Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Michaelmas Daisies As a writer of historical romances—most set in Victorian England—I find I have to pay close attention to the calendar. Not just the modern American calendar with which I’ve grown up, but the British calendar too: all the rituals, traditions, and observances that are part of their culture and heritage.   So, in that spirit, Happy Michaelmas! One of the annual quarter days, Michaelmas is observed on September 29 and marks the end of the harvest and the start of the year’s accounting. It also marks the onset of autumn, the beginning of the fall terms at British schools and universities, and the opening of the law courts. Blackberry Pie (Devilishly Good?) According to custom, special foods are eaten at Michaelmas, like bannocks and “stubble goose.” And a Michaelmas pie is often made from the last blackberries of the season, which are not picked thereafter, owing to the legend of the devil cursing the fruit after St. Michael expelled him from heaven a...

Summer is over in the Galen household. In your part of the world, you might be stretching the season to Labor Day, but we have gone back to school. My daughter began Kindergarten this year. She loves it, and I love it too. We can walk to school, she’s making new friends, and I have time to work. I always like to go on a mother-daughter end of summer trip, and last week my princess and I were in San Antonio with a friend and her daughter. This little girl was beginning middle school. I asked how she felt, and she said, “Nervexcited.” That’s a great description of how I always felt before a new school year. It’s how I feel before a book release! My big day is September 1. The Rogue You Know comes out, and I’m so nervexcited . I want everyone to love it and buy it and add it to their keeper shelves. My daughter’s biggest fear about Kindergarten was that she wouldn’t make any friends. An author’s biggest fear about a book release is that no one notices. One thing ...

After having wonderful adventures in Colorado Springs, CO this summer, safely avoiding all natural disasters, the clan and I took our final summer vacation to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD. My husband and I haven't been there in over twenty years. Needless to say, a lot has changed since then. For instance, imagine my delightful surprise when I spotted the biggest Barnes and Noble EVER. As if the clouds parted and the angels sang...This. Was. Awesome! The picture below sort of resembled that feeling. At least, I thought so.   BTW Sourcebooks sisters...your new releases were on the tower as soon as I walked through the door.    Just to give you an idea of how truly big this place was...The building used to be a power plant.   In 92 degree heat, we played the typical tourists and did most of the attractions like touring the ships. During which, we had a hard time trying to convince my son he wasn't a pirate.   I...

When I think of summer, I think of concerts. It seems like every summer, I’d go to numerous concerts. I lived in Houston as a teenager, so my friends and I would go see all our favorite groups at Southern Star Amphitheater in Astroworld. Sadly, Astroworld in no longer. It’s just a field on the side of the freeway. The first concert I saw was when I was in sixth grade. I went with my dad to see REO Speedwagon and Cheap Trick. Remember “Can’t Fight This Feeling”? I loved that song, and I’m sure all the other sixth graders did. One of the first concerts I saw without parents was Depeche Mode. That was in 1988. Let me tell you, the guys from DM made an impression. I thought they were the coolest thing ever. I went out the next day (or rather had my mom drive me to the mall) and bought their Black Celebration album on cassette. No CDs back then. I started dressing in all black and listening to bands like The Cure, New Order, and The Smiths. I remember one summer I saw Heart, New Order, and ...

I spend a lot of time online. We talked about that here recently, and I confessed that I am often overwhelmed by the number of memberships I have: Facebook, Myspace, etc. I'm not very organized at the best of times. Though I always start out with the best of intentions, I invariably fall far short of my organizational goals, and the proliferation of online contacts leaves me... overwhelmed. But I don't know what I would do now without the internet. In a relatively short time it has affected every single area of my life. Apart from medical science and its advancements, I think the most amazing inventions of the last century are the combustion engine (cars), television and the personal computer and internet. So... what did I used to do before going to my computer first thing in the morning to check my email, etcetera, etcetera and spend the rest of the day there? Well, I used to drink a cup of morning coffee while reading the newspaper, the newspaper to which I no longer subscri...