Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Tune in to Dear Author at 9 EST/8 CST for a live blogging read and review of Victoria Janssen’s The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover.

I think you can ask us questions while we read & review & type at the same time. So head on over and enjoy!

Here’s a short, succinct what not to do lesson. Enjoy. 

On this t-shirt, is she going down on him in a theatre?

I mean, I *think* so but… maybe I’m reading too much perversity into the image.

I posted this last night on our Twitter feed, so if this is a repeat, forgive me. But here’s what’s making Candy and me very very happy Bitches this weekend:

The economy circles the toilet bowl at an alarming rate of circumference speed these days, and this week found layoffs aplenty among publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Random House, and Thomas Hayden - causing Wednesday to become “Black Wednesday” in the publishing world.

So it’s with some surprise and “hey, now!” that good news of a sort landed in my inbox: Sam Hain, cousin, as you know, to Sam Bucca and Sam Adams, has acquired romance e-pub Linden Bay. Per the press release from Sam Hain CEO Crissy Brashear:

“From the beginning one of my goals was to create multiple lines within Samhain,” says Christina Brashear, owner of Samhain Publishing. “With Linden Bay Romances’ excellent reputation, I made the offer in the hopes the owners would see this sale as a mutual benefit to both houses.”

“We hadn’t considered selling Linden Bay and we were slowly making inroads with regards to increasing print distribution, but we’ve found, especially in light of the economy, neither sales teams nor buyers are very open to taking a chance on a smaller, less established press,” says Lori James, part owner of Linden Bay Romances. “Samhain Publishing has the relationships in place that would take us years to develop.” James continues, “The offer came at a time when we realized under the Samhain umbrella, Linden Bay Romances will be stronger and reach its full potential faster.”

“For Samhain, it is a win-win situation,” says Brashear. “We will expand our lines with an established name in the electronic book industry and we’ll acquire an excellent stable of authors, editors and artists.”

While specifics of how the two houses will join forces and merge their operations were not discussed in the initial release, this seems like positive news for both publishing and e-pubs. It’s rare to hear of a merger or acquisition between two e-pub houses. Usually it’s folding-amid-rumors-of-crazy-pants. Congrats to Sam Hain and Linden Bay - more romance please? Yay!

[Total self-absorbed aside: My question: will Linden Bay operate under its own name as a division of Sam Hain? And what am I going to do with the name “Linden Bay?” Make Captain Morgan Bay Rum jokes?]