Juno Books News

In THis Issue:

• NEW BOOKS
• EBOOKS
• FREEBIES!
• THE WINNAH
• FABULOUS NEW CONTEST
• LOTS O'INTERVIEWS ONLINE LATELY
• PUB SCHED
• OUR SCHED
• SUBMISSIONS & TOP 10 REASONS FOR RECENT REJECTIONS

NEW BOOKS!

-- MASTER OF SHADOWS by Janet Lorimer
(http://juno-books.com/ masterofshadows.html)

-- DARK MAIDEN by Norma Lehr
(http://juno-books.com/darkmaiden. html)

-- DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES by Carole Nelson Douglas
(http://www. dancing_with_werewolves.html)

All now available . . . at least *we* have them in stock.
(http://www. wildsidepress.com/Juno-Books_c_31-1.html)

The code "goddess" is still good for $2 off. The 4-fer, 6-fer and 11-fer deals are still good on the trade paperbacks, but -- unless you really want to give us extra money -- not the mass markets.

It is probably a good idea to check first with your local store and see if they have copies of either MASTER OF SHADOWS or DARK MAIDEN. They can certainly get them easily enough, but the orders for the books were not huge so they are rather thinly scattered. Amazon should have had them listed as "in stock" by now, but they don't. So, we guess, it will be soon.

BLOOD MAGIC is in stores and currently featured on the front-of-store mmp table at Borders.

DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES should hit the stores soon and will also be featured in front of store displays.

EBOOKS - EBOOKS - EBOOKS - EBOOKS

Now available as e-books through Fictionwise:

-- MATTERS OF THE BLOOD by Maria Lima (currently #2 in Fantasy Bestsellers behind Naomi Novik)
(http://www.fictionwise. com/eBooks/eBook51350.htm)

-- THE ETERNAL ROSE by Gail Dayton
(http://www.fictionwise. com/eBooks/eBook51346.htm)

-- UNVEILING THE SORCERESS by Saskia Walker
(http://www.fictionwise. com/eBooks/eBook51351.htm)

WIND FOLLOWER by Carole McDonnell should be available any day.

We will be adding more soon!

FREEBIES!

See the DOWNLOADS PAGE (http://juno-books.com/downloads) for cool bookmarks of BLOOD MAGIC and DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES.

And don't miss the recipe for the ALBINO VAMPIRE COCKTAIL from DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES. (http://www.juno-books.com/albino_vampire_cocktail.html) -- just in time for Halloween!

THE WINNAH!

AMANDA DOWNUM is our official FIND BLOOD MAGIC winner with her bona fide photo of BLOOD MAGIC captured in the wilds of Austin TX. You can see her photo at (http://www.flickr.com/photos/59024397@N00/1461457866/). She gets the chocolate and her choice of a couple of Juno titles. Since Amanda will be attending the WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION November 1-4, she has graciously agreed to wait until then to chose her books (she can pick them out herself) and get her chocolate.

But we like the photos and reports of our books out in the wilds of bookstores, so keep the sightings coming in!

THE [Dancing With] WOLVES QUIZ

Since it is October...and since I promised you a *tougher* quiz... we offer:

THE [Dancing With] WOLVES QUIZ (http://juno-books.com/werewolf_quiz.html)

Provide the name of the book or story and the author of ten werewolvian literary excerpts. Email your answers to info@juno-books.com with the subject WEREWOLF CONTEST.

The grand prize winner will receive:

• An Autographed copy of DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES by Carole Douglas Nelson
• The Wolf Man: The Legacy Collection (DVDs of: The Wolf Man / Werewolf of London / Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man / She-Wolf of London) from The Universal Monster Legacy Collection Series
• Stand in the Fire - a live album (recorded in 1981) by Warren Zevon [remastered and recently re-released] featuring (what else) "Werewolves of London"

LOTS O' INTERVIEWS ONLINE LATELY

MATTHEW COOK
(http://books.monstersandcritics.com/features/article_1363367.php/ Countdown_Interview_with_Matthew_Cook)

MATTHEW COOK
(http://katiesreading.blogspot.com/2007/10/interview-with-matthew-cook.html)

PAULA GURAN
(http://www.leagueofreluctantadults.com/blog.html)

CAROLE MCDONNELL
(http://fantasydebut.blogspot.com/2007/10/interview-with-carole-mcdonnell.html)

SYLVIA KELSO
(http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/08/28/172530.php)

. . . and too many reviews to list here. Do check the blog, though.

PUB SCHED

We have some slight changes to the publication schedule for 2008, you can check that out here: (http://juno-books.com/about.html)

OUR SCHED

We will be attending the WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION 2007 in Saratoga Springs, NY, November 1-4. MARIA LIMA (Matters of the Blood), MATTHEW COOK (Blood Magic), and CHRIS HOWARD (Seaborn) will be attending. BEST NEW ROMANTIC FANTASY and/or PARANORMAL ROMANCE authors Paul Barnett/John Grant, Elizabeth Bear, Amanda Downum, Mary Rickert, Delia Sherman, Jane Yolen, and maybe others I've missed will be there, too.

If you are coming, you can locate me by checking the table in the Dealers Room. If I'm not there, leave a message. (The table says PRIME, but it is also Juno Books, Weird Tales, Fantasy magazine, etc.)

Ta-DAA! -- I AM CAUGHT UP ON SUBMISSIONS!

Well, except maybe for the last day or so. I've asked for a second look at a few, but those folks have heard from me. Of course, things may have fallen through the cracks. If you haven't received a reply, you might want to email me and check if I ever got it.

I got through a lot of submissions in record time because a lot of writers made it "easy" to reject their work. Editors aren't looking for reasons to reject, but reasons to accept. But you can't accept what isn't acceptable. So, here are the . . .

TOP TEN REASONS FOR REJECTION IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS

• 10) Too sexy: Quoting the gls, "Stories can be fairly erotic, but the focus is not on sex, but on character and story."
• 9) Too Long / Too Short: An epic fantasy with many characters and a complicated plot cannot really be written in 80,000 words. We aren't going to reject something a little over 120,000 words if we really love it, but anything considerably beyond that is just too long for us. Once upon a time there was a publishing desire for "fat fantasy." For the most part, that is no longer true. Exceptions need to be truly exceptional.
• 8) Same Old, Same Old: Is your novel "just like" something you've read? Have you borrowed a lot of ideas from other novels? (Just for fun: The Grand List of Fantasy Clichés by Kathy Pulver and J.S. Burke is intended only to list various clichés common to the fantasy genre. It is not their intention to say these ideas should never see the light of day again --though some they could do without -- (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/8584/stuff/cliche.html).
• 7) Bad history: Right, this *is* fantasy, but good historical fantasy doesn't get the real stuff wrong.
• 6) Romance: It is a fine line and a judgment call, but if the basic story is about a girl and a guy falling in love and everything else is just scenery, it may be "not fantasy enough."
• 5) Horror: If it is a standard horror plot, we just aren't interested.
• 4) Science fiction: I certainly do not rule SF out and would rather get submissions than miss a special novel, but unless it is really outstanding -- there's little chance we could successfully market it.
• 3) Poorly written. That's normal, of course.
• 2) Novels with child or teen-aged heroines that are more suitable for YA or teen readers than adults.
• 1) Inappropriate: When the synopsis tells me there's no female protagonist, I really don't need to read more. If there is no element of fantasy (or SF to a limited extent; see #4) then it isn't for us.

"Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work." -- James Lee Burke

JUNO BOOKS NEWS
copyright (c) 2007, Juno Books and Paula Guran
All Rights Reserved
Written and produced by Paula Guran
editor@juno-books.com
www.juno-books.com