News from Wendy Corsi Staub:

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 February 2008 Dear Readers: Last year my husband, children and I took our first-ever February vacation, swapping the frigid Northeast for warm turquoise water and white sand. One perfect afternoon on Isla Mujeres, while lounging at a swing-up bar (no, not swim-up bar—although we splashed our way up to a few of those, too), I vowed to make an annual tradition of the tropical winter escape. So, as you read this, we'll have just returned from the Dutch island of Curacao just off the coast of Venezuela. Having spent a good chunk of last summer in Alaska, then Thanksgiving and Christmas in my blizzard-battered hometown near Buffalo, I've been so anxious to see the sun again that I was throwing snorkel gear, rash guards and beach books into suitcases back in mid-January! Speaking of suitcases, looks like I'll be keeping mine close at hand this year. My travel schedule is rapidly filling and I'm looking forward to meeting some of you in person in the months ahead! March brings me to the Southwest Florida Reading Festival in Fort Myers; April, to Pittsburgh for both an event at the Mystery Lovers Bookstore and the splashy RT Booklovers Convention. In May, with the simultaneous release of two brand new novels: DYING BREATH (Zebra Adult Suspense) and LILY DALE: BELIEVING (Walker Books for Young Readers, YA Paranormal), I'll be signing all over New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and at the International Reading Association Convention in Atlanta. When summer arrives in late June, you'll find me jetting across the Atlantic to Italy, where I'm teaching at the intensive week-long La Jolla Writers Conference, to be held at a restored thirteenth century monastery in Tuscany. I return home in July just in time to take part in the third annual Thrillerfest right here in New York City, and wind down the month by flying to the west coast for this year's RWA National Conference in San Francisco. Maybe by then I'll have enough frequent flier miles for next February's beach getaway. Do you think it's fair to republish a book without letting the buyer know it's not a new book? Like a stamp on the front. It's usually the cover that attracts me. I read so much that I don't always recognize a book I've read years before, until I get well into the first chapter. It's absolutely not fair to the buyer, Rosemary. And the most frustrating thing about it is that the author generally has no control over what does—and doesn't—go on the cover of a reissued book. That's why I'm always very careful to make it clear—on my website, my bookmarks, and any correspondence I send out—which titles are brand new and which are reissues. In recent years, my adult suspense publisher, Kensington, has been reissuing one of my older backlist titles every spring, a month in advance of my new release. I'm grateful they've maintained the original cover art and back cover copy, and marked the books with an emblem specifying that it's a $4.99 special edition. It's a great opportunity for my readers to get a bargain on an older title they might have missed, and so far, I haven't heard from anyone who mistakenly bought the same book twice! Look for my latest suspense reissue, KISS HER GOODBYE, this April. Send your reader questions to corsistaub@aol.com and I promise to get to them in future newsletters. Reader e-question from Rosemary SLIGHTLY MARRIED—How Can That Be? Win Wendy's February prize and find out! Celebrate the Valentine's season by reading SLIGHTLY MARRIED, the fourth book in Wendy Markham's Slightly Series. The grand prize in my February contest is a gorgeous Brighton "Go Red for Women" charm bracelet, with part of the proceeds going to the American Heart Association. To enter please visit my website at WendyCorsiStaub and click on the contest link. February contest ends February 29. Please visit WendyCorsiStaub.com for more information on my upcoming books, and while you're there check out my Tour Page for more information about book signings and appearances. 'Til Next Time,