Motivational Posters

I have stumbled upon, quite possibly, the coolest posters ever. Ever. Cooler than these I had when I was fifteen:

Postertext.com offers posters that celebrate classic works of literature. Each graphic represents an idea or scene from the book. Look closer and you'll discover the graphic is comprised of the entire novel's text. Of course, I'll steer you to H.G. Well's The Time Machine, but there is truly something here for every classic lover. If I were Oprah, it would be on my favorite things list. Posters for everyone! LOOOOOVE it!

If that wasn't cool enough for you, how about this sneak-peek photo of John Cusack in The Raven, a psychological thriller in production. The film is fiction, but based largely on rumors that Poe spent his mysterious last days chasing a serial killer inspired by his tales.

What's the latest poster you owned?

Conference Redux, Part One

If I could go back in time, I would take more photos. I really would. I promised everyone and their monkey's uncle. But conferences require such copious amounts of stuff. And changing bags. And, well, there's no excuse, but to say everyone around me has always been a shutterbug and I get side stream photos from them. And, really, did you need a photo of the surly Italian waiter with the Elvis lips for the blog? In three months he'll have transcended anything captured digitally to be the perfect secondary character for my next book, anyway.

The Romance Writers of America conference in D.C. gave me enough material to coast on for a good two weeks, but for now, know I appreciate all the warm, generous support the Vortex followers gave me this past week. Yes, it's an honor to be nominated. And, yes, it's exciting to cheer whole-heartedly for the wonderful, classy authors-turned-friends who go on to win their categories. I want to extend my congratulations to humor writer Diane O'Brien Kelley who won the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements Golden Heart for her manuscript Death, Taxes and a French Manicure and gave an eloquent acceptance speech that left no doubt as to her ability to pen a great novel.

Also, congrats to frequent Vortex visitor, fellow Bond-girl, and friend Maureen McGowan, whose short story "Lost and Found" just became part of the Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance project. Actually, it is an excuse to post this great cover again. Can't wait to read it, Maureen.

This week, I'll have more post-conference bull, a Vortex 10 from the International Spy Museum and photos I've pilfered from my friends. For now, here's one of me with my roommates, who tried tirelessly to dry tears of laughter long enough to remedy my Princess Lea up-do into something that looked slightly-less awful:

(l-r: Melanie Atkins, L.A. Mitchell, June Love)

And my favorite, capturing old friends and new, BFFs in all our finery:

(front l-r: Mary Karlik, Teresa Southwick; back l-r: Angela, Sherry Davis, L.A. Mitchell)

Oh, and the only place I considered MacGyvering my way at conference was in the Ritz Carlton ladies room. Floor to ceiling stalls. Thankfully, the lock only stuck once.

First thing's first: What did I miss this week? Tell me what you're up to.

Happy Little Time Travel Romances

So it's not any news that directly pertains to my novels, but it is further proof the time travel romance sub-genre is alive and well and oh, so beauuuutiful.

The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance, edited by London's Murder One bookstore manager Trisha Telep, is a collection of twenty five time travel short stories from some of the romance industry's heavy hitters: Nina Bangs, Jude Devereaux, Sandra Hill, Linda Howard, Lynn Kurland, Karen Marie Moning and many more.

This collection includes stories set in Medieval Scotland, sixteenth century England, the American Wild West, the present day and, of course, the future. It's set to release in the UK in October, the US in December, but it's available for pre-order now with Amazon. Could the cover art gods have been any kinder? Yum. Or maybe he just looks that much better when placed aside Bob Ross.

If you can't wait until the fall to get your hands on a great time travel romance, here's a list of fairly recent time travel romances broken down into sub-sub-genre. And I'm slowly making my way through this blogger's list because he had some time travel novels that I'd not heard of that sound amazing.

Is this sub-genre on the upswing? A girl can hope.