Lisa Hendrix

OK, I know it's not New Year's Day in the modern western world, but using January 1 as the start of the civil year is fairly recent. For much of the Middle Ages, the year was considered to begin either at Christmas or on March 15 (the start of spring). In fact, in England, the official switch to a January 1 start for the year only happened in 1752.

As for why I'm personally starting the year late: frankly, this January pretty much sucked for me. I had pneumonia that took me out for the whole month, and February was spent catching up on everything I got behind on and getting my energy back. So I've decided to make a fresh start to 2012, and make this, March 1, my New Year's Day. My blank page.

Part of filling that blank page is to reactivate this blog, which I basically abandoned about a year ago.  Later today, I'm going to sit down and create a blog schedule and brainstorm ideas for posts. One of my ideas is to devote each month to developing a new skill or habit or learning something new and documenting that, along with, of course, updates on my books, snippets of the Work in Progress, and other news. But I'd also like your input for both the blog and my upcoming site refresh.

Tell me:

What do you like to see on an author blog? Whose blog keeps you going back over and over and why? What kinds of things get you excited about an author's website? Are there extras/widgets you particularly enjoy?

Answer in comments and I'll pick one commenter to win their choice of my books.

As you know (or should, as much as I’ve been talking about it <g>), IMMORTAL OUTLAW is a finalist for the 2009 RT Reviewers Choice Award for “Best Historical Vampire/Werewolf/Shapeshifter Romance.”  Other finalists in that category include THE TREASURE KEEPER (Shana Abé), LORD OF LEGENDS (Susan Krinard), SO STILL THE NIGHT (Kim Lenox), and NIGHT AFTER NIGHT (Kathryn Smith). I feel honored to be in the company of such grand, talented women.

I’d love to list all the other categories and nominees, but it would take me all day to type them up. Fortunately, there’s a pdf:  RIGHT HERE.  Pay especial attention to the Career Achievement Award nominees; they’re some of the best and brightest in the romance game.

Congratulations to all my fellow nominees.

Amidst all the illness of the last two months, I had three pieces of good news:

First, of course, was the contract for the next two books.

Second, came word that IMMORTAL OUTLAW had been selected for Amazon’s Top 10 Best in Romance for 2009.  Yep, really. It’s right there on the top of the Browse Romance page, alongside books by writers like Susan Wiggs, Nalini Singh, and Sheila Roberts. This is an Editors Choice award, so it makes me especially happy. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to make the bestseller list next time <g>.

And third, I just found out last week that IMMORTAL OUTLAW is a finalist for the 2009 RT Bookreviews Reviewers Choice Award for “Best Historical Vampire/Werewolf/Shapeshifter Romance.” Counting the Top Pick rating from RT and Steinarr’s K.I.S.S. Award, that makes four significant honors for my Outlaw. There’s clearly something about that Robin Hood legend…

Anyway, that’s the news for now. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the trail of Marian and Steinarr, stopping at the Southwell Minster.

Did I remember to tell you that IMMORTAL OUTLAW is officially on the shelves as of two days ago?  I didn’t think so.  I’ve been so busy posting it everywhere else, that I forgot my own blog.  //headsmack//

Well, it’s out, and I hope you’ll run out and buy today, because the sales in this first week are crucial to push a book up into bestseller vicinity.

I’m already in the middle of the blog tour, writing posts and answering interview questions like mad. H ere’s the schedule. Follow me around and comment for multiple chances to win. And be sure to tell your friends. The more the merrier!

May 29 – Mid-Willamette Valley RWA

June 2 – Lauren Dane

June 3 – Reading with Monie

June 4 – Yankee Romance Reviewers

June 5 – Petit Fours and Hot Tamales

June 8 – Cat and Muse (Former Demon Jezebel interviews Steinarr!)

June 10 – Book Addict at Pop Syndicate

June 15 – Lucy Monroe

July 7 – Romance in the Back Seat  (correct link to come)

I had ten stops scheduled, but then one was postponed, bringing this tour to its proper nine stops.  (If you don’t know the significance of nine in my books, check out my post at Yankee Romance Reviewers, linked above.)

I got a wonderful note from Eloisa James last week telling me she was writing about IMMORTAL WARRIOR for her monthly column at Barnes & Noble online.  The article, Wild Kingdom!, went up today, and I just had a chance to read her take on heroes who spend part of their time in forms that don’t “code sexy” the way vampires and werewolves do. James highlights four books featuring atypical heroes whose beast forms initially don’t read as alpha male, men she calls “biologically challenged.” Included are heroes who take the form of allosaurs, leopards, selkies…and eagles. (The authors would be, in order:  Bangs, Feehan, Kantra…and me, and let me tell you, I feel incredibly  honored to be included in that group.)

While James notes that an eagle is at least less effeminate than, say, a swan, she claims the bird’s just not something she thinks of as alpha male material. But then she adds a sentence that makes my little author heart go pitapat: “But Hendrix transforms feathery to fantastic by weaving her plot around Alaida’s power to save Ivar.”  (Sigh.) She also very kindly mentioned the June release of IMMORTAL OUTLAW.

You can read the full article from the front page of B&N Reviews through May 10, and then find it in Eloisa’s  Archives after that.  (Lots of great articles in that archive, btw.  You should check it out.)

Discussion of today’s article is ramping up at the Romantic Reads Book Club with Eloisa leading the conversation, and Virginia Kantra and Nina Bangs scheduled to stop by. I’ll also be dropping in a little later — hope to see you there.

Oh, and check out the amazing cover for Eloisa’s upcoming THIS DUCHESS OF MINE, the story of Jemma,  the desperate Duchess of Beaumont. (Click on the cover to read an excerpt at Eloisa’s site.)

I love Eloisa James’ books (especially the Essex sisters!), but I haven’t had the time to get into the Desperate Duchesses.  Have any of you read the earlier books in the series? Which is your favorite so far?

Over at the Huffington Post, writer Joanne Rendell provided a terrific report/critique on the recent Princeton Symposium, Love as the Practice of Freedom? Romance Fiction and American Culture. In the article, she points out that even the pro-romance pros present didn’t quite go far enough in their analysis of why romance is proving so recession-proof.

Here’s a snippet:

 

“Although Crusie wasn’t talking specifically about the appeal of romance in this recession, it struck me that these “emotionally just landscapes” are perfect antidotes for our current times. When shady Madoffs are making off with billions of dollars and banking executives are awarding themselves huge bonuses from bailout monies (while the rest of us watch our 401ks disappear like puddles in the midday sun), the appeal of a world where integrity and honesty are rewarded seems obvious.

But as the Princeton conference continued,…I realized that it was too hasty to rush to this conclusion. Romances are not one kind of thing. Neither are their readers. And to draw fast conclusions about the genre and its audience is to perpetuate the kind of stereotyping which has always made romance the “most maligned of literary texts.”

Click over to HuffPo for the complete article, “Heaving Bosoms: A Tonic for the Recession?”

The heaving bosoms in the title, btw, refer to the wonderfully outrageous book by Candy Tan and Sarah Wendell: Beyond Heaving Bosoms, The SmartBitches Guide to Romance Novels (CLICK HERE to buy at B&N.com). This story came by way of their blog, SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.

You can get there through the Books page or go directly via

http://lisahendrix.com/books/excerpt-immortal-outlaw/

Enjoy!