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As the July issue of RT Book Reviews ships, there's a lot of industry goings-on in New York City as the Big Apple hosts Book Expo America this week. Hundreds of authors will be in town and lots of industry parties are planned.
Harlequin continues its year-long 60th Anniversary celebration in New York with a cover-art-through-the-years exhibit at the trendy Openhouse Gallery in the SoHo area. It opens to the public on Saturday, May 30, with a media opening on Friday followed by an exclusive reception at the gallery. I am looking forward to seeing the exhibit, which will include several original paintings, and to seeing our friends from Harlequin.
Meanwhile, last week we were invited by the folks from Kensington to a lovely luncheon in the big city. We finally got to meet the Director of Marketing and Online Media, Lesleigh Irish-Underwood, who was accompanied by her colleagues, Director of Publicity and Public Relations Karen Auerbach and Senior Publicist Maureen Cuddy.
RT's entire editorial staff -- Faygie Levy, Liz French, Stephanie Klose, Elissa Pertruzzi and Diane Snyder -- attended as well as myself to discuss the many exciting things Kensington has planned for 2009 and beyond. It was refreshing to be with colleagues who are as enthusiastic as we are about the future of books.
We also talked about how much we missed not having Kensington Editorial Director Kate Duffy at the RT Convention in Orlando. Kate's on medical leave but is expected back to work by early fall. Anyone wishing to send her good wishes can do so care of Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting, PO Box 1224, Clifton, NJ 07012. We wish her a speedy recovery!
Now on to the July issue, which is our second with the new RT Book Reviews logo. This month Allison Brennan is on the cover promoting her FBI trilogy: Sudden Death, Fatal Secrets
and Cutting Edge. Can you believe this prolific bestselling author is the mother of five? There is also an RT-exclusive humorous piece written by Allison about a research trip to her local morgue with fellow author Brenda Novak that you won't want to miss. Whether writing novels or articles for RT, this is one talented author!
Another RT EXCLUSIVE!!! The insider scoop on season two of the HBO series True Blood, complete with interviews with director Alan Ball and actors Anna Paquin and Sam Trammel and movie still shots from the set. Sookie Stackhouse fans will go wild for these photos of Sookie, Bill, Tara, Sam and Jason as they start season two, which airs on HBO June 14. There is also a sidebar of what's on tap for Sookie creator Charlaine Harris in 2009.
Have you ever wondered what the movie and TV stars are reading? We did some sleuthing and came up with some interesting findings, including who is a huge Marjorie M. Liu fan; who requested autographed copies of Rhys Bowen books; and who enjoys a good Tess Gerritsen thriller when lying on the beach. Also, which Grammy Award-winning vocalist is hooked on Beverly Jenkins! All this and more in our Star Report.
Our interviews this month are on thriller sensation Steve Martini, romantic suspense favorite Carla Neggers and romance author Linda Castillo, who launches a new thriller series in July.
There's also a photo spread on some of the fun events and happenings at the RT Convention in Orlando. The next issue will have many more photos sure to capture the exciting time we all had. The highlight was the Seelie and Unseelie Faery Ball, where the court members outdid themselves transforming the ballroom into a magical place where the good and evil faeries frolicked with dance and merriment until midnight. As usual, the costumes were spectacular! Anyway, more on the events with photos in the next issue.
Now on to the August issue, which we are busily working on. Karen Marie Moning will be on the cover and although the article will be about her Fever series, there will be no mention of what the new book, Dreamfever, is about. In fact, NO ONE will see an advance reading copy (ARC) until after the release date of August 18. There will be much anticipation about what happens in this new book since the author is keeping the details closely under wraps.
In the cover story Karen will address why she decided against pre-pub copies and why it's important to her that no one read the book before its release date. She will also answer some reader questions about the Fever series, her previous books and what's coming in 2010. Since no ARCs are available and we will not get a copy of the book until mid-August, a review of the book will appear in our October issue -- the next available issue after her release date. However, as soon as we get a copy we will post the review on our website for subscribers only to read, so have your subscriber account numbers ready!
One article we are working on for August is on e-readers with a Kindle vs. Sony
focus. We passed around both devices to each of our editorial/production staff members for review and will present the findings in a pros-and-cons-type format. That way you can make an informed decision about purchasing one, if you're interested. Keeping in tune with the electronic theme, there is also an article about Twitter and how authors are using it to promote and why readers might want to become followers. Twitter is definitely not for everyone but it's interesting to see how it's being used within our book community.
Since many of us will be traveling for summer vacations we decided to check out which books will be dominating the shelves at the airport bookstores, some of which are the usual suspects and some that are complete surprises. We turned to readers and the airport book distributors for the answers.
It's been a while since we spoke to our favorite mystery author Mary Higgins Clark, so we tracked her down for an interview about what she's working on next, after the April release of Just Take My Heart. She is one of the most gracious authors ever and she has always been a fan of RT since the early 80s when we launched Romantic Times magazine.
As a special treat we have a most unusual "Q&A" with Vikas Swarup, the author of Q&A, on which the blockbuster award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire was based. His second novel, titled Six Suspects, is a thriller set in India and it'll be in stores in July. A review is in our July issue and the book received 4.5 stars. Mr. Swarup is an Indian diplomat who leads a very exciting life full of mystery and adventure, which, I am sure, provides plenty of fodder for his books. Learn more about this fascinating man in the August issue.
Paranormals are as popular as ever and in the last year or more we added urban fantasy to the section name since more and more of these non-romance paranormals were popping up. In the new issue we noticed that the number of paranormal and urban fantasy books were just about equal in size, so in the August issue each will have its own section so that you can easily find your favorite subgenre.
I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend and that you continue to enjoy the beautiful warm days ahead! As my mother always said, enjoy it while you can!
 Happy reading,
Carol Stacy
Publisher
RT Book Reviews Magazine
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