CELTIC SPICE NEWS!

Well the news is OFFICIAL! Harlequin SPICE has picked up two more of our "Celtic Spice" antholgies!! Celebrating the ancient traditions, legends and myths surrounding Celtic festivals, Charlotte, Kristi and I teamed up to create these unique anthologies based on a legend of the festival and stories set in three different time periods that relate back to that festival.

Its been a challenge and a serendipitous adventure as the muse strikes and somehow we come up with these ideas! Plotting and sculpting a story and helping each other sculpt our stories has been a very fun and rewarding venture!

So we hope that Showtime will see the brilliance of these stories and decide to put them on just after the Tudors--we'd be okay with that!! LOL

Watch for the first in this smash SPICE series coming to bookstores, November 2009 with the first book, 'WINTER'S DESIRE." Based on Winter's Solstice, this anthology brings into play an ancient chant between two star-crossed lovers and their forbiddden love.

Coming subsequently will be our "Celtic Spice" anthologies based on the ancient Beltane and Samhain festivals, with more to come!!

Also watch for the launch of our new sister blog site "Sisters of the Celtic Spice" that will feature Celtic legends and lore as well as special features on how we do the research, music and fun places to visit for inspiration and other exciting events we have planned in association with this series!

Amanda

The TBR Pile...got one?

I think almost any reader, and that includes us authors, has a TBR pile. What is that, you ask? It's that pile of books that grows magically, almost obsessively, and basically overnight.

My husband says my pile is obscene, and in truth, it is. For chuckles and grins, Mr. Charlotte added the value of my TBR pile, and it came to nearly five hundred dollars. Um...yeah...obscene is right. He nearly swallowed his tongue and I'm sure he had an internal fit of the vapors. When the veins in his neck began pulsating and I heard his teeth grind to powder, I decided it would be too cruel to tell him that I'm expecting a new shipment of TBR any day now, to the tune of a 100 bucks. I did say, however, that that lovely pile has been the dedication of over a year of collecting. It's not like I dropped that cash in one chunk. Funny, that did not seem to induce Mr. Charlotte out of his grumpy mood.

My cup, as they say, overfloweth. But, I don't see it as a waste, because I know I'm going to read these books. I swear I am. "Fall is my reading time!" I protested. That proclamation was met with a grunt and a glare and a general expression of disbelief.

And it's the truth. There's nothing I love better in the fall than curling up with a good book and a nice blanket. And I will do so. I just need to get through deadlines, edits, and galleys for my two 09 releases, and then I'm going to park my posterior on the couch with a mug of chai latte and a snickers cany bar!

At some point in time, these books were on my 'oh my god, I have to read this book, and must pre-order it this second' list. And I still want to read all thos books. But there is one tome that I'm waiting for, and it's coming in this next shipment. I know I will stop everything to read this book. Line edits will not be touched. Supper will not be made. Hair and teeth may or may not be washed....

What is this little gem I'm waiting for, and the one book that won't make it into the TBR pile because it will be read that very day of arrival? Lisa Kleypas' Seduce me at Sunrise...

Man, I cannot tell you how stoked I am about the hero in this book. Merripen. A mysterious gypsy who has longed for the heroine forever. He's an outcast. A pariah. A dark brooding hero. Everything I adore, and I must read his story the second it is placed in my hands.

So, what book are you waiting to get your hands on, and do you have an overflowing TBR pile?