Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

The Zodiac & Romance Yesterday's one year anniversary blog post got me to thinking about birthdays and anniversaries, all those signposts that we celebrate annually. And it reminded me that when I wrote my character descriptions for Lady Anne Addison and Lord Anthony Darkefell, I very deliberately chose birthdates for them. I don't know if I believe in astrology or not; I'm on the fence simply because though I am deeply skeptical of all things 'paranormal' (now you see why Lady Anne is the way she is) the traits seem so darn true to form. I am a Gemini (my birthday is coming soon!!), and the description for Gemini includes these traits: "Using their communicative skills, Geminis adapt to any situation they encounter... Geminis have clever tongues and develop an amazing ability to obscure the facts with stimulating and imaginative chatter." In other words, I 'fictionalize' a whole lot! That's me. Gemini's tend toward the writing and publ...

I’ve always been fascinated by the role of secondary characters in novels. What would Jane Austen’s Persuasion be without Sir Walter Elliot and his overweening vanity? Or Jane Eyre without poor, dear Helen Burns, or lively Adèle? Those characters live to serve, in a way. In the best sense, secondary characters provide more than a placemarker, or merely someone for the hero or heroine to talk to. They should mean something to the plot, and they should reflect bits of the primary characters, exposing their strengths and weaknesses along the way. And so I thought I’d reveal a little about the secondary characters that people Lady Anne and the Howl and the Dark , and the next two installments Lady Anne and the Ghost’s Revenge & Lady Anne and the Gypsy Curse . Many secondary characters in ‘Howl’ are, I realize, missing someone who has died or disappeared. ( Hmm, funny how things can occur to the writer only after they are done writing the books! I never thought about that before I wro...

Hi, all. First, let me introduce myself: I am a new author to Sourcebooks. My name is Donna Lea Simpson (aka Donna Simpson in my previous life as a Regency author with Zebra), and I write (mostly) historical romance. Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark , set in the Georgian era in England, will be released April First, no fooling! I thought for my first blog entry with the Casa Babes I would introduce the two main characters of the Lady Anne series, Lady Anne Addison and Lord Anthony Darkefell. A few weeks ago I was looking for something on Amazon.com… a review clip from one of my Regencies, maybe? And I came across a newer reader review of one of my older novelettes in an anthology called ‘Untameable’, one of the Zebra Regency themed anthologies. My story was entitled ‘A Rogue’s Rescue’. The heroine was Miss Ariadne Lambert, a spinster of humble appearance, but determination and grit. Jaimey Grant, the Amazon reviewer, said she gave my story five out of five for the heroine, and when ...