Professional Milestone

Today marks a professional milestone for me; Publishers Weekly published my very first—and bylined—feature article. Here's how it happened.

One of my PW editors, Rose Fox, emailed me a few weeks ago and asked if I'd be interested in working on a feature article for the upcoming romance issue of the magazine. The topic? Author online self-promotion. With a two-week turnaround time and a brief to include authors from a variety of imprints/lines/publishers, and a list of publicists for the major publishers, I jumped in.

Emails back and forth to the publicists, my suggestions and theirs, and I put together a list of more than 20 authors. They represented all romance subgenres, included debuting and long-published authors, those who kept it strictly professional online and those who treated readers to personal or off-the-cuff commentary, those who started blogging for fun and those who began to blog as part of a plan to become published. Some intrigued me for other reasons; one because she found a unique way to promote herself by not actively promoting herself, another because she'd sold a quarter of a million ebooks before being picked up by a mainstream publisher, and a third because of her pop culture connections. I did not know most of the authors, but some I knew from my years at AAR.

Twenty interviews later, with 36 pages worth of Q&A and follow ups, I sat down to actually write the article. It took me two eight-hour days to complete it, and another couple of hours to come up with the sidebar of do's and don'ts Rose asked me to pull out of the article itself and use to create a sidebar, along with quotes from the interviews to match.

My draft was due to Rose on Monday, November 14th; because I'd exceeded the 2,100 word count by 500 words (what else is new?), and didn't have a clue if it was any good whatsoever, I emailed it to her the Friday before so she would have plenty of time to edit (and I could rewrite if necessary). And then spent a sleepless night wondering if she'd hate it or approve.

I woke up at 5:30 that Saturday morning from the pain of a dreadful, full-frontal headache, presumably a tension-release headache like those that plagued me after finals all throughout college and graduate school. I checked my email and discovered a couple from Rose. First, and I'm totally channeling my one-time baby-sitter Sally Field here...she liked it, she really liked it! Next, she asked me to secure print-ready cover art for the article. I took a migraine pill and went back to sleep, secure in the knowledge that I hadn't fucked up my chance to prove I could write a magazine-quality feature article.

Over the next few days I gathered up all the print-ready cover art, and went through Rose's edits to clarify certain points. As always, her edits transformed my lowly draft into something terrific. Today the print version of the magazine went on sale, and those with subscriptions to PW can access it online.

The payday for the article is roughly the amount I receive for a year's worth of reviewing, and while the money itself isn't what's important, that my writing is worth it means a lot to me. It only took me fourteen years to get a gig like this; hopefully it won't be another fourteen years to get another.

Professional Milestone

Writing for H&H Is Fun!

I adore writing for Heroes and Heartbreakers! My Rhynannon Byrd "Fresh Meat" piece, which went online yesterday, was incredibly fun to write; the site, thanks to Megan Frampton, has a sensibility I find refreshing. It's modern and pop-culturey. I needed to entirely rewrite each of the first four pieces published so far, but that's because it's tough to go from PW "staff-writing" mode to "let's have fun with it" mode.

I actually don't mind the rewrites because the first draft is "just the facts, ma'am," and totally necessary. The second draft is when I get to morph the piece from impersonal to personal, from old media to new media. If I wanna write "fuck," I write "fuck." If I wanna write "wanna" instead of "want to," I write "wanna." I still limit dashes because I'll never get the "too many dashes are lazy" refrain out of my head, but I might even...gasp...allow myself to use more than one type of special punctuation in a sentence (like a colon and ellipses), something that I decreed verboten at AAR.

Writing for difference sources that require different sorts of writing challenges me. To be honest, I still don't think I've come up with a single "style" for this blog, but I'm going to try to do that in the future. I'm going to aim more for the H&H sensibility, but because some of my posts are more serious, that may be a tall order. We'll see.

Writing for H&H Is Fun!

New "Fresh Meat" at H&H, and the Art of the Review

Fresh Meat: Rhyannon Byrd's Rush of Darkness

My newest blogging at Heroes and Heartbreakers just went online (5:00 p.m. eastern time). My sub-title for the piece is Dysfunction junction...come on, gimme a little smile. Drop by and give it a read, then post a comment over there.

I thought I'd share with you why I don't seem to be blogging much these days. It's simple. I'm spending all my time reading and writing, either reviews for PW, or pieces for H&H. I've got another spec piece in draft status, with another just written yet not submitted, and in the last week, in addition to reading and writing about Byrd's book, I read and reviewed two books for the magazine (not including the review I turned in this morning). Never has it felt so good to be under such a time crunch, although having to write ten drafts (yes, you heard right, ten drafts) between last evening and my eleven o'clock deadline this morning for my most recent PW review was not exactly a barrel full of monkeys.

Why were ten drafts necessary for this particular review? Well, the book was nearly 500 pages long and had four sub-plots, three of which melded together. It's part of a long-running series that I've not read in its entirety, with a tremendous number of fans who are as unhappy with review errors as I am. If the facts in a review aren't right, the entire thing—analysis and all—lacks credibility. Because these are short reviews, there's no margin whatsoever for error, and with a book readers are ready to devour, the pressure is more keen than usual.

I write for two PW editors; my mass market editor requires reviews to be no more than 170 words, including page cites. My fiction editor allots up to 300 words (with page cites). This was a review for my mass market editor and the first draft was too long by half. By the time I'd cut it down enough, I'd not only gone through nine more drafts, I'd very nearly rewritten the entire review several times.

For me, the hardest part of self-editing to meet a word count is giving up ownership of my writing. In this review, for instance, I'd written a particularly brilliant sentence fragment. It lasted from draft five through draft nine. Ultimately I cut it because the sentence directly following it subsumed my point. I should have been able to let it go a couple of drafts sooner, but it took further editing to determine how I could cut the fragment and replace it with an entire sentence. Other writers, who are more skilled than I am, no doubt find this easier to do, but even after sixteen years of reviewing, I struggle.

I've got six books to review for PW between now and early May, and I've committed to writing at least two more Fresh Meat pieces for H&H. In addition to the spec pieces I've submitted or finished writing, I plan to write more. And, I'd like to fit in a little reading simply for the pleasure of reading. Not that I'm complaining; I'm glad to be busy and hope everything I write that's published pleases readers and my editors. While you can't update me on my success at PW (I can tell you that I had one review among the 86 published today, but can't be more specific than that), I hope you'll give me feedback on my H&H articles.

New "Fresh Meat" at H&H, and the Art of the Review

OMG...I'm Done!

I apologize for being so lax as far as blogging is concerned, but my guess is that after tonight's entry, I may be going on an indefinite hiatus. After all, I'll be starting graduate school in two and a half weeks, and my prep for that - which includes learning PowerPoint and Excel, as well as buying school supplies - won't appeal to even stalwart readers. But I reserve the right to change my mind, and regardless, before signing off tonight, I'm going to share what I've been up to for the past week and a half.

Nearly three years ago a film crew came to my house to create a short film about my book obsession that kicked off Barnes and Noble's Book Obsessed online series. I wrote about the experience for AAR and included in my piece were photos of my study, which show every available bit of wall space taken up by bookcases, including the walk-in closet, similarly outfitted with floor to ceiling shelves (see photo second from bottom on right). As of today, the closet has been emptied of all books, all three bookcases (see the photo second from the top on the left) underneath the window have been removed, and an additional five shelves of two bookcases are now empty. It's the end of a major part of my life and the start of a new one, and in order to take my first steps on this new path I needed to reclaim the room.

My Study: Before (although there's no "after" for comparison)

After I left AAR, I rarely went into my study, using my laptop rather than my desktop in the den, kitchen, bedroom, living room, or at Starbucks. My study had become oppressive and a reminder of all the negativity of the final year at the site's helm. I vowed that before starting grad school on January 18th, I would be brutal in pruning my library, which included finishing my Kindle 3/Calibre project (in which I transferred my entire digital library, built up painstakingly over the past few years, after first organizing it via the Calibre program. Because I didn't want to get rid of any book I wanted a copy of - in digital or print format - I needed to take stock of everything.

On December 22nd, my daughter and I took seven brown grocery store bags to Half Price Books. By the day after Christmas, I'd already readied another 16 plastic grocery store bags, and on December 31st another 16 followed. At that point I thought I was done, but after actually taking stock of the remaining print books in preparation for organizing them in my library on far fewer shelves, I realized I was not finished. Right now another ten or so bags are ready to go, and I've reached my goal in organizing my print and digital libraries so that all of my DIK reads are accounted for either in print or on my Kindle. Ditto for all but one B+ read that got lost in the process. After locating a new copy on Amazon of Julie Moffett's The Thorn and the Thistle for a penny, plus shipping, I bought it.

I can't tell you what a tremendous slog this has been. I worked so hard yesterday and today in particular, only breaking to finish reading and reviewing a book for Publishers Weekly...and to almost finish a second book for the magazine as well (both reviews are due tomorrow). My back may be sore, but the sadness I started to experience after trading the first thirty or so bags has now morphed into a feeling of calm now that the work is done, and everything is so well organized. I feel as though my load is lighter, and can return to that room in the house without any remaining baggage.

I met my goal of finishing this weekend so that I'll have plenty of time to learn those two software programs I'll need for my two classes. A friend I met for a two-and-a-half hour cup of coffee (strangely enough, we had soup but no coffee) mid-week last week even offered some hands-on tutoring if I get stuck. I plan to give myself a full week, which will leave me with another week or so before classes start. With two more books to review by the day before the semester starts, I should have scheduled for all contingencies.

My guess is that I won't be doing much non-required reading for the foreseeable future, which also means a temporary end to my reviews for Amazon Vine. I plan to continue my PW reviews, but may have to cut back on books from two editors to one. I'll have a better idea after the semester starts and I get an idea of my workload, but it's doubtful that you all will find my course study terribly intriguing. I think it's going to be pretty dry stuff for the most part, but who knows? Either way, I'm ready, and waiting to start.

OMG...I'm Done!

So How's My Week Now?

On Wednesday I blogged about how crummy my week was. I thought I'd give you an update on whether things have improved, gotten even worse, or stayed the same.

On being put on the defensive by someone deflecting off themselves...that one remains as is, but having Rose Fox at PW (one of my editors) use my Monday blog as part of her Genreville Blog at PW mitigated that to some extent. Another blog picked up the entry as well, but IMHO missed the jumping-off point, so I left a comment.

Next up...the pool. They've finished the work as a result of my constant nagging and nudging. But in the process they burned out tue motor and seem to have forgotten promises made about paying for mistakes. We are in negotiations...that my husband is a lawyer should work in our favor and I hope they live up to their word...and the email we have as proof.

Perhaps most important was straightening out the mess revolving around my daughter's college fund. Yesterday afternoon, on a conference call with both ends, I learned that the amount of money unaccounted for had been transferred incorrectly due to a numerical transposition. The problem is being rectified and all the money and funds will be in the right place by Monday afternoon. When I asked my husband what would have happened had I not been such a nudge as to actually hint at malfeasance, his answer was, "Probably nothing." Given that the money had been "lost" for six weeks, yet found in fewer than five business days after I got involved, I tend to believe him.

As for the receipt I never received after buying some skin care items at a kiosk, it arrived in today's email.

The cocktail dress my daughter and I ordered for her online (and I was thrilled when she asked me to help pick it out at Modcloth.com, a store she likes that I think is pretty wonderful), which I previously mentioned in a tweet, arrived a day later than it should have, given that we paid for expedited shipping. The "what if" scenario of having to buy a new "fancy" dress at the last minute has been avoided, and her dress is at the tailor being altered for pick-up tomorrow afternoon.

My attempt to buy my discontinued BE blush turned into a debacle. Days after placing the order I realized I hadn't received the typical "we've sent your item[s]" in the mail, and when I re-searched the item via google, saw they'd removed it from inventory. Today they sent me final confirmation that what they had was "damaged" and could not be sent. I'd stopped believing in them days ago, though, and luckily found a jar on eBay and won the auction. I didn't pay close enough attention to a second auction, though, and lost a second jar by something like twenty cents. Even so, I've now got enough Heaven blush to last a few years, and thanks to Suzi, who commented on the original blog entry, found some interesting possible replacements at Aromaleigh and bought them at their discounted, "end of business" sale. If any of them work - or all of them do - I'm probably good for a decade.

Finally, something that has been on-going for months is my account with an online program for reviewers to receive books. One of my PW editors set up accounts for us a year or so ago, and while I could use it to track which books she'd assigned me and which reviews she'd received - to make sure nothing was lost - that part of the account I'd tried to use independent of my PW reviewer status didn't seem to work properly.

I've written here before how bizarre I find it that Amazon Vine doesn't make Kindle versions of the books we review available, and that I'd love to review more PW books off my Kindle rather than in print, and now that PW editor is setting up a pilot program to do just that. As a result, new accounts were established with the online program, and my involvement allowed me direct contact to somebody who could rectify the problem with my independent use of the larger program. I've now got five books I want to read and review available on my Kindle and plan to read them on vacation next week. On the flip side, though, the PW part of the equation isn't going quite as smoothly given anonymity requirements as well as the web-mail system PW is using. Right now that part of things is in limbo and I doubt it will be fixed before I leave on vacation.

All that remains left for me to buy before going on vacation - my daughter and I did a final Target run today (well, we also did a Bed, Bath & Beyond run for her college bedding), as well as a B&N run for her - is a pair of sturdy every-day shoes that fit my orthotics, which I plan to shop for tomorrow. Buying ugly shoes is never fun, but my feet are improved enough that I can at least wear normal dress sandals in the evening.

Much of today's better frame of mind is the result of going out last evening to a local restaurant/pub for drinks and dinner to celebrate the birthdays of two B&N friends. I had two Stellas, which is one more than I've ever had, and they managed to dull the pain of the then-two-day headache I'd been working on. That two-day headache turned into a three-day headache when I awoke with it this morning, but it was soon replaced by cramps. For some reason, cramps and 100 degree heat and humidity aren't a great mix for me, and I'm glad to be home from our afternoon of shopping.

Cleaning the house in preparation for our house-sitter, figuring out which luggage to pack, then packing is all that remains before we leave next week. All in all, the week ends better than it began, and is certainly improved from Wednesday. I can't really ask for more than that.

So How's My Week Now?

The Painful Side of Reviewing

No...it's not what you think. The most painful side to reviewing isn't reading a crappy book. It's reading a book by an author you enjoy, taking issue with a big component of said book, and having to write a negative review.

Publishers Weekly, of course, insulates its reviewers by not linking individual reviews to their reviewers. Regardless, sometimes to "man up" is the right thing to do, and that's what I just did.

I'm not going to pour salt into a wound with a name and author because I've already tweeted and FB'd it. Besides, the point of writing this is not specific to any one book. It's something that's happened several times in my career as a reviewer, at PW, AAR, and even TRR. My point in writing about it today is that I thought readers might be interested to know how it feels to write a review for an author whose work you've previously enjoyed...and would like to enjoy again in the future...knowing that it'll dash their hopes.

It feels lousy.

It's the flip side to the joy I get requesting a starred review at the magazine, particularly if the author is little-known or new to publishing altogether. Helping build excitement over a book I loved is fun. Writing negatively about a book by an author I've previously liked a lot, whether I know them - in a cyber or real sense - or not, hurts.

The first time it happened was at TRR, very soon after I'd begun reviewing online in 1996. I'd read my first book by a certain author and liked it so much I'd interviewed her for the site. When she sent Leslie McClain the next book in the series, Leslie forwarded it on to me. I hated the book, and when I turned in my absolutely scathing review, I requested that the review be published online with a byline not my own. I wouldn't compromise my review, but suggested a female derivation of Alan Smithee, which is what Leslie used. I was too new to reviewing to handle an author I "knew" reading such a negative review of her work, particularly since she'd requested I review it.

It didn't take long for me to get over some of that but I continued and continue to feel badly when I write negative reviews for authors I've previously enjoyed. That ill feeling extended to finalizing reviews others had written when I published AAR, particularly if an author sent us a book because I'd liked their writing in the past. An author I became quite friendly with over the years received only strong reviews from AAR. The reviewer for her last book before going on hiatus as a published author for a couple of years did not care for it whatsoever, and I dreaded sharing that information. Chalk that up as another reason I'm glad I no longer publish a website.

But even here, on this itsy-bitsy blog, I gave a qualified recommendation to an author who'd sent me her book for review. Even though I gave it a B-, I soon realized she wasn't happy with the review. Subsequent tweets mentioned and even linked to stronger reviews, but never mine, and I'm fairly certain she won't be sending me her next book to review.

I've often written that the hardest reviews to live down are A's or F's; it's equally hard to laud a book others hate as it is to criticize in the strongest words a book other readers love. I don't know that I've ever written about how it feels to come down on a book when there's a personal connection. It sucks.

The Painful Side of Reviewing

July Books

Jonathan Tropper's How To Talk To a Widower is one of the books I most enjoyed this year. Because it was published under the Random House umbrella, I assumed that last year's hardcover, This Is Where I Leave You, released to great acclaim, was also published by Random House and looked forward to buying the digital version to coincide with the book's mass market release. Random House, as you might recall, did not switch to the agency model for digital releases, and as a result, their books remain discounted. Also as a result, their digital sales through Amazon have increased by upward of 40%.

Alas, apparently Tropper switched publishers in-between both books. His new publisher, Penguin, which sets its own prices for digital books at Amazon, is currently selling This Is Where I Leave You for $12.99 while the hardcover, which it does allow to be discounted, sells for less, at $11.23. When the trade paperback version is released tomorrow, it will sell for $10.20 at Amazon. If Penguin is true to form, the digital version should come down tomorrow, but my guess is that it'll match the paperback price of $10.20, which I find a ludicrous proposition.

I've decided not to buy the book because of Penguin's Kindle pricing policy and instead decided to fill in my Tropper back-list with Everything Changes - published by Random House and very nicely discounted at $7.20. It too is a digital version of a trade paperback, which currently sells for $10.20.

Here's what else I bought for July on my Kindle: Twice Tempted by a Rogue by Tessa Dare (published by Random House's Ballantine Books) and Susan Mallery's Almost Perfect (published by Harlequin, which, like Random House, did not switch to the agency model). The digital versions of both books are nicely discounted.

Though Dare's debut and subsequent releases have received great fanfare, I've never actually read her, so I'm hoping for a good read. As for Mallery, after hating the first couple of books I read for her and reviewed for PW - The Marcelli Princess and Sunset Bay - she seems to be growing on me. I actually recommended Under Her Skin and Chasing Perfect in my PW reviews.

As much as I'd like to buy Lisa Kleypas' Love in the Afternoon, Macmillan, its publisher, set the price for its digital version at $7.99 at Amazon. The mass market releases sells at Amazon for $7.19.

There is one book I'm wavering on for July: the third in Sharon Ashwood's Dark Forgotten series. I read and gave book one, Ravenous, a strong review for PW but put down book two, Scorched, mid-way and never finished it. This series is published under the Penguin Umbrella - by Signet - and, surprisingly, the Kindle price is $6.99, slightly less than the paperback will sell for ($7.19) when both versions go on sale tomorrow. But given my "meh" response to the unfinished book two, I doubt I'll be buying Unchained, book three in the series, even if Penguin is beginning to see the light.

It's a shame that authors have to suffer for their publisher's misguided policies, but rather than over-paying for the Tropper and Kleypas books, I'll likely be reading them at the bookstore instead.

One last thing before I sign off...in less than a week I've published two Amazon Vine reviews. I recommend both, with some recommendations. Please check out my reviews for Marcus of Umbria and The Bucolic Plague, both memoirs with a similar theme.

P.S. - This link will only work until next Monday, but if you want to read my newest PW review, for the new Susan Andersen, click here. The review is third from the bottom of the page.

July Books

Classic Sequels and Mash-Ups

Over the past few years I've reviewed for PW several sequels to classic novels and, earlier this week tackled my first classic monster mash-up for the magazine. It has not gone well.

The vast majority of classic sequels have been for Jane Austen novels. Save one, they've been disastrous, and the sole non-disaster was, at best, no better than "not bad." I try to maintain an open mind for every book I review, but must admit that I am not predisposed in favor of these sequels because I'm a purist. I refused, after all, to watch Clueless for years after it was released to critical and popular acclaim, after all, because no matter how much Amy Heckerling loved Emma, she dared to update what for me already is a perfect story.

As for the myriad of sequels published over the last several years, I find it incredibly presumptuous for any author to believe she knows what Austen might have done with her characters after the books she wrote. Had Austen wished to further their stories, she would have. My guess is that she would not be pleased that Darcy hid his erections from his jovial, knowing father-in-law any more than she would want Lady Catherine DeBurgh to continue plaguing future generations of Bennetts and Collinses and Bingleys. Why these books sell really surprises me; that one author has parlayed Pride and Prejudice into eight sequels to date astonishes me, particularly the one I reviewed, which featured the children and grandchildren of a secondary character in the original. A less annoying read was one of the Sense and Sensibility sequels, but it still frustrated me. While it tackled a social issue I can imagine Austen taking on, Austen's sensibility was sorely lacking in the sequel's prose style, resulting in a mostly plodding effort.

Those are my thoughts on classic sequels. While you might think I harbor similar ideas about monster mash-ups, I don't. I love parody, which is the reason why at AAR I created our annual Purple Prose Parody Contest that in its later years encouraged mash-ups. When Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out last year and received a high mark from Entertainment Weekly (which propelled it from a minor release into a major one that eventually spawned other monster mash-ups), I loved the idea of it so much that I pushed it like mad at the bookstore, although my own effort to read it ended with chapter three. Had it been any mash-up other than P&P, I would have soldiered on. On the other hand, what I've read so far of Sherri Erwin's Jane Slayre has whetted my appetite for more. I love Brontë's original, but it's not at the top of my all-time keeper list, so I'm less invested in it retaining its purity. Erwin's love for Jane Eyre as well as her skills as an author come through so strongly that it's easy for me to get into the fun of a Jane plucky enough to slay vampires and the idea of Rochester's crazy, attic-bound first wife as a monster.

That said, the review I sent in to one of my PW editors yesterday was for a book lacking in any of that sense of fun. The book was such an unmitigated disaster that it took me an entire week to get past the first hundred pages. I can't get into more detail until the book is released, at which point I'll provide a link to my review, but right now it's in serious contention for my worst book of the year.

While both of my PW editors know that I'm probably not the reviewer for future Jane Austen sequels, I remain open to the idea of classic mash-ups, although I wonder about their shelf life - for every Jane Slayre there's a Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Of course, I remain happy to read and review humorous paranormal historicals. Not only am I a fan of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, both Jill Barnett's Bewitching and Rebecca Paisley's Basket of Wishes, which were released in the early/middle 1990s, sit on my all-time keeper shelf.

Classic Sequels and Mash-Ups

Flip-Flop

I review for two different PW editors. One editor sends me mass market releases, the other hardcover or trade fiction, generally targeted for women. Some time ago I realized that as a general rule, I like more of the mass market release than not...and dislike more of the fiction releases than I like. That flipped during the past week. I liked the last book I reviewed for my fiction editor. Unfortunately, the review I turned in earlier today to my mass market editor was for a gruelingly bad read.

My mass market editor sent out the book with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it turnaround time (I volunteered); I'm still trying to decide whether the fact that I had to read and review it so quickly was akin to ripping off a Band-Aid in order to lessen the pain. The book arrived Friday morning and was due today, which would have been fine had I read it, as planned, on Saturday. Instead, because I'd already begun reading and knew it was bad from the get-go, I procrastinated and worked on setting up the Dallas Coffee Party blog and twitter feed, and wasted even more time by writing the first entry for the blog, instead. Which meant that I'd only read half the book by this morning.

And then, after I'd finished reading early today, I got caught up in a story I read on a Coffee Party friend's Facebook page, and decided it needed to form the basis of Corporate Fascism?, which I wrote and posted on the other blog around noon.

Which still left plenty of time to write my review, edit it, whittle it down to the requisite word count, and send it in so that by the time I left for work tonight, I could write this blog entry.

Even though my mass market editor keeps an extensive database so as to try and match books well to reviewers, everyone who reads realizes that it's impossible to succeed every time. And just when I'd considered writing to my fiction editor about the fact that I don't seem to like most of the books he sends me to review, I realized I liked the previous two.

And now, in a complete break from reviewing, I'm going to read a book I borrowed from James at the bookstore based on his recommendation: Jonathan Tropper's How to Talk to a Widower. It's going to be nice to read purely for enjoyment for a change.

Flip-Flop

Blogging Re-Organization

One thing about writing a blog hardly anybody reads...I can play with the format as much as I want without confusing many people. I can tweak to my heart's content, which I've done yet again today. First thing...I moved my tag cloud to the bottom of the page. As the cloud lists every tag in order of frequency - and I'm tagging widely - it uses up too much space in the side bar. Next up, I reduced the number of blog entries shown per page to five, mostly because of my moving the tag cloud to the bottom of the page. People are used to seeing those clouds at the bottom of the page; this way there's less scrolling down required in order to get to it.

Thirdly, I adjusted how the blog archives show; instead of listing each individual entry per current month, I've settled for a straight monthly list that indicates the number of blog entries for each month. I did this because directly above the blog archives is a list of the most recent entries (five's the limit). I wish there were a calendar widget available to Blogger blogs like the one I had at blog-city, but none exist that are easy to install, even with my reasonable level of expertise.

Next I removed the "Recent Comments" widget altogether. I think this particular widget is only useful if lots of comments are being posted. There are not. I'm considering removing the "reactions" (vote thumbs up, meh, or thumbs down) option next; we'll see how it goes.

Finally, I broke apart "Recent Reads" into "Recent Reviews" and "Other Recent Reads," providing links to Amazon and within the blog itself for recent reviews. Since there's such a lag time for PW reviews, and I have such a lengthy history of them, I'll continue to flesh out the stand-alone page I created last month specifically for them as time permits. BTW, that review with the error still shows the error and until I see the correction online, it won't be included.

Blogging Re-Organization

Blogging Barnes and Noble & Ants in My Pants for Chaos Bites

The first thing I did last night when I got to work was checked to see if Lori Handeland's Chaos Bites had come in. It had not. Next I checked to see if we had Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim. We did...it came in Thursday and was shelved Friday, without any promos, meaning copies were simply shelved in the section. Tonight I must rectify that and will local-store-list it to New in SF/F.

Ten copies of each book been ordered, and for the past two weeks every Jim Butcher customer I waited on got a slip of paper with "Richard Kadrey - Sandman Slim" written on it, accompanied by this verbal pitch: "It's a very dark, sarcastic, and violent urban fantasy novel. This guy gets sent to hell and escapes 11 years later...and he's pretty angry about it. It's awesome."

I grabbed two copies, among other books I thought I'd try to sell, and went up to Cash/Wrap. Jeff, another bookseller, was there, and a few minutes later, as he checked out a customer with Patricia Briggs books, he sort of opened his body language up so I could see what he was doing. I came over with the Kadrey book and my little spiel, and the woman took the book out of my hands, gave it to Jeff, and asked him to ring it up. Before she walked away, she had an entire list of authors and books to try, and I'm guessing she'll try some of them. Hopefully we have another happy customer.

I sold the other copy of Kadrey's book later in the evening. It wasn't my greatest ever hand-sell night ever (though I did well with new memberships), but historical romance readers did hear about the upcoming Mary Balogh release - A Secret Affair - which is my first Desert Isle Keeper in ten months (that link is to my review at Amazon Vine). I also managed to hand-sell a book I'd not even taken up to the counter with me. It was about ten in the evening and a very nice couple came up with several books. Both were clearly serious readers, and as a result of what I saw, I gave them my The Fifth Mountain (Paulo Coelho) talk, which goes something like this:

"You've probably heard about The Alchemist, but this book is much less well-known. It's incredibly beautifully written, very spare...every word counts...and is a fictional re-telling of the prophet Elijah. I don't usually read books like this, but it's amazing. Whenever we have a copy in the store, I try and remember to bring it up with me to hand-sell. You'll love it."

Although I didn't have the book with me, the husband was interested, so I called the Info desk. Jamie, the store manager, actually picked up, and when she brought me the book, the man indicated I should add it to their other purchases. As soon as I handed the bag to him, he removed the book. He had that look in his eye - I knew he planned to start reading Coelho's book immediately, but I cautioned him to wait. If he started tonight, he wouldn't be going to sleep until he'd finished, at some point in the middle of the night. He said it would be a struggle, but promised he wouldn't start it until today.

All that aside, I've got ants in my pants for Chaos Bites. Both it and the Kadrey book share the same sale date (April 27)...so where the hell is it? As I write this I've got to finish a book for a PW review tomorrow, and then there are two Amazon Vine books that arrived a few days ago. But the Kindle version of Handeland's book will be available for download on Tuesday, and it'll get moved to the top of the pile. Honestly, I can't wait.

What makes the Phoenix Chronicles so fantastic is that Handeland goes beyond the usual vampires, werewolves, and the fae. To be sure they exist in the series, but they're not just random monsters. She uses biblical lore and Native American mythology, among other religious and ancient motifs, for an incredibly rich and vibrant world. The excitement and action of great urban fantasy is there, but it's better for the world-building and because of Handeland's romance background. Say what you will about romance authors, but good ones know how to craft three-dimensional characters. Handeland accomplished what L.A. Banks tried to do in her Vampire Huntress series, but she did it oh, so much better. Even the final book in Banks' series, which was chock full of action, bored me in comparison to what Handeland has accomplished so far in her series, particularly in the first and third books. Each left me wanting the next entry immediately.

Here is the PW review I wrote for book one in the series, Any Given Doomsday:

Handeland (Thunder Moon) launches the intriguing Phoenix Chronicles urban fantasy series with a strong story that's only missing one thing: a glossary of the multitude of paranormal creatures tied to biblical lore. Psychic ex-cop Elizabeth Phoenix reluctantly takes the case after her foster mother, Ruthie, is murdered by monsters. Soon she's pointing out demons to her ex-boyfriend Jimmy, a half-vampire battling an army of Nephilim who plan to enslave and destroy humanity. They fight their way from Wisconsin to the southwest, where Jimmy leaves Elizabeth with Sawyer, a powerful Navajo shape-changer who awakens her libido as well as her psychic powers. Elizabeth's wry demeanor and complex relationships with Sawyer and Jimmy share center stage with the dramatic story line. The biblical component, while often confusing, adds dramatic dimension, and the demons' evil plans and vividly described handiwork create immense suspense for the final battle.

I wish now that my review had been even stronger, but at the time I wrote it, I'd not yet become as immersed in urban fantasy as I am today. So I hadn't read all the books now under my belt and didn't know just how much better the Phoenix Chronicles are in comparison to most. Had I written a stronger review, perhaps more readers would have discovered the series.

I tell those I've sold the first three books together that book two - Doomsday Can Wait - isn't quite as strong as books one and three, but it's still a good read. Here's the blurb:

"It took the near annihilation of humanity for Liz Phoenix to understand the true meaning of her premonitions. Liz is one of the sacred few on earth who has the psychic powers to fight the malevolent forces that have tried to wipe out the human race since the beginning of time. She battled these beings once, thwarting Doomsday but losing most of her soldiers in the massacre. Now she must replenish her troops quickly—because the supernatural war isn't over yet.

"As the new leader of the federation, Liz is marked for death by a Navajo witch with a link to her past. To survive, she must rely on her few remaining allies—her mentor, a shaman with too many secrets, as well as ex-lover, Jimmy Sanducci. Bringing Jimmy into the mix is a dangerous move, for Liz's darkest desires are razor-sharp—and her longing for Jimmy is at a fever pitch. But can Liz afford to give into the cravings that burn inside her, with the next shot at Doomsday just around the corner? This time, if evil wins, chaos will reign—and the world as we know it will be lost forever..."

The third book in the series, Apocalypse Happens, is as good, if not slightly better, than book one, and part of the reason why is that Handeland goes balls-to-the-wall in terms of what she's willing to do to propel the series' arc. Not that she does anything simply for dramatic effect - no - yet this is anything but a safe ride. To say more would give spoilers, but what happens near the end of this book is something I might have expected in a much later entry in the series...if at all...because no doubt a sub-set of readers will have a difficult time accepting the outcome. While I was shocked out of my seat, I'm totally in for the remainder of the ride, and can only hope it'll be a lengthy one. That said, there's only one additional title listed (Demons at the Gate) on Handeland's website.

Before ending this blog entry, here's the blurb for book three:

"Elizabeth Phoenix is one of a select few with the power to battle those who have escaped from the darkest level of hell—demons bent on destroying humanity and reclaiming earth once and for all. Liz is determined to stop yet another Doomsday. But this time, it's going to be more difficult than ever because someone she thought was dead isn't dead anymore...and is bound and determined to destroy Liz and everyone she loves in the upcoming Apocalypse.

"Liz has arrived in Los Angeles to ferret out a nest of varcolacs: half human, half dragon creatures who crave the destruction of the sun and moon. But before she can prevent the kind of eclipse that would bring the world to an end, Liz must mine the depths of her own heart. She and her former lover Jimmy Sanducci have some personal demons to battle—and there's always her mentor, the Navajo shaman Sawyer. Is he on their side or isn't he? In the end, the three of them must find a way to fight together...or perish alone."

Again, for all those urban fantasy readers out there, if you've not yet picked up Lori Handeland's Phoenix Chronicles, please do. She can only continue to write them if enough people buy them.

Because this blog entry is so lengthy, and because I have a review to write tomorrow, I won't write here again until Tuesday Wednesday, after I've had a chance to read Chaos Bites (that link is for an excerpt at the author's site).

Blogging Barnes and Noble & Ants in My Pants for Chaos Bites

Reviews and Editing

I got the bright idea last night to try and capture as many of the reviews I wrote for PW as possible for posterity on a stand-alone page adjunct to this blog. As interesting as it was to revisit my reading, it was more interesting to read the actual reviews themselves because for the most part, once a PW reviewer sends in a review to his/her editor, unless there are questions, that's the last he/she sees of the review until it's edited and subsequently published. I can't speak for other reviewers, but until about a year ago, I rarely read the finalized review. My bad? Probably.

At AAR during my stewardship, I had a different policy; I don't know if it remains in place or if in the past 18 months it's been revised. My policy was that a reviewer sent in a review to their first-line editor, who edited the review, emailed a copy of the edited version to the reviewer, and after the edited review was entered into the reviews database, it went through a second level of editing. As a general rule the review remained as originally edited, but if I had questions or a big red flag popped up upon my reading, I contacted the reviewer and first-line editor and we hashed it out. 99 times out of a hundred, if I felt there was a discrepancy between review and grade, I'd hear, "You know, I really wasn't sure if this was a B- or a C+," and either the review or grade was changed appropriately. If the issue wasn't grade-oriented, it was generally a macro, "big picture" kind of thing that I was attuned to as publisher.

That give and take doesn't exist at PW, unless, of course, the editor asks a question, in which case clarification is given. Since the editors are so good, I've rarely had a problem, but upon occasion either my original review must not have been worded strongly enough or the editor also read the book and tried to combine reviews, resulting in a final review that didn't reflect my opinion. That happened a few years ago, but I wasn't even aware of it until a blogger compared some written commentary at AAR with my PW review last year.

It got ugly. The author got involved. Other bloggers got involved. My integrity and that of the magazine got called into play. My instinct was to protect the magazine, so I limited myself to two - I think - fairly short comments on the initial blog and tried not to read any more about it.

I'm reminded of that right now not only because of this adjunct review page, but also because of a review error being rectified right now. I sent in a review to one of my editors several weeks ago and when I read the final version at Amazon, there was a factual error. I immediately contacted my editor, who made the appropriate changes, and sent it through whatever processes are necessary to update the review. The error involved something that, content-wise, is difficult at best, so seeing the correction has remained in the forefront of my brain ever since. I'm always anal about "making things right," but I get more anal when I'm not able to fix them at a snap of my fingers, when others are responsible.

For me writing works best as a collaborative process; when my writing is edited or when I edit another's writing. As in life, sometimes it gets messy and mistakes are made but the end result of a strong relationship between writer and editor is better work. I'm lucky that the two individuals who currently edit my reviews are such good writers and editors. Apropos of nothing, I recently googled them both and was surprised by what I read about each of them. I needn't say more than that in comparison my own life is small and mundane indeed. Frankly, that's fine with me.

Reviews and Editing

Crush on You by Christie Ridgway

Crush on You

Christie Ridgway

Grade: B-

Contemporary Romance

When Christie Ridgway tweeted recent about having her upcoming release reviewed, I sent her a private message and volunteered myself. I'm glad I did.

First, some background: This Perfect Kiss, which was published in 2001, came thisclose to being a DIK read for me. I just looked back at my PW review for the book, as well as what I wrote at AAR. The book featured not only one terrific romance, but a strong secondary romance as well, and I found the emotional intensity of both couples incredibly appealing. What stood out most for me, though, was the hero, about whom I wrote: "But it is Rory who truly comes alive in this story - his constant erotic thoughts seem utterly male and, most of all, the history that shapes his behavior is strongly echoed by many of the secondary characters."

I believe This Perfect Kiss was Ridgway's second single title. Wish You Were Here was her first, and I enjoyed it as well, enough that after having read it, I wrote an At the Back Fence segment about characters with disabilities (its hero is blind through much of the book). I had less luck with a series title I read of hers, In Love with Her Boss, nonetheless, while I've not read her in some time, I have continued, albeit sporadically, to buy her single title contemporaries for years. In particular I like that they don't have suspense sub-plots; they are romances through and through, and Crush on You is no exception.

Through a bit of web research I learned that the three sisters whose stories will be told in the Baci sisters trilogy were introduced in 2009's Double the Heat anthology. Crush on You is first in the trilogy, and due to be released in late May/early June. The sisters, who inherited Tanti Baci, their family's failing winery, are on a mission to save it by turning it into a destination wedding locale. Part owners in the winery are the Bennett brothers, who own the winery next door. There's been a feud between the families for years, although ten years earlier the eldest sister and eldest Bennett brother were madly in love. Their story is sure to come, but this story features the romance between Alessandra Baci and Penn Bennett.

Alessandra is known as the Nun of Napa; right before she was set to marry her high school sweetheart, he died, and for five years she's borne the burden of being his "almost wife" for the town, and particularly his mother, whose inability to get over the loss of her son she transfers to her son's fiance. Penn Bennett, presumably modeled on Ty Pennington from TV's Extreme Makeover Home Edition, is the illegitimate Bennett brother, visiting Napa to get over a painful love affair. She thinks he's a handsome heel while he believes she's a spoiled flirt. Both could not be more wrong.

Because the Bennett brothers have a stake in Tanti Baci, Penn agrees to use his carpentry skills to prepare the winery for its wedding destination launch under the condition that Alessandra helps. Being in close quarters aggravates their sexual tension, but as they get to know each other - the burden she has on her shoulders, that he's not a conceited phony do-gooder - they share some kisses, some foreplay, and eventually a heated bout of love-making. Penn is frustrated by her inability to fully feel her passion (it's not easy not being the Nun of Napa, after all), but they continue to get closer, even after his ex-girlfriend appears on the scene and Alessandra mistakenly believes he still carries a torch for her.

Meanwhile, Alessandra's best friend Clare, her dead fiance's sister, is preparing to marry a successful man her mother strongly approves of at Tanti Baci. Her mother does not approve of her long-lived friendship with Gil, which is indeed unfortunate in that each is secretly in love with the other. This secondary relationship perfectly incorporates into the main story line. To say more would give spoilers.

Indeed, to reveal any more of the plot would spoil things for readers. Better to focus on the characters, who are well-crafted. The story reads easily, and while Alessandra's "issues" provide pathos and are understandable, her inability to get over herself and her pre-conceived notions about Penn annoyed me. Her single-minded goal about the winery's success, also understandable, makes her a not-so-nice person at times, which I actually appreciated. Quite frankly there's nothing so boring as a perfect heroine. Penn, on the other hand, is entirely drool-worthy, so much so that another of the book's flaws was a lack of word count devoted to the couple as a couple. Ridgway shows them falling in love, but I wanted to see them in love - openly - before the book wrapped up.

My grade for the book may seem low. I've detailed some of my problems with Crush on You, but the main reason for the minus attached to my B grade is that the book, as good as it is, isn't quite substantive enough to sustain a straight B. It is what it is, and that's fine, but wanted a bit more. Even so, I'll be back at Tanti Baci for book two.

Crush on You by Christie Ridgway

April Book Buys

Of the ten books on my wish list, four were available digitally. Looking at AAR's list of releases for April, though, reminded me of one other book I wanted, which supplanted one of those four (Bulls Island). Here then are my ebook downloads for April.

I also downloaded a digital copy of Metrophage, Richard Kadrey's first book. It, like Butcher Bird is available for free...just go to Kadrey's site. I don't know anything, really, about these books, but was such a fan of Sandman Slim that I thought I'd grab 'em while I could. Meanwhile, Kill the Dead, the Sandman sequel is set to be released later this year...I think in October.

I'm most anxious for a copy of Chaos Bites, but the two earlier books in Handeland's series were delayed digitally, so I may give in and buy the print release to read as soon as this special review project for PW is complete.

As for the others, well, I do have Changeless in manuscript form. An unacceptable version, to be sure, which at some point I'll need to rectify, but at least I've already read it.

And now I'm off to finish reviewing the second special project book (read it yesterday)...three to go with the clock running out.

April Book Buys

Writing Reviews

I just turned in a review to one of my two Publishers Weekly editors...what a difficult review to write! I spent more than three hours writing, revising, and honing 300 words for my hardcover/trade editor. It's a haunting book by a debuting author and I'll share more info as August closes in and the book nears release.

It's the third review I've written in a week. I sent the first one to my mass market editor a week ago, and a few days later finished the first book and review for an annual hush hush PW project requiring the reading and reviewing of five books in a two week period. I'm currently in the midst of book two and should have plenty of time to finish before the deadline.

As a result of all this reading and reviewing, it may "go dark" here on my blog that nobody knows about but me - and a couple of authors I contacted after my Tuesday entry. I'm debating when...even if...I should tweet or comment on Facebook about the blog. So far doing nothing save including links here from my Twitter and Facebook profiles is the extent I'm willing to go. While I'm excited, I also remember some of the reasons I stopped writing online to begin with. Hence my dilemma, and why I named this blog "Toe in the Water" (so far it's just one).

Writing Reviews