Wednesday 30 January 2013

It's here!

I'm holding a printed copy of Out Of Sight Out of Mind in my hand - and it's gorgeous. The book opens with my heroine, Madison, investigating a dark alley where she may have sensed an interesting presence - interesting to her, because she's a scientist who reads minds. The cover designer, Berni, has perfectly captured the sense of loneliness and menace that I was trying to convey in the opening pages. Of course, Madison does not stay alone for long, but her first encounter with Jay, the hero, is not exactly a conventional romantic meeting ...

A photo can show the look, and the glorious colour, but it doesn't show you that the white writing of the title is embossed, so that there is texture as well as colour. As you might have guessed, I'm rather pleased with it. Thank you Berni!

The book will be available in paperback on 7th March, but before that there is a very special promotion, celebrating the run up to Valentine's day. Drop back on Monday, please, when I can reveal more about it. At the moment, it's a secret.

In honour of book two, I'm planning to change my twitter logo @evonnewareham  to my fabulous new cover. (Wish me luck with that. I'll need it!) and my website is getting an update. I'll let you know when all that goes live. In the meantime, I'm going back to admiring the book. And maybe stroking the cover, if no-one is watching ...

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Hearts and flowers.



The heart is a powerful symbol.  Physiologically, it is essential to human life -- but so are the lungs and the liver, and they haven't become inexorably bound up with being alive/human and, most particularly, with being in love.  I guess that the heart has gained its prime position because it's a piece of your insides whose workings you can be very aware of, moment by moment.  When it speeds up and slows down, in situations of excitement, fear, or relaxation, it is very apparent to the owner.  The power of love to make the heart beat faster isn't a cliche for nothing, it's true -- hence the heart being used as a shorthand for love.  It's a shorthand now employed to such an extent that it's become a synonym for the word. 


Valentine's Day is not for a few weeks yet, but I've got in the mood for hearts and flowers for the Welsh version of Valentine's Day, which falls on Friday 25th January.  The Welsh saint of love is a female.  Her story  has elements of the fairy tale  -- a rejected suitor, vengeful and violent, turned to ice, and a compassionate maiden, saving him from his fate.  It doesn't end with a pair of lovers enjoying a Happy Ever After though, since St Dwynwen became a nun, but you can't have everything.  The link below to the website of the National Museum of Wales has more about the legend. 

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/faq/stdwynwen/ 

I must admit I'm very attracted to the idea of the suitor being turned to ice -- I can imagine him caught, transfixed, in a snowy woodland glade. Lit by thin winter sunshine, he's slowly turning transparent, sparkling and solid, from the feet up.  If I wrote fantasy, I'd be tempted to borrow that one.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

An unexpected book

The launch of book number two is on the horizon, and of course the question then arises, 'What next?' I have a couple of novellas nearing completion - but what about another book? I have been thinking about it, and planning. The plan was to have a look at a bottom drawer manuscript that I love, but which needs a bit of work - actually, I think it may be two books, tangled together, that need to be unpicked. I've also been researching for another that would feature a lot of Gothic art and architecture - research, don't you just love it.  And then, over Christmas, I was watching a few old films- To Catch a Thief and both versions of the Thomas Crown Affair and the thought started to grow about how much fun it would be to write my own version of a heist book. And the idea started to grow, and grow - and now I have three robberies, a snow bound hideout in the Brecon Beacons, a large dog ...

It looks like this may well turn out to be book number three - now where did that come from - it was never in the plan.

Books have a habit of creeping up on you and refusing to go away until they are written. I'm afraid I have one of those on my hands. 

There is another curious thing. In Out of Sight Out of Mind, I invented an organisation, called The Organisation, to be the villains of the piece. Now it seems as if they may be the villains of this book too. Now how did that happen?    

Wednesday 9 January 2013

A week with a Scottish flavour?

Maybe it started because we had haggis for lunch on Sunday ... Powerful stuff, haggis.

On Monday there was a small family mystery, involving a book set in Scotland. I've been looking at old treasures in order to do an Inheritance Books blog for Rhoda Baxter, author of Patently in Love, whose second book will be out in March - it's called Having a Ball and it has a smashing blue cover. The inheritance blog involves telling the story of two books, one you have had handed down to you, and one that you would chose to hand on to the next generation. You'll have to check out Rhoda's blog to find out what I chose - I'll let you know when.



One of the books I found in my 'inherited' collection is called Sons of a Day, by James Lorimer. It's an historical romance set in Scotland and was published in 1932. It cost seven shillings and six pence, which I think is the equivalent of about 75p in modern money. It has a home made brown paper cover under the dust jacket, and a compliments slip inside from a publisher and bookseller in Preston, but no indication of who it belonged to, or how I came to inherit it. My mother doesn't recognise it, and there is nothing inside to indicate that it was a prize from school or Sunday school that she has forgotten. There would be a fancy book plate if it was. I assume it came from my grandmother, but there's no name or inscription to provide a hint. Why was it kept and handed down? A mystery. The author seems to be a bit of a mystery too. I've found a number of copies of the book for sale, but no information on the man who wrote it. A strange curiosity.


And then on Tuesday I received my Celtic Muse button from the Celtic Hearts Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. A man in a kilt. Is there a theme developing here? I'm looking forward to wearing the badge  - I'm expecting it to be a talking point at romance events. The Chapter celebrates all things related to Scotland, Ireland and Wales - but especially romantic reads that are set in those locations.

So what might Wednesday bring? Pipers, piping? Caber tossing?  Highland dancing?






Monday 7 January 2013

On location with Never Coming Home

If you haven't taken the Never Coming Home location tour yet - pictures and commentary on places featured in the book - you can find it by clicking on the pages link, above.

Wednesday 2 January 2013

New Year. New You?

How many blogs have you read so far this year about New Year's resolutions? That many? Well - here is another one. I was interested to discover that, along with all those promises about healthy eating, exercise and more time with the family, (Yes- they're on my list too) a large number of people apparently make a resolution to spend more time reading. Now that sounds like an excellent idea and one that is possibly a bit more user friendly than a couple of hours at the gym.  Put that with the number of e-readers that I'm sure were given as presents over the holiday and that's a lot of extra reading. Of course, I hope you will be reading my books, books by my fellow Choc-lit authors, books by fellow romance writers, books by fellow crime writers ...

If you are one of those resolving to read more - I wish you every success with that resolution.

If that was not one of your resolutions - why not think about adding it to the list?

Whatever you chose to read in 2013, I hope that you find it enjoyable.

As well as being a time for resolutions the turn of the year is also a time for retrospectives, top tens, or twenties, and also for looking forward to what the next year will bring.

I've had the honour of being included in two lists of that type by book bloggers, one looking back and the other looking forward.

So if you're hunting for a few suggestions to help with that reading resolution ...

http://jerasjamboree.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/jeras-jamboree-top-20-fiction-reads-of-2012/

http://www.bookchickcity.com/2012/12/upcoming-paranormal-titles-from-uk-publisher-choc-lit.html

VERY BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR. I HOPE YOUR 2013 IS AMAZING.