Darlene's Digest

I've switched up my daily walks to get in my steps early in the morning, before the heat, humidity and rain become unbearable. I don't like getting up at 5:45 to manage this, but it's worth it. Not only am I getting in my 10k steps before 10 a.m. but I get to see some beautiful sunrises. It's also an opportune time to observe some of the wildlife. Our heavily wooded neighborhood is home to plenty of owls and hawks, and I see and hear them finishing up their nightly rounds or just starting the day's hunt. It's also the best time to spot the Florida Bare-chested Running Hunk. This is a creature seen throughout the peninsula, but when one lives in a college town the numbers rise even higher. While not as colorful as the Painted Bunting, it has a certain appeal. In the summer it's an early morning or evening traveler due to the aforementioned weather, and spotting a flock does help make getting up (literally) at  the crack of dawn more tolerable. Incidenta...

New German Edition My latest German edition, Im Aufruhr der Gefühle (Smuggler's Bride) is now on sale at Amazon.de and other German bookstores. The title, according to Google, translates as "In the Turmoil of Emotions" and boy howdy, you sure do get a lot of that in Rand and Julia's story! There's already one five star review, and I'm hoping this tale of treachery and romance will show up under a lot of trees in Germany this Christmas.

I'm off to a meeting of the Alachua County Library District Foundation this afternoon, and while I'm there I'm going to donate two copies of Rache & Rosen to the German novel collection. A lot of folks don't know the ACLD has a German novel collection. That's because they didn't before I donated Samt & Sabel to them last year. I'm enjoying doing my part to expand the local public library's foreign novel collections.

A little German birdie told me that Rache und Rosen (Revenge and Roses--Dang, but I love that title!) is now available from Amazon.de. Tell all your German reading friends! It's just what they need when they fly across the Atlantic to vacation in Florida this summer.

I've just learned from some of my German fans that there's an excerpt from my second German book in the back of Samt und Säbel ( Velvet and Saber, aka Captain Sinister's Lady). Pirate's Price has been renamed Rache und Rosen (Revenge and Roses), which I think totally rocks! I love how Heyne, my publisher, is coming up with these wonderfully alliterative titles! No cover art has been posted yet, and the release date is sometime in 2008, but I'm psyched!