Wednesday, August 19, 2015

A New Look!

As you can see, my blog has a new look, and so does my website: you can visit it here. Or you can just click on "home" right over there in the margin.

So what do you think? In addition to the new look, the website also has some new features. If you click on the "for readers" tab, it'll take you to links for a couple of interviews with me; on the same page are links to book club readers' guides for When Falcons Fall and Why Mermaids Sing. On the book page you'll find a link to read Falcons's first chapter. There is also a complete booklist that can be downloaded and printed off.


I also have some other things going on. I am gearing up to put my Candice Proctor historical novels up as ebooks, starting with Midnight Confessions, which is actually a historical mystery. I am really super excited about this and should have the cover to show in a few weeks. After Midnight I'll be putting up Beyond Sunrise, the story of a Victorian travel writer named India McKnight who has an awful lot in common with Hero and probably inspired her.

And then, eventually, I'll be putting up the ebook of a novel I wrote several years ago but was never able to sell to New York because, even though lots of editors liked it, in the end they couldn't figure out how to market it. It's called Confessions of a Dead Romance Writer and I'll be the first to admit it is really . . . weird.

So, lots to come!

32 comments:

Suzanne said...

Golly, so much to look forward to. The only one of your Candice Procter romances I have read is Midnight Confessions, I managed to get hold of a 2nd hand copy, and it is fantastic. So atmospheric, so beautiful. I am really looking forward to the others coming out.

I love the new look website. The design is so beautiful and it is much easier to get around. I am looking forward to reading the interview later today, when I get back home.

Lynne said...

Isn't it pretty!!!! Love the header montage - very classy. Of course I would still like reply buttons to comment to each other. But I'll manage somehow:). And how nice to hear about the Proctor series. Unlike Suzanne, I've never read any but may have to start them if they go to e-books...or sooner.

Anonymous said...

Just beautiful! Love the header. Also love how all your books and their covers are listed with links to the summaries. I believe I've read all of the historical novels except The Bequest, which just doesn't seem familiar. I have some of them, also found in various second hand shops. I can't wait to buy them as e-books!! Lastly, thanks for the post of the 1st chapter of Falcons. Archie sounds fun and I hope we get to see his character for a little bit of the story. Sabena

Jan Seale said...

I really like your new layout for your web site and blog! It is fun to browse through with much more information available. Congratulations!

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

Oh, wow! This is such wonderful news at the start of the day - and the redesigned sites are fantastic. I love the cohesiveness and the colors and the images. I just finished the sneak peek at "Falcons" and, like the anonymous commenter, am hoping to see quite a bit of Archie. It is also nice to hear I'll have a chance at finding your earlier work. Grand! Beautiful. Thank you.

cs harris said...

Suzanne, oh, good! I never know how people are going to react.

Lynne, I don't have a clue how to do the reply buttons; I think maybe one needs to run Discus. And I am really excited about getting the old books out myself.

Sabena, yes, Archie plays a significant role in the book. He was a fun character.

Jan, thank you!

Barbara, I must admit I spent about an hour last night just admiring it after it went up! It was a lot of work but I think it was worth it.

Anonymous said...

Candy - wow its really nice. Well done! Easy to navigate and even though the borders let you know the stories are related to mystery and danger - its still bright? is that the word i'm looking for? anyway i really like. i have only looked briefly so i will need to do some more on my free time. great news about the romance books. I do have The Last Knight and Beyond Sunrise on my kindle and I have all the books in paperback. it wasn't easy but Amazon can be really useful! but i would love to get them all on my kindle. I never thought i would actually like that thing but it really does come in handy. Cant wait to read the sneak peek of "Falcons". Congratulations! Best, Ali

LynnD said...

The new look to your website and blog is great. I am also excited about the Candace Proctor books being re-released. I read A Night in Eden a few years ago thanks to my library's Inter Library Loan system and I have the paperback version of Beyond Sunrise on my keeper shelf. Both of them were wonderful. I am looking forward to the release of all of your Proctor books as ebooks - great news!

Susan J. said...

The new site looks very attractive and I look forward reading the interviews.
I have also read 'Midnight Confessions', I must have got one of the last copies from the UK branch of The Book Depository online bookstore, as it does not seem to be on it now. The Book Depository is a really good source for books that have only been published in America. I would very much recommend 'Midnight Confessions', it gave me a good insight into the tensions produced in society by the American Civil War and it is also a very good mystery and love story as well.

Anonymous said...

Hi - I wanted to post a brief update regarding the romance novels. if anyone is really interested in getting any of them - they are available on the the website www.alibris.com. Just type in Candace Proctor and they all will be there. Then you can choose from different shippers, prices, conditions, etc. Most of the paperbacks are 99 cents and they ship for 4 bucks. thanks - Ali
PS - Highly recommend Night in Eden and Midnight Confessions, and The Bequest - oh all of them.

cs harris said...

Ali, glad to hear it's also bright, as I wanted that--wanted the look to be mysterious but not depressing. So it's nice to know we succeeded.

LynnD, I'm amazingly excited about being able to design my own covers and write my own cover copy and get them out there myself, after them languishing for years now. Beyond Sunrise, since they knew it was the last, they simply threw out there and let it sink like a stone.

Susan, yes, when I finally got the rights back they were supposed to pull any unsold ones out there.

Ali, I will also be doing POD for those without e-readers, or who simply want the paper version.

Maureen said...

The revamped website is great. Easy to navigate, an updated header design (a composite graphic...very chic) , professional.

I can't wait for the new old ebooks.

And if you are growing tired of writing about regency England maybe you could jump the channel to France. You wrote the work on women in the French Revolution... Or move to the young US after our revolution. I am into genealogy and many of my parent's ancestors are from the eastern colonies/states. I was a European college major so learning/reading about colonial and early US history is mostly new to me...we just do not learn much about our revolution or its aftermath generally except for the broad brush great men, great concepts, and great battles approach. Seems to me that France and the early US would have lots of good material and little known factoids you could incorporate into the story...neither location would help with copy editing issues though, especially France and french words.

Lynne said...

Candy, Disqus and WordPress both do reply buttons - you're right. And I don't have a clue how you'd incorporate them because I'm not that techy. We'll manage somehow, I'm sure:).

JustWingingIt said...

Love the new look! And thank you for the first look at When Falcons Fall. I wish March was closer. *sigh*

A character who may have inspired Hero? And with an equally wonderful name to boot? I will have to meet this Ms India. :-)

And I agree with others, a reply button would be awesome, or even a true forum, but I am also not tech minded and have no idea how to make either one a reality.

Veronica

JustWingingIt said...

I just read the When Falcons Fall interview and found it very interesting. For the question about whether or not you always knew that Sebastian would end up with Hero, you answered that you were intrigued by the idea of a man moving on after he loses the love of his life. I'm curious if you, as the author, still believe that Kat is the love of Sebastian's life? Or perhaps the better question is if Sebastian still thinks this which, I guess, would make Hero the next best thing? Or maybe I'm just getting hung up on the phrase: "love of his life". But words do have power, after all. :)

Anyway, just curious about your thoughts.

Veronica

Susan J. said...

I think Veronica's question about Sebastian's feelings regarding Kat and Hero is very intriguing. Maybe we can love several people in different ways? Perhaps his love for Kat was an overwhelming passion, an obsession almost, whereas his feelings for Hero are a kind of slow burn, gradually growing, building as a result of a life shared.

cs harris said...

Maureen, I just wish I could write fast enough to do something else in addition to the Sebastian books. I find it refreshes me to do something different, but I'm so slow.

Lynne, yeah, I'm not even going to try!

Veronica, I need a tech-savvy assistant! As for your second point, I do think people can have more than one love of their life, if they're lucky. A love-for-different-points-in-one's-life, perhaps? Sebastian certainly saw Kat as the love of his life. But then when he learned (or thought he learned) she was his sister, he had to make himself change the way he saw her. That was nearly a year of thinking her that way, and at the same time as he found himself with a new responsibility toward Hero and their unborn child. I see his love for Hero as more mature; it's still physical and passionate, but it's passion as a product of love rather than love as a product of passion.

Susan, yes, I think so. Sebastian will always love Kat, because that's the way he is. But his love for her has shifted; it had to, both because for so long he though she was his sister and because of what he felt he owed Hero. His love for Kat began as a physical, passionate thing; a young man's lust that deepened into something meaningful and enduring. His love for Hero began very differently. I think when we're young it's very common to think, "I'll never love like this again." And maybe we don't ever love quite that same way; but a more mature love can actually be better.

Lynne said...

I love the way you've described Sebastian and Hero's love. Kat will, of course, always be his first love. But the way you have given them the opportunity to grow their relationship seems far deeper than what he had with Kat. Slowly and steadily they have found how much they mean to one another. I always cry when they come together because their relationship is so powerful. And to think that they began as antagonists... Good writing, Candy, and great characters.

Keira Soleore said...

Love, love, love the new look, Candy. It's one of the most evocative sites that I have seen. It sets the right tone for your books and is also functional.

paz said...

Great website redesign! So excited to read all about India again. Before Sunrise was the second book I read written by you (after finishing Angels) and I loved India so much I was disappointed you had not continued her as a character. You can imagine my absolute glee when I read Serpents and really got to know Hero!!!

I CANNOT wait to read your never published book. The title alone makes it clear it will be quite fabulous!

And I was just asked by blogspot to confirm my human nature by picking out images of pickup trucks. LOL!

Anonymous said...

I too am enjoying the new website layout, exploring it is really interesting and it is easy to navigate. There is nothing so frustrating as a 'clunky', clumsy website design that follows no logical pattern. Sadly, there are plenty of those around and they annoy me intensely. Surely my thinking patterns aren't greatly different from other people's. (Or maybe they are and that is a whole other problem!!) Anyway, enough of that!!
I have only read your Sebastian St Cyr books, so look forward to the others being released via ebooks. I got into the series via my local library in Melbourne, binge read the first 6 books, after that, bought my own copies (and no greater compliment can I pay an author than to buy the freshly released hardback editions which I do for you!) I do prefer printed page books but also read ebooks now we are temporarily living in London for a couple of years, just more convenient. And frankly, ebooks are easier to get, one click and I have it! Good for impatient souls like me!
Keep up the great work, cheers, Rhonda

Susan J. said...

I've been thinking more about the nature of love, with regard to Veronica's question. It made me think about my grandmother, she had a fiance called Bobby, who was sadly killed very early during the first World War, he was a despatch rider. She had never fogotten him, she often talked to me about him, although not to the rest of the family. Funny how when I was young, I often had older women confiding in me, maybe because I was shy and quiet and very interested in the past. I got the impression that he was her only true love and that my grandfather had been second best. Very sad.
I have never forgotten a woman I met when working at Victoria Telephone Exchange (London) in the early 1970's. She used to sit next to me at those old fashioned switchboards with the cords. During slack periods she told me about her life, it was so sad. Her husband had been a Royal Airforce pilot in World War II and had been killed. He had been a talented artist and her son had inherited the talent and was working as a commercial artist. She had raised her son all on her own and had never remarried, she still remained loyal to her only love. I have never forgotten that sweet woman, full of inner strength and quiet dignity.

cs harris said...

Lynne, Thank you so much.

Keira, oh, thank you! I was trying hard to create the right mood and image, so that the instant a curious person landed on the site, they'd know what kind of read they would be getting. It's wonderful to hear I succeeded. It's amazingly hard to find the right photos.

Paz, it's funny that it wasn't until I reread SUNRISE recently that I realized just how much India had influenced India. And the hero in Midnight Confessions has a lot of Sebastian in him. In fact, when I was thinking about creating a historical mystery series, he was one of the characters I considered. But then I fell in love with his backstory love story so much, I decided to do it as a stand alone.

Rhonda, thanks so much. And I can't agree with you more about websites. My web designer, Maddee, has really become popular and seriously raised her prices since she first did my original site, but I never considered going with someone else; she is so knowledgable. And I know what you mean about hardcovers; I have a short list of authors I indulge in (unfortunately my husband's list is much longer!), both because of the space and the cost.

Susan, what sad stories. The number of women who have lost the men they love (both lovers and sons) to war is heartbreaking. My husband did two tours in Vietnam, and I sometimes think how easily he could have been killed; I would never know what my girls and I had missed.

JustWingingIt said...

Thank you for your answer. It is along my own thoughts. I just didn't want Hero to be some sort of second best consolation prize. She deserves so much more than that so I'm glad to know your views on the situation, and that of others who have responded. Watching the love between Sebastian and Hero has been one of the highlights of this book series for me. Hopefully Kat will be able to find a deep and mature love as well one day.




Veronica

cs harris said...

Veronica, I've never seen Hero as second best. I guess I could have worded my answer to that question better! And yes, I do plan to have Kat end up with a love of her own, too. In fact, I have fantasies of some day writing a love story between Simon and Kat's daughter, although it will probably never happen.

Susan J. said...

I just got back from my holiday in Norfolk and saw your reply. Vietnam was so sad, so much waste, I'm so glad the Labour Prime Minister at the time, Howard Wilson, kept the Brits out of it. I recently read Rolling Stones musician Keith Richards' autobiography and he spoke of his first trip to the USA in the sixties and how he made friends with American musicians and how when he went back a year or so later, half of them had come home in 'body bags' as he described it. Such a tragedy.

Susan J. said...

I meant Harold Wilson!

Anonymous said...

ooppss guess this is a Tuesday question.
I find Jarvis a whole lotta scary--will we ever find out any of his secrets--he must be blackmailing some powerful folk--but then the powers that be would want someone like him to fix problems, AND what any Hendon secretss?

Patti Brimer

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