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When I was asked to be a guest blogger by Anne Sowards, my lovely editor at Roc, I jumped at the chance. I probably would have anyway-publicity! for free!--but this is an especially good time because I actually have something to say. For the first time I have two books appearing in a single year: Embrace the Night, the third Cassie Palmer novel (April 1) and Midnight's Daughter, the first Dorina Basarab (coming to a shelf near you in October). I'm really excited about both books because each in its own way breaks new ground. But this post would be really long if I talked about both books today, so look forward to hearing about Midnight's Daughter on Wednesday.

The plot for Embrace the Night centers around a real historical puzzle: the meaning of the Ephesian letters, a six-word incantation once carved into the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It was one of the earliest known incantations, dating to at least the 4th century BC, was perhaps the most widespread and was reputably the most powerful. An abbreviated form of its first two words-Aski Kataski-eventually came to be used in the same way "hocus pocus" is today: as a way of referring to magic in general. But the meaning of the phrase was lost when the temple was burnt to the ground in 356 BC by Herostratus, a nutjob who hoped to be immortalized for destroying one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. He got his wish, but humankind lost a treasure. And the forgotten meaning of the Ephesian Letters became the oldest riddle in all magic.

Karen Chance is our guest blogger during the week of March 31st. If you have any questions for Karen Chance, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some brief information about Embrace the Night:

Cassandra Palmer may be the world's chief clairvoyant, but she's still magically bound to a master vampire. Only an ancient book called the Codex Merlini possesses the incantation to free Cassie-but harnessing its limitless power could endanger the world...

About Karen Chance

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My book - No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub - is not only about the birth of my beloved grandson (there are now two grandsons, which is even better), but also about death. I don't know about anyone else, but I've seen, in my life, about five people die, been with them in the run-up to their deaths and, in some instances, actually been with them at the moment of death. It's a moving moment, and very salutary because, of course, one day we're all going to be in the same position.

You start to be able to tell, just by looking at their faces, whether they're going to last for months, weeks, or days. And so often it's extraordinary, when they actually do die, of almost seeing their soul leave their body. There's no big drama about it, no noise or bellowing of trumpets. No. One minute they're there, the next minute they're gone - and their moment of leaving is so light and quiet, just as if a chiffon scarf were removed from them and tossed, fluttering, into the air.

I'm glad to say that I've never seen anyone go, as Dylan Thomas exhorted, in a fury.

 

 

» Relationship expert Lisa Daily discusses her debut book, Fifteen Minutes of Shame.

» Listen to other Penguin Podcasts.

Lisa Daily, Fifteen Minutes of Shame, Penguin Podcast, podcast, Books, Penguin Books

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Over the last forty odd years I've written about fifteen books, and after the publication of each one, the most difficult question to answer is: "And how long did it take you to write?"

If you say: "Oh, I just knocked it off here and there over a few weeks" it somehow sounds rude, as if the book is so worthless as be barely worth reading - ergo, they are idiots for bothering to waste time wading through it. But if you say: "Oh, it took me six years", that too sounds artificial, particularly if it's a novel. How can anyone spend six years working on a novel? If it's true, the author must be an obsessive lunatic, going over sentence after sentence, polishing and polishing until, by the end, one would imagine that would hardly be any book left, or, if there were, a book so mannered, self-conscious and niggly as to be unreadable.

I know many writers do have a hut at the bottom of their garden, or a special den where no child is allowed to enter or, indeed, even breathe when passing by, but I suspect most of these hallowed places are owned by men. And the reason you're not allowed to enter without knocking is because most of the time they're not writing at all. They're playing carpet golf, or Scrabble on screen, or reading the latest book that has nothing at all to do with their work. Indeed, even the phrase "work" rings a false note with me. Or maybe I'm just odd.

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John Lanchester Receives E.M. Forster Award

Author John Lanchester has been chosen as the recipient of the E.M. Forster Award, given by the American Academy of Arts & Letters. The prize, worth $20,000, is given to a young writer from the United Kingdom or Ireland for a stay in the United States. His most recent book, Family Romance: A Love Story, was published last year in hardcover by Putnam and the trade paperback edition is currently available from Penguin.

The awards will be presented in New York in May at the Academy's annual Ceremonial. The literature prizes honor both established and emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The Academy's 250 members nominate candidates, and a rotating committee of writers selects the winners.

Monica Seles to Pen Memoir for Avery

Avery has acquired world rights to a new memoir by tennis icon Monica Seles, scheduled to be published in March 2009. In this inspiring and revealing memoir, Seles will explore her remarkable journey of brilliant tennis, fame, tragedy, loss and self-discovery. After years of having every aspect of her training, diet and life dictated and scrutinized by others, Monica took control, deciding what she wanted from life and set out to obtain it. Cutting through the fog of sadness, fear and frustration that made Seles overweight and unhappy, today she looks and feels better than ever and has created a life in balance. Seles is currently part of the cast of the sixth season of ABC-TV's hit show, "Dancing with the Stars."

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All you out there reading this, if you want to meet the wonderful editors (that would be us!) who bring you all the wonderful Ace and Roc books, here's where we will be this year:

New York ComicCon April 18-20, Javits Center, New York, New York. There will be a booth and there will be Anne Sowards, Ginjer Buchanan and Jessica Wade, wandering about...

The Nebulas, April 25^th-27^th, Austin, Texas. Anne Sowards will be there to cheer on our two nominees, Joe Haldeman and Jack McDevitt!

Malice Domestic, April 25^th-27^th Arlington, Virginia. Malice is one of the major mystery conventions and our own Charlaine Harris is the GOH this year. Her editor, Ginjer Buchanan, will be in attendance, too.

San Diego Comic-Con, July 24^th-27^th, San Diego, California. Penguin (Ace and Roc's corporate parent) will be partnering with specialty bookstore Mysterious Galaxy again, we will have a booth, and Anne Sowards will be handing out this year's Ace/Roc sampler!

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I'm getting very keyed-up about my forthcoming trip to the States to publicise the paperback version of No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub. One moment I can't wait to get out there, looking forward to meeting new people and seeing new cities. The next, I'm dreading it, imagining long lonely mornings sitting in a Holiday Inn bedroom with nothing to entertain me except a Gideon Bible and a thousand rubbish television channels. Followed by long waits at airports where I am frisked from top to toe in case I'm a terrorist. Interspersed with the odd talk at a bookshop to which no one turns up except a couple of stony-faced old ducks of ninety with sticks and frowns. Very worried about what I Can and Cannot Say, too. Can I use the F word (I only want to use it once)? Can I mention death as something to look forward to? I have this very ridiculous stereotypical view of all Americans as being very warm, generous, open, but also all being evangelical Christians and very disapproving underneath. I am just so longing to be proved wrong.

And will everyone say: "Have a nice day"? I think it was a rather sour Englishman who would reply: "Thank you, but I have other plans." I feel like a terrified child who's been asked to a party and whose mother keeps saying: "But it'll be lovely once you get there." Which I'm pretty certain it will. But it doesn't stop me hanging back, trembling with anxiety.

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Virginia Ironside is our guest blogger during the week of March 17th. If you have any questions for Virginia Ironside, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some brief information about No! I Don't Want To Join A Book Club: Diary of a Sixtieth Year:

Marie Sharp is heading toward sixty and is just fine with it. She's already had plenty of excitement in her life: sex and drugs in the freewheeling sixties, career and children, marriage and divorce. Now she's ready to settle into a quiet, blissfully boring routine. No Italian classes or gym memberships or bicycle trips across Europe, thank you very much! Marie just wants to put her feet up and "start doing old things."

She's even sworn off men! But as it turns out, life still has some surprises in store, the biggest of which is a new grandson on the way. What's more, Archie, her old childhood crush, suddenly reenters her life, and her closest friend falls seriously ill. Armed with a biting sense of humor, Marie wrestles with a life that refuses to follow her plans-and may still offer more possibilities than she realizes.

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Congratulations to the Top 10 finalists, who have been chosen from a pool of nearly 5,000 qualified writers in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA), a contest in search of the next popular novel, sponsored by Amazon.com, Penguin Group (USA), and HP. From now through March 31, the public can go to www.amazon.com/abna and vote for their favorite work by reading, rating and reviewing excerpts of the Top 10 finalists' submissions. The winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award will be unveiled in New York City on Monday, April 7, 2008 and will be awarded a publishing contract with Penguin Group (USA).

Now, in the final phase of the contest, a prestigious panel of top publishing industry professionals including: Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love; literary critic John Freeman, President of the National Book Critics' Circle (NBCC); literary agent Eric Simonoff, Co-Director of Janklow & Nesbit Associates; and Publisher Amy Einhorn, of Amy Einhorn Books, have read all ten manuscripts, and have posted expert insight and feedback on each of the 10 finalists' work. To view their comments, go to www.amazon.com/abna.