RT Mr Romance

David Alan Johnson, 1993

Romantic Times BOOKreviews’s
Mr. Romance
2007 Cover Model Competition
5-7pm
Sponsored by
Dorchester Publishing

Hyatt Regency Downtown
Houston, Texas
The winner of the Mr. Romance Competition
will appear on the cover of a Dorchester Publishing Novel.

The 13th annual Mr. Romance Cover Model pageant is a fan favorite that inspired the Oxygen Network to broadcast their own version last year.
A dozen gorgeous men will compete in Houston for the 2007 Mr. Romance title. They will be judged on personality, romance IQ and charm. Readers will meet the handsome contestants at parties, costume balls and in Club RT throughout the convention.
Don't miss the experience of dancing and chatting with all the contestants so you can vote for your favorite. Readers’ Choice ballots will be available all week long in Club RT.
The winners will be selected by a panel of judges and readers.
The grand prize is an appearance on the cover of a Dorchester Publishing novel and travel to the “shoot.”
DO YOU KNOW THE NEXT FABIO? NOMINATE HIM FOR A PLACE IN THE PAGEANT.

Twelve Candidates Will Compete for the Title of Mr. Romance

To register for the competition, contact our coordinator, Cindy Walker

Troy Sutter, 2000


John DeSalvo, 1994

Tony Ranaudo, 2001


Rob Ashton, 1995

Charlie Meadows, 2002


Mark Johnson, 1996

Lenell Dunbar, 2003


Ryan Storm, 1998


Harvey Stables, 1999


Andrei Claude, 2004

No words needed save that of - thank you

Karen's Class

[PERMISSION TO FORWARD]

Is it your writing goal to launch a new book in 2007? Another 4-week online plotting workshop is just around the corner to help pave your way!

Topic: The "W" Plot…or The Other White Meat for Plotters ©
Speaker: Award-Winning Author Karen Docter
Date: M-W-F, 11/27/06 - 12/22/06
Fee: $20

Workshop: One of the staples of any writers' group conversations is the plot. It's integral to every novel, holds everything together. It's one of the scariest things an author faces when s/he decides, hey, I want to write a novel! Let the "W" plotting technique take the fear factor out of your plotting. Karen analyzes the “Romancing the Stone” movie using the technique and discusses detailed plot points for each of the main characters including the villain. Exercises will help students to uncover the skeletons of their own novels. Plotter or "Pantser", this is a hands-on-your-own-book workshop designed for the novice and experienced writer.

Instructor: Karen Docter won the Category (Series) Romantic Mystery Suspense unpublished division of the 2005 Daphne du Maurier Award. She's a four-time Golden Heart® finalist and a charter member of RWA® PRO and The Golden Network®. Also a member of Colorado Romance Writers and the Kiss of Death chapter, she writes single title romantic suspense novels. She holds a B.A. in Technical Journalism, has taught college level English, and fosters literacy by speaking at local Jr./High schools. She tutors composition and reading classes, and regularly judges several writing contests every year including RWA's® Golden Heart ® Contest.

FMI or to sign up, please go to http://www.karendocter.com./ Thank you!

Sara Kane age 10 says it all

"No boy is worth crying over and the one who is, won't make you cry"

She Blinded Me With Science...Fiction by Kally Jo Surbeck

She Blinded Me With Science...Fiction by Kally Jo Surbeck

Loose Id; 2005; TPB; ISBN 1-59632-132-6

Genre: Contemporary, Chick Lit

Relationships are one big headache: messy as hell and totally unnecessary. Especially in Vegas, baby, when you can hop into bed with the most gorgeous man at the bar and then hop right out again. No fuss, no muss, no injured feelings. And as her best friend, Gertie, knows very well, tangle-free flings are Bianca Kirkland's specialty.

Tall, blonde and busty, "B" is something of an unrepentant tease. Always has been, always will be, she acknowledges matter-of-factly while tugging her snug top just a little bit lower. Never look a gift stud in the mouth is pretty much Bianca's motto. All she has to do is show some cleavage, lick her lips and bam! she can have any man she wants; say, Mega Man at the end of the bar. Words are meaningless when it comes to sex.

To prove her point, she sets her sights on Colby James, chief of security for the hotel hosting the Star Trek convention Bianca and Gertie are all set to participate in. This is a working vacation, you understand; it's not like they're diehard Trekkies or anything like that. Besides, Bianca will be playing an expendable character, no one important, so she can justify staying up until the wee hours of the morning, working up a sweat with Mega Man.

Colby is painfully aware of Bianca's history, though. Hell, she broke his heart -- before he came to Vegas, before his body building days, before a lot of things. And she doesn't even recognize his name; not that he gives a bloody good damn. (The party in his pants certainly doesn't seem to mind). In fact, he'll take what he can get and be damned grateful for it, though Colby never thought he'd be thankful that Bianca's best friend, Gertie, likes seafood a little too much.

Oh yes, anything can and will happen in Vegas, especially during a Star Trek convention.

Trekkies and chick lit are definitely a giggle-worthy combination. But Kally Jo Surbeck's sci-fi loving novel, She Blinded Me With Science...Fiction, isn't just chick lit for one's inner Trekkie. Come on, admit it: we've all watched at least one episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, had a really good giggle over the cheesy dialogue, and secretly found Spock's Vulcan attributes as sexy as a Klingon in full battle regalia. No?

Regardless, Ms. Surbeck's novel will give readers a real tickle and a thrill -- as long as you can appreciate the absurd and find a little compassion in your heart for mixed-up, oversexed, twenty-something Bianca. It took this reviewer a little while, but I eventually warmed up to "B" and her various neuroses. Colby, on the other hand, is immediately likeable; imperfect but charming (when his insecurities aren't getting in the way). Of course, only so much progress can be made during a weekend-long working vacation, so exploring their sexual attraction is really where the plot is at; that and the Trekkie convention.

... She Blinded Me With Science...Fiction boldly goes where no chick lit novel has gone before. And ends, quite suitably enough, with a bang, courtesy of the flirty short story sequel, Friendly Fire.

Reviewed by Cheryl Jeffries
Date posted: November 12, 2005

Copyright © 2005 Cheryl Jeffries / Heartstrings Reviews. All rights reserved.

TWO ROMANCE AUTHORS PLEDGE ROYALTIES TO USO PROGRAM

(Irvine, CA, September 29, 2006) Lorna K. Grant of Irvine, CA, and Kally Jo Surbeck of Lusk, WY, wanted to give something back to those in uniform. As a result, they have pledged their October, November and December royalties from their Vintage Romance Publishing novels to the USO program, United Through Reading. “I wanted to choose an organization that reached out to those serving our country, and could think of no organization more deserving than the USO,” Grant explained. Growing up with a father in the Air Force, Ms. Grant remembers her father being away for periods of time and knows what this generation of military children is going through with parents serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. When she got older, she heard the stories of how, when she was an infant and toddler, she refused to go to her father when he returned from year-long tours in Vietnam and Guam, as she didn’t recognize who he was. “I know it broke his heart and I’m glad the USO has a program that helps parents stay connected to their children while they’re away. It’s hard on everyone when parents are deployed and I’m glad today’s children have the help of the USO,” Grant commented.
The United Through Reading program helps unite deployed service men and women and their children with a little help from a video camera and a book. At participating USO Service Centers, the service members can videotape themselves reading a children’s book, and the resulting DVD and copy of the book are then sent to the child back home. The family is encouraged to photograph the child’s excitement of having the book read to them by the absent parent, which is then sent back to the deployed service member. “These men and women do so much for us,” Surbeck said. “They are our brothers, our sisters, our lovers, and friends. In this small way, I can help back.”

1944…She didn’t want to love him. Colleen Vaughn has experienced the effects of war firsthand as a US Army Nurse. When she’s told her fiancé has been shot down and killed in action, she vows never to fall in love again. Then she meets a pair of haunting blue eyes and a dimpled smile. Only problem is – he’s another pilot. He wouldn’t let her walk away. As a P-51 pilot, Captain Daniel Ryan has one mission: protect the bombers and get back alive. The last thing he needs is to fall in love. Soon he wonders just who is more dangerous – the enemy firing back at him or the woman who fights the love they share. The war brought them together. Would it also tear them apart?

Haunted by her past, Kaitlyn O'Connel ventures to New York to become a guardian rail rider, ensuring young orphans go to good homes and families. Calum Banagher's American prosperity is threatened by the young, beautiful Agent who questions his morality and ethics, lodging accusations that he has prospered from child labor. He not only wants to prove her wrong to clear his name, but to win her heart.


A PAIR OF WINGS and BOUND BY HOPE are available in trade paperback through bookstores and on-line outlets.