Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Actually it's in the sea. And on land. But definitely not in the air. (I'll save that for the Genie Series.) But it's now official - my third book from Sourcebooks has been released - and there's something about " Catch is Released" that just tickles my funny bone. When I think back to June, only 7 months ago, my first book was coming out and how excited I was about that, I remember how nervous I was. Would people like it? Would they embrace the world? Was the suspension of disbelief enough to let them "go" with the idea of mermen? It definitely helps to have an editor who loves your work, so that nervousness was taken down a few notches, but you know what? It never goes away. And even with such great reception to the first two books, I'm still nervous. And then I get emails from readers who I've come to know over the past 7 months, who say things like, "I'm so excited for you," or "I can't wait to read this story!...

I'm gearing up for the blog tour for Wild Blue Under which releases November 1, but I'm already working months ahead. That's how it works in this business; something you wrote months ago hits the shelves while you're writing to your next deadline. I'm thrilled to say that I have a next deadline! :) My big news of the week was that I accepted an offer to write another series, this one about genies. Still the same tongue-in-cheek, light-hearted paranormal tone, but think I Dream of Jeannie meets Indiana Jones . I have half of the first story done and I have to say I'm having as much fun with this story as I did with the Mer ones, though it was hard to leave Mariana (Reel, Rod, and Angel's sister) treading water in the South Pacific. She's got her story to tell and I'm working on that one around the contracted stories, so here's hoping there are more underwater tales to come. People ask me where I get my ideas and what happens if I run out. Hopef...

Romantic Times Magazine contacted me recently about doing a blurb for their Web Forum page (to be in the June issue) about what my favorite websites are, as an author or personally. I had to think about it because I do a lot of cyber-surfing. But one that was incredibly useful for writing In Over Her Head (and the others), is Google Earth. Not a website as much as a web program (and I'm not a tekkie, so please excuse me if I call it by the wrong name), I can get lost in it for hours. And when I started doing the logistics for In Over Her Head (i.e., where is Reel watching from while Erica's getting forced into the ocean at gunpoint, or where can his lair be after she gets shot, etc.) I did spend hours on it. There is absolutely NOTHING in the North Atlantic ocean floor between the east coast of New Jersey and Bermuda. Flat seabed. Talk about frustrating because it's too many miles to swim to Bermuda. (Why Bermuda? Ah, well, you'll have to read the story to find out, ...

Hello, everyone! Chumley Masticar here again! I thought I’d pop back in for a bit since my author is In Over Her Head , heavily at work on Rod’s story edits and Angel’s story creation—not to mention getting that strange, non-waterfowl ready for the big day tomorrow. Thank the gods you Humans go for the winged type for your celebrates. I’ll tell you, those Italians and their Feast of the Seven Fishes have the Undersea World in an uproar every December. But at least in November we can rest somewhat easily—although I did hear of one instance where someone actually brought salmon to a turkey dinner. Can you imagine? How un-American! (Though the salmon was from Alaska, not somewhere out in the Wild Blue Under , so perhaps that counts? And, no, Sarah Palin was not the culprit!) Sadly, too, the salmon was not the guest... I don’t know. You all have such strange holidays. Crushed cocoa beans mixed with sugar cane that you pass out in plastic wrappers at night, in the dark, in the cold? I don...

What's in a name? A lot. Shakespeare wrote about it and I experienced it. Our wonderful editor, Deb Werksman, let me know that we needed to come up with a new title for Book 2 in the Mer series, formerly Whale of a Tail . So, okay, now what do I do? That name had been around since the book’s inception and it’s kind of stuck with me. Knowing I was too attached to it to see past the trees, as it were, I sent it out to my online community. Fast and furious, the titles came rolling in. They were great! The Top 10 that went in for final consideration were: Going Off The Deep End Going Overboard Hooked On You In Too Deep Off The Hook Out Of The Blue Splash And Burn Swept Away Tide up in Knots Wild Blue Under The winner was……… Wild Blue Under from author, Lisa Brackmann . I love it and I’m thrilled because it was already in the blurb for this book, so no major changes to that. Now, for another fun part to this story. Another online friend came to my email too late, but hadn’t realized it...

How’s that for a hook? (And, yes, I do giggle every time I use the word “hook” in a context other than sea-related, why do you ask?) As you can see, I got my book cover, and, to celebrate, I just had to put it on my NEW website. And of course, you can’t launch a new website AND a new cover without something stupendous, so…. Go to http://www.judifennell.com/ and see all about my promotional contest for my Mer books. You can win one of THREE romantic getaways at Bed & Breakfasts in the areas where my stories are set. The Atlantis Inn ( http://www.atlantisinn.com/ ) in Ocean City, NJ and the Hibiscus House ( http://www.hibiscushouse.com/ ) in West Palm Beach, FL have joined with me to offer you a two-night stay at their beautiful resorts. You can see all the rules and beautiful pictures, as well as be able to register at ( http://judifennell.com/contest.html . We’re working on having local restaurants chime in, maybe a spa or two…one never knows. And, who knows, I might just pull a ...

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...