Still Life 4 by nessguide (via Flickr)

Yes, it’s on again! For a chance to win some books, come and enter our Melbourne Cup sweep! Fancy hats optional.

Update: Numbers are up! We only got 14 entries this year, so I’ve doubled everyone up. Anyone who got a number over 24 won’t get a second horse, but they’ll automatically get a free book from our giveaway pile—lucky you! :-D Good luck, everyone!

Tomorrow we’re celebrating the Race That Stops The Nation and as has become our annual tradition at Book Thingo, we’re running a readers’ sweep.

Here’s how it works:

1. The first 24 people to comment here or tweet using the hashtag #btsweep are in. If you’re commenter #25, that’s okay—we’ll keep the comments open, and if we get another 24 people, we’ll run a second sweep.

2. Participants signing up via comments must do so before noon tomorrow (1/11/2011) AEDT to give me time to allocate your horses.

3. Participants signing up via Twitter must do so before midnight tonight (30/10/2011) AEDT to give me time to allocate your horses.

4. Only Australian participants are eligible, but overseas readers can wear fancy hats and join in spirit. (If you live overseas but can supply an Australian mailing address, that’s good enough.)

5. I’ll assign random numbers against each participant. The numbers will correspond to horses as per this list. The horse allocations will be posted on Book Thingo before 2pm AEDT tomorrow. The race starts at 3pm AEDT.

6. Each participant promises to send a book to the winner. The book can be a used book as long as it’s in good nick, and it has to be a book you’d actually recommend to someone (i.e. not from your DNF pile).

7. If, for some reason, the winning number wasn’t allocated to anyone, then whoever has the highest placing horse will be declared the winner.

I’ll announce the winner after the race (usually around 3pm AEDT). If you win, you’ll have to provide a mailing address to everyone who promised to send you a book. I’ll email you to get your details, then I’ll forward your details to everyone who entered, either via email or by sending them a private message on Twitter.

Consolation prizes: If your horse comes second, third or last, I’ll send you a book from our giveaway bag. I’ll email you to check your preferred genre.

Horse allocation

1 – Kasia
2 – Marg
3 – Bree
4 – Jill
5 – Danielle
6 – Nicole Murphy
7 – quentaris
8 – L
9 – Nikki
10 – Lianakay – SCRATCHED
11 – Jacki
12 – obsidiantears83
13 – bon@hk
14 – Christina
15 – Nikki
16 – Nicole Murphy
17 – Marg
18 – Jacki
19 – obsidiantears83
20 – L
21 – Bree
22 – quentaris
23 – Danielle
24 – Jill
N/A – bon@hk
N/A – Kasia
N/A – Christina
N/A – Lianakay

Here’s the random allocation. For the second list, I added 14 to the number in order to get the second horse.

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More at Book Thingo:

• Melbourne Cup readers’ sweep
• Melbourne Cup readers’ sweep 2010
• 2010 Melbourne Cup readers’ sweep winners

Photo: svilen001 (via Flickr)

Australian Australian genre fiction readers’ calendar

In an effort to keep track of events that may be of interest to me or to readers who visit Book Thingo, I’ve created a Google calendar of Australian events celebrating readers who love genre fiction.

This calendar will include author appearances, book signings, award ceremonies and festivals. I’ve also included general book-related celebrations, such as #spbkchat, the NYOR book club and general literary events where genre fiction features in the program.

You can see a list of upcoming events in the right sidebar on the blog (under the picture of the dying fairy). If you’re reading this blog via a mobile device, click here to view the calendar. It’s a public, so anyone can see it.

If you’d like me to include your event, please send an email to calendar@bookthingo.com.au and include the following information:

• Genre
• Name of the event
• Date of the event
• Time of the event (from/to)
• Venue
• Cost
• Booking contact information
• URL to link to more information

Please use text. I’m lazy and need to be able to cut and paste with ease.

Please do not send calendar info to other Book Thingo email accounts. I’ll update the calendar once a week, usually on Thursday night, so if you have an event coming up soon, please email me at least a week in advance.

The calendar’s focus is on events that will interest readers, so I won’t include writing workshops. I reserve the right to include only events I consider of interest to genre fiction readers.

New Erica Hayes paranormal romance series

It’s no secret that the Shadowfae series is in my autobuy list. Sadly, it looks like the series has been discontinued. Hayes announced on her blog that there will be no more Shadowfae books for the time being. Hayes has sold two books in a new paranormal series series featuring fallen angels, demons, an Apocalypse and a zombie plague.

I’ll be smug and admit I’ve read a beta version of the first book, Revelation, and I reckon if you like Nalini Singh’s archangels series, you should definitely check out this new series. It comes out in 2012.

But oh, sob for the demise of Shadowfae.

Kobo Vox tablet

Kobo has launched its new Android-based ebook reader that will compete dierctly with the Kindle Fire. It’s selling at US$199 but with specs that align more closely with the Nook. There’s no Australian release date yet, but according to this tweet by Malcolm Neil of Kobo Aus/NZ, an Australian announcement is imminent. (Sources: @malcolmneil and CNET Australia)

A library at OWS

Check out this article on the makeshift library that has been set up at Occupy Wall Street: A Library Occupies the Heart of the Occupy Movement. It talks up the role of libraries a bit, but it’s interesting read about how the OWS library deals with similar sorts of problems that all libraries face in a way that reflects the message and values (I think) of the OWS movement:

People at the library are incredibly gracious and welcoming. During my visit there this weekend, I detected no sense of “I’ve been here for days, who are you?” Quite the contrary. I was tasked with fixing any problem I saw and empowered to do anything I thought would help. The vast majority of people in Zuccotti Park were friendly, welcoming, and polite. There is a pervasive desire to see, seize, and solve problems—to make a personal contribution to this moment of history.

(Source: @PaulaGrunseit)

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More at Book Thingo:

• Tracey O’Hara and Erica Hayes book signing at Intrigue
• Book Bizzo #3 Library lovers, ABC Books in the clutches of the enemy, and a hell of a lot of events and freebies

ARRA has put out a call for Tasmanian romance readers to please contact the organisation. It might lead to a romance-related Tassie event. Please let them know you’re interested!

The Boomerang Bride in print

The Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe, featuring a fruit cake-toting Aussie bride-to-be, will be published in print through the Harlequin Reader Service in February 2012. (Unfortunately, this service isn’t available in Australia.) (Source: @FionaLowe)

Google ebook store coming to Australia

According to this article in The Bookseller, Google is planning to launch its ebook store in Australia ‘soon’. Not only will this provide competition, which is good for consumers, it may also help booksellers looking to get into the ebook market:

‘With Google eBooks, readers can access their books across a variety of devices; publishers have an open platform for selling their works; and booksellers have an easy-to-implement way to sell digital books in addition to their existing offering.’

From this article in Ausdroid, it sounds like Google Books combines the multi-device compatibility that we love about epub, and the pervasiveness we love about Kindle.

Dear Cover Artist

Jane from Dear Author has created a tumblog celebrating bad, bad, BAD covers. Okay, it’s more mockery than celebration, but…seriously. With a title such as How My Twin Soul Wife Became A Prostitute, can you blame her? And yes, it includes mainstream titles and authors.

My favourites are pixelated vampire junk, cowboy Flashdance and the magnificent pussy. You know they’re awesome just from reading that.

Possibly NSFW, because bad covers don’t use safe words.

Cost of shipping books

Eloise Keating posted this great article on Fancy Goods: Why is it cheaper to post a book from overseas than within Australia? Australia Post, the Royal Mail and the cost of shipping books.

BISG report

The Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG), commissioned by the government, has released its final report. You can download copies of the reports here. The Market Analysis Research Report is the main report, and the Digital Technologies in Australia’s Book Industry document is an overview of the Australian digital book industry.

There’s a lot to digest in the report, and I’m not sure I agree with all the conclusions, especially those drawn from the reader survey. But then, I’m not an industry expert either.

If you’ve read the report, what did you think? Did anything stand out, good or bad?

The Black Hand Ball

Fans of the Hush, Hush saga by Becca Fitzpatrick will have a chance to meet the author at one of three events during December. The Black Hand Ball will be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in December:

Sydney — Wed, Dec 7
Establishment Ballroom
6.30pm to 9.30pm

Melbourne  — Fri, Dec 9
State Library Vic
6.30pm to 9.30pm

Brisbane — Sat, Dec 10
State Library QLD
6pm to 9pm

Tickets are $45 via Ticketek. For more information, visit www.ilovepatch.com. Silence, the third book in the series, was released last week.

Ebooks @ Readings

I recently noticed that Readings now has ebooks on offer online. You can browse their catalogue at ebooks.readings.com.au. Sadly, there is no romance category in their list of collections. But perhaps this will come as no surprise to anyone.

Don’t trust the bookshelf

According to this article in the Mail Online, more than 1 in 2 Britons display literary classics on their bookshelves to impress people. The study was conducted by Lindeman’s wine; I’m not sure how well the research was designed.

GoneReading

I got an email from the founder of GoneReading, an online shop for reader-friendly gifts. According to their mission statement, the company donates all year-end profits into funding libraries and literacy projects in the developing world. I had a quick look around. They’re using CafePress and their blog only dates back to June of this year, so I’m guessing they’re relatively new. It seems like a good cause, but because they’re so new, I’d suggest doing your own research before purchasing, just to be sure.

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More at Book Thingo:

• Signing: The Black Hand Ball, Sydney (featuring Becca Fitzpatrick) — 7/12/2011
• Book Bizzo #14 The post-petition edition

If you’ve been to a local bookshop, you might have noticed the Get Reading! stickers on some of their books. These books are listed in the booklet 50 Books You Can’t Put Down, and if you buy a copy you’ll also get a free book!

Last year, the Get Reading! list included a few romance titles. This year, you’ll find Karly Lane’s romantic suspense novel, North Star, on the list. You might remember Lane as a panelist at this year’s Australian Romance Readers Convention.

Although not romance, the list includes titles that many genre readers will be familiar with, such as Suzanne Collins’s hugely popular The Hunger Games. This dystopian teen book is a fast-paced, unputdownable read and features a reality TV fight to the death. Be warned: it features a love triangle, which is not resolved until the third book.

The list also features some urban fantasy teen novels, such as Lament by Maggie Stiefvater, Bloodlines by Richelle Mead and Passion by LKate. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get a romantic happy ending, but if you can’t get enough of the paranormal, they might keep you riveted for quite some time!

Aside from encouraging people to buy more books, Get Reading! month is packed with activities and events for booklovers. Check out the events calendar to find out what’s happen at your local bookshops and libraries.

One of my favourite Get Reading! Initiatives is the Reading Room. The Reading Room is a reading oasis in the midst of urban life, where anyone is welcome to stop by and linger over books. The Reading Room will be travelling through Chatswood (NSW – Sept 1-4), Brisbane (Qld – Sept 9-11), Woden (ACT – Sept 14-17), Southland (Vic – Sept 19-22), and Moore Park (NSW – Sept 24-25).

If you’re stuck in a reading rut or going through a slump, you won’t find a better time to try something new. And if your reading is going gangbusters and you’re powering through your to-be-read pile, you’re in fantastic company this month.

For more information, visit the website, follow the tweets or join the Facebook page.

If I missed any romance titles listed in the guide, please let me know!

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More at Book Thingo:

• Get Reading! launch, ARRC 2011 round-ups, IASPR conference
• Get Reading! (Romance)

Aaaanyway. You want this book. You really do. Trust me.

Usually, our freebies are from review copies sent by the publisher or copies offered by the author. This time, I bought this book because it’s so awesome I want everyone to read it.

I know. I’m raising expectations and readers will be disappointed.

But no. It really is that awesome. Says I.

To give you an idea, here’s what I wrote about The Piper’s Son:

Months after I first picked up this book I was still thinking about it and digesting the story. It’s a much more accessible book than On The Jellicoe Road, but no less complex, exploring dark emotions and relationships and situations that are not easily unravelled. The story is very much character-driven, with internal and external issues colliding and creating friction and opportunities for self-destruction or healing.

But what I love most about this book—indeed all of Marchetta’s work—is that the progress towards mending broken relationships happens in almost unnoticeable increments that aren’t fully recognisable until after multiple rereads. This, more than anything else, speaks to the richness and depth of Marchetta’s prose.

I love this book.

You can read the full review here. (Pardon the squeeing.)

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More at Book Thingo:

• Author Appreciation Week – Melina Marchetta
• The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
• On The Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
• Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Reckless by Anne Stuart (The House Rohan, Book 2)

8/2011 — 9781921794186 — Mira — Excerpt
Historical romance

Adrian Alistair Rohan lost his faith, and now, a dedicated member of the depraved Heavenly Host, he loses himself in his only pleasure — the seduction and debauchery of beautiful women. Rich, charming and devastatingly skilled in the art of love, he never fails in his conquests…until Charlotte Spenser.

Charlotte is facing a desolate, passionless future, none of which matters to Adrian, who imagines her a toy until better prey arrives. But beneath her drab exterior, Charlotte is a woman as enchanting as she is brilliant and, lured into Adrian’s world, soon she becomes the seducer — and he the seduced…

Night of the Vampires by Heather Graham

8/2011 — 9781921794643 — Mira
Paranormal romance

As a soldier, Cole Granger fights to restore peace to a world divided by war and evil. His extraordinary talents are enlisted to prevent the President’s horrific premonition from becoming reality. Nothing — and no one — will stop him from fulfilling his duty. Especially not the mysterious young woman who claims to be his comrade’s sister. Enemy or ally, he can’t yet determine. But one thing he knows for certain is that he must keep her close. Very close.

Megan Fox’s quest to uncover a family secret leads her to the centre of vampire riots in West Virginia. To find the answers she needs — and clear herself of suspicion — she must join forces with Cole. They work undercover to bring justice, but they can’t disguise the potent attraction that draws them together. Yet trust doesn’t come easily for Cole…and when Megan unearths the grim, dark truth, can she trust him to believe her?

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (Goddess Test, Book 1)

8/2011 — 9781921794858 — Harlequin Teen
Teen fiction

It’s always been just Kate and her mum — but now her mother is dying. And when her dying wish is to move back to her childhood home, Kate agrees. So she starts at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear that her mother won’t live much longer.

Then she meets Henry. Dark, tortured and mesmerising. He claims to be Hades, the God of the Underworld. If Kate accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while she attempts to pass his tests.

Kate is certain Henry is crazy — until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems possible. If she succeeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride — and a goddess.

But if she doesn’t…

Embraced by Blood by Laurie London (Sweetblood, Book 2)

8/2011 — 9781921794193 — Mira — Excerpt
Paranormal romance

Deep within the forests of the Pacific Northwest, two vampire coalitions battle for supremacy — Guardian enforcers who safeguard humanity, and Darkbloods, rogues who kill like their ancient ancestors.

Alfonso Serrano is a hunted man. For months he’s managed to elude the Darkbloods, vengeful foes who won’t rest until he’s dead. But he still craves one dangerous temptation — Lily DeGraff, the sexy Guardian agent he’ll risk anything to protect.

Lily is a wanted woman. Her talent for tracking Sweet — a rare blood type that’s addictive to vampires — makes her a prime target. Her only hope is the stealthy vampire operative who stole into her bed…then left her in despair. Danger aside, Lily won’t let Alfonso near her heart again — until an irresistible hunger threatens to draw them back together…and into an assassin’s snare.

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More at Book Thingo:

• Monday Mailbag: July releases from Mills & Boon
• Monday Mailbag: January 2011
• Monday Mailbag: March 2011
• Monday Mailbag: Random ARCs in my TBR
• Monday Mailbag: Simon & Schuster books in my TBR

Photo: svilen001 (via Flickr)

Kelley Armstrong events

Thu, Aug 11 — Sun, 14 — Romance Writers Conference
Mon, Aug 15 — Dymocks Collins St, 6.30pm
Tue, Aug 16 — Galaxy Bookshop, 5.30pm
Wed, Aug 17 — Dymocks George Street, 12.30pm

(Source: Media release)

Maria V. Snyder — Updated list of public events

Thu, Aug 4 — Byron Bay Writers Festival, 11am – 11.45am: Vampires VS Gritty Realism
Sat, Aug 6 — Byron Bay Writers Festival, 4pm – 5pm: They’re Growing up – Writing for Youth” Sun, Aug 7 — Byron Bay Writers Festival, 1pm – 2pm: Where does YA Begin? Adult Themes for Young Readers
Sun, Aug 7 — Byron Bay Writers Festival, 4.15pm – 4.45pm: Maria V Snyder
Mon, Aug 8 — Dymocks Brisbane City, 5.30pm: Talk and signing
Tue, Aug 9 — Readings Hawthorn, 5pm
Wed, Aug 10 – Werribee Plaza Library (with Collins Booksellers), 5pm: Talk and signing
Thu, Aug 11 — Target Melbourne City, 3.30pm
Thu, Aug — Rendezvous, The Romance Bookstore, 6pm
Mon, Aug 15 — Kinokuniya Bookshop, 6pm
Tue, Aug 16 — Dymocks George Street, 5pm
Wed, Aug 17 — Galaxy Bookshop, noon
Wed, Aug 17 — Ultimo Library, 5.30pm: Storms & Magic: Controlling the forces of…fiction

(Source: Media release)

Lauren Kate events

Lauren Kate is doing a book tour for her latest release, and she’s scheduled to do a whole heap of signings. It might be easier just to check out the Facebook site for a list of events.

Librarians who take risks

(Are the best kind!) Ned Potter over at thewikiman posted his thoughts on ‘bravery based’ librarianship. It’s a bit librarian-nerdy, but I think it would be very interesting for readers who frequently visit the library. Innovative librarians make books fun. (Source: @VaVeros)

When genres attack! 2

Claire Zorn posted a recap of the second When Genres Attack! session hosted by Shearers Bookshop. The discussion included issues such as expectations on heroines, how female authors are marketed and gender bias in literary awards. From the recap, the panel seems to have covered many of the same ground that Romancelandia has been bemoaning for a while. There’s a slightly snooty tone around romance (your mileage may vary, but it was a panel on genre) and it’s telling that although the panel’s topic seems to be a perfect fit for romance there’s not a single romance genre author on the panel. (The official When Genres Attack blog is less likely to make romance readers’ heads explode.)

I thought about writing an entire post to talk about Zorn’s recap, but it annoyed me even to think about it, so I settled for a comment. Maybe I should just stop reading articles on literary blogs when they’re talking romance. Because clearly, they don’t have a clue and are quite happy that way.

I so wish I could’ve attended this talk. Armed with the skankiest romance book cover I can find. Next time…

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Remember that exciting news I mentioned on Twitter last week? It’s been difficult not to spill the beans, but now I can finally officially welcome Envyious to our team of regular bloggers at Book Thingo!

I’ve been thinking of inviting more people to join our group of regular bloggers for a while now, but it wasn’t until I looked at all my unread review copies that I realised there was no way Decadence, Wandergurl and I could possibly get through them. Plus, I’ve known for a while that we needed another blogger whose reading palette includes books that the three of us wouldn’t typically select.

Some of you may know Envious from Twitter, or you may have met her at ARRC, and if so you would know that she’s an avid reader, works for a bookshop, and writes entertaining reviews. (She was a finalist in the Readers Challenge for ARRC 2011 with her review of Dream Master by Maggie Nash.)

As a bonus, Envyious is based in Melbourne, so hopefully we can cover more events outside of Sydney.

But most of all, she’s totally awesome and we’re very excited to have her on board! Her first review goes up tomorrow, so watch this space. In the meantime, feel free to throw some virtual cheers her way. :D

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Kelly Hunter giveaway winner

Congratulations to obsidiantears83, who won our giveaway of Red-Hot Renegade by Kelly Hunter. She chose Captain Thunderbolt as the renegade who would make a fantastic romance hero:

Captain Thunderbolt. Every time I drive through Uralla, in the New England ranges, I wonder what his life story was actually like, because it is so romanticsed. There is also Thunderbolt’s Boulder just outside town where he used to hide out. He was a horse theif and was arrested, did hard labour, and then his wife’s helped him escape. They became bushrangers and lived hard, mostly between the hunter valley and the new england.

Top 10 things romance oversells

Julie of Gypsy in my soul lists of some of the most unrealistic things we might encounter in romance. And she does it with love for the genre. Hilarious. (Source: @VaVeros)

Storms & magic: controlling the forces of…fiction

Details of Maria V. Snyder’s talk at Ultimo Library is up on the City of Sydney website. It’s on Wednesday, August 17 from 6pm. The event is free, but you need to contact the library to make a booking. Click here for more details. (Source: @VaVeros)

World Cafe Readers’ Evening at Ashfield Library

On Thursday night, Ashfield will be holding what sounds to me like a…library fete? Genre specialists will be talking about their areas of interest and there will be live performances. If you’re a Twitter regular, you might know Vassiliki (@VaVeros), and if you’re an SFF junkie, you might recognise Sofia from Galaxy Bookshop. The event starts at 7pm and goes for an hour. Click here for details (PDF).

NZ author Soraya Lane featured in Woman’s Weekly

Check out New Zealand Woman’s Weekly’s article on Mills & Boon author Soraya Lane: My Mills and Boon dream came true. (Source: @MillsandBoonAus)

Romance at Random

Random House has launched Romance at Random, a blog devoted to all things romance. Check out the guest posts written by various romance bloggers. They’re generating some very interesting discussions.

Gollancz to launch SF Gateway

Gollancz (the SFF imprint of Orion, which is owned by Hachette) is launching the SF Gateway, which will make out-of-print titles digitally available. The aim is to build up up a collection of up to 3000 ebooks by the end of next year and 5000 by 2014.  As Marc Aplin at Fantasy Faction points out: ‘If you read one book a week…it would take you over 96 years to read them all. So, Gollancz are effectively supplying you with a life time’s worth of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature; what could be more exciting than that?’ Indeed! You can read Hachette’s media release here (PDF), which includes a list of authors under contract so far.

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More at Book Thingo:

• Book Bizzo #1 Rugby meets romance, romantic comedies lead to divorce, and lazy cooks outnumber romance readers
• Author events, librarians who take risks and attacking genre
• Monday Mailbag: Random ARCs in my TBR

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts

4/2011 — 9780749952181 — Piatkus
Romantic suspense

Rowan Tripp is addicted to danger. She’s been fighting the annual forest fires in the rugged Montana mountains since she was eighteen years old. She can read a wildfire like no one else—and is prepared to put her life on the line again and again to save others. But now she is mourning the death of her good friend and jump partner, Jim—and haunted by the fact that she might have been able to save him.

More pressing is the fact that the new season’s recruits to the ‘smoke-jumping’ team need to be trained. Rowan has a strict rule: NEVER get romantically involved with anyone she works with. But the moment she meets Gull Curry that rule is severely tested. And when it becomes clear that someone does blame Rowan for Jim’s death, and is determined to get revenge, Rowan finds that she needs Gull’s help and support more than ever…

The Double-Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood (The Nowhere Chronicles, Book 1)

11/2010 — 9780575095793 — Gollancz
Teen fantasy

Finmere Tingewick Smith was abandoned on the steps of the Old Bailey. Under the guardianship of the austere Judge Harlequin Brown and the elderly gentlemen of Orrery House, Fin has grown up under a very strange set of rules. He spends alternate years at two very different schools and now he’s tired of the constant lies to even his best friends, to hide the insanity of his double life. Neither would believe the truth!

But on his sixteenth birthday, everything changes. The Judge is killed, stabbed in the chest with a double-edged sword that’s disturbingly familiar, and from that moment on, Fin is catapulted into an extraordinary adventure. Through the Doorway in Fin’s London, a hole in the boundaries of Existence, lies another London – and now both are in grave danger. For the Knights of Nowhere have kidnapped the Storyholder, the keeper of the Five Eternal Stories which weave the worlds together.

Old School Ties by Kate Harrison

1/2010 — 9781409102335 — Orion
Commercial fiction

Your school days are supposed to be the best days of your life – and Tracey Mortimer has no argument with that. Sixteen years ago she was the most popular girl in school, ruled her own gang and dated the cutest boy in her year. Now it’s all rather different: she’s 33, stuck in a dull marriage that’s only tolerable because her husband is rarely at home. And although she dearly loves her two children, a life of kids TV and alphabetti spaghetti is hardly exciting…

Then Tracey spots an advert from a TV company wanting to make a reality-style show on a perfect school reunion—giving Tracey the chance to re-live the good old days. But not all her old school classmates remember their school days quite as Tracey does.
Tracey made Suzanne Sharp’s life hell—so what better way to get her own back than revenge, live on national television…

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

11/2010 — 9781409123798 — Orion
Historical paranormal fiction

January 1937. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to change his life. So when he’s offered the chance to be the wireless operator on an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it.

Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year. Gruhuken.

But the Arctic summer is brief. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. Soon he will see the last of the sun, as the polar night engulfs the camp in months of darkness. Soon he will reach the point of no return—when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. But Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark.

Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy

10/2010 — 9781409113973 — Orion — Excerpt (PDF)
Commercial fiction

Noel and Lisa are among the most supportive parents at the nursery school. Never late to pick up their little girl, always patient and delighted to see her at the end of the day. But in fact neither of them are Frankie’s parents. They have no blood relationship at all to this little girl. They are there first because of a promise and they stayed because Frankie had become a life-line to them both. She was the only reason their lives stayed on track and because of her they found the strength to fight their demons.

The problem was keeping this secret far from the eyes and ears of the social workers. If it were known that Noel was an alcoholic and Lisa a serious fantasist Frankie would not remain another day in their care. And yet if she were to be taken away, lives would be destroyed.

Families are changing all the time—why not give this one a chance? Because the law is against it, that’s why.

This article was published by Book Thingo via RSS. If you're not reading this through your feedreader or via a Feedburner email subscription, please report it to us using this contact form. Thank you.

More at Book Thingo:

• Monday Mailbag: July releases from Mills & Boon
• Monday Mailbag: Simon & Schuster books in my TBR