The following note was recently emailed to Pat Ballard, the Queen of Rubenesque Romances. It's included here & in Pat's latest newsletter with permission.
Dear Pat, I just wanted to let you know that your books have changed my life in a matter of days.
See, I received a Kindle for Christmas—I always read, always! Most of the time it is Sandra Brown and Linda Howard—I have read all their books. So I typed in on my Kindle "plus size romance" and your books popped up.
I wanted you to know that you are now MY FAVORITE AUTHOR. Please tell me more books are coming. I have been overweight my entire life, I never thought that I was pretty— my husband tells me that I am, BUT until I read your books—WOW, I am telling you life changing. Anyway just wanted you to know that!
Anyway thanks again for your life changing stories. God Bless you always!
Teresa S
Teresa's note is the Reader Review of the month in the January 2011 issue of The Queen's Proclamation, Pat's newsletter. You can read the issue online here.
You can also read past issues of Pat's newsletter in the Pearlsong Press newsletter archives here. Enjoy!
In Fallen Embers, the first book of the promising Embers Series, author Lauri J Owen delivers a powerful homage to paranormal writing. Using a gifted combination of thoughtful cultural awareness, a determined heroine, and vivid descriptiveness, Owen gives readers an incredible journey into a world where Kiera must learn everything she can to get home safely. Fighting off armies and learning magic skills are not her only lessons. Kiera meets the dashing Laszlo who threatens to steal her heart; the heart that remains firmly fixed on her home and getting there.
Fallen Embers is available in trade paperback & ebook editions from Pearlsong Press and your favorite bookstores. Click on the Bookbuzzr widget below to read the first chapter online.
Lauri talked about the genesis of her paranormal romance novel Fallen Embers and its magic-rich alternate Alaska setting, her astrology-based system of magic, and what's in store in future volumes of The Embers Series. (Taste the book yourself by clicking on the Bookbuzzr widget below and reading the first chapter.)
Fallen Embers is available in original trade paperback and ebook editions from Pearlsong Press and your favorite online bookstores.
Readers Favorite Book Reviews praises Fallen Embers (Book One of The Embers Series) by Lauri J Owen. Read the review here. (FYI: the reviewer's comment that the book needs editing may have come from the review copy having been an uncorrected early version of the book. Or maybe the reviewer prefers books shorter than 384 pages!)
Fallen Embers is available in original trade paperback & ebook format from Pearlsong Press. Purchase it at the Pearlsong Press website or via your favorite online bookseller.
Click on the Bookbuzzr widget below to read the first chapter and share with friends.
"a deceptively complex Urban Fantasy that takes the sensitive issues of slavery and abuse and wraps them in a vibrant magical world that hides a rotten core. Teeming with intrigue, suspense, and forbidden love...Ms. Owens's world building skills are phenomenal."
She adds,
"I absolutely fell in love with Kiera. She is not your usual Urban Fantasy heroine. Kiera has none of the usual qualifications we are used to seeing. She is not classically beautiful, magically inclined, nor part of this world. She is a modern plus size single mom whose quick wit and even quicker mind make her a worthy character. She is courageous, forthright and intelligent."
Fallen Embers is available from Pearlsong Press in original trade paperback and ebook format. Buy it at your favorite online bookstore, or from the Pearlsong Press retail store at www.pearlsong.com/fallenembers.htm.
Astrologically based magic, shapechanging, passion & rebellion steam in Fallen Embers, first in a planned series by Anchorage author Lauri J Owen
NASHVILLE, TN—Alaska has a starring role in a new novel being released September 1—but it's a version of the 49th state that its residents may not recognize.
Anchorage attorney Lauri J Owen's first novel, Fallen Embers(Pearlsong Press, original trade paperback $19.95, ebook $9.95), is set in an alternate, feudal Alaska, one ruled by a class of decadent mages who have enslaved the shape-changing, indigenous peoples.
In this paranormal romance, Kiera, an Alaskan attorney, and her young nephew, Alex, are transported to the alternate Alaska, near a city coincidentally named Fairbanks, during an attack by a strange dog. Kiera soon finds herself fighting to save three children from an army—and to her astonishment, does so by summoning fire.
Before Kiera can find her way home, she must learn more about the local systems of magic and her own powers. Whom can she trust—Marco, the young mage she saves, or fierce and handsome Laszlo, the slave captain of ruling Lord Vayu's army? Kiera's path leads her deeper into Alaska, to joy and to heartbreak. Choosing to follow her heart may cost her everything.
"With wit and passion, Lauri Owen constructs a world both fantastic and familiar—a world of strong women and the occasional valiant and ethical man in a world of patriarchal poseurs and obedient drones," says Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America. "Like Dorothy in Oz, Kiera struggles heroically to be taken seriously by men—and to finally get home; unlike Dorothy, though, her adventures are morally complex, cleverly witty, and deliciously sexy."
Ms. Owen is a civil rights lawyer who grew up in Idaho's Treasure Valley and worked for more than a decade in law enforcement. In 2003, her passion for social justice led her to law school. After completing a Juris Doctorate at U.C. Berkeley, she moved to Bethel, a village in the Alaska Bush, where she fell in love with the people, the magic and majesty of her new home state. She now lives in metro Alaska with her elementary-school-aged son and is currently hard at work on the second novel in the Embers series, Blowing Embers.
Ms.Owens is promoting the book with a website (www.lauriowen.com) that offers background on her alternate world, including how to use one's birthdate to gauge the type of mage or shifter one would be there. She is also planning book signings in Alaska and the U.K. and a September 12 teleconference call with her publisher, Peggy Elam, in which fans are encouraged to participate (www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm). A promotional video trailer can be viewed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/olauri.
Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. will chat about summer fiction with authors Pat Ballard, Lynne Murray & Judy Bagshawin a free teleconference call this coming Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central -- and you're welcome to join in!
The call is the latest in the Pearlsong Conversations series of free teleconference calls designed to entertain, inform, and connect Pearlsong authors & readers. If time and technology permit, participants/callers can ask questions and join in the conversation. You're welcome to suggest your own favorite, fun "life-sized" and empowering reads.
Lynne Murray is the author of Bride of the Living Dead -- the romantic comedy just published by Pearlsong Press -- as well as the award-winning Josephine Fuller, sleuth of size, mystery novels.
To receive the teleconference call details (phone number and access code), send an email to pearlsongconversations @ pearlsong.com. The call details will be automatically emailed to you. There is no cost for participating in the teleconference call, other than any long distance toll charges that might apply.
If you can't call in on July 14 -- or are shy about speaking up on the call, which will be recorded -- you can email your own faves and raves or questions and comments ahead of time to peggyelam @ pearlsong.com.
We also welcome suggestions about different times or days to hold these Conversations. We know many of you aren't able to participate in weekday calls because of work or other commitments.
Stay tuned for a weekend Pearlsong Conversation at 5 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Central on Sunday, September 12, when we chat with Lauri J Owen, author of the soon-to-be-released paranormal romance
Fallen Embers(Book One of The Embers Series).
Ballard writes romance novels in which the heroine is not your average skinny girl, but big and beautiful. She will discuss her inspiration for writing, her motivation, and her campaign to encourage women of all shapes and sizes to love themselves.
Ballard plans to talk about all her books, but will concentrate on 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are) and how hard it is, in our society, for women of any size to be happy with the bodies they have.
Handouts and freebies will abound, including the link to her free ebook from Pearlsong Press. Ballard will also have copies of her books available for sale and signing.
Coming September 2010 from Pearlsong Press --Fallen Embers by Lauri J Owen, Book One of The Embers Series.
Was it the unnatural flame that transported Kiera and her nephew to an alternate feudal Alaska one snowy afternoon, or did the strange dog's attack have something to do with it? All she knows is that now she and Alex are in an icy land ruled by a class of decadent mages who have enslaved the shapechanging, indigenous peoples.
Kiera soon finds herself fighting to save three children from an army -- and does so by summoning fire.
Before she can find her way home she must learn more about the local systems of magic and her own powers. On whose side should she fight? Whom can she trust -- Marco, the young mage she saves, or fierce and handsome Laszlo, the slave captain of ruling Lord Vayu's army?
Kiera's path leads her deeper into Alaska, to joy and to heartbreak. Choosing to follow her heart may cost her everything.
"With wit and passion, Lauri Owen constructs a world both fantastic and familiar -- a world of strong women and the occasional valiant and ethical man in a world of patriarchal poseurs and obedient drones. Like Dorothy in Oz, Kiera struggles heroically to be taken seriously by men -- and to finally get home; unlike Dorothy, though, her adventures are morally complex, cleverly witty, and deliciously sexy."
Michael Kimmel author of Manhood in America
"Flawlessly written and deeply compelling, Lauri J Owen takes you on a journey through the wilds of an alternate Alaska, full of strange, new magic. Snared in the complex politics that suppress the weak and betrayed by the love that she finds, Kiera must battle against more than just a corrupted nobility in her search for justice and the way back home. We are drawn with her relentlessly as she follows her heart regardless of the price, to emerge from his dark and enthralling fantasy with hope for the future."
Pippa Jay author of Keir
"Lauri J Owen's Fallen Embers is a gorgeously written journey into an alternate-world Alaska ruled by powerful magic. Keira is an unforgettable heroine finding her way in this strange, cruel land as she discovers her own mysterious powers. At the heart of it all is a passionate love story with a hero to die for. Be warned, you'll have a hard time putting this book down and it will stay with you long after you do. I highly recommend Fallen Embers to anyone who loves magic, passion, and wonderful storytelling."
Juniper Bell author of Training the Receptionist & My Three Lords
"A deliciously rich, empowering fantasy epic that features complex & realistic characters. Every woman who has had her beauty, her competence, her worth questioned will find in Kiera a relatable heroine that proves one person's strength and compassion can not only make a difference but inspire a nation."
Lesleigh J. Owen co-author, Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society
Click here to listen to or download the 44-minute recording of today's Pearlsong Conversation with Lynne Murray, author of the new romantic comedy Bride of the Living Dead as well as the award-winning Josephine Fuller, sleuth of size, mystery novels.
Murray and Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. chatted about how Lynne came to write about a bride who hates weddings but is careening toward a formal ceremony planned by her perfectionist, anorexic sister. They also discuss Lynne's experiences publishing her previous novels, with some good news about the currently out-of-print Josephine Fuller novels, and future books in the works. The Conversation is rounded out with discussions of other fat-positive fiction and how life-sized characters ultimately empower readers.
Bride of the Living Dead is available in original trade paperback & ebook format from your favorite online retailers, as well as directly from the Pearlsong Press website at www.pearlsong.com. You can also ask for it at your favorite brick-and-mortar bookstore.
Pearlsong Press & Lynne are also offering a special deal for people who buy one copy of the Bride of the Living Dead paperback & any other paperback book from the Pearlsong Press website. Do so and you will receive a free autographed first edition hardcover of Lynne's first novel, Termination Interview(1988, St. Martin's), and a limited edition booklet of Lynne's essay "The Road to Life-Sized Fiction."
Leslie Moïse: Love is the Thread: A Knitting Friendship Sustained by the metaphor of knitting, Love is the Thread traces the way one spiritual friendship can change all our relationships. The memoir centers on the friendship between a woman snared in a lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder and another woman reweaving her life after an abusive relationship.
Lynne Murray: The Falstaff Vampire Files Sir John Falstaff is undead & misbehaving in San Francisco. Kris Marlowe doesn't believe in vampires, but when she's attacked by a horde of murderous monsters she must seek help from the most famous rogue in history.
Lynne Murray: Larger Than Death Meet Josephine Fuller, a sleuth of size who doesn't apologize. Full-figured & full of attitude with abundant sleuthing skills, Jo takes time off from her new job and walks into a murder case. Her best friend and early role model, a plus-sized clothing designer, lies slain in her own apartment. Was she the victim of a serial killer who targets voluptuous women, or is the murder personal? In the first of a series being brought back to print -- & ebook -- Jo copes with her friend's murder, an unexpected romance and bizarre neighbors as she races to find the killer before becoming the next victim.
Lauri J Owen: Blowing Embers Book 2 of The Embers Series (sequel to Fallen Embers) continues the saga of Kiera, transported to an alternate Alaska in which those who have the power to control the elements -- now including Kiera -- have ruled over those who cannot, including the shapeshifting indigenous peoples. The Fairbanks slaves struggle to maintain their newly won freedom, which is threatened by a force that will also shatter Kiera's heart.
Pat Ballard: Dangerous Love New romantic suspense from the Queen of Rubenesque Romances! Ava Manning saw some research she wasn't supposed to, and now someone wants her dead. As if that isn't complicating her life enough, she has to deal with charming LAPD detective Ricky Don McKinzie....
Karen Blomain: The Season of Lost Children In a small college town in Pennsylvania the lives of a bigamist's wife, a Polish orphan, an ex-priest and his wife -- a former nun -- and a mute teenage runaway intersect.
Charlie Lovett: The Fat Lady Sings Young Adult fiction. Sassy, irreverent Aggie Stockdale should have gotten the lead in her high school play. But she isn't just a talented actress, writer, and athlete. She's also the fattest girl in the senior class.
Ellen Frankel: Syd Arthur Love, Laughter & Enlightenment! A middle-aged Jewish woman is soon in over her chakras as her spiritual search takes her from yoga studio to meditation hall to ashram gift store to the pages of Zensational catalogue. Her Mah Jongg group insists it's merely a midlife crisis. But nothing's going to stop Syd's journey toward Nirvana -- not even the hottest sale at Nordstrom's.
Lauri J Owen: Fallen Embers Kiera and her nephew are transported to an alternate, feudal Alaska during a strange dog's attack. The icy land is ruled by decadent mages who have enslaved the shapechanging, indigenous peoples. Kiera soon finds herself fighting -- and, to her astonishment, summoning fire. Before she can find her way home she must learn about the local systems of magic and her own powers. Kiera's path leads her deeper into Alaska, to romance, joy and heartbreak. Choosing to follow her heart may cost her everything.
Lynne Murray: Bride of the Living Dead Big, beautiful & rebellious, indie film critic Daria MacClellan is most comfortable in a monster movie poster T-shirt & blue jeans. Yet when family drama hijacks her engagement, she's trapped into a formal wedding with her perfectionist, anorexic sister, Sky, planning the whole thing. Daria adores her fiance, but her wedding seems to be spiraling into a horror film. Will the spectre of a picture perfect wedding turn her into the Bride of the Living Dead?
Rebecca Brock: The Giving Season To have the life she's always dreamed of, Jessy must fight her insecurity and learn how to let Michael -- and his family -- love her just as she is.
Rebecca Fox & William Sherman: Measure By Measure A robust, comic romance fleshing out the truth about soap opera: It's not just for the rich and slender. Taken from the online cyber-serial, it's a Tales of the City for the fat and fabulous.
Frannie Zellman: FatLand In the near future the Pro-Health Laws of the United States of America have become so oppressive that people seeking freedom over their bodies have established a new country. In FatLand, life is good and scales are forbidden. Free from the hatred and discrimination of the Other Side, FatLanders have built happy, productive lives. But not everyone is flourishing.
Pat Ballard: 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are) The Queen of Rubenesque Romances shares the steps she created -- and used -- to heal the damage of years of dieting. Join her in celebrating size diversity, self esteem, positive body image, and health at every size.
Charlie Lovett: The Program A new weight loss clinic in New York City has an offer for you -- given them $5,000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be -- if only she had $5,000. When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, however, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women. Library Journal calls The Program "a lively first novel. Highly recommended."
Linda C Wisniewski: Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish Heritage Even before she was diagnosed with scoliosis at 13, Linda Wisniewski felt off kilter. Born to a cruel father in the insulated Polish Catholic community of Amsterdam, New York, she learned martyrdom as a way of life. Off Kilter shows her learning to stretch her Self as well as her spine as she comes to terms with her mentally deteriorating, widowed mother and her culture. Only by accepting her physical deformity, her emotionally unavailable mother, and her Polish American heritage does she finally find balance and a life that fits. Maureen Murdock, author of Unreliable Truth: On Memoir & Memory, calls Off Kilter "a courageous, insightful book, particularly relevant for anyone who grew up feeling physically 'different.'"
Pat, Ballard: The Best Man Sparks fly the night Lana Clarke meets to plan her sister's wedding -- and not just because curvaceous Lana announces she's stopped dieting and doesn't care if she's fat as maid of honor. The strong-willed sister of the bride attracts the attention of the groom's devastatingly handsome best man, Anthony Angelino. But when the sparks become flames, Lana's in trouble. Tony's first wife died mysteriously. Will Lana be next?
Judy Bagshaw: At Long Last, Love Big beautiful --and in some cases slightly more mature -- heroines grace the pages of this collection of romantic short stories by Judy Bagshaw.
Jack Adler: Splendid Seniors An inspiring ensemble of 52 people whose accomplishments after age 65 remind us that creativity, passion & influence can not only flower in later years, but bear delicious fruit.
Mary Saracino: The Singing of Swans "The Singing of Swans is a remarkable narrative calling--even compelling--us to connect with our own ancestral roots, to seek our own inner wisdom, and to reclaim our own inner voices!" --Margaret Starbird, author of The Woman With the Alabaster Jar & Mary Magdalene: Bride in Exile
Ellen Frankel: Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature and Inner Growth "If you have ever measured your height or your weight and felt good or bad about yourself as a result, you need this book. In its pages, Ellen Frankel makes an important contribution to human liberation by telling the most fabulous story that can be told, the story of a person coming fully into her own. This book is thought-provoking, heart-rending, and a genuine solace for people of all sizes." --Marilyn Wann, author of FAT!SO?
Pat Ballard: Abigail's Revenge Injustice, romance and suspense smolder in a small Southern town. Romantic suspense from the Queen of Rubenesque Romances, Pat Ballard.
Pattie Thomas, Ph.D.: Taking Up Space "Thomas's incisive blend of sociological inquiry and personal narrative amounts to a provocative treatise on fat oppression in our culture. Taking Up Space is a kind of roadmap through the minefield of the 'war on obesity,' and it offers protection to the reader ready to fight for cultural change surrounding the meaning of fatness." --Kathleen LeBesco, Ph.D., author of Revotling Bodies: The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity.
Anne Richardson Williams: Unconventional Means: The Dream Down Under Shattered by family tragedy in the early 1960s, an upper-middle-class Southern teenager finds solace in art and literature. Decades later she is called to the continent whose literature once comforted her, and to a magical connection with an Aboriginal woman transcending race and half a world.
Pat Ballard: A Worthy Heir When Pam Spencer sees the newspaper ad seeking "a worthy heir" to Fiona Bainbridge's millions, she jumps at the chance to get her brother the medical care he needs after a job-related accident. But Reese Bainbridge, Fiona's handsome grandson--and jilted heir--rushes home in anger when he hears his grandmother has moved Pam and her brother into the family mansion. Sparks fly--and Pam is up to the challenge.
Pat Ballard: His Brother's Child One party, one silver-tongued, double-talking stranger intent on winning a bet, and Faith Carr ends up betrayed, alone, and pregnant. When Edward Brenner shows up on her doorstep intending to right his brother's wrongs, she's scared and vulnerable. But she agrees to marry this stranger to give the baby a father, although keeping him at a distance. She doesn't realize that Edward fell in love with her the moment he saw her. Will her battered self-esteem allow her to see the truth--and her own beauty?
Pat Ballard: Wanted: One Groom Wealthy Hanna Rockwell will lose her home and her inheritance unless she marries by her 30th birthday. She's stunned when Matt Corbett, the faded rock start she worshipped in her teens, accepts her brother's offer to bail him out of financial trouble if he'll marry her. Her teenaged fantasies come to life--bringing a few surprises with them.
Pat Ballard: Nobody's Perfect Nella Covington can't believe she's agreed to marry arrogant Samuel du Cannon, even if it IS only a marriage of convenience. He needs a mother for his young son, and she needs to keep her childhood home. If Sam's work keeps him on the road enough, she won't have to deal with him much. Sam's never been attracted to plus-size women, so they won't be tempted to have a real relationship. At least, that's what they keep telling themselves--
