Events
Tracey O'Hara (Winner, R*BY Award -- Romantic Elements)
There was no shortage of glamour in last night’s Romance Book of the Year (R*BY) awards where Sophia James took out the top prize in Australian romance fiction, winning the Long Romance category for Mistletoe Magic (in Christmas Betrothals, Mills & Boon/Quills), beating Christine Wells and romance veteran Stephanie Laurens, who was nominated twice in the category.
Tracey O’Hara received the R*BY in the Romantic Elements category, which goes to novels of any length or genre in which romance plays a significant—though not necessarily a central—-role in the story. Her book, Night’s Cold Kiss (HarperCollins/Eos), was the only speculative fiction work shortlisted for the R*BY.
Authors, Books, Events
The finalists for this year’s Romance Book of the Year (R*BY) Awards have been announced. Congratulations on the finalists and good luck!
Long Romance Category
Mistletoe Magic by Sophia James
Mastered by Love by Stephanie Laurens
Temptation and Surrender by Stephanie Laurens
Wicked Little Game by Christine Wells
Events
Because ARRA members just wanna have fun. (And read!)
The Awards dinner was excellent. I’d never heard of Cello’s Restaurant before, but it’s a beautiful venue—although the lifts are a challenge if you’re the least bit claustrophobic. High ceilings, chandeliers, and even a grand piano to the side—it’s just reeked of old world romance.
If you follow us on Twitter, you’ll know that Tracey O’Hara issued a challenge that eventually resulted in a call for a bling off at the Australian Romance Readers Awards dinner. And do you know what I love most about my fellow ARRA members? They said, Bring it!
You can see photos of the bling off here and here. (I’m missing a lot of blinged out people, though, so let me know if you have any more links!)
Sadly, I got carried away and left my outfit shopping so late I turned up to dinner, well, quite UNfashionably late. Others also suffered for the sake of bling and leather, with stories of shoes superglued to the kitchen floor, the case of the killer heels, and last-minute (more)
Events
The 2009 Australian Romance Readers Award dinner is on this Saturday at Cello Restaurant in Sydney.
Today is the last day for registrations, so if you’ve let it ’til the last minute or are on the fence about coming along—make sure you register today. Click here for details and a list of finalists.
The guest speaker is Nalini Singh, but there will be many other authors coming along to the dinner. It’s a great way to have a chat with some of your favourites!
Are you coming along? If so, let me know in the comments. It’d be great to catch up with Book Thingo readers.
RWAus author signing
Romance Writers of Australia has announced the author signing at this year’s conference in Coogee. The book signing is jointly organised by ARRA and will be held at (more)
Events
The Romance Writers of Australia has announced the winners of their 2009 contests and awards. A big CONGRATULATIONS to the finalists and winners!
R*BY awards
The Romantic Book of the Year Award—more commonly known as the R*BY or Ruby Award—is awarded to the best romance book published the previous year by an Australian or New Zealand romance author, as voted on by Australian readers. More details on the RWA website.
Short Sweet — Marion Lennox (His Island Bride)
Short Sexy — Trish Morey (The Italian Boss’s Mistress of Revenge)
Long Romance — Anne Gracie (The Stolen Princess)
Romantic Elements — Suzanne Perazzini (Beneath The Surface) (more)
Events
The Romance Writers of Australia is holding its 2009 National Conference in Brisbane.
We’re not writers, but we’re sticky beaks, so we’re following the live tweets to keep up to date on the goings on (no incriminating photos, yet).
If you have a Twitter account, the hashtag is #RWAus09, and you might also want to follow @RWAus. You can catch up on Day 1 tweets here.
You can find additional official coverage on the RWA blog, including award winners as they’re confirmed. If you know of any bloggers or tweeters covering the conference, please let us know so we can link to them.
This is an archive of the Twitter stream for Day 2. You can also view the tweets on ScribbleLive. (more)
Books, Events, Romance fiction
Congratulations to everyone who won an award at the Romance Writers of America (RWA) national conference last weekend.
Rosemary’s Romance Books in Brisbane was awarded the Steffie Walker Bookseller of the Year Award. According to the RWA website, this award is given to a bookseller “who provides outstanding service to romance readers and demonstrates notable support of romance authors and the romance genre.” Awesome win.
The other Aussie winner is Stephanie Laurens for Best Novella.
RWA sponsors the the RITA®, arguably the genre’s most prestigious award. Here’s a list of the winners:
A Mother’s Wish by Karen Templeton (Best Contemporary Series Romance) — Excerpt
Danger Signals by Kathleen Creighton (Best Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure) — Excerpt
Hell Week by Rosemary Clement Moore (Best Young Adult Romance) — Excerpt (more)
Publishing
Romance Book of the Year finalists
The Romance Writers of Australia has announced the finalists for this year’s R*BY Awards:
Short Sweet
Claire Baxter — The Single Dad’s Patchwork Family
Melissa James — A Mother in a Million
Marion Lennox — His Island Bride
Fiona McArthur — The Midwife’s Baby
Authors, Books
applause-2 by Multiple fragments of tissue (via Flickr)
Congratulations to RITA and Golden Hearts finalists!
The 2009 finalists for the RITA and Golden Heart awards have been announced by the Romance Writers of America. A number of Aussie authors made the list, including:
Vanessa Barneveld for the Golden Heart for Young Adult Romance (Call Me Crazy)
Lilian Darcy for Contemporary Series Romance (The Children’s Doctor and the Single Mum)
Barbara Hannay for Contemporary Series Romance (Adopted: Outback Baby)
Stephanie Laurens for Historical Romance (Where the Heart Leads), Regency Historical Romance (The Edge of Desire), and Romance Novella (The Fall of Rogue Gerard in It Happened One Night)
Nalini Singh (because NZ is close enough!) for Paranormal Romance (Mine to Possess)
Christine Wells for Regency Romance Historical (The Dangerous Duke — which I’ll be reviewing soon!) (more)
Books, Events
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Are zombies the new vampires?
If you’re over vampires and werepeople and, yes, even angels, the new trend in paranormal romances may well be … zombies! A book titled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (US | UK) is due for release on April 1. The tag line is: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! You can read an interview with co-author Seth Grahame-Smith here (the other author being, of course, Jane Austen). Says Grahame-Smith:
when you take a look at the original book, it’s almost as if, subconsciously, Jane Austen is laying out the perfect groundwork for an ultraviolent bone-crushing zombie massacre to take place.
…there’s this zombie onslaught that’s been going on for years and Elizabeth Bennett has spent her whole life training to become a highly efficient killer of the undead, as has Darcy. It’s more about a love story between two headstrong independent zombie slayers. (more)
