Seasons of books and publishing

I started pitching my book, Manipulations, the first volume of the Fashion and Fiends series, to traditional publishers and agents about 20 years ago. At the time, ebooks had not hit mainstream. Amazon had not yet transformed vanity publishing into self-publishing.

My work was quirky and complex even then and didn’t quite fit in horror fiction and was too dark for an up-and-coming genre called “chick lit.” Paranormal romance was exploding.

Here I was inspired by Stephen King, haunted by thoughts of the paranormal and fascinated with high fashion and a little novel called The Devil Wears Prada by an author who grew up less than a hour from me.

It’s hard to digest the shifts the publishing (and entertainment) industries have made.

So, today might not be “Throwback Thursday” but perhaps instead “Flashback Friday.” A Parisian Phoenix staff member recently brought me a box of more than 20-year-old Harlequin Blaze novels (the exact kind of novels we wanted to replicate with Trapped by Seneca Blue, the “pocket” book).

I had to accompany my daughter and her dog to the vet today, after an incident last night where she splintered a toenail.

Since we still have Covid-restrictions at the vet, I stayed in the car with this… Notorious, a Harlequin Blaze novel by Vicki Lewis Thompson, whom I looked up on Goodreads and saw she has quite the prolific history.

I’ve only made it to page 25, but I must say I am already impressed that what started as what seemed to be a horrible cliche has already taken an unexpected twist that has captured my intellectual interest.

I hope it continues to maintain my attention.

In the meantime, the dog is fine and we tried to distract her from the discomfort in her boots by putting her in her boots. Enjoy this video of her. In boots.

And remember— times change. Trends change. Even what a book looks like and feels like in your hand will change.

Also, don’t forget we have launched our email newsletter. Please consider joining our mailing list— the subscribe form is in the middle of our home page by “services.”

As always, buy our books and/or review them on Amazon, Google books or now Goodreads. Look for us there!

Explore all our titles at Barnes & Noble’s web site here.