Harlequin Community Author Spotlight

Our new author spotlight on the Harlequin Community is Carla Cassidy! All week we’re talking with Carla about her books. Carla Cassidy is an award-winning author who has written more than 55 books. In 1995 she won Best Silhouette Romance of 1995 from Romantic Times Magazine for Anything for Danny. Carla has been a professional cheerleader, an actress, and a singer/dancer in a show band before settling into her true love…writing. Find out more on the Harlequin.com Community page.

Health & Wellness Book Sale at Harlequin.com

New Year, New You week on the Harlequin Blog may be over, but our sale continues! Discover our featured Health & Wellness titles and save 30%! Enjoy these titles in ebooks, too!

FREE Chain Reaction (Carina Press) Extended Excerpt

Download the free extended excerpt of Zoë Archer’s Chain Reaction on the Carina Press Facebook page!

Elite 8th Wing pilot Celene Jur was taken captive after a mysterious device temporarily disabled her ship’s controls. Three solar months later, when Celene receives intel on the man who built the device, she’s ready to get the bastard. Only problem is, the higher-ups think her mission partner should be Nils Calder, a tech-head who can understand the disabling device. The attraction between them is electric, but Celene needs a soldier who can watch her back as she exacts her revenge.

Nils knows his department is nicknamed NerdWorks. Pilots like Celene think the closest tech geeks come to combat is all-night Nifalian chess tournaments. But behind the NerdWorks insignia on his sleeve Nils is an able fighter, ready to prove himself and gain Celene’s trust.

The desire between them is unexpected, but with the fate of thousands hanging in the balance, the hotshot pilot and the tech genius must succeed in their mission—no matter the cost.

Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life Book Trailer

The key to a less hectic, less stressful life is not in simply organizing your desk, but organizing your mind. Dr. Paul Hammerness, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, describes the latest neuroscience research on the brain’s extraordinary built-in system of organization. Margaret Moore, an executive wellness coach and codirector of the Institute of Coaching, translates the science into solutions. Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life is available from Harlequin Nonfiction.

Does your cat want to be famous?

Give your feline his much-deserved chance at stardom by submitting a picture of him in a Santa hat! Harlequin Nonfiction is creating a book that celebrates all that is chubby and cheery about the holiday season – and we want your best cat portraits! Submit a high resolution photo of your cat doing or wearing something festive, and your furry friend might appear in print in a book to be distributed nationwide. Don’t worry if your cat is small, big, or an in-betweener – we accept cats of all shapes and sizes. The contest is also open to felines of all religions and nationalities, so whether your Maine Coon is posed in front of the menorah or your kitty is decked out for Kwanzaa, send us those snapshots!

Pedro wants to know if you’ve been naughty… or nice

Please send submissions with your email or snail mail address to fatcats@harlequin.ca or Cat Photos c/o Harlequin, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, NY, NY 10279.

Extended excerpt of Nadia Lee’s The Last Slayer from Carina Press on Facebook

Demons and demon hunters–can they work together to battle dragons and demigods? In Nadia Lee’s The Last Slayer, Ashera del Cid, a talented demon hunter and the sexy-as-hell demon Ramiel must come together so that Ashera can fulfill her destiny as the heir to the Last Slayer. Ramiel has his own reasons for offering Ashera his protection, but can he really save her from the demigods that are trying to kill her?

Read the extended excerpt on the Carina Press Facebook page. It’s a perfect little afternoon snack for urban fantasy readers!

Today’s Harlequin Deal
There have been some amazing deals and gifts at the Santa Tree this year for the Holidays @ Harlequin 12 Days, 12 Deals. Today’s is another way to take a little mental holiday from the stress of the season. Download the Extreme Brain Workout brainteaser!

How Happy Is… Book Trailer!
The How Happy Is…series features 50 actionable, happiness-boosting tips in eye-catching packages from happiness expert, life coach and TV personality Sophie Keller. See the trailer below.

Every year, when Thanksgiving is over, we put up our Christmas decorations and look forward to the holidays.  When I was a little girl, I used to live in Germany, and my mother bought a chocolate-filled Advent calendar for my brother and me.  I loved running downstairs in the morning to open it at the breakfast table and savor the delicious chocolate treat.

I continued the tradition with my own children, but this past year, I bought them a wooden Advent Calendar where I could fill it with my own treats.  Sometimes chocolate, sometimes gum drops, or even bubble gum.  They adored it, and half the fun was wondering . . . what will tomorrow’s treat be?

The Harlequin Historical authors are creating the same experience for you!  Starting Tuesday, November 29th, you can visit each of us on our advent-style calendar.  You can also join us at the Harlequin Community Boards here to find out what prizes are being offered and where to visit each day.

Special thanks to author Jeannie Lin for designing our advent calendar graphic.

Twenty-one authors will each host a giveaway of a daily prize, ranging from chocolate to gift cards, and even jewelry!  All of the entries will be gathered together for a grand prize drawing of a Kindle Fire loaded with Harlequin Historical books. (See our terms and conditions for eligibility. If Kindle Fire is not available in your country, a comparable Kindle will be offered, plus a gift card to make up the difference in price.)

Each time you click the calendar to visit an author’s web site, she’ll ask you to complete a task.  It might be commenting on her blog, e-mailing her the answer to a question, or becoming a fan on Facebook.  Then, on December 23rd, we’ll use random.org to pick our grand prize winner from among all of our entries.  The more sites you visit, the greater your chances of winning!

We hope you’ll enjoy sharing in this holiday season with the Harlequin Historical authors!

In between the turkey and pumpkin pie, check out our latest news. Here’s this week’s round up to get you started:

Robyn Carr’s Hold Out for a Hero Contest Continues

We’re getting some really amazing submissions for Robyn Carr’s Hold Out for a Hero contest. Harlequin asked readers to submit their military homecoming stories for a chance to win a family vacation to a featured destination within North America or the Caribbean courtesy of the Armed Forces Vacation Club, a $500 gift card to Wal Mart to put towards those vacation clothes, a family photo session and signed copies of Robyn’s latest release in the Virgin River series, Bring Me Home for Christmas.

I’d like to share one of the submissions with you:

If you asked me seven years ago what I thought my life would be like, the life I have would have been nowhere close. Two weeks after meeting a young infantry soldier, I found myself engaged. It was the night before during a 2AM-under-the-moon conversation that made my knees go weak and I knew. Two weeks after that he deployed. – Erin, Texas

You can read more of Erin’s story and a lot more like her’s at www.holdoutforahero.com.

Carina Press Facebook Giveaway

There’s still time to catch the Carina Press Facebook giveaway! Each day this week we select two winners of our special Carina Press holiday collections. Each winner will receive both a digital ebook and exclusive print copy of the book! Today is your last chance to win our male/male collection Men Under the Mistletoe, featuring short stories by Josh Lanyon, Harper Fox, Ava March, and K.A. Mitchell. Tomorrow you could win a copy of A Clockwork Christmas, our holiday Steampunk collection! Read some of the best steampunk fiction by JK Coi, PG Forte, Stacy Gail and Jenny Schwartz. All of our holiday collections will be available as of Dec. 5, but if you want a sneak peek, enter at the Carina Press Facebook page!

Harlequin Community Thanksgiving Wall

If you’ve been grateful for something this year, take a minute to share it with the Harlequin Community this month. Author Janet Tronstad is inviting you and everyone in the Harlequin family (readers, authors, and staff) to join together to build a Thanksgiving Wall of Gratitude. Janet is giving away a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card for every 25 unique readers who post a gratitude on the wall (up to 8 gift cards – authors and HQ staff encouraged to post although they won’t be eligible for the gift cards). Janet is offering this as a tribute to her fictitious small town that holds a similar Thanksgiving event every year in Dry Creek, Montana.

Harlequin Puzzles

Just in time for the holidays, Harlequin fans can find Fundex puzzles in stores now! Choose from three 1000pc puzzles featuring classic Harlequin covers! These neat retro puzzles are a great activity to share with the family over the holidays. With 1000 pieces, you’ll build vintage book covers straight from our archives in a collage style that creates puzzles zones and enhances the experience of the puzzle.  They’re available from Meijer, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

And speaking of holiday gifts, check out our latest video that features some of the hottest books for any member of the family, be it the literary-minded aunt, a grandmother who’s a romantic at heart or your hard-to-please teen!

1. So You Think You Can Write Contest

We’re in the final two days of our second annual digital author conference and the it’s now your chance to enter our So You Think You Can Write contest — wherein you can win a standard series contract from Harlequin. The deadline to submit is December 15, so you do have a bit of time to digest all of the information that you’ve crammed in over the week and use it to create (or modify!) a manuscript fit for one of the 16 Harlequin lines. All of the details are available at soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com. Don’t forget to read the contest rules!

2. Harlequin.com Special Edition Community Cookie Swap (Nov. 1 – 16)

From Nov. 1 – 16 the Harlequin Special Edition forum in our Community boards is hosting a cookie swap! Stop by (or sign up first if you’ve never been to our Community) to trade cookie recipies and the stories that go with them. I’m especially loving the Butter Pecan Cookies recipe posted by author Christine Rimmer!

3. Carina Press titles were nominated for the RT Reviewers Choice Awards.

Altered Destiny by Shawna Thomas was nominated in the Small Press Paranormal/Fantasy/Futuristic category. We had contemporary romance titles nominated: Turn it Up by Inez Kelley, Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe and Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey. Winners will be announced at the RT convention in Chicago in April 2013. You can buy these books now on www.carinapress.com and check out what the buzz is about!

We’ll have a complete list of Harlequin and Carina Press nominees for you tomorrow.

4. Third title in the Royal House of Shadows series is out this month!

Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out…

So begins the Royal House of Shadows series. This month pick up the third novel from author Jessica Anderson, Lord of the Wolfyn. As a beast, Dayn mated with women to gain strength–strength he needed to rescue his royal parents. He must now choose to fight for Reda’s heated, sizzling touch or embrace his wolf to save his kingdom…

On sale this month at Harlequin.com!

• Fans of Karen Harper, we have a special treat for you. In the ebook edition of Fall From Pride, you’ll receive an exclusive free short story: Phantom Amish. Karen stopped by earlier this month to blog about Fall From Pride.
• Speaking of free novellas, Haunting the Night by Mara Purnhagen (Harlequin Teen) is available now! For those keeping up with the series, the events in Haunting the Night take place a few weeks after One Hundred Candles. For information on how to download the novella, “Like” the Harlequin Teen Facebook fan page. Check out the synopsis below:

Charlotte Silver has been through hell.  Her mom’s in a coma. She may have caused the death of a young man.

And now her friend Avery wants her to tackle going to Prom? Not going to happen, even if she is dying to spend some alone time with her boyfriend, Noah.

Instead, Charlotte needs to find some answers to a few nagging questions—why was her family attacked? Will her mother survive?

And is there a creature from the Other Side coming for her? Soon enough, Charlotte’s search for the truth becomes a race against time.

But she may just find the sign she’s been looking for all along….

Let me know if you need anything else.

• Exciting news from author of the Lady Julia Grey series Deanna Raybourn! She’ll be returning to Mira Books for a three-book deal starting in May 2013. Her first novel is set in Kenya in the 1920s and “features a flapper heroine with a string of scandals to her name and a hero who will make you rethink Brisbane as a literary crush. No lie.” Congrats, Deanna! We’re very excited about the news. It might give me another opportunity to ask you to write a blog post about the fashion inspiration for your next novel.
• In contest news, Fresh Fiction is giving away a copy of Carla Negger‘s Saint’s Gate plus a Stonewall Kitchen cast-iron, non-stick Belgian Waffle Maker, Wild Maine Blueberry Syrup, and Wild Maine Blueberry and Champagne Blueberry jams! Recently Carla stopped by the Harlequin Community to blog about her new release.
• Finally, I’ve been sitting on this Harlequin book trailer for some time now. It features the new eight-part Harlequin Presents miniseries The Notorious Wolfes. If you’re intrigued, you should stop by I Heart Presents blog for all the details on the series.

Harlequin is releasing six special 10th Anniversary Harlequin Blaze Collectors’ Editions from the original Sexy Six authors, featuring a brand new story PLUS their first Blaze title. You’ll relive the excitement and discover a new pleasure with authors Kimberly Raye, Jo Leigh, Tori Carrington, Julie Leto, Vicki Lewis Thompson, and Debbi Rawlins. Have a look at what’s in store:

(And, by the way, they’re available for preorder right now!)

Plus, for the next month each Sexy Six author is stopping by to give you their opinion on what TV shows, stories and movies would be “Better as a Blaze”! The authors will be chatting with readers as well. Check out our Harlequin Blaze Anniversary Page for more information (we’ll update it soon, don’t worry!) You’ll even get a chance to win the entire collection! How’s that for a little celebrating? It all starts this week, so stay tuned!

This morning’s blog post is a quick one. There’s a much longer blog post coming from me this afternoon about something that I’ve decided to do…and I’ll need your help! So look out for that this afternoon.

In the mean time, remember how yesterday was Teen Lit Day? We totally participated! Yesterday fearless Jayne braved the neighborhood peregrine falcons to Rock the Drop with a copy of Jordan Dane’s IN THE ARMS OF STONE ANGELS. Amy tweeted it.

And we found other Harlequin TEEN books getting dropped off, like this copy of Julie Kagawa’s THE IRON KING and this copy of Maria V. Snyder’s  INSIDE OUT in NYC. I scrolled through some of the twitpics of various drops and it’s incredible to see how many people participated. Nicely done everyone. Hope all those books found their way into grateful hands.

The next two weeks at the Harlequin Blog are going to be busy! Next week is dedicated to the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. ‘Member how we talked about it back a few weeks ago? Five of the authors who contributed to the Royal Weddings ebook collection (Terri Brisbin, Michelle Willingham, Bronwyn Scott, Elizabeth Rolls and Ann Lethbridge) have written guest blog posts and they’re giving away a $50 Amazon gift card to readers! Stop by next week to read and enter.

The following week after that is the Carina Press Steampunk week. Guest blogs from Cindy Spencer Pape, Marie Harte, Christa McHugh and Christine Bell are coming your way. To whet your appetites, have a look at the gorgeous Carina Press Steampunk trailer we’ve just released. As Amy Wilkins would say, shiny!

April is Autism Awareness Month — a time to raise awareness of the needs of individuals living with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in all communities around the globe. It also marks the release of my new book Autism Solutions: How to Create a Healthy and Meaningful Life for Your Child. I am a pediatrician who has been privileged to care for children and families living with ASD for nearly 20 years. It has been the most rewarding chapter in my career for I have seen these children accomplish so much more than ever anticipated when I entered the field. Some in my practice are now young adults who are following their dream to live a meaningful life. Their stories are filled with courage, sheer will, persistence and abiding love that has helped each overcome huge obstacles as they learn to relate and communicate with their families, therapy team, educators, peers and members of their community. All of these individuals are heroes who deserve dignity, respect, support and encouragement from all. Their stories are the heart and soul of Autism Solutions.

This month is also a time to recognize the accomplishments and uniqueness of individuals with ASD. With one out of 110 children diagnosed with ASD in the U.S. all of us will know at least one child with autism for whom we can play a significant role. There are many opportunities for you and your children to be supportive of individuals with ASD in their schools, churches or synagogues, extracurricular activities, workplace and community. One of the best relationships your child can have is being friends with a child with ASD. Encourage your child to make friends – it will offer him the opportunity for a greater sensitivity and appreciation for the needs of others. Suggestions for you and your child to help foster a friendship include the following:

• First, demystify ASD for your child. Explain in age-appropriate ways what autism is. Emphasize that although children with ASD have difficulty communicating and relating they can be very smart. This becomes the first step for your child to accept friends’ differences. Young children just need very simple suggestions while older children will want to know more. There are many books about autism written for children of all ages to help you (http://www.bridges4kids.org/pdf/Growing_Up_Booklet.pdf).
• Get to know the child’s parents. Find out what he likes to do best. Discover the best ways to help support him. Explore his sensory issues and how they impact his abilities. Understanding what might upset him allows you to really help your child know the best way to be a friend. Initially you might want to arrange for play dates with both families, giving the children opportunity to get to know each other.
• Discuss or even role-play with your child how to interact with his new friend. The more he knows and practices the less afraid he will be to interact.
• Some ideas that you might share with your child include:

• Find something you both enjoy whether cars, trucks, animals, books, anime. Shared enjoyable experience is what friendship is all about.
• Take initiative. Most children with ASD desperately want to be included but aren’t certain how to do it. Your encouragement and specific suggestions “come sit next to me at lunch” will go a long way.
• Wait. Be patient. Stay the course. Friends with ASD may take more time to respond or complete an activity. Even when it may seem as though they are not interested you will see he’s been connected when you give him a chance to think through what is happening. Soon you will get a feel for how long it takes for him to respond and will then be able to help others understand this as well, perhaps extending his circle of friendship.
• Your friend may have sensory sensitivities which make him uncomfortable in certain situations (crowds, noisy areas.) Be alert to his needs. If he needs a break, ask him first and go with him to a quiet place. Just being there with him even without talking, you will be a great comfort.
• o You may need to be an “actor” while communicating with your friend. Use your tone of voice, gestures (such as pointing) and facial expressions to show him what you are saying. Use short simple sentences. Be clear about your words. Slow down and avoid using abstract figures of speech or lingo that could be misinterpreted.
• Be a good friend. Show him respect. Don’t tease. Stand up for him if others tease. Let a teacher or parent know if others are treating him in this way and won’t stop. Don’t ignore him. If you pass in the hallway, make an extra effort to say “hi”. If you see he needs help, be there for him or get help. You don’t need to rush in, but take your time and let him know you’re there for him.
• Enjoy your time with your friend. When you get to know him, you will find that he is a loyal, smart person who works hard every moment of the day to understand the world around him and to be a good friend to you.

If you have other ideas or experiences you would like to share about your friendship with an individual with ASD I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at www.DrRickiRobinson.com

Calling all Medical Romance fans! Remember our fabulously successful Medical Fast-Track initiative that we ran throughout August 2010? That’s right, the initiative where we promised to reply to all Medical slush submissions we received within a month? (A pretty unforgettable offer, we like to think…!)

Well, the temperature might have been less than balmy outside but it was hot hot hot inside the office as the editors excitedly read the tons of entries that came streaming in. It was beyond amazing to see the incredible response we had – an unbelievable 174 submissions certainly kept us busy throughout August, and we’re thrilled to still be working closely with many authors who came to our attention as a result.

But here it is, the news we’ve all been waiting for, and that makes all that hard work so worthwhile…

We’ve bought our first author from the Fast-Track!

Massive congratulations to our newest Medical author, Annie Claydon! Her magically heart-warming debut, All She Wants For Christmas, will be hitting the shelves in October 2011 so make sure you keep an eye out for it – sounds like the perfect Christmas present for any Medical Romance fans you might know, if you ask me…!

Annie’s going to be blogging soon about her experiences and the excitement of The Call, so make sure you catch that too.

And if that wasn’t exciting enough already…

The Harlequin/Mills & Boon Medical Romance team are also thrilled to announce that we’ll be running our popular Medical Romance Online Pitch initiative again this year! (It’s been hugely successful, just ask Wendy S. Marcus and Scarlet Wilson, two of our newest Medical authors – their raw talent simply leapt out at us during the 2010 Online Pitch.) You bring your creativity to the pitch, we’ll bring our editorial advice…it’ll be a match made in Medical Romance heaven!

So, there you have it – it’s a real author-buying bonanza over here in the Medical Romance series…and we want it to continue! The response to our digital initiatives has been staggering, but we’re ALWAYS on the lookout for new talent. We’re still open to regular submissions of course, and we’ve bought two new authors, Leonie Knight and Sue MacKay, from our regular slush pile in the last year, too.  So what are you waiting for …

For all authors who want to become Medical Romance’s newest star, check out the announcement over in Harlequin Community today about our upcoming Online Pitch session – looking forward to seeing you there!