Hi all,

It's the new year and stuff has been happening. I've sold a second novel to Ellora's Cave called ECHO IN THE HALL. This is the sequel to VIOLET AMONG THE ROSES, and will be the second book in my Modern Myths series. The story revolves around the statue of Echo that is mentioned in the first book. She gets turned human but needs to earn the love of a man to stay that way. Nemesis (who really would rather people call her Nina) is back to help her sister out. Publication is scheduled for this summer.

Another bit of news is that I've joined with three other authors from Ellora's Cave in starting a quarterly newsletter called Femme Fatales. We're going to have a contest with four prizes just for signing up!

The following is our official announcement:

Ellora's Cave authors - Delilah Devlin, Ashley Ladd, Myra Nour, and Cricket Starr - are debuting their group newsletter on February 1st. Members will receive news about their books, review snippets, excerpts, and personal tidbits. The newsletter will be released once a quarter, with an exciting group contest in each issue.

Sign up for Femme Fatales Newsletter and get a chance at these fabulous prizes:

An exquisite Russian lacquer jewerly box
A lovely gift basket
A gorgeous crystal collectible with leaping dolphins in the center
A beautiful violet flower candle surrounded by roses, plus assorted other goodies.

Four member names will be drawn as winners at 9pm central on February 1st. Subscribe by going to the yahoogroup website Femme Fatales or by sending email to femme_fatales-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . Don't miss this opportunity for a chance at some exciting gifts, and a way to keep up with four talented authors and what they are up to!

Happy Holidays!!!

This has been a fabulous year for me, between my regular life (family doing fine, job doing great) and my writing life (three short stories and a novel published). I feel very, very blessed for all the good things that have happened. I've been working on my Cricket Starr website to update it with all the wonderful reviews I've gotten for both VIOLET AMONG THE ROSES and THE DOLL, my sensual romances published by Ellora's Cave.

I put up my short story, "Just a Little Christmas" on the samples page last week, but I forgot to mention that my novel, A CHRISTMAS WITH SARAH has been on sale over at Fictionwise for $3.25 this month. Now that's a real bargain!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous New Year.

Cheers!
Janet Miller/Cricket Starr

In honor of the season, I've put up on my samples page a short story I wrote last year called "Just A Little Christmas". It's about a woman and a man and the broken old Christmas tree that brings them together.

I hope you all like it.

Cheers,
Janet

Wyrd Wravings got it first review:
Romance Review Today and my story was mentioned as being one of the reviewer's favorites! YAY!!!

Another anthology has been released, WYRD WRAVINGS, which includes my short story, "The Woman Who Couldn't Say No."

Evelyn is an over-committer, who is forever volunteering to help others. One day she tries a past-life regression tape and discovers that she was once a wise-woman who promised a chieftain to help defend their village. She died that day, but the chieftain follows her to the future and insists she fullfill her promise. Death is no longer an excuse!

Check it out!

DREAM QUEST is available!!!

The anthology Dream Quest containing my short story "The Girl In The Box" as well as stories by Megan Sybil Baker, Rosemary Laurey, C.B. Scott and J.C. Wilder, is now available from LTD Books. Be sure to check it out on my publication's page, read the excerpt, and play the Treasure Quest game... the treasure hunt ends on September 30!

Cricket Starr has a website: www.cricketstarr.com!

My erotica writing alter-ego has opened her own shop where you can find information about her stories, including links to some really great reviews.

Enjoy!

Oh, My, GOODNESS!!!

My first Ellora's Cave publication, THE DOLL, is already available for sale over at Ellora's Cave! This is a short story about a woman who finds a wooden figure in a curio shop that reminds her of a doll she owned as a child...but there is nothing childish about the invisible lover who visits her once she'd taken it home! Look for THE DOLL by Cricket Starr and read the excerpt at Ellora's Cave.

I'm pleased, proud, and thrilled to announce that in the past few months I've sold to a major player in the ebook business, Ellora's Cave. My first story is a "quickie" called THE DOLL that will be published in the next few weeks and my first novel, VIOLET AMONG THE ROSES, will be out later this fall, both under my pen-name Cricket Starr.

Ellora's Cave has received the distinction of becoming the first ebook publisher to gain recognition by the Romance Writers of America, and it pleases me no end to be published by them.

AND THE WINNER IS: Kelly Britton!

Kelly won my "Christmas in July" contest, and I'll be sending her a Mouse Queen and a copy of A CHRISTMAS WITH SARAH.

Thanks everyone for participating in my contest and be sure to come back soon! If you are still hungry to win something, you can enter the Dream Quest contest. You'll find the link to it on my publications page. Just scroll to the bottom and you'll find a link to an excerpt from my short story THE GIRL IN THE BOX that includes a hint to my prize.

Hugs!
Janet

Hi all! I'm heading off to the RWA National convention this week, where all sorts of fun and adventure await me. While I'm gone, me and my fellow DREAM QUEST authors plan on starting the Treasure Quest game. You can get to the game through my Dream Quest web page, so be sure to check that out!

I'll be back to report the news on Sunday!

Welcome to my newly designed website! A big round of applause for Liz of LizletDesigns for performing her magic and making links with roll-overs, pop-up windows, and similar feats of html wizardry. Huzzah!

I have a new book to announce, a short story collection with some of the best story-tellers in the business, Linnea Sinclair writing as Megan Sybil Baker, Rosemary Laurey, C.B. Scott, J.C. Wilder - and ME!

Dream Quest is set for release from LTD Books in August, 2003. We "questers" are planning some great surprises for you all in the next few weeks, so watch this space for more information!