FROM THE PHANTOM PHILES
MILLILLENIUM
EDITION
JANUARY 2000 -
JANUARY 2001
Well all you Phantom
Phans, you've had a very busy time this year
between holiday shopping, visiting Nora on her book
tour and TTP signings and all the great Nora books
that have been released! Let's see how you've been
spending your time and what awards I can
bestow:
The Thinking Ahead
Award goes to Sue
(SueCBDR) for
convincing some shoppers at Christmas that they
couldn't do without the Born In series, JOTS and
teasing them with all the wonderful Irish stories
that were due out in the spring. She topped it off
with Nora & Ruthiebabe's adventures in the
Emerald Isle this summer.
Nella's (CaDutch)
daughter, Juli, gets the Phantom-Next Generation
Award for
convincing another girl her age to begin reading
Nora's books. See Nella, she does listen to you
sometimes.
Knowledge is
Power! That's
Katie's
(KTD777613) motto.
She introduced a Nora virgin to one of Nora's series books and then
set her sights on a current Nora reader, giving her
info on the Eastern Shore trilogy and the Donovans
and Nora's website and Nora's book tour and…….Now
she just needs to get her web cards printed to hand
out in line.
Pam
(NitneeLin) gets
the How to Win
Friends & Make Enemies Award. She convinced a woman in a
bookstore to put back a book that had no business
being on the shelf and buy all of the Born In
series, the Eastern Shore trilogy and Megan's Mate
to round out her Calhoun collection. The dh said
the woman couldn't buy any books if Pam was in the
store at the same time. When that woman gets
inspired by Nora's love scenes, he'll change his
tune.
JOTS, JOTS
Everywhere…Almost
was the title for a day Diane (Anonym2857) had last January. She saw a lady
waiting for the bus, one on the bus, ladies in 2
different light rail cars and a guard at the
courthouse all reading Jewels of the Sun. The stand alone was someone
reading one of the MacGregors while waiting for a
court appearance. When last seen, Diane was
tracking down a bailiff who had borrowed
Divine
Evil. Then in
July, she was on the bus again, snickering over a
passage in Tears of
the Moon and 3
ladies asked her if that was the new one in the
series and from her reaction knew they'd have to
buy it. Their reading material that day?
Irish Hearts,
Carnal Innocence and
The Reef.
The Nora Goes Global
award is shared by
many world travelers. Elaine (Eschmook) took a trip to Europe this summer
and saw ladies in her group reading Irish Hearts, the Born in Series,
Sanctuary, and River's End. Elaine did you help all those
ladies pack?! Miryam (Rbrewer000) found Irish Hearts & River's
End in the
bookstores in Israel! Merry let us know that her
two daughters were in Ireland this summer and their
male tour guide read excerpts of Jewels of the Sun to everyone on the tour bus. He
really likes all of Nora's stories set in Ireland
was thrilled to find out that the girls' mom "knew"
Nora. Several people said they were going to find
more of her books to try. Phyllis (Phyl9226) took Tears to Uzbekistan and
talked about her to ladies in her group.
Darla
(MsMoby) was on
the receiving end of an Anything for J.D. Robb
gesture. She
found a guy on her cruise this summer who not only
was on the onelist, but had 2 laptops with him and
loaned her one so she could keep the Sanctuary
board up to date on her trip. What a guy!
Gerri
(GHamm58078) is
the winner of the C. Everett Koop
Award for
maintaining a normal blood pressure reading
Carnal
Innocence while
getting her vitals checked in the doctor's office.
She told the 2 nurses to go to TTP and take a Nora
book and call her in the morning.
The All In The Family
Award is given to
Avis
(Aavisb) for
getting both her uncle and her grandmother hooked
on Nora's books. She's extending beyond the family
as well, by practicing on ladies in the checkout
lane at the supermarket. Good job Avis but behave,
because the Phantom learned to drive in
Chicago!!!
Keishon(Ket2567) deserves an Honorary Board Broad
Award for posting
on a different AOL board about how she suggested to
a romance genre newbie that she start with Nora
because she thinks "Nora is a great representative
of the romance genre." We all agree with
you.
Edith (ApleHeart) and
Arlene (UnitW) are
just two of the many …uh, oh, Noraholics who used
their time wisely at Nora's March and April
booksignings. By the time the Queen arrived, just
about everyone who was waiting had learned about
the Board Broads, ADWOFF and TTP. They did all that
PR for free and then managed to leave with CM
buttons and a signed sign. They get the
Everything You've
Wanted To Know, But Were Afraid To Ask
Award. They are
accepting this award on behalf of all of you who
did the same thing but didn't post it.
It may be better to give
than to receive, but Sue and Jaci
(TBIDBook)
convinced a romance non-reader to buy a Nora story
for a sick friend and then come back to the store
and treat herself to one as well. They are
powerful pursuaders.
Carolynn
Lamp wrote in to
one of the boards praising Nora. She was using her
daughter's account to surf AOL and was so excited
to know there were others who read and discuss
Nora's work. She says she's turned on at least 2
dozen people to the Queen's books. Carolynn, don't
hide your light under a bushel. Get an AOL account
of your own and join us!
Shemah
(CatWhoWalksAlone)
is the winner of the Do As I Do Award. Her daughter read her first
romance book and started talking about "that Daniel
guy." What was that perfect book? The Perfect
Neighbor of
course. Hope you met Nora at the RWA signing this
summer.
The That's What Friends
Are For Award had
Lynda's
(NoraPimp) name on
it. A friend decided to read Nora after hearing
about the friends Lynda has made on the boards and
in person. That friend's only mistake was in
loaning her new copy of CM to her mother. Share
and share alike doesn't seem to be a Noraholic
motto. I think mom's getting her own copy very
soon. She's also piggybacked on Katie's idea and
had web cards printed up with all the important
info one needs to contact Nora.
Melissa
(SkatePulsar) was
on the receiving end of one of those type of web
cards this summer and she's gotten into the swing
of things. She's recently lent out her JD Robb's
to an online friend so she can introduce someone
new to Nora. She gets the Do Unto Others
award.
Bethany
(Calibethi) has
learned that if you want to turn a man onto Nora's
writing, don't talk to him of love and romance,
lure him with mayhem and death, I mean, In Death.
It seems to work every time. She has since eased
him into howling about Carolina Moon. Way to go, Bethany!
The By Any Other Name
award goes to
Sue &
Jaci who spent
over 2 years trying to get a customer to try one of
Nora's "darker" books. She wanted nothing to do
with a romance author, no matter what style she
wrote in. She sent her dh out for a book one night
and got hooked on it. Great author that J.D. Robb!
It's also shared with Tracey O'H
& KatieD do
some of their persuading right at the source, the
front porch of TTP. That's where they hit on a
gorgeous guy and convinced him to try J.D. Robb.
Give it the Old College
Try award is won
by Brat7833 who wrote a review of
Judgment in
Death for her
college paper. A number of people bought the book,
liked it and emailed her that they were going to
find the rest in the series.
KatieD really must love spreading the
word of Nora. The
I'll Do Anything award is hers for spending her own money
to get an autographed copy of Montana Sky for a secretary at work so she
would read Nora. Phyllis shares the award for
getting autographed copies of Night Tales and Night Shield for the wife of someone who wanted
to by Phyllis' dh's red truck. It put her in a
better frame of mind for accepting her dh's new
toy.
Gerri went to a November booksigning at
Montgomery Mall to see Nora and gets the
I'll Tell You Where
to Go award for
letting all the people standing in line with her
that in December they could go to TTP and get the
Heart of the
Sea. She left
Nora to give directions to them because Gerri's a
little shaky on her geography.
How to Communicate With
The Opposite Sex is the award won by Lee (Sharronlg). The son of a gentleman friend
was given some of the In Death books to read to
keep him from being bored and it paid off big time.
His girlfriend says he's got a whole new view of how to treat her. ;
) It puts a whole new spin on relationship
books.
Librarians sure aren't the
same anymore.
KmBean131 happily
recommends Nora and JD Robb books to her patrons
all the time. No stuffy stereotypes here.
The Bunko Squad
Award goes to
Janice (J
Odom3) who knew
exactly the right gift to get for the 15 ladies in
her bunko group. She bought each of them
autographed copies of one of Nora's books at TTP
over the summer.
Tracey
O'H is a real
Phantom pro. She wins the Knowing Your Customers
award for picking
just the right books to introduce 4 coworkers to
Nora. She used the Donovans, the Gallaghers,
Hidden Riches
and JD Robb to
hook 'em. She's probably rubbing her hands in glee
with her new promotion. A whole new group of
people to convert!
Elaine uses a multimedia approach at
work. For some she lends them Nora on tape. For
others she lends books. She rattles off book lists
to interested parties. One lucky lady got a
personalized book for her birthday and flashes it
around at everyone. Great job, Elaine!
Last, but certainly not
least, Wicked
StepMom (Jschriever) gets the I Told you So Award. Her daughter had been razzing
her for years for her "non-intellectual" reading
choices, including her love of Nora. The daughter
is now a grad student in Women's Gender Studies at
GWU and is amazed to find that most of the ladies
in her program are proud Nora readers. So
there!
So whether you argued that
the new century started in 2000 or 2001, you all
agreed that Nora's books are a great way to spend
your time in any century. Read on and spread the
word!
