Despite the large piles of paper that accumulate around my desk, the books never seem quite real to me until they have attained a title and a cover. Until then, they’re just those large piles of paper.
It gives me great pleasure to unveil the upcoming installment of the Pink Carnation Chronicles. Voila The Betrayal of the Blood Lily!
Over at Loaded Questions, I recently chatted with fellow academic and author interviewer Kelly Hewitt about the Pink books, grad school, and the upcoming Betrayal of the Blood Lily. (Kelly found a brilliant picture of a blood lily for illustration).
If you’re looking to wile away a slow Saturday, Kelly’s site includes interviews with such historical fiction heavy-hitters as Ken Follett, Sharon Kay Penman, and Geraldine Brooks.
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention– Kelly is also hosting a giveaway of two copies of The Temptation of the Night Jasmine! The rules are very, very simple: just leave a comment below the giveaway post asking to be entered. The contest will be up and running until May 30th, so you have plenty of time to win.
Hi, all! Reading through your votes for the Top Fictional Couples of All Time provided an unexpected trip down memory lane, with each couple evoking a favorite reading experience. With so many millions of books out there, it’s pretty incredible just how much of a fictional lexicon we all have in common.
Out of the Pink couples, the hands-down winners appear to be Letty and Geoff (sorry, Hen and Miles!). That book was one of the hardest to write, so I’m thrilled that Letty and Geoff have acquired such a following.
In no particular order, I’ve made donations to IASPR of $2 apiece in honor of:
– Letty and Geoff (”The Deception of the Emerald Ring”)
– Beatrice and Benedick (”Much Ado About Nothing”)
– Scarlett and Rhett (”Gone With the Wind”)
– Anne and Gilbert (”Anne of Green Gables”, et al)
– Alanna and George (Lioness Quartet)
– Westley and Buttercup (”The Princess Bride”)
– Elizabeth and Darcy (”Pride and Prejudice”)
– Margaret and Mr. Thornton (”North and South”)
– Claire and Jamie (”Outlander”)
and, of course,
– Marguerite and Sir Percy (”The Scarlet Pimpernel”)
Looking at all these couples, several of whom received multiple vociferous votes, I’ve been trying to figure out what it is that draws us to them. I can track similarities among specific couples within the group (there’s a touch of Anne and Gilbert in Letty and Geoff, and more than a bit of Beatrice and Benedick in Elizabeth and Darcy), but, on the whole, the couples run the gamut from domestic types to out and out rogues, from relationships formed in quiet circumstances to those forged amid high drama. With all the discrepancies among them, what do you think it is that makes these particular stories and characters so compelling?
Folks who study romance are just more fun. The International Association for the Study of Popular Romance is running one of the most creative fundraisers I’ve seen yet. Called “It Takes Two”, they’re asking people to pitch in a two dollar donation in honor of (here’s the good bit) their favorite romance novel couples. Tres cool, no? You submit your two dollars via the donation button on IASPR’s website, and then pop by Teach Me Tonight and leave a comment. For the official rules, click here.
In honor of IASPR’s efforts and all our favorite romance novel heroes and heroines, near and far, I’m running an impromptu contest.
The question is: who is YOUR favorite fictional couple?
Read the rest of this entry »
And the title of the sixth Pink book will be….
… The Betrayal of the Blood Lily!
Henceforth, Pink VI shall no longer be merely a number among Pinks, but a titled book among books.
As you know, choosing this particular title was a long, hard haul. I would like to thank everyone who participated. Your innovative and insightful flower suggestions enlivened many a dull afternoon and sparked more than one debate during the title choice process.
It was a close-run thing– for a while, the orchids almost had it– but in the end, everyone agreed that Blood Lily suited Penelope down to a tee with its combination of violence and vulnerability. Blood red and lily white seemed like a good combo for our fiery-haired, fair-skinned heroine.
Kudos (and advance copies) go to Brie Porter and Jennifer Klouse for coming up with the Blood Lily and to Pamela for providing the noun “betrayal”, which goes so very nicely with Blood Lily. We don’t have ARCs quite yet (the manuscript is still in the copy-editing stage) but once we do, they’re yours!
Next up, the cover!
Courtesy of Stephanie (thank you, Stephanie!), we have a Pre-Title Entertainment: a pre-game quiz.
To tide you over for those few hours until Flower Idol comes to its triumphal conclusion (for this book, at least) and the title of Pink VI is publicly announced, we have a smattering of Pink Carnation Trivia. Please feel free to add your own favorite Pink trivia questions in the comments section. The first person to guess all five correctly wins a signed bookplate and a $10 Starbucks card.
– What is the statue that Miles throws stones at when he is angry? (Black Tulip)
– What was stored in the stone tower on Colin’s land? (Night Jasmine)
– What is the name Miss Gwen uses when traveling to Ireland? (Emerald Ring)
– What does Vaughn promise to show Henrietta at his masque? (Black Tulip)
– What was the funniest cause that St. George’s sister supported? (Crimson Rose)
Hi, all! Due to extraneous circumstances, I will not be giving my scheduled reading at the Inspired Word in Queens tonight. The rest of the program will still be going forward as planned, so if you’re at loose ends and find yourself near Tierra Sana restaurant in Forest Hills, head on over to see a great group of poets and performers. I don’t have a new date for a Queens reading figured out quite yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll let you know.
In the meantime, stayed tuned for a Pink VI title announcement tomorrow!!!!
Huge, huge thanks to the ladies of the Junior League of Morristown, who hosted Lunch with the Authors yesterday afternoon! My To Be Read pile has now reached even more tottering proportions, thanks to the addition of novels by my fellow speakers, Linda Fairstein and Andrew Gross, both of whom gave staggeringly funny presentations. Speaking after both of them was one of those moments when I kick myself for not picking a nice, sensible nom de plume at the beginning of the alphabet, rather than sticking with my own name. After all those years at the end of the class list, you would think I would have learned my lesson.
For those in the New Jersey area who weren’t able to make it to the lunch and signing, Sages Pages of Madison, New Jersey now has a whopping great pile of signed copies of Pink Carnation, Crimson Rose, and Night Jasmine (when I get over-caffeinated, I just keep signing things. Fortunately, they stopped me before I could start signing furniture. Or people.). The bookstore is worth stopping by even if you already have signed copies of the entire oeuvre, just because it’s one of those amazing independent bookstores that serves as purveyor of books and cozy social space all in one.
On May 6th, I and a group of other lawyers-turned-author will be addressing a lunch at the Massachusetts Bar Association in downtown Boston. As the press release puts it, this round table will convene published authors from various genres, who will discuss their craft, the path to publication and how their legal experiences affected their writing and career paths. In other words, we’ll babble about how we do what we do and how we got there from the law.
If you’re a lawyer, I believe you actually get CLE credit for coming to listen to me. The cost of the event is $15 for MBA affiliated paralegals and law students, $25 for MBA members, and $50 for non-members. Click here for details and registration.
I’ve included the full details for the program below:
Hi, all!
For those in the New York area, I’ll be reading from The Temptation of the Night Jasmine at The Inspired Word Reading Series this coming Monday. The Inspired Word is held at Tierra Sana Restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, and features an eclectic mix of writers and performers from every conceivable genre. In addition to my Night Jasmine reading, the event showcases poets, performance artists, essayists, singer/songwriters, and free appetizers. Did I mention the free appetizers?
Details below….
