Joanna Bourne and THE BLACK HAWK

If you like romance and mystery and historical fiction, check out Rita Winner Joanna Bourne's latest book THE BLACK HAWK, which has just been nominated for Best Historical Romance by Romantic Times. Some of her earlier books include THE SPYMASTER'S LADY, MY LORD AND SPYMASTER, and THE FORBIDDEN ROSE and if you haven't read them, stop what you're doing (seriously, stop it, right now) and go get them.

(Jo is an awesome storyteller, and I'm telling you, hand over heart, that Spymaster's Lady made me stop and gasp and slap my thigh and yell a hey nonny nonny WHATNOW?! when I got to a certain part in the story. You will too. Trust.)

Publishers Weekly said this about THE BLACK HAWK:

Bourne mixes heart-pounding mystery and romance in her spellbinding fourth Spymaster historical romantic thriller (after 2010’s The Forbidden Rose). From childhood, Adrian Hawker spied on France for England while Justine DeCabrillac gathered intelligence for the Police Sècrete. They were teens when they met in Paris in 1794, and as they grew up, their paths crossed often in a changing world. Sometimes they were on the same side, and sometimes they were opposed, but it was inevitable that they fall bittersweetly in love, knowing that any minute duty could take precedence over passion. Their tempestuous love affair unfolds in flashbacks, alternating with scenes from 1818 London, where somebody tries to kill Justine and frame Hawker, now head of the British Intelligence Service with as many enemies in England as in France. Just the right amount of intrigue makes this vivid romance a gripping page-turner.

(Name drop alert.)

Last year, I had lunch with Jo and Anne Perry and the luminous, unflappable, awesome writer and conference coordinator Kathy Chung at the Surrey International Writers' Conference. Listening to Jo and Anne in conversation was like watching two master tennis players lob a ball back and forth for fun. They both have brilliant intellects and wit, and as they discussed details of the French Revolution as casually as one might discuss the weather, I felt privileged to be their ball boy grabbing at stray balls. Jo knows her history, and she is a born storyteller, so the two combined? Magic.

Hie yourself over to The Debutante Ball where you'll find an interview with Jo and a chance to win her latest novel.

The Winner!!

I'm pleased to announce the winner of Diana Gabaldon's anniversary edition of OUTLANDER.

I wrote down everyone's name, one, two or three times if they were a follower or had a note up on Twitter etc., and then assigned each one a number. I used the Random Generator to choose a number and #37 came up.

I consulted my master list and #37 was assigned to....

drumroll please....

DEBBY!!

I know from Debby's blog how much she likes to read and I'm pretty sure she's going to love this book.

So Debby, if you're out there in blog land, please send me your address via email and I'll have your book flying its way to you ASAP. Unless you want to wait until October, in which case I can ask Diana to sign it for you and then I'll send it. Your choice.

Thanks for playing everyone! More contests in the new year as I hit my 500th post.

Facing Fire and a Visit With Darby

Hey. Howareya?

The name is Darby Christopher, and one day last week, while wandering around the mystical Lake Louisa, I just happened to bump into A Novel Woman. It turns out that I like A Novel Woman. She takes great photos. I especially like her shots of Boris – he’s a cat after my own heart.

So, I’m here because A Novel Woman has very generously chosen to share her blog space with me today. It’s kind of a special day for me – the start of a celebration of my new book, FACING FIRE. This book picks up the story of what happened after the magical summer that you may have read about in A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW.

I’m pretty happy with the new story. Answers a few questions that arose in the first book. And opens a few new windows…for those who like that sort of thing.

Anyway, if you’re interested, you can find out more about the book at www.kcdyer.com And just to say thanks, A Novel Woman and me – well, we’re giving out prizes. If you comment on this post, your name goes into a draw to win a free copy of the new book – FACING FIRE. And if you actually link to this post somewhere else [like in another blog, or facebook post or even a tweet] we’ll put your name in for the draw for BOTH of my books. So comment away!

By the way, if you’re into looking for prizes, check out my blog HERE at Darby Speaks. I have an AMAZING contest starting tomorrow with some totally fantastic prizes. See you there!

And hey – A Novel Woman? Thanks for letting me crash on your cottage blog couch for the day…

~Darby

Hey Darby, you're welcome. Congratulations on your new book! Loved reading about your new adventures through time. Stop by anytime.

As for you, gentle readers, leave a comment for your chance to win both books. And if you, like me, are of "a certain age" well, if you win you can always give them to your favourite youngun' aged around 9 or older, or you might want to donate them to your local school or library.

Me? I'm still a kid at heart. I love 'em. A.N.W.

And to make it easier for you, you can just answer this question in the comment section:

If you could instantly go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Macro Madness

Enough about the damn dishwasher from H E double hockey sticks.

PIONEER WOMAN is having another photo contest, and this time the assignment is Macro shots. Here are a few I dug out of the archives. Feel free to shout out your favourites!

1. Dragonfly - (Why does this make me think of Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver?)

2. Horsetail
3. Orchid
4. Milkweed
5. Love in a mist (I actually think I'm wrong about this being a skeletonized nigella leaf, but I like the title anyway so I'm leaving it as is. If you know what kind of leaf this is, let me know. Damn it Jim, I'm a photographer, not a botanist!)

6. Day Lily
7. Alium
8. Day Lily with Raindrop

9. Frost on the window

10. Day Lily Centre
11. Columbine
12. Hosta La Vista, Baby
13. Lilac
Lucky thirteen.

Have a great weekend!

A Pioneer Woman's New Photo Contest

Check out The Pioneer Woman's latest photo contest. The theme is green. Here are some of the "green" photos I pulled out of my archives. Not sure which ones to submit.

Which are your favourites, on the theme of green?

1. Gift bag

Number 2. Drops of Water

3. Columbine
4. Lily-of-the-valley
5. Strange Alien Plant (yes, that's the official name for it, from the Latin Plantus Alienus)

6. Hope springs eternal

7. Lady's mantle
8. Kathy Down The Road's hedge (I don't know what this is, but it's pretty. Like KDTR)

9. A Kid'll Eat Ivy too, wouldn't you?

10. Hosta La Vista, baby
11. Tulips are better than wan

12. A handcrafted dishcloth just makes doing the dishes more fun. Not.

Thoughts?

A Contest and Giveaway

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog

I read Maggie's blog regularly and I love her. Go back a few posts and check out what she did to her guitar! She's a multi-talented artist, writer, musician.... So now she's holding a contest for her latest book, and I thought I'd give you the heads up, too!

Vote for Pedro. I mean, PAMELA!

The lovely ladies over at Smart Bitches Trashy Books are holding a contest for Best Worst First Lines in a romance novel so of course, given my Bulwer-Lytton rep, I had to enter.

Go to the link below and through your support behind me. Look for three entries by Pamela, and although I'm partial to the last one, any votes for me will be gratefully accepted. You only have 24 hours so get crackin'! And if you really, really like one of the others more than mine, go ahead and vote for that one. I won't mind. Much.

I can't get in to Compuserve to pass the word around, so if anyone is so inclined....

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/