SUMMER SIZZLER Contest

Welcome to June and what I consider the beginning of summer or at least it's the beginning of my next contest, and it is Giiiiii-NORMOUS!

I'm featuring a basket of "New to You Authors" which will include 16 of my ZEBRA sisters' autographed books + a $25 B&N giftcard.

Don't delay, go HERE to sign up for the giveaway.
The winner of the SUMMER SIZZLER will be announced on September 1.

HOLT Medallion

HER ONE DESIRE made it into the top five in the Best First Book category of the HOLT Medallion contest!!!

The HOLT Medallion is presented annually by Virginia Chapter of RWA® as a mark of excellence in published romantic fiction. Winners will be announced June 13th.

A bald hero?

Over the holiday weekend I attended the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Fair. I love these sort of people watching events. I’m always looking for facial expressions and subtleties, but at the Ren Fair I got to observe people in period costume. There was great food, e.i. kettle corn, cinnamon-sugar coated pecans, turkey legs, funnels cakes…oh yeah, but there was also lots of vendors selling their wares. The jewelry caught my fancy (several pieces) but I also picked up a new blade—a clawed scabbard with a griffin etched into the hilt.

Now there is more to the Ren Fair than fare and wares, there are “acts”. There’s a trio of trollops who sing these sweet little ditties with hidden lyrics. There are elves, fairies, and a guy who delivers the entire play of Hamlet in under fifteen minutes. What I enjoy the most about the Ren Fair is an all male singing group called the Musical Blades. Not only do these drunken seamen have the voices of angels, they really put on a show. The main rake of this production goes by the name of Capt Patch. He’s bald. But it’s a good bald, ya know. He’s not like balding. From the best I can tell this Capt Patch purposely shaves his head.

PHOTOS from Musical Blades website

Now way back, men who sailed the seas shaved to prevent all manner of infestation and other such disease, but that’s not the case these days. I think something that helps the bald man with his look is that little tuft of hair he grows beneath his bottom lip. Now "my man", Capt Patch, didn’t have this from what I could tell, but if I were to model a character after him, he would. :) Another trait that I found interesting about Capt Patch was his veins. That’s right…his veins. You know when you are reading a story and the hero gets so angry a veins starts to pulse in his neck? Well I’d never really put a lot of thought into those lines until I saw Capt Patch hit an octave that might have been just out of his range. Those veins in his neck bulged I tell you—big, blue, thick, hulk-like veins.

Now I don’t want to diminish from the other blokes in this musical ensemble. There was another I watched with avid interest. I believe they called him Cookie. He was a real showman and the perfect secondary character—full beard, pronounced facial expression, loaded with humor. I love a man with wit and this guy was oozing with it. For me, Cookie stole the show from Capt Patch on more than one occasion.

Back to the topic at hand…I once wrote a hero with a full beard and my critique partner told me she wouldn’t read a romance with a bearded hero, so I shaved him immediately. My questions for you are…Do the beards bother you? Have you ever read a romance where the hero was bald?

I’m still up in the air on this one…

Regardless how you feel about that subject, you have to check out the Musical Blades' tunage:

Booksellers Best Awards

Her One Desire
is a finalist in both the Historical and
Best First Book categories of the
BOOKSELLERS BEST AWARD
Showcasing the shining excellence of published
authors in novel-length romantic fiction.

Sponsored by the Greater Detroit Chapter of RWA®

**********************************
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE FINALISTS!

The Greater Detroit RWA wishes to congratulate the finalists in the 2009 Booksellers Best Award Contest. The winners will be announced at the RWA National Conference Wednesday, July 15th at 8:00 p.m. in the Delaware Room of the Wardman Mariott.
Patti Shenberger/BBA Chair

In no particular order…
* up for Best First Book

Long Contemporary
On My Terms – Shirley Hailstock
A Perfect Stranger – Terry McLaughlin
The Ranchers Surprise Marriage – Susan Crosby
The Wedding Heiress – Pamela Ford
Last Night’s Kiss – Shirley Hailstock

Paranormal/Time Travel/Futuristic
Gone With The Witch – Annette Blair
The House on Tradd Street – Karen White
A Match Made In Hell – Terri Garey
The Bleeding Dusk – Colleen Gleason
All I Want For Christmas – Kerrelyn Sparks

Short Historical
Maverick Wild – Stacey Kayne
To Taste Temptation – Elizabeth Hoyt
The Dragon Earl – Jade Lee
What A Pirate Desires – Michelle Beattie *
The Naked Gentleman – Sally MacKenzie

Inspirational
Leaving November – Deborah Raney
Courting Miss Adelaide – Janet Dean *
Anathema – Colleen Coble
Bayou Judgement – Robin Caroll
Lonestar Sanctuary – Colleen Coble

Erotic
She’s On Top – Susan Lyons
Unleashed – Lori Borrill
The Art of Desire – Cherie Feather
Lyon, The Lords of Satyr – Elizabeth Amber
Raine, The Lords of Satyr – Elizabeth Amber

Romantic Suspense
Thread of Fear – Laura Griffin
Trust Me – Brenda Novak
Silent Guardian – Mallory Kane
Wyoming Manhunt – Ann Voss Peterson
Phantom in the Night – Diana Love Snell

Long Historical
Mistress of Pleasure – Delilah Marvelle *
The Legacy – TJ Bennett *
His Woman – Diana Cosby
Shadow Rider – Kathryn Dennis
Her One Desire – Kimberly Killion *

Single Title
The Memory of Water – Karen White
Tall Tales and Wedding Veils – Jane Graves
Sweet Talk – Susan Mallery
Hot – Julia Harper
Once Smitten, Twice Shy – Lori Wilde

Short Contemporary
The Cowboy and the Angel – Marin Thomas
The Surgeon Boss’s Bride – Melanie Milburne
Their Secret Child – Mary J Forbes
Do Not Disturb Until Christmas – Charlene Sands
Once Upon A Christmas – Holly Jacobs

Traditional
Christmas Wishes, Mistletoe Kisses – Fiona Harper
Her Millionaire, His Miracle - Myrna Mackenzie
The Italian’s Cinderella Bride – Lucy Gordon
Newlyweds of Convenience – Jessica Hart
The Convenient Groom – Denise Hunter

More News from the Contest Front...

I just found out Her One Desire is a finalist in the Best First Book category of the 2009 Desert Rose Golden Quill Awards for Excellence in Romance Fiction. This contest is sponsored by the Phoenix Desert Rose Chapter of RWA® and is judged by romance readers. I'm completely stunned by the overwhelming success of this book. But I'm nonetheless pleased to be able to share Broc and Lizzy's story with so many people.

Hooray, hooray, it's the first of May...

Are you one of those author types who will get up this morning and check all your promo loops to see where you can pimp your book? Or are you on that fancy promo loop that reminds you daily where you can pimp your book, how often, and what the rules are?

I’m that person. Or at least I used to be, but I’m starting to wonder about all those yahoo groups. I’m on a few…ok…57. *blush* But in the past few weeks I have started going no mail on a lot of them. A girl’s got to wonder how many books are you really selling to other authors? This whole promo thing has me mind-boggled. Speaking to other authors, how many books do you read a month? I wish I could give you a number that was double-digits, but I’m lucky to read one book a month.

So who is on all these promo loops and blogs? Is it other authors (who may or may not be buying books) or is it truly the beloved readers? I know what you’re going to say “Writers are readers, too”. Aren’t you just a little curious as to how many of those 2,464 members on Romance Junkies Readers are really readers and how many are writers?

So what’s your opinion? Are we all just a group of writers pimping our books to each other and no one is really buying?

Here is a list of “some” of the groups I belong too.
CataNetwork-Authors
CataNetwork-Readers
CataNetwork-Writers
Chatting_with_Joyfully_Revi...
cupidslibraryreviews
dangerouswomen
heathersromancebookclub
HHRWGen
HRCRomance
karenfindoutaboutnewbooks
LoversofRomance
novelsisterhood
PromoOnly
Promotion_Loop_Schedule
RomanceCafe
romancedivas
romanceexcerptsonly
RomanceJunkiesReaders
romancingthepast
RosesColoredGlasses
RWRpirates
SeducedByHistory
The_Haunt_at_PNR
theromanceroom
welcometotemptation
writerspromotips

Thanks for reading!
Kim

____________________________________________________
Kimberly Killion
HER ONE DESIRE ~
RITA Finalist - Best First Book
National Readers Choice Awards Finalist - Historical Category
HIGHLAND DRAGON ~ October 2009/Zebra Books
http://www.kimberlykillion.com/