Newsletter, January 2004
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and that winter is not being too harsh. Or summer, for those of you in the southern latitudes. Here in Victoria, it's wet but the birds are singing as if it were spring already and, of course, the grass and weeds are growing. As the ground's too wet to get out and do something about them, I think they're winning.
Which leads me first to the romance writers' conference coming in March here in Victoria at which I'll be the keynote speaker. This will be too far away for most of you, but if you live in the North West, or if you'd like an excuse to visit beautiful British Columbia, Canada, you would be very welcome.
This is a conference for romance writers, but there's nothing to say that readers can't attend, and you might find an inside glimpse of the writer's world fascinating. You might decide to write a book yourself. You can find out the details here. About Royal Rendezvous
On to books. I realize that last time I forgot to tell you that I have a new story out in February 2004. Well, that makes the news very timely now because it's on the shelves. "The Trouble With Heroes..." is a novella in a collection called IRRESISTIBLE FORCES, which is a unique SF Romance collection containing stories by three romance authors and three Science Fiction and Fantasy writers: Catherine Asaro, me, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mary Jo Putney, Jennifer Roberson, and Deb Stover. If you enjoy SF&F you will recognize those authors' names.
Though my career is in romance, I have had a strong interest in SF&F as long as I've been writing and my story is probably the most SF here. This will be a bit of a change for most of you, but I hope you'll enjoy it. I wrote the first draft of this story back in 1999 and it hadn't occurred to me until I received a letter from a reader that a story of war against a hidden and relentless foe is unfortunately in tune with our times. I have an excerpt up here
On the 11th of February, there'll be a chat about this collection at Noveltalk.com, and the authors will be present. Please come. Details are here. Check out Noveltalk/
There's a web page for the collection, with links to the other authors' websites here and a quote from the wonderful review from Romantic Times, which gave the collection one of its treasured "gold" reviews. The Irresistible Forces page./ Other reviews have been equally glowing. This collection is something special! The current edition is in trade paperback -- the bigger type of paperback. It will be out in about a year in mass market.
I gave you the news about my other upcoming books in the last newsletter. If you missed that, you can read it, and other past newsletters, here. Last month's newsletter.
I've updated my appearances page, so there may be other opportunity for us to meet. Note Tulsa in May. I've never been to Oklahoma before, so this is exciting. My events and signings page.
And check out the cruise! In October I'm going to be one of the authors on a readers' Caribbean cruise, and there will be a coupon for $250 off in SKYLARK, out in May. I hope to see some of you on the water. All the details are here.
That's all for this month. I need to get back to Fitz and Damaris before they create more havoc.
All best wishes,
Jo