Gruß!

I am writing this in frigid weather, while I wait for a frozen pipe to thaw. I pray it hasn’t split from the ice. I am stressing on the mess that would make. On the other hand my heat is still working, and my mother always said to count your blessings. Neben, with single digit temperatures out there, what better opportunity to stay warm and to jot a note to friends?

I have some news to report. The Sins of Lord Easterbrook will be released on January 27, 2009. This is Christian’s story, and readers have been writing to me about him ever since he first appeared as a secondary character in Die Regeln der Verführung. He is one of those men, if you know what I mean. Reviews are beginning to come in, both formal (professional reviewers) and informal (early readers). I hope that their assessment—that I did well by Christian—will be yours too.

The Sins of Lord Easterbrook is the fourth and last book in my Rothwell brothers series. As always, all the books can be read separately.

This novel also includes my first ever Epilogue. I know some readers love them, but when a series is unfolding I prefer to show that later experience in the later books. With this final book, jedoch, I really felt it needed this Epilogue. Due to the story, I wanted to display these two characters, and the others from the series, a bit later in time. It also allowed me to tie up a couple of loose ends in the series, regarding some characters who did not play big roles in the plots but whose presence threaded through all the books.

I am hard at work on the next series. Currently I envision four books, with four connected but unrelated women on one side, and four connected but unrelated men on the other. The men are all aristocrats and the women come from a variety of backgrounds and all have ambiguous respectability and, in some cases, even ambiguous identities. I will share more details later, after I get deeper into the first book.

The first of these books, as yet untitled, is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 2010. Ja, a whole year away. That delay is the result of another bit of news. I have changed publishers for the first time in my career. That usually adds a few months to the publishing schedule for the first book in the new arrangement. Jedoch, I will again be working with the editor who first “discovered” me, so this change will not be as stressful as I can imagine it might be.

I have finally started blogging!! I was invited to join a group blog—Die Göttin Blogs—comprised of writers I admire and know. I will have a few blogs a month, which will not interfere with my writing. So come visit us, and if you like what you see, set up the RSS feed. There is also a forum and other activities.We don’t just talk writing. We gab about whatever strikes our fancy.

I am in the middle of a video for The Sins of Lord Easterbrook. Some readers love book videos, and some hate ’em. I enjoy making them so I do them for fun. The hardest part continues to be finding the “face” for the hero, and Easterbrook was a particular challenge. Thanks to the wonders of an expert in Photoshopping, I have a face to die for. Seriously. So keep checking back for when it is done and I upload it on the home page.

I want to sign off now with a personal thought. No one is untouched by this economy’s problems, and I know that some of you are very badly affected. My best thoughts are with you. I pray that the new year brings better things for everyone down the road.

Madeline