After the Snowpocalypse of 2010, I’m looking forward to a springtime filled with flowers, fun and fantastic books!

I’m gearing up to write another installment to my Mythica series for HQN’s Silhouette Nocturne, which I like to think of as “Percy Jackson for Grown Up Girls!”

I love re-imagining Greek myths for modern times with kick-butt heroines and this time, my story will feature a sexy siren and the one man who won’t fall easy prey to her charms…or will he?

In celebration, and for the purpose of this contest, I’m going to be giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card and a free ARC of MIDNIGHT MEDUSA to one lucky winner.

TO ENTER:

1. Join my Newsletter, or
2. If you’ve already joined my newsletter, spread the word about this contest by posting it in your blog or on twitter or even Facebook if it’s a publicly accessible link (which you should post in this thread)

(Note: By entering the contest, you agree to let Stephanie Draven use your name on this website and her blog if you win. Your email address will never be sold or transferred to any third party. Stephanie might, however, contact you with the very occasional update on her writing and career. At your request, however, you’ll be promptly deleted from her mailing list.)

Okay, there are days when I absolutely adore the cheesiness of the Romance Genre, and this hysterical commercial is exactly why:

Since becoming a published author, I’m far more aware of imagery than I used to be. I’m always looking at things and wondering if they would make a good cover. Using Stumble-Upon today I fell over these photographs which blew me away and I thought I’d share. I love everything about these photos.

They are staged so beautifully, and everything about them reads like the story of some fabulously interesting ancient woman. My brother-in-law is trying to convince me that my next historical novel should be about empress Theodora and I imagine that these photos could be very inspiring to a cover artist.

I’ve been saying for a while that I think the more inventive and creative writing in the industry is happening on the erotica end of the scale. Megan Hart, one of the most literary writers in th genre, has been pushing that envelope with deep and thoughtful novels that happen to center around sexual topics.

My editor at Berkley is quoted in this very interesting article in Publisher’s Weekly:

Relationship-centered erotica is very important at Berkley, where executive editor Cindy Hwang notes that although the imprint has only been publishing its Heat line since 2005, “In that short period of time, we’ve really seen the erotic romance take off. This isn’t to say these books aren’t as sexy as other erotica—just that there’s an emphasis on the character development and emotional connection between the characters.” Hwang cites Emma Holly’s September Fairyville as a great example of a book that combines intense emotional connections with “envelope-pushing sexuality.”