An Update from Laura Baumbach, MLR Press

Laura Baumbach

Hello Everyone! 

It's been awhile since I've been here so I was excited to get the offer to post again and let

readers know what I have been up to lately.

I'm Laura Baumbach, author and publisher of M/M erotic romance. I have writing m/m romance for 15 years. I've blazed a few trails for the category of romance including creating a co-op marketing group for authors in the m/m category, Manloveromance.com, and founding the first RWA chapter for authors of GLBTQ romance, Rainbow Romance Writers. In recognition of my efforts over the years, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE named me 'a pioneer of the 'm/m genre' in their Oct. 2010 issue.  

I became a publisher in 2007 with my small press, ManLove Romance Press aka MLR Press, publishing some of the very best established authors and discovering new ones. The press is my way of bring the category of romance I love most to a place of recognition and respect in the romance community.

This year MLR press is sponsoring a number of m/m centric events including UK Meet GLBTQ Fiction event in Nottingham June 6-8. I'll be sponsoring and attending the Gay Romance Northwest Event (GRNW) in September in Seattle and the Gay Literary Retreat (GRL) in Chicago in October this year. There are a lot of advantageous events to attend each year but budget and family life limit my travel. Husband and kids come first before work, especially at my age.

 

I'm working on a new novel, a romantic suspense, tentatively titled REESE (I’ve included a tentative cover)

and working on the sequel to one of my earlier releases, MEXICAN HEAT, titles Tequila Sunrise. I'm hoping to get a lot of work done over the summer when things slow down a bit. It's unusual for me to work two stories at once so I'll anxious about the results.    

You can see all of my published work at my website 

It needs another update when my web guy has time but you can find lots to keep you busy there.

If you are attending any event I'm at, please stop by and say hello! I'm always interesting meeting people with an interest in our category. 

My Summer Reads and Recommendations

Hello, I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi and the supernatural. Once upon a time, I used to spend whole days devouring books. Back in the days when I didn't have to work, didn't have kids, when I could just disappear into the fields behind my home and find a warm, sunny corner to read without interruption. I'd read pretty much anything then, although fantasy and scifi were my main genres. Or once I was older and married with a home of my own and could spend summer weekends just lying in the garden to read, or stretched out on the sofa. Once the kids arrived, reading became more of a luxury. Then once I started writing again back in 2009, not only did my reading time lessen, but my inclination. I found myself becoming more demanding in what I read. In the last year, several books have gone onto my Did Not Finish shelf on Goodreads, because I don't want to spend time on a book I'm not enjoying when there are currently 244 titles waiting on my Kindle. Yes. 244. That damn pesky 1-Click and all the legitimate freebies I see on Facebook and Twitter are just too hard to resist. And my TBR list just keeps growing.

So these days I tend to binge read over a couple of days between edits, writing, and real life stuff. Things have to grab me fast to hold my attention--the blurb and the first page for a start. Most books I'll give a couple of chapters to hook me if the writing standard/style is good. If even that is lacking, then I quit. Because I write mostly scifi romance, and most of my author friends write it, a lot of my titles are in that genre. Last summer I got hooked on a zombie book, thanks to my friend and editor, and another author friend raving about a certain book called Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. I don't like zombies. I don't like horror. But the beauty of his writing, more like poetry than prose, and the fact that his story was different from the traditional zombie caught me. It takes a heck of a lot of skill to make me not only feel empathy for a brain eating monster, but for me to root for him to get a HEA! And now I've read three zombie romances, two by Marion and one by TA Brock (Fatal). I've even written one myself, now scheduled for release on the 20th August - Restless In Peaceville. The irony of that doesn't escape me.

And this year my time to read is even less. I have a scifi romance releasing on the 25th July (Tethered), my YA paranormal in August, another paranormal romance short releasing in October, another scifi romance novel to re-release (Keir), and potentially a superhero romance in October/November. When am I supposed to get time to read now?!

I have a holiday coming up at the end of May - in fact, at the time of posting this, it'll be just a week to go. A whole seven days with my husband and my three little monsters. We'll be staying in replica African mudhuts by the sea. I hope to have some time each day to whittle down that long list of books on my Kindle, or tackle the stack of print editions still untouched. What shall I be reading? Well, I won't give you the whole list. I want characters and worlds that capture my heart and my mind, make me think, make me cry for their sorrows and hope for their HEA. If you want to see what I've read and therefore recommend, please check out my bookshelves on Goodreads HERE. But on my to-read is more space opera by JC Cassels and CE Kilgore. If you like your scifi romance hotter, check out Melisse Aires and Jessica E Subject.

And if you like freebies and want to try out some scifi romance for yourself and find out why I love it so, you can download Tales from the SFR Brigade for FREE--an anthology of science fiction romance stories from eight authors including myself. Find all the download links right HERE. You could also check out this list of cheap/free SFR titles courtesy of The Galaxy Express HERE.

Experience love and adventure among the stars in TALES FROM THE SFR BRIGADE, a free digital anthology of eight Science Fiction Romance stories.

* A space captain discovers the cyborg she loves just might be her greatest enemy.

* A mind-wiped prostitute risks all when she recruits a dangerous stranger to help her escape a terrible fate.

* A prisoner-of-war confronts the comrade who loved her, then left her for dead.

* A space-obsessed physics teacher is kidnapped by a far-too-charming alien.

* An apocalypse survivor battles the biomech-enhanced hunter who seeks to capture her.

* A young artist must choose between her comfortable life on Earth or a war-torn space colony with her beloved.

* A daring thief is on the run from the alien law man who is determined to bring her to justice.

* A widowed rebel leader tries to save the last remnants of humanity, one stranger at a time.

From Earth to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, explore the worlds of Science Fiction Romance with stories from Linnea Sinclair, Marcella Burnard, Erica Hayes, Liana Brooks, Pippa Jay, Berinn Rae, Amy Laurens, and Kyndra Hatch.

Download TALES FROM THE SFR BRIGADE for free today. A TOP PICK by Night Owl Reviews!

The Reviewer said:
"I really enjoyed this compilation. None of them disappointed and most were downright stunning."

Summer Lovin’

I seem to say this every month, but man, this year is flying by! I can’t believe it’s almost June and I’ll be turning another year older!  :-o

Okay, let’s not dwell on that.  I think this year is flying by for me because I haven’t been so busy since my kids were in elementary school. Even then I didn’t know how to say “no”. hah 

Anyway, at the beginning of April was the Desert Dreams Conference which I, and author Heather Palmer, coordinated. I’m thrilled to say it was a roaring success!!  A couple of weeks after the conference, my husband and I did a weekend getaway for our 22nd anniversary and a couple of weeks after that we did a weekend fun-time (wink wink) for Mother’s Day.  The Saturday before Mother’s Day was actually Mexican Mother’s Day, so I took advantage of that. Hah  The days in between those events I was critiquing/editing my CP’s new book, which was due to her editor by May 1st, reading a screenplay for a friend of my daughter’s, giving a read to another friend, working on my new book Body & Soul and getting my latest book Dark Obsession ready for publication.  Yep, got all that done, including the launch of Dark Obsession on May 5th.  I really love this book and the characters, brother and sister, Ray and Sylvia Chavez who live with their grandparents in the Rio Grande Valley (Texas), because they’re so close to my heart.  And I love that they’re very popular with my readers.

But, now that the April and May activities are out of the way, it’s time to focus on the rest of the year….which is equally busy….but it’s just as much pleasure as business.  In June, the week of my birthday no less, I’ll be in Denver for the RomCom Conference. This is my first time to do this conference, which is like a mini version of RT, and I’m really looking forward to it.  After I get home from that, I’ll be working on details for RWA National’s Literacy Signing in San Antonio (July 23) because I’m chairing it again (for the 3rd year).  Although the week before the conference two of my kids and I will be driving across the US to Texas to visit friends and family. It’s been years since we've seen most of them!   A week after we get home I’ll be off to Vegas to celebrate my daughter’s twenty-first birthday!  *Whew!* Makes you tired just thinking about it, huh?

Of course I’ll also set aside time to complete my current novel and get in my summer reading!  Although, with the amount of books I have on my TBR list, I’m going to need more time.  This is just a small bookcase of books I haven’t read yet.

 What’s on your list? J

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

Hi everyone!
I am YA author B. A. Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline says it all - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

As a YA author of color (AOC) I have grown used to being unnoticed at writer's conferences. There is a reason I have stopped attending the national RWA (Romance Writers of America) conference, and have never gone to SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) although I am a long-time member of both organizations. I listen to editors, reviewers, readers and even other authors talk about how colorblind they are. All too often colorblind ends up equating to I don't even notice books about characters of color, or their authors.

During February, the CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) listserv took on the topic of diversity in books. CCBC is part of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (my old alma mater, although I graduated from the school of agriculture - seriously, I remember my Soil Science class fondly). The listserv filled with messages about the lack of diversity with more than 90% of the children's, MG and YA titles in the US featuring white protagonists. All too  many of the ethnic "extras" in these books are 2-dimensional, caricatures, or stereotypes.  And most are written by white authors.  I and other ethnic writers recounted the frequent experience of sitting at a conference booksigning and seeing people stop to talk to the authors on my left and right and practice that colorblind thing when it came to me.

It happened again at a booksigning last month. I am ever-hopeful and tried to reach out to the prospective buyers walking down the YA aisle. And it almost worked. Two white teens stopped,

picked up my books and read the back-covers. I admit I designed blurbs specifically to appeal to the teen eye. The brother and sister headed off to corral Mom, obviously the keeper of the funds. Mom came close enough to see me and to spy the black characters on the covers of my books. And that was that. I could see the kids pleading with her, but she would not come close enough to look at the books herself or to purchase one.

I almost went over to promise her there was nothing in the pages to damage her kids. Instead I sat, smiled, and watched her heard them away.

As I said, I am not the first YA or MG author of color who has experienced this, seen or heard white parents explain to their kids that "those books are not for you." And I hear how publishers and booksellers say there is no problem with so many titles featuring white casts, that kids of color should be colorblind because those books speak to universal themes and that is more important than them seeing themselves in the pages.

The books that interested the kids were:

• a teen dealing with the aftermath of domestic violence that left him in charge of his younger siblings and worried about his own future (Pull, a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers)
• teen boys in conflict with their fathers (Being God)
• an GLBT teen dealing with the loss of his boyfriend and feelings of being the only one of his kind (Minority Of One)

Obviously dangerous topics that could never have universal appeal.

For another side of the issue, checkout my post about what happened at a different conference, Romance Slam Jam 2014 - http://barbarabinns.com/2014/05/look-at-kids-and-see-why.html

That's why I support the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign.  To get more books like these in kids hands.

I hope you will consider doing the same.

Harlequin - A Canadian Success Story

by Madelle Morgan

"After nearly four decades of romance, Torstar Corp. and book publisher Harlequin are breaking up." - Linda Nguyen, the Canadian Press.

On May 2, 2014, Canadian media company Torstar announced the sale of Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. to the U.S.-based News Corp. for $455 million. Harlequin will become a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

Am I the only Canadian woman who felt a little weepy at the news?

Canadians are used to foreign companies swooping in to buy up successful Canadian companies. Our oil & gas companies, mining, forest products, retail and high tech companies are mostly foreign-owned subsidiaries.

Now Harlequin Enterprises is one of them. (Sniff.)

Harlequin is an icon to many Canadian women over fifty. We spent many snug evenings reading Harlequins while howling wind blew snow into massive drifts during long, freezing winters.

In our early teens we read sweet romances, because that's all there was. I discovered my first Harlequin romances at thirteen while babysitting, and had to read fast to finish the book before the parents returned.

A Few Milestones on the Road to Entrepreneurial Success

Harlequin was founded in 1949 by Richard Bonnycastle and a couple of partners in Winnipeg, a Canadian prairie city smack dab in the center of Canada. We have to thank two women - Richard's secretary and his wife Mary - who convinced him of the mass appeal of romance novels. Significantly, Winnipeg winters are extremely long and cold. Harlequin published its first medical romance in 1953.

In 1954 Mary Bonnycastle became Harlequin's chief editor. Three years later, Mary persuaded her husband to acquire the North American distribution rights for category romance novels published by the British company Mills & Boon.

Richard and Mary's son Dick Bonnycastle, Jr. took over the company in 1968 and grew Harlequin into an international public company. In 1972 Harlequin acquired (some say merged with) Mills & Boon, Britain's most successful publishing house at the time.

Mills & Boon had a number of popular authors, but Harlequin had the marketing expertise. Were you one of those teenagers who flipped through Harlequins racked in drug stores, scanning for the good parts?  Women who actually had money could subscribe and receive a bundle of new books by mail every month, saving themselves the embarrassment of purchasing romance novels in a store. The money rolled into Harlequin's coffers.

Torstar bought a controlling interest in Harlequin in 1975. By the 1980s Harlequin was the world's leading romance publisher, distributing books in several languages.

If interested, you can read more about Harlequin's history on Wikipedia and in the book The Merchants of Venus: Inside Harlequin and the Empire of Romance, by Paul Grescoe.

How Harlequin Influenced My Life

Early Harlequin novels empowered women, led me personally to believe that I could have any career I wanted. Back then most young women were encouraged to become nurses, teachers or secretaries. But why be a nurse when you could be a doctor?

Harlequin launched the Presents line in 1973. Those novels expanded my small world, allowing me to travel vicariously to exotic locations. Who else loved those Greek and Italian millionaires in the early Presents novels?

As I grew up, so did Harlequin. It began publishing hotter romance lines like Desire, Temptation and Blaze. The tag line below says it all: "The things you can learn from books these days..." Millions of satisfied men and women owe a huge debt of gratitude to Harlequin.

In my thirties I decided to write a Harlequin! I targeted my first novel to the Desire line. A Harlequin editor rejected it for good reason, 'cause it was unsalvageable. But not to despair. According to those Harlequin heroine role models, women can achieve anything they set their minds to. I joined an RWA chapter and kept writing and submitting until my fourth novel was published by Ellora's Cave, another innovative publisher.

How did Harlequin romance novels influence your life?

www.MadelleMorgan.com

Book Clubs are Goldmines

by Shobhan Bantwal

As an author, book clubs have always been my most valuable and gratifying resource.  The ones that have read my books are scattered all across the US and Canada. More recently, foreign book clubs have also discovered my novels.

In my humble opinion, book club and library group discussions  are livelier than other types of writer-reader interaction, more stimulating, especially if the members have already read one or more of my books. The questions they pose to me are so insightful that at times I am totally stunned at how deeply they have delved into my some of my stories and the characters' minds.

Best of all, book clubs are free advertising for budget-conscious authors like me. Once they latch on to an author's books, they create a healthy buzz.

I address book clubs in person, by invitation, if they are located within a 50-mile radius of my home. But many others, including from countries as far as South Africa, invite me to address them via Skype, which is a wonderful way to connect with them long-distance.

What kind of books do book clubs typically seek out? They want something unusual, stories they can sink their teeth into. I believe it is the unique ethnic Indian flavor of my books that appeal to them, what I call "Bollywood in a Book." Curious readers love learning about other cultures, their customs, languages, religious practices, cuisine, and clothing. I try to deliver all of the above, interwoven into dramatic, romantic stories.

Happy clubbers frequently recommend my books to friends and other clubs, which has even led to invitations to speak at large women's and non-profit organizations and fundraisers for women's causes. This is mainly because I cover hot-button women's issues in contemporary India, and readers are often deeply interested in controversial events in other cultures.

My advice to aspiring authors: book clubs are a priceless resource, so write something that will be of interest to them. Then go find them through your local libraries and bookstores, and contact them.

Remember, book clubs may not always translate into mega sales, but they are definitely goldmines for author branding and name recognition.

Website: www.shobhanbantwal.com   Facebook page.