Awesome Result

We made it to #2 on the Preditors and Editors poll for best anthology.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us, we really appreciate the support!

There were more than 140 titles to vote for in the anthology poll, so there were a lot of good books to choose from.

Book Promotion and Brand Establishment

The Enchanted Faerie is coming out soon. Real soon. So soon we can taste it.

We're terribly excited about it and want to make the world excited too. So our thoughts have turned to book promotion.

See, book promotion is more than just handing out flyers and cleverly-wrapped candies. Book promotion is more than just letting you know we've got a book out. (since you're reading this blog, there's a good chance you already know about The Enchanted Faerie.)

We want more.

We want our book to stand out from among all the others you might come across this year. We want not just for you to know about The Enchanted Faerie, but we want you to be interested in it.

We love the premise of The Enchanted Faerie. Love always comes at a cost. Gypsy Alishandra Orona has set the price at 100 gold pieces. That's a lot of money by today's standards and certainly not a small fortune in the Sixteenth Century.

Is love--true love--worth it? (Is Greggie MacDonald worth a hunnert?) Perhaps the price of a faerie is too high. Just because one acquires a faerie doesn't mean that one is guaranteed to find love. After all, one's heart can only stand so much stress before it breaks.

And yet, for some, the thought of dwindling and dying in lonely spinsterhood is the worst fate of all.

Oh, decisions, decisions. Can't anything ever be easy? Not every tale ends in the HEA every heroine dreams about. Who finds true love? Whose heart gets broken? And what is it about Lachlan the Blacksmith?

Now, before we started really promoting the book, we were establishing our brand.

We're the Romance Spinners and we spin tales of love, of sorrow and of the indomitable human spirit.

The Enchanted Faerie is only the beginning. Our next project is For Richer, For Poorer. Ah, the poor Deveraux family and their curse.

Meanwhile, we Spinners would like to show you the cool stuff we've discovered from research, our experience in the writing craft, the fun things we've encountered on the Internet and our obsession with actor Richard Armitage.

So pick a Spinner and ask three questions. They don't have to be serious (either the Spinners or the questions).

Meanwhile, I find the following very interesting:

I Can Has Cheezburger?, proving the third largest purpose of the Internet is to post pictures of cats.
Miss Snark, who'll lay the writing craft out in a brutally honest yet useful form.
Fourmilab, for all those really cool astronomical-ish stuff.
Google Earth. Dude, everyone's gotta check out Google Earth, even if only to find their house.

Romance isn't just for the past...

Of all the Romance Spinners, I must be the luckiest. In our next project, I get to write a futuristic romance.

You got it baby, I getta write Sci-Fi!

Now, depending on your point of view, my job is either easier or harder than Judy's or Zara's.

Easy: I don't have to do a lot of research. I don't have to make sure my historical facts, fashion, language, and more are historically accurate. I don't have to worry that "contemporary-isms" that don't exist yet are gonna slip in.

Hard: I have to compile, from nigh-scratch, an entire world. I have to invent (well, speculate) future technology (and its foibles). I don't just come up with gadgets and Google's grandchildren but I've got to postulate how that technology will affect the lives of my characters. I've got to come up with future events that would change the world as we know it.

Fortunately, something exists in the Speculative Fiction universe that means I won't have to re-invent the videophone, nor will I have to waste precious wordspace explaining how it works.

It's called the supertext.

Some criticise Science Fiction (and Fantasy too, to some extent) as being self-referential. I guess, in a way, it has to be. How else are we going to define the complexities of future technology, society, races and characteristics?

The supertext works something like this:

I mention I have a vampire in one of my stories. Our Heroine sees the vampire and she reacts with fear. I don't need to go on and explain that vampires are scary un-human monsters who will lure you in with seduction then suck your blood with fangs, because the information is available in the supertext and thus available as "general knowledge".

Now, everyone doesn't have access to all of the supertext. Sometimes bits of it are limited to certain readers of some fiction.

Take, for example, the Three Laws of Robotics. Read something of Issac Asimov's, (or click on the above link) and you'll have a good idea what the laws are and how they work. But if you haven't read any Asimov (nor seen Star Trek, nor anything else that has made, at some point, reference to the Three Laws), then you might not understand why Our Heroine, when faced with a really big nasty robot armed with laser cannons, would not be afraid of him, especially if I established earlier in the story that RoboMonstro With Dual Laser Action^TM was "governed by the Three Laws".

(Counts) I have summoned the supertext with a spell, sentence, fragment of five words.

Pretty powerful stuff.

So now I am faced with a different challenge: I'm not writing for the Skiffy audience. I'm writing for the Romance audience, especially one that prefers historical romance.

Yet I think I'll be okay. The Historical Romance audience has a skill that will enable them to read something from 1016 or 1586 or 1831 or 1923 or 1945 and that will also enable them to understand something from 2172. They are able to look to the past (or the future) and see a world that is different from their own. They are able to understand that Our Heroine won't be carrying around a mobile phone. She'll have other ways to communicate. Her clothes will be different, her language use will be different, her role in society will be different, her goals will be different.

Historical Romance readers will grok this. They may not fully understand the technology that surrounds Miss 2172, but they will realise she is a human with a heart yearning for love. They'll figure her out and come to love her, the way they love the Regency Debutante, the Gibson Girl, the Flapper, the WAVE.

So yeah. I'm looking forward to having Our Heroine's implant misfunction when she moves out of signal range.

As Good As Gold

I'm Heidi Kneale and I write the character Daywen Athalia of Beltane.

I'm one of the several Australians here, but I can also claim an American heritage. (American-Australian?)

I'm primarily a Science Fiction and Fantasy writer, but have a soft spot for Romance. I adore cross-genre work, so The Enchanted Faerie suits me rather well. (Now that I think about it, most of my sold fiction does deal with romance as a major theme. Who'd a thunk?) I also write comedy (with a few award-winning musical comedies under my belt), and this streak towards a subtle chuckle is evident in my story, "As Good As Gold".

I am also responsible for Lachlan the Blacksmith, for which I am very sorry (or not).

As EJ has an understandable fondness for Peter Petrelli, I confess my weakness for Guy of Gisborne (in BBC's Robin Hood), played by the gorgeous Richard Armitage, who makes an excellent romantic hero, in nearly everything he does.

It is interesting watching this BBC series. Unlike Heroes, where anything can happen, Robin Hood is constrained by a pre-existing supertext. We all know about the "Rob From the Rich, Give to the Poor", and that Robin Hood's love interest is one Maid Marian.

With the coming of this latest interpretation of the 800-year-old legend, are our women going ga-ga over weedy little Robin? No, their eyes are firmly upon the baddie, evil Sheriff of Nottingham's lieutenant, Guy of Gisborne.

Gisborne has set his sights on Marian, and for the most part, a significant number of fans are willing to support him in his ambition.

Now, had this been a standalone story without a reputation to live up to, the love story could have easily gone Guy's way.

Why?

1. Richard Armitage plays the character very well. And yes, like Peter Petrelli, Guy gets his shirt off--several times--in the second season. (No peaches, though.)
2. Guy is not a cardb0ard character. Sure, he started out that way, but he certainly didn't end up that way. As episodes progressed, we started seeing a softer side to Gisborne. He's actually kind to women (and honours his late mother). Sometimes he hesitates when faced with a moral dilemma. He forgives the fickle Marian (okay, maybe after burning her house down, but he does apologise for that, and other sins, later).
3. There is the genuine potential for him to turn good, or at least, to free himself from the yoke of the Sheriff, and become his own man. There is no evidence that Guy has been mismanaging Locksley in Robin's absence, nor unduly abusing the tenants. Perhaps his sense of nobility will win out in the end. Maybe he'll convince Marian that, as a man of wealth, means and power (not to mention looks gorgeous in black leather), he'd be an ideal husband.

Or maybe not. The legend of Robin Hood just doesn't go that way.

What a shame. Because Robin is not being portrayed as deep a complex character the way Guy of Gisborne is. Robin doesn't struggle with inner demons. Robin doesn't yearn for the heroine. He and his mates run around Sherwood forest having little-boy adventures and getting in and out of scrapes with a light-hearted pluckiness. What on earth does Marian see in him?

Part of writing a romantic hero is making him appealing, and not just in looks. One must consider his character, motivations, and in the case of historical fiction like The Enchanted Faerie, of a certain position and social status.

Money helps.

As does a burning love, or at least, desire, for the heroine.

Can one believe that Marian and Robin are destined for great love? If one ignores the supertext, their relationship is nothing more than a teenage crush. Those of us with romantic hearts know that there must be more to love than the hormonally-spawned adolescent awkwardness these two display.

We want passion. We want desire. We want near-obsession, and a dead certainty that without the other, life is a bleak and desolate landscape.

So, has anyone explained how the faerie works?

Contracted!

It's official - The Wild Rose Press are contracting The Enchanted Faerie anthology!

No release date at this stage, but we'll keep you informed. Oh, and in the process, they invited me to become one of their editors. How wonderful!

Keep checking back for our release date, which we hope to have soon.




Cheryl

Welcome to Romance Spinners

Hello everyone.

My name is Lea Schizas, one of the contributing authors to this awesome anthology. We all have Cheryl Wright to thank for bringing us together. In the process, we've forged yet another cyber connection we may never have found if it wasn't for our dear editor, Cheryl.

My contributing story is titled, "Night of The Gray Sky" and can't tell you how exciting and eager I am to see our collection published.

I am the author of the Young Adult fantasy/adventure, "The Rock of Realm", and the paranormal suspense/thriller, "Doorman's Creek". You can find more information on me and my books here: http://leaschizaseditor.com

Lea Schizas

Putting it all together

As editor for this absolutely awesome anthology, I can honestly say the easiest part was choosing the authors to participate.

Each author was hand-chosen to be part of the anthology because of their amazing talent. And each of them brings something entirely different to the book, leaving you, the reader, with an amazing read.

I had a lot of fun developing the storyline, creating the setting, and choosing names for each of the main characters.

These six amazing authors did the rest. As editor, I got to read each story before anyone else, and I can honestly tell you I couldn't put them down.

I can almost guarantee you'll be the same.

Every story is totally unique in its own way, despite the fact each author had the exact same assignment but had to use the character name allocated to them.

At this stage we don't have a release date, but we'll be sure to post it as soon as we know.

My take on The Enchanted Faerie

Welcome to our blog!

I am Holly Greenfield, one of the contributing authors to The Enchanted Faerie anthology. When Cheryl Wright, our editor, presented this opportunity to me I was ecstatic. I write historical, parnormal romance. Two genres I love. The theme for this anthology couldn't have been a better fit. An even greater appeal was the setting. Scotland is one of my favorite places in the world, and researching the country and its history has become a hobby of mine. Celtic history is fascinating to say the least.

Writing the story of Calinda Avatar of Beltane and her reluctant search to find love was so much fun. Once I started it all flowed so smoothly. Her character spoke and loud and clear as did the hero. What could be better than finding true love right under your nose?

Working with the ladies in Romance Spinners has been great. We span the globe and yet even from such a distance our minds fell in sync for this anthology. Each of us had something wonderful to contribute and I for one have learned so much from this experience. Collaborating efforts is a fun process when your working with such a wonderful, talented group of writers.

I look forward to the release of our anthology so that readers, like you, can enjoy reading the stories as much as we loved writing them

Until next time,


Holly


You can learn more about me at http://www.hollygreenfield.com/ Stop by anytime. I love having company.

Come In Spinners

Welcome to the Romance Spinners blog.

We are romantic writers without borders. 

Our debut anthology, The Enchanted Faerie, is coming soon.

Stay tuned for news, reviews, and all things to do with writing.