My 2007 trade paperback release Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy is coming out in mass market in March 2009. I love the trade cover. It’s pink and pretty. The couple…well, come on, these two are adorable.

My guess is that the mass market edition will have a new cover. As a reader I don’t always love this let’s-change-all-the-covers thing because I end up buying books I already own in other forms. As an author, I’m all in favor of whatever sells.

I did check out some recent Brava trade to mass market cover changes, and I think the new covers are better. The originals are cute, but the mass markets are…well, decide for yourself (the trade cover is first in each instance):

What do you think? Do you have a favorite - trade covers versus mass market covers?

Have a great end to the week!

HelenKay
RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW - Available Now! ~ RT Top Pick!

Okay this is St Patty’s week and I say week because after all the alcohol consumed on that day it takes many a week to recuperate…but that’s another blog.

Today I’m thinking about being Irish and if it makes any difference if you are Irish or German or Italian etc and does this carry over into book characters?

My maiden name is Castelluccio…thus the Castell. The best I can figure is I’m one-fourth Italian, one-fourth German, one-fourth Irish and one-fourth Jewish (with a name like Castelluccio bet you never saw that one coming). This is a guess as my grandfather was an orphan and linage is a bit vague. Does my gene pool make a difference from someone who is of Russian decent with a bit of Swiss thrown in the mix?

There’s got to be a reason I have these artsy-fartsy kids, live with the motto close-enough, always notice the clouds and shadows and nature in general.

I think what happened is the German genes of precision were lost (I can’t even do my own taxes) to the Italian and Irish genes of passion and emotion and delight in delicious food thrived along with the spirit of Jewish survivalist.

I like who I am. I like being a hodgepodge and think I’m better for it. Sort of like a mutt. Makes me unique. 

Okay, Castell, you say. What the heck does this have to do with books?

Well, it does. Your characters have a gene pool too. When I did the O’Fallon series I chose that name for a reason. I wanted the family to be fiercely loyal to each other at all costs, be headstrong to a fault, and sometimes be ruled by their hearts and not their heads. IMO the Irish are all those things.

In Hot and Bothered out in April, I have four orphans as the main characters. Four women who have no idea who they are, swore never to find out and then there’s a will and an old murder and they come face-to-face to who they really are and why they have certain unique qualities.

Why can prissy sense things? Why can Charlotte build a house with a pocket knife and box of toothpicks, why can Bebe shoot the fly off a donkey’s butt and why BrieAnn is always neat and perfect?

So, the question today is… Who are you? Irish for real or just this week?  German? English? Japanese? Indian? Native American? African?

And does the heritage of the characters in a book matter to you? Do you think… Ahhh, a hot Italian guy! or Ahhh, a passionate Irish guy! Ah-ha, a smart English gal!

I’ll give away a Hot and Bothered t-shirt from the answers.

Hugs,
Dianne Castell

Hot and Bothered (Kensington BRAVA 4/08)
www.DianneCatell.com
DianneCastell@hotmail.com

Let’s be honest. We all have plot tropes and character types that annoy us silly. It doesn’t matter how beautifully the prose might flow; it doesn’t matter how true to life the characterizations might be, you still want to fling the book against the wall. Just because. In the thousands and thousands of romances I’ve read, there are two things that really push my buttons: hyperactive heroines and mistaken identity plots.

Back in 2001, when I was just beginning the manuscript that became The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, there seemed to be a particular plague of hyperactive heroines. Most people would probably call them TSTL, but I still hadn’t really figured out the internet at that point (yes, I’m slow when it comes to technology), so my little sister and I coined our own term for those intrepid young misses who flounced their way through the pages of countless Regency novels, stamping their little feet, shooting off their little mouths, and catapulting themselves straight into danger, usually bowling the hero over along the way. We called the type the Hyper-Active Heroine or “HAH!” for short (the extra exclamation mark is for extra hyperactivity!). With all those HAH! heroines on the loose, dressing up as highwaymen, making out with the hero in the middle of Assemblies, and generally prancing gleefully straight into implausibility, one couldn’t help but feel that Regency-Land could only benefit by a major distribution of Prozac. No wonder so many heroes proposed. They were all exhausted by the end of the book.

But if there was one thing that irritated me more than even the most overly energetic of HAH!’s, it was a mistaken identity plot. Admittedly, I adore Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel, but that was different. I knew how they ended. At this point, those two are so iconic that one can only marvel that the other characters don’t know who they are by now. But any other mistaken identity stories drove me batty, whether it was the duchess pretending to be a milkmaid, the duke pretending to be a humble estate agent, or the estate agent pretending to be a playful sheep. Invariably, no matter how well the book is written, I have to flip ahead to find out when the other characters will finally figure it out who’s who. I just have to. Mistaken identities make me irritable and twitchy.

In 2001, I sat down to write a book. With an extremely hyperactive heroine. And the mother of all mistaken identity plots.

Yep, that’s right. A HAH! and a mistaken identity. To this day, I have no idea why I picked not one, but both of the tropes most likely to give me hives and made them the centerpiece of my own maiden effort. Having wracked my brains over it, I’ve come up with two potential reasons for my seeming insanity (other than actual insanity, although that is always also an option). First, there’s the potential for satire. My first book, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, was written somewhat tongue in cheek—and there’s no point in spoofing plots that already make sense. The over the top makes much better fodder for satire. What’s not to mock about a hero in a black mask and a heroine who doesn’t see why she shouldn’t single-handedly defeat Napoleon? But, second, and more importantly, there’s an incredible rush that comes of taking something you don’t like and trying to make it into something you do. Now that’s a challenge.

Or I could just be crazy.

Are there character types or particular plots that drive YOU batty?

First let me say Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate. I certainly do. :) Okay, now let us talk about eccentricity, shall we?

You’ve heard all the legends about famous authors right? Do you think it worked for them in publicity or against them? Some authors may be eccentric because they’re not afraid of hiding who they are. Others might choose notoriety because it gets them the publicity they want for their books. I wonder if Byron’s manic-depressive episodes made him famous in his day? I think writers who dig deep into the well of their experiences, of the thousands of things they’ve known, seen, done, and heard about…well, they have a treasure trove to mine for their stories. Those adventures can sometimes bring a writer’s personality fully to the forefront. Do I like being eccentric? Not sure if I am. ☺ I guess that depends on personal opinion.

The day I wrote this blog I decided it was going to be a mental health day. I considered reading and watching some boob tube since I had a book fair to attend the coming Saturday. Then there is the idea of wearing slippers all day. Yes. That’s a capital idea. Or staying in my PJ’s. That’s an idea. Then I started thinking…well, my slippers aren’t too comfortable. Plus, if someone comes to the door, I don’t want to be in my PJ’s. Still, these are the things I could see a character doing. Right as the hero comes to the door. And of course he’d be an awesome hero…a hunk. A regular Gerard Butler. You get the picture.

Some people think hobbies make an author eccentric. Two of my hobbies include archery and archaeology. When I lived in Colorado Springs many moons ago (before ’93), I made sure if I was off on an excavation or site survey that I’d put a message on my answering machine. Something like, “Hi, you’ve reached Denise. I’m off pulling an Indiana Jones right now, but if you’d like to leave a message, do so after the beep.”

When my then boyfriend (now my husband) and I moved in together, I changed the answering machine message to an English accent. My soon-to-be father-in-law called the machine for the first time and heard the English accent. Turned to my soon-to-be mother-in-law and said that their son hadn’t said anything about his girlfriend being English and wasn’t that neat? My boyfriend got a hoot outta that and told his father I was putting everybody on. ☺ Sue me, I like to do accents. I do English, Irish, Scottish and Australian accents and a passable but not very good Russian. My German accent always ends up sounding Russian. I’m workin’ on my South African accent and struggling with a Welsh accent. About the only people I can fool, of course, are other Americans. My three years living in England only made it all worse, of course. :) Plus, I’m forever saying garage and jaguar the English way and having to correct myself back to American.

So, what eccentricities do you have? Anything worth writing about? Lay it on me. I’ll pick one reader to win a paperback copy of MEANT TO BE, one of my calmest, least eccentric books. Speaking of reading, stop by and check out my recently designed My Space page at www.myspace.com/deniseagnew

Last but certainly not the least, the latest story in my HOT ZONE series comes out at Samhain Publishing www.samhainpublishing.com on April 1, PRIVATE MANEUVERS. Stop by my website at www.deniseagnew.com to read an excerpt and enter my March contest before it’s too late.

by Joanne Rock

When people ask me where I get the inspiration for the books I write, I usually have a hard time answering succinctly since the truth is—usually—that the inspiration comes from everywhere. I key into an overheard conversation and glean some enticing tidbit for a bit of character backstory. Or I watch a movie and think the setting is something I’d like to explore for an upcoming work. Sometimes a friend of a friend undergoes a dramatic experience in real life and I’d like to incorporate some of those emotions into a book.

But this mish-mash approach was not the case with A KNIGHT MOST WICKED. The opening of this story is actually taken from the first book I ever wrote. And while the rest of the work is much changed from my original early drafts, my vision of the story—and the opening that remains untouched from its first incarnation—was inspired by something very definite. La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

If you’ve studied poetry or if you’ve dabbled in the Romantic period, you’re already familiar with the poem by John Keats:

‘I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I loved the lines and was struck by the image of a wild woman in the forest who waited to lure unsuspecting men to their doom. In fairy tales, the forest is so often a place of danger for a young woman— remember Snow White? But in this case, it is the woman who rules the forest uses it as her seat of power. I read a lot about the wild woman motif in Clarissa Pinkola Estes book, Women Who Run with the Wolves. Estes discusses the need for women to “let go of the image of the overly positive mother when we learn that being good/sweet/nice will not cause life to sing.” We must experience our own “shadow nature” to know ourselves directly and to come to terms with our true selves. This is our inner wild woman and, I believe, she is the woman in Keats’ gorgeous poem.

So being intrigued by romanticism and feminism, La Belle Dame Sans Merci had me from the first word. I was entranced. Or, like the poor guy who comes under La Belle Dame’s power, I was “in thrall.” But still, that reaction was nothing compared to me glee when I discovered the Pre-Raphaelite paintings by the same name. One by Sir Frank Dicksee and the other by John William Waterhouse. These weren’t the only paintings inspired by the Keats poem, but they were two that really made the story come alive for me.

What I loved about the Dicksee painting was the beauty of the woman and the fact that the man was so thoroughly entranced. Now, art critics have pointed out the knight’s pose is stilted. But be that as it may, the dynamic between the characters clearly puts the woman in a powerful position. The chemistry at work is undeniable.

What I find interesting about the Waterhouse painting is the darker nature of the composition. While Dicksee’s vision has a prettiness about it, the Waterhouse interpretation recalls the fact that the knight is doomed and even the heroine has a darker edge. She doesn’t seem to rejoice in her role here as she draws him into her world. There’s something more despairing about her character.

It was this sense of darkness that called up the opening of A KNIGHT MOST WICKED for me. I ruminated on the painting and the poem and my writerly imagination took flight for the first time. I wanted to know more about the woman in the alone in the woods, a woman who was plagued by her own worries. And while I couldn’t see my hero following this woman to her doom since I have a great affection for happy endings, I could see him haunted by the memory of her.

Which is precisely what happens in the opening of A KNIGHT MOST WICKED. I recreated the scene in words instead of pictures, inserting my own version of a wild woman—a free-spirited gypsy—and a knight on a mission to deliver a princess to his king. Little does the hero know the gypsy who haunts his memory has transformed herself into a noblewoman to join the royal retinue on its journey to England.

What happens next is all a product of my own imagination and owes nothing to Keats’ poem or the paintings it inspired. From Bohemia to London, my hero and heroine battle their attraction along with a scheming noblewoman, political intrigue and prejudices about Arabella’s unorthodox upbringing. I had fun researching the diaspora nature of gypsy culture and the roots of these people who once had a strong population hold in Bohemia. And since my hero’s name is Tristan, I also enjoyed playing with the Tristan and Isolde story, a tale the hero shares with the heroine to entertain her on the long journey to his homeland. But then, that’s something I love about art in general. I can be inspired to write a book by a painting and the painting can be inspired by a poem, and the characters can be inspired by a story… it’s all wonderfully cyclical.

–What kind of art inspires you? A song that makes your heart soar? A movie that brings tears to your eyes? Or are there pictures/images that you like to surround yourself with to feel peaceful, happy, creative, etc.?

Two random contributors to the boards will receive an advance copy of Joanne’s historical, A KNIGHT MOST WICKED, along with their choice of backlist story.

To hell with deadline hell! I’m out of here on Monday to Jolly old England! When my husband said, “We have enough credit card airline miles to make a trip to London over springbreak” I have to admit I hesitated. I HESITATED!!! I have a book deadline of end of month. I just got back from 2 weeks in Virginia, I’m going to Novelists Inc convention at the end of March in NYC and Romantic Times Booklover’s convention in Pitsburgh two weeks after that…and I HESITATED!

So I have a deadline to turn in a book by end of March, get ‘er done! So I have two conferences to prepare for. So what! I have the opportunity to go to England, a place I’ve never been, LET’S GO!

So we booked, I’m packing this weekend, taking my dogs to Mom’s and we’re flying out Monday. I’m so excited, I’m already visualizing myself walking down the streets in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral, taking a Jack the Ripper walking tour, wandering through Buckingham Palace and Convent Garden.

I’m planning on taking loads of pictures but at a different angle. Most of the time, I take pictures of the incredible achitecture. This time, I’m taking pictures at “street level”. I want to capture what it’s like to move about the streets. What a character in a book would see, smell, taste and hear.

That’s right, I’ll use this trip as research for a setting. Don’t know for what book yet, but there will be one, I promise!

I gotta go pack!!

Oh! And while I’m gone I have a book coming out at Ellora’s Cave! Check out my wild west novella FIT TO BE TIED! A cowboy and a female bandit, two desperate people and a night they won’t forget!

I used to be spontaneous.

If I woke up on a Saturday morning and felt like jumping into the car to escape the house, I did. I lived in Germany for seven years, and during those days, even after family came along, I could pull out the map, calculate the driving time, and head to France, Austria, or Lichtenstein for a day or two of walking through museums, battlefields and ancient ruins. When I lived in Florida, I could roll out in the early AM, head down the coastal highway and end up in The Keys by afternoon to sit on the beach and watch the sun go down. In Georgia, my destination for pleasure was the Nantahala River for some white-water rafting. Even in my college days here in Arkansas, I could steer my old Impala into the Ozarks and find a campsite in a forest, rappel down a sheer cliff face, or raft down the Buffalo River.

So, when did being spontaneous become a big hassle? Is this the definition of getting old—losing that inner thirst for adventure? I hadn’t thought about trips that didn’t involve book signings or meetings with editors in years, until I lay down the other night, got an idea for a story set in Memphis, and thought, man, I need to walk Beale Street.

Last night, I called a writing buddy of mine, Shayla Kersten, who once lived in Memphis, and asked her if she wanted to go with me. She was as jazzed at the prospect of hitting the road as I was. Okay, so looking at a trip ten days from now may not sound very spontaneous to you, but given I haven’t done anything that hasn’t been planned down to the hotel reservations, wardrobe, and meal planning in years, and I’m feeling pretty excited.

I don’t want to plan a thing. I just want to roll into town, grab a city map at a gas station, plot a course for Beale Street, and park. Then I might hit a bar—not anything trendy. Something small that appeals to locals. Then I’ll stroll in, find a stool at the counter, and ask the bartender what sights I should see given the needs of the story I have in mind. Maybe I’ll offer to make him the hero if he steers me right (and he’s really cute!), or at least the hero’s sidekick.

Maybe I should do some heavy flirting to get my engines revved for the sexy details I’ll need to work into my tale…

I used the info I gleaned from walking around The French Quarter of New Orleans for my DARK REALM series. I didn’t take a “spontaneous” trip to that city. I spent two years running attending different conventions and ditching workshops to gather the atmosphere and setting details I needed for the series and a couple of other little stories I wrote as “practice” before I began work on the DARK books.

The palm readers I visited were depicted in SILENT KNIGHT and ALL KNIGHT LONG. The bars I danced the night away in served as fodder for the “blood bars” in INTO THE DARKNESS and SEDUCED BY DARKNESS. The dark alleyways I walked to and from the hotel gave me plenty of eerie sensory detail for the werewolf attack in ALL KNIGHT LONG as well as a fight scene in the third DARK REALM story. The trip to Café du Monde and Jackson Square gave me everything I needed for the bird attack in the opening scene of INTO THE DARKNESS.

I can’t wait to get to Memphis and take a walk down Beale Street after dark. If I get mugged, guess what? The bastard will likely star as the demon in my next story.