♣ I may have mentioned the Book in 3 Months Challenge a time or ten. The good news: my writing is going really well. The first draft should be done by the end of the week. I still have about 10,000 words to write to reach my goal, but that should be feasible. The bad news: I’m behind on everything else. I have a backlog of reviews to write, ARCs to read, laundry to wash, friends to call…well, you get the picture.
♣ Books I’ve read since I last posted a reading update include: Death on Beacon Hill by P.B. Ryan; Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy; a really bad Harlequin book (the title eludes me but I think it won a RITA); half of Eloisa James’ A Kiss at Midnight; Meljean Brook’s steampunk novella, Here There Be Monsters.
♣ Books I have which need to be read and reviewed a.s.a.p. include: Burning Up by Susan Andersen; Reckless by Anne Stuart; Finding Perfect by Susan Mallery; and Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn.
♣ For anyone on NetGalley, they now have Jeannie Lin’s Harlequin Historicals debut, Butterfly Swords. It’s set in China during the Tang Dynasty and sounds wonderful. I just received my ARC and I intend to read it on my holidays.
♣ My current DVD addiction is The Shield. I got the complete box set of all seven seasons as an early birthday gift. Yeah, I know I’m cheating by watching it already, but I’m not going to get through all seven seasons between now and the 4th of September. So far, I like it a lot. It’s well-acted, fast-paced, and features interesting storylines.
♣ I haven’t been blog hopping much lately, but I did read a couple of interesting posts. One of my favourite bloggers is Heidenkind. She’s an Art Historian and bibliophile and always has interesting stuff on her blog. I particularly liked her recent piece on When Art Meets Life – and Murder. I need to read the book featured, What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen.
♣ Smashwords founder, Mark Coker, gave a candid interview on Wetmachine. My favourite part:
Some large NY publishers don’t distribute their ebooks internationally because they fear this or that, and by limiting distribution they’re only encouraging customers to access it by illegal means. The bigger risk these big publishers face is obscurity. Their potential consumers have unlimited alternative choices for their next good read.
Authors and publishers can reduce piracy by making their content more accessible in more places to more consumers at a fair price. If you make it more convenient to access the official copy of your work from a legitimate retailer, most customers will pay for it.
So…have I missed anything interesting on the interwebz?
{ 6 comments }
Sooooo curious about the really bad Harlequin that may have won a RITA….
@Wendy: It was the one you featured on your blog a while ago with the freaky looking baby on the cover. ‘The Soldier’s Secret Daughter’ by Cindy Dees. To be fair, I’m very fussy when it comes to romantic suspense and I far prefer the emphasis to be on the suspense rather than on the romance. This is just not my type of story.
@Sarah: Ahhh, the Alien Baby From The Planet Zoltan book. Yep, it won a RITA.
Of the Harlequin lines, I find that Intrigue focusses a bit more on suspense, while Silhouette Romantic Suspense focusses a bit more on the romance. That’s purely ancedotal on my part – but it’s what I’ve discovered in my own reading. And I’m like you. When it comes to romantic suspense, I’m happier with a stronger emphasis on the suspense – but I suspect that might be because of my mystery reading background
Aw, thank you for the kind words, Sarah! I can’t wait to hear what you think of Death On Beacon Hill. That’s my personal favorite in the series (although I haven’t read the last book… I think I’m just trying to pretend the series isn’t over).
@Wendy: Thanks for the information on the difference between the Intrigue line and Silhouette Romantic Suspense. I’ve never read an Intrigue, but they sound like my sort of romantic suspense.
@heidenkind: I still need to write my review of Death on Beacon Hill. I really enjoyed it. I’m loving this series and I don’t want it to end!
Hi Sarah!
I have Butterfly Swords on my wish list–I’m very excited to read an historical romance set in China! I look forward to your comments on this one when you’ve read it.