Magnificent Mangas with Kate Walker

 

Some weeks I get not deliveries of books at all. But then sometimes, I get a bumper delivery – books in boxes, padded envelopes.  Books translated into one different language, or several different editions all in different languages.

This week has been a bumper week – with two different Italian editions (of A Question Of Honor and a reprint of a second Italian translation  of  His Miracle Baby  first published in UK in 2001 and the Italian one in 2003).    Then there was the Russian  Question of Honor  and the Dutch one, Swedish and Norwegian editions of A Throne for the Taking.)   But my favourites are always the Japanese version – the usual  Japanese version  is always fun to see, but when the story is translated into the  stylised comic book  Manga version it’s not just an excitement but a work of art to see.

This week I received  both Japanese editions   - of different books.  There was the new Japanese translation  of  A Question of Honor  and along with it came a new Manga edition of that long ago published His Miracle Baby.    

These Manga editions are amazing – they  boil the story down  to the basic, central conflict and  tell the story in the briefest, but most dramatic way. The illustrations are amazing, with the heroines

looking so beautiful   with huge blue eyes and usually long golden hair. The heroes are pretty spectacular too – they have those stunning eyes and long, lean torsos that are not at all realistic- but they turn the story into a wonderful fairytale.

I’ve always loved the Manga editions even though I don’t  fully understand exactly what the translation is saying. (You don’t fully have to understand that because the drawings are so passionate and emotional it gets the message across to you.)  But now I have a new delight – the Harlequin Comics editions  of the Manga books. These  are now English translations of the Managa editions (are you keeping up with  this?) so that the wonderful Manag illustrations are still there  and the dialogue etc is all in English and I can read and understand them.  Mind you,  there isn’t a lot of ‘dialogue’   - more  single lines -  more like

  - ‘Alexa what’s going on here?’ ‘Cordero, what’s happening?’   ‘Natalie’s . . . .not coming.’   (Cordero’s Forced Bride)

Or

‘What should I call you?’  ‘Just Malik’ . . . This man is  . . .dangerous! (At The Sheikh’s  Command)

And hearts go ‘Ba thump!’ – and tears  just ’plip plop’ down the heroine’s face.   

As I said, it’s the emotions of the story distilled to its very concentrated basics!  And that’s why I love them. 

They have another, more useful  purpose though – when I’m teaching about writing and trying to show  students who want to write romance who the central emotional core of the book is what matters and how they need to focus on that to tell the important story of a romance – the rest is all extras,  shading out the colours and tones and can be taken away – as in a Manga  book – and the emotional journey of the hero and heroine  will still show through.  A Harlequin Comic book with this story told in English is just perfect to reveal this simply and easily.

So I was thrilled to discover this week that I have a new Harlequin Comic edition – of one of my books.

I already have The Hostage Bride, Cordero’s Forced Bride The Return of The Stranger, At The Sheikh’s Command, The Hired Husband, His Miracle Baby – and now there is Bedded By The Greek Billionaire coming out next week. You only have to look at the difference in the covers to see what an extra fantasy the Manga edition makes of my original story.  I can’t wait!  

My latest Harlequin Presents was Olivero's Outrageous Proposal  which was published in April.The next one coming up will be Destined For The Desert King which is coming in December this year. I can't wait to see the Managa/Harlequin Comic editions of these. 

You can find details of all my books on my web site  here     and there's all the most up to date news on my blog

You can also find me on Facebook

How Old is a Hero Anyway? by Kate Walker

This week is the one that sees my birthday come around again. And no you can’t ask how old I am! In my head I’m the age of the heroines I write about - and the heroes. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.

But thinking about age, made me start to wonder about those heroes and heroines. I mean, how old is a heroine? Or a hero for that matter? When I first started reading romances, the heroines tended to be young – and often a lot younger than there heroes. Girls of 19, 20 were partnered with men maybe ten or even fifteen years older than them and no one thought twice about it. Because of that, heroes were always well over thirty – sometimes heading for or even having reached forty and so more than likely to consider the heroine a silly little girl – and maybe even call her that too!

For myself, my first heroine was seventeen when she first met the hero - something I’m not too sure would be totally acceptable these days. Another heroine was eighteen to the hero’s thirty. These days, I’m far more likely to be writing about heroines of twenty-five or twenty-six and heroes just a couple of years or so older. That seems right in a Presents romance, though Modern Heat for example can have a younger. less well-established hero.

On the brand-new Mills & Boon Community web site. Someone raised the question of how old - or perhaps I mean how young - a hero can actually be. Would twenty–six be too young? And how about twenty-five? What about a hero who is older - forty – fifty . . . Or one who is younger than the heroine? Many readers I know believe that a man takes a while longer than a woman to grow, mature – achieve something in life. And yet for others the thirty something hero is too old.

It’s perfectly possible to write a heroine or a hero at any age. None of us (thank heaven!) is immune to the wonderful, uplifting, life-changing experience of falling in love at any stage of our lives. And equally age is no barrier to the intense and wonderful feelings that a loving relationship can bring no matter what stage of life we’re at, or how many times we’ve been through this before. Only this weekend I was reading about a man who lost his wife tragically when she was murdered five years ago and is now rediscovering the joy of a new love as time has helped him heal. He’s no spring chicken – mid-forties – but love is no respecter of age. My friend’s mother has just married for the second time and she’s approaching her seventieth birthday and I’ve seen the photos of her wedding day – I doubt if any younger bride could look more starry-eyed and head over heels in love.

But every now and then romance publishers say they are looking for younger readers, that they want to appeal to a younger market. Would younger heroes and heroines do that or is there something else that would appeal to the readers who are the age of my first heroine – in their teens and very early twenties? Is it the years in a character’s life or the life in those years? What about you? Do you care how old the hero and heroine are in a romance you read – or are you happy to accept any age, and any age difference as long as the author convinces you? And because I’m nosy – what about you as a reader? How old were you when you first came to reading romances? Are the publishers right to think they need to attract the younger reader – or are you already there?

Because I’m celebrating this week, and when I celebrate I like to share, I’ll get Sid the Cat to pick two names from the comments that are posted and there will be a signed copy of one of my backlist for the winners.

And if you want to read more about heroes – I’m running a special discussion on the Alpha hero over on my blog.

Kate's latest novel Cordero's Forced Bride was released in Harlequin Presents in February and Mills & Boon Modern in March it is still available on Amazon and the M&B website

Coming up is Kept For Her Baby which is to be published in August (UK) and October – in Presents Extra in America. But before that there is the reprint of At The Sheikh’s Command coming in the Sold to The Sheikh collection in June in the UK.

You can find out more about Kate and her books on her website or for the most up to date news, visit her blog.

Spring Cleaning - soon! - Kate Walker

I’m getting close to the end of my latest book. (very close, I hope – I have an editor tapping her fingers on the desk and demanding to know when I’ll deliver ). Anyone who walks past my office can tell how close I am to writing those magical words ‘The End’ because – well - let’s be honest here, because of the tip that my office has become.

It’s always like this. I’ve tried to work tidily. I’ve tried to plan things so that I get moments in between chapters to sort out this room and put things away. But it never works out that way. It’s pretty hard to understand, really. I mean, writing a book doesn’t actually take up much space. I need my computer, keyboard, a notepad and pen to scribble down those new ideas of important points I just must not miss. Perhaps a research book or two, one for the language used by the hero I’m writing (Greek this time if you want to know) and one about the country in which he lives or where the book is set. And – er – well, that’s it.


So how does my office come to resemble a landfill site – overflowing with bits and pieces and with the surfaces overflowing so much that things even end up on the floor which is affectionately nicknamed the ‘filing cabinet’ by my family? They have lived with this so long that they can tell what stage a book is at simply the state of the floor.

So I was relieved to see that Linda Conrad gave me the perfect excuse for all this mess in her post of March 30th (Thank you so much Linda!)

She said: Or are you one who can’t work unless the place looks like a disaster? (those people are said to be geniuses)

Now that’s the perfect excuse I need – I work in a mess like this because I’m a genius. I can live with that. Or, as my friend Anne McAllister says, we’ share the same interior decorator – “Rooms by Untidy”. I think it’s because as I get deeper into a book, I become more and more involved in the fictional world and less involved in the real one. I’m an ‘all or nothing’ writer so when I start writing I concentrate on it hard until I’ve finished. After which I finally lift my head up and look around at reality again. And I’m usually pretty shocked by what I see.

So I read Linda’s post with real interest. We share a lot of the same things – that love of office supplies for one – and the number of books stashed around the room – TBR – Keepers - books to pass on to my son (his reading habit is worse than mine). And reading Linda’s post is just the boost I need to get me over the final hump of what I hope is the last chapter and on the way towards that all important ‘The End.’

Because when I’m done I can clean my office, sort everything out, buy new office supplies - and maybe even read some of those books. I have Anne McAllister’s latest Savas’ Defiant Mistress beckoning seductively from the top of my TBR pile but I can’t pick it up or I just know I’ll lose myself in it and my editor will really get impatient.

Some a couple more days and then I can hopefully heave a sigh of relief, press send on this manuscript and then turn my attention to the tip. I’m looking forward to it . . . The sun is shining outside, reminding me that it's Spring and time to freshen up the house anyway and I’m beginning to wonder just what colour the carpet is in here.

And next time I’m really going to try to be more organised. . . . honest!

What about you? Are you a messy genius (thank you Linda!) like me? Or are you super-organised and efficient. Leave a comment - maybe give me your best tip to help me get things done and keep some order in future. And I have two signed copies of my latest release Cordero’s Forced Bride on offer to the people Sid the cat picks as winners.

Kate's latest novel Cordero's Forced Bride was released in Mills & Boon Modern in March and Mills & Boon Sexy in Australia now - and it is still available in Harlequin Presents too.

Pink Heart Society Reviews described the book as :

" . . . intense, explosive and the passion leaps off the pages. It’s one of those books that once you begin you’ll literally stay up all night reading.

Cordero’s Forced Bride is part of the Bedded by Blackmail series and a wonderful addition especially with this year being Harlequin’s Diamond Anniversary, celebrating sixty years. It’s a beautiful sensual and passionate love story and one you definitely won’t want to miss."

You can find out more about Kate and her books on her website or for the most up to date news, visit her blog.


My apologies to everyone who posted comments - I'm sorry, you lost me for a while! You know, I said I was close to finishing - well, after I posted here on Sunday, my hero took over, said he wanted his Happy Ever After Ending - and I didn't get a chance to look up until now!

But the book is done - and it's gone to my editor. And Sid has picked my winners - so
Becky
and
Rachie
will you please email me kate AT kate-walker.com with your snail mail addresses and I'll arrange for your prizes.

And a special thanks to the lovely Linda Conrad for dropping by - it was lovely to see you Linda!

Happy St David's Day from Kate Walker

It’s March 1st – the beginning of a new month. It’s St David’s day and he’s the patron saint of Wales. In fact he was supposed to have been born in Pembrokeshire, not all that far from Fishguard where I was teaching a Writing The Novel course last weekend. I had a wonderful time and added to my happy memories of Wales. Of course one particular memory of Wales stands out above the rest because it was in Aberystwyth, on Cardigan Bay, where I first met my husband a long time ago.

So March 1st is for celebrating St David. Realising I knew very little about him, I looked him up and discovered that he’s supposed to have lived to be 100 and that he advocated vegetarianism so I can relate to him there - the vegetarianism I mean. I don't know about living to be 100 - not yet! He’s also supposed to have been born on the edge of a cliff in a violent storm.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why there is a saying about March that it is supposed to ‘come in like a lion and go out like a lamb’. I was thinking about that saying this morning and realised that really it’s the sort of thing that could be used to describe one of my heroes too! Being typically Presents heroes, these guys appear on the scene ‘stormy’ and forceful, sweeping all before them and turning his poor heroine’s life upside down. Take Santos Cordero, the hero of my March UK release, Cordero’s Forced Bride for example. When the woman he originally planned to marry does a runner and doesn’t turn up at the wedding, he is determined that someone else will take her place. And the someone else he insists on is Natalie’s half-sister, Alexa. Alexa will marry him he declares and he’s determined to make it happen, whether she likes it or not. The passion between them is too strong to be denied.

But of course that’s at the beginning of the book and as the story progresses both Santos and Alexa learn that there is so much more to this relationship than there appeared to be at the beginning. By the time comes for the happy ending, Santos, if not exactly ‘like a lamb’ is a very different person from the man who began the story stormy and blustery.

Personally I love both sorts of weather – wild storms or gentle sun-warmed days. And in the same way I love my heroes in their wilder more difficult times and the loving, caring men they finally can show their heroines at the end of the book. I suppose it’s like the way that when the storms are raging outside I know they won’t last for ever and in the month of March there is the hope of spring very close behind. I think that’s why March is one of my favourite months – it holds such promise.

Actually, as I write this, the weather is mild and mellow – no sign of those March winds that mean the month is coming in like a lion but I’m sure those will come – after all, there’s snow predicted for next week!

So what’s you’re favourite month and why? Tell me and I’ll get Sid the cat on the job of picking out a winner from everyone who posts and they’ll get a signed book from my backlist


Kate's latest novel Cordero's Forced Bride will be released in Mills & Boon Modern in March and Mills & Boon Sexy in and it is still available in Harlequin Presents.
Pink Heart Society Reviews described the book as :

" . . . intense, explosive and the passion leaps off the pages. It’s one of those books that once you begin you’ll literally stay up all night reading.

Cordero’s Forced Bride is part of the Bedded by Blackmail series and a wonderful addition especially with this year being Harlequin’s Diamond Anniversary, celebrating sixty years. It’s a beautiful sensual and passionate love story and one you definitely won’t want to miss."

You can find out more about Kate and her books on her website or for the most up to date news, visit her blog.

WINNER - Sid has done his job and the name he has picked is Virginia. So Virginia will you please email me kate AT kate-walker.com and then I can organise your signed book.

Thanks to everyone who commented.

February Fill-Dyke by Kate Walker

As I write this the skies are dark and heavy and the first flakes of snow are whirling around , tumbling to the ground. There is the promise – or do I mean the threat of much more of to come later in the day and tomorrow. This being England, where we don’t deal well with snow and ice, there will probably be major disruption on the roads and things will grind to a halt or be heavily delayed until it all clears again. I could think how horrible it is. How much I hate winter and how dark and cold – and usually wet a month February is, the month that my mother always used to call February fill-dyke or fill-ditch because of the way that, as the nursery rhyme goes, February brings the rain,Thaws the frozen lake again.

But just watching it from here, safe and snug inside my office, with the cats curled up before a real fire, I’ve not been thinking any such thing. Instead I’ve been feeling happy and excited that February has dawned – and I have a new book that’s released and on the shelves.

This is an unexpected gift that my career as a writer has given me. When you write romances and have them published then every year is punctuated by those extra special dates when the book that I was writing about 12 months, sometimes less, ago, is now going to make its appearance and hopefully be read by lots of expectant readers. Even when I’m not in the country where the book is on the bookshop shelves, like now, when Cordero’s Forced Bride is being published in the Presents edition in America and I have to wait another month until the UK Mills and Boon Modern edition is available over here, I still feel this thrill of excitement to think that people will be spotting that cover, picking up the book, browsing the blurb on the back, checking the first page and maybe – hopefully – taking the book to the checkout and then home.

And on a day like today it gives me an extra thrill to think that they might be curling up, keeping warm, and being carried away from the cold and grey weather and into the warmth and sunlight of the beautiful Spanish city of Seville where a wedding is about to take place or so everyone thinks . . . . But that wedding isn't going to happen and it's Alexas's unwelcome job to tell the groom, Santos Cordero that his expected bride has run away. She's not at all prepared for his reaction - or the demand he's makes of her.

ear. Last time I blogged here - and by the way, the first Sunday of every month will be my regular blog date from now on – I talked about the way that I was looking forward to enjoying and appreciating the good things, not just blinking and almost missing them. So here I am enjoying the first of those; the knowledge that my latest book has already sold so well as an ebook that it has been on the eHarlequin ebook Bestseller list all last month - before it was even officially published. And now Cordero’s Forced Bride is also riding high on the Waldenbooks Top 10 Romance sellers list. And that’s enough to brighten the coldest, darkest day. There will be plenty of other good days like this coming up in the year too – another new book in September, a reprint in May. And only this last week I booked for RWA Nationals in Washington which means I get to meet up with so many friends in the summer. All these bright spots come to me because of my career as a romance writer.

And talk of the RWA Conference reminds me that I have a special task to do for that. I have seven RITA books just waiting to be read and judged so that I can send my marks in on the right date. So I’m going to join those cats of mine and curl up in front of the fire with one of these books and forget all about the cold and the wind and the snow. When we are romance readers too, there are so many wonderful stories just waiting to take us away to another wonderful, warmer, brighter place.

What about you? Are you somewhere cold and shivery right now? Or perhaps you’re on the ‘other side of the world’ and baking in the heat of summer. Wherever you are, I hope that you have a great book to read to sit by the fire or out on the beach. Why not tell me about it and I’ll get Sid the cat to pick out one of the comments and I’ll send a signed copy of Cordero’s Forced Bride to one lucky winner.

You can find out more about me and my books over on my web site or my blog.

My apologies to everyone who posted - thank you all for your contributions. I'm afraid that life swallowed me up and I didn;t manage to get back to see your comments until now

But I got Sid right on to the job of picking a winner and he has chosen

Stefanie from Belgium.

Stephanie please email me Kate AT kate-walker.com so that I can arrange to get your copy of Cordero's Forced Bride to you.

Looking Forward by Kate Walker

Happy New Year (just a little bit late)

I'm not a great one for making New Year resolutions. I always find that in the razmatazz leading up to the New Year everyone gets a little carried away and decides on dieting, not drinking, not smoking, detoxing etc etc just that bit too much and sets themselves a whole load of aims and achivements to reach for - most of which are way out of our reach so that the failure to reach them means that we just feel worse about ourselves rather than better.

But then I feel lazy and a real let-down when all around me everyone else is declaring their resolve to do better, try harder, become the 'New You'. So I was quite relieved to read that a psychologist had declared much the same idea.

So I’m not resolving anything. And I don’t really feel that I need a ‘New Me’. The ‘old’ one might need a bit of a shake up every now and then but I’ve managed OK so far. But I am looking forward to 2009 with a lot of anticipation and some excitement. It’s a special year for Harlequin, for one thing. Last year here in the UK we all celebrated Mills & Boon’s Centenary year and that involved a lot of excitement, a lot of interest in the press, and personally I travelled up and down the country to appear at Book Festivals and other events to give workshops on my 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. It was hectic!

2009 will be a bit quieter for the UK - but an important year for Harlequin because this is the year that they are celebrating their Diamond anniversary – 60 years of publishing romances! So watch out for all the special events and offers that will be announced over on eHarlequin. I'm looking forward to celebrating with them too.

And for me 2009 is also a year to celebrate. In December this year, it will be 25 years since my very first ever book was published. That’s right ! 25 years ! A special silver anniversary for the day my dreams came true and I became a published author. I’m not quite sure how I will mark the date but I will be doing something special.

And before that I’m looking forward to the publication of some new books that I have coming up – the very first of which will be published at the end of this month. That’s when my next Harlequin Presents Cordero’s Forced Bride will be appearing on the shelves in the American bookshops.

With my last title Bedded By The Greek Billionaire shortlisted for the Romantic Times Best Presents of 2008 I’m looking forward to the announcement of the results of that. (Though considering the great books also nominated with me, I’m honestly going to be happy, no matter who wins.) There’s another new title coming in September too and I’m looking forward to that as well.

But sometimes it seems that when you work in publishing you’re always looking forward – always planning ahead. Right now, I’m busy with the plans for my next book, the deadline is already set for when I need to have this on my editor’s desk and I’m working towards that right now. The trouble is that I know that as soon as I get involved in the story and get my head down, then the time of writing it will just pass in a flash. It always does. I’ll look up and realise that it’s March or April and this ‘New Year’ is way behind me and already we’re partway through it. And if I’m not careful I’ll be too busy looking ahead to take the time and space to enjoy the present.

So that’s my resolve – not necessarily a ‘resolution’ but definitely a determination – for 2009. I’m going to take a couple of steps back and actually experience – and enjoy – everything that comes along in this new year that stretches ahead right now. I know from experience that if I don’t then I’ll get to this time in 2010 with a sort of ‘blink and you missed it’ feeling. Instead I want to actually live fully in this year, experiencing everything that happens in it so that I will remember it all as clearly as possible. After all, these past 24 years of being published seem to have passed in a lash already. I want to enjoy the 25th!

What are you looking forward to specially in 2009? What do you hope will bring you some really great memories to recall as 2010 dawns (or is that looking too far ahead again?) Let me know what you hope this new year will bring for you and I’ll get Sid the Cat to pick out one name to win a signed copy of that award nominated book Bedded By The Greek Billionaire.

Oh – and just to let you know that this will be my regular blogging spot on Tote Bags from now on – the first Sunday of the month, So I’ll be back on February 1st when I will be talking about Cordero’s Forced Bride. See you then!

My apologies - I posted, meant to come back and read all the comments and chat with you - and life caught up with me and I've only just managed to snatch a moment to breathe and come back here.

Sid the Cat has picked me a winner - he doesn't have so much to do and he was just sitting about by the fire so he got the job done straight away! And he has picked:

Michele L

Michele please email me kate AT kate-walker.com so that I can organise your prize for you.

Thanks to everyone else who posted.