Book Launch: SAINT SANGUINUS

The absotively, posilutely best thing about the interwebs is discovering like-minded friends in far-off places.

Today is launch day for SAINT SANGUINUS,
the debut novel of Apprentice Writer's online amiga Julia Phillips Smith. AW is delighted to introduce this brand-spanking new author, and have the chance to pick her newly professional writerly brain.

Congratulations, Julia! First things first: the cover. Did you have input regarding art or title?

One of the pluses - or minuses depending on your point of view - of self-publishing is the amount of creative control an author has over the finished product. In traditional publishing one can fill out a style sheet and suggest things, but it's really the marketing department that has the final say as to cover art and title of the book. An author has to trust that it's in the best interests of everyone involved to produce the best cover possible, with the catchiest, stop-em-in-their tracks title, ever.

With self-publishing, it's important to pay attention to other covers currently in the marketplace. Does your genre tend to feature a hero brandishing a weapon? Does your genre currently trend toward blue covers, or red, or orange? What do the covers of the top sellers in your genre look like?

Unless you're someone with graphic design skills, I wouldn't recommend designing your own cover. Hiring a professional to do your story justice - a story into which you've likely poured your heart and soul - will result in the wonderful moment when you first gaze upon a dream come true.

As for my title, I followed the time-honored convention of naming a superhero origin story after the title character.

The title certainly is memorable! What comes to you first: hero? Heroine? Ending? One-liners?

For me, stories always come in a vision-like flash. I'll be minding my own business, and then wham! I'm deep in the midst of a dramatic sequence unfolding in my mind's eye, and I haven't the slightest clue what's going on. Who is he? Why are they doing that to him? What's going on here?

Then I have to sort out what's what, almost like stumbling into a playground fight and listening to everyone's 'He started it!'

I can honestly say no character has ever come to me in quite that way. What's your favorite scene in 'Saint Sanguinus'?

My favorite scene comes toward the end, during the big set piece. Hero in jeopardy, deep in the Black Moment - my favorite! If it was a film, it would be the part I obsessively watch over and over again. Not that I'm prone to doing that *cough, cough*

Heh. What's a typical writing day look like for you?
Once upon a time, I didn't have a typical writing day. I wrote in creative bursts.

But over the years I've definitely developed a writing routine. Mon-Fri I work at my day job. So during the week I wait until evening to climb into the creativity cockpit. I'm a night owl by nature, so writing from 8:30-12:30 or sometimes 2:00am works best for me. That's when I'm really on. Even on the weekends, when theoretically I could write at any time, I still do my best writing between 8:00 pm and 2:00 am.

I love the image of climbing into the creativity cockpit. How does your family feel about you being an author?

I come from a creative background, so I've always had 100% support. No need to explain why I need to hibernate and ignore the garden, for example. Even my dog seems to encourage my scheduled time at the computer.

My garden and children don't seem to operate that way. Your best writing habit?

This has evolved directly from participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - taking place right now! www.nanowrimo.org). I followed one character exclusively during the writing marathon, realizing it took too much mental rearranging to go back and forth between points of view. I then followed the heroine's POV exclusively. This helped me to realize that immersing myself wholly into the character is vital, and it's a new way of working that I'm now applying to all my stories.

I've never tried that technique before. Perhaps I should experiment! Worst writing vice?

Trying to tune into the revisions channel in my head. For the longest time, I thought it was a matter of finely tuning the same invisible dial that brought me to the story in the first place. Finally, it dawned on me that there is no revisions channel, at least not like the Generating A New Story channel that runs 24/7 in my mind.

Instead I had to get my own shiny revisions toolkit from the Put On Your Big Girl Panties store and just get on with it.

Social Networking: wolf in sheep's clothing or blessing in disguise?

Social networking is an immense, globally available, free marketing tool no writer should leave out of his or her press kit.

As a longtime blogger, I have online friendships with people all over the world. Think of attempting to spread word-of-mouth promo in countries like Australia, England, Denmark, Israel and all across the US by traditional means. This is already accomplished for me, because I have blog friends in all those places.

Nightstand Inspection! What was the last ____ you read?

Contemporary: The Christmas Baby Bump, by Lynne Marshall
Historical: Heiress in Love, by Christina Brooke
UF/Paranormal/Fantasy: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, by Leanna Renee Hieber
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: Spring Break, by Kayla Perrin
Memoir/Non-Fiction: The Supernatural Companions, by Nicholas Knight

That's quite the diverse lineup. Who is your writing idol and why?

Jo Beverly. She takes the time to place the reader squarely in the time and place of her historical romances, without ever slowing the pace of her stories. She never lets modern sensibilities intrude upon the historical tale she's telling. She manages to address the unromantic truths of her historic time periods without losing the shine of her happily ever after. Plus, she's a master of dialogue that carries the rhythms of real speakers, while still managing to weave story momentum within it.

Wow. I hope I write stories like Jo Beverly when I grow up. Just, like, in contemporary times and with comedy instead of historical drama and stuff.
Which literary character do you wish you'd thought of first?

Quentin Tarantino's The Bride from the "Kill Bill" series. But I'm glad he did think of such a kick-ass heroine.

You betray your roots by your choice of ultimate character from cinema instead of printed page!
Best piece of advice for aspiring writers?

The biggest thing - when you hit the point when you leave behind the infatuation stage with your own raw talent and now face the cliff-climbing phase of perfecting your craft - once you get to the top of that cliff, you will be like The Bride. You will kick ass yourself. Keep going.

I'm somewhere on that cliff now too.
How much tech know-how should one have to self-publish? Should a person like Apprentice Writer who barely manages to log on to Twitter or Facebook simply exclude that road to publication?

No, you don't have to exclude it. But you will have to be willing to pay other people to do the various aspects for you.

Self-publishing means wearing many hats, but it doesn't mean you will do every job yourself. I've hired my own little project team to prepare SAINT SANGUINUS for publication, including a graphic designer for the cover, a producer for the book trailer, a copy editor/proofreader for the manuscript and a formatter for the e-book prep.

Each book will require its own creative/technical team. Skimping on these aspects will produce an inferior product going out to readers, and I personally don't want to have my name on that.

A true co-operative effort. Anything else you'd like to share with AW's readers?

There was a time in my life when following my dreams seemed to have turned into a colossal joke. In embracing my artistic aspirations, I had a film degree but no way to pursue that field, because unforeseen health issues made working for free - in order to collect film credits - a complete impossibility.

Obviously, even through truly soul-crushing times, I managed somehow to hold onto my original dreams. Even though I tried to keep them at arms' length, they hid in little places deep inside of me. I kept working at telling stories by learning to write novels instead of making films.

In my personal life, my husband and I managed to climb out of the financial pit in which we'd languished. The health issues continued, but over time we've learned not only how to live with them, but flourish despite them. Suddenly, planets alligned or something, because things started falling into place at a rapid rate this year.

So what I'd like to share with your readers is this. Life really does kick you in the gut sometimes. The dark part of "...it's always darkest before the dawn..." can choke you into unconsciousness. But take it from me.

DON'T give up. NEVER give up.

Thanks Julia, for showing your story so honestly.

Gentle Readers, you can purchase SAINT SANGUINUS from Amazon from 18 November.

Visit Julia at www.juliaphillipssmith.com to learn more.

Bookish Outposts in Cyberspace, Part II

Apprentice Writer's Magical Mystery Tour of cool bookish places to hang out in cyberspace, continued:

Number One Novels - this site is devoted exclusively to interviews of authors who have just published their debut novels. AW has a special love for debut novels, so the Gentle Reader can imagine her delight when she stumbled upon this outpost. The Gentle Reader can go on to imagine her even greater delight that each author interview involves a giveaway of the featured debut. Finally, the Gentle Reader can no doubt imagine AW's Canuck dissappointment to learn that the majority of these giveaways are for American readers only. This, however, does not stop her from visiting as she is addicted to "How I Sold My First Book" stories and loves reading about authorly background stuff.

A Piece of My Mind - this lovely, high-content site is the cyberhome of AW's online amiga Julia, devoted to art of all kinds. Julia's creative interests seem to know no bounds, and a visit may result in education or opinions on paintings, novel-writing, poetry, music,dance, cinema, etc. etc. Though AW's family is most excellent in its own way, Julia's family has long caused AW to plot (so far, unsuccessfully) as to how she might get herself adopted into a Maritime family because, Holy inspirational Atlantic sea spray, Batman, ALL of Julia's relatives possess creativity of some type or another. (Not kidding. Every. Single. One). Though AW may not share Julia's views on, say, all musicians featured, or fully comprehend the symbolism of every line of poetry posted, she does look forward to having her spirits lifted each time she ventures to this site.

Popcorn & Chainmail - this excellently funny site devotes itself to affectionate snark of historical movies, conducted by cinemaphiles who have the background necessary to spot historical inaccuracy at a hundred paces. The Gentle Reader may question why AW includes this site on a list of so-called bookish outposts, to which AW would say, "Hey, I said BookISH, didn't I? And lots of those movies were based on books. Sort of. I think." She would also go on to add, "They haven't posted in a while, so rush over before the site goes dark!"
AW remembered it recently while watching "Kingdom of Heaven" (which she really liked, by the way, flaws and all) and recollected how she'd giggled at what the sporkers (they call what they do sporking a movie) had to say.

More site tours to come.

Bookish Outposts in Cyberspace: Part I

Where, the Gentle Reader may wonder, does Apprentice Writer go in the Blogiverse when she isn't here at home?

To various bookish landing spots, some well-known and some deserving a wider audience. In no specific order:

Dear Author - this reader-oriented site (as opposed to author- or publisher-oriented) was begun by Jane Litte, a reader whose training is in law. As a result some of the most interesting discussions at the site involve legal interpretation on developments in the publishing industry or legitimacy of various threats made in the kerfuffle du jour. The site is devoted mostly to genre fiction (heavily of the romance persuasion including any and all subgenres), but from that single blogger beginning it has grown to multiple reviewers of widely differing tastes. Authors comment frequently in the threads, there are many guest posts, and publishers regularly hold impressive giveaways. Jane and Sarah of 'Smart Bitches, Trashy Books' also collaborate on all sorts of bookish ventures - the annual DABWAHA tournament (AW will let you google that on your own), commentary in various conferences and workshop panels, and who knows what else. You never know what you find when you visit Dear Author, but it is interesting enough frequently enough that AW keeps checking in.

S. Krishna's Books - this single reader site records the thoughts of Swapna, reader extraordinaire. Every time AW, who considers herself a fairly heavy reader, visits she is staggered by Swapna's readerly output (or perhaps consumption is the better word), mostly in literary fiction with some memoir, women's fiction, and mystery sprinkled in. This could perhaps be rationalized by supposing that Swapna does nothing else but read, however she is also a student and has a spouse, who presumably needs some attention now and again. As if that weren't enough, she looks stunning. AW has tried to hold all of this against her but fails miserably due to curiosity about thoughts on the titles AW is thinking about checking out, and Swapna's special interest in multicultural authors.

A Life With Books - this single reader site talks about daily life and bookish topics in roughly equal measure. Since both kinds of posts, and the ones that mix it all up, are entertaining and laidback, AW enjoys her visits. Jenners has a laid-back yet thoughtful style, an easy-to-read five point book review system, and has a talent of picking up on fun memes from the blogosphere.

More sites to come.

Free Ebook

Readers of this space may recall that Apprentice Writer reviewed historical fiction author Ciji Ware's novel "Island of the Swans".

Ms. Ware has just released a new novel, A Race to Splendour, with another lovely cover. The premise sounds intriguing, being set in San Francisco with a female architect trying to rebuild a landmark building destroyed by earthquake. From April 5-11 the ebook is priced for 4.99 U.S. at a slew of ebook retailers.

To celebrate the new novel, Sourcebooks is offering a previous novel, Cottage by the Sea, for free through the same eretailers, April 5-11.

Looking Back: 2010 Entertainment

It is The Law! in Bloglandia that bloggers must create end of year lists. If you don't, they send your posts off to black holes in cyberspace and give all your contact information to spammers and trolls. Or something.

Being an upstanding and lawabiding cybercitizen, here Apprentice Writer's EOY list in no particular order.

Most Enjoyable Historical Debut: Rose Lerner, 'In For a Penny'. Sympathetic characters that not only grow but do so believably, and a plot that refreshingly is as much about the group of people surrounding the two main characters as it is about those characters themselves. Ominously, Ms. Lerner is a Dorchester author and will see her follow-up book distributed as ebook only rather than print. Hopefully she has gained enough presence not to suffer unduly from Dorchester's 'reorganization'.

Most Disappointing Junior Movie: Toy Story 3. Way too much tension for the target demographic, too few laughs, this was Disney/Pixar making a grab for the 3D cash cow.

Book that Started Well But Could Have Been So Much More: Audrey Niffenegger, 'Her Fearful Symmetry'. A Ph.D. who doesn't toss aside his more snoozeworthy dissertation subject when the real thing comes along? An undertaker with no curiosity about Very Odd requests? A cemetary bigwig who witnesses something Impossible and says only 'How improper!' (or something to that effect) and that's it? Suspension of disbelief broken to the degree that the book was finished purely for the sake of finding out what happened to infinitely more appealing subplot characters.

Most Enjoyable Movie Seen This Year but Released Last: Sherlock Holmes.
RDJ and Jude Law in top form - come on! What's not to like?

Most Thoughtful Movie Seen This Year but Released Last: Up in the Air

Book that Managed to Live Up to Its Hype: Kathrynn Stockett, 'The Help'

Most Ongoing Guilty Reality TV Pleasures: Top Chef, Next Iron Chef, Amazing Race, So You ThinkYou Can Dance (US & Canada)

Most Missing-in-Action-in-Canada Guilty Reality TV Pleasure: Project Runway

Most Eagerly Anticipated Books Released This Year But Inexplicably Haven't Gotten Around to Yet (AKA longest Category Title, AKA Most Grammatically Incorrect Category Title):
Dark Road to Darjeeling, Deanna Raybourn (historical mystery, Book 4 in a series)
The Iron Duke, Meljean Brook (steampunk, Book 1 in a series)
Lightborn, Alison Sinclair (dark fantasy, Book 2 in a trilogy)
Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan (high fantasy, Book 13 and second-to-last in a series)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simonson (literary fiction, standalone)

Worst Movie: For a long time, the most likely contender was From Paris with Love , which offended cinematically and geopolitically in equal measure. John Travolta channels old Schwarzenegger movies by shooting wildly all over the place while in various forms of motion and having pretty much every bullet hit a target while scads of adversaries miss every time despite dispensing a revolution's worth of ammo. More oddly, EVERY SINGLE ONE of the vast quantities of people he kills are members of visible minority groups. Considering how often parts of Paris have burned due to racial tensions in recent years, this was an astonishingly unfortunate visual image. Does France really need cinematic entertainment that sends the message that visible minorities are criminal scum that deserve eradication by over-the-hill megalomaniacs?
Apprentice Writer thinks not.

Then along came Baby on Board. This utter waste of celluloid was mean-spirited, distasteful, and most of all 100% unfunny. AW is entirely unfamiliar with Jerry O'Connell's previous work (who, by the way, wins this year's award for Worst Haircut for a Male Character) and had only seen 'Bowfinger' (which she really enjoyed) of Heather Graham's work, so she can't tell if this film is representative. But she has been a fan of John Corbett's since his 'Northern Exposure' days and was sorely disappointed to see him as, perhaps, the biggest culprit in this execrable mess. Mr. Corbett - what has happened to you??

Most Unexpectedly Fun Movie: 'Killers'. After the drudgery of 'The Ugly Truth' (Katherine Heigl and Gerrard Butler have NO chemistry), 'The Bounty Hunter' (Jennifer Aniston and Gerrard Butler have NO chemistry), and 'Love Happens' (Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhard have NO chemistry), AW was not expecting a whole lot from this Katherine Heigl/Ashton Kutcher vehicle but she actually really liked it. Maybe the problem with the others was Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston?

Most Promising Book Currently Reading: Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jamesin. Holy Gripping Storyline, Batman - this fantasy gives new meaning to the terms 'multi-layered' and 'don't treat the reader like s/he has no intelligence'. Beautifully written, but wow do you ever have to pay attention to what's going on. And it's book 1 of a trilogy, so if the beginning momentum holds up, it looks to be a promising start to the new reading year!

GENTLE READER - HAVE YOU MADE YOUR LIST?

Freshly Squeezed Drama, Second Helping

Uproar ongoing.

For those not following this modern economics/public relations/social media lesson tweet by tweet or post by post, here is the bare minimum of what took place further to events in Apprentice Writer's previous post.

The Boards of Directors of the romance writers, mystery writers, and science fiction writers groups were unanimous in making pubic their strong and swift rejection of Harlequin's decision to open an arm (variously described as self-publishing and vanity press, depending on the speaker) for writers whose work was not up to Harlequin's regular publication standards.

Some of these organizations implemented immediate consequences regarding future recognition of Harlequin authors, some extended a deadline by which they hoped to hear from Harlequin about steps it might take to modify the new venture.

Harlequin issued a statment in which it expressed surprise at the negative reaction, and subsequently announced its decision to remove the Harlequin name from the venture.

For some blogosphere commentators, this was acceptable.

For others, it was too little, too late, considering two ongoing sore spots: Harlequin's original plan to include a reference to the service in standard rejection letters, and Harlequin's original fee structure for the service which are described without exception as much higher than industry standards. As of this blogpost, Harlquin does not appear to have made further public statements regarding these aspects.

Perhaps further developments will be handled behind closed doors, now that the initial storm has passed. Or perhaps this week will see further steps and counter-steps reported in the media.

Until then, Apprentice Writer passes on the following thoughts, shared by people with a helpfully enhancing point of view:

- According to an author-friend with background in Fortune 500 companies: when a company is working on an innovation, everything is very hush-hush and it simply does not occur that input is invited as this would ruin the scoop. Rather, the company anticipates which groups might have concerns, prepares responses dealing with those concerns, and after it unveils its innovation, expects that those groups will approach them and thereby bring about a discussion to lead to mutual satisfactory solution for both. According to this business practice, Harlequin would have expected writer groups to approach and consult behind closed doors, in theory leading to a happy (or at least, tolerant) faces all around.

But the writer groups didn't play it that way. Whether or not that was a good thing is for each onlooker to decide. Apprentice Writer's highly unscientific survey says opinions seem pretty much fifty-fifty on this.

- According to a friend 'on the inside', it seems many layers of employees at Harlequin had no idea this was in the works. That may include editors, and certainly the company's published authors, of which those tied to the Harlequin Historicals line were arguably the hardest hit since their double H logo could be and was easily confused for the Harlequin Horizon one. Something they could have warned upper management about.

- According to L'esprit d'escalier, the breakdown of fees is worth a very close look. For anyone thinking of making the leap to publication and interested in specific figures of what it can take on the road to get there, this is essential reading. Really, Gentle Reader who is also an Aspiring Writer - go look at this.

- The single item EVERYONE agrees upon:

Holy jaw-dropping numbers, Batman! How did they come up with these figures???



m.

Bored? Have some Drama, Freshly Squeezed!

Apprentice Writer's endurance march on wordcount has been sidetracked in the last few days by fireworks in Romanceland.

For those unaware: Harlequin Publishing, a giant in the industry, decided to open a separate arm for those aspiring writers whose manuscripts were deemed not good enough for Harlequin but who still wanted to see their book in print. Harlequin created the 'Harlequin Horizons' brand amid somewhat confusing information about what exactly the brand affiliation and author benefits would be, announced the imminent discontinuation of it's longtime editorial service-for-hire, and announced that rejection letters would commence inclusion of a notice about the new service.

Uproar ensued.

Apprentice Writer has neither the energy nor eloquence at this moment to uncross her eyes and wax poetic. Instead, some links for a crash course on Harlequinfail as it has been described:

For a comment thread about a lightyear long, with with some participants in favor but mostly not, take a look at Smart Bitches Trashy Books.

For an amusing comment on the comment thread, take a look at The Examiner.

For comments from a Harlequin lead hand, and discussion about the difference between self-publising and vanity press, take a look at Dear Author.

For an opinion from other press, take a look at the New Yorker.

For an opinion on what this means to authors and publishing in general, take a look at author Sherry Thomas.

And, if you have time for only one link which clearly breaks the nature of concerns down:

An excellently clarifying cross-section by author Jackie Kessler.

Peace on Earth

Today is Blog Blast for Peace Day in the blogosphere.

Bloggers from all over the world are sending their desire for peace into the universe today. Join us by visiting the hundreds of bloggers taking part in this beautiful event.

Just CLICK on Blog Blast for Peace and you will discover
a world where hope reigns,
hands reach across the globe in friendship
and voices rise in glorious harmony.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week, 2nd Edition - Day 4

Today is the day that book bloggers reminisce about books they found and loved due to recommendation from other book bloggers.

Here is Apprentice Writer's triple shoutout.




To Sarah and Candy at SmartBitches, Trashy Books, whose uniquely expressed insights, snarky humor, willingnesss to engage in passionate discussion and book love resulted in a number of BBAW nominations and a win -

THANK YOU for introducing AW to Loretta Chase! Still can't believe how many years went by without discovering this peerless author on own initiative - AW suspects it may have been a simple case of book covers acting as repellant - but the fact remains, they gave a glowing review of "Mr. Impossible", AW gave it a try, and has not looked back since. Well, except for right now!

To Tiffany Clare, soon-to-be debut author and one ofthe founding members of the grog Vauxhall Vixens along with J.K. Coi (author of dark and intriuging paranormal romance), Elyssa Papa (newly agented aspiring writer of refreshing contemporary romantic comedy), and Maggie Robinson (soon-to-be author of historical romance) -

THANK YOU for introducing AW to Sarah Monette! As regular reader of this space know, AW can't stop talking about her dark fantasy 'Doctrine of Labyriths' series, beginning with the stunning 'Melusine'. AW now actively seeks out dark fantasy, and may not have done so without your help.

To Ana and Thea of The Booksmugglers (which just won the BBAW award for Best Collaborative Blog) -

THANK YOU for introducing AW to new author Kate Noble! They kindly shared a copy of Ms. Noble's debut 'Compromised' which AW thoroughly enjoyed. Meaning another auto-read author for her.

Gratitude and shiny good karma points to you all.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week, 2nd Edition

Book Blogger Appreciation Week was inaugurated last year by My Friend Amy, as a way to highlight and celebrate the online community of book bloggers. The event takes place again this September, with any interested book blogger invited to join. Amy got things rolling this year with a meme:

1) What was the highlight (something that happened, a post, an activity, etc.) of BBAW for you last year?

For Apprentice Writer, it was a delight to tour all sorts of hitherto unsuspected blogs out there, each entirely different from any other but all united in love of the written word. It was a lot of fun.

2) What is one new blog you discovered during BBAW last year?

AW loved finding blogs with creative names, such as Fashion Piranha, The Toasted Scimitar, The Tome Traveller, and others. She also loved finding blogs that reviewed according to her wide-ranging genres of interest: The Galaxy Express (sci-fi/fantasy with romantic elements) Scifi Guy (sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy), S. Krishna's Books (lit fic), Historical Fiction (self evident), etc.


3) What tips would you share to help others get the most out of their BBAW experience?

Set a goal of number of new-to-you blogs to visit per day (there is a list of participants at the main site) and remember to leave a comment! All of us share a love of feedback and connection - otherwise we wouldn't be doing this on the internetz, we'd be writing hardcopy notes to ourselves in reading journals and such.


Anyone who wants to participate - in the week, or in the meme - please do, and let AW know!

The Big Show at Hearts 'R' Us

This past weekend saw the culmination of another Rita ceremony at the Big Show among the professionals in the genre that gets no (literary) respect: romance. 2000+ romance writers descended upon Washington D.C. to celebrate, network, and reward themselves for another year of hard work, and in many cases, success: in a dismal publishing environment, books with romantic content saw sales increase.

And how did Apprentice Writer's predictions go about who would walk away with the Oscar equivalent in the subgenres she's been known to meander?

Let's see:

Best First Book
Her One Desire by Kimberly Killion (historical)
No Good Girls by Jean Marie Pierson (light women's fiction)
Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs (YA paranormal)
Passionate by Anthea Lawson (historical)
Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas (historical)
Strangers in the Night by Kerry Connor (category)
The Secret Soldier by Jennifer Morey (category, suspense)
Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley (light women's fiction)

The only title in this cross-section of genres which AW read was 'Private Arrangements' and she loved it with such passion and conviction that she was all set to be 100% certain it deserved the Rita. Then - she learned of 'No Good Girls' and 'Your Roots are Showing', two books set to resurrect smart chicklit, and was torn; perhaps there should be a Rita each for best first book, historical division and contemporary divisions? Then - she learned that 'Passionate' is partly set in Tunisia. Northern Africa! How cool and unusual and deserving of being encouraged! Even greater tornity. All for naught: the winner was 'Oh.My.Gods.' Somehow, AW doesn't feel an overwhelming desire to rush out and buy it. Not fair to the book, but it is the victim of AW's unfulfilled anticipation. That's the way the whimsical reader cookie crumbles.


Contemporary Single Title Romance
No Good Girls by Jean Marie Pierson
Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson
Out of Time by Samantha Graves
Snowfall at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
Sweet Talk by Susan Mallery
Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley

AW has not read one of these titles. Not one. It gets worse: she has not read a single one of these authors, period. Perhaps time to do something about that? Maybe start with the winner, 'Not Another Bad Date'?


Historical Romance
Duchess by Night by Eloisa James
In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath
Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas
The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal
The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne
To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
Where the Heart Leads by Stephanie Laurens

This looked to turn into a cagematch for AW's affections, with 'Private Arrangments' and 'The Spymaster's Lady' going at it head to head. Given her enjoyment of the 'Desperate Duchesses' series, had she managed to read Book 3( 'Duchess by Night' ) by now it could well have become a three-way fight. AW has never really caught on to the huge fan-love for Elizabeth Hoyt's work, or Lisa Kleypas, or Stephanie Laurens, and has not read Lorraine Heath at all. And in the end, it was another unknown-to-her author and story walking away with the prize: 'The Edge of Impropriety'. Stunningly beautiful cover, though.


Novel with Strong Romantic Elements
Last Dance at Jitterbug Lounge by Pamela Morsi
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
The Paper Marriage by Susan Kay Law
The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
Tribute by Nora Roberts
Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris

One can almost hear the Gentle Reader saying, "But in this category, AW, your very own after all, you must be 100% well-versed and knowledgable!" The reply Gentle Reader would receive is "Nope. Have not read a single one of these titles, and what's more, authors." Shocking, indeed. Exactly what HAS Apprentice Writer been reading all year??? Obviously, works that fly below, beside or above RWA's radar.

This great little list of titles has the pedigree to push to the top of the TBR. AW wonders whether the other authors contemplated whether it was worth attending the ceremony when they learned they were up against Nora Roberts, whose 'Tribute' won the prize.


Regency Historical Romance
Duke Most Wanted by Celeste Bradley
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn
My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
The Dangerous Duke by Christine Wells
The Edge of Desire by Stephanie Laurens
Three Nights of Sin by Anne Mallory

Of these titles, AW has read the twin to 'Mr. Cavendish, I Presume' (which she has been told more than once is exactly the same book), 'My Lord and Spymaster', and 'The Dangerous Duke'. She enjoyed all three. If pressed for unimaginable reasons to choose only one, she'd have to go with the Bourne title - and lo and behold 'My Lord and Spymaster' won! Hooray! Huzzah! Hip, hip!

Tally
So let's see: of five categories, AW correctly predicted a grand total of ONE.

Perhaps she should shelve any notion to earn her future living as a bookie.

GENTLE READER - thoughts on wins? Losses? Which of the many AW has not read which she really should pick up?

Young Adult Fiction

One of Apprentice Writer's regular refuelling stops in cyberspace is 'The Booksmugglers'. Ana and Thea read a range of fiction, and always provide thoughtful, cogent reasons as to why they do or don't like their smuggled selections. AW may not always agree with their ratings *KOFF how-can-anyone-fail-to-see-the-splendor-of 'Melusine' or 'Darkborn'! KOFF, KOFF* but she must admit that the smugglers handle their stash thoroughly and have a knack for inviting discussion without dissing any dissenting views.

This month, the smugglers turn their spotlight on Young Adult Fiction - a pool where AW has done very little dabbling since the time she personally passed the target age demographic. Her sum total of experiences is as follows:

- The Alice Trilogy ('Alice, I Think', 'Miss Smithers', 'Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last') by Susan Juby are some of the most screamingly funny books she has ever read.
- The Harry Potter collection, which AW loved except for the final installment which in her opinion left too much open and contained one whopper of an unexplained injustice.
- The Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey, introduced to her by junior apprentice writer #1 and which inspired her manuscript subtitle ('An Epic Novel of Love and Home Improvement'),
- 'Wicked Lovely' by Melissa Marr. AW fell in love with its gorgeous cover, but gave up reading halfway through. This was not so much because of active dislike, but because it was due back at the library and she could not summon enough interest in the main character to expend the energy to renew it. All that endless, unrelieved angst. Maybe this was a generational dividing line thing?

So, all told, YA seems like an area where AW could do with broadening her horizons. The smuggler's upcoming YA week promises to do just that.

Gentle Reader - any exceptional YA titles you'd like to share?

Generation Gap. Part II

Further to the 'apps' method of figuring out which side of the generation divide you are on -

Apprentice Writer is much struck with further dividing lines.

Gentle Reader - do you TWIT? E-READ? CELL?

AW suspects her own "No" answer may need to be reassessed soon. Her Very Good Reasons why she has not embraced these tidal-wave technologies:

Twitter: avoiding due to fear of yet another addictive time-suck
E-read: dedicated e-reader is low on 'most urgent purchase' list and threatens to be hard on the eyes
Cellular phone as message centre: AW's cellphone is of the very basic variety, used for actual speech (yes, it's true - cellphones can be used for talking to another person, not just texting/surfing/games/movies/camera!)

Yet signs of being left behind, like an LP in a cassette world (wait; that's too old) -
like a walkman in a discman world (still too old) -
like napster in an itunes world (getting better) -
have conspired to poke a hole in AW's "comfortable-with-my-level-of-technology-thank-you-very-much' bubble. To wit:

- big author news is broken on Twitter rather than the blogosphere,
- reader contests are held exclusively on Twitter,
- some bloggers seem on a trajectory of decreased time blogging and increased time tweeting
- Twitter shows itself far above a shallow time-killer by profoundly affecting the way people protest totalitarian regimes
- the longstanding slow simmer between romance writers published in print vs. e-presses reaches a full boil with a recent statement from the president of Romance Writers of America and perceived-to-be exclusionary policies for the 'big' industry awards
- Dorchester issued an open call for unpublished authors to submit serial chapters in a contest with a publishing contract as prize, with reader voting to take place via cellphone.

The writing is on the wall.

Reading Ecstasy Anticipation

Warning: Fangirl unleashed.

Thomas and Duran and Chase, oh my!

Readers who brush up against the historical romance sphere even a little cannot help but beware of the white-hot expectations assigned to these authors. All have developed a reputation for peerless prose - a reputation Apprentice Writer, for one, considers well deserved. And at this moment, they all have new releases out - and all are raking in the praise.

Loretta Chase has been a star in the writing game the longest, and not a single romance reader has AW met who cannot spout off their favorite Chase title on the slightest provocation. (AW's is 'Mr. Impossible', in case any Gentle Readers of this space could possibly have missed this scoop.) She has become so iconic that aspiring writers without number have been known to pitch their manuscript with the instantly understood shortcut: "This is my attempt to write like Loretta Chase." Can never happen, of course, but the turns of phrase, the buildup of relationships, the funny, and the emotional satisfaction are all so deft and delicious that hope springs eternal. And, in a characteristic especially dear to the slow-writing AW's heart, Ms. Chase seems the exception in current multiple-manuscripts-per-year norm, taking her time to polish each story to her personal satisfaction and even retiring from active group-blogging last year. Whatever gets another Chase story into the bookstores - AW is all for it.

(Should the Gentle Reader be interested, AW's review of the most recent title, 'Your Scandalous Ways', is here, and 'Mr. Impossible' here.)

Sherry Thomas exploded onto the scene two years ago with her spectacular debut, 'Private Arrangements'. AW loved, loved, loved the humor and sweetness of a secondary romance between an older couple and suffered, suffered, suffered(in a good way!) right along with the protagonist couple in the primary romance. It was one of the most well-rounded emotional workouts she'd had in a while! The second title, 'Delicious' did a superb job of showing how food is so much more than mere nutrition, and that the way that people prepare it and eat it can have layer upon layer of emotional meaning infused.
(AW looked for her earlier reviews to link here and was embarrassed to find she had not posted any formal comments. Apparently she was too busy dashing around cyberspace gushing incoherent praise after 'Private Arrangements', and looking for something delectable to much after 'Delicious'.)

Meredith Duran is the 'youngest' of the trio, literary-wise, with her second title appearing now. AW thought her personal writer envy would be difficult to keep in check, given that the author's debut title was published as a prize for popularity of excerpt in an online contest, and given that the author appears to jot down saleable manuscripts for relaxation in between earning her doctoral degree. But Ms. Duran has such a sincere and likable persona that AW's affronted intentions were punctured.

'Duke of Shadows' was a marvelous and intense story set in one of AW's favorite settings: South Asia. The author will 'catch up' with Ms. Thomas in mere weeks when her third title will be released. Given these two authors' career trajectory, and given that Ms. Thomas has set her latest in South Asia as well, AW was utterly delighted yet not 100% surprised to learn that they have combined efforts and now blog together at 'Plotters and Manipulators United' (which AW still thinks should win a prize for blog name). Since Ms. Chase is no slouch in the South Asian-setting department herself ('The Sandalwood Princess'), AW awaits the day that Ms. Chase will do a guest blog on the Plotters and Manipulators site.

(Here AW's impressions of 'Duke of Shadows').

AW's answer to the 'What Will Be in Your Beach Bag?' question:

"Don't Tempt Me" Loretta Chase

"Not Quite a Husband" Sherry Thomas

"Bound by Your Touch" Meredith Duran

CHICKLIT: MISSING PERSONS REPORT

Chicklit has gone MIA.

Once so ubiquitous and easy to spot (Those shoes and tubes of lipstick on the covers! The cartoon images! Neon-bright girly colors!), chicklit has developed such a rampant case of shyness that onlookers suspect it should be declared dead. Let's have a look at the evidence, shall we?

Previously reported:
- An agent putting in writing to Apprentice Writer that (paraphrased) chicklit is toast, nigh impossible to sell to publishers anymore,

- A used book store owner giving less credit for chicklitish titles (including those clearly marked 'Women's Fiction') than any other genres due to difficulty unloading,


New clues:
- Harlequin's much-advertised 60-year anniversary celebration doesn't seem to have sent a party invitation to the genre. As far as AW could tell, none of the 16 featured free books available for e-download included chicklit, nor the featured series to be released during the year. Paranormal, suspense, inspirational titles etc. offer multiple choices for the reader each month; while Red Dress Ink, the chicklit imprint, offers a single December 2008 title as most recent choice.

- Upsurge in titles now described as 'Contemporary/Upbeat/Light/Humorous Women's Fiction'. Author Jane Porter's website divides her work into 'Classic Romance' (referring to series titles) and titles described as 'Modern Lit'.

- Migration. First there was the disbandment of such sites as 'Literary Chicks', now previous chicklitish authors are popping up in other genres:

CARA LOCKWOOD - Young adult series and paranormal title Every Demon Has His Day
ALESSIA HOLLIDAY - writing as Alyssa Day, paranormal series Atlantis
LANI DIANE RICH - Co-wrote paranormal title Dogs and Goddesses
EILEEN COOK- Young adult title What Would Emma Do
EILEEN RENDEHL - writing as Eileen Carr, suspense title Hold Back the Dark and urban fantasy title Don't Kill the Messenger

From this off-the-top-of-her-head and by no means exclusive sample, Apprentice Writer concludes that a) Some people are amazingly good at seeing the writing on the wall and doing something about it, and b) Young adult, urban fantasy, and holy-smokes-its-unstoppable,-Batman paranormal are the rainmakers at the moment.

Is there any hope of chicklit survival?
Well, yes. Apparently a chicklit voice can thrive by immigration to other genre lands and blending in there. Funny, first-person stories have been popping up (as would be expected from above) in Young Adult land, Paranormal land, and Fantasy land. Also, JANET MULLANY'S upcoming title, A Most Lamentable Comedy, is billed as 'Regency Chicklit'.

But, the outlook for chicklit survival in the land of its birth - straight contemporary? Looking doubtful.

Optimists will promise the inevitablity of its rebirth, certain to rise from the ashes anew at some unknown future point. Maybe. But, who knows how far in the future, and under what name?

Until then, AW wishes someone would clue her in about the identity of the NEXT rainmaking subgenre.

EBOOK WEEK - Part 2

Further to yesterday's post on the opening parade for Ebook Week, the next step: answering the question, "But Apprentice Writer, what shall we read on?"

AW has no ereader. She can give no valid opinion on So700nyKind500leII's of any kind. She can, however, direct the gentle reader's attention to other parties who have formed an opinion:

http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/the_new_kindle?utm_source=featureband

AW especially liked the feature that allows the user to zip straight to the first mention of 'heaving'.

EBOOK WEEK - Freebie!

This is EBook Week.

In celebration, some epublishers are offering free reads to coax print readers into the idea that hey, ereading is not so painful after all!

One author whose novel is now available free of cost to the ecurious is KIMBER CHIN, a wildly creative chaptermate of Apprentice Writer's. Not only is she a patient coach on all things blog-related, she is a pioneer of the new subgenre business romance. Yay, people unafraid of the cutting edge!

To get a free copy of Kimber's latest release, Invisible,
go to
http://www.ebookgur u.org/
and click on the first post (in blue).
You can also get there from
http://businessroma nce.com/2009/ 03/09/read- invisible- for-free/

Now please excuse AW as she leaves to take advantage of this no-hidden-fees opportunity (hee!).

Notable Quotes: THE DAY AFTER

To write is to live forever.
Tina Fey, presenting the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay

The man who wrote that is dead.
Steve Martin, in response.

You look like a big Canadian flag! Beautiful!
Entertainment reporter Ben Mulroney to Nicole Kidman, dressed in an all-scarlet gown, in a clip from last year advertising coverage of this year's event. Ms. Kidman wore a conspicuously non-red gown last night.

Hugh Jackman was funny and charming in addition to looking fab in a tux and never breaking a sweat or sounding out of breath during all the singing and dancing. No chemistry with Beyonce but what girl didn't want to be Anne Hathaway, swept out of her seat and onto the stage like that? Billy Crystal, David Letterman or Jon Stewart couldn't have done it, Whoopi Goldberg maybe but it just wouldn't have had the same effect.
Apprentice Writer (who can't comment on things like the fairness of awards bestowed or lost, not having seen any of the Big 5, but who did see Wall E and loved that those genuine, emotional moments between robotic leads were highlighted during several montages including 'Romance')

Jai Ho!
Everyone else

ANTI VALENTINES DAY CONTEST

In her daily quest for Very Important Research Items (*cough* procrastinating*cough*), Apprentice Writer stumbled across this contest.

The name made her laugh, and she is happy to support anything that makes her laugh.

The prize has a twist: the winner gets to choose 1 book from 3 in 3 categories, for triple loot.

Which would be great in itself, but 2 of the 9 titles
are by AW's chaptermates!

THE WARLORD'S BRIDE by Margaret Moore

&

MADE TO BE BROKEN by Kelly Armstrong

Go take a look. http://breezingthroughbooks.blogspot.com/

"I Know What a Scoundrel Wants"

We interrupt this Nanowrimo-inspired blogging hiatus to bring you news of a fab contest, hosted by Ann Aguirre (whose excellent GRIMSPACE was reviewed here earlier), known to create inspired buzz. She does so now on behalf of Carrie Lofty, whose debut novel,

WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS

will release with Zebra's Debut Authors program (i.e. titles at a special introductory price) on 2 December.

Apprentice Writer has considered Ms. Lofty on online friend for some time now, having chatted with her about all kinds of things since before 'Scoundrel' was a twinkle in the author's eye. In fact, her inbox probably still has the message that said something like "I watched 'Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves' last night and had this great idea for a Will Scarlett story...."

Fastforward, and here we are: that idea developed, written, shopped, agent aquired, sold, and converted to concrete, tangible form. Magic!

AW is deleriously thrilled for Ms. Lofty and can't wait to get her hands on her personal copy - even though she much preferred the original title REDEEMING WILL SCARLETT and thinks the cover leaves much to be desired.

Oh, well. But the important part, between the covers, leaves nothing to be desired. Great writing, lovely hero, strong heroine, unusual time period - this one has it all. Go check it out.

Look for Carrie Lofty at http://www.carrielofty.com/ and at http://www.unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com/

And for all the details of the Scoundrel contest (mondo prizes!) stop by Ann Aguirre's blog:
www.annaguirre.com/blog