Tanzey Talk

If you want to contact me directly through this column's site, please be sure to click on my personal link - Contact Tanzey - and not the store's link. For those of you who don't know, I do not work from the store. In fact, I live in Kansas and the store is located in Illinois. Thanks for your interest!

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and shared some great times with those you love. As you can see, 2004 has brought a new, more modern look to the Gazette. Let me know what you think of the new format and if you find it easier to read.

      This new year will also see the launch of several innovative single-title lines from Harlequin and Silhouette. The debut novel in Harlequin’s LUNA line, The Fairy Godmother  by Mercedes Lackey, is reviewed in this newsletter. And Silhouette will introduce a new adventure/suspense line, dubbed Bombshell, that will feature strong, take-charge women. Both sound very interesting, so watch for them.

      Dorchester has plans to add more genres in 2004. They’ll feature a new line of Chick Lit books in trade paperback format, as well as a new line of Fantasy in trade paperback. They’re also bringing back those hard-boiled detective stories of days gone by. And a new line of Romantic Suspense is set to start in the spring/summer.

      In May 2004, watch for A Tale of Two Vikings  by Sandra Hill - one book with two sexy stories about twin hunks. Dorchester will be  offering two different cover looks for this book, so readers can buy their favorite. Of course, that only works out well if retailers offer both book options to their customers, which isn’t likely. We’ll wait and see.

      Another innovative idea from Dorchester is a five-book action/romance series set in the future, called Freedom 2176, “featuring kick-butt heroines and sexy heroes trying to restore democracy to the world.” Susan Grant will launch this line in April with The Legend of Banzai Maguire. Other authors included are Kathleen Nance (Day of Fire - May), Patti O’Shea and new author Liz Maverick. Susan will complete the series in September.

      Tori Phillips has announced that her next new book will be released by Harlequin and will mark a big departure for her. Beloved Enemy  is a Civil War romance and will be published under her own name, Mary Schaller, instead of her Tori Phillips pseudonym. Watch for its release in April 2004.

      Glenna McReynolds has some good news/bad news to pass along to her fans. Good news - Bantam/Dell loves her new books, Crazy Hot  and Crazy Cool. Bad news - they just pushed the publication dates back from February/March 2004 to August/September 2004. So we’re going to have to wait a little longer. She’s now busy finishing up Crazy Wild, and the series should end with Crazy Kisses. Glenna laughs when she relates that she may end up being known as the “Crazy Lady of Romance.”

      Finally, the second book in Deborah Smith’s mermaid series for BelleBooks has been scheduled for release. Watch for Diary of a Radical Mermaid  to go on sale in July 2004. I can hardly wait! Deb has also been busy establishing her “Deborah Smith’s Folk Art, Books and What-Nots” booth in a collectibles mall in the heart of Dahlonega, Georgia’s historic tourist district. After the release of her latest hardcover in February, Charming Grace, Deb will be branching out and is planning a comedy/mystery series about a quirky smalltown Southern newspaper editor. She gleefully says she wouldn’t mind being a Southern Janet Evanovich. <grin>

      And for those of you anxiously awaiting Debbie Macomber’s fourth Cedar Cove book, you’ll be glad to know that 44 Cranberry Point  is set to be published in September 2004. Debbie also wants everyone to know that she’s launched a new section to her web site featuring Cedar Cove products. Go to www.debbiemacomber.com and click on “Debbie’s Store” to check out (and order!) all the goodies.

      Lauren Royal has this great news for readers, “I am positively thrilled to announce that I’m writing three more books for Signet. This new trilogy will be set in 1815-1816 and feature Griffin Chase, the new Marquess of Cainewood, and the three headstrong sisters he is desperate to marry off. As you can imagine (given that they’re Chases), Griffin’s sisters react to his matchmaking attempts with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and they are not about to just sit back and let him dictate their lives. I don’t have titles or release dates yet, but I’ll let you all know as soon as I get any news.”

      Claire Delacroix tells me, “I’m working on a new trilogy for Warner, which will all be released in 2005 - the current, tentative schedule is January for The Bride Auction, May for The Bride Thief and September for The Bride Wager.” She says these books are similar in tone to her Bride Quest series of books. They will follow the wild adventures of the eight unruly children of Ysabella and Merlyn’s second son, who are introduced at the end of her March 2004 release, The Warrior.              In addition to that book, Claire will also have a novella featured in a fantasy anthology coming from Berkley in July 2004, called To Weave a Web of Magic. Other authors included in the collection are Lynn Kurland, Sharon Shinn and Patricia McKillip.

      Shana Abe, whom we haven’t heard from for awhile, has finally completed her three-books-in-one-volume, and it’s set for release by Bantam in June 2004. “The Last Mermaid encompasses three different romances, spanning three different time periods, myth, magic and the descendants of a legendary couple linking all three. The first story is set in the Kingdom of the Isles (today part of Scotland) just after the Romans abandoned what we call Great Britain, where a fabled king owes his life to the siren who loves him. The second story takes place in 18th century Scotland. The Earl of Kell is rich and powerful and knows someone wants him dead. Too bad the hired assassin turns out to be both a gifted psychic and the most fascinating woman he’s ever met. The third story is contemporary taking place in both Scotland and the United States. Ruriko Kell is an American who’s just inherited a far-flung Scottish island she's never seen, from a family she's never known. And just who is this gorgeous Scotsman so intent to get her there - and how does he know so much about her?” Oh, my, this sounds so tantalizing - I can hardly wait!

      Several of our sharp-eyed readers informed me (and I had already noticed) that two romantic/suspense novels in December have almost identical covers - Janelle Taylor’s Don’t Go Home (Zebra) and Mariah Stewart’s Until Dark (Ballantine). This has happened before with several historical romance covers, but readers felt it was even more confusing this time since both novels were on bookstore shelves in the same month. And I agree! Whoever is providing covers to publishers should be more alert to release dates and schedules.

      Speaking of Mariah Stewart, she has three connected suspense novels coming out this year in consecutive months (I love when publishers do that!). The trilogy involves men who devise an evil game while in prison. Once out, they commit the revenge killings they won in the I’ll kill for you, if you kill for me type of twisted game. Watch for Dead Wrong  in June, Dead Certain in July and Dead Even in August.

      Catherine Mulvaney has recently signed with Pocket to write two books. The first is a paranormal romantic thriller, The Secret of O Milargre, about a woman who travels through time to save her lover.

      Rosanne Bittner has sold her second historical inspirational, titled Walk by Faith, to Steeple Hill’s new trade-size single-title line.      

      We’ve just heard from Annie Solomon that her next romantic suspense is set to go on sale in April and titled Tell Me No Lies. She says it’s a story about love and revenge in the Hudson Valley. She’s now hard at work on her fourth book, called Blind Curve, about an undercover cop who loses his sight.

      It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Shelly Thacker, but I can tell you she’s been very busy with another, totally awesome project. On October 8, 2003, she gave birth to Melissa Kathleen Meinhardt. Shelly and her husband, Mark, have waited a long time for this blessed event to occur in their lives, and they are both ecstatic. From the photos of Melissa that Shelly’s posted on her web site, you can see she’s a doll. Big congrats to Shelly and Mark!

      Finally some reissue rights that make sense! Harlequin has recently acquired Roberta Gellis’ The Roselynde historical romance series, which includes the out-of-print books Roselynde, Alinor, Joanna, Gilliane, Rhiannon and Sibelle. I hope we’ll start seeing them in print very soon. I loved this series and was sorry I didn’t keep my original copies. But, alas, that was before I knew what I know now about collecting those books we love. 

      Time for some personal reading recommendations before I close. Heartbreaker by Carly Phillips was a very satisfying conclusion to her Chandler brothers trilogy. Linda Howard’s new hardcover, Cry No More, is probably one of the best books she’s written in the past several years. I could not put it down - I loved the characters. Fantastic storyline! I was sadly disappointed in Patricia Cornwell’s Blow Fly. It was disjointed and not up to par for the likes of savvy heroine Kay Scarpetta. This month’s Truth or Dare  by Jayne Ann Krentz was a fast read with good characters and plot. I do strongly advise that you read the prequel, Light in Shadow, as too many things from that book are presumed in this one. I’ve just finished reading the ARC for the new hardcover coming next month from Jennifer Crusie - Bet Me - and I can tell you it’s one totally awesome book -  her best ever! I absolutely loved the main characters, as well as the entire supporting cast. And the plot is clever, fresh and unique. Watch for Suan’s review next month of Bet Me, and put this one on your must-read list. It’s a keeper!

Sorry, but there aren’t any readers comments this month to share, since I didn’t have any.