader. I felt my book could flourish, and I was crazy (= stubborn) enough to try. After two small presses made offers, I decided to self-publish Kismet’s Kiss.
Instead of selling it to a publisher, I sold it to readers—more than 2600 of them to date, at prices from $2.99-5.99. And another 3600+ readers have bought my second book, The Source of Magic. While the number of copies sold is lower than what many trad-pubbed authors can expect, I earn much more per copy. I’ve made nearly $13,000 already. This is far beyond the average advance for two books from a debut author, and Kiss and Source are still in the marketplace earning more each day. They’ll never go out of print.
It’s funny to look back on my journey and realize what’s happened. It was not quite a year and a half ago that I published Kismet’s Kiss. I was the first Ruby Sister to self-pub, and alas, it wasn’t because I’m a visionary or a psychic. (I only wish.) I’d just realized going indie was my best chance to succeed and find readers for stories I loved.
Ten Rubies have now tested the indie path, and there are more Rubies planning to try it. Some of our agent-approved, contest-winning, misfit books that would otherwise be lying abandoned in darkness have found life—and readers—and in many cases, have revived their authors’ enjoyment in writing.
I LOVE THE NEW WORLD OF PUBLISHING.
This world also lets authors experiment with prices, covers, descriptions, book length, and subject matter. That’s part of the fun for me with my latest release. It’s a short story of 7,000 words, a length that has very few traditional markets. I’m pricing it at a mere 99 cents to see if that will entice readers. And although it’s a prequel to Kismet’s Kiss, which is a fantasy romance, I consider “Swords and Scimitars” to be a historical fantasy. It brims with emotion and love, but it’s far more a hero’s journey through an exotic culture (think “Arabian Nights” or “The King and I”) than a traditional romance.
A few months ago, Amazon offered indies another way to experiment: the Amazon Select program for Kindle books. Select allows the author/publisher to set the book’s price to free for up to five days out of every 90. Free books get lots of downloads and greater exposure, which helps generate paid sales afterward. The author/publisher has control over when the free days are scheduled, making it easier to arrange promotions. The downside is that the Select program requires Amazon exclusivity for the full 90 days. I’ve been reluctant to add Kismet’s Kiss or The Source of Magic to the Select program for that reason. I’ve made about a quarter of all my sales through Barnes and Noble.
Still, now that I have a new release, I thought I’d try Select for “Swords and Scimitars” and see what happens. Hmm… have I mentioned my dislike for that exclusivity thing? Yeah. So before I sign up for Select, I’m making “Swords and Scimitars” available for the next five days at Barnes and Noble (nook) and Smashwords (all formats), as well as at Amazon, and all for just 99 cents. This way non-Kindle readers can get their hands on “Swords and Scimitars,” too.
Swords and Scimitars: A Fantasy Short Story
Immortal twin brothers. One enchanted sword. A tragedy that propels them into legend.
The lives of well-born twins Kismet and Taso are easy and carefree—endless days of bedding women and fighting battles among the gods—until sorcery drives a wedge between them that slices deeper than flesh. Kismet has striven to be the ultimate warrior, but a mistake costs him his brother, his family, and his homeland.
He carves out a new life in the desert, rising to the command of a realm and an army, yet can’t escape his past. When two women beg for his aid against tyranny, he must sacrifice his freedom and his long-scarred heart to help them.
“Swords and Scimitars” is a short story of the immortal founders of verdant Teganne and desert Kad, two rival realms divided by magic—yet bound by blood, mistrust, and love. The chronicle continues in the award-winning fantasy romance novels Kismet’s Kiss and The Source of Magic.
I used to write to please others… but I wrote “Swords and Scimitars” to please myself and my readership, and with luck, to attract new readers from a different genre. It’s an experiment for sure, and one of which I’m proud. As a writer, that’s the best feeling of all.
Thank you for stopping by to celebrate the release of “Swords and Scimitars.” To add to the festive mood, I’m giving away three copies to non-Ruby visitors. Leave a comment to enter, and good luck!
Posted by Gwynlyn MacKenzie Aug 23 2011, 12:01 am in contemporary romance, Home at Last Chance, Hope Ramsay, new release, Ruby Release, spotlight
Haley Rhodes Tells All!
It’s August, and Last Chance, South Carolina is sweltering, but when Miz Ruby called to tell me another of her sons was in the cross-hairs, I couldn’t resist. Clay and Jane’s story turned out so well, and I really do want find out what happened after the Great Lightning Strike at Golfing For God.
Reaching the Cut ‘N Curl, I hurry out of the heat, my mouth watering for a long, cold glass of Miz Ruby’s sweet tea. I no sooner enter the shop, however, than my arms are filled with young Haley Rhodes who looks like she’s gone ten rounds with an army of chocolate chip cookies.
The cookies, obviously, lost, but not without doing some damage.
“Praise the Lord, Gwyn,” Ruby says. “You’re an answer to prayer. Elbert just called. There’s a ruckus down at Golfing For God. Watch Haley, won’t you?”
And with that, Miz Ruby and all the church ladies bustle out the door, leaving me gaping at the gamin sprite smearing chocolate on my white blouse.
Now I remember Haley from my last visit. Haley sees angels. One particular angel, who she calls The Sorrowful Angel, seems to be her constant companion.
She’s grown and lost her two front teeth since last I saw her, but her hair is still defying restraint and her clothes refusing to stay clean. She’s just precious, and I can’t help but give her a hug as we watch Miz Ruby’s van disappear.
“I wonder what that’s all about,” I murmur, glancing around the silent shop, unsure how I’ll keep Haley out of mischief until Miz Ruby returns.
“It’s Uncle Tulane, Miz Gwyn.” Haley shakes her head, looking much too wise for her seven years. ”He’s come home, and he’s a magnet for trouble.”
Someday, I’m going to ask Miz Ruby what she was thinking when she named her children, but for now, Haley needs me. ”And how do you know that, Miss Haley?”
“Granny says so. She says trouble follows him like his old blue tick hound used to. It’s so bad, he has hisself a babysitter.”
A babysitter? Interesting.
I make myself comfy in one of the well-padded salon chairs and settle Haley on my lap. “Want to tell me about it?”
“Yes’m. See it’s all on account of the fact that they painted Uncle Tulane’s racecar pink. I don’t see any problem with a pink car—after all Barbie has one, and Mrs. Henrietta Charles down over to Allenberg got one selling Mary Kay—but Granny says Uncle Tulane is kind of proud. And besides, I reckon pink is a funny color for a man to wear.”
“Well yes, I suppose it is,” I agree, trying not to grin. I’ve seen a couple of NASCAR races, and Tulane Rhodes drives a car sponsored by Cottontail Disposable Diapers. The car’s cotton-candy color is more than enough to make a man cringe, but the sponsor added insult to injury and painted a huge cuddle bunny on its hood.
Tulane’s pit crew looks pitiful in pink.
“So, anyways,” Haley continues, “Uncle Tulane was supposed to help at the Value Mart with the baby-changing races only he played hooky. I reckon his boss got really mad at him for that, and he got put in the dog house. ”
“Baby-changing races?” I ask. “What the he . . eck is a baby-changing race?”
“Oh, that’s where mamas bring their babies to the Value Mart and have a race to see who can change their baby fastest using Cottontail Disposable Diapers with the quick release tabs for quicker pit stops.”
I stifle a groan. The tag line is cheesy enough without the child’s deadpan delivery.
“Anyways, Uncle Tulane is supposed to go to the races and of.. off…”
Unwilling to watch her struggle, I hazard a guess. “Officiate?”
Halely nods. (Whew!) ”Yup, that’s the word. So, you see, when Uncle Tulane played hooky, he got in big trouble. And that’s when the folks who make the diapers sent Miss Sarah Murray. She’s Uncle Tulane’s babysitter. She’s supposed to make sure he goes to all the baby-changing races on his schedule.
“I guess he doesn’t like her very much.”
“I wouldn’t say that. Miss Sarah is really smart. She came up with an idea for Uncle Tulane to do something instead of baby-changing races.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
“She wants to help mamas learn how to use car seats to keep their babies safe. And I think that’s a real good idea because, when I was little, I was in a car wreck, but I didn’t get hurt on account of my car seat. I want to help Uncle Tulane and Miss Sarah with the car seats, but my daddy said no. He’s a grump. Even The Sorrowful Angel thinks helping with the car seats would be a good thing.”
Haley releases a long, woebegone sigh—just before her busy little mind lights on another thought.
“Hey, you know what”
“No. What?”
“Miss Sarah is smart about some other stuff, too, like Granddaddy’s putt-putt course. She told everyone she thought Golfing for God could be the kind of fun place folks from all around the world would come to. And she even convinced Miz Hettie Marshall, the richest lady in town, to form a committee that’s going to fix up what got broke that time when Aunt Jane’s boyfriend came and made trouble. I’m glad about that.”
An index finger makes feathering swipes at one of the chocolate stains decorating my now ruined blouse. “But I’m not so sure about what Miz Miriam says about Miss Sarah.”
Oh, boy. Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Miriam Randall is Last Chance’s main matchmaker, and when she makes a match it’s a done deal. “What does Miz Miriam say about Miss Sarah?”
“Well I’m not sure exactly, but Miz Polk and Miz Hanks have told everybody in town that Miss Sarah is going to marry Reverend Ellis.”
“Really? He is kind of cute.”
Haley wrinkles her nose. “He’s okay, but I don’t think Miz Polk and Miz Hanks got it right.”
“Why not?”
Despite the fact we’re alone in the shop, Haley stretches toward my ear and whispers, “I saw Uncle Tulane kissing Miss Sarah in Granny’s kitchen when they were visiting before. He’s teaching her poker and pool and a lot of other stuff. And I heard Miz Bray saying that Uncle Tulane and Miss Sarah were down at Dot’s Spot dancing and carrying on.”
“Carrying on?”
“Uh huh. And Granny went shopping with her, too. Granny says Miss Sarah hides her light under a bushel basket, and Granny should know—’cause she’s the bestest beauty consultant in all of Allenberg County.”
“Your Granny gave Miss Sarah beauty advice?”
Haley smiles and nods like she knows when Miz Ruby starts doing makeovers love is probably in the air. “Yes’m, Granny sure did. And after she did Miss Sarah’s hair and nails and took her shopping, I heard Granny tell Granddaddy that she thinks Miss Sarah is the one.”
“The one?” This was getting better by the minute.
“Uh huh. I’m not sure what that means, but Granny likes Miss Sarah a whole lot.”
Before I can formulate another question, Jane enters the shop. “Hey, Gwyn.” She gives me a quick hug before taking Haley. Needless to say, another blouse bites the dust, but Jane doesn’t seem to mind, planting a kiss on Haley’s chocolate-y cheek. “You ready to go home, Sugar?”
At Haley’s nod, Jane turns to me. “Miz Ruby called. Sent me to rescue you and lock up. She wants you to wait at the house.”
Still jonesing for that glass of sweet tea, I hop out of the chair. The thought of drinking it parked in a rocker on Miz Ruby’s front porch sounds like heaven, and it will give Jane and me a chance to catch up. Knowing Jane, I’ll soon have the complete scoop on Tulane and Sarah. I can’t wait.
“Let’s go. I’m right behind you.”
* * * * **
One lucky non-Ruby commenter will win a free copy of HOME AT LAST CHANCE, featuring the story of Tulane Rhodes and Sarah Murray and a very pink NACAR racer. You can buy HOME AT LAST CHANCE at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.
*****
Hope Ramsay was born in New York and grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but every summer Momma would pack her off under the care of Aunt Annie to go visiting with relatives in the midlands of South Carolina. Her extended family includes its share of colorful aunts and uncles, as well as cousins by the dozens, who provide the fodder for the characters you’ll find in Last Chance, South Carolina. Hope earned a BA in Political Science from the Universityof Buffalo, and has had various jobs working as a Congressional aide, a lobbyist, a public relations consultant, and a meeting planner. She’s a two-time finalist in the Golden Heart, and is married to a good ol’ Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her heroes. She has two grown children and a couple of demanding lap cats. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia where you can often find her on the back deck, picking on her thirty-five-year-old Martin guitar. You can follow Hope on twitter (@HopeRamsay), visit her webpage (www.hoperamsay.com), or connect with her on Facebook.
Posted by Joan Swan Apr 29 2010, 7:39 am in guest author, new release, paranormal romance, rita, rita nominee, romantic suspense
Welcome to guest author Elisabeth Naughton
A previous junior-high science teacher, Elisabeth Naughton now writes sexy romantic adventure and paranormal novels full time from her home in western Oregon where she lives with her husband and three children. Her debut release, Stolen Fury, heralded by Publisher’s Weekly as “A rock-solid debut,” was recently nominated for two prestigious RITA® awards by Romance Writers of America in the Best First Book category and the Best Romantic Suspense category. When not writing, Elisabeth can be found running, hanging out at the ball park or dreaming up new and exciting adventures.
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