Amanda Knox the young American acquitted after spending four-years in an Italian prison for the murder of roomate Meredith Kercher, had just signed a book deal.

Harper Collins will be publishing Knox’s memoir which will disclose details of her time in Italy and the time she spent in an Italian prison. There were bidding wars over the yet-to-be written memoir, and Harper Collins had with winning bid for right at $4 million. Robert Barnett, an attorney that negotiated book deals for the Clintons, George W. Bush and Barack Obama represented Ms. Knox in the deal.

A statement from Harper Collins states: “Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system,” HarperCollins said in a statement.

“Aided by journals she kept during her imprisonment, Knox will talk about her harrowing experience at the hands of the Italian police and later prison guards and inmates. She will reveal never-before-told details surrounding her case, and describe how she used her inner strength and strong family ties to cope with the most challenging time of her young life.“

Her boyfriend, Rafaele Sollecito who was also convicted in the murder and was acquitted the same day as Knox, has a literary agent seeking out a book deal.

Since her release, Knox has kept a private life in her hometown of Seattle, Washington. The memoir is expected to be released in early 2013.

The year is 1863 and the novel’s hero, Ralph Henderson, quite possibly literature’s first modern detective,  is about to solve a mystery.

Last year, the British Library released a print-on-demand reprint of what is considered the world’s first “detective novel”, Notting Hill Mystery. After the 150 year old novel received critical praise from the New York Times, its sales began to climb. With additional positive reviews the British Library decided to give the novel a trade edition.

The novel was first published as a serialized novel in the British magazine Once a Week in 1863. Written by Charles Felix a pseudonym for lawyer Charles Warren Adams, the book received critical acclaim. It’s plot is very modern: “Insurance investigator Ralph Henderson works to bring  the sinister Baron R to justice for murdering his wife to obtain a large life insurance payout. Using diary entries, letters, crime reports, witness interviews, maps, and forensic evidence – innovative techiques that would not become common features of detective fiction until the 1920′s.”

New York Times reviewer Paul Collins said of the novel: “It’s a great read, written in a very matter-of-fact way.”

The new edition will be printed using photographs from the original 1863 book.

by Marcia James

February is all about romance, thanks to Valentine’s Day, but it’s also Responsible Pet Owners Month.  So what better time to discuss Canine Cupids?  Don’t you just love it when an animal character brings together the hero and heroine in a romance novel?  I’m not talking about werewolves or other shape-shifters; just your basic, garden-variety matchmaking cats and dogs.  Of course, Smokey, my Chinese crested hairless dog mascot, would object to being called a garden-variety anything.  He’s very proud of the fact that, in my books, he and his cousins continue to work their magic when it comes to introducing or reuniting soul mates.

Every novel or novella I write includes a Chinese crested hairless dog (or “crestie”), along with other

Sex and the Single Therapist by Marcia James

pets.  I especially love pairing a big Alpha hero with a tiny crestie sidekick.  Sex & the Single Therapist (S&ST), the first in my “Dr. Ally Skye, Sex Therapist” comic romantic mystery series, features a crestie, two mellow cats, and a mixed-breed canine shedding machine named Marty, who plays an important role in the mystery plot.

Fictional heroes and heroines show their softer sides around their pets — a humanizing characterization device Hollywood scriptwriters call “petting the dog.”  A fine example of using this device is the movie, As Good As It Gets, in which the curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) falls for a little dog.  In S&ST, the hero (Detective Zack Crawford) is gruff and all-business until we see him open his heart and his home to Marty.  Like Marty, all of my fictional animal characters are homeless — rescued from the streets or adopted from shelters.  And my human characters spay or neuter their pets, as responsible pet owners should.

Tails of Love Anthology

Animal adoption is such an important cause, especially when so many animals are homeless due to the economy and house foreclosures.  In 2009, I contributed an animal-themed story, “Rescue Me”, to author Lori Foster’s benefit anthology, Tails of Love. All of the authors’ advances and royalties — over $10,000 so far — go to the Animal Adoption Foundation (AAF), a no-kill animal shelter in Ohio.  This popular anthology, which Berkley reissued in December 2011, offers ten romantic tales featuring four-legged matchmakers.  Lori’s as-yet-untitled, June 2012 benefit anthology will also support AAF.

My mascot, Smokey, is a fan of movies and TV shows (as well as books) that feature dogs, either as matchmakers or scene-stealers.  Here’s Smokey’s favorite Top Ten list of canine actors — all of whom were rescued from animal shelters:

1. Benji (aka Higgins), the Poodle, schnauzer, cocker spaniel mix star of the Benji movies

2. Old Yeller (aka Spike), the mixed breed whose breakthrough role was the lead in the movie Old Yeller

3. Sandy, the Airedale-Collie mix from Little Orphan Annie

4. Fang, the drooling Neapolitan Mastiff from the Harry Potter movies

5. Bruiser (aka Chico), the Chihuahua, and Rufus (aka Chloe), the Bulldog, who starred in Broadway’s Legally Blonde

6. Kelly, Chip, Topsy, Stella, Zelda, and Bo, the six mixed breeds who played Max in How the Grinch Stole Christmas

7. Lucky, the mixed breed from the Dr. Dolittle movies

8. Happy, the terrier mix on the TV show, 7^th Heaven

9. Papi, the tiny star of Beverly Hills Chihuahua

10. Most of the canine cast of the movie, Hotel For Dogs

What are your favorite books, movies, or TV shows that feature animals?  Would you like to share — in honor of Responsible Pet Owners Month — any of the ways you think people can be good humans for their furry, finned or feathered pets?

I’ll pick several people randomly from the comments on today’s guest blog to receive a free e-book of my first comic romantic suspense, At Her Command — featuring none other than Smokey himself!

Happy reading!

— Marcia James

www.MarciaJames.net

Kirkus Reviews, known as “the world’s toughest book critics,” has just announced the launch of an editing division — Kirkus Editorials. The new service is aimed at self-published and unpublished authors who need editing, proofreading, and copyediting of their writing work. This service follows their recent launches of Kirkus Marketing (book promo services) and Kirkus Indie (reviews of Indie books).

COO of Kirkus, Meg Kuehn spoke about Kirkus Editorials: “Offering book editing services is a natural extension of our brand. We’ve been notorious for our high editorial standards for decades, and our success working with independent authors in the Kirkus indie program paved the way for new author services that serve this fast-growing segment of the industry.”

They are also seeking editors for this new service. See details on their website.

Author Judi McCoy was well known in the romance community for her romantic fantasy and paranormal books.

Before turning her talents and passion to writing, she had been a nationally rated women’s gymnastics judge, spending over twenty-five years in the sport. When she retired her muse took over and her first book, I Dream of You, won Waldenbook’s Bestselling Debut Romance of 2001. From there her writing career soared earning numerous four-star reviews and landing on the best-seller list.

Her first fourteen books were romance novels, yet in 2009 she dipped her writing pen into the mystery genre and again, the world smiled at her gift. With the release of Hounding the Pavement a mystery featuring amateur sleuth Ellie Engleman who can talk to dogs. This series, aptly titled The Dog Walker Series, featured everything Judi loved, a little mystery, a little romance, humor and dogs. This book also earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly.

Throughout her life, Judi was an advocate for dogs. She spearheaded many fundraisers for no-kill shelters, second-chance shelters, and dog rescues. In her own home, numerous furry dogs found refuge and a loving family. She donated all the proceeds from her novel, Hounding the Pavement to the Best Friends Animal Society.

Judi was a member of numerous writing groups and for the Romantic Times Convention she lead the aspiring authors course mentoring new writers.

With her passing, numerous authors have commented across social media of Judi’s impact on the romance genre, on her patience and dedication to the craft of writing and of her kindness, help, and mentoring that bolstered many careers.

Judi McCoy passed away from diabetes complications. Her latest novel, Fashion Faux Paw, is scheduled to be released in March.

Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine just released its list of the “100 Greatest Books for Kids.” Nick Friedman, Editor in Chief of Scholastic says the choices on the list were: “aimed at generating controversay and conversation.”   The list of books reflects several age groups from toddler to middle schoolers, and are “culturally representative.” Titles were chosen by literary experts and an army of “mom bloggers.” From that compilation, editors at Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine made the final choices.

The list includes some surprises such as The Hunger Games from contemporary YA author Suzanne Collins, and there are some classic titles not included on the list such as The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The top five books on the list:

Charlotte’s Web – Written by E. B. White and Illustrated by Garth Williams

Goodnight Moon - Written by Margaret Wise Brown and Illustrated by Clement Hurd

A Wrinkle in Time - Written by Madeleine L’Engle

The Snowy Day - Written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats

Where the Wild Things Are - Written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak

For a complete list visit Scholastic’s website.

Romantic fantasy with flare and fire! Bastian is a warrior, a leader and a dragon-shifter sworn to protect humans.  But, a battle with another clan of shifters has forced his hand and he must find a mate, and have a child.  The problem, the mate must be human, and humans can’t live through birthing dragon-shifters.

Myst is a nurse practitioner working in Washington state. Long, lonely hours.  When fate puts her into the path of Bastian sparks fly.

Together they are drawn further and further into the intrigue of Bastian’s world.  Humanity is threatened and while Myst and Bastian slowly find themselves drawn into passion and an attraction so powerful it threatens to consume them, Bastian is left to  save humanity by sacrificing the woman he loves.

Modern day, fantasy and paranormal with hot romance, Coreene Callahan has created memorable characters and a seemingly impossible situation. That is storytelling at its best! Fury of Fire, the first in the Dragonfury series is out now and Fury of Ice, the second book in the series is due out in June of 2012.

The client list is growing for software company, Narrative Science. The company produces software that takes data and produces content that is customized to fit their customer’s unique voice. Forbes, Hanley Wood and Big Ten Network all use the software. While the company doesn’t disclose it’s entire customer list, they reportedly have thirty clients.

The software company began  as a project between Northwestern University Schools of Engineering and Journalism that would generate sports stories. It has now morphed into oher writing areas such as financial reports, local content, market research, and more.

From their website: “Our proprietary artificial intelligence platform produces reports, articles, summaries and more that are automatically created from structured data sources. With amazing speed and quality, narratives are created in multiple formats, including long-form articles, headlines, Tweets and industry reports. Multiple versions of the same story can be created to customize the content for each audience and narratives can be fully tailored to fit a customer’s voice, style and tone.”

Judi McCoy wasn’t very good at telling jokes.  She didn’t “make” you laugh with animated stories or offbeat antics. She never put on airs or flashed past you. She had a dry wit and an amazingly honest and steady view of the world around her—and a keen sense of where she fit in.  Which meant every time we were together Judi would inevitably make me laugh so hard I’d nearly injure myself.  I was the Costello, clowning around and earning those looks from her that could melt steel sometimes. She simply was funny by just being herself.  And Judi was always herself.

She loved dogs and aspiring authors.  (See? When you put them together it sounds a little funny, doesn’t it?)  She made no secret of her attachment to her beloved Rudy, a yorkiepoo that may have competed with her husband of over forty years, Dennis, as the love of her life. She donated all of the proceeds of her first Dog Walker Mystery book, “Hounding the Pavement” to a shelter that saved animals thought to be lost causes.  She worked tirelessly with shelters to fundraise and always included her canine heroes in the same sentences as her human ones when she shared her favorites.  She immortalized Rudy in her Dog Walker books only to lose him just as they were published and I remember discovering what a softie she truly was as she never stopped mourning him. (Like Queen Victoria…Rudy was her Albert.)

To say she was a generous mentor is an understatement.  She didn’t just make a pass at helping aspiring authors.  Judi put her heart and soul into helping anyone she could.  She possessed a heart the size of a continent and the patience of Mother Teresa.  For aspiring writers, she became a touchstone of support and advice.  Not that she coddled everyone.  She never pulled any punches and I think that’s why she was so tremendously respected as a peer.  She gave it to you straight, but she never took her eyes off of a single soul in her care.  Never. If you raised your hand and asked her for help, that was it—you were “her baby” and she was determined to stick with you until you made it. (And if Judi had any say in the matter, you were going to make it!) Just like her rescue dogs, you were “adopted” and part of her family.

And her advice was always candid and straight from the heart.  And you remembered it.  You remembered it because a) it was good; b) it was generally so startlingly stripped of ego and self-preservation it made your eyes water and c) that voice.  Judi had a voice like no other.  It could cut through wire.  No volume control, thanks to I believe a touch of poor hearing.  Judi never needed a microphone and handing her one was always risky.  But it didn’t matter.  You hung on every word she ever said.  You couldn’t help yourself.

She was exhausting to try to keep up with and I never could match her talent for cramming so much onto a calendar and pulling it off.  Her schedule made me tired just to look at it on paper, but if one of the writers from the RT Beginner’s Writing Course sent an email, she responded.  If a conference needed a speaker, she was there.  Even when her own health suffered, she refused to let anyone down.  She’d threatened to quit a few times when we’d sit over breakfast but I knew better.

She loved RWA and RT and embraced the community of romance with a warmth and enthusiasm all her own.  Judi was so humble about it but she joined so many chapters and organizations and then gave her all.  But in a room full of authors attempting to promote themselves and sell their books, she’d be Judi.  At book signings, she’d apologetically give her spiel and tell them what her books were not, only to point them to another author they might like if they wanted something edgier or more hard-core.  I’d end up rolling my eyes and turning into ‘the bad cop’, directing readers to turn right back around because after all, her books were just pure fun, great reads and heart-warming…and who doesn’t love that??

If you praised her too much or pointed out how much success she’d had, Judi would give you a look of unadulterated skepticism.  “I’m nobody!” she’d proclaim over and over until you wanted to throttle her.  But we get the last word in this argument, sadly.  Hands will raise all over the country and say, “Not true!” She was everything—mother, sister, mentor and friend.  She was never a nobody.

And I have to say it because any tribute to Judi should include the whole truth.  She could make you crazy.  In strange cities, she would find a way to bully you into driving however many miles it took to get the “right” cup of coffee and “best” bagels.  She was a morning person.  If you got a little too silly in her presence, she’d turn into your Great Aunt Judith and inadvertently egg you on.  And she snored.  No really.  In all the time I knew her she refused to believe it and it was a long standing debate between us, but I swear to God, the walls rattled.  Teasing her, I promised that if she ever died, I’d shout it to the heavens and we could argue about it later.  (I’ve kept my word, Judi. And did you see that ‘if’?  Funny how you looked immortal from where I was standing…)

Judi McCoy, talented best-selling author of contemporary, paranormal and lately cozy mystery romances, died Feb. 18^th, 2012 due to complications from diabetes.  She’d authored twenty books, earned rave reviews, and garnered fans and readers around the globe.

But that just doesn’t sound right to me.  It’s too cut and dry.  Let me try that again.

We lost Judi McCoy.  We lost one of the most unique, endearing and funny stars in our genre’s firmament. She slipped out the side door with her giant purse to pick up her beloved Rudy from some celestial groomer and Judi’s headed off to plan their next adventures, share with him about everything he’s missed while they were apart and complain about the distance they have to walk to get a good cup of coffee and a bagel.

We’re going to miss you, lady.

Listen to her interview on Canned Laughter & Coffee in 2009!

 

Judi wrote romantic, mystery novels with her Dog Walker Mysteries debuting in 2009.  She also judged women’s gymnastics for 25 years and mentored both gymnasts and coaches.  Judi lived a life of love and passion for all.  One of her biggest passions was for animals.  Anyone who knew Judi knew she was a dog lover. Thus the “Dog Walker” series.  She donated to animal charities and her family has asked that in lieu of flowers for her Feb. 22^nd memorial they would like people to donate in her memory to the Eidewater Bichon Frise Rescue, P.O. Box 8084, Suffolk, VA. 23438.

Judi is survived by her husband of 44 years, Dennis McCoy and her daughter Sara Hisel-McCoy as well as many other loving family members.  Forty-four years of marriage and many romance novels later we can say with certainty that Judi knew romance on many levels.  And though her untimely death is tragic and sorrowful, it is not without its happy ending, because unlike so many Judi was blessed, she was loved forever.

Please enjoy this recent video of Judi-