Samhain Publishing

The beginning of December always marks my desire to start writing, and reading, Christmas stories. Nothing gets me in the mood for Christmas like stories, movies, and television shows about the holiday. Call me a geek, but I even like Christmas-themed commercials. Not the endless buy-buy-buy, toy-toy-toy commercials, but the ones with holiday music and cute situations that make me smile. I have a Christmas-set manuscript I pull out every December just to tinker with, even though I know it’ll never sell. It just makes me feel festive!

This Thanksgiving I offered some of the paperbacks gathering dust on my overcrowded shelves to a friend who was visiting, and I pulled out one I particularly liked from two Christmases back. But to my surprise, she turned it down. She had no interest in reading a Christmas story at this time of year. “Gag,” she said to me. “Christmas is being shoved down my throat everywhere I turn. I want to read stories set during summer so I can think about warm, sunny days and hot sultry nights. Anything but Christmas.”

I was surprised by her reaction, (and I kept silent about how happy I was to reach book seven in the J.D. Robb series with Holiday in Death right in time for Christmas)

So what do you think? Do you want to read Christmas books during the holiday season, or are warm weather themed books more your preference?

Regardless of your preferences, Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Pamela Fryer
p.s. check out my website for a special print book giveaway this Christmas.

http://www.pamelafryer.com

This June my husband and I returned to our timeshare in Mexico for our vacation and being that my book was released in print June 1st, I was excited to bring a copy to donate to the resort’s guest library. I was traveling with a bunch of family, so of course my first print release was a topic of conversation with them and the time-share-week friends I hadn’t seen since my last trip.

Inevitably, the subject of where writers come up with our ideas wasn’t far behind, along with the not so flattering “Oh, you’re a writer? I have a great idea for a book…” (This time, it was followed by “I dreamed it, just like Stephanie Meyer did.”)

Usually my response is a simple “no thank you,” but I’ve found people are more offended by that than if I ask them “why don’t you write it?” or “sorry, I have a waiting list of ideas stacking up in my head. What’s that Lord Montcliffe? Yes, your story is next.”

It seems the no-thank-you is received as snooty disinterest, but to ask them why they’d present it to me or, (groan) more about their idea, they’re engaged in conversation, and people love to talk about themselves.

It’s hard to explain to non-writers where my ideas come from. Their minds just don’t work the same way. Like Kinsey Millhone says, all it takes is a pulled thread and everything unravels from there. Honestly, my ideas come from the most miniscule sight or event, and from there I build on them with my rampant imagination. (I’m going to be a hoot when senility hits)

In The Midnight Effect Lily Brent is trying to save her niece Annie from a power-hungry mad scientist, but in truth Lily needs to be rescued just as much, if not more, than Annie. Miles Goodwin is a retired cop trying to heal from a personal tragedy and he isn’t in any shape to rescue them, let alone himself. But the events throwing them together are inescapable, and Lily and Miles have no choice but to join forces to survive.

The idea for this woman in peril story came when I was driving home on a remote mountain road in the Santa Cruz mountains. I was driving fairly fast for the winding two-lane road dark in the shadows of tall pine, but out of nowhere another car went shooting around me. Behind the wheel was what a very crazy looking man with wild eyes who could have been Christopher Lloyd’s brother.

I started driving slower after that. Nobody would find me for days if I drove off one of the sheer sides. And what if someone was after me? Would anyone see if I was attacked by that crazy man? Not likely. They’d just find my car with the door standing open…

That quickly, The Midnight Effect was born. Does it always happen that fast? Most of the time, yes. Of course those small ideas that spark, flash and burn need to be nurtured, plotted, and outlined. That’s the nature of the business. But for the most part, I really should wear that t-shirt that says, “Careful, you might end up in my next book.”

The Midnight Effect is now available at your favorite local bookstore, or online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

My first release came out last August so you can guess how excited I was to receive my very first cover. Finally my long awaited dream of publication had come true, yet with it came a heap of worry about the cover. Would it be pretty and sexy and mysterious all at once? Would it entice readers to pick my book out of a lineup with many others? Would it be something I would be proud to have represent my book?

I was lucky. My cover not only suited the book and pleased me immensely from an aesthetic point of view, but the artist who created it did a fantastic job of understanding and providing my requests. This first and very satisfactory experience prompted me to consider those largely unknown artisans who create these masterpieces.

When I first joined the Romance Writers of America in 1997 ebook publishers were just starting to carve their initials in the publishing world and many digital covers were very lackluster. Some were downright awful.

But during those thirteen years as I watched the ebook industry very closely, I witnessed a metamorphosis nothing short of remarkable. With the advancement of photo editing programs and online communities like “Deviant Art” and “Photoshop Users” a whole new realm of cover art was born. Phenominal artists who didn’t necessarily have access to New York found their talent recognized. Ebook covers began to equal print publishers works, if not exceed them altogether in quality, variation, and overall impressiveness. Here are just a few examples of my many favorites.

And something else happened that was a fantastic bonus. With these new artists’ flexibility, ebook covers began to reflect more modern attitudes, casting romance novels in a more flattering light. Heroes still have their shirts off (and who doesn’t want that) but gone are the subservient heroines in torn bodices kneeling at the feet of their heroes while he stares off into the distance at unseen villains or adventures to come. Of course I’m talking about historicals covers there, but even on contemporary, romantic suspense, paranormal and inspirational covers, there had been a standard of frillyness that made romance novels a target of ridicule. Nowadays women are more independent, demand better jobs and wages, and stand up for themselves in a manner that took decades to fight for, and I love that modern romance novel covers reflect that. Women are depicted as stronger and more intelligent, and I can’t recall the last time I saw a torn bodice.

So let me take this opportunity to say thanks, ebook cover artists, for so much more than great art.