The
Sizzle Seduce and Simmer anthology was launched in fine style last Thursday night at Dymock's bookstore in Collins Street, Melbourne.
It was a fabulous turnout -- and why not? This is a fabulous collection of short stories and recipes and with 16 of the contributing authors on hand to sign the book, plus the promise of discounts and giveaways of extra books, plus wine and wonderful food (every author present nabbed Anne Gracie's recipe for cheese and leek pie and I swear I'm planning a trip to Ballarat just to pay homage to the bakery that created those mini eclairs!!!)... no wonder the room was packed!
The book was officially launched by Stephanie Laurens, then Marion Lennox spoke about how the project came about. This was her baby from conception through to Thursday's (completely pain-free, honest!) birth, and because no one can say it as eloquently as Marion, here are her words from the book's foreward:
"Sizzle, Seduce and Simmer started life where many great ideas are formed - over a good, long lunch.
The Australian Romance Community is one of the closest knit of any literary genre. We read each others' work, we celebrate individual and collective successes and we spark each others' imagination when the muse is proving elusive.
Once a month a group of us who live within cooee of Melbourne have lunch on Southbank. The 'Melbourne Mob' consists of authors who write historical romance, paranormal, sexy, medical, traditional...you name it, if it's romance, we write it. A man, a woman, a ripping yarn, a happy ending and the ability to put it on paper...the joy of romance is what brings us together. We range from spring chickens to grandmothers, from prolific writers to retiring ones, from sexy to...well, to very sexy.
As our friendship has deepened, so has the mutual respect we hold for each other's writing. This anthology was brought about by our desire to gather a collection - a taste of what we're all about. A romance and a matching favourite recipe.
Of course, like any good friendship group, The Mob is fluid. Over the past few months, friends out of Melbourne heard what we were doing and put up their hands. We'd love to be part of this, they said, and we were delighted. Now our friendship anthology has grown to include authors from all over Australia and New Zealand. A few friends who didn't have time to write a story put in their favourite recipe. We kept collecting until we ran out of pages. We haven't run out of friends so we're already thinking about Volume Two.
We love these stories and are having a ball trying each others' recipes. We believe our joy in the art of writing romance shines through these pages. That's our link - what makes us such good friends."
Some of the contributing authors at the launch modelling the aprons made specially for the event. L to r, Fiona MacArthur, Nicola Marsh, Bronwyn Jameson, Fiona Lowe, Amy Andrews, Valerie Parv, Marion Lennox, Anne Gracie, Stephanie Laurens, Trish Morey, Carol Marinelli and Keri Arthur.
Romance Writers of Australia President and contributing author Anne Gracie spoke as did Dennis Jones from Harlequin Australia. Then we sat and we signed and we signed. And we signed. Both this lovely, lovely book and copies of our own books which readers had brought with them or picked up as their "free gift with purchase."
Thanks to everyone who came along to make the night such a splendid success (big shout out to Jo Ann and Margaret and Ann.) It was Dymock's first signing/launch of romance and we made such a positive impression I'm sure it won't be the last.
Romance rocks!
Labels: book launch, signing, Sizzle Seduce and Simmer
