For the next week or so, my blogging is going to be sporadic, (TTG and I have bought a new house, so we’re packing and moving) if I blog at all, so in the event that I’m not back for a while, I thought I’d ask my readers to de-lurk (there are many of you out there) and tell me where y’all hail from.

I think the last time I asked this question was a couple of years ago, when TTG and I went to Florida for our hols, and I’m aware that my readership has shifted somewhat since then.

So, don’t be shy, come out and tell me where you call home.

Oh, and don’t worry if your city or town has been mentioned already, I still want to know!

Someone’s book got rejected by Samhain and she wasn’t pleased about it. And I mean, REALLY not pleased about it. *g*

Apparently an editor at Samhain rejected Edita A Petrick’s suspense story because it began with the villain’s point of view.

Petrick writes:

“I’ve submitted to them one of my suspense thrillers with romantic/paranormal elements and it does open up in killer’s pov since it’s essential to the story and for the reader to understand where the paranormal thread/element comes from.

The premise is quite simple. The killer assassinates his ‘mark’ but because of paranormal elements (an ancient heirloom locket the victim wears) the victim survives what for all intents and purposes is a sure-kill.

Samhain, however, feels that it is very bad to start in killer’s pov or to show glimpses of what drives the killer throughout the story. This was number one ‘flaw’ of the story’s presentation according to the editor.

Number two was that there were more than one point-of-view presentation. Basically, the editor said it’s not possible for the reader to follow ‘threads’ of the story as these are far apart by definition of what the story is but they come together as the events impact on them and force them to come together (as they must) for the story to have a resolution.”

As a reader, I really don’t have a problem with starting a book from the villain’s point of view. It’s all in the execution, as far as I’m concerned. Does the author give away key clues as to the identity of the villain? Does she give away who the next victim will be? Does she actually give away the whys and wherefores of the villains actions? If not, what’s the problem? And even if she did, there are ways to keep the reader still glued to the book. Yes, to me, execution is definitely key.

Now it could be that the book actually sucked donkeys, and the POVs were just one aspect of the story that didn’t work for the editor, but as far as rejecting the book just because she doesn’t think multiple POVs work, well…. you gotta question the editor, seeing as many best selling authors use multiple POVs, including that of the villain.

So, waddaya think? Do you prefer POVs to be restricted to the good guys, or do you want to know what the bad guys are thinking too?

If you do want to know what the bad guys are thinking, do you think it’s appropriate to start a book with the villain’s point of view?

Also, what do you think of multiple POVs and authors who head-hop, in general? For? Against? Couldn’t give a flying fuck?

Via The Great Scott’s blog.

By the way, did Charlotte Boyett Compo of the ‘Wind’ books, and Samhain have a falling out of sorts?

“Antiquated thinking? You betcha. I completely agree that it is insulting to the reader. Samhain needs to take another look at what’s going on in the real world of publishing.”

I almost got whiplash when I read that comment from CBC. Just call me Curious George…

I used to buy anthologies quite often, always with the hope of discovering a super-duper new author. So what if I had to pay more money for them? I wasn’t just getting one author, I was getting three or four authors, so the price leap was totally justifiable…right?

Well… it depends. It depends on the authors, and it depends on the stories. I started resenting the fact that I only ever got one half-decent story out of the three, or four. What’s that about?

Now, I rarely ever buy them, unless one of the authors is an auto-buy, and even then, I’m still a bit reluctant to shell out the money.

The only anths I buy these days with any kind of regularity (also known as, once a year) are the Kensington Brava anths. I still resent the £9.99 ($20) that I have to pay for them though.

So, what do you think of anths? Do you buy, or like me, do you generally avoid them like the plague?

Also, what do you think of the prices? Value for money, or not?

Also, does anybody out there know how well they sell, in comparison to single-authored books?

As found here.

Hell’s Eight

Bloggers are you ready?
(readers who don’t blog can win an arc by entering my .net site contest that will start later- 10/1/07)

My first NY Western Historical series is releasing from SPICE in just over one month. It’s a super-hot, fast-paced romance with a strong heroine, a hero to die for, and a happily ever after that will touch your heart. Like my Promise series, Hell’s Eight probably is not what a reader thinks of when they think Western Historical, but each of these stories is a slice of life rich with emotion, spiced with passion, and filled with moments I hope will make your heart twist. The men of Hell’s Eight are unpredictable and fascinating. They’re definitely a law unto themselves, as wild as the West in which they live. Determined, and single-minded, they’ve planned for every contingency that could complicate their goals except for the one they never saw coming: the extraordinary women that will capture their hearts.

Read an excerpt.

Think you’re ready?

Okay, here it is, your chance to win one of the six ARCs of Caine’s Reckoning, first in the Hell’s Eight series.

The goal of this contest is to spread the word far and wide of the upcoming release of Caine’s Reckoning.

To enter:

1. Copy and paste this post on your website, blog, MySpace, or wherever you wish, including a link to the excerpt.

2. Once you’ve completed #1, email SarahMcCartyContests @ Gmail.com (no spaces) with the link to your site and you are entered. It’s as simple as that.

3. If you are the lucky winner of an ARC, simply be ready to read the book and review it during late October. You can review it on your blog, MySpace, online websites like Amazon, etc.

That’s it.

Blog. Email. Read. Wait till the last couple of weeks of October. Review.

To enter, EMAIL me at SarahMcCartyContests @ gmail.com (without the spaces), with:

1. Caine’s Reckoning ARC in the subject line.

2. The link to your post about the ARC contest.

3. Your name and address.

4. Where you intend to review the book.

Contest (open to US and Canadian residents) closes September 30th, 12 midnight, EST US.

Good luck!

Found via Let’s Gab.

I’ve no idea who Stardust Press. were, but they’ll be going kaput on 30th September. This is what the CEO or whoever ‘Raine’ is, had to say:

“After much discussion and negotiation and evaluation, it is with regret that we announce StarDust Press is closing effective September 30, 2007. We are saddened that despite all our efforts, SDP is bleeding, and the investors have decided to cut their losses.”

At least we can be grateful that this time, the owners don’t seem to be totally losing the plot. They’ve obviously learned from the antics of the last lot.

Via ERECSITE.

By the way, does anybody know what it means when you dream that everytime you picked up a newborn baby, you either broke its bones, or dropped it on its head?

I had the same dream on Friday and Sunday. I woke up crying each time.

I really think I need a break.

The former World Rally champion and his five year old son, were amongst four people who died when his helicopter crashed near his home in Lanarkshire, on Sunday.

I’m still in shock. TTG and I used to go and watch the GB car rallies, before the new rules turned it into a joke. I remember one winter, years ago, we went to Clumber Park near Nottingham to watch the rally. It was cold as a witch’s tit, but we stood there for about two hours and watched the cars splash mud all over the place. At about 4pm, it started snowing, and didn’t let up. Luckily TTG had snow chains with him (he was a boy scout), so we were able to drive home safely, although the journey was extremely slow.

I can’t quite believe he’s gone. Richard Burns died two years ago, now Colin.

Life really is short isn’t it?

I totally stole this idea from the gals over at The Goddess Blogs.

Basically, I have six pics of beautiful Hollywood women, and six pics of beautiful Hollywood men, all you have to do is to match them up, and explain your reasons.

Here are the women:

So, we have Salma Hayek, Marcia Cross, and Drew Barrymore

Halle Berry, Aishwarya Rai, and Beyonce Knowles

And here are the men:

David Beckham, Will Smith, and Terence Howard

Blokey from Heroes (Sendhil Ramamurthy), Pierce Brosnan, and Brad Pitt.

So, who do you think matches best with whom?

My pick?

Becks - with me (now you never really believed I’d give him to any of these hussies did you?)

Halle Berry and Sendhil Ramamurthy - I think he’d treat her really well, and be the perfect gent

Oh look, Marcia Cross is left on the shelf, sorry Marcia, Becks is mine, and I don’t share!

OK, now it’s your turn, if you can be arsed!

I got a really interesting e-mail about our friend Patsy Rebmann, AKA AP Miller. The e-mail was from an author, who’s met her several times.

I’m not going to post the e-mail on here, but apparently (to paraphrase) most of her peers are horribly embarrassed by her and her actions, and put it down to some sort of mental breakdown. Also apparently, she’s been lying for years about Hollywood knocking on her door, and whatnot, so it’s quite likely that the Harlequin contract is also a lie. If she’s not lying about that, then hopefully, someone other than ‘Tarra’ will bob over and confirm her claim.

As for claiming Eloisa James as a reference? Apparently she’s in the same chapter, but the nearest she’s probably ever gotten to her, is if she sat next to her at any of the meetings, otherwise, no kinship there whatsoever, Ms James, if you want to confirm or deny, feel free to post *g*

Also, apparently she “lied” about speaking out against e-pubs. Apparently she posted an “incoherent rambling post” on a private author forum, but was once again, mostly ignored cuz she sounded like she’d been sniffing the glue again. (blatant paraphrasing)

It seems to me that far from being a laughing matter, our Patsy may actually need professional help. Which probably explains why she (or at least somebody pretending to be her), went to the trouble of dedicating two whole blogs to yours truly. (I wont bother linking, but I’m sure you guys will find the them eventually, if you haven’t already. The links are in the comments of one of my previous blog posts. *g*)

The woman sure seems to be crazy as a coyote on steroids.

The girls over at Writeminded have been holding a zillion contests for the last week or so, and they’ve been fun to read. I generally only lurk, but the prizes are well worth looking over.

Taking part in contests really isn’t my thing (far too lazy), but if it was, I certainly would have entered every one of theirs. As it is, I just participated in the one to win Maya Banks’ forthcoming books. Menage books are mostly dead to me, but Maya’s are a kind of guilty pleasure that I like to indulge in every now again.

Their latest post is called A Round Table Chat with Heroes. ‘Tis very interesting, so go read!

I remember feeling sick at the thought of this little girl being kidnapped by some dirty nasty pedophile, and TTG and I, along with the rest of the world, have been hoping and praying, that the authorities would find her soon.

I was pretty mad at the parents for leaving her alone in the apartment in the first place, but I figured they were suffering enough, and probably felt enough remorse at leaving their children unattended.

Anyway, it seems that the Portuguese police have found DNA samples that are a perfect match for Maddie, in the boot of a car that her parents hired 5 weeks after she went missing.

WTF?

Now this could be complete coincidence, but it doesn’t look good does it? It makes me sick to think that maybe somehow, they killed Maddie themselves, and this whole time they’ve been covering it up.

They went to see The Pope for God’s sake, and never mind the millions raised from people who wanted to help them find Maddie. (Please note, there’s music on the findmaddie.com site)

There are rumours abound that they accidently killed Maddie, and instead of just owning up, tried to cover it up by claiming that she’d been abducted.

I can’t even imagine getting caught up in such a huge frickin lie. If they killed her, I sure hope they confess soon, so that they can stop wasting valuable police time. Time that could be spent trying to find other missing children.

And if they didn’t kill her? Man, I can’t even begin to imagine the anguish that this is causing them.