beta blogger…

Not really sure what it is.

Beta Blogger

I upgraded my blog but not my template cuz I scared…

Tags: Reasons Sybil Still Hates Blogger

Book Alert: One Real Cowboy by Janette Kenny March 2007

New Western! From Zebra! At the really cool debut price! But it doesn’t come out until March 2007.

Straight From The Heart
Cord Tanner has a very simple plan: get paid to be Beatrix Northroupe’s husband for a month so the prim, but sexy, Englishwoman can gain rightful ownership of her family’s stud farm. Money in hand, he’s going to get as far away from Revolt, Kansas, as a fast horse can take him.

But Cord soon finds that he admires his Trixie’s reckless courage–not to mention she’s one great kisser. Maybe he’s crazy to hope for a real future with her instead of heading for the hills, but now that someone’s staking a dangerous claim to her farm, Cord’s decided to stick around as long as the lady needs protecting. That wedding ring he put on her finger means her reputation is safe–and he’s determined to win her heart. Cord Tanner may not be the most refined man on the frontier, but he sure is the lovingest…

You can check out Janette Kenny’s site here.

Tags: Debut, Historical, Jan Kenny, March 2007, One Real Cowboy, Western, Zebra

Hard Evidence by Pamela Clare

Hard Evidence (Berkley Sensation) is the sequel to Extreme Exposure and should be arriving in a mailbox near me soon *g*.

Pamela says:

I have two contemporary releases this year. The first is HEAVEN CAN’T WAIT (June), which is part of the anthology CATCH OF THE DAY. It includes characters from Extreme Exposure and is the funniest, lightest thing I’ve ever written. The second is HARD EVIDENCE (November) which is the sequel to Extreme Exposure and tells the story of Tessa Novak, an investigative reporter, and Julian Darcangelo, a rogue special agent on the trail of a human trafficker.

Interested?

A little more info from the site tells us:

It revisits the Investigative Team, or I-Team, of the Denver Independent, where Tessa Novak, the cop reporter, finds herself in deadly peril after witnessing an alleged gang shooting not far from the paper. Digging deeper into the shooting, she crosses paths with Julian Darcangelo, a tall, dark and dangerous stranger who, according to her research, doesn’t even exist. She knows he’s some kind of operative. But is he one of the good guys or a stone-cold killer

Want more?!?! Wellllll how about an excerpt? What the hell how about a few chapters? Tempted?

Hard Evidence (Berkley Sensation) by Pamela Clare excerpt

Read more

Tags: Excerpt, Extreme Exposure, Hard Evidence, pamela clare

Never Seduce a Contest…. winner

well that sucks rocks

It was bad enough when I figured it wasn’t historical… it isn’t even a romance.

le sigh

When a someone asked Susan Kay Law if it wasn’t a romance what was it. She responded

What is it, Kathy? Hmm. I believe the current plan is simply to put fiction on the spine.

“Pissed Off Forty-something Lit” probably sums it up best.

I am sure that makes someone happy but I think it sucks rocks. Well at least I hope it was truly a book she was burning to write and not that she couldn’t sell a western or historical because I could swear it use to say on her site the next book as a historical.

Maybe she just needed a break and will return to romance later? We can hope!

You Give Love a Bad Name

I am on very few yahoo groups. I think there are six: three author lists, two historical reader lists and a trade group. Oh and there is the brotherhood list but it is no mail because there is no way in hell I could keep up with it, but I do go check it out once in a blue moon.

The rest are author only, newsletter or update type lists. LOVE those… really every author should have one. Even if you don’t pay for a professional newsletter or have the puter skills to do one, a simple text post is grand. And if you don’t have a website, this lil reader thinks this is a must. Linda Howard I am looking at you! LOL not that you see it but it is the thought that counts *g*.

So I am not ‘up’ on the common rules of these things, at least in romanceland.

But if out of a 25 post digest, there are seven posts from you and your significant other talking about your lust and/or love for one another in addition to another six posts from other members talking about your lust and/or love for one another, you need to shut up about it.

Or is it just me that finds that crap annoying, boring and stupid. If you need an audience to talk to the lurve of your life, I think one or all of three things.

A. you are a sock and playing both the love and the lovee
B. things aren’t really all that at home
C. you are both attention whores

GET. A. ROOM. Crazy thing… but people might be looking for book info, excerpts and things to do with the writing. I know I should just unsub and now recall why I generally delete the digest without even opening them.

This is prolly common on old lists where people are friends and have known members forever and ever. But yahoo groups are free! Go create one just for your group or something. Or make the personal chatty posts but don’t carry it… and on… and on… where it hits over four digests (that is over 100 posts at 25 a digest).

Am I just being a bitch and not understanding the ‘fun’. The group’s description does list ‘everything under the sun’ as allowable posts. But long ass conversations about your lurve seem above and beyond. And the list isn’t a fan list or a discussion list but THE AUTHOR list. As this is not the first time I have seen this type of thing on list I am changing my membership to Special Notices - Receive only important email notices from the group moderator. And will just visit via web when I want to look for info. LOL after all that my question is:

Is this is common and acceptable on many author lists?

And for the love of god, cut the text in the posts when you are replying. Really I think that is what pushed me over the edge, not the 15 out of 25 posts in the last four digests but the one to two sentence replies on top of 10 other replies for one post.

In case you don’t know this… that makes scrolling through the digest a pain and even with the cool new set up yahoo is using for digest form it makes understanding where posts end and a new one begin difficult. If it causes the digest to be long enough, gmail doesn’t display the whole thing. So you have to click a link and wait for it to load to read the full digest. I hate to think how long this takes for people with dial up.

So please try to trim your posts when you reply and leave only what you are replying too! LOL sez I.

Tags: 2006, socks, Stupid Author Tricks, Sybil

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one

I have to say I think beth and jane of Dear Author are both swell people and personally I like them, even though I have only emailed with beth like twice. (yes candy, I still owe smart bitches a guest bitch)

I also think it is totally cool to dislike them or think they are evol. Because I think it comes down to opinion and not everyone is going to like everyone. And hey, I think you can think, say or post how much you hate me so why would I care if you hate others.

Every author takes a risk of people hating their book when they publish and by extension them. They put it out there for the world and need to take the good with the bad.

Every blogger/reviewer/message board poster takes a risk of people hating their opinions and by extension them when they post in a public forum. We are putting our shit out for the world to see and we need to take the good with the bad.

Saying that

THIS comment I so don’t get…

Whew. Now Robin’s question about Beth’s review. I believe I made a pretty strong distinction between the content of a review, the subject of the criticism (the book and not the author) and matters of tone. Tone has to do with personal style (see above), with the established relationship between the reviewer and the reviewer’s known audience, and with the format. Beth’s review was written for her own weblog, not for a website that advertises itself first and foremost as a book review ‘publication’ (and I use that word loosely). And her tone fit into her overall approach when she does talk about books: she’s outrageous. She’s emotive. She puts it all out there. Her review of ABOSAA is not professional or meant to be taken that way. If a newspaper called her up and asked her to write her review up to be printed on their Books page, I am certain the approach and tone would change.

Are we paying for Dear Author? When the hell did they become anything more than a reader blog?

Me thinks she just doesn’t like Jane… so call a fucking spade a spade and say jane sucks if that is what you think. But wrapping it up as beth’s review which states:

“I dunno, can you even tell your ass from your elbow anymore, woman?”

speaking directly to the author (who prolly only saw it after minons emailed her) is peachy keen lil reader opinon and jane is the big bad evol, seems uh dumb.

But beth is pretty fucking direct and there is that ever famous Foley review (which starts out… Dear Gaelan Foley… just saying). And sara donati seems to be speaking in circles approving of people she likes and slapping the wrists of people she doesn’t.

That or Jane really is just an ignorant slut. hmmm or I am… damn me to hell!

Murphy is out…

Elizabeth does Lori

Tara Marie should be happy to know:

And… (drumroll please) I recently agreed to a two-book contract for a horror series I’m starting. It’ll be written under the name L.L. Foster, but that’s all I really know so far.

shut up, shut up, shut up

Shut Up!

No I am not referring to any authors, message boards or online blow ups. Odd that

There are certain phrases I just don’t see being used in historicals. The nifty etymology online says:

Shut up (v.) first recorded 1840

Now the book in question is set in 1810, so I think the usage is wrong anyway. But even if it had been set in 1840, I would have found it odd for a young miss to say shut up to a bastard son of a duke.

Is that just me?

What phrases throw you out of a story? It surprises me sometimes how old some slang is… my favorite word is really old!

someone so should have stopped me

I am half way through and I think I have read this book before. It reminds me of The Seduction. But I recall liking The Seduction.

Does Holt have more than two characters?

Hero - bored rake who takes his pleasure where he wants

Heroine - virgin with no clue what to do down there but suddenly understand she desires the hero… she is tingley you see… and she gets him, really gets him and understands him in a way no one else can

with in minutes

cuz she is oh so worldly you know

Bad Gays! Confused Gays! (or maybe bi)! are all around… ten will get you twenty the bad guy is one of the gays. I may quickly skim to the end just cuz but hell if I were the type to return a book, this would so go back.

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