Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

This is a shot of Albert Park (named after Prince Albert) in Central Auckland. It’s not far from the university and on a fine day, it’s the perfect place for students to eat their lunch.

Mystery writer JA Konrath has a very interesting post about e-books and what he predicts will happen during 2010 in the e-book/e-reader world.

I’m actually feeling very positive about e-books at the moment. I love the freedom of writing for e-publishers, although the pirate issue does worry me. It’s truly disheartening when pirates put up books for free download on release day. It’s not only the e-authors who have a pirate problem though. The pirates have no compunction in making e-copies of paperback books and giving those away free too.

I think the increased competition in the e-reader market can only mean good things, driving the price down. Like Mr. Konrath, I’d like to see a standard industry format. What do you think will happen in the e-book world during the next year?

I’m guest blogging at the Samhellion blog today and talking about diaries and my upcoming release, The Bottom Line. While you’re there don’t forget to check out the special Christmas scavenger hunts to win either a Kindle reader or a Sony reader.

It’s my birthday today–well, in New Zealand. It will be my birthday tomorrow in the Northern hemisphere – December 8. Definitely an auspicious day!

I received a wonderful review for House of the Cat from JERR (Just Erotic Romance Reviews)

Karen said, “House of the Cat is a great adventure saga and love story, fresh with new beings, new worlds, and definitely new animals. Ry did as much to help Camryn as she did for him. She also became the sole focus of his uncontrollable, constant, blinding need for sex that plagued him in spite of medication to stop the desire. The interaction between the crew members, all different species, and their reactions to Ry and Camryn’s very heated and constantly everywhere sexual relationship kept me entertained as much as the mystery and adventure. Lots of surprises to keep those pages flipping as quickly as the reader can scan them. House of the Cat is thoroughly entertaining as well as very physically stimulating. Of course, it does have Shelley Munro’s name on it, which usually means you can count on a great reading experience. House of the Cat is certainly no exception!”

I’m taking part in one of the four Scavenger hunts sponsored by Samhain Publishing authors. Win a Kindle or a Sony ereader plus lots of books. To learn details of how to win an ereader visit the Samhellion.

During the month of December there will also be free short stories for readers to download at the Samhellion. I have a short story called Turning Point that will be available for download on 17 December. Turning Point is a sort of a prequel to my upcoming Samhain Publishing release called The Bottom Line.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do on my birthday. I know I have edits I need to do, but I’m thinking I’ll have some down time as well.

How do you like to spend your birthday?

You might have heard of authors (me included) complaining about people pirating our books. It’s a huge problem these days for both print and e-authors. It’s also a problem for people in the music and movie business. For example, a rough copy of the latest X-men movie has been pirated before the release date.

Here’s a link to an article about the founders of Pirate Bay who have been involved in a court case regarding music downloads. The decision has come back and the judge has sentenced them to a years jail term, and they were ordered to pay $4.5 million in damages. They are appealing the sentence.

Here’s the link.

Samhain Publishing is having a Spring Fling. The fling starts today with a scavenger hunt. There will be a new scavenger hunt every day plus there are some free Spring Fling stories for you to download. I’m part of the scavenger hunt on 22 April, and I have a free short story called Wild Thing available on 20 April. Enjoy!

I did some research recently on romance and love letters for Valentine’s Day. The resulting article will come out in this month’s issue of The Samhellion, due out on 15 February.

One of the suggestions to keep the romance alive between a couple was to write love letters and put them in the mail. I don’t know about you, but I don’t write many letters. Heck, I’m lucky if I manage to organize birthday and Christmas cards. Part of it is the expense – those cards cost a fortune and postage costs quite a bit these days – and the other part is the element of time. Oh, and writing by hand is hard on my wrists.

I think I’ve received one love letter and it was when I was at high school. I was actually horrified because the boy wrote that he loved me, and I knew that couldn’t be true. We hardly knew each other. It was the school holidays and when school went back he’d moved on. My feelings weren’t hurt so that couldn’t be love either. Actually, looking back I think he was gutsy to write me a letter.

My husband might write a card or a note now and then. He’s actually more likely to tell me he loves me than write a letter.

My free story The Important Things is available tomorrow as part of The Sahmellion’s Valentine’s Day promotion. You can download your free copy here.

And in writing news, I’ve signed contracts for two new stories with Ellora’s Cave – Currents Run Deep and Lynx to the Pharaoh. They’re both shifter stories and are rewrites of older stories where I’ve regained the rights. I’m not sure of release dates as yet. Watch this space.

Are you a letter writer? Do you write love letters? Have you received love letters? Do you think this is a good way to keep the romance alive in a relationship?