I Smell Smoke

Every once in a while I get what I call the blogging blahs. As much as I like to run off at the mouth, sometimes inspiration fails to strike me and in the immortal words of a wise woman somewhere, "I got nothing." Actually I don't necessarily have "nothing." More like I got a bunch of random stuff floating around, I haven't posted in a few days, and well, I need to put something here. Yep, it's time for another list of linky goodness!

1) I've "known" Amy a scary long time. Longer than I've been blogging, which means we're talking going on 10 years. She's the only person I know who might have a TBR scarier than mine (and we don't know for sure since she refuses to count it - scaredy cat). Anyway, I really liked her recent funny post about family drama and rediscovering "why" she reads. Go forth and say hello.

2) Leslie has an interview up with Cheryl St. John with two contests attached. One particular point of interest in the interview? Cheryl teases us with tidbits about her current work in progress. Go forth and read.

3) I've done some updating over at the Upcoming Historical Romances wiki. Lots of pretty book covers and lists of books through July 2010 (lists still not totally "complete," but I'm getting there).

4) Rosie is over at AccessRomance Reader's Gab making me think too hard. Seriously, Mondays after a holiday always find my brain the consistency of lumpy day-old oatmeal. Anyway, head on over and read what she thinks about creativity, longevity and staying the course.

5) The Cheesecake Factory has a new Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake which consists of red velvet cake, cheesecake filling, cream cheese frosting and white chocolate shavings. OK, seriously. How am I expected to say no to something like this? And for the record? Oh. My. Gawd. Something this good has got to be illegal in 23 states.

6) Thanksgiving at the Bat Cave was grand. My turkey turned out OK, but it was my stuffing that rocked the house. I followed my Aunt Mary's recipe to the T and drown those bread crumbs in a serious amount of turkey broth. Soooooo good. The leftover stuffing didn't make it past Friday night. Oh and the Lil' Sis makes some killer mashed taters and gravy. Those made it to Sunday night - but just barely.

7) After finding my mojo earlier in the month, my reading hit the skids again. I jump-started it last night by finishing up a Harlequin Historical (OK) and two Spice Briefs short stories (one OK, the other really dang good). Reviews will be forthcoming over at TGTBTU. Next up? I'm reading the new Cheryl St. John, Her Colorado Man. I couldn't resist it any longer.

These Are Their Stories

I can't remember where I first read about Remember How I Love You: Love Letters From An Extraordinary Marriage by Jerry Orbach and Elaine Orbach - but I suspect I saw it in one of Simon & Schuster's catalogs. I filed it away in the back of my mind, and when I noticed one of my colleagues ordered it for work, I put my name on the waiting list expecting to browse through it. I'm a massive Law & Order fan, and I adore Jerry Orbach (who passed away in 2004), and that was enough for me to give it a whirl.

Imagine my surprise when I was able to plow through the whole book on my lunch break.

This is a slim (182 pages) gift-sized hard cover that was put together by Orbach's widow, Elaine. They met during the original production of Chicago on Broadway. Orbach was cast as Billy Flynn, while Elaine was the understudy for Chita Rivera, who was playing Velma Kelly. Being an understudy was actually a step down for Elaine's career at the time, but she said it was fate, because that's how she and Jerry ultimately met and fell in love.

During the course of their 25 year marriage, Jerry would scribble Elaine poems every morning. Because of his shooting schedule on Law & Order, he was often out the door before she got out of bed. So she'd wake up, to find these poems scribbled on the backs of page-a-day calender sheets. Sometimes heartfelt, often times funny and silly, Elaine kept all these notes in a large soup tureen they had. Interspersed between a selection of a few of those poems is a biography of their life together.

As far as a biography goes, this one is pretty slim. I didn't learn too much here that I hadn't already picked up by watching A&E's Biography. What does shine through is how funny, charming and incredibly likable Orbach was. The one aspect of this story that did surprise me was how long he had actually been sick with prostate cancer. This was not an overnight illness. He lived with it for 10 years. About 5 years longer than the doctors initially gave him. Everybody "at work" knew about his cancer treatments. They all knew about his regiment of treatment(s) and medication(s) and yet? Nobody breathed a word of it. Jerry Orbach lived with cancer for 10 years and outside of his inner circle, nobody was the wiser. No sensationalized stories in the Enquirer. No Internet rumors. Not a single peep.

It was also wonderfully refreshing to read about a couple of actors who were about as far away from the limelight as you can get. Law & Order propelled Orbach into career security, and he was beloved around New York City - but this is a guy who did the laundry when Elaine threw her back out and helped with the vacuuming. They never hired a staff. They rented their apartment. He didn't even have a publicist. He loved to golf and play poker at his club. Just a normal, average Joe who had a pretty awesome day job.

The writing in this book is very straight-forward. Again, it's meant as a love letter to their marriage, so any sort of deep digging into Orbach's life isn't going to be found here. The best parts of the story are when some of Orbach's colleagues make appearances in the book. Benjamin Bratt's recollections are particularly touching, as is the forward by Sam Waterston and afterward by Richard Belzer. But ultimately this book is a heartfelt winner thanks to candid pages where Elaine recounts Jerry's final days. As I said, I read this on my lunch break at work, and I was a weeping, sobbing mess by the end of it all. Ultimately that's what makes this book work. As is Elaine's message behind compiling some of Jerry's poems: to bring the old fashioned love letter back into vogue. As she says herself, once Jerry was gone, those notes brought her a great deal of comfort. E-mail and Twitter just don't have the same sort of punch.

Final Grade = B+

Harlequin + Super Librarian = More Awesome!

Remember when I posted about the upcoming Cheryl St. John ebook bundle I proposed to Harlequin? The one coming out in January 2010? I mentioned in that post that I had proposed three different ideas for ebook bundles, hoping one would "stick." Turns out - they liked them all!

Coming in February 2010 is the Love, American Style Harlequin Historical bundle! My goal for this bundle was to showcase the diversity that can be found if readers would just Please For The Love Of My Sanity Read Some American Historicals Already. In this bundle are three books that have previously been unavailable in electronic format.

Prairie Wife by Cheryl St. John - Yes, more St. John. But really, you cannot go wrong with this woman! This is my favorite of her books, an emotionally gut-wrenching, western-set, marriage in trouble story (which I normally don't care for - but holy cow is this a good one!).

The Bride Fair by Cheryl Reavis - Reavis is one of my very favorite Harlequin authors who consistently delivers in her historicals as well as her contemporary-set stories. This one takes place post-Civil War, in the South, and features a Southern heroine with a real dilemma on her hands and the Northern, former POW, commanding officer who has commandeered her family home for the occupying troops.

Married By Midnight by Judith Stacy - This is the story that will lighten up the bundle. Set in late 19th century Los Angeles, the heroine finds herself a bridesmaid for the third time in three months, when she runs up against our hero, a man who broke her heart as a young girl. The hero has entered into a wager with his best friend, and ultimately falls under the heroine's spell - but what happens when the heroine finds out about the wager? Yeah, it doesn't bode well for our hero. Stacy is kind of hit or miss for me, and this one was a major hit. It's charming, it's funny, and it's set in Los Angeles. More historicals need to be set in L.A. Says me.

Also, good news via an e-mail bud of mine - she has discovered both of these bundles at the Kindle Store over at Amazon. Just go to the Kindle Store and search "super librarian" and they'll both pop up, available for pre-order. Amazon is retailing both bundles for $9.99 and if their list price is anything to go by - they'll be around $14.00 at other ebook retail outlets. Woot!

As for that third bundle I proposed? Given the theme of the bundle, Harlequin has told me they're holding it back for a Summer 2010 release. And no, I'm not spilling the beans on that one just yet. You'll have to be patient and wait.

More Teasing Via Ear Worm

As stated in my previous post, I have some big news to share. Well, I just got the official confirmation e-mail, and it's been...well...confirmed. I'll make the big splashy announcement tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a hint:



One of the catchiest, ear-worm-y TV themes of all time. No need to thank me. Ha!

This Weekend At The Bat Cave

Once again I have a bunch of "little stuff" floating around in my pea brain, which can only mean one thing. Yep, time for another round-up post! And away we go....

+++++

Every once in a while My Man gets "stuck" on a TV show. He discovers something new-to-him or revisits an old favorite and then goes on a gorge-like viewing frenzy. In the past it's been shows like Iron Chef America, Dirty Jobs, Star Trek: The Next Generation. His latest obsession? For all you Brits who read my blog, it would be Top Gear which airs here in the States on BBC America. Basically three guys who talk cars, drive cars, and talk cars some more. He discovered it on YouTube, and now he's hooked. I'm currently wondering how long it will be before he completely O.D.s.

+++++

After five years, the Bat Cave once again has a Christmas tree. When we lived in Michigan, we did a real tree every year. Since we now tend to travel over the holidays, I have refused to shell out cash for a real tree since moving to So. Cal. Of course traveling also means I have put off buying an artificial tree. Well no more. We did it today, and in a confession that will likely send the hounds of Hell after me....

I'm done with my holiday decorating. Already. I know, I know. Would it make you hate me any less if I tell you I haven't even thought about holiday cards yet and I haven't done a lick of shopping for gifts? See, I'm not that ahead of the curve.

Of course getting a tree has meant another long discussion with My Man. He's of the I Think The Tree Should Look Like Better Homes & Gardens school, while I think Christmas trees are like people. When they lack character, nobody wants to spend any time around them. I like my Batman ornament thankyouverymuch. And yes, Strawberry Shortcake is going next to Rhett and Scarlet. And how could he possibly suggest I not put up my Pinky And The Brain ornament? Rubbish!

Ultimately I "won" this round. Heh, only because our tree couldn't look like Better Homes & Gardens without us spending a shitload of money on new ornaments. And we're nothing if not cheap frugal. Plus I decorated the darn thing. So yeah, I win.

+++++

I got a thank you card this week from my niece, The Fairy Princess, who turned 8 years old earlier this month. I got her the gift that keeps on giving. Yep, a Barnes and Noble gift card. I would say the favorite part of the thank you note was the fact that she signed both her first and last name. Like I wouldn't know it was from her. But the entire note is pretty damn cute.

"Dear Aunt Wendy,
Thank you for the Barns and Nobles gift card. I like it because I get to pick out my own different kinds of books."

Me too sweetie. Me too.

+++++

I signed on to my e-mail this afternoon to discover a message from one of my longtime online buds. The long and the short of it is that I may have some news to share....hopefully soon. I just need to write another e-mail to verify a few things. When I can share, I will. For now, you'll have to settle for me being a tease.

RocknRolla

I don't know about you all, but I'm just about full-up on the Harlequin Horizons brouhaha. Not that I don't think it's an important topic to beat half to death (I have devoted two blog posts to it!), but I'm reaching the saturation point where I want to start smacking people. Which means it's time for me to take a step back and steer the Bat Cave back towards a completely frothy topic that nobody gives a flying fig about. Heh.

During my morning commute, one of the radio stations I rarely listen to in the mornings (DJs = blah, blah, blah) was promoting their upcoming Thanksgiving week programming where they're going to play the Top 1000 Rock Songs as voted on by their listeners. The DJs were discussing their own personal Top 10 lists. I thought this sounded like fun (I'm a massive list ho) plus the Big Sis (the metal chick) hasn't commented on my blog in ages (some nonsense about finishing nursing school, working, being a wife and mother - like those are excuses!), so I thought I'd do my own personal Top 10 Songs Wendy Rocks Out To list. Here it goes:

(Song title links will take you to YouTube)

1) Helter Skelter by The Beatles - Paul McCartney tends to take a lot of shit for his "silly love songs," while John Lennon is touted as "the genius." Well kids - arguably the hardest rockin' song The Beatles ever recorded was written, wait for it, by pretty boy Paul. Yeah. You can shut up now.

2) Welcome To The Jungle by Guns n' Roses - Could be the greatest hard rock song ever recorded. Period. Every time it's on the radio I crank it up to about 50,000 decibels. Sheer awesome.

3) Back In Black by AC/DC - I can take or leave AC/DC, but I love this song. One of the all-time great guitar riffs.

4) Panama by Van Halen - It's hard to pick one Van Halen track (the Bat Cave likes to pretend Van Hagar never happened), but this one edges out Hot For Teacher because not only is Eddie's guitar amazing, but Alex's drumming sounds like pure sex.

5) Barracuda by Heart - I lurve old skool Heart. Ann Wilson is my choice for greatest female rock vocalist ever. And her voice still sounds fan-frackin'-tastic to this day.

6) Tush by ZZ Top - It was hard to choose between this one and La Grange, but Tush wins out because again, it sounds like sex. Dirty, Texas honky-tonk, whiskey-shootin' sex.

7) Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots - Hands down, some of the most misogynistic lyrics ever set to music. I should feel dirty for loving it - but I don't.

8) Enter Sandman by Metallica - Hard core Metallica fans consider this the band's sell-out point, but damn this song rocks. It barrels down on you like a freight train, and that bass line? That bass line is hot!

9) Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails - I can't help it. I'm a Gen-Xer. Which means I have to like one band that panders to whiny, disenfranchised slackers. NIN works for me because Trent Reznor took electronic music and gave it a damn melody. This entire album (Pretty Hate Machine) rocks my socks.

10) She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult - A gothic-punk hybrid, I love this song because of how melodic it is. Oh and the guitar. I'm a sucker for that guitar.

So that's my fly by the seat of my pants list. Honestly, I'm leaving off a ton of stuff. There's no mention of The Who, Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Ozzy, Cream - geez. Tons.

Add your favorite rock songs in the comments section. And happy Friday!

RWA, Harlequin Horizons And My Take

As most of you probably know by now, Harlequin has announced they are severing the Harlequin name from their Horizons venture. As a reader (and librarian) this makes me happy, since the slathering of the 60 year old Harlequin brand name on this venture was my biggest gripe.

A letter Harlequin has sent to various authors and agents is now posted online, and while I'm happy to see Harlequin changing their stance on the Horizons issue (sort of), this letter is full of a heaping helping of WTFBBQ. You can read the letter in it's entirety here, but I'm just going to highlight a few things that struck me as particularly ballsy.

Harlequin was very surprised and dismayed to receive notice late yesterday that the RWA has decided that Harlequin is no longer eligible for RWA-provided conference resources. We were even more surprised to discover that the RWA sent a notice to its membership announcing this decision, before allowing Harlequin to respond or engage in a discussion about it with the RWA board.

::snort:: And I'm sure Harlequin considered notifying RWA and their members (many of them Harlequin authors) before they announced the Horizons venture. Seriously. WTH?

It is disappointing that the RWA has not recognized that publishing models have and will continue to change.

Oh this is rich.

I am hardly RWA's biggest champion. There are many issues I think they have failed to address and I believe they are short-sighted on. Namely the long-standing resistance in some corners to the erotic romance sub genre, the failure to recognize legitimate e-presses, and their complete head-in-the-sand attitude towards digital (not that they're alone in this boat - hello many traditional NY publishing houses!).

But to use that line about "publishing models changing" when addressing the clusterfuck that is Horizons is just rich. RWA and many authors recognized this for what it is. A completely and totally skeevy way to sell out the Harlequin name brand.

Do I think RWA needs to be more proactive on certain issues? Yes. But I think perhaps Sybil said it best on Twitter today when she said:

because honestly I think epubs (some of them) should be approved but I don't think every issue should be tabled til past fuck ups get fixed

And that's it in a nutshell. But unlike some corners of the Internet, I have a hard time believing RWA is the bogeyman or evil. Misguided at times? Sure. But it's up to the members of the RWA organization to work (rationally and calmly I might add) to help affect change.

Can you tell I've spent too much time on Twitter the last few days?

What hasn't been addressed to any satisfaction is how Harlequin is going to move forward with Horizons. Are they still going to keep advertising the service on the writing section of their web site? Are they still going to refer to Horizons in rejection letters they send out to writers? That hasn't been made clear at this time (of me writing this blog post).

But as a reader, and as a librarian who spends a lot of time banging her head up against obstinate colleagues? The dropping of the Harlequin name from the venture helps.

Little Miss Crabby Pants Talks Harlequin Horizons

Little Miss Crabby Pants is still trying to wrap her mind around yesterday's big announcement that Harlequin is getting into the vanity publishing business with it's new Harlequin Horizons venture.

I'm a reader and not a writer. I have no aspirations to start writing and work towards publication. Technically speaking, I don't really have a pony in this horse race, but I'll be brutally honest: I hated this idea yesterday and I hate it even more today. If for no other reason than Harlequin is slapping their name on this venture.

Since this is my blog, and presumably you're reading this because it is my blog, I'm going to make this All About Me.

I have very strong opinions about self-publishing and vanity publishing that have been honed over the last 10 years I've been a professional librarian. Those opinions are based on the self and vanity published books that have landed in my path over the past decade. I do believe that self and vanity publishing can work, but it takes a certain set of circumstances. The best example I have is the entire birth of the street lit genre. Those authors chose self-publishing because they were writing completely out of the box. Then they literally hustled their asses off. Once they built up a groundswell of support in the streets? NY took notice - to where you now find street lit authors signing very nice contracts with major houses.

But we're talking mainstream here, not "out of the box," and specifically romance fiction. A genre that literally publishes hundreds of books every single month. Where there is hardly a dearth of titles on the shelves to choose from. And heck, that doesn't even include the output of the small, reputable e-publishers that have come into their own in the last several years.

The sole reason I hate this Harlequin Horizons venture so much is that it makes my job harder. When people make my job harder it tends to piss me off. For the past decade I have practically hounded some of my colleagues that the romance genre is a vibrant, interesting, diverse genre that deserves respect. There are good stories, good characters, and good writing in this genre. Along those line I've probably spent the past 8 or 9 years trying to convince my colleagues and my fellow romance readers (for cripes sake) that Harlequin isn't a punch line. They aren't cookie cutter stories. They aren't fill-in-the-blank, Mad Lib style books that authors bang out on their computers in 30 minutes. There are rich, beautiful, diverse, magical stories being published by Harlequin every month. Hell, I've even gotten pretty good at explaining the god-ass awful titles they slap on a number of their books.

No matter their success. No matter the number of wonderful writers that have published with them in the past and present. No matter the amount of good press they've garnered in recent memory. Harlequin is still the red-headed step-child in a lot of circles. Among readers, non-readers and even romance readers. It's hard enough having justify my love of Harlequin every other day of the week, but this Horizons venture only proceeds in making my choices appear "less valid." It also makes it the perfect "Oh yeah, well what about...." retort from the non-believers that I'm now going to have to figure out how to tap dance around.

If Harlequin wanted to get in the vanity publishing business, fine. But it's the slapping of their name on it I can't abide. It's the selling out of the brand name. The name they have built up over the past 60 years that I have issue with. Because now it's not a matter of you writing a good story. Of hustling your ass off, receiving rejection letters, rewriting, resubmitting, honing your craft. No, now for the right amount of money you too can be published under Harlequin Horizons! I'm telling you, if I was a Harlequin author who spent years working on my writing, going through the process etc. I'd be majorly cheesed off right about now - but that's me.

On a final note I want to address my growing concern that as this story has blown up all over the Internet, many people (I'm look at you Twitter-ers) are referring to Horizons as "HH."

STOP IT!

HH HAS ALWAYS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE HARLEQUIN HISTORICAL. MY FAVORITE IMPRINT OF ROMANCE FICTION IN EXISTENCE. STOP IT. STOP IT NOW. HH IS HARLEQUIN HISTORICAL!!!!!!!

Ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah.....

Over the years I have championed, unabashedly I might add, my love for all things Harlequin. I've read and loved many of their books. I've told everyone and their dead grandmother about those books. Heck, one of the biggest thrills in my almost seven years of blogging was when I was invited to propose an ebook bundle for them. I love the company. I love their stories. I adore and admire many of the writers that used to write for HQ and continue to write for them to this day. They're still my go-to publisher for "discovering" new writers. And I'll be eternally grateful, to the day I die, that I discovered the Harlequin Historical imprint.

But, this. Ugh. I hate it. I don't like it at all. And I'm fully expecting to not change my mind on that issue. If I do, you'll be the first to know. Just as soon as I get done ice skating with Satan's minions.

What's In ILL? A Mistress, A Convict And A Would-Be Nun

It's been a while, and I for one am overdo for my InterLibrary Loan fix. So I wandered across the hall this morning to paw through the books that are stacked up, waiting to be sent out - either to our patrons or to other libraries for their patrons. Sadly, no long out-of-print Harlequins to feast your eyes on today, but some interesting choices nonetheless.

Once A Mistress by Rebecca Hagan Lee

How fitting that the Marquess of Templeston should die in the arms of his mistress. And how like his responsible son to make sure the terms of the will are earned out--no matter how outrageous. But he never imagines that one woman is living in a cottage on the grounds of his family's country estate. Even more shocking is her identity . . .

Kathryn Stafford abandoned Andrew at the altar and disappeared five years before. That she should emerge now, as his own father's lover--and with a bastard son--is a crushing blow to his pride . . . and to the longing that her betrayal couldn't quite destroy. But Kathryn has secret Andrew doesn't know: secrets of her vanishing, of her devotion to the marquess, and of a scandalous past that could be her ultimate downfall--or prove her ultimate devotion to the only man she has ever really loved...

Good Lord! Talk about a train wreck! The hero finds out the chickie who left him at the altar was boinking his Daddy?! And there's a secret baby?! Wowzers! Good thing Daddy is dead because dang, that could make for awkward holiday gatherings. Although something tells me that there's a Big Secret lurking in this plot description. Chalk it up to my Romance Reading Spidey Sense.

Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare

Journalist Sophie Alton is investigating the disappearance of a young mother named Megan, recently paroled and now running from the law with her baby daughter. Sophie's search leads her to Megan's brother, Marc, a convicted killer--and the man she shared an unforgettable night with twelve years ago.

Condemned to life in prison, Marc uses Sophie to escape so he can find his sister and protect her from the monster who's pursuing her. Sophie knows she should fear Marc. But the heat and hunger of his touch still lingers in her mind--and on her body--after all this time.

Together they will follow a dangerous trail, as people on both sides of the law do everything they can to keep Sophie and Mark from finding Megan--and a shocking truth about the past...

Book three in the author's romantic suspense series, and buried somewhere in the Bat Cave TBR Mountain Range. I had a bad experience with one of Clare's earlier romantic suspense novels, but bought this one because I got sucked into the promo stuff the author did online at the time. Yeah, even I'm not immune.

Always by Lynsay Sands

Bastard daughter to the king, Rosamunde is raised in a convent and wholly prepared to take the veil ... until good King Henry shows up with a reluctant husband in tow for her. Suddenly, she finds herself promising to love, honor, and obey Aric ... always. But Rosamunde's education has not covered a wedding night, and the stables are a poor example for an untried girl. Will Aric bite her neck like the animals do their mates? The virile warrior seems capable of such animal passion, but his eyes promise something sweeter. And Rosamunde soon learns that while she may have trouble with obeying him, it will not be hard to love her new husband forever.

Here's a blast from the Bat Cave past - I reviewed this one pre-blogging days when I was still at The Romance Reader. In a nutshell? It made my eyes bleed. Funny opening chapters (really great) but then the hero morphs into Jealous Asshole Who Should Be Filleted and the heroine is so frackin' sweet it's amazing she doesn't take a walk in the woods, singing and dancing with small furry woodland creatures a la Disney's Sleeping Beauty. "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream....."

Ahem, anywho....

So that's what I uncovered in ILL. Anyone read any of these? Any keepers among this trio? Hey, you can even disagree with me about the Sands medieval. I'm a big girl. I can take it.

Finding The Reading Mojo

Every reader has a "method" for breaking out of a dreaded reading slump. Whether it's to reread old favorites, or pick up a book by an author who usually delivers for them. Me? I tend to suck it up and try to power through it. In other words, just sit my ass in the nearest chair, pick up a book, and read it. My slumps usually are the result of reading several lackluster books in a row, and it's amazing how quickly I get the mojo back when I actually read ::gasp:: books that are entertaining me. Last week I managed to read six books. Yeah, six. OK, so they were all Harlequins - but still that's already two more books than I managed to read all of last month. Since I took the weekend off from blogging, I thought I'd jump-start the Bat Cave by taking an opportunity to talk about a couple of these recent reads:

Under The Boss's Mistletoe by Jessica Hart is a November Harlequin Romance with a lackluster title and back cover description, but ooooh, look at the purdy cover! I'll be honest. I like reading the hot sexxoring in romance novels. I love erotica. I love erotic romance. Truly. But sometimes I need a sweet read. And by sweet I don't mean saccharine, toothache inducing either. I just want a nice, straight-forward, "traditional" romance. I devoured this story in record time, charmed by the wedding planner heroine and the former bad boy hero who is wound fairly tight. Glory be, characters who actually talk to each other? Well-done sexual tension and chemistry? Be still my heart! My review has been posted over at TGTBTU and I'm thinking I might have to buy a Dead Tree copy to add to my collection (yep, read this one as an ebook).

Longtime readers of this blog may remember a time when I was severely burnt out on Regency historicals. When I say burn-out, I mean downright crippling. It lasted for years. It got to the point where I was reading maybe one Regency-set book a year. That's how bad it was. However, now that the burn out has begun to lift, I'm getting back into the Regency groove, "discovering" authors that others have been likely reading for years. My latest find is Julia Justiss. I read her latest (and insipidly titled) From Waif To Gentleman's Wife (an October Harlequin Historical) over the weekend, and really enjoyed it.

One reason I suspect it's easy for me to get burnt out on this sub genre is that after a while I get fed up with reading about rich, privileged people. Just do. Honestly, that probably explains my rabid devotion to the western romance more than anything else ever could. What struck me about Justiss' latest was how "real" it felt. The heroine comes from a "good" family, but she's broke. When her solider husband dies, and her in-laws wash their hands of her, she's left with few options, so she becomes a governess. When the Lady of the house catches her husband accosting our heroine, she fires her. Because, you know, it's all her fault that the Lord is a lecherous asshole. Getting fired means no references for future employment. None. With only a small stash of coins to her name, our heroine is well and truly screwed. Which is how she ends up meeting our hero. With her back up against the wall, and hoping to throw herself on the mercy of her brother (who, it turns out, has gone missing).

It's the sort of book that makes me infinitely happy to have been born in the latter half of the 20th century. Because this is how it was for women back in the day. You were at the mercy of men and the circumstance of who you were born to. It was also nice to read about a hero, who while titled, wasn't anywhere remotely near "bad boy" or "rake." No debauchery, no string of mistresses, no drinking, no gambling, no endless litany of how all he needs is the "love of a good woman" to reform him.

A review is forthcoming over at TGTBTU, but yeah - this one earned a B from me. Which means I'm definitely entertaining the idea of reading more books by Justiss. Anyone have any recommendations for either her or Jessica Hart? Because I am listening.

The Month That Was October 2009

At long last, here is a recap of my reading during the month of October. I'm was still in the grips of an Evil Reading Slump From Hell, hence only reading a dismal total of four books in October. Well, technically three. I'm not sure the Spice Briefs short story counts as a book. But what the heck? I'm desperate. Here's how it breaks down:

Clicking on title links will take you to full reviews.

Dark Country by Bronwyn Parry, Romantic Suspense, 2009, Grade = B-

• The second book in a romance suspense series currently only being published overseas (bugger!). Great, fabulous, wonderful heroine. Nice, complex hero, although I suspect some readers may have issues with some of the choices he made in his past. Solid suspense plot, nice realistic ending for the romantic storyline.
  

His Secret Agenda by Beth Andrews, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2009, Grade = B-

• Andrews may be my favorite HSR discovery of 2009. This is the third book in a series, and features a former lawyer turned bar owner heroine hiding a secret. She ends up falling for the hero, who is applying for a bartender job and...wait for it...also hiding a secret. Two Big Secrets for the price of one! I suspect some readers will have issues with the heroine's former job as a defense attorney and a plot thread is left a little loose at the end - I suspect as fodder for the next book in the series.
  

Destiny's Captive by Kate Lyon, Historical Western Romance, 2009, Grade = D

• A sequel to the author's debut novel, I had massive issues with the heroine, who added another dimension to the meaning of stubborn. Good storyline, good use of history, but the heroine drove me insane.
  

An Impolite Seduction by Alison Richardson, Historical Erotica Short Story, Spice Briefs, 2009, Grade = C

• This is the second story in a trilogy, and Lord help me I am officially addicted. The author has a very pleasing narration style (first person) that sucks me in even though all the characters are degenerate, borderline vile, human beings. But the whole thing reads like a trashy, over-the-top, Victorian soap opera, which means I'm really in the soup now.

And that's it. Four books. Ugh. The good news is that I've been on a reading tear lately and November is already looking up. Yippee!

Harlequin + Super Librarian = Awesome!

Massive Bat Cave news. Huge, colossal Bat Cave news.

Several months back, the digital team over at Harlequin contacted several bloggers about the possibility of putting together some ebook bundles. One of the bloggers they contacted was none other than lil' ol' me. Naturally, I practically fell all over myself saying yes. Which means I now had to come up with some ideas. I started out with two goals:

1) Create bundles featuring books I personally enjoyed.

2) Try to concentrate on books that currently are unavailable electronically.

I came up with three different bundle ideas - sending them all off to Harlequin hoping there would be one set they didn't think sucked. Well, I recently heard back from them. They selected my Cheryl St. John bundle!

Wahoooooooey!

As you are all well-aware, here at the Bat Cave we lurve us some Cheryl St. John. She is not only our very favorite Harlequin Historical author, but now that Maggie Osborne is retired, she also may be our favorite western romance author. The Doctor's Wife, The Lawman's Bride and The Preacher's Wife are all connected books in the author's Harvey Girls trilogy. The first two titles have never been available electronically, and all three have been out of print for some time.

Wahooooooooey!

The first round of Blogger Bundles are set to launch in January 2010. They'll be available to purchase over at eHarlequin, and one would assume at other ebook retail outlets. I have no idea on cost yet, but going by other historical bundles they offer, my guess is somewhere in the ballpark of $20.

My Spin On Carina Press

Monday mornings can sometimes bring really interesting e-mails to the Bat Cave in-box. Today it was an e-mail from Malle Vallik (one of the awesome folks over at Harlequin) announcing the arrival of Carina Press. Carina Press is a brand spankin' new digital-only press under the Harlequin umbrella. The plan for the official launch is set for sometime Spring/Summer 2010. Angela James has been hired as Executive Editor (welcome back to the Land Of The Gainfully Employed Ange!), and they're already accepting submissions.

So what does this all mean? Well, first off I'm going to direct you to Jane's post over at Dear Author (which includes a guest post from Angie) and Sarah's post over at Smart Bitches for some of the more "technical" talk like no DRM, submission guidelines, business model etc. I'm not an author, nor an aspiring one, so a lot of this stuff goes right on over my head. I'd also encourage you to check out Carina Press's web site, which has even more information (including a blog!).

But since you are all here visiting the Bat Cave, I'm going to give you my spin on this.

It's huge. Big, huge colossal news. If only for the fact that Carina Press is under the Harlequin Enterprises umbrella. Certainly Harlequin has already readily embraced digital, but with the formation of this new press, they've effectively kicked open the door. It's huge. It's unprecedented. And it puts every other "major" traditional print publisher on notice.

All this being said, I have never been the reader (or librarian) who is a zealot for e-publishing. I don't think Dead Tree books are going anywhere in my lifetime (sorry, just don't), and until the electronic format is more affordable, easy to understand, stream-lined, and idiot-proof, I just don't see the world takeover that so many others are predicting.

However, I think I speak for all librarians everywhere (well, at least the awesome ones) when I say we're all a big ol' bunch of Format Hos. While it's highly unlikely I'll ever give up Dead Tree books 100%, I love the ability to be entertained in a variety of formats. I love my Dead Tree books. I love audio books on CD. I love downloadable audio books (OMG! Heaven!). And I love ebooks. I love them all. I love having options. Gimme, gimme, gimme lots of options and I'm a happy, happy girl.

Ultimately what the formation of Carina Press does do is put the naysayers on notice. While I certainly don't feel that digital publishing is going take over the world, I do think it's short-sighted of traditional print publishers to ignore it. Now we have a major player in the publishing industry (Harlequin) further embracing the digital model and medium. It's huge (have I said that already?), and I'm fully expecting I'll be bombarded by news, editorials etc. in all the Industry-Type Stuff I read for my job. It's certainly intriguing, and I for one am very curious to see what's going to be offered up in the way of their launch titles.

It Came To This

Yes, it came to this. After almost 7 years of having the Bat Cave at my original blog, the issues with Hughesnet prompted me to start from scratch. Sort of.

I know it's a colossal pain in the ass to change links and RSS Feeds, but honestly? It's one minor inconvenience compared to an entire ISP not being able to access the awesomeness that is the Bat Cave. When you look at it like that, it really wasn't much of a choice.

The good news is that I have migrated my entire archive, so all the glorious wonderful content is now here. Also, I have plans to keep up the "old" blog indefinitely because I know a ton of you have linked to individual posts I've done over the years, and broken links give us all a sad.

On the bright side, my URL makes more sense now. No more pesky underscore to try and remember. And really, doesn't "Wendy the Super Librarian" just have more of a ring to it?

So sit back, relax, and enjoy. Oh, and welcome Hughesnet people!

Feisty Bad First Impressions

First, my apologies to Ms. Killion, who sent this book to me ages ago for a review. My Slump From Hell is a really terrible excuse, but it's the only one I have.

Highland Dragon is the author's second published book, and unfortunately was a bit of a slog for me to get through. It would be easy to blame my slump, but in reality it was the ol' Bad First Impression problem. After a bang-up prologue, the book started to sink thanks to the heroine. But more on her in a bit....

As a young lad Calin MacLeod witnessed his father's murder. His father made the mistake of falling for the beautiful Lena Kinnon, when she showed up at their home, already pregnant, begging for protection from her vile husband, Laird Baen Kinnon. Naturally Laird Kinnon (AKA The Beast) is none to pleased with his wife running out on him. Shortly after giving birth to their daughter, Akira, she is murdered, along with Calin, and several of his warriors. The only reason Akira escapes the same fate is because Calin sneaks out from his hiding place, spirits the child away, and vows that one day he shall marry her and unite their clans.

Fast forward, and Calin has decided the time has come. He shows up at the Neish household to claim Akira, only to learn she's been spirited away to a slave auction because she's "a witch." So off he goes to rescue her, so he can take her back home and wed her. Besides the small issue of her being kidnapped, the girl also has no idea The Beast is her father. When she learns that bit of truth, it's going to get very sticky indeed.

As I've already mentioned, the prologue of this story is fantastic. The problem comes when the reader meets Akira as a grown woman. Yes, gentle readers, we have one of those heroines. Sigh. Feisty. And not Good Feisty. No, Akira is Stupid Feisty. Instead of lying through her teeth at the slave auction to save her own neck, she "fights" back by opening her stupid mouth. Hell, even the child who was up for auction before her had the sense to LIE! Frankly, heroines with no sense of self-preservation deserve whatever happens to them, says me. Then of course, there's that added hoydenish touch that all feisty heroines have in historical romances - yep, the girl likes to climb trees.

Sigh.

I liked Calin a bit better, although he's one of those romance heroes who just won't come out and tell the heroine what the heck is going on until naturally she hears the truth from a third party. What is it with romantic couples that won't talk to each other?

My bad first impression of the heroine soured this story pretty early on for me, and it made the first half of this book a real slog. I never really felt like the author got a good handle on the conflict until after the couple finally has their wedding. By that point, the two villains (one the dreaded "other woman") start playing a more prominent role, and the conflict picks up a bit. By this point Akira morphs from feisty, to a bit of a Mary Sue - the kind of heroine who lacks self-confidence, and yet has everyone from the hero to small children eating out of the palm of her hand. But at least she stops climbing trees.

It's the villains and the derring-do-style action that picked up the second half of the story for me. One of the characters has a change of heart, and I'm not sure how believable it was, but it did make for compelling reading. The author also writes "hot" very well, so if you're a sucker for sexy medievals, Killion is an author to keep an eye out for on that front.

Also, of note, the author does employ the use of the brogue here. Readers tend to be very passionate on this issue. I generally can't stand it, but I will say that Killion at least employs it consistently, and it's easy to follow. I never had to stop and "think" about the dialogue, trying to decipher what the hell the characters were saying to each other. Also the epilogue is straight up Sunshine Care Bear Rainbows. I'm such a little hypocrite, that I actually sort of expect these in historicals (I tend to despise them in contemporaries though - go figure) and am OK with them. But certainly, this is another issue that readers tend to be quite passionate about.

All and all? This was a totally mixed bag read for me. The hero was OK, the heroine largely didn't work for me, but some of the conflict was interesting. If you're a squeeing fangirl for medievals, this one may be worth a look.

Final Grade = C-

Barely Housebroken Monkeys On Typewriters

It's days like this that I wish I married a geek.

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, it has come to my attention that Hughesnet hates librarians. Well, that's not fair. They just hate me. Turns out some of you using Hughesnet for an ISP cannot "see" the Bat Cave. You can "see" me using your Google Reader. You can "see" me when you pull up a cached page of my blog. What you apparently cannot do is come directly to my site, read all the scintillating ramblings and leave comments.

You get a 505 DNS error, or some variation of that.

To add to the frustration? One Hughesnet user has reported to me that they can see other blogs hosted by Blogger/Blogspot. They just can't "see" me.

It's very frustrating. And like all free services, I'd have better luck finding the Holy Grail than uncovering an e-mail or phone contact for Google/Blogger.

Bugger.

But I'm working on it. And also throwing myself on the mercy of the Blogosphere. Any bright ideas? Hughesnet has been contacted and they say they're communicating with Blogger just dandy. Plus, these people can "see" other Blogger blogs....just not me.

I can't decide if this gives me a sad, or makes me Hulk-like angry. Probably a little bit of both. Wendy mad! Wendy smash!

Teeny Hard Covers And Fan Favorites

Part of my job as a collection development librarian is ordering books in advance. Yeah, pre-ordering. I'm usually working anywhere from one to three months ahead of time, and keeping upcoming bestsellers "on file" for as far ahead as six months. Sometimes I forget this. Like recently, when I wondered why I hadn't seen more bitching concern voiced online about the new Linda Howard book, Ice. Turns out it doesn't land in bookstores until next week, so most of you may not know it. So, I'm here to rain on your parade.

Ice clocks in at a whopping 208 pages. And it's a hard cover retailing at $22.00. That said, Amazon currently has this one on sale for $9 - which I guess is a bargain.

Then today I got in a shipment of advanced copies here at work. Yeah, my library gets some advanced copies. Part of the joy of being part of a very large system that orders a ton of books. Anyway, today's box yielded A Matter Of Class by Mary Balogh (due December 29). My first thought was "How much money could I extort out of Balogh fangirls for this one?"* and my second thought was "Holy mother, how tiny is this book?!"

Amazon has it listed at 208 pages. The ARC currently sitting on my desk is 190 pages. Yes, it's a hard cover. Although at least it's retailing for $15.95. Which I guess is better than the Linda Howard - maybe.

So there's your not so wonderful news for the day. Just in case you didn't know.

How many of you were thinking of buying one or both of these right out of the gate, but are now reconsidering? How many of you will not buy them, now that you know they're teeny hard covers? How many of you are squeeing fangirls and don't care? And how many of you were going to get them from the library anyway, so this isn't exactly shocking news Wendy? Duh.

*I was joking. The Balogh is not for sale. I know. I'm mean.

But What I Really Want To Do Is Write

Today is November 1, which means it's once again time for NaNoWriMo. For those of you who think I'm talking more nonsense than usual, that stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to crank out a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.

During my general blog surfing, I'm always surprised by how many reader bloggers turn out to be aspiring authors. Naturally, several of them are going to be participating in NaNoWriMo.

I'll admit it, I'm a little touchy on this subject of reader/reviewer/aspiring author. You have to look at my history. Back when I landed in the online romance community (back when dinosaurs walked the Earth) - you had three major sources for romance novel reviews. The Romance Reader, All About Romance, and Mrs. Giggles. Certainly other sites joined in later - but those were really The Big Three. What separated TRR, AAR and Mrs. G from the print publications that reviewed romance (and really, there weren't that many of those either) were that all three would occasionally ::gasp:: not care for a book. Unfavorable reviews happened.

This was a foreign concept for a lot of authors, and naturally some of them weren't happy. Mud-slinging commenced. These sites were accused of enjoying "slash-and-burn" style reviews. All we did was nit-pick stories to death. Which was a bunch of horse-hooey. As a former TRR reviewer I can tell you I wrote way more favorable reviews (A, B, C grades or 5, 4 and 3 Hearts) than I ever did unfavorable (D and F or 2 and 1 Hearts). But the perception was that we had it "out" for romance writers. This naturally brought up that old charge that all of us were a bunch of jealous, nasty biddies who ripped apart "good" books because we were "frustrated would-be wannabe writers." Since our crap manuscripts had no doubt been soundly rejected all over New York, we decided to build up our little egos by shredding the work of more talented and published writers.

Sigh.

Sadly, this bit of nonsense still gets tossed around to this day - only this time the targets include not only "old guard" reviewers, but fairly new on the scene bloggers as well.

Now certainly I'm not saying there is anything wrong with reader bloggers being aspiring writers. What I am saying is that not all reader bloggers have that desire or aspiration. Some of us, truly, have no desire to write. Of which I am one.

I've long said that if I ever were crazy enough to try my hand at writing a book, romance would be the very last genre I would pick. Why? Because hot damn, all that emotional "stuff" is damn hard to write! And then you have to make it believable! Holy mother - no way in heck could I do that. Nope. If I were going to write, I'd pick a crime novel (because I'm blood-thirsty) or straight-up erotica (because I'm a deviant). But not a romance. I don't have it in me.

This all being said, I don't really want to write. Besides the fact it's hard, I lack a little thing called desire. When you write, you have to want it. You have to work for it. You have to sit your ass in the chair, and write. You have to write when you don't feel like it. Write when the words won't come easy. Write when you'd rather have bamboo shoots shoved underneath your fingernails. It's hard work. Hell, if it wasn't hard every John and Janie Yokel would fancy themselves being able to do it.

And actually, some of them do. Take it from the librarian who routinely receives unsolicited, self-published "manifestos." ::shudder::

So for those of you out there with aspirations to one day be published - I salute you. It's hard work. I appreciate that it's hard work. Which is why I don't do it. That, and the fact that I lack a little thing called talent. And drive. And anything remotely resembling ambition.

How many of you blog and are aspiring writers? How many of you blogged as aspiring writers and have since been published? And how many of you are like me and have no aspirations whatsoever?