Author: Emma

Emma Barry is a teacher, novelist, recovering academic, and former political staffer. She lives with her high school sweetheart and a menagerie of pets and children in Virginia, and she occasionally finds time to read and write.

Things I Really Liked in 2017

In the vein of this post from last year, here’s a list of things I really liked in 2017.

Music/Podcasts:

  • Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, Broadway Soundtrack: while this show was on Broadway in 2016 and has since closed, I became obsessed with the soundtrack in 2017. Denee Benton’s voice is extraordinary and vulnerable, and the rest is a delightful mash up. Look for Russian themes in my upcoming work. /waggles eyebrows/
  • DAMN., Kendrick Lamar: timely, brilliant, and on constant rotation in my car.
  • Turn Out the Lights, Julien Baker: full disclosure, I didn’t love it quite as much as Sprained Ankle, but I can’t stop listening to it and “Appointments” is probably my song of the year.
  • Melodrama, Lorde: I didn’t like “Green Light” on the radio, but the album is an album, and much more than the sum of its parts. Perfect for writing heartbreak.
  • LA Divine, Cold War Kids: what do you know, people still write rock songs. The Bishop Briggs cameo is a highlight; she’s going to break out soon.
  • There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light, Stars: after a few subpar albums, Stars is back, and I loved every minute.
  • Slow Burn, Leon Neyfakh/Slate: this podcast about Watergate has given me a plot bunny so large, it’s like a plot hare.

Continue reading “Things I Really Liked in 2017” →

2017 in Review

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2017 was a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner. (Quick! Name that book.) It was a difficult year for me personally, but a truly awful one nationally and globally. I started here, you might remember, looking at the moon and bracing for the worst. Things never improved.

But despite that, here are some things I did in roughly chronological order:

  • I revised “Free” and in May, Open Ink Press released it in Sight Unseen.
  • Genevieve and I revised, released, and then pulled Star Crossed.
  • I joked about a 25th Amendment romance on Twitter, then with the support of a group of lovely writing friends, I wrote and revised “Kissing and Other Forms of Sedition,” which appeared in Rogue Desire in June.
  • I promptly wrote “The Fourth Estate,” which appeared in Rogue Affair in November.
  • Somewhere in there, Genevieve and I wrote, revised, and released A Midnight Feast in October.
  • Genevieve and I also finished drafting Free Fall.
  • I also started and abandoned several novellas, I worked on a contemporary series for my agent, and I read and made notes for several other projects.
  • While my pile of books authored grew, my total words written is fairly low. I only wrote about 100K.
  • I read 63 new to me books (and I hope to finish a few more before New Year’s Eve!), and I kept up playing the piano. Let us speak not of my jogging.

Next year will bring the release of Free Fall and another Fly Me to the Moon novella along with, possibly, the rerelease of Star Crossed. I’m taking a break from the Rogue series, but I might contribute to a future volume. I’d also really like to finish writing a new contemporary romance and/or a women’s fiction title.

Most of all, I want to stop feeling like I’m in mourning in 2018. I want to work more consistently and more happily. I want to feel like myself again.

I wish you and yours productive reflection on the year that was and, more importantly, joy and laughter in the year to come.

(I’ve been writing some version of this for as long as I’ve been blogging. You can read about my 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013 respectively.)

Urbanization, Secular Holiday Music, and the Simulacra

I was in my kitchen this morning drinking tea and listening to Christmas music. Bing Crosby’s recording of “Silver Bells” came on, and I started singing along. In between the city sidewalks and the ting-a-ling, something struck me as odd, as not like the rest of the songs on the mix.

What the hell? But I couldn’t place it.

Next came “Jingle Bells” and “Winter Wonderland,” and suddenly it hit me: “Silver Bells” is about “Christmastime in the city,” and that setting stands in contrast to the bulk of other Christmas music.

I began flipping through my playlists and reading–really reading–the lyrics, and I posted on Twitter to ask if there were other Christmas songs about cities. It quickly become obvious that the validity of my thesis rested on how I defined Christmas music and the city. So I’ll explain my methods, codify my list, and explain why I think this might matter below.

Continue reading “Urbanization, Secular Holiday Music, and the Simulacra” →

Deleted Scenes Going Out to My Newsletter

I interrupt this insane news day to say I have two deleted scenes from “The Fourth Estate” (from Rogue Affair) that I’ll be sending to my mailing list next week. They’re both from Drew’s POV: one is the coffee meeting (except his perspective) and the other involves him watching Brynn on the news. If I do say so myself, they’re pretty cute.

So, if you want to read them, make sure you’re signed up!

ETA: if you missed them, they’re here, but consider signing up so that this awesome stuff goes straight into your inbox.

Lend Margie a Hand, Please!

In completely unexpected but totally exciting news, Kobo Writing Life selected A Midnight Feast as one of its Ten Best Romance Covers of 2017.

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This is already an amazing honor, but they’re holding voting across three categories to pick the best cover of the year. The competition is fierce in romance. Obviously we’re biased, but Margie’s sassy silhouette makes for one distinctive cover, so if you’ve got a moment, we’d love it if you’d hop over there and cast a ballot for A Midnight Feast. Voting ends next Thursday. Yup, that’s right—on Thanksgiving. How auspicious is that? So vote early and often!

If you haven’t picked A Midnight Feast up yet, it’s only 99 cents and available at Amazon, iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and Google Play. Dear Author labeled it a recommended read, SmexyBooks gave it an A, and All About Romance called it “intensely emotional” and “carefully crafted.”

Rom Coms Where the Wrong Choice is Right

Ahem…this is going to be controversial. But what follows is a brief list of romantic comedies and dramas in which the “wrong choice” love interest is far more deserving than the “right choice” one.

Casablanca (1942)

Perhaps the originator of this trope, Elsa was right to stay with Victor, but Rick is Rick, and you know she’ll always wonder.

The Sound of Music (1965)

What can I say except McSweeney’s convinced me: Captain Von Trapp would have been happy married to Baroness Schrader.

Pretty in Pink (1986)

Let me say I think the “she should have ended up with Duckie” stuff is overplayed (see Jon Cryer thoughtfully arguing against that here), but I don’t think there’s any doubt Duckie is a better realized character than Blane. I’ve always wondered if twenty years later, Duckie and Andie might make a go of it.

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

I always pretend this movie is centered on Patricia (Parker Posey) and that after her boyfriend (Tom Hanks) dumps her to pursue the children’s bookstore owner (Meg Ryan) whose business he destroyed, Patricia goes on to take over New York publishing and find love with someone worthy of her.

Enchanted (2007)

At the level of satire, this movie works for me. At the level of romance…no, definitely not. Idina Menzel’s Nancy in particular deserves much better than she gets. The idea that driven career women secretly want to become princesses? No, not so much.

Letters to Juliet (2010)

This film could make the list twice, first because the B-plot (the romance between Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero) is infinitely more interesting and charming than the A-plot, but also because Gael Garcia Bernal is a metric ton more attractive/beguiling than Christopher Egan.

ETA: I deliberately omitted Twilight not wanting to reopen Edward vs. Jacob…but yeah, Team Jacob. All the way.

Rogue Affair Release Day!

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It’s the anniversary of the 2016 presidential election and also release day for Rogue Affair. It’s a collection of ten political resistance romances featuring me and Tamsen Parker, Ainsley Booth, Olivia Dade, Kris Ripper, Amy Jo Cousins, Adriana Anders, Kelly Maher, Stacey Agdern, and Jane Lee Blair.

I am crazy proud of my novelette, “The Fourth Estate.” It’s about two reporters who work for competing papers fighting over stories about White House corruption and, oh, falling in love. Brynn and Drew’s enemies to lovers, banter-y relationship was so fun to write. If you’ve been enjoying all those 5 p.m. breaking news stories–this little boomlet of resurgent journalism–this book is for you. It’s my favorite contemporary project since Party Lines. If you need more convincing Heroes and Heartbreakers had ten exclusive excerpts here.

You can pick it up at fine ebook retailers, including Amazon, iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and Google Play or add it to your Goodreads shelves. If you want a behind-the-scenes peek, the inspiration board for “The Fourth Estate” is on Pinterest.

Also, I have a deleted scene and an alternative POV scene. You don’t know it yet–because you haven’t read Rogue Affair–but you might need these. I’ll be sending them out in my newsletter in a month or so. So sign up now if you haven’t.

A Midnight Feast: Jello + Release Day

It’s release day for A Midnight Feast, a book that could be subtitled the Mitch and Margie Thanksgiving angst-fest. So of course I made Jello to celebrate, specifically this simple orange fruit salad. Even though it was a pain to get out of the mold (the same one I’ve used before), it turned out very pretty. (Note to Jello aficionados: plastic molds are awful.)

Enough about the food, though; what about the book?

On my own or with Genevieve, I’ve never written a character who elicited as much fan response as Margie Dunsford. “When will she leave her husband and get an HEA?” began many emails and Tweets.

But did she have to leave Mitch? As we filled in their backstory, we found twenty years of frustrations resentment, passion, laughter, misunderstanding, and, eventually hope. So that was the story we told: about rediscovering love and reimagining a marriage.

You can get your copy at Amazon, iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and Google Play. You can also add it to your Goodreads shelves or check out the inspiration board on Pinterest.

Happy reading, and also happy holidays.

Rogue Affair Cover Reveal!

You can see the cover for Rogue Affair at USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog, and it’s gorgeous! The book will drop three weeks from today, on November 8, 2017.

Here’s the blurb for mine:

Reporter Drew Orlov wants to write about the corrupt president hurting regular Americans, but readers only care about the bombshells penned by his rival Brynn Allen. When he goes after Brynn’s high-level source, though, he finds himself snagged on more complicated—and personal—feelings. Brynn’s been working her tail off and doesn’t have time for Drew, even if he does look good when he smolders, and they’re soon locked in a tussle for the truth with their hearts on the line.

It is a very, very me story, and I hope you’ll love it.

As with Rogue Desire, Rogue Affair is 99 cents to preorder, and the price will rise after release week. You can get it at all the cool retailers, including Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and Google Play and you can add it to your Goodreads shelves (it’ll be available at iBooks soon).

ETA: I added an excerpt from “The Fourth Estate” and FAQ here.

A (Virtual) Spooky Reading

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Binge on Books is doing a month-long Sounds Like Halloween celebration of scary stories, and I recorded myself reading the mission sequence from Earth Bound for it. It’s more suspenseful than spooky–and obviously very spoiler-y if you haven’t read the book!–but you can listen to it here.

Also, I talked to Rachel Kramer Bussel from Salon for an article on resistance romance. A lot of my favorite authors are quoted and are name checked, so it was incredibly cool to be included.

Finally, I started an author newsletter. I promise I won’t send too many of these, but if you want to keep up with my new releases and sales, you can sign up here.