Missing: Sandy Hingston

Mary S. "Sandy" Hingston, a native of Bucks County, graduated from Duke University in 1978. Her first romance novel, Ride the Savage Sea, was published by Pinnacle in 1985; she has since written 17 more, including the award-winning “Beloved” series for Zebra (Beloved Knight, Beloved Honor, Beloved Lord, Beloved Heart), under the pseudonym Mallory Burgess.

A senior editor at Philadelphia Magazine by day (she has a column called "Loco Parentis"), she is married to a musician and has two children and one very large mutt. She lives in a 120-year-old Victorian home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and spends her spare time shoring up the house, raising antique roses, walking the dog, leading her daughter''s Girl Scout troop, and looking for typos in other magazines!

She stopped to write romance since apparently her books didn't sell well.

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/18950937/

Missing: Sandy Hingston

Mary S. "Sandy" Hingston, a native of Bucks County, graduated from Duke University in 1978. Her first romance novel, Ride the Savage Sea, was published by Pinnacle in 1985; she has since written 17 more, including the award-winning “Beloved” series for Zebra (Beloved Knight, Beloved Honor, Beloved Lord, Beloved Heart), under the pseudonym Mallory Burgess.

A senior editor at Philadelphia Magazine by day (she has a column called "Loco Parentis"), she is married to a musician and has two children and one very large mutt. She lives in a 120-year-old Victorian home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and spends her spare time shoring up the house, raising antique roses, walking the dog, leading her daughter''s Girl Scout troop, and looking for typos in other magazines!

She stopped to write romance since apparently her books didn't sell well.

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/18950937/

2008 Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Mass Market)

No One Heard Her Scream
Jordan Dane (Avon)

The Face
Angela Hunt (Mira)

Deadly Deceptions
Linda Lael Miller (HQN)

Heart of the Wolf
Terry Spear (Sourcebooks/Casablanca)

Private Arrangements
Sherry Thomas (Bantam)

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/18951381/

2008 Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Mass Market)

No One Heard Her Scream
Jordan Dane (Avon)

The Face
Angela Hunt (Mira)

Deadly Deceptions
Linda Lael Miller (HQN)

Heart of the Wolf
Terry Spear (Sourcebooks/Casablanca)

Private Arrangements
Sherry Thomas (Bantam)

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/18951381/

Fugue by Rick R. Reed

This is the second short story I read by Rick R. Reed partially set in a train car by night. So, I'm arrived to a conclusion: or when I'm on the tube, I don't pay too attention to what happens around me or there is a particular tube line, in Reed's fantasy, that allows to strangers to meet and "connect".

This short story is actually a parallel story: the first is played in a dungeon, a slave in chains and the master who is loving him; the second as I said, in a train car, where an older leatherman is engaging a dangerous game with a young blond boy. For age and body, the leatherman should be the master in this second story, and instead the boy reveals to be the Dom to master the sub hidden well inside the leatherman.

As the two stories goes, the reader starts to wonder if these are two side of the same pair, or if maybe, the chance encounter on the train car is what led to the scene happening in the dungeon: are they the same couple? and the role are the same? The powerful Master in the dungeon is the young Dom in the train car?

I don't know why, since they are only two side of the same D/s play, but I found more enthralling and interesting the scene played in the train car; a raw and dangerous sex encounter, played only with the "tools" of you body, without chains or blindfold or whip; the danger consists in being discovered, the thrill in having sex with a stranger. And I know that it's wrong: the slave in the dungeon is more safe with his Master, a man he knows and loves, than the leatherman in the train car, putting himself in the hand of a total stranger, without any hint of safe sex around. Who is the master and who is the slave? What is the safe scene and what the dangerous one? Where is love, if is there, and where is only sex? A tale of contraposition in many way than one.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Fugue.html

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Fugue by Rick R. Reed

This is the second short story I read by Rick R. Reed partially set in a train car by night. So, I'm arrived to a conclusion: or when I'm on the tube, I don't pay too attention to what happens around me or there is a particular tube line, in Reed's fantasy, that allows to strangers to meet and "connect".

This short story is actually a parallel story: the first is played in a dungeon, a slave in chains and the master who is loving him; the second as I said, in a train car, where an older leatherman is engaging a dangerous game with a young blond boy. For age and body, the leatherman should be the master in this second story, and instead the boy reveals to be the Dom to master the sub hidden well inside the leatherman.

As the two stories goes, the reader starts to wonder if these are two side of the same pair, or if maybe, the chance encounter on the train car is what led to the scene happening in the dungeon: are they the same couple? and the role are the same? The powerful Master in the dungeon is the young Dom in the train car?

I don't know why, since they are only two side of the same D/s play, but I found more enthralling and interesting the scene played in the train car; a raw and dangerous sex encounter, played only with the "tools" of you body, without chains or blindfold or whip; the danger consists in being discovered, the thrill in having sex with a stranger. And I know that it's wrong: the slave in the dungeon is more safe with his Master, a man he knows and loves, than the leatherman in the train car, putting himself in the hand of a total stranger, without any hint of safe sex around. Who is the master and who is the slave? What is the safe scene and what the dangerous one? Where is love, if is there, and where is only sex? A tale of contraposition in many way than one.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Fugue.html

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

A-Muse-Ing by Willa Okati

As the title says, this is a very "amusing" book. The expedient of the artist's muse who unexpectedly appears in front of his owner it's not new, and new isn't either the fact that the muse and the artist fall in love... the novelty is that the tale is a funny one, and not the usual fated sad ending one. This is the double faced side of Willa Okati's works: she can write very angst tales (A Year and a Day, for example), but also iper funny romps (like Strange Places).

Harper writes script for television. He is creating a new plot for a series, his last chance to success; he has some scarce idea, but he is not heading to a good end. Until the morning he finds his muse, his naked muse, on his kitchen counter making coffee. Rory is a very handsome, hyperactive muse, who has made some mistakes in the past; Harper is his new "mission", and this time he shouldn't fail, since fail means that he will "puff" in the empty space.

Maybe since he is a bit crazy, like all the artist, Harper soon overcomes the shock to find a naked man in his kitchen, and starts to see the positive things... other than obviously the fact that the naked man is well hung and quite handsome. All seems perfect, if not for the little problem represented by the Clerk, alias Rory's boss, a man by the book in any means, who admonishes Harper that Rory is only on borrow, and that once Harper will find again his inspiration, Rory must go on his next "mission".

Even if there is this Damocle's sword pending on Harper's head, the book is quite funny, and even the villain, Patrick, is too nice to be a real danger. As in other books I read by Willa Okati, the supporting characters are almost as interesting as the main ones: Lisa, Rory's colleague, and Janie, Rory's boss, concur for the role of "best girl friend" of Rory; Patrick is an ex that probably most of us would like to have (as an ex of course, since as boyfriend material he sucks...); and even Artemas, Rory's turtle, has some main scenes and cues worthy of a prize (yes, the turtle "talks", even if not in a "human" way...). Actually the characters without "spoken" cues, are almost the most interesting, like the coffee vendor... this is the strenght of the book, and one of Willa Okati's, the ability to create a cacophonous world full of color, flavour and flash, all mixed together in a blur that, I don't know how, produces a complete output with a lot of sense.

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=814

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by April Martinez

A-Muse-Ing by Willa Okati

As the title says, this is a very "amusing" book. The expedient of the artist's muse who unexpectedly appears in front of his owner it's not new, and new isn't either the fact that the muse and the artist fall in love... the novelty is that the tale is a funny one, and not the usual fated sad ending one. This is the double faced side of Willa Okati's works: she can write very angst tales (A Year and a Day, for example), but also iper funny romps (like Strange Places).

Harper writes script for television. He is creating a new plot for a series, his last chance to success; he has some scarce idea, but he is not heading to a good end. Until the morning he finds his muse, his naked muse, on his kitchen counter making coffee. Rory is a very handsome, hyperactive muse, who has made some mistakes in the past; Harper is his new "mission", and this time he shouldn't fail, since fail means that he will "puff" in the empty space.

Maybe since he is a bit crazy, like all the artist, Harper soon overcomes the shock to find a naked man in his kitchen, and starts to see the positive things... other than obviously the fact that the naked man is well hung and quite handsome. All seems perfect, if not for the little problem represented by the Clerk, alias Rory's boss, a man by the book in any means, who admonishes Harper that Rory is only on borrow, and that once Harper will find again his inspiration, Rory must go on his next "mission".

Even if there is this Damocle's sword pending on Harper's head, the book is quite funny, and even the villain, Patrick, is too nice to be a real danger. As in other books I read by Willa Okati, the supporting characters are almost as interesting as the main ones: Lisa, Rory's colleague, and Janie, Rory's boss, concur for the role of "best girl friend" of Rory; Patrick is an ex that probably most of us would like to have (as an ex of course, since as boyfriend material he sucks...); and even Artemas, Rory's turtle, has some main scenes and cues worthy of a prize (yes, the turtle "talks", even if not in a "human" way...). Actually the characters without "spoken" cues, are almost the most interesting, like the coffee vendor... this is the strenght of the book, and one of Willa Okati's, the ability to create a cacophonous world full of color, flavour and flash, all mixed together in a blur that, I don't know how, produces a complete output with a lot of sense.

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=814

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by April Martinez

Behind the Cover: Bruce Emmett

Bruce has worked as a painter and illustrator for over thirty years working in both New York and Paris.

He was traditionally trained to paint with oil and acrylic and now illustrates using photoshop and painter.

Past Clients include Ralph Lauren, Readers Digest, ABC, NBC, CBS Television, Harper and Row, MacMillan, Dell, Avon, Penguin-Putnam, Warner Books, Scholastic Books, BBC Worldwide, and J. Walter Thompson.

 
The Moon Witch by Linda Winstead Jones 

( more pics )

http://bruceemmett.blogspot.com/

Behind the Cover: Bruce Emmett

Bruce has worked as a painter and illustrator for over thirty years working in both New York and Paris.

He was traditionally trained to paint with oil and acrylic and now illustrates using photoshop and painter.

Past Clients include Ralph Lauren, Readers Digest, ABC, NBC, CBS Television, Harper and Row, MacMillan, Dell, Avon, Penguin-Putnam, Warner Books, Scholastic Books, BBC Worldwide, and J. Walter Thompson.

 
The Moon Witch by Linda Winstead Jones 

( more pics )

http://bruceemmett.blogspot.com/

New kid (for me) on the blog!

Maybe a month ago I found this new (for me, but actually they exist from the beginning of the 2000) publisher, Wayward Books, located in Towcester, Nothamptonshire. They are devoted to LGBT fiction with an high propension to mystery. I read all the blurbs of the 8 books they have in catalogue (6 contemporary, 1 historical and 1 fantasy), and all the stories seem to have a strong romance component also.

Pointless to say that I bought all the 8 print books, directly from the publisher, and after less than 3 weeks, I received my books. They have quite a good binding, the cover are stylized, but better than most of the small publisher covers I have seen around, and the only little problem I had with my order, was promptly answered by a very gentle lady.

I haven't read yet the books, I will try do it soon, and I will let you know how they are, but one thing for sure, they started with me in a very good way.

Here is the catalogue:

http://waywardbooks.com/acatalog/index.html

I have the feeling that it's a bit that they don't release any new book... some of my friends know something about them?

New kid (for me) on the blog!

Maybe a month ago I found this new (for me, but actually they exist from the beginning of the 2000) publisher, Wayward Books, located in Towcester, Nothamptonshire. They are devoted to LGBT fiction with an high propension to mystery. I read all the blurbs of the 8 books they have in catalogue (6 contemporary, 1 historical and 1 fantasy), and all the stories seem to have a strong romance component also.

Pointless to say that I bought all the 8 print books, directly from the publisher, and after less than 3 weeks, I received my books. They have quite a good binding, the cover are stylized, but better than most of the small publisher covers I have seen around, and the only little problem I had with my order, was promptly answered by a very gentle lady.

I haven't read yet the books, I will try do it soon, and I will let you know how they are, but one thing for sure, they started with me in a very good way.

Here is the catalogue:

http://waywardbooks.com/acatalog/index.html

I have the feeling that it's a bit that they don't release any new book... some of my friends know something about them?

It's only my name...

I just opened an ebook to read my "nightly" book before sleep and there, in the first page, under the title Praising (the book is a sequel of a previous one), there was part of one of my reviews and then my name, Elisa Rolle... I didn't know that the publisher had used my review, I didn't even know that that publisher knew about me and my LJ.

For an author probably is a common thing, but for me it's always a little thrilling and a pleasure to see my name "printed"!

It's only my name...

I just opened an ebook to read my "nightly" book before sleep and there, in the first page, under the title Praising (the book is a sequel of a previous one), there was part of one of my reviews and then my name, Elisa Rolle... I didn't know that the publisher had used my review, I didn't even know that that publisher knew about me and my LJ.

For an author probably is a common thing, but for me it's always a little thrilling and a pleasure to see my name "printed"!

Shifting Perspectives 2 by Sharon Maria Bidwell, Fiona Glass & Emily Veinglory

This anthology follows the previous shifter anthology with the same title, and two of the stories in it are real sequel. The new one instead is a nice add, since as the other two, is quite a "shift" (pun intended) on the "classical" shapeshifter romance, where wolves, felines and similar rule. Instead the shifters in this three short stories are a fish, a pigeon and a bunch of rats, animals usually so small and not scaring, that are not the primary choice for a romance. But never underestimate the little ones, remember Napoleon...

The One That Got Away by Sharon Maria Bidwell: Billy is a wandering writer; his wandering lust has taken him far from home for a long time. He justifies himself with the reason that, being gay, living in a small town was impossible, but now that his father, his only relatives, is dead, and Billy had not the chance to say goodbye one last time, that reason seems very weak. Still mourning his loss, Billy takes his father boat and directs in the middle of the lake near his father cabin... and almost drowns. In the middle of the lake, one big fish shifts in a very handsome and naked man; a man who claims to be a friend of his father, more he pretends to be in love with Billy and that he was waiting for the boy to come back home since a long time. And now Gill, the fish, is tired to wait and "wants" Billy, here and there.

The story is quite interesting but maybe a little too short: most of the 30 pages are spent with Billy mourning his father's death, trying to convince himself that he is not crazy since he saw a fish-man and having a wild night of sex with said fish-man. But what will be of these two? Gill will choose to live on the dry land, or Billy will move on the cabin to be near to the lake and Gill? Gill is in love with Billy, he said so, but Billy? Is it only loneliness that draws him to Gill, or is it love also on his side? There are also some typos errors (a New England that two page after becomes New Hampshire, and three paragraph repeated identical at short distance) that makes me think that the story was closed a bit too soon, and it's a shame, since it's very nice.

Steal the Sky by Fiona Glass: Avery, the shapeshifter pigeon, and Charlie, his owner and now lover, are living together in an almost blissful situation. Avery has everything he wants, a roof on his head when it's raining, food to fill his belly when he is hungry and a lover to satisfy his desires when he is willing. Have you had the impression that Avery is a bit spoiled? Noooo, what did you think?! Avery is not spoiled, Avery is a pigeon, for him is quite natural to be feed without having to hunt his food, or to find a ready nest when he wants to sleep. And for the sex, well, it's an enjoyable benefit to being a shapeshifter. Charlie could believe to be the owner, and Avery is willing to let him believe so.

I really like this short story, probably the most funny and charming of the anthology. Charlie, poor him, is only a supporting character, Avery is the real protagonist. I don't know if Avery results so funny from being a pigeon or being English: there is always this edge in a story written by an English author, almost an aurea of superiority, almost as they know something (the author and his character) that you reader don't know... but maybe it's a pigeon thing instead. 

The Swan Prince by Emily Veinglory: and here is the sequel of a story that, when I first read it, let me very intrigued, but perplexed: how can you find sexy a bunch of rats that shift in a man? And that sometime looses a rat and so an important body piece? (no, not THAT piece, usually it's an hand, but still, it's important!). And maybe this is the same though of Sandy, the half-Japanese half-American guy who finds himself with a rat-demon partner even if he is not so fond of the idea. But the rats, we know, are very good to infest the house they choose, and Rudy, the demon-rat, has chosen Sandy as his lover, or rather, has recognized Sandy as his Swan Prince, the Japanese mythological man said to have the power to convey and control the demon-rat.

Emily Veinglory's story competes with Fiona Glass's for the prize of the most funny; again I have that feeling, that superiority aurea... In this case, it's very tender to see how Rudy struggles to please Sandy, that always seems a bit aloof (very Japanese in this). Sandy is not a bad guy, only that he is not used to express his feelings or to voice his emotion. But if Rudy wants to do also his part of the work, Sandy will not refuse to be cherished and pampered... even if Rudy is not very good in pampering, on the contrary he is rather incompetent.

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-releases/shifting-perspectives-2/prod_183.html

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Shifting Perspectives 2 by Sharon Maria Bidwell, Fiona Glass & Emily Veinglory

This anthology follows the previous shifter anthology with the same title, and two of the stories in it are real sequel. The new one instead is a nice add, since as the other two, is quite a "shift" (pun intended) on the "classical" shapeshifter romance, where wolves, felines and similar rule. Instead the shifters in this three short stories are a fish, a pigeon and a bunch of rats, animals usually so small and not scaring, that are not the primary choice for a romance. But never underestimate the little ones, remember Napoleon...

The One That Got Away by Sharon Maria Bidwell: Billy is a wandering writer; his wandering lust has taken him far from home for a long time. He justifies himself with the reason that, being gay, living in a small town was impossible, but now that his father, his only relatives, is dead, and Billy had not the chance to say goodbye one last time, that reason seems very weak. Still mourning his loss, Billy takes his father boat and directs in the middle of the lake near his father cabin... and almost drowns. In the middle of the lake, one big fish shifts in a very handsome and naked man; a man who claims to be a friend of his father, more he pretends to be in love with Billy and that he was waiting for the boy to come back home since a long time. And now Gill, the fish, is tired to wait and "wants" Billy, here and there.

The story is quite interesting but maybe a little too short: most of the 30 pages are spent with Billy mourning his father's death, trying to convince himself that he is not crazy since he saw a fish-man and having a wild night of sex with said fish-man. But what will be of these two? Gill will choose to live on the dry land, or Billy will move on the cabin to be near to the lake and Gill? Gill is in love with Billy, he said so, but Billy? Is it only loneliness that draws him to Gill, or is it love also on his side? There are also some typos errors (a New England that two page after becomes New Hampshire, and three paragraph repeated identical at short distance) that makes me think that the story was closed a bit too soon, and it's a shame, since it's very nice.

Steal the Sky by Fiona Glass: Avery, the shapeshifter pigeon, and Charlie, his owner and now lover, are living together in an almost blissful situation. Avery has everything he wants, a roof on his head when it's raining, food to fill his belly when he is hungry and a lover to satisfy his desires when he is willing. Have you had the impression that Avery is a bit spoiled? Noooo, what did you think?! Avery is not spoiled, Avery is a pigeon, for him is quite natural to be feed without having to hunt his food, or to find a ready nest when he wants to sleep. And for the sex, well, it's an enjoyable benefit to being a shapeshifter. Charlie could believe to be the owner, and Avery is willing to let him believe so.

I really like this short story, probably the most funny and charming of the anthology. Charlie, poor him, is only a supporting character, Avery is the real protagonist. I don't know if Avery results so funny from being a pigeon or being English: there is always this edge in a story written by an English author, almost an aurea of superiority, almost as they know something (the author and his character) that you reader don't know... but maybe it's a pigeon thing instead. 

The Swan Prince by Emily Veinglory: and here is the sequel of a story that, when I first read it, let me very intrigued, but perplexed: how can you find sexy a bunch of rats that shift in a man? And that sometime looses a rat and so an important body piece? (no, not THAT piece, usually it's an hand, but still, it's important!). And maybe this is the same though of Sandy, the half-Japanese half-American guy who finds himself with a rat-demon partner even if he is not so fond of the idea. But the rats, we know, are very good to infest the house they choose, and Rudy, the demon-rat, has chosen Sandy as his lover, or rather, has recognized Sandy as his Swan Prince, the Japanese mythological man said to have the power to convey and control the demon-rat.

Emily Veinglory's story competes with Fiona Glass's for the prize of the most funny; again I have that feeling, that superiority aurea... In this case, it's very tender to see how Rudy struggles to please Sandy, that always seems a bit aloof (very Japanese in this). Sandy is not a bad guy, only that he is not used to express his feelings or to voice his emotion. But if Rudy wants to do also his part of the work, Sandy will not refuse to be cherished and pampered... even if Rudy is not very good in pampering, on the contrary he is rather incompetent.

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-releases/shifting-perspectives-2/prod_183.html

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle