The Latest News:
Updated November 17, 2009

Announcing: Sold, to Thorndike Press, large print rights on Carolyn McSparren's mystery, CART BEFORE THE CORPSE.

Announcing: Soul Catcher, urban fantasy, by Deborah Smith writing as Leigh Bridger, is in the Top Ten bestseller list at Fictionwise.com (ebook edition) Also No. 4 on the Dark Fantasy list.

Announcing: Fabulous Featured Review for The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash by Milam McGraw Propst, at Midwest Book Review.

ANNOUNCING: Primitive author Mark Nykanen has scored a great, two-book sale to EOS, Harper Collin's sci-fi/fantasy imprint. Mark sold EOS a post-apocalyptic enviro-doomsday series. The series is already getting serious film option inquiries, too. We're thrilled. Always happy to brag when big pubs recognize the quality of our fab authors.

Announcing: To Be Featured in Nov. or Dec.: Deborah Grace Staley's A HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (sweet romance) on Knoxville, TN radio station B97.5 book club.

Announcing: Release of Deborah Smith's illustrated children's book, LARD BUTT AND GUACAMOLE. At Amazon.com exclusively. 24 pages, full-color, paperback. The NYT bestseller also has CAT HAIKU on Amazon.com, illustrated by the author. This week, Smith's urban fantasy, SOUL CATCHER (written under pen name Leigh Bridger) debuted at No. 34 on Fictionwise ebook dark fantasy list and is currently featured on the retailer's home page.

Announcing: coming soon on CBC (Canadian public radio) NORTH BY NORTHWEST program, reaching 4 million listeners; an in-depth interview with thriller author MARK NYKANEN (Primitive.) www.marknykanen.com

Announcing: Bell Bridge buys a new urban fantasy series, SKINDANCER, by debut author Anthony Francis. Book One: Frost Moon. Series premise: What if tattoos are "alive" with the spirits of magical beings?

Announcing: a major cable network has asked to see Leigh Bridger (Deborah Smith's) SOUL CATCHER novel about an Asheville folk art who traps demons in her paintings. Also requesting Bell Bridge YA novel MOONSTONE, by Marilee Brothers, about a Seattle teen who discovers she's the Star Seeker of an old prophecy of good versus evil.

Announcing: Bell Bridge buys THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA, by top-selling Harlequin author JEAN BRASHEAR. Women's fiction, literary, humor. A grieving woman goes on a whimsical search for her reincarnated sister, using Texas historical markers as a guide. For publication April 2010.

Announcing: Bell Bridge buys third title in Deborah Grace Staley's acclaimed Angel Ridge (sweet romance) series. Book two, A HOME FOR CHRISMTAS, pubbing in Nov. 2009 and Book 3, HEART'S DESIRE, in fall 2010. Book one ONLY YOU, and two have sold large print rights to Thorndike Press.

Drumroll: Bell Bridge Books author Kalayna Price (Once Bitten, Bk one, the Haven series) has scored an auction/very nice deal for a new fantasy series at ROC/Ace, New York. Kalayna's sequel to Once Bitten will be published by Bell Bridge in 2010.

Drumroll: Large print rights to Thorndike for Critters of Mossy Creek, book seven in the Mossy Creek series.

Author Mark Nykanen scores major radio interview on Canada's NORTH BY NORTHWEST program, scheduled for November.

Announcing two new books for our list soon, one women's fiction one YA paranormal.

PRIMITIVE and SOUL CATCHER opening orders very strong, yay.

Now shipping; PRIMITIVE, our eco-thriller by former NBC newsman Mark Nykanen. Strong online sales and direct orders too. Ebook will be on sale next week at Fictionwise.com.

The third OCIEE NASH book, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF OCIEE NASH, is also up on fictionwise now. Also online and elsewhere.

Drumroll: The first two Ociee Nash ebooks are bestsellers at Fictionwise.com. The newest one goes on sale next week.

Coming up this fall, DEAD PAN, cozy mystery, Gayle Trent; CART BEFORE THE CORPSE, mystery, Carolyn McSparren; HUMMINGBIRD RIDGE, women's fiction, Margaret Nava; PRIMITIVE, thriller, Mark Nykanen, SOUL CATCHER, urban fantasy, Leigh Bridger; A HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, sweet romance, Deborah Grace Staley; CRITTERS OF MOSSY CREEK, Bk 7 the MC series, various authors; THE GREENWOOD LEGACY, historical, Jacquelyn Cook; FURTHER ADVENTURES OF OCIEE NASH, YA, Milam Propst.

Now on Scribd.com for reading: Excerpt, Janice Daugharty's 2010 Southern Lit novel, THE LITTLE KNOWN.

New book coming from Margaret Nava: sequel to Egret Cove. December 2009, HUMMINGBIRD RIDGE. Mom Lit about the adventures of 60-ish Angela Dunn as she and her new husband, Gilberto, set up housekeeping in the W. Va. mountains.

Two more titles offered to Southern indie booksellers via SIBA'S Okra Picks program: YA Americana, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF OCIEE NASH, and THE CRITTERS OF MOSSY CREEK, a Mayberry-ish book set in a small Georgia town.

Coming Oct. 1: Cart Before The Corpse, book one in the new Mossy Creek mystery series, by Carolyn McSparren. Other October titles: Leigh Bridger aka Deborah Smith's SOUL CATCHER, dark urban fantasy; Mark Nykanen's PRIMITIVE, enviro thriller.

Now on Scribd.com for viewing: large excerpts from JANICE DAUGHARTY'S The Little Known also from Jacquelyn Cook's historical, THE CREENWOOD LEGACY.

Meet Author Kathryn Magendie (TENDER GRACES) at SIBA this fall. She'll be signing TENDER GRACES.

On the launch pad: CRITTERS OF MOSSY CREEK, book seven, the Mossy Creek Hometown Series. The Mayberry-ish dramas of a small Georgia mountain town. A "collective novel" in which multiple authors write in the perspective of various established characters. Authors include NYT bestsellers Deborah Smith, Sabrina Jeffries, Sharon Sala and Anne Bishop, also well-known Patti Callahan Henry, Carolyn McSparren, Susan Goggins, Maureen Hardegree and others. Launching later in fall 2009, a Mossy Creek Mystery Series.

In hand: DEAD PAN, sequel to MURDER TAKES THE CAKE, Gayle Trent. Cozy culinary mystery. Coming in fall 2009, trade paper.

Sold: Large print rights, England, MURDER TAKES THE CAKE by Gayle Trent, to BBC Audiobooks.

Scheduled for Winter 2010; anthology combining Sarah Addison Allen's IN MY DREAMS novella and a new novella from Deborah Smith titled THE TOMATO MOONS OF MORNING GLORY. Southern smalltown fiction.

Portugese sales for Deborah Smith's A GENTLE RAIN (women's fiction)reporting very strong; publisher has requested other Smith titles for consideration.

Large print rights for ONLY YOU, Deborah Grace Staley, sweet romance, to Thorndike Large Print.

THESE REVIEW GALLEYS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN JULY: Soul Catcher, Primitive, The Ociee Nash Series (Young Adult Historical), A Home For Christmas, Haint Misbehavin' (YA paranormal). Contact Deb Smith at editor@bellebooks.com

Acquired: Girlfriend Wake Up and Smell the Roses, A gay friend's advice on men, Bo Sebastian, clinical hypnotist and life coach

Acquired: Dead Pan, book two in the Daphne Martin cake decorating mysteries, by Gayle Trent

Coming in September: Book 3 Ociee Nash YA series. Americana, turn of the century Mississippi and North Carolina, a 11 year old girl's adventures. First two books became THE ADVENTURES OF OCIEE NASH, starring Keith Carradine and Ty Pennington, Mare Winningham.

All BelleBooks and Bell Bridge Books e-book editions will now be sold via Scribd.com in download pdf. All our ebooks are already available at Fictionwise.com and in the Amazon Kindle store. Also see excerpts and other title info at Scribd.com. Search keywords "BelleBooks" or "Bell Bridge Books" also individual titles.

Ebook Bestseller: Cozy mystery, DIXIE DIVAS, Virgnia Brown, Fictionwise.com

Acquired: HAIN'T MISBEHAVIN', Maureen Hardegree, YA paranormal, first book in The Ghost Handlers series, publishing spring 2010, trade paper.

Acquired: THE LITTLE KNOWN, by Pulitzer nominee Janice Daugharty (Earl in the Yellow Shirt)to publish Feb. 2010

Acquired: Five more novels for the Haven vampire/shapeshifter series, by debut author Kalayna Price; Book One, ONCE BITTEN (Jan 09) still an ebook bestseller

Acquired: Book Two in the Angel Ridge series by Deborah Grace Staley; sweet small-town Mayberry-ish. A HOME FOR CHRISTMAS TO PUB Nov. 09; Currently: ONLY YOU, on sale now.

Movie Interest: Under option: Deborah Smith's The Crossroads Cafe, to producer Dan Paulson

Subrights sales: Large print to Center Point Press for TENDER GRACES, by Kathryn Magendie

Other News: See nearly sixty book excerpts and promotions including the BBB catalog on SCRIBD.COM. Latest additions: Sneak preview for PRIMITIVE, Mark Nykanen (which is getting strong film and foreign translation interest currently)Also see excerpt posted today for A HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.

BelleBooks and its new division, Bell Bridge Books, is a small press owned by four veteran women authors including NYT bestselling author Deborah Smith (A PLACE TO CALL HOME, Bantam Books.)

BelleBooks publishes 2-5 titles per year in traditional print. titles include the Mossy Creek Hometown Series, Deborah Smith's award-winning women's fiction novels, and the nonfiction how-to "Bra Talk" by two-time Oprah guest Susan Nethero. Upcoming in 2009: KITCHEN CHARMS, Deborah Smith, Don't Hold Your Breath, by Deborah Smith, The Greenwood Legacy, Jacquelyn Cook, CART BEFORE THE CORPSE, a Mossy Creek Mystery, by Carolyn McSparren

Bell Bridge Books, established in 2008, plans to publish 8-10 books per year in POD and ebook. Launch titles for July 2008 included historical fiction Booth's Sister by Civil War scholar Jane Singer and Christian "hen lit" Egret's Cove by Margaret Nava. Fall titles included two YA fantasy novels and one adult fantasy novel, all the launch books for series.

On schedule for 2009: ONCE BITTEN, (vampire/shapeshifter), January, by debut author Kalayna Price; FLOWERS FOR ELVIS (southern fiction), April, by Julia Schuster; TENDER GRACES (southern fiction), April, by Kathryn Magendie; TWELVE SACRED TRADITIONS OF MAGNIFICENT MOTHERS IN LAW, (humor, nonfiction,) April, by NYT bestseller Haywood Smith; ONLY YOU, (romance), May, by Deborah Grace-Staley; MOONRISE, (YA fantasy) by Marilee Brothers; DIXIE DIVAS, (women's fiction), by Virginia Brown; PRIMITIVE (thriller) by acclaimed author and journalist Mark Nykanen (HUSH, BONE PARADE, SEARCH ANGEL)and others.

Coming in 2010: Pulitzer nominee Janice Daugharty's THE LITTLE KNOWN.

BelleBooks specializes in general fiction with a wholesome appeal and southern settings.

Bell Bridge Books is primarily focused on fantasy fiction including all types of fantasy (high, epic, urban, etc) but also publishes general fiction in POD and ebook.