NATIONAL SHORT STORY WEEK

Most of us read short stories in magazines.  They fill desperate moments in hospital and dentists' waiting rooms, take our mind off the moment.  There aren't many collections published in book form these days, but  National Short Story Week 22-28 November, championed by the very lovely Katie Fforde, is hoping to open our eyes to the pleasures of the form.

You can read what she has to say about the pleasure of reading short stories
here and if you find yourself convinced, there's no better place to start than in this collection published by the Romantic Novelists' Association to promote their 50th Anniversary this year.  Perfect to pop into a stocking.  Yours, or someone you know who loves to read. 

Perfect to fill that twenty minutes before you climb into bed and are overcome with sleep.

Or here's one I wrote earlier that you can read for free - The Cinderella Valentine

PARTY TIME!

This week, the Romantic Novelists' Association celebrated its fiftieth birthday with the launch of a book of recollections, memoirs and gossip from fifty years of being at the heart of women's fiction in the UK.

I missed the lunch due to pressure of life - finishing the book, selling the house - but if you're writing or reading romance you won't want to miss FABULOUS AT FIFTY which is available here direct from the RNA, but not at Amazon.  And if you haven't already got a copy of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT, it's not too late.

If you want to see what I missed at the party, there are photographs here on the RNA BLOG

WINNERS...

The lines are closed, the names have been drawn and the winners of the annual HERE COME THE GROOMS contest are Alison, Dena and Mary. Copies of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT are on the way to you via The Book Depository even as I type.


Online, THE BEAUMONT BRIDES trilogy moves into the last act, with Melanie's story beginning this week. You'll find Chapter One here


This month sees a reprint of my second book, A POINT OF PRIDE. It's a large print library edition - love those LPs! - so do ask at your local library. (The British Library classification is - delightfully - "Construction Wokers - Fiction".)

Most regions stock LPs even when they don't buy other editions, so they should be available wherever you are in the UK - and overseas, too. And supporting your local library is really important.

And I just love that cover.

HERE COME THE GROOMS

I dropped in to see how Liz was getting on with this contest of mine but she was too busy to do more than raise a hand momentarily from the keyboard. I understand she has a problem with an elf. I thought it better not to ask...

Anne, too, is busy and Christo has had to take charge at her end. Kate is in Wales working with new writers and no one has seen Nikos -- well, he has his hands full right now.

Anyone who thinks these women spend their days lying on a sofa, murmuring sweet words to their secretaries really hasn't a clue. I can't begrudge Liz the time, though. My story is told, I have my beloved Lydia and life, while it has taken an unexpected turn, is full and sweet.

More than forty of these amazing women, and a couple of men, have taken time out of their frantic lives to write some delightful, touching and very different stories for the collection that Liz is giving away as a prize in the competition.

LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT is a showcase of the diversity of romantic fiction, a celebration put together by the Romantic Novelists' Association and published by Mira. Here's a moment from Liz's story, The Partnership Deal...

ANNIE Latimer took the soft little baby vest from the washing machine, held it for a moment to her cheek. Soft, sweet and dangerous. It was just the kind of thing that made even the most sensible woman go wobbly in the knees. Rang the alarm on her biological clock. Made her stumble as she stepped up to the top rung of the professional ladder.

Fortunately, her twin sister had grabbed all the domesticity genes before the egg split; making it in a male dominated corporate world where the words “maternity leave” were professional suicide required a single-mindedness of purpose that left no time for biology.

She dropped the vest into the laundry basket reminding herself that while Sarah had married the boy next door and set about populating the world single-handedly, she was a whisker away from a seat in the boardroom. Was the possessor of designer wardrobe that was not permanently covered with baby spit. Owned a minimalist loft apartment overlooking the river with a full complement of electrical appliances – including the essential drier.

How Sarah, with three children under the age of six, managed without one was a mystery, but she’d refused one even as gift.

There was being “green” and then again, Annie thought, there was being an idiot, but while Suzanne and Sarah Latimer were identical in appearance, they had always been chalk and cheese when it came to life choices.

Fortunately the sun was shining so she picked up the clothes basket and headed for the environmentally sound washing line in the back garden. Playing “mummy” while her sister was having a well-deserved holiday in the sun courtesy of the company whose organic baby cereal adorned her clothes on a regular basis having “…completed the following sentence in ten words or less…” and won a second honeymoon.

Not that it had been easy to shoehorn her sister out of her domestic rut. “Who,” Sarah had asked, her big blue eyes twin pools of innocence, “could she possibly entrust with her three precious children for eight whole days?”

Annie knew she’d walked right into that one and took it on the chin like the sucker she was, waving her sister and brother-in-law off for a much needed holiday – one they were no doubt even now using to create more little replicas of themselves.

Whatever made her sister happy, she thought, even though the timing couldn’t have been worse. Fortunately, modern technology meant that she was as good as in her office even when up her elbows in laundry.

Right now baby George was asleep under a net in the shade. Molly, three years old, copper curls and a smile as sweet as sugar, was eager to help with the pegs and Jack, just turned five, was kicking a football into his mini goal net.

Her cell phone was in her pocket.

Her wireless laptop connected permanently to the internet.

All was well with the world.

‘Blue peggie,’ Molly said, holding up a pink peg.

‘Pink, sweetie. It’s a pink peggie… Peg,’ she corrected herself, hurriedly. She cringed when her sister used babytalk. It had never occurred to her that it was contagious.

‘Blue peggie,’ Molly said again, this time holding up another pink peg.

‘Pink, Molly,’ She bent down, took another peg from the basket. ‘This one is blue…’ She broke off, jerking around as a screech of tyres from the far side of her sister’s dense hedge shattered the peace of the morning, heart in mouth as she waited for the crash.

It didn’t come.

There was no crash, no rending of metal, no cry for help and after a moment she let out the breath she’d been holding and smiled reassuringly at Molly who looked as if she was about to burst into tears. She hated loud noises… ‘Just some dumb man driving too fast,’ she said, reassuringly and Molly gave her a wobbly smile.

‘Pink peggie,’ she said.

‘That’s right!’ She pegged up a tiny pair of dungarees. ‘Pink peggie, blue dungarees.’

Realising that she hadn’t heard Jack’s repeated cry of “Goal!” for a minute or two she half turned to check what he was doing but was distracted by the sound of a car door slamming, a man’s raised voice from the far side of the hedge. A very angry man if the words “stupid”, “idiot” and “fool” were anything to go by. Maybe he’d scratched his precious car.
Serve him right for speeding…

Remembering her nephew, she looked around. He’d already given her several bad moments with his disappearing acts before popping up out of nowhere. She couldn’t see him.

Calm, she thought. Calm. Nothing could have happened. The side gate was safely shut…

‘Jack!’ she called again, louder this time, as she picked up Molly, heart thudding in her chest.

She hadn’t taken more than a step before the gate was flung open by one of those tall, dark and impossibly handsome men you read about in romances but never seem to encounter in real life. Or if you do they’re married and, truthfully, if they weren’t you’d have to wonder why.

Tall, dark but, in this instance, scowling.

He was holding Jack under one arm and Jack’s football under the other. The football was flat and Jack was trying very hard not to cry.


Don't forget, you have until 1st March to get your entries in. All the details of what, where and how are below. Hopefully, by then, Liz will have the elf under control and Santa will be smiling.

HERE COME THE GROOMS!

It's that time of year again, when Anne McAllister, Kate Walker and I come up with all the threes. Three books, three heroes, three questions and three prizes for three winners.

All you have to do for your name to go into the draw to win one of the prizes is visit each of our blogs, answer three little questions about our heroes and send an email with the answers to ALL three questions to ALL three of us in an email with HERE COME THE GROOMS in the subject line.

So what's the prize?

This is a tricky one for me this year. My new Harlequin Romance, A Wedding at Leopard Tree Lodge, isn't published until May, so I don't have an excerpt up anywhere, or even any copies of the book to offer as prizes. What to do? Well, I thought I'd offer something a little special.

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the Romantic Novelists' Association and in association with Mira, they have published a fabulous anthology of short stories,
LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT by their members, some of whom -- like Joanna Trollope, Katie Fforde, Elizabeth Chadwick and Anna Campbell -- are bestselling authors.

There are, in all, 43 stories including THE PARTNERSHIP DEAL, written by one Liz Fielding.

Which takes care of the prize. That leaves only the competition and I'm really not sure what to do about that...

"Liz... What you doing?"

"Oh, hi Kal..." -- pauses to grab fan -- "...I'm organising my section of the Here Come the Grooms contest."

"Well, I'm here, and I'm your latest Groom. What can I do to help?"

"Er..." -- applies fan with vigour -- "...maybe you could set a question? The answer has to be on my website."

"And this question is to be about me?"

"Whatever you say..."

"Well, that shouldn't be difficult. One moment..."

"Anne, Kate, I need cold water... Oh, Kal, you're back already. That was quick."

"Interesting. I didn't know that my beloved's first thought on seeing me was that I was her Prince Charming."


"That was an innermost thought, Kal. The kind of thing that women don't like a man to know."

"Of course not. It puts her at a disadvantage. It makes her feel vulnerable, no?"

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

"Oh, but yes. I shall enjoy teasing her."

"No!"

"Just a little. I promise that she will be happy.' That I do not doubt... 'Do what want my question?"

"Mmmm...please..."

"Very well, it is this -- Of which literary character (other than Prince Charming) did I remind my beloved Lydia ?"

"Perfect."

"This truly was an interesting discovery, Liz. I think I shall have to growl a little when I tease her..."

"No!"

"Purr?"

"Oh, good grief....' What can you do with the man!

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Liz?"

Throw a bucket of cold water over me... Won't this fan go any faster?

"Er, maybe you could drop by again to see how things are going?"

'That too, will be my pleasure."

Kate, Anne, excuse me while I go and stick my head in the fridge!

While I'm cooling off, you can find the answer to Kalil's question in the excerpt of HER DESERT DREAM on my website -- it's available both in paperback and as an eBook download from eHarlequin, Mills and Boon, and from Amazon in a Kindle format and, of course, from The Book Depository who offer a postage free service throughout the world.

And to recap, to be in the draw you have to send the answer to this question, and the questions on both Anne and Kate's blog in an email to all three of us with Here Come the Grooms in the subject line. There's an email link to me at the top of the sidebar -- and contact links to Kate and Anne on their blogs.

Three lucky winners will be drawn to receive a copy of Loves Me, Loves Me Not as well as Kate's The Konstantos Marriage Demand and Anne's One-Night Mistress...Convenient Wife

Should you already be lucky enough to already have a copy of Loves Me, Loves Me Not, I'll sort out another title for you.

Here are all three questions -

KAL'S QUESTION (from Her Desert Dream)

Of which literary character did Kal remind Lydia? (apart from Prince Charming!)

CHRISTO'S QUESTION (From One-Night Mistress, Convenient Wife by Anne McAllister)

Why is Natalie staying at her mother's house?

NIKOS'S QUESTION (From The Konstantos Marriage Demand by Kate Walker)

What name did Sadie use so that Nikos would not know his 10 o'clock appointment was her?

Good luck!

SNIFFLE, SNUFFLE, SNEEZE...

Yes, everyone, I have a cold. One bad enough to keep me at home mainlining Lemsip while my colleagues were out partying at the launch of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT.

Here they are --



The anthology, filled with stories by authors such an Joanna Trollope, Katie Fforde, Christina Jones, Sophie Weston, Joanna Maitland, Nicola Cornick, Rita Bradshaw, Anna Jacobs, Jan Jones, Carole Matthews -- this could take some time because there are 43 of them! -- and of course me.

Frankly, I'd pay the price for the luminous story, The Censor, by RNA President, Diane Pearson. There's a link on the sidebar if you want to add it to a friend's Christmas stocking -- and of course The Book Depository will deliver, postage free, to anywhere in the world.

One cheery note, is the following review received for CHRISTMAS ANGEL FOR THE BILLIONAIRE from Cataromance

"In her enchanting new Harlequin Romance, Christmas Angel for the Billionaire, the fantastic Liz Fielding proves once again that she is one of the finest voices in romantic fiction today. Poignant, tender, funny and riveting from start to finish, in Christmas Angel for the Billionaire, Liz Fielding has created a fantastic heroine who will steal your heart and a terrific hero whom you just cannot help but love.

"A wonderfully romantic tale of redemption, renewal and uplifting possibilities, Christmas Angel for the Billionaire should be on every woman’s must-buy list this festive season!"

I will now crawl back to my keyboard and do a little work on May and Adam's story.

Don't forget that the second part of the "Trading Places" duet, HER DESERT DREAM is now available online from both Mills & Boon and eHarlequin. Oh, and I've just received author copies of the Large Print edition ELOPING WITH EMMY which will be at a libary near you very soon!

SANTA'S SECRET ELF

Not much to report this week. Outside the weather has deteriorated to something pretty nasty in the way of rain and wind, which is keeping the painter at home beside the fire. (Maybe I should just mention that CHRISTMAS ANGEL FOR THE BILLIONAIRE is now retail in the States and available online from Mills & Boon in Australia since I imagine that it's book news that most of you are looking for!)

The "elf" hit a snag which has kept the brain in a bit of a turmoil to match the weather, although I'm finally coming out at the far side with a faint promise of plot "light" and I'm now having a lot of fun gathering "Christmas" pictures .

I also made an early batch of mince pies -- purely as inspiration, you understand. :)

Sadly, the forecast suggests the weather is not going to let up -- annoying as I'm travelling to London this week for the launch of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT and already the trains have been disrupted, no doubt by flooding in one of the tunnels we have to go through.

Fingers crossed that by Wednesday the rain will have eased off since I've blown all my airmiles on a gorgeous hotel in the Covent Garden area of London and have pre-booked tickets for the Montezuma exhibition at the British Museum. (Who knows, I might get inspired to write a hot South American hero!)

In an effort to get the stalled plot wheels spinning, I read non-stop this week. Sara Craven's THE COUNT'S BLACKMAIL BARGAIN, was terrific, as was Julie Cohen's GIRL FROM MARS (5* read). I also started Brian Freemantle's THE NAMEDROPPER, but dropped it after the first line when he used "disinterested" instead of "uninterested". (We all make gaffs that make us blush, but where was his editor? His copyeditor?) But I have Kate Hardy's latest posh doc -- FALLING FOR THE PLAYBOY MILLIONAIRE (a new Penhally Bay story) -- to keep me thrilled.

I'll be back next week to report on my trip (assuming I get through the tunnel). Meanwhile, it's just me and the elf and a large number of "whys" yet to be answered. Watch this space :)

PUTTING MY FEET UP...

... and having the best fun. My author copy of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT -- the anthology from the Romantic Novelists' Association written by its members to celebrate 50 glorious years of romance -- was delivered while I was away and in those little moments of peace and quiet I've been dipping into it.

That's the joy of short stories. They are like those gorgeous little miniature cakes I became addicted to in Italy. Exactly like the big ones, but just a mouthful.

These are stories by favourite authors, a roll call of some of the great names -- Joanna Trollope, Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews, Jill Mansell, Christina Jones, Anna Jacobs. Their voice, but in a bite-sized chunk.

I shed a tear at a story by Sue Moorcroft, shrieked with delight when Victoria Connelly introduced "Ginger" (a favourite and very ancient inhabitant of the British Museum) in her story and just drooled with pleasure at Sophie Weston's wonderful Cinderella Revisited.

Published by Mira, this is a book you'll want in your own Christmas stocking and will want to tuck under the tree of every romance reader you love. It's not cheap, but honestly when you see what you get it's a real bargain -- 40 stories, nearly 600 pages. You'll find a direct link to Amazon, UK on my sidebar. It's also on sale in the US or you can buy it from The Book Depository (also on the sidebar) for the same price as Amazon UK, but they won't charge you postage no matter where you are in the world.

Oh, and there's a little taster from my own contribution on my website.

RNA CELEBRATES

The Romantic Novelists' Association is very nearly 50 years old. It was founded in 1960 by Alex Stuart, with an initial membership of 115 published authors, with the declared aim of raising the profile of the genre and garnering respect to match its huge popularity, and sales that made publishers rich and the cash tills ring in bookshops throughout the world.

That it has made huge strides in this aim, is a credit to a lot of very dedicated writers, many of them household names, who spare time from writing to appear on television, the radio and spend hours with journalists to press home the message and to organise the prestigious Romantic Novel of the Year, won by many great writers, and more recently, the Romance Prize which recognises the very different challenge of writing short romance fiction. There is also the fabulous New Writers Scheme, which nurtures and encourages the new talent which keeps the genre vibrant, fresh and the biggest selling section of the book market.

The celebrations will kick off later this year with the publication of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT, a collection of short stories by members and here's a sneak peek at the cover. Edited by Katie Fforde and Sue Moorcroft and published by MIRA, the anthology contains stories by Joanna Trollope, Adele Parks, Maureen Lee, Elizabeth Chadwick, Anna Jacobs and a host of other well known authors. And me. I'm in there, too with a short story called The Partnership Deal.

You can check out the full list of authors at the RNA website. And when you've done that, make a note in your diary to add the hardback edition to your Christmas shopping list later this year. Your mother, your sister, your aunts and your best friends will be so pleased that you did. A paperback edition will be published in 2010.