After her husband’s death, Sharon Mahoney and her young son moved from New York to Orange County, California where she grew up and her sister still lives. In fact, her sister Karly rented an apartment for her in an old Victorian house where odd things started happening almost immediately. It seems Sharon, through Karly, was drawn to this house for a specific reason. In addition to seeing a ghostly apparition, Sharon discovers she is distantly related to all the inhabitants of the house. One tenant in particular seems to have a hold over her. Ian Fanning is the land lady’s great nephew and an accomplished artist like his grandfather Bradley. For some unaccountable reason Ian is painting the same woman over and over. The woman could easily be his grandmother Susan or Sharon; they both are very similar in appearance.

A tragedy occurred in the old Victorian mansion in the 1940’s. Ian’s grandfather is believed to have killed his lover, Ian’s grandmother, and then hung himself in the attic. Is it Bradley’s ghost that is trying to communicate with Sharon and Ian? Will they be able to understand the message before there are more deaths? What about their attraction for each other? Is it love or manipulation from the past?

TOUCH ME IN THE DARK ensnared me in its roller coaster story line entertaining and thrilling me as Ms. Diamond skillfully unraveled mystery after mystery. The setting, an old Victorian house complete with spooky attic and eerie ghost, was masterfully painted by Ms. Diamond and each of her compelling characters added dramatically to the intrigue. Little by little Ms. Diamond built the suspense, reeling in her readers for a dynamic climax. TOUCH ME IN THE DARK continues to excite me, so much so that I recommend this fascinating book to one and all.

First of all, let me welcome all our new visitors. If this is your first time here, welcome. Have a look around. Make yourself at home. We have plenty of interviews, reviews, and excerpts to read. As well as commentary. We at ecataromance.com are pro ebook, pro romance. We hope you are too, but if not, give us a minute to convince you, to bring you over to our side. :) Oh, and don’t be shy. Leave a comment.

Hello to all our new visitors from www.bing.com! Wondering how to organize your ebooks? We’ve got an article on that very subject. Wondering about the Sony Reader or the Kindle? We’ve got several articles on those as well. If you have one, we’d love for you to write a review for us. Contact us for more info.

If you’re looking to buy an ebook, let us recommend My Bookstore and More and Fictionwise.

Now, back to the saga. If you’ve been following along, things are exploding in the digital world. Not only are sales up, a host of folks are sitting up and taking notice of ebooks (some for the first time.) Catch up by reading our post about ebook publishing as a career, then jump over to making a living with ebooks, and then have a look at Publishing, it’s all about the math. We’d like your opinion on that last one.

If you missed the post that really flipped the ebook world into high gear, check out Deidre Knight’s post in response to RWA President Dianne Pershing’s column in the Romance Writer Report (RWA’s journal.) Then see Pershing’s follow up to Knight’s post. Next in line over on the Espan blog is Angela James and she offers a calm approach. Raelene Gorlinsky offers an upbeat post about ebook publishing.

Other articles worth reading/mentioning… Publisher’s Weekly did a write up about epublishing, Marianne LaCroix has posted some sales figures from a recent epublishing poll, and it appears Ellora’s Cave is late with payments.

Astra Q. Phelps is a Tweener with an excellent talent for saving the world, a talent she is not so sure is desirable. When she gets a call to go to a magical night club and help save her magic-phobic sister, she knows something is up. Astra would prefer more time alone with her favorite devil, Dialle. Instead, she finds herself fighting a veil of twisted magic with powers to drive humans and supernaturals to new levels of animosity. Angels are sick with Devil’s Plague and a visit to the Prophet provides more questions than answers. With the bodies piling up and everyone affected by the veil from her sister to Dialle, Astra has no choice but to save the world again, all while serving as a surrogate parent to a baby dragon.

‘Tween Heart’s Fire and Devil’s Delight takes you on quite a ride. The veil causes both humans and the magical community to become more aggressive and as a result we have a variety of things stacking up for Astra’s attention. She is her usual irreverent self and the conversations are filled with witty rejoinders that make you chuckle or cringe as the case may be. Sam Cheever’s talent for the unique and the exciting shines on the pages of ‘Tween Heart’s Fire and Devil’s Delight. Another winner for Sam Cheever.

There are, however, a few things that don’t add up for me.

If you haven’t seen RWA President Diane Pershing’s response to author/agent Deidre Knight’s post over on the Espan-RWA blog, you’ll find it here.

First of all, I’m so glad Ms. Pershing responded. It shows that she is interested in a dialog with RWA members and writers in general.

However, there are a few things I’m confused about. Notably, her statement in regard to the workshop offered to the Pro Retreat on digital publishing and the poor turnout. If I understand correctly, only Pro members would be allowed to attend that workshop. Now if that’s the case, what a faulty logic. First of all, let’s just say for easy math that one third of RWA membership belongs to PRO. Out of that 2000 or so members that usually attend the National convention, let’s also say 1/3 are PRO. That means 2/3s of your membership cannot attend by default! Now throw into the mix that I’ve never even heard of the speaker. Why would I want to attend?

I’d also like to point out that not everyone who is “eligible” for PRO or PAN has signed up for PRO or PAN. I am just one such example. Since that’s the case, how can RWA think they know what would best help me…since they haven’t asked and I’ve never felt it would matter to tell them. Just like with the RITA and Golden Heart, there are so many members who don’t belong to one group or the other. And that, is perhaps, just one of the reasons that RWA feels like a clique at times. A club. And yet another reason I created catauniversity with tons of information for romance writers, or a group like CataNetwork Writers where writers can gather and discuss without all the politics that RWA brings. Oh, and did I mention its FREE?!

It’s been pointed out that Melissa Schroeder presented a class/workshop at RWA national last year. Presenting with her? Angela James…the same Angela James who submitted another workshop for the 2009 National conference and was turned down. I’d love to know why it was okay to have a workshop last year, but not this year. What’s the difference?

If I’m going to attend a workshop, I’d like people who are actually in the know, within the digital publishing industry with a romance edge. Like, Angela James. Not some guy I’ve never heard of before.

Now, I do have to agree with Ms. Pershing that there should be some way to figure out which publishers should be endorsed by RWA. It’s either all or none, or a select few somehow decided on by an elite few. Trust me, I understand. We at Ecataromance gets authors and publishers we’ve never even heard of before requesting things from us, reviews, interviews…and no, we don’t get membership dues from these authors. So I understand the need to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Way back when Ecataromance.com first came to be, I thought it was a great idea to promote ebooks separately. It’s it’s own market. They do their own thing. Let them promote on their own and sell to those who read ebooks. And the response from ebook authors was tremendous!

But lately I’ve been rethinking that stance. By segregating ebooks to their own site, are we not keeping that giant valley between ebooks and print books? Since so many print books are sold in ebook formats and so many ebooks being released in print, would it not just be better to have one dynamite site that offers a place to list the various formats a book is available in? Audio, hardback, mass market, trade paper, kindle, .pdf, etc?

I don’t know, but it’s something worth thinking about. And gathering opinions on. Feel free to leave a comment below. And if you haven’t voted yet on a merger between ecata and singletitles, please do.

Also, if you’re a writer, please fill out this survey presented by author Shiloh Walker. The results should be eye opening.

Update: You wanted numbers and RWA’s Marianne LaCroix has some for you. Check out the table she’s put together with data provided by her recent poll.

I think the vote is unanimous. Authors want the numbers. Show me the money! Give me the information and then let me decide. In the past, we at Ecataromance have collected data from ebook authors in regards to royalty information as well as their promotional spending and compiled it into an Epublishing Report. We haven’t done one in a while, but perhaps now would be a good time to pick it back up.

The one thing I’m seeing authors ask for from organizations like RWA is information. And respect. Many authors did research on their publishers before submitting and knew what they were getting into. So they made the choice with their eyes open. But an organzation who represents the interests of “all” members is surely doing a disservice to its members by not presenting plentiful information about the smallest of pubs.

Yes, that will take time and manpower…er…womanpower. But I’m sure the publishers would be eager to talk to RWA.

Since we’re talking numbers and making a living from ebooks, I have a question of the day. It’s something I’ve seen mentioned various times over the years.

Only erotic romance sells in the ebook realm.

True? False? What steps need to be taken now in order to ensure all romance sells well digitally in the future? Is it the covers? The immediacy? The distribution?

Ethan Gray is so much more than a museum curator He is also a traveler. Called upon by the Sacred Council of Arrows, Ethan is sent back in time to warn The People. Known as Meko in this time, he is the head of the Dog Soldiers, fighting the military and settlers who come to take their land. After a raid, he finds Francesca Duvall hiding near the Platte River. Meko knows Cesca is part of his destiny and his decision to take her back to the camp changes the course of many lives. Cesca, who cannot accept her captivity, plans to help her brother escape, but she is unable to forget the effect her captor has on her senses.

Where the Rain is Made is an epic tale that takes you into the lives of the Cheyenne during a time when massacres were common and life was fragile. We are afforded a glimpse of life from the perspective of the Cheyenne, making it easy to see how wronged they were. Meko and Cesca through all their trials and turmoil find a love that will transcend time. Grab this one and be prepared to cry and to be affronted at the past. An understanding of the culture of these wonderful people who only fought to preserve their life style will be found in the pages of Where the Rain is Made. K. Celeste Bryan takes us into the legends and lore of a people who lost so much more than lives those long ago days along the Platte River. Where the Rain is Made is a tale that is rich in history, emotions and love. Kudos to K. Celeste Bryan for penning such an impassioned story.