Many of my favorite and much missed authors have already been mentioned (Laura Kinsale, Jennifer Crusie, Cecilia Grant, Connie Brockway). Try not to be discouraged. She wrote a couple of SF romances that I loved and it seemed she planned for more that universe that just never materialized. I am not angry with the authors because they are not the reason this has happened and I am angry at the editors and publishers who have decided that this is what sells without asking what readers really want because if they did it might suprise them. Id love to read some but I dont know of anyone doing research on this area. What a walk down memory lane! It is so wonderful. "How kind of you to confirm what I already know. It had been optioned by BBC as a series, but I dont think that ever happened. Personally, I am not interested in her YA series. Its crazy to open a book and find, as you say, a 19th century bluestocking blogger, although that sounds like a great time travel romance. Her sister is S.J. Several of you commented how much you miss her work and shared your hopes that shell return to writing romance. Longer doesnt always mean better or denser or more interesting or more critical, etc. Her website has been all but abandoned and nothing on Twitter since . I most miss two who died, Roberta Gellis and Edith Layton, most. The more books the better! She also purposefully writes only middle-aged heroines because she tries to disrupt stereotypes of ageism in our culture. I also agree that basing trends on what I choose to read or what attracts me is a very narrow lens. And, in the meantime, Ill console myself with all the wonderful contemporaries that have come out recently and hunt down every obscure, out-of-print historical I can get my hands on. I tend to become disenchanted with authors long before they stop writing. Thats not meant, by the way, to be an exhaustive list, just ones that I personally know are well read and followed. I agree with the literary sensibility you mention to characterize authors like Duran, Ivory, Bourne, Grant, etc. I can observe it. , I was thrilled to see the news of Loretta Chases next book but at the same time, Im nostalgic for a year (like the early 2010s) when Duran, Grant, Thomas, and Chase each had a book coming out & they were the commanding presence in historical romance. Sometimes books between 3-5 hours are priced around $10. And Im very grateful for AAR because I may have never known that Meljean Brook was back as Milla Vane. But the concern is, sadly, reasonable. Just by looking at Top 100 lists on Amazon in a particular book category over a set period of time, I can observe current trends. I also miss authors like Nonnie St. George and Nita Abrams who seemed to come and go in a flash of brilliance. As for books priced less than a dollar, again, thats not too uncommon for the kinds of shorts that self-pubbers crank out. Enjoys both carpe diem and the fish of the day. I am a fan of the Charlotte Holmes series and Ive found Thomass feminist interpretation of the iconic detective to be unique and a welcome addition to the canon. At the same time, the plots are both slow and dense. Date of Incorporation: September 19, 1908 Services Provided: Police, fire and paramedics, sewer, public works, planning, building inspection, economic development, parks and recreation, library, senior services, daycare Area: 9.5 square miles Population: 67,078 (CA Department of Finance 2019). I also miss Cara McKenna and Charlotte Stein. Do you know of any data or scholarship on this? The beauty of self publishing is that you can really find anything -and lots of it nowadays. And although Ruthie Knox was never in my Pantheon of favorite writers, Ive enjoyed a number of her books and I dont think shes published anything in a while either. Now, the problem with this rule is that you will find a huge range of $2.99 stories anywhere between about 3,000 and 20,000 words. Thank you for bringing up how authors are often forced to alter characters, major plot points, and word counts in order to fit into an industry standard box rather than telling the best possible original story. After having loved a few of hers in the past, I struggled with the last three as they had themes that didn't really resonate with me. meredith duran hiatus? I believe if I read the interview right she was all but forced by her editor to write contemporary and I understand if the voice does not sound right because the voice fits a historical not going make the contemporary sound right. Zombies arent really my thing, but Im glad Stein is still publishing. Some authors though endure and write consisently well or even better as they age. Its self-published? People are finally realizing that self-published books and indie presses are not only respectable but often put out superior content to the Big 5. I am not trying to start a flame war but I can be blunt at times and after 20 years of this I have enough. Likewise, Im not pleased by certain narratives, so I dont have to read (or write) them. So she is writing but in a different genre, at least for this one. I received an email from her recently in which she shared that health issues were slowing her writing, but she has not stopped permanently.. No one is forcing them to read your book, and the fact they can sit around all day just itching to be offended by something tells you something about their characters. Holy Roman Empire which is modern day Germany which can be tiggering to some people and the last thing I want to do is spend sereval hours day on social media defending myself because someone is pissed off I would rather have the marketing department of a publsiher deal with it. Good luck! I am anticipating an m/f story rewritten with two men, to be honest. See Photos. It was not a bad book (I really dont think Kati is capable of writing a bad book), but there were certain word choices and the way dialogue was presented that I felt were definitely driven by the fact that the book would be HEARD before it would be READ. Id call it a variation of the young person interviews old person rather than letting the old person tell her own story trope. but for several years she has only been publishing short stories and smaller books part of series. Now that Ive put this all down, it feels depressing. The Meljean revival has been wonderful and encouraging. The heroine was only a couple of years older than me but I could tell by the clothing choices and social manners of the heroine that the writer was much older. Find your friends on Facebook. Meredith Duran Author (2018) A Lady's Code of Misconduct Rules for the Reckless (Series) Meredith Duran Author (2017) What Happens Under the Mistletoe Sabrina Jeffries Author Karen Hawkins Author (2015) Fool Me Twice Meredith Duran Author (2014) Luck Be a Lady Rules for the Reckless (Series) Meredith Duran Author (2015) Your Wicked Heart First, I think skepticism and concrete data seeking are healthy behaviors, but I dont discount the power of observation. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()), document.getElementById("ak_js_2").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()). I know we will never agree on this point before Doomsday, but art can definitely exist for arts sake without an inherent agenda beyond pleasure. She was an auto-buy for years! img.scaleToMaxWidth(385); Did publishers study what was selling well in their lines and decide it was the most profitable? It seem like most historicals are set in Faux Regency/Victorian England with usually with hero who is either angry or has emotional problems and is Duke in most cases with a heroine who either a pargon of virture or is so modern that is jarring and all they seem to do is agrue, make love, agrue more, deal with his emotional issues and figure that they suddenly love each other and that the end. I know Dangerfield wasnt to everyones taste (theres usually more than a little kink in all of her books), but I loved her combination of heat, heart, and humor. From a business standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. Im getting worried that Loretta Chase might be nearing retirement. sort by * Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. Its hard to say. Havent read any of her books, but I thought her story about why she quit writing for Harlequin, even though she enjoyed it, was interesting. I listened to audios for both just in the last year. Another pet peeve of mine is when an author feels the need to make a historical story more relevant by employing that wonky dual perspectives trope between old person reflecting on life and young person reporting about it. Her other books include RITA award winner Fool Me Twice and her February 2017 release, A Lady's Code of Misconduct, which was called one of the best romances of the year by BookList and Amazon, and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, the latter of which opined: This book weaves its spell so thoroughly that the most fortunate reader will be the one who has time to read the entire thing in one sitting. H. MEREDITH DURAN blames Anne Boleyn for sparking her lifelong obsession with British history. . I also miss Elizabeth Lowell, her westerns (both historical and modern day) were wonderful. Yes, agree about Judith Duncan; I loved her books set in the Canadian wide open spaces. Does anyone know if Karyn Monk and Isolde Martyn are still writing? This is not the only example. I am perhaps a little naive about the online community as I dont get involved with social media, e.g. It seems that these days most single titles are arround 80k and that means that you can not do as much with the plot as you used be able to do. I miss Liz Carlyle and Susan Carroll both of whom wrote meaty, complex books. I make quilts because at some point during the process of stitching I know/realize this is the essence of what will be left of me for several generations. I am unlikely to listen to this one though, even though I love both narrators, because Im not enjoying any of her work right now. Publishing a disproportionate number of Regencies probably keeps them afloat. I think the great talent Barbara Metzger has/had is that she can make me laugh. And there are some authors who have lost the spark for me, I think their previous books were better than what theyre publishing now, and I do try their new stories but they end up always as bad to ok books. Much like music, the people who sign authors or artists determine the trends, although happily, with self publishing, there are more options. Bourne has definitely been working on a new book because she had posted a few things about it over the years its a Medieval setting, which is quite a departure from her Regency spy works. I hear that the pusbliers what diversity if they want that they want that to take place need to allow the longer books because you can do things like have diverse settings more context to explain things and to explore issues that can come up and to have more interesting stories with richer storytelling in general. julie James, I miss her contemporary romances. I was definitely aware of some of the chances Harlequin takes, like the conquistador and native romance you mentioned. Ivory had such a unique voice and I havent found anyone like her. Sorry for typos. It seemed like I had waited years for Severines story when it finally came out. Likewise, Im not pleased by certain narratives, so I dont have to read (or write) them. $j("#generalRegPrompt").hide(); And another who I periodically check on is Katherine Allred. Ah, I didnt know that she was no longer writing. I reread The Roselynde Chronicles occasionally. I miss Lynn Viehl. And yet, many if not most of the authors I read are reviewed her. Shes on Twitter and never mentions writing. Maybe that helped with the relative speed then (even though she was never the fastest writer) or she had some already written. Shes also intentionally writing for the audio market, so her books are heavy on dialogue and less on narrative passages. Sphere of Influence: Boundaries of 1976 plus Country Club Park, California Golf Club, and . I dont know why I have to go through so much tsuris (I think thats the right word meaning a whole lot of shit) but after throwing out the last third of the book and rewriting it I finally got it to a state thats actually quite delightful. Publishers, too often, deal with it, by forcing authors to make alterations, theatrical apologies, or dropping them like a hot potato to make themselves look virtuous. Another fan commented on Tor.com in 2019 that Robin has suspended her blog and was working on the sequels to Pegasus. Harlequin Historicals submission page on Submittable says this: Regency, Highlanders, Vikings, Medieval are most popular amongst our readers globally. I worry that the reason I find less and less of the type of historical romance that I like is because I have aged out of the the current style. Many other I miss have been mentioned already. There isnt a single one of her books I havent enjoyed. I think McKenna said writing wasnt fun anymore and took a job in another field (I know her children are still fairly young too, so perhaps the decision to stop writing was also driven by family concerns). Three of AAR's publishers are buzzing - literally - about Bound by Your Touch, Meredith Duran's new historical novel to be released at the end of June. I still have that one on the old keeper shelf. Thats interesting about Avon. While some of the writers I enjoyed are younger than I am, like Meredith Duran, I worry that that style is not current enough to attract a twenty something market. Meredith has previously lived at 1030 North St, Longwood, FL 32750. This trend is actually quite easy to observe if you look through the Harlequin Historical Romance online catalog. She has a stable of narrators that she rotates through her books, bringing in new ones on a regular basis. We have a national election headed our way in months. MEREDITH DURAN blames Anne Boleyn for sparking her lifelong obsession with British history. They need to make a living, but I expect a fair value for my money. I remember when Chick Lit really burst into the contemporary book scene years ago and how much it was derided. In her B+ review, Blythe said: Fool Me Twice is easily my favorite Duran book of the last few years. Im not saying listening to a book is an inferior experience to reading it, but I do think there are different elements at play for a listener versus a reader. Thankfully, self-publishing doesnt bear the stigma that it once did. Certainly she requires no help from a too-handsome dilettante whose main achievement is being scandalous.
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