Yep, that’s right!

KISMET’S KISS will be published by Dragon Moon Press this summer.

(Holy schnikeys, that’s fast–and lucky!) Dragon Moon is a Canadian publisher specializing in fantasy and science fiction.

KISMET’S KISS has been through the war and lived to tell the tale. It got me three agent offers. It’s an eight-time contest finalist (including twice in the prestigious Romance Writers of America Golden Heart®) and a three-time contest winner. And I love it like hot and damn.

Here’s part of the description I used to pique Dragon Moon’s interest last summer:

On a faraway world in the medieval, Middle Easternesque realm of Kad, a deadly epidemic strikes the royal house of Sultan Kuramos. Only a magical healer from an enemy land may have the skill to save them. He doesn’t expect that healer to be a woman.

Varene, too, finds surprises in Kad. The feisty healer anticipates the sultan’s arrogance, but not his courage or his selfless care of the ill–or the possibility that the epidemic is the curse of a vengeful goddess.

Varene’s mystical talents are condemned by Kuramos’s culture and her presence triggers a plot to overthrow the sultan. Yet as he and the healer toil for the cure, he loses his heart to her. She falls for him as well, but how can she relinquish her homeland and her principles for the sultan—especially when he already has six beautiful wives and his family may be cursed?

There are so many people who have helped KISMET’S KISS along the way, and despite not wanting to leave anyone out (or bore the universe with an insanely long list, and thank goodness for all of you!), two of them I have to thank right this minute: my wonderful critique partners Shelby Reed and Kendra Leigh Castle, who helped KISS shine. You rock, ladies.

And my head is still spinning about the release date. Only a few months to go before KISMET’S KISS is out. Wow, so much left to do… I’d better get cracking!

2009 was a very weird year for me. My hubby and I (and the felines) moved across the state twice in five months due to his job. No other way to say it except That Sucked.

And yet, I also got my first contract offer. That Did Not Suck. In the end, I turned down the contract due to a sticky clause in the contract that the publisher wouldn’t negotiate. That was a tough call, but I know I have to be smart and keep an eye on the future.

Now it looks like I’ll have an offer from another publisher. This pub has a good reputation and may be a very nice fit for this book.

My mother has a saying: “It’s not real until it’s real.” She was referring to real estate deals where things could fall apart at the last minute. Nothing was real until the contracts were signed. I think I’ll be patient and follow her lead.

But given the suckage of 2009, I’d like to think that no matter what, 2010 will be a better year. And that’s what we all want at the beginning of a shiny new year.

So I hope that no matter how 2009 treated you, 2010 will rock your house in fantastic ways.

Onward!

Just found out that KISMET’S KISS is a finalist in the 2009 Spacecoast RWA “Launching a Star” contest. Winners to be announced in mid-December. Let’s see, that’s eight finals for KISS and three wins (so far). Go KISS!

I just found out that my manuscript KISMET’S KISS–an otherworld fantasy retelling of The King and I, but with an actual happy ending for all, mwa ha ha!–won the Paranormal category of the New Jersey Romance Writers‘ Put Your Heart in a Book contest. The final judges were Penguin editor Jhanteigh Kupihea, agent Roberta Brown, and multi-pubbed author Judi McCoy. W00t!

My thanks to Gwynlyn, one of my sister Golden Heart 2009 finalists, for passing along the lovely news. :)