Sara Reyes | Weekend Films and Taking it Easy...NOT!

Sometimes we all need to just slow down and enjoy the weekend. At least that is what I tell myself on weekends like this one where I've got a festival to attend. As many of you know, Gwen is very involved with the film industry and its festivals and this week is a big one in Dallas -- AFI DALLAS. If you follow our Twitter feed you'll notice we've been talking lots about the films we're seeing. Over the weekend the filmmakers come out and talk about the "making of the films" which to be honest is where they grab me.

So today I'll get to learn about taking an idea (or story or book) from conception to the big silver screen, or as the case more often these days to either the Internet screen which can be biggish on the digital monitors or to DVD. It's always interesting to see the parallels to the publishing of books.

And don't miss the photos with very short blurb about the wonderful authors we met in the past week: Suzanne Arruda and Lisa Lutz. If you can't get enough of Janet Evanovich (or you miss her early Plum books) try "The Spellmans." A crazy family of private investigators in San Francisco will shake your funny bone and sharpen your own sleuthing skills.

If you like me are one of those old Burroughs Tarzan fans and loved "Out of Africa" give Suzanne Arruda a look over. Her 1920s Africa-set mysteries are intriguing and great reads! It's a different time period then the usual and well-researched. What's not to love about a strong woman pilot over the African Bush!

Well, until next time...
Get out there and READ a book...

Sara Reyes

DFW Tea Readers Group

Join us at Readers 'n 'ritas in 2009!

The Heroes of Touch a Dark Wolf, Lure of the Wolf, Kiss of Darkness, and Bride of the Wolf by Jennifer St. Giles.

Looking over the four scowling, muscled men surrounding me at the picnic-style table, it seemed to me that their drop-dead sex appeal sucked all of the air from the ranger camp’s dining hall. I fought for a deep breath, started the recorder, and delved right into the interview. The sooner they realized I wasn’t here to steal something sacred from them like their sword or the TV remote, the better off I would be. Provided I could lie that well. The truth was I would have stolen any moment I could in a dark corner. It was my first assignment for Cosmos PQ and I’d felt like a lamb coming into a den of lions when I walked in the door, but now that I’d met them…well that was changing. Jared and Navarre were warriors from the spirit world and Sheriff Sam Sheridan along with Deputy Nick Sinclair were humans from Twilight’s Sheriff’s Department. Before today my closest encounter with the paranormal was hot romance novels, but I had an open mind and always believed where there was smoke there was fire. And boy was there some hot stuff blazing here.

Click to read the rest of Jennifer's blog and to enter her Blog Contest!

Kyle Mills | Research: The Art of Not Making Things Up

I’ve learned a lot about novel writing in the more than ten years I’ve been doing it, but most of those lessons came with my first, Rising Phoenix.

People really care about the books they read. And I love that.

Unfortunately, I wrote Rising while I was working full time, so there was no way for me to scout the exotic locations I included. And the Internet didn’t exist yet, so casually clicking my way to enlightenment wasn’t an option. I did the best I could with magazine articles and encyclopedias until the excitement of finding a publisher made me completely forget the stuff I’d glossed over.

Click here to read the rest of Kyle's blog and to leave a comment.

Cynthia Baxter | Confessions of a Mystery Writer . . . Er, Travel Writer

We’re all entitled to an obsession or two, aren’t we?

One of mine is travel. I suppose it’s because I spent my childhood in the backseat of a car with my sister and grandmother – often a Volkswagen bug – with my parents in the front seat, acting as pilot and co-pilot. School vacation was synonymous with road trip. Since my father was an English teacher in a neighboring school district, he usually had the same days off that we kids did – and so off we’d go.

Our home was on Long Island, in the suburbs of New York, which was a great starting point for traveling all over the eastern half of the United States. The five of us explored New England, Florida, and just about every state in between. (Eastern Canada, too.) We saw the big cities like Boston, Philadelphia, and Montreal; historic towns like Williamsburg, Virginia, and Salem, Massachusetts; and places that were just plain fun like Hershey, Pennsylvania, and St. Petersburg, Florida.

In fact, Florida was a favorite destination for spring vacations. The drive took about three days, including stops at every Stuckey’s and Horne’s we passed along the way (a blast from the past for those of you who had the pleasure of putting those on your itinerary before their demise). Once we were there, we also stopped at every attraction. This was still the 1950’s and 1960’s, so Disney had yet put in an appearance. But we found plenty to do: alligator farms, orange groves, Cypress Gardens, stores selling everything that could possibly be made with seashells, and the glitzy hotels of Miami Beach, where we strolled through the lobbies and pretended we were wealthy enough to stay at them.

Click to read the rest of Cynthia's blog and to leave a comment.

Karen Robards | My First Time

Thanks so much for inviting me to blog! I have to tell you that this is my first time. Yes, (blush), I'm a blog virgin. But I'm so excited about the books I have coming out this month that I jumped at the chance to write about them. First up, on March 24th, is my hardcover romantic thriller, Pursuit, which Booklist said was "tense and erotic" (I love that: erotic!). PW described Pursuit as "exciting...action-packed...and sure to please" and RTBookReviews called it "red-hot." Then, on March 31st, the paperback edition of my previous hardcover, Guilty, which Booklist called "truly a pleasure" hits the bookstores. If you like my books, I think you'll love these. I know I loved writing them. Oh, and I have a great new contest on my web-site. Enter and win a free signed book!

Click to read the rest of Karen's blog and to leave a comment.

Elizabeth Hoyt | The Middle Child

So my May book is the third in a four book series set in Georgian England. The series is The Legend of the Four Soldiers and the book is To Beguile a Beast. The other three books are about soldiers coming home from war. But To Beguile a Beast doesn’t have a soldier hero.

Sir Alistair Munroe is a civilian naturalist.

The other three soldier heroes were in the British army when their regiment was decimated by the French and their Indian allies. They volunteered for the army or bought a commission, but in any case, they chose to be there.

Sir Alistair just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And while the other heroines in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series are aristocratic heroines, Helen Fitzwilliam, the heroine of To Beguile a Beast is no aristocrat.

Nor is she a lady.

Click to read the rest and to comment on Elizabeth's blog.

Sandi Shilhanek | When Do You Read?

Are your real life friends like some of mine and amazed at how much you’re able to read? Do they look at you differently because you’re a reader? How often have they said how do you find time to read?

Since you read this blog I’m going to make the assumption that you’re like me and consider yourself to be a dedicated reader. That means you make the time to read anywhere and everywhere! I’m hopeful that many of are like me and household chores are often left undone because of the need to read that one last chapter.

I have to know where you think the most unusual place you’ve been caught reading is. Before I started audio books I would read in my car at red lights, during football games or at whatever sporting event my children might have been practicing for. Now I can be found sneaking pages at the bowling center or even during slow times at work. The only place I won’t be found reading is in the bath, as I’m not a bath person at all, and they haven’t (well to the best of my knowledge) found a way to waterproof my book while I shower.

Sandi

Until next week, I wish you happy page turning.