Sandra Ruttan deftly combines chilling cases and riveting personal relationships to hold readers “spellbound,” as Clive Cussler notes.  In fact, we here at Dorchester absolutely adore her books. Everyone on staff rushes for the copies as soon as they come in because we can’t wait to find out what will happen next for Ashlyn Hart, Craig Nolan, and their partner, known only as Tain.

We love the series so much, we want you to read the first book, WHAT BURNS WITHIN, for free.  Just click on the “Browse” button above to get started.  And if you want to share with friends and have the widget on your MySpace page, Facebook site or blog, click the “Get This” button and copy and paste the code–it’s that easy.

“Ruttan is talented in the way that a natural musician is talented, making all the notes seem effortless.”    —Crimespree Magazine

“What Burns Within is a stunning book.  Not only is this the start of a great series, but more importantly it’s the start of a long and successful career.  Sandra Ruttan is one to watch.”  —Brian Lindenmuth, Mystery BookSpot

Borders is the primary sponsor of the 2010 RomCon, a conference aimed primarily at romance readers and scheduled to take place July 9-11 in Denver. 

Published authors may want to take note of their Reader’s Crown contest. The books will be judged by selected romance readers, and the winner receives special display space in Borders stores and coverage on Borders’ True Romance blog.  Then again, it also costs $75 to enter.  Worth it if you win, but at almost twice the cost of entering the Ritas, it’s hard to give a wholehearted endorsement.

Readers can get five free books and $10 off conference fees if they’d like to apply to be a judge.

Dorchester and TextNovel.com have announced the top vote-getters for America’s Next Best Celler contest. These entries are now semi-finalists in the contest to win a book contract.  Dorchester editors will choose 10 from the following list to be our finalists.  On Nov. 16th voting will open once again.  [Edited: Sorry, my mistake.]

Meantime, take a look and tell us your favorites.

1.    Manhunt

2.    Muse Struck

3.    Lancelot’s Lady

4.    Stay

5.    Death’s Angel

6.    Forever Freed

7.    Confessions of the World’s Oldest Shotgun Bride

8.    Fae Nights

9.    How to Lose a Demon in 10 Days

10. What She Was Missing

11. Courting Demons

12. Daughter of Fire

13. Vampire Vacation

14. Redeeming Characters

15. Enchanted Season

16. Death Waylaid: Passion of the Psychic

17. Primitive Nights

18. Tossing the Gloves: How to Love a Hockey Player

19. Highland Magic

20. The Hooded Man

21. Enchantment

As the evenings are darker these days, it’s hard not to think of winter being right around the corner.  Here are some January titles I thought looked interesting in the various sales kits that come around.

SPELLBENT by Lucy A. Snyder

A woman in Ohio who’s learning magic accidentally opens a portal to Hell and releases a demon (oops!), who then snatches up her teacher/lover.  So she’s left to figure out her powers and rescue the guy. 

From Bantam/Del-Rey.

SEDUCING THE HEIRESS by Olivia Drake

This is the first of “An Heiress in London” series in which a rich family of commoners take London Society by storm.  The great endorsements from from Susan Wiggs and Christina Dodd along with that stunning red cover immediately caught my eye.

From St. Martin’s.

PROOF BY SEDUCTION by Courtney Milan

I was surprised to see that this is Milan’s debut novel because it seems as though her name has been everywhere lately.  I think this is one a lot of people are looking forward to, especially since it recently got a starred review in Publishers Weekly and Julia Quinn calls it “One of the finest historical romances I’ve read in years.”   The premise: a scientific-minded lord is determined to prove a fortune-teller is a fraud.

Coming from HQN.

HEARTS AND BLOOD by Gail Dayton

This is a sequel to her Victorian fantasy, NEW BLOOD, which I recently read a preview of and really enjoyed.  From the back cover:

Pearl Parkin, a gently reared lady struggling to survive in London’s slums, sees magic as a way out of the life she finds herself trapped in. But blackmailing master conjurer Grey Carteret into making her his apprentice has unexpected consequences. As they plunge into the hunt for a murderer, Pearl discovers that the things she once desperately wanted are not as important after all, and that she must risk her blood, her heart and her very life to grasp the love she needs. 

From Tor.

I’m blogging over at Romance University today – taking names and kicking as$.  No wait, that’s taking questions and giving back.  Sorry.  Hope you’ll stop by and join the fun.

Some more fun.  We recently had two winners for the Beacon Award, sponsored by the First Coast Romance Writers.  Congratulations to Trish Albright and Phyllis Bourne Williams!

Editorial Director Alicia Condon

The Dorchester staff is getting in the Halloween spirit.  Check out the latest photos on our Facebook page.

The November books are officially on sale today, and with release day comes all kinds of promo:

C.L. Wilson is over at the Borders True Romance blog for an exclusive interview about QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS.  You can also check out the video.

The Dorchester site is offering a $10 coupon for purchases over $25.

I’m answering questions today over at Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book blog for Publishers Weekly.

Congratulations to Lexie, who won all the November romances.  Later today, I’ll be pulling the winner of the widget contest for the Tairen Soul series. But there’s still time to enter!

We’re all in super huge anticipation of C.L. Wilson’s QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS coming out on Tuesday.  In fact, there’s a special widget on the right side of the Dorchester home page with links to an exclusive deleted scene, excerpt, and more.

Help spread the love, and one winner will receive a whole set of the New York Times best-selling Tairen Soul series.  Everyone who plays will get some kind of prize.  Here’s how:

1. 1.    Visit the Dorchester website
2. 2.    Click the Share button at the bottom of the widget and post it to your blog, your Facebook, your MySpace, etc., or use the embed code to post to your own site.
3. 3.   Email me (lhulten @ dorchesterpub.com – no spaces) the links with “C.L. Wilson widget” in the subject.  For every link of a different site, you’ll get one entry in the grand prize drawing for the four Tairen Soul books: LORD OF THE FADING LANDS, LADY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, KING OF SWORD AND SKY, and QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS.
4. Be on the lookout for a return email with a thank-you prize for participating.
5. All links must be sent by Tuesday, 10/27 by 3 p.m. EST.

Unfortunately the widget does not work on WordPress blogs, which don’t support Flash.  However, Blogger, Live Journal and most others are no problem.  If you’re blogging on WP, send me a link to this contest, and I’ll still enter you in the drawing.

Get a peek at our April 2010 releases.  The slate includes Barbara Monajem’s debut, SUNRISE IN A GARDEN OF LOVE AND EVIL, a paranormal romance that Susan Squires calls “in the spirit of Charlaine Harris.” 

SUNRISE is also the first book in our new lineup of Publisher’s Pledge titles, books the editors have hand selected as being so strong that we’re willing to offer readers a refund if they don’t absolutely fall in love with the story.

Hope you also enjoy the larger cover images!

And on the Coming Soon page is a listing of ALL the May 2010 books on the Dorchester schedule, along with a new excerpt for PRIDE MATES, the first book in Jennifer Ashley’s Shifters Unbound series, coming in February.

The publishing world was abuzz yesterday with news of B&N’s new ebook reader, the Nook (seriously, where do they get these names?).  And from everything I’ve seen and read, it looks pretty darn cool. 

The B&N site does a nice comparison of Nook vs. Kindle, but I’ve recently been looking at upgrading my Palm to an iPod Touch.  So I did my own comparison:

                                                      iPod                           Nook

• Ebooks                          yes                               yes
•      epub                          no                                yes
•     eReader                    yes                               yes
•     Kindle                        yes                               no
• Music                             yes                               yes
• Movies                          yes                                 no
• Word doc                     yes*                               no
• pdf                                  yes*                              yes
• wireless download    yes                               yes
• Wi-fi capable              yes                                 yes
• operating sys             Mac                              Android (Google)
• eInk (good for sun)   no                                yes
• backlit (good for dark) yes                          no
• screen size                     3.5″ diag                      6″ diag.
• loan books                  no                                   yes
• price                         $199 8G/$299 32G       $259
• expansion slot          no                                   yes
• replaceable bat.       no                                   yes
• Web browsing           yes                                   ?

* requires app at additional charge

The biggest questions for me come down to screen size and backlit vs. eInk.  I’m having a real hard time deciding because on one hand, I love to read on our sunny terrace (which gives backlit devices a terrible glare), but I also like reading in bed and not having the light on to bother the DH (eInk requires a separate light source). 

Also, how functional is the Nook at web browsing in a wireless hotspot? 

The Nook is available for preorder now and will start shipping Nov. 30. At that time, it will also be in stores for customers to demo.