HelenKay Dimon

I’m over at Access Romance Blog today blogging about a blurb I read in Entertainment Weekly about the “forbidden” books of our youth. The list in EW was eerily familiar to my own list.

If you want to see, come over and check it out.

When it comes to MySpace, I’ve already admitted to my weakness and peer pressure issues. Blame Alison. She blogged about it. A few authors commented. My procrastination craving required a fix. And, well, setting up the page didn’t cost any money.

Three weeks, numerous jibes (including those from Wendy, Kassia and Sybil) and 272 friends later, I remain skeptical about the overall promo value of MySpace and the friending process. However, I do have a few thoughts – that can’t possibly be a surprise to folks who know anything about me. Here are those general observations:

1. Some of the MySpace pages I’ve checked out have either so much going on or such dark colors/graphics, that my tired old eyes and even sleepier old brain can’t read or follow along. Seems to me if I can’t find your book cover or read the blurb on it, the promo value here is zero.

2. Having one more place to receive private messages is not a great thing for me due to my natural laziness.

3. While the additional message location is a con, the supportive private messages I’ve received from a few readers and fellow authors are a definite plus. Writing is solitary. Support from the world outside my home, in whatever form, is an amazing thing.

4. In what I consider a promising development, I have purchased books and sought out author information after getting a friend request or seeing a cover/author on someone’s page. I’m not ready to say this means the promo aspect of MySpace is a definite success, but I did buy books that I otherwise would have missed. That’s something to consider as far as I’m concerned.

Here are a few of the books I’ve bought solely due to my MySpace adventures:

I recently read a book by a debut author, Richelle Mead. The book is Succubus Blues and, I gotta say, I was impressed. Like, WOW! impressed. There’s a review for it over at PBR.

Now, let me preface these comments by saying I do not know Richelle Mead. I plan on hunting her down and introducing myself at RT or the RWA Conference, but the “endorsement” here is not because she’s a buddy or because we’re on a promo loop together or anything or the sort. Sure, she’s one of my MySpace friends, but so is a guy called Exile Man…or something like that…and I don’t know him either.

Succubus Blues. Needless to say, this is a paranormal/urban fantasy. And, frankly, I’ve about reached my limit on paranormal reads since, well, that’s all I can seem to find. Going in I didn’t have any expectations – good or bad – for the book. So, when it was witty but not slapstick, clever but not overly so, smart but not too taken with itself and unique but not to the point where I had no idea what the heck was going on, I was hooked. You can read the review, but the bottom line is that this girl can write. Her world of demons, angels and imps sucks you in. It’s not a romance in the traditional sense of boy-meets-girl and off they go to a happy ending. So, if you need that, this one may not work for you. For everyone else, give it a shot.

Every now and then I see a book deal that makes my eyes bulge. And, okay, a teeny bit envious about the WOWZA factor of the money.

Janelle Brown’s ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS EVERYTHING, about a woman and her two daughters coming together after their lives are dramatically and unexpectedly changed, to Julie Grau at Spiegel & Grau, in a major deal, for seven figures, for two books, in a pre-empt, by Susan Golomb at the Susan Golomb Agency (NA).

This books is listed as a debut which, of course, makes the money end even more spectacular. But, I’m assuming this book sale Janelle Brown is also this Janelle Brown, so it’s not as if this is the first thing Brown ever wrote. That makes the envy part a bit less rabid.

Congrats to Brown. And, again, WOWZA.

She won a Pulitzer. Her newest book, according to her publisher, is “a big, smart, bawdy tale of love and war, sex and politics, friendship and betrayal—and the allure of the movies.” In other words, there are sex scenes in this book. Jane Smiley’s new release Ten Days in the Hills has some folks a bit edgy. She’s written sex scenes before, but this book is a bit different since the sex is central to the 10 characters’ lives here.

Michiko Kakutani (fellow Pulitizer Prize winner) gave the book a less-than-stellar review in the New York Times. To be fair, Kakutani isn’t known for loving too many books. In this one, she points out what she terms as “R-rated (sometimes X-rated) accounts of their sexual shenanigans.” She also uses words like “tiresome” to describe the characters…which is never good. The Los Angeles Times didn’t exactly feel the love on this one either.

In case you’re wondering, the publisher describes the plot this way:

It is the morning after the 2003 Academy Awards. Max—an Oscar-winning writer/director whose fame has waned—and his lover, Elena, luxuriate in bed, still groggy from last night’s red-carpet festivities. They are talking about movies, talking about love, and talking about the war in Iraq, recently begun. But soon their house will be full of guests, and guests like these demand attention. There is Max’s ex-wife, “the legendary Zoe Cunningham,” a dazzling half-Jamaican movie star, with her new lover, the enigmatic healer, Paul (fraudulent? enlightened?). Max’s agent, Stoney, a perhaps too easygoing version of his legendary agent father, can’t stay away, and neither can Zoe and Max’s daughter, Isabel, though she would prefer to maintain her hard-won independence. And of course there is the next-door neighbor, Cassie, who seems to know everyone’s secrets.

As they share their stories of Hollywood past and present, watch films in Max’s opulent screening room, gossip by the swimming pool, and tussle in the many bedrooms, the tension mounts, sparks fly, and Smiley delivers an exquisitely woven, virtuosic work—a Hollywood novel as only she could fashion it, told with bravura, rich with delightful characters, spiced with her signature wit. It is a joyful, sexy, and wondrously insightful pleasure.

Smiley, in an article in the Washington Post, says: “There’s a lot of problems with making [sex] central, and one of them is that it’s boring.”

On this I must agree. The sex scenes are my least favorite part of the writing experience. I find non-stop sex scenes kind of boring as a reader, too. Having them be integral and necessary is the key. Sounds as if the scenes are pretty integral to Smiley’s newest. It will be interesting to see what backlash, if any, Smiley feels for writing a book with such a strong sexual focus. Reviewers, readers and fellow authors outside the romance genre generally don’t look on this too favorably.

Entertainment Weekly has done another chick lit review round-up. Four titles got some promo. Free promo is good. I’d like some free promo. But I digress… A fifth title showed up as part of the weekly book review section – the same section that seems to get shorter in every issue.

The word on these titles is this, or so says EW:

Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella – This is the latest in the shopaholic series. While I see the Shopaholic books every five seconds (that’s not much of an embellishment either), I’ve never actually read one. No idea why. The EW reviewer says this one is more of the same and just as much fun. The book got an A-.

Because She Can by Bridie Clark – This is written by a former Judith Regan employee, Regan being the publisher most recently known for the O.J. Simpson “confessional” debacle. Doesn’t exactly sound pro-Regan either. The reviewer gave it a B and said: “While Clark’s pacing is brisk, both her rants and romance lack nuance.”**

Lion Eyes by Claire Berlinski – This one sounds like a chick lit mystery. A guy disappears and the CIA plays a role. Yep, mystery. This one got a B. Hard to tell why the grade wasn’t higher, but I think it had something to do with the heard-it-before online dating scenario that’s in this one.

Men May Come and Men May Go, But I’ve Still Got My Little Pink Raincoat by Gigi Anders – That title is long enough to be the entire book. It’s not. This one sounds a bit different in that it’s described as: “Journalist Anders recalls her adventures with men, and the many outfits she’s worn to entice them.” Not something Gloria Steinem might read, but it got an A-.

The title reviewed in the general section is Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis. This one got an A-. The reviewer said that this one “does not stall in predictable chick-lit terrain.” Davis is a former writer for Letterman so, as you might expect, the book is considered witty and entertaining.

There you go.

**Do rants really have nuance? For some reason I was more obsessed with this idea than by of the titles referenced.

I am over at the Brava blog today. The subject of the day is Linda Fairstein and a short article she wrote for this month’s Vanity Fair.

The post was a bit late because…well, when one sets the timer thing on Wordpress for a blog to post, one should put in the correct day and time. Yeah, I’m brilliant.

Come say hello!!

My local newspaper had a front page – front page!!! – story on Harlequin’s new NASCAR series. As I’ve stated before, this is a 16-book series where all books have a NASCAR setting. I don’t know a thing about NASCAR, so I can only assume “NASCAR setting” means in and around racing. I’ve also stated that it is pretty unlikely I’ll be reading these. No offense to the authors. Congrats to them for finding this new romance writing niche and for selling, but I have zero interest in NASCAR.

The article talked about how author Nancy Warren and NASCAR driver Carl Edwards teamed up so that Warren could make sure she was accurate in her portrayal of the NASCAR world. The bottom line is this: NASCAR is excited and Harlequin is excited. I’m not, but I’m not alone on that either. Kate Duffy (my editor at Kensington) commented on the series and said:

Certain things are hard to translate into romance fiction. Music and dancing, for example. What I’m concerned about is I don’t know a whole lot of romance readers who love NASCAR the way they love “American Idol,” say. Sports is just not something we talk about at our big romance conference.

Uh-huh, what she said. For example, I’m a chick who loves college sports. Despite that, except for a few by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, I can’t think of many (any, actually) sports-related romances I enjoyed. For the most part, I have no interest in a sports guy hero. So, like Kate, I’m skeptical.

For the authors’ sakes, let’s hope Harlequin and NASCAR are right. The NASCAR spokesman pointed out that 40% of NASCAR fans are women, so maybe… The fact the books are being sold at races and the NASCAR website, in addition to traditional Harlequin sales venues, might help. It will be interesting to see if this sort of cross-promotion does well. If so, it will be even more interesting to see who else Harlequin and other publishers team up with for future series.

This one’s long. May even count as babbling. Not sure. I apologize in advance.

Being new in town I know…well, no one. My editor suggested I join the San Diego RWA Chapter. She told me the Chapter was warm, welcoming and fun the group. She was right. The ladies of my new RWA Chapter have been very sweet. Fellow Brava writer Linda Thomas-Sundstrom has tried to take an introvert like me under her wing and help me adjust. I am grateful.

In a break from my usual hide-in-my-house philosophy, I took part in a few Chapter events this weekend. First, went to a dinner with the published members of the group. Very cool. It’s always great to sit around and talk about what’s happening where on the NYC publishing scene. There’s a calming “I’m not alone” feeling to it. Then went to an author signing. Picked up Night Rising by Chris Marie Green (aka Crystal Green) and Give Me More by P.J. Mellor, Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot (she wasn’t there, but I kept meaning to pick up this book and finally did, so I thought I’d tell you that) and Hitting The Mark by Jill Monroe (Jill also wasn’t there, but I gave the copy I had of this book to a friend who insisted category romance wasn’t any good to see what she thought, so I needed another copy for me to read). Celia May Hart also signed Made For Sin but I somehow missed getting her book. Not sure how…

Saturday I went to the monthly meeting. Sylvia Day and P.J. Mellor talked about “writing hot romance” which is a topic that drives me a bit crazed. Before the chat, Sylvia and I were talking and she pointed out that the topic is hard since, really, you either write hot or you don’t. I think she’s absolutely right. The reason I get crazed when this discussion comes up is that there are so many definitions out there for erotic romance and hot romance and whatever, and so much chatter about how many sex scenes and upping the ante with each one, making each book hotter than the next, that I think it’s too easy to lose sight of the craft of the writing in favor of the titillation aspects.

For me, the number of sex scenes isn’t the point. I don’t plot out how much sex I need and then fill in a bit of plot around them. I’m not suggesting other authors work that way, but some readers and aspiring writers seem to think that’s how it works. I want the heat to ratchet up, the sex scenes to be integral to the plot, the plot to be an actual plot and not just a reason for non-stop sex. Sometimes, many times, that means the sex scenes aren’t the hottest part of the book. Maybe the chase is. Maybe the banter is. Maybe the lead up is. Part of the reason I enjoy writing for Brava is that my editor never says, “gee, I’d like a sex scene by page 20.” She understands I’m writing romance.

In fact, if you want “Tab A into Slot B” over and over, let me warn you that my upcoming single title Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy is not a sex marathon. The title might make you think so, but the title is really a play both on the sensuality and the banter. I tried to grow a relationship over almost 400 pages (don’t panic, that’s the page count on my computer, it will be closer to 300 in book form). I believe (and my editor believes) one of my strengths is in real and believable dialog. Sexual attraction, a growing respect for each other despite a lack of trust in each other and sexy dialog – and I’m not talking dirty talk here – drive Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy. That, is the main point of the title, not non-stop oral sex. So, you’ve been warned.

With all this in mind…having gotten a Google Alert that my name was mentioned on the site, I Fancy Books. I went over and checked it out. Cute site. Not sure if she actually liked my books or not. Seemed to have a problem with the lack of sex, which is what got me thinking about my ramblings above. She comments on smart and witty conversations in Viva Las Bad Boys!. Of course, this means the author of this blog is brilliant and everyone should link to her. She also loved (I think) Player’s Club in Viva, which happens to be a favorite of mine so, again, she’s brilliant. I just worry she’ll be disappointed if she thinks as she says here that Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy is all oral sex. Nope. Now, don’t kid yourself, oral sex is in there. And, yes, I love the him-on-her scene and how it fits in with the book. Hope you all do too, just don’t expect erotica or whatever term you want to use. I write romance. Romance, romance, romance. There will be sex. There will be heat. But, this is not the Sexual Olympics. That’s not what I write. Look elsewhere for that.

Not me.

Have you heard about the book that claims to know the secret to happiness? It was a DVD sensation. Oprah touted it. It’s called, cleverly enough, The Secret. The author, Rhonda Byrne, says she found the ancient key by researching ancient texts. Makes sense since, really, where else would ancient secrets be. Byrne also says that discovering this secret improved her eyesight to the point where she no longer needs glasses. Yep.

The Secret has been out for about two seconds and already is a bestseller. While I haven’t read the book, articles about it suggest that “the secret” boils down to thinking positively and wanting something badly enough. Now, I’m sure it’s deeper than that since, you know, the book is over two hundred pages long and what I just said can be wrapped up in less than ten words. But, who knows. Thought I’d share.