Posts tagged harlequin

1) At Book Riot, some movie tie-in covers that are better than the originals. I really dislike the monochrome Song of Ice and Fire covers, which is why I’m holding tight to my 2000 editions with scenes from the books on them.

2) At Flavorwire, Handwritten Manuscript Pages from 25 Classic Novels.

3) Yay news from Publishers Lunch (reg required): Hachette Book Group will make its entire catalog of ebooks available to libraries, beginning May 8, including new and recent releases. They had stopped selling new ebooks to libraries in April 2010.

3) Tor UK wrote a post One Year Later, the Results of Tor Books UK Going DRM-Free. There are a lot of good passages, such as:

DRM was an irritant taking away the flexibility and their choice of reading device and format, the very things that made the ebook so desirable a format to begin with.

and

DRM-protected titles are still subject to piracy, and we believe a great majority of readers are just as against piracy as publishers are, understanding that piracy impacts on an author’s ability to earn an income from their creative work. As it is, we’ve seen no discernible increase in piracy on any of our titles, despite them being DRM-free for nearly a year.

WORD. Harlequin’s digital imprint Carina Press has been DRM free since it’s launch in 2010. I hope more imprints/publishers (my own included) follow suit soon.

1) Some people at work made Harlequin department sigils using the Game of Thrones via http://www.jointherealm.com — House Proofreading, “We Do Not Stet”, and House Editorial , “Slush is Coming”.

2) Strange Horizons has published their analysis of how many books by male and female Sci Fi and Fantasy authors get reviewed. Bad news: disproportionately few books by women were reviewed, and disproportionately few reviews by women were published. (Via The Mary Sue)

3) Romantic Times magazine rounds up 8 places currently accepting unsolicited submissions. Shameless plug: Harlequin’s series romance & digital first lines always accept unagented submissions; details here.

4) Amazon is reportedly cracking down on ebooks under 2500 words.

5) Via The Guardian, Wikipedia started moving women from the ‘American novelists’ category to ‘American women novelists’ subcategory. Thank goodness people didn’t let them get away with that and they’re moving them back.

Some new postings this week for a variety of departments in both Toronto and NYC.

1) Publicity Manager, NYC office. Full time.

2) Graphic Designer - Advertising and Book Design. Toronto office, contract until December 31.

3) Assistant Manager, Public Relations. Toronto office marketing department, full time.

4) Managing Editorial Coordinator. NYC office, full time.

5) Marketing Intern, North American Marketing and Digital. Toronto office, 4 month internship.

Harlequin has a few current job openings, including a couple great opportunities in editorial that don’t come up very often, based out of NYC. Applications will be closing fairly soon.

1) Editorial Assistant for Harlequin MIRA and Harlequin HQN. NYC office, entry level.

2) Editor - Carina Press. Also based out of NYC but telecommuting from anywhere in the US is possible. Must also be able to travel to Canada — aka Harlequin HQ.

3) Assistant Product Manager, Harlequin HQN. Toronto-based, part of our marketing department.

1) Tor UK will accept direct submissions from writers, including writers outside the UK. Details on GalleyCat and Tor’s submission guidelines (where someone is also answering questions in the comments).

2) Editors for Harlequin’s inspiration romance lines — Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense and Love Inspired Historical — are looking for new authors and will be holding an online pitch. Details and sign up in the Harlequin Community here.

3) Carina Press’s calls for submissions are still open (the links at the top of the guidelines), including the usually invitation-only holiday collections open for 2013 only.

One perk of working in publishing is getting to read books sometimes months before they are released, like A Spear of Summer Grass, which comes out in May 2013. Deanna Raybourn, author of the Lady Julia Grey historical mysteries, is one of my favorite Harlequin writers and I loved her foray into new territory — 1920s Africa — A Spear of Summer Grass.

A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn:

The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even amongst Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather’s savannah manor house until gossip subsides. 

Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society.  

Against the frivolity of her peers, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. As foreign to Delilah as Africa, Ryder becomes her guide to the complex beauty of this unknown world. Giraffes, buffalo, lions and elephants roam the shores of Lake Wanyama amid swirls of red dust. Here, life is lush and teeming-yet fleeting and often cheap.  

Amidst the wonders-and dangers-of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for-and what she can no longer live without

1) io9 picks their Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2012.

2) The New York Times’s Favorite Book Cover Designs of 2012.

3) The Kindle deal of the day is 20 Harlequin ebooks for $1.99 or less. Titles I’ve read and recommend are The Iron King, Real Men Will, and Within Reach. The Fantasy Daily Deal is also a Harlequin title, Scent of Magic.

To be totally honest, if you had asked me in mid-2012, I wouldn’t have thought The Restorer would have made my top 5 reads of the year. It’s not that I didn’t love it, but I expected other books I was really looking forward to bump it off the top tier. Those books ended up disappointing me, though, and when I looked back on my list of books read, I realized The Restorer lingered with me long after I read it in a way I hadn’t anticipated.

So what did I like about it? The Restorer is one of the most atmospheric books I’ve ever read. The descriptions are vivid, and Amanda Stevens drew me into a gothic world of ghosts, history and Southern mysticism. The mystery/thriller elements were intensely creepy and actually scared me. Amelia Grey isn’t a typical “kick ass” heroine, but she has a quiet strength I admired. Every time I put the book down, I couldn’t wait to pick it back up again, and glommed the sequels, The Kingdom and The Prophet. To make a horrible pun, The Restorer haunted me.

The Restorer by Amanda Stevens:

Never acknowledge the dead.
Never stray far from hallowed ground.
Never get close to the haunted.
Never, ever tempt fate.

My name is Amelia Gray. I’m a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I’ve always held fast to these rules passed down from my father…until now.

Detective John Devlin needs my help to find a killer, but he is haunted by ghosts who shadow his every move. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I’ve vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the headstone symbols lead me closer to truth and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.