This is the best romance had to offer?

Quill Awards Nominees up for voting

they say:

The Quills celebrates the best books of the year in nineteen popular categories, ranging from romance to biography to graphic novels.

then give us these five books to vote on:
Nominees in the Romance category
Blue Smoke Blue Smoke - Nora Roberts
The Masque of the Black Tulip - Lauren Willig
The Preacher's Daughter The Preacher's Daughter - Beverly Lewis
Savannah Breeze - Mary Kay Andrews
Undead and Unpopular - Mary Janice Davidson

This is the best of the best out of romance? Really?

I need a friend

I wanna play!

So someone be my friend and go sign up! Oh and email me and let me know ;). Pretty please... I never win but I am odd like that.

Stranger Nights

[click the question to see answer]

First up the easy question, what is your current release?

What do you think Avon Red has to offer readers that is different from the other erotic romance prints?

Speaking of erotic romance, how do you define the difference between 'erotic romance' and 'erotica'.

Do people know you write erotic romance? If your friends and family do know, how has their reaction been?

As a writer do you have any 'do not cross' lines or do you go wherever the story takes you? Have you looked back on something you wrote and been surprised you came up with it. Wanna share what it was *g*.

What is up next? We are book whores, give us names dates and summaries!

If you don’t have time to read…

My TBR pile is almost ridiculous, because I keep buying books and then I can't read them. Stephen King says, "If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write." and I agree with him.

Sadly, I truly don't have the time. I've turned in three single titles this year, and two novellas. Between now and Feb. I have another novella due and two single titles. Then another ST in Apr, and Aug, and Dec. On one hand, I think it'll be nice to slow down.

On the other, I know it takes years and years for some authors to build the size backlist I've built in just two and getting contracts is a struggle for many. So while I'm hugely busy, I'm doing what I love, and I never sit here and wish I were doing something else. I don't take for granted the opportunities afforded me by my editors and their enthusiasm for my work. I'm grateful every day.

I'm most looking forward to reading SUGAR DADDY by Lisa Kleypas. I preordered it a long time ago. I'm also eagerly awaiting a new Shelby Reed release, as I'm a huge fan of hers. And all the upcoming Allure Authors' books. I can't wait for those!

[note: beta blogger is being goofy if you have issues posting use the option 'other' and type in your name... if you use anon, make sure you type your name in the post]

Book Alert: Pleasures of the Night by Sylvia Day **May 2007**

Pleasures of the Night by Sylvia Day

Aidan Cross is a Dream Guardian. In the Twilight between sleep and wakefulness, a battle ensues between his kind and the Nightmares, with the victor reaping the benefits of the energy created in slumber. Guardians recharge with various skills, Nightmares drain while thriving on distress.To keep the portal locked between reality and dreams is a calling that rules Aidan's life, until he's assigned to protect Lyssa Bates. Unlike the other women whose dreams he's calmed with deeply erotic seduction, Lyssa recognizes him and his purpose. She welcomes him to her bed as he is, without the disguise of her fantasies, and offers him the first true solace he's known in a lifetime of fighting. Her ability is a gift. And a curse.

Because of her rare cognizance, she is said to be The Key they have all been searching for. The Key serves a terrible purpose to open the Gateway and allow Nightmares in unlimited numbers to travel through the Twilight. From there, they have access to the mortal plane through the individuals whose dreams they control.

So Aidan leaves the Twilight to protect her from both his own people and the enemies who need Lyssa to open the door to them. Stripped of the endless possibilities of dreams, they have only their will to live with which to conquer her destiny and grasp the elusive promise of love.

There is a companion site for the series. It's a work in progress and is presently undergoing a full-site redesign, so by November visitors will find a whole new site and lots more content -- deleted scenes, sneak peaks at future installments of the series, games, etc.

But there's an excerpt up now!

And a little mini-trailer. (It's just something I whipped together myself while Circle of Seven works on the "official" trailer. *g*)

Tags: Avon Red, Book Alert, Erotic Romance, May 2007, Pleasures of the Night, Sylvia Day

The Dream Guardian

The Dream Guardian series

was partly a creative construct and partly a marketing-focused one.

At the time I had a futuristic on submission that was running into a problem -- it was too futuristic for the romance imprints and too romantic for the sci-fi imprints.

So my agent suggested that I return to the drawing board while we waited for word and think of something else. Kensington has my historicals, a futuristic was on submission, that left me with contemporary.

I thought of all the paranormals I knew of -- weres, vamps, magic, faeries -- and wanted to do something different. I thought about it and came up with the dream/nightmare idea.

"What if the man of your dreams was real?"

Then my imagination ran with it. What if Nightmares were real? What if they were beings that fed off the fear and distress created by bad dreams? And what if good dreams were real? And what if the good dreams were the reason we have bad dreams? And what about wet dreams? The possibilities just kept stacking up.

I had to research wormholes, spacetime, string theory, Roman rings, parallel dimensions, closed timelike curves, Shinto temples, and various physical ailments that affect restful sleep.

Guest Author: Sylvia Day

We are wrapping Avon Red Week up with an author I think could win a prize for the most books coming soon....

Sylvia Day

She has books coming out from Avon Red, Brava, Ellora’s Cave and even an Essay in one of BenBella's Books.

You can keep up with Sylvia on her blog, message board, Allure Authors, Your Virtual Book Bag, Out of the Blogosphere, Erotic Romance Authors, 2 B Read, Lust for Life, Avon Authors, Brava Authors, Fanlit and Romancing the Blog.

::blink::

And I prolly missed some places. I have no clue when she finds time to write.

Romance courting erotica

Erotic Romance, Erotica and or Romantica, no matter what you label it or how you define it, you can't argue that it is a hot market right now.

HOT is an understatement, it has exploded and just about every publisher is coming out with a line or buying books to fit this market. It has been talked about, blogged about, printed in newspapers, made a talk show or two and now even has its own idiot's Guide.

Since this is Avon Red Week, figured we would start with... WHAT THE HELL is erotic romance, erotica and/or romantica. In the interest of time (raining! make the rain go away!) we will retro post... because as I said, this has been blogged about before *g*.

BUT first... Avon Red
Where do you see this fitting? I think/thought it was Erotic Romance but the site at Harper (not updated and rather on the eh side of websites , sez I) says:

In today's marketplace, Erotica is one of the fastest-growing segments of women's fiction. Avon Red is committed to providing the best, most sophisticated erotic fiction available in the industry, written by the most talented authors. With our striking cover designs and steamy narratives, Avon Red is in a class by itself.

Erotica... is that a lack of understanding in the difference or could Avon be taking the opposite (and much better) approach of Aphordisia and marketing its books as erotica and allowing for a HEA or not.

I could not find submissions guidelines for Avon Red but there was this note on Karen Fox's site:

May Chen oversees the Avon Red (erotica) lines. They will put out one book a month in trade size starting September 2006. This is very hot but emotional sex. It can be historical, contemporary, time-travel, paranormal, urban fantasy, and short story or full length. She recommends you query her first. Send the query to (go look it up). If she requests you to snail mail the manuscript, be sure to include a copy of her email. Follow up with her if you haven't heard anything in a month.

Maybe one of the Avon Red Authors will chime in and let us know if these are HEA only or not.

Fever isn't such a new scene:
First Posted February 10, 2006:

Helenkay blogged For Further Confusion regarding the March Romantic Times trying to, as Alison Kent sez: Define Eroticism .

I happen to agree there is no right or wrong. But as I sit here trying to assign sensuality rating, the question is running through my head. I have read books recently that are called hot, hot baby but seem very mild to me. I am missing something? LOL or just too jaded and on romantic erotica overload ;).

1. How do you define erotic vs erotic romance in your personal reading or reviews?

2. Do you have any personal examples of authors you feel fit the two?

3. Where do you feel romantica fits in between erotic vs erotic romance?

4. Is the sensuality rating something you even pay attention to before you read a novel? Or do you look after? Do you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing?

5. If you do look at the ratings before - you are looking for hotter stories? Or are you looking for the sweeter ones?

6. If you write, is the level or page amount focused on sex something you even think of when you plot out a story (if you outline) or do you just 'let the characters lead?'?

7. Do you think we are flooding the market with too many hotter books? Or are you happy to see so many new erotica lines?

8. Where does BRAVA fit in with erotic vs erotic romance?

lots of questions... and I have more! readers and/or authors answers as many as you want or not

ETA: Cindy's answers

RtB post by THE wendy

Interesting RtB post, Coming Out Of The Closet, by Wendy.

It sort of kind of ties in with Avon Red week...

Tales of Darkness from Delilah Devlin

Tales of Darkness from Delilah Devlin

First up the easy question, what is your upcoming release?

Into the Darkness in April.

What do you think Avon Red has to offer readers that is different from the other erotic romance prints?

**I'm hoping readers will discover that, as with all Avon lines, the quality of the stories will surpass all others!

I know for my part I pulled out all the stops, put my whole heart and soul into delivering the best book I've ever written!

Speaking of erotic romance, how do you define the difference between 'erotic romance' and 'erotica'.

**Erotic romance is still a romance story at the very heart of it. We don't close the bedroom door or shy away from frank language or description to tell the "rest of the story."

Erotica is really all about the sex and titillation--a very different kind of fantasy.

Do people know you write erotic romance? If your friends and family do know, how has their reaction been?

**The people I work with know I write romance, but because I work with children I never tell them exactly what sort of romance I write!

My family all know what I write and are very supportive. My mother is even one of my first line readers!

As a writer do you have any 'do not cross' lines or do you go where ever the story takes you?

Have you looked back on something you wrote and been surprised you came up with it. Wanna share what it was *g*.

**Hmmm...the first time I tried to write an erotic romance I wasn't sure I had it in me. I shocked myself.

These days, I've written so many different sorts of love scenes that I think I'm inured to shock! I pretty much let the characters tell me their fantasies!

What is up next? We are book whores, give us names dates and summaries!

In March 2007, Avon will publish an erotic short story, Kili's Ice Man, which will appear in Alluring Tales: Awaken the Fantasy, followed by Into the Darkness in April.

Unfortunately, I don't have a date for the sequel I'm writing at the moment. If readers are interested in seeing other books I've written (publishers shall remain unnamed here!), they can check out my website. I've been a very busy girl!

Now it is your turn! Have a question for Delilah? Go for it!

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