Gabriella Hewitt

Juno Books has come a long way. Good for them. It started out as a small press company that only did women’s urban fantasy. They hooked up to sell titles to a bigger company and then got bought again. Very nice to see they grew and found a market. Before it was hard to find the titles on the shelf. Originally it was only an e-pub then later they sold the books like Samhain Publishing. Definitly one to watch.

Juno is now part of Pocket Books, which is a division of publisher Simon & Schuster.

For a look at their totally hot spring lineup, click here

Literary agent Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency gave an interview to Southern Sizzle Romance. What interested me the most was hearing her take on paranormal. She certainly doesn’t see it as being saturated, though she sees a preference for darker works. I know a year or two back there were whisperings that the paranormal market was tightening up. It’s good to know that isn’t necessarily the case. Secondly, at the end of the interview she offers a fairly optimistic take on the publishing market for 2010, which is more good news. As a writer, I’m always looking for those little silver linings.

Libarary Journal has a post up by John Klima called Steampunk: 20 Core Titles. If you’re already a fan or just getting your feet wet, this is a page you’ll want to bookmark or print out to have handy when you make your next book purchase.

Read through the list and you’ll find a remarkable breadth for this niche genre from sci fi, to mystery, to romance to the absurd. I’m itching to get my hands on the reprint of Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter. The premise seems rife with comedic promise. The League of Extraordinary Gentleman stands out for being a graphic novel. I would think steampunk would be particularly suited for graphic novels and I’m curious to see how it is handled here. Another book to catch my eye is Boneshaker. It’s got all the ingredients of a steampunk novel, plus zombies. What more could you ask for?

I have read Soulless by Gail Carriger. You can find my almost review here. This book only just came out, so it’s cool to see it made the list. Her second book in this series is coming out soon and I plan on picking it up.

Steampunk is hot right now. Read blogs by editors and agents and a lot of them say they are looking for a steampunk read. In a few years it’ll be interesting to see which books stay on the list and which books get pushed aside. However it shakes out, I hope it means that the genre continues to develop in the entertaining and fascinating way that it has so far.

The British newspaper The Guardian interviewed an array of authors to get their top ten rules for writing. Authors responses ranged from cheeky to serious. I got a kick out of reading it. Part I is here and Part II is here.

I particularly recommend Margaret Atwood’s take on the writing experience. She made me laugh and nod, as did others. I’ll leave you with her rule #7.

7 You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there’s no free lunch. Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but ­essentially you’re on your own. ­Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine

Go read the whole thing.