The Oscars of the Romance Industry, the RITAs, were announced yesterday. Books published in 2009 were eligible, but authors had to submit them to the contest to be judged. Seattle authors made another strong showing among the finalists: Alexis Morgan, Julia Quinn, Margaret Mallory, Susan Wiggs, Jane Porter, and Lakeside alumna Marjorie M Liu (Class of ’96). There were, as usual, many great books of 2009 that didn’t make the cut. Who knows if the authors submitted their works. RITA winners will be announced at the Romance Writers of America national conference in Nashville in July.

Here are the few I’ve read that I can recommend:

Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl
Contemporary Single Title
Harlequin Enterprises, HQN
Editor: Tara Parsons
ISBN: 978-0-373-77356-5

Wicked All Day by Liz Carlyle
Historical Romance
Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books Romance
Editor: Lauren McKenna
ISBN: 978-0-4165-9492-5

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole
Paranormal Romance
Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books
Editor: Lauren McKenna
ISBN: 978-1-416-58094-2

The Fire King by Marjorie M. Liu
Paranormal Romance
Dorchester Publishing, Leisure Books
Editor: Chris Keeslar
ISBN: 978-0-843-95940-6

Scandal by Carolyn Jewel
Regency Romance
Penguin Group USA, Berkley Sensation
Editor: Kate Seaver
ISBN: 978-0-425-22551-6

How many have you read? Which do you plan to add to your TBR pile? Which books from 2009 do you wish had made the finalist list?

With the explosion of the Young Adult literature market, publishers are scrambling to meet the demand for more Twilight-esque reading material. The high school-aged protagonists in YA are attracting a much wider aged audience. St. Martin’s Press has noticed the interest twenty-something readers have for series like Twilight (Stephanie Meyer), House of Night (P.C. & Kristin Cast), The Mortal Instruments (Cassandra Clare), and Vampire Academy (Richelle Mead). Seeking to cash in on our rapacious reading appetite, St. Martin’s has branded this audience “New Adults” and seeks to publish books with coming of age stories specifically targeted at the twenty-something demographic. Protagonists will be “older teens” AKA college-aged or early twenties. Themes are finding one’s place in the world and discovering oneself.

The complete details of St. Martin’s Press submission contest can be found on Georgia McBride’s blog here. The contest begins Monday, November 9 and ends Friday, November 20, 2009.

I applaud St. Martin’s effort to publish books specifically aimed at my demographic, even as part of me feels that “new adult” sounds like “adult with training wheels.” Dorchester Publishing’s recently closed SHOMI line was also targeted to twenty-somethings. I liked SHOMI, so I’m glad another publisher seeks to fill the void.

The majority of heroines in Urban Fantasy and Romance are twenty-somethings seeking to define themselves and find their place in the world. They are starting new jobs, trying to make it on their own, discovering adult relationships for the first time. Even the hundred year old vampires, like Edward, struggle with these issues. How, then, will the “New Adult” market be different? I suppose I haven’t read many books where the protagonist is actually in college, except for Tom Wolfe’s I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS. Maybe I’m thinking of protagonists in graduate school, like Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander heroines.

In other news….Harlequin announced today a new digital-only publishing house called Carina Press with Angela James (former executive editor at Samhain) holding the reins. I look forward to seeing what they produce.

The romance industry morns the passing of one of our leaders last week. Editor Kate Duffy was a force to be reckoned with. She had a huge  impact on the changing face of romance. She will be missed. Ms. Duffy lost a battle with cancer at age 56. Her obituary runs today in the New York Times, which you can read here.

I was lucky to have met Kate at the 2008 RWA National Conference in San Francisco. As a shy, newby writer, I had little knowledge of the editing side of the industry, but I had heard tales of the great Kate Duffy. She was a dragon lady, or so I’d heard, and a born and bred New Yorker. When I sat down at the hotel bar next to, what I assumed was, a fellow single conference goer and struck up a conversation, the last thing I expected was to meet an editor, let alone The Kate Duffy. I blogged a tongue-in-cheek version of the evening, but the upshot was that Kate made an impression on me that night. She was very kind and generous. I had a realization: Editors are people too, not fire-breathing dragons or mythical giants.

Kate will be missed. Her legacy lives on, and her impact on this little author will not be forgotten.