Helen C. Johannes's Blog, page 15

Winter has finally arrived in our neck of the woods. It arrived on Christmas Eve, just in time for the traditional White Christmas, with about an inch of pretty white fluff. About seven inches of snow came down just before the New Year. That should be our base for the rest of the winter—unless El Nino magically makes it disappear.
The cold temps and snow are about a month late, so most of us haven’t gotten around to complaining about it yet. Today, there’s a thick hoar frost on everything, mak...

I'm positively thrilled to announce that my work in progress, THE LORD OF DRUEMARWIN, is the winner of the Pages From the Heart Published Author Fantasy category. I entered to get a 'cold read' of my first 24 pages, so I was suitably pleased when it made the finals, not to mention over the moon to have it win.

The book is a sequel to my debut novel, THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE, and I've been enjoying immersing myself in the world I created a long time ago to occupy my imagination on long car tr...

I'm setting up for The Romance Reviews' Year End Splash Party November-long giveaway contest. For my part I'm giving away a Kindle copy of BLOODSTONE. Pop over to The Romance Reviews on November 22, answer the trivia question correctly, and enter for a chance to win!

Coming next weekend, Nov. 6-7, is the Southeast Wisconsin Book Festival at the UW-Waukesha campus: http://www.sewibookfest.com/. For the first time ever, I'll be visiting the festival as a presenting author. Book sales a...

For two weeks only! Friday, Oct. 16-midnight Thursday, Oct. 29, THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE e-book will be on sale for just 99 cents.

The Wild Rose Press will begin the action, but other e-retailers should quickly follow. Here are some links:
The Wild Rose Press
Kindle
Nook
All Romance E-Books 

This is my first sale, so I'm excited to see what attention it brings to my debut fantasy romance.

I'm thrilled to announce that on September 1st, BLOODSTONE will debut as an AmazonEncore edition.

AmazonEncore has picked up exclusive rights to the e-book version from The Wild Rose Press and will distribute it under a new ASIN: http://amzn.com/B0145P8JC6. The print version will continue to be available from The Wild Rose Press, Amazon, and other retailers.

This is a grand experiment--and quite an honor--for me to have my book chosen by Amazon as one that they plan to put the weight and m...

Did you know that it’s possible to have an emotional reaction to a calendar month? According to an article I recently saw on Yahoo, it’s true. Depending on what events or emotions we individually associate with a particular month, we develop a long-lasting aversion to or affinity for a particular calendar month.
August has always made me anxious. Most parents are cheerfully—or desperately—looking forward to carting their young off to school. Those youngsters are enjoying the balmy days of summ...

I've been reading a lot lately, and I like to mix up my reading--a little historical, some middle-grade adventure, contemporary romantic suspense, adult sci-fi romance. Basically, I like variety rather than following the current trend toward binge-watching in TV and video.

I have to admit I do hate it when an awesome book ends and I have to leave that world, but I also hate to find myself at loose ends with nothing by the same author or involving the same group of characters to anticipate. I l...

I'm setting up for The Romance Reviews Sizzling Summer Reads Party from June 1-30. For my part, I'll be giving away a Kindle copy of THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE. Pop over to TRR's site on June 17th and correctly answer a multiple choice question on the book, and you'll be entered for a chance to win.

Next week I'll be at the Von Stiehl Winery in Algoma, Wisconsin, for a Wine and Romance event. Twelve Wisconsin romance authors, including yours truly, will be pairing our books with Von Stieh...

Despite a bitterly cold March and April, I've had the good fortune to get out and about to a number of events.

Most recent, a local book club appearance where the group had chosen to read THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE. This was my first book club experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed discussing my work with readers. It was very interesting to see what they took from the book and what they saw in it. After all, a book is really a conversation between the author and the reader where both bring their...

That is, William Shakespeare, otherwise known as “The Bard of Stratford,” national treasure of England and bane of English students everywhere.
That’s unfortunate because Will Shakespeare wasn’t a literary writer, although we’ve since enshrined him as such. He was instead a writer of popular fiction, fiction designed for the masses, meant to fill the theaters for a week before the audience in London demanded something new. He was in competition with the other writers of his time, looking for h...