Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

posted by Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy and Cheryl Brooks Yes, it's true! We have FIVE great books being released in October! So many that it will take us TWO FULL DAYS to properly launch them all! Of course there will be TONS OF FUN! Lots of prizes! Silly and serious moments as our authors share blurbs, reviews and intriguing tidbits of their new releases. So without further adieu, LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! The Wild Sight: An Irish tale of deadly deeds and forbidden love by Loucinda McGary Aunty Cindy: My debut novel is a romantic suspense with paranormal elements. I'm tickled pink that it is the first romantic suspense in the Casablanca line and I'm even more thrilled that it is getting rave reviews, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly ! Here's the blurb from my website (http://www.loucindamcgary.com): Since he was a wee lad, Donovan O'Shea possessed a gift of clairvoyance that allowed him to see and hear people and things tha...

by Danielle Jackson Ok, ok, worst blog title EVER, but I wanted to let everyone know about a fun new contest Dominique, Linda and I came up with after a discussion at RWA. Some might think we’re crazy for voluntarily offering up characters to a fan fiction contest , but fan fiction is quickly becoming a growing “industry” of its own in publishing. I think the best example we have of it happens to be one of Sourcebooks claim to fame—Jane Austen Sequels. As the #1 Austen Sequel Publisher in the country, fan fiction, in almost every form, has become a great new genre that Sourcebooks is proud to excel in! Below you’ll find the guidelines and contest information—tell all your friends! Even if they don’t submit, I think this is a very commendable new way to promote a book (just LOOK at what the grand prize winner gets!), and you know I’ll let you all know how it goes! Until Next Time, Danielle Give us your best HEX ! A Fan Fiction Contest with Linda ...

By Robin Kaye Hi, I’m Robin Kaye, author of Romeo, Romeo , coming out November 1 from Sourcebooks, Casablanca, and Too Hot To Handle , due out in the spring of 2009. I thought it would be fun to visit my favorite restaurant, in my favorite place, Brooklyn, NY, and talk to one of my favorite characters. Believe me when I say Vinny DiNicola is a real character. When I arrived, I was shown to the back dining room of the restaurant. It was 2:15, after the lunch rush but well before the diner crowd would show. I waited for the owner of Park Slope’s best Italian restaurant--DiNicola’s. Vinny DiNicola rushed in carrying coffee and a plate of biscotti. His son must have told him of my weakness for biscotti and espresso. I’m just glad he didn’t come bearing cannoli – that would have been my downfall. Vinny: I’m sorry I took so long. I had to finish… (he waved his hand as if swatting away the rest of the sentence) I’m here now. What can I do for you? Robin: I want to talk to you about Nick and R...

Posted by Christina Harlin Sexy Scene Mad Lib Oh, it’s a lazy Saturday, and I can’t think of a single fascinating thing to say. So we’re going to play a game! Everyone knows how to do a Mad Lib, right? Write down an answer for each of the following word types requested. Then, go to the comments section and copy and paste my skeleton text from the first comment box into your own word processor. Fill in the corresponding numbered blanks with your answers. No fair peeking at the skeleton text first! It’s not a real Mad Lib unless you don’t know what’s coming. This is not homework, so don’t feel pressured. If you decide to play and come up with a good entry, please do share by posting your personal rendition in the comments section! I have posted one already that was completed by a friend of mine, and I thought it turned out pretty well. Here is the list of words for filling in the blanks: (1) A room in your house (2) A piece of furniture (3) Sexy adjective (4) Type of shoe (5) Number (6) ...

posted by Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy I'm in the midst of a blog tour to promote the release of The Wild Sight , and I've noticed that a preponderance of questions and comments center around my hero. Okay, I get it. He's a tall, dark and handsome hunk with an adorable Irish accent. What's not to love? But to be fair, my heroine has a certain charming appeal too, and she's definitely a match for my hunky hero. Here's a brief excerpt from Chapter 1 when my heroine first comes on the scene: P.S. And before you ask, yes, an Irishman (and most all Europeans) can pick out an American with one look at their clothes (the tennis shoes are a total giveaway) . *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Rylie Powell parked her rented car in front of a store with a chipped sign that proclaimed “Dry Goods and Hardware.” She stared across the street at the window illuminated by two neon signs. The yellow one featured a stylized Irish harp with the word “Harp” written below. The dark blue one ...

By: Marie Force I just got back from a conference in Phoenix put on by the company I work for by day, a membership organization a lot like RWA only we support government finance professionals rather than romance writers. Our conference was on internal control & fraud—not how to do it but how to find it and stop it. I enjoy this annual conference because I find the stupid schemes people try to pull off and think they'll get away with to be endlessly entertaining. Anyway, I met a guy named Greg from Atlanta who said something that really got me thinking. After the conference, Greg and his girlfriend were heading to Sedona for a few days. One of the things they planned to do there was a hot air balloon ride. Greg had never done this before and wasn't sure he really wanted to. "I'm not opposed to the height," he said. "I'm opposed to the risk." Spoken like a true auditor! However, his comical comment got me thinking about all the risks each of us had...

by Mary Margret Daughtridge The other day an invitation came to participate in a writer’s conference. Me. I’m still getting used to being a writer, and suddenly they want me to tell aspiring writers how to do it. I’ll never forget the day I decided to write a romance. I had read a million of them, but I had no idea where to start so I typed into my browser: How to write a romance . No, scratch that. The story goes back further than that. I have a little voice that talks to me in my head. Which is different from the voice with which I talk to myself in my head, if you know what I mean. I was reading a romance—happily, I don't remember what it was—and the little voice said, I could write a better book than this. I snorted. “Lots of people say that kind of thing, but I never expected to hear such hubris from you. You’ve done enough writing to know it isn’t easy.” In that unemphatic tone it uses, the little voice countered, I didn’t say it was easy. I said I could do it. Nah. Time pas...

by Michele Ann Young Some people say the number thirteen is unlucky. But it is thirteen more days to October 1st, the day my novel, The Lady Flees Her Lord, is on the shelves. So I like the number thirteen. With the release just around the corner, I thought you might like a sneak peek. I had a bit of trouble picking an excerpt, so I hope you like this one. You will also find part of the opening chapter on Amazon, where you can pre-order, should you feel inclined. Or you can wait until it is in your local bookstore Yankee Romance Reviews had this to say about The Lady Flees Her Lord ... Our emotions are played like a violin with endearing words, breath taking scenes and a virtuous sense of right and wrong. The authors writing style is highly comparable with Jane Austin but with more of today's romance mentality. Lush and loving, heart wrenching beautiful, one could only hope to have a Lord Hugo Wanstead to desire us so truly and deeply. To be compared to Jane Austen is quite an ho...

I'm so sorry I'm so late in posting, and that I haven't been commenting on posts, but life is just impossible right now. I took my mother in for surgery Wednesday, finally got her home yesterday afternoon, and she's so sick I may have to take her back to the hospital. I've spent all morning on the phone trying to get her something to take to stop the nausea, and I'm afraid, playing catch up, I'm behind on everything. Course, that's when I get bear orders, and everything else. Still not half unpacked, and well, everything is turned upside down as usual. Working on getting endorsements for Don't Cry Wolf and it's coming out March 1st!!! So that's the highlight in my life! Don't you love the cover??? Hopefully October things will begin to settle down! Hope everyone is having a pleasant Monday!!! :) Terry, the Overwhelmed http://www.terryspear.com/ Heart of the Wolf, Don't Cry Wolf (Mar 1), Betrayal of the Wolf, Allure of the Wolf

Hex Appeal will be out in 10 days! Fluff and Puff in trouble big time where they're even in danger of being destroyed for eating a carnie. Namely a Were carnie. Will they go to Bunny Slipper prison? Will they be brought before the Witches Council, or even worse, the Ruling Council? Can Jazz find out the truth in time? Stay tuned. Namely, buy the book. :} Jazz was relieved it was still early enough that it seemed no one was stirring on the boardwalk. With the slipper bunnies non grata in the carnival area, she had to make sure not to be seen by the boardwalk manager, who made ogres look like sweet pussycats. “What the hell do you think you’re doing bringing them here?” Jazz froze. “Five steps,” she muttered, staring at the parking lot that was so near yet so far. “Just five lousy steps.” She turned around. “Well, aren’t we up early!” She used her perkiest witch voice. “How are you, Rex?” Rex (no one ever learned his last name) was a horror filmmaker’s dream—if he wanted someone who ...

Since this is my first post as a Casa Author, I thought I should tell you a little about me. Oh, you can get the basics on my website , where I say that I grew up on Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie . That two of my favorite books are Bewitching by Jill Barnett and A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Devereaux . What I don’t go into and will here is how these shows made me the writer I am today. I studied Spanish in college. Actually, I studied it from 7th grade on and lived in Spain for a semester. I have a “thing” for languages. I love words. I love manipulating words and, like my heroine Erica in In Over Her Head , am a sucker for puns. I love double entendre and playing with meanings and alliteration and taking clichés and twisting them to a whole new meaning. Combine a love of language with a love of the paranormal, throw in Disney--with an attitude (because I love those princesses), add in some Indiana Jones action (and the hot heroes naturally follow), stir in some of my favor...

Hi, everyone! I'm Beth Cornelison, one of the new members of the Casablanca blog. I sold my contemporary romance, SECOND CHANCES, to Sourcebooks at the end of July, just in time to meet all the other Casablanca authors and editors at the RWA conference in San Francisco. While I'm new to Casablanca, I'm not new to publishing. I've had books out with three other publishers (Silhouette, Five Star and Samhain) since 2005. But I have to say, the people involved with Casablanca have been among the most welcoming and have made me feel like part of a special family. I'm in the process now of finishing up a few edits on SECOND CHANCES, so this seemed like a good time to tell you more about this book and whet your appetite for the release coming in the fall of 2009. In SECOND CHANCES, readers will meet the Morgan men, father Bart, and his two grown sons, Aaron and Luke. The Morgans run a snorkeling and deep sea fishing tours business in Destin, Florida. The three bachelors le...

By: Deb Werksman Today we had our weekly editorial meeting, and I spent most of the day doing acquisitions activities, so I thought I'd share with you what that part of the process looks like for me. Acquiring is my favorite part of my job and rejection letters are my least favorite part. To put the quantities in perspective, I get about 100-150 submissions each month, and will publish about 50-55 books for Fall 09 (that equates to 50-55 books out of roughly 800 submissions). The lovely and brilliant Lisa Acosta works with me to keep submissions organized and moving through, so today she and I put our heads together and came up with: 31 submissions to send to readers. Unfortunately, we only had 23 reader slots open (we send them in batches so as not to overwhelm) so 23 got assigned and 8 got put back in the files to await the next round. 14 submissions were sent to other editors whose list is more appropriate for them. 6 submissions went to Lisa's PRIORITY reading. 4 wen...

by Sharon Lathan I love words! I always have. Even during my decades as a reader, before the writing bug bit me, I delighted in discovering new words as I devoured the text. It was not uncommon for me to stop where I was, grab down the enormous dictionary that goes with my encyclopedia set, and look up the unfamiliar word. If I was really absorbed in the novel I may just jot it down on a scrap of paper for later investigation, but eventually I had to find out what the strange word meant. In school I was an excellent student, but honestly could care less about grammar. Whether a particle was dangling or a phrase was prepositional did not fascinate me all that much, but man I was a terrific speller! And vocabulary was a passion. Enter the past few years as a writer. I did not pick to write in the bygone days of folks getting a superior education and using flowery prose on purpose, but it was an added bonus that I grabbed onto with glee. That Cambridge graduate Mr. Darcy and well-read Eli...

by Malena Lott We live in a society of labels, so it's no surprise one of the first questions people ask upon introduction is, "What do you do?" Over the years I've "been" many things. Eckhart Tolle ( A New Earth, The Power of Now ) says he usually answers, "I'm a writer," because, "I Am" just doesn't cut it for most people. Unlike a lot of answers, I suppose, "I'm a writer," typically gets a raised brow. A humph. Or an oooh/aaah reply. "Really? That's cool. What do you write?" I usually start with the biggie. "Novels." Then add, "fiction," because there are still a lot of people that don't know that a novelist is an author of fiction. I'd say 9 out of 10 times, the person goes on to say, "I could never write a book. Wouldn't even know where to begin." Everyone knows what a daunting task undertaking a novel can be. Especially those in the thick of i...

Talk about good timing. I was just begining to recover from finishing up some fairly extensive edits at the end of this past week (like, "my brain currently has all the retentive ability of swiss cheese" extensive) when a wonderful email showed up from Ms. Danielle. Contained within was an absolutely awesome review for my upcoming release, Dark Highland Fire, and it said all the things I would want someone to say about the book after reading it...which is to say that the piece in its entirety inspired a shuffling, semi-zombiefied happy dance from She Who Stays Up Too Late Working (aka ME). Kinda like being a Thriller extra, but happier. And I can't moonwalk. But anyway, I think that one of the best compliments was that the reviewer really enjoyed my heroine being "a little bit different." It was something I had been just a little bit worried about. After all, there aren't that many books where the heroine is a blood-drinking stripper. So why did I ma...

Hi there! This is Marla Elkhorn reporting. Due to popular demand, I’m interviewing Cat, the hero of Slave , and Leo, the hero of Warrior , this week. Marla: Cat, Slave has been out since April, and is doing well, I’ve heard. How do you feel about Jacinth writing such an intimate account of your adventures? Cat: (smiling wickedly) I enjoyed reading the book almost as much as I enjoyed living it. Marla: Ahem, I think I know what you mean. . . There have been questions from some readers as to your feelings since Slave was written purely from Jacinth’s point of view. Care to comment on that? Cat: I believe that my feelings toward Jacinth were very . . . obvious. Marla: Yes, being either naked or dressed in Statzeelian garb doesn’t give a guy much chance to hide his, um, reaction, does it? Cat: (purring) No, it does not. Marla: Y-You’re purring. Does that mean anything? Cat: Only that you are making me think about the first time I was alone with my Jacinth. Marla: And you . . ...

by Danielle Jackson One of the hardest things I do as a publicist is try to think of new ways to promote your books. For romance, the web is by far the biggest way to make a significant impact on readers, and of course there’s always the old stand by—print reviews. However, as more and more romance novels (and really, books in general) are released every year, sometimes, you have to do something a little weird to get people to take notice of what you’re doing. One of the best workshops I went to at RWA was called Self-Promotion: It Isn’t Rocket Science given by author Kelley St. John and her agent, Caren Johnson. They addressed this very same issue—what can you do to make your promotional efforts really pop? Kelley herself has worked out giving away vacations (in exchange with the resorts/hotels/restaurants/etc. their names are added to ALL promotional materials, they are linked to on her site, etc.) as a contest on her website. This worked to her advantage on many levels, but two ma...