A Cover Story

No one can deny publishing is a tough business and every aspect of a book needs to be planned and created to give the book the best chance possible in the market. Covers are one such area that can make or break sales and I’ve been very fortunate that the team at Harlequin MIRA came up with such a lovely concept for Luna Tango. It has  captured people’s imaginations and I’ve received comments such as “breathtaking”, “stunning”, and “beautiful” (I agree, but then again I am a little …. okay … a lot biased!).

The dancers on the front of Luna Tango have always intrigued me and I’ve often wondered who they were in real life. When a book cover is designed, the photographs are bought but there’s rarely any information that comes with those images.

Last weekend a friend kindly offered to take copies of Luna Tango to Adelaide for a tango celebration with guest dancers from Argentina. The dancers were Fabian Salas (renowned for his stage shows and his roles in the movies The Tango Dancer and Evita) and Lola Diaz (a very accomplished tango dancer and choreographer who has travelled the world teaching and performing).

I’m not sure who got the biggest surprise – Lola when she saw herself on the cover of Luna Tango or me when I realised I have finally achieved my dream of finding out the true identity of  the Luna Tango cover girl! It was an absolute joy to thank Lola personally for being on the cover.

Now we’re in contact, I’ll enjoy learning more about Lola and Fabian as they travel the world, enchanting audiences with their beautiful tango dancing. Here are a couple of clips for you to enjoy:

 

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Meet My Character – A Blog Tour

Flamenco_dancer_3467

Photo by Mazkeret Batia – Wikimedia commons

 The lovely Barrie Summy invited me to participate in a Meet My Character Blog Tour. I’ve chosen a character from my current manuscript, Flamenco Fire.

1.) What is the name of your character?
Charlotte Williams

2.) Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
Fictional but in my head she’s real!

3.) When and where is the story set?
Mostly in Granada, Spain with a few scenes in London scattered throughout. As I love my dual storylines, part of the story is set during the Spanish Civil War and World War II and the rest of the story is present day. Of course, the storylines will meet up in order to solve a mystery involving flamenco!

4.) What should we know about him/her?
Charlotte is a talented painter but has quashed that dream in favour of a stable career and life. Her ailing grandma tips that upside down when she begs Charlotte to go to Spain and find out who is the anonymous artist behind a painting belonging to her great-grandfather.

5.) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Charlotte works as an insurance broker and spends her days assessing risk both in her professional and personal life. When she meets Mateo Vives, a Spanish flamenco guitarist and free spirit, she is forced to reassess her own beliefs and listen to her heart. What she doesn’t realise is the discovery of the identity of the painter will set off a chain of events that have dire consequences that spread across multiple generations.

8.) When can we expect the book to be published?
Flamenco Fire will be published in 2015 by Harlequin MIRA

What happens next? See the names below in green with links to their websites? Those authors will be posting on Oct 16, 2014 about one of their characters. In fact, you might want to click through now and find out more!

Rachael Johns is an English teacher by trade, a mum 24/7, a supermarket owner, a chronic arachnophobic, and a writer the rest of the time. She rarely sleeps and never irons. She writes contemporary romance for HQN and Harlequin Australia and lives in rural Western Australia with her hyperactive husband and three mostly-gorgeous heroes-in-training. Rachael loves to hear from readers and can be contacted through her website at www.rachaeljohns.com.

Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She’s been widely published in various short story anthologies, and in fiction magazines, and is now focusing on writing romance. The only downfall about writing about gorgeous men who have brains as well as brawn, is falling in love with them – just as well they’re fictional. Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships, and most importantly, believe in true, once in a lifetime love.

Heidi Noroozy is a translator, blogger, and writer of multicultural crime fiction. Her travels around the globe have led to extended stays in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico and Iran. Heidi’s Cold War story, “Trading Places,” was published in the “Secret Codes” issue of Nautilus and draws on her experiences living in the GDR in the 1980s. Other stories appeared in German crime anthologies and have been translated into five languages. She lives in Northern California with her Iranian-born husband and is currently writing a novel set in present-day Tehran.

Pamela DuMond is the author who discovered Erin Brokovich’s life story – Pamela though it would make a great movie so pitch it to Hollywood and the rest is history. She writes romantic comedic mysteries, romantic Young Adult, time travel novels and New Adult romance.

World Ballet Day – LIVE!

On Wednesday, 1 October the world will witness the inaugural World Ballet Day where five internationally acclaimed ballet companies will dance live and you can watch it online. The Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and the San Francisco Ballet have teamed up to give fans around the world the chance to see what goes on in rehearsal studios as well as interviews with dancers and artistic directors.

The schedule is as follows:

The Australian Ballet October 1st at 12pm (AEST)

Bolshoi Ballet October 1st at 4pm (AEST)

Royal Ballet October 1st at 8pm (AEST)

National Ballet of Canada October 2nd at 12pm (AEST)

San Francisco Ballet October 2nd at 4am (AEST)

Who knows, you may discover an up and coming dancer who will become a worldwide sensation and you can say “I saw him/her when …”!