Elizabeth Hoyt's Blog, page 8
August 5, 2010
WICKED INTENTIONS is Out!
WICKED INTENTIONS, the first book in my new Maiden Lane series is in stores now!To celebrate, I have several updates to my website:
* A Makepeace Family Tree
*
A sneak peek at my next book, NOTORIOUS PLEASURES (mouse over the cover to see the stepback!)* And a new website contest featuring a chance to win my Legend of the Four Soldiers quartet and a $50 bookstore gift card!
Enjoy!
March 28, 2010
RITAs!
Every year I wait anxiously by the phone for RITA news…but this year I got not just one, but two calls. I’m pleased to announce that both To Beguile a Beast and my contemporary romance, For the Love of Pete (written as Julia Harper) have finaled in the Romance Writers of America’s RITA contest!
For the Love of Pete
To Beguile a Beast
For the Love of Pete
To Beguile a Beast
March 3, 2010
Adventures With Google Translate
I was most excited this week to hear that all my books have sold to a Turkish publisher and that my French language publisher has bought my books through To Desire a Devil! For those counting, this makes ten languages that my books are translated into.
For some reason I find foreign sales especially exciting. First, I usually receive copies of the foreign editions and I get to marvel at the artwork on the cover and thumb through it looking for words (if any) that I can recognize. Secondly–and perhaps more importantly–I receive foreign reader mail! Here I must confess that I was one of those nerdy school children who loved writing to pen pals–especially pen pals who lived in exotic (to me) locals. I can’t tell you how excited I get to open an email and find out it came from…Trinidad! Or Thailand! Or Switzerland!
Most foreign readers have an astonishing command of the English language and will write me in English. Some write me in their own language. This is where the internet is truly wonderful. Where fifteen years ago I might have had to hunt down a person who knew, for instance, Italian, now I can simply copy and paste an email into one of the free online translators and voila! all is made clear.
And then I began getting emails in Turkish.
I think some cultures are more interested in writing to authors than others. I’ve received email from most European countries, only a few from South America and none–none!–from Japan, despite having two books published there. (Why, Japan, why?) But the Turkish have surpassed all previous countries in writing reader mail to me, personally. And I love it! Except…there are these little squiggles (not a technical term) on many of the Turkish letters, and the squiggled letters are entirely replaced by boxes or question marks in my email. Which means that quite a lot of the reader’s letter is lost when I plug it into an online translator.
Still, an author must persevere. I reply to all my reader mail, no matter how unintelligible it might be to me. The only problem? I’m writing back in English and I have a sneaking suspicion that the translation errors work both ways.
And finally in other news, To Desire a Devil has finaled in the 2nd annual Australian Romance Readers Awards in the Favourite Historical Romance category. Woot!
For some reason I find foreign sales especially exciting. First, I usually receive copies of the foreign editions and I get to marvel at the artwork on the cover and thumb through it looking for words (if any) that I can recognize. Secondly–and perhaps more importantly–I receive foreign reader mail! Here I must confess that I was one of those nerdy school children who loved writing to pen pals–especially pen pals who lived in exotic (to me) locals. I can’t tell you how excited I get to open an email and find out it came from…Trinidad! Or Thailand! Or Switzerland!
Most foreign readers have an astonishing command of the English language and will write me in English. Some write me in their own language. This is where the internet is truly wonderful. Where fifteen years ago I might have had to hunt down a person who knew, for instance, Italian, now I can simply copy and paste an email into one of the free online translators and voila! all is made clear.
And then I began getting emails in Turkish.
I think some cultures are more interested in writing to authors than others. I’ve received email from most European countries, only a few from South America and none–none!–from Japan, despite having two books published there. (Why, Japan, why?) But the Turkish have surpassed all previous countries in writing reader mail to me, personally. And I love it! Except…there are these little squiggles (not a technical term) on many of the Turkish letters, and the squiggled letters are entirely replaced by boxes or question marks in my email. Which means that quite a lot of the reader’s letter is lost when I plug it into an online translator.
Still, an author must persevere. I reply to all my reader mail, no matter how unintelligible it might be to me. The only problem? I’m writing back in English and I have a sneaking suspicion that the translation errors work both ways.
And finally in other news, To Desire a Devil has finaled in the 2nd annual Australian Romance Readers Awards in the Favourite Historical Romance category. Woot!
May 1, 2009
Elizabeth on Fairy Tales
I've got a new book out today--To Beguile a Beast--which is based on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale (bet you didn't see that one coming!)
I'm often asked why I'm so interested (read: obsessed) with fairy tales. Ususally I respond with a well reasoned "Erm..." But today I thought I'd give a shot at a slightly more eloquent answer. So here goes:
Fairy tales, myths, and legends are storytelling at its most basic. There's no room for character development. Dialogue, setting, and description are all usually very sketchy. What remains are stories in which the fat has been removed; underneath are bare, beautiful bones in which it’s easy to trace motif, themes, and morality—especially morality.
I like to use fairy tales in my books to highlight or reflect what's going on in the main story. In To Beguile a Beast the fairy tale is a version of "Beauty and the Beast" but with a twist--the "beast" is a woman...and the hero has a few surprises of his own.
I hope you enjoy it!
Elizabeth
www.elizabethhoyt.com
I'm often asked why I'm so interested (read: obsessed) with fairy tales. Ususally I respond with a well reasoned "Erm..." But today I thought I'd give a shot at a slightly more eloquent answer. So here goes:
Fairy tales, myths, and legends are storytelling at its most basic. There's no room for character development. Dialogue, setting, and description are all usually very sketchy. What remains are stories in which the fat has been removed; underneath are bare, beautiful bones in which it’s easy to trace motif, themes, and morality—especially morality.
I like to use fairy tales in my books to highlight or reflect what's going on in the main story. In To Beguile a Beast the fairy tale is a version of "Beauty and the Beast" but with a twist--the "beast" is a woman...and the hero has a few surprises of his own.
I hope you enjoy it!
Elizabeth
www.elizabethhoyt.com
February 27, 2009
Chapter 2 of THE ICE PRINCESS
The second chapter of THE ICE PRINCESS is up on my website now! THE ICE PRINCESS is a FREE novella I'll be writing all through 2009 with a monthly new chapter. Here's what it's about:
SEVEN NIGHTS OF SIN
As the madam of Aphrodite’s Grotto, the most infamous brothel in London, Coral Smythe knows everything possible about men’s needs and desires. Yet she’s never experienced the love of a single man—not even that of Captain Isaac Wargate whose hawk-like eyes stare at her with both condemnation…and lust.
SEVEN NIGHTS OF ECSTASY
Captain Wargate heartily disapproves of the sensuous madam who always wears a golden mask. She lures his officers from both his ship and their duty. But when Coral herself is offered up as the prize in a game of chance, Wargate impulsively enters…and wins.
SEVEN NIGHTS OF LOVE
Now the puritanical navy captain has just seven nights to learn everything he can about the mysterious madam and what she knows of a man’s desires. But when Coral is threatened by the new owner of Aphrodite’s Grotto, will Wargate take a chance on the woman beneath the mask…and on love?
Enjoy!
Elizabeth Hoyt
www.elizabthhoyt.com
SEVEN NIGHTS OF SIN
As the madam of Aphrodite’s Grotto, the most infamous brothel in London, Coral Smythe knows everything possible about men’s needs and desires. Yet she’s never experienced the love of a single man—not even that of Captain Isaac Wargate whose hawk-like eyes stare at her with both condemnation…and lust.
SEVEN NIGHTS OF ECSTASY
Captain Wargate heartily disapproves of the sensuous madam who always wears a golden mask. She lures his officers from both his ship and their duty. But when Coral herself is offered up as the prize in a game of chance, Wargate impulsively enters…and wins.
SEVEN NIGHTS OF LOVE
Now the puritanical navy captain has just seven nights to learn everything he can about the mysterious madam and what she knows of a man’s desires. But when Coral is threatened by the new owner of Aphrodite’s Grotto, will Wargate take a chance on the woman beneath the mask…and on love?
Enjoy!
Elizabeth Hoyt
www.elizabthhoyt.com
