ReCOVERy Room: Blue Kingdom by Max Brand

Click for original cover copy.

You know how it’s generally frowned upon to touch, drool, attack, or otherwise mess with great works of art? Well I almost felt like I was breaking this universal law by messing with Max Brand’s cover copy. I mean, the man is a legend. His books may not be framed in a museum (that I know of), but they’re most definitely works of art.

I hope Mr. Brand will forgive me, but this week’s ReCOVERy Room is a fill-in-the-blank fun house from the back cover of his 1929 Blue Kingdom.  Originally titled “The Strength of the Hills” and published in a six part serial by Street & Smith’s Western Story Magazine, this classic was resurrected and renamed in 1957. The hero, Carrick Dunmore, is…well, kind of silly. Of all the Western heroes out there, I think he would appreciate the silliness of this week’s ReCOVERy Room the most.

Carrick, this one is for you.

Blue Kingdom ReCOVERy Room PDF

ReCOVERy Room: Operation Prince Charming

Click to see original cover copy

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. DayY’all!

It’s time for another ReCOVERy Room, and I’ve selected one of our African American Romance titles, Operation Prince Charming, by Phyllis Bourne. Phyllis is also a co-author of our African American Romance Anthology, Holiday Inn, so if you like playing with the cover copy here, go grab her books! Maybe Hunter, aka Mr. Prince Charming, learns more than he expected at finishing school. Everyday his secret crush continues to grow! Let’s just say,  he’s “hot for teacher!”

ReCovery Room_Operation Prince Charming

ReCOVERy Room: HUNT THROUGH NAPOLEON’S WEB

Click for original cover copy.

Bring some adventure to your Monday with this week’s ReCOVERy Room featuring the action-packed Hunt Through Napoleon’s Web by Gabriel Hunt. The crew at Dorchester tested this one out at lunch, and I have to say it got a little crazy. But I guess that will happen when people start throwing out fictional places for geographic locations (but really, who didn’t want to travel to Middle Earth and Narnia when they were kids?). Take a stab at it with your lunchmates and see where the road takes you!

Cheers,
Allison Carroll
Dorchester Publishing

* * *

Hunt Through Napoleon’s Web ReCOVERy Room PDF

ReCOVERy Room: PRESSURE by Jeff Strand

Click for original cover copy.

If you have ever read anything by Jeff Strand, be it a full-length horror novel or a short blog post on his Gleefully Macabre website, then you know how funny this man is—dark and twisted, but funny. Pressure, one of Strand’s earlier works, is shocking, gruesome, horrifying (of course), and emotionally memorable. And so it is a tall order today for you folks at home to work your own flavor into this book’s cover copy. Today’s ReCOVERy Room proudly challenges you to reinvent Jeff Strand’s Pressure in eight lines. I think you’re up for it.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Cheers,
Allison Carroll
Dorchester Publishing

* * *

Pressure ReCOVERy Room PDF

ReCOVERy Room: THE GOLDEN CAT by Max Brand

Click for original cover copy.

The shoot-’em-up, action-packed, gunslinger Westerns full of danger and intrigue, unforgettable heroes and villains, and a true taste of the Old West are what have made Max Brand a household name synonymous with the American frontier. Brand was a master storyteller and entertainer. Who better, then, to get you through another Monday? Dive into today’s ReCOVERy Room featuring The Golden Cat by Max Brand. Just print the PDF below, pull out the old thesaurus, and see what twists and turns you and your friends can bring to an old classic.

For a fun twist, I recommend picking a theme from which to base your word choices on—something completely unrelated to Westerns, like the circus or pro sports. Trust me, the zanier you get, the funnier it will be!

Cheers,
Allison Carroll
Dorchester Publishing 

* * *

The Golden Cat ReCOVERy Room PDF

ReCOVERy Room: A COWBOY FOR CHRISTMAS

Click to see the original cover copy.

It’s the last Monday before Christmas. Are your synapses slowing down and your feet swelling up from all that holiday shopping? If so, roll like Santa and plop yourself into a big, comfy chair while indulging in this week’s ReCOVERy Room. I guarantee it will be more satisfying than a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies! Better yet, print it out and fill-in-the-blanks with the whole family to alleviate any lingering holiday tension. You can thank me later.

Holiday bonus: post your favorite part of your A Cowboy for Christmas ReCOVERy Room in the comment thread and be entered to win $30 worth of romance novels! (ex. “It’s not just the weather leaving JUANITA feeling a bit RAUNCHY upon her return to HOGWARTS”)

Happy Holidays!

A Cowboy for Christmas ReCOVERy Room PDF

ReCOVERy Room: NO PLACE TO DIE

Happy Monday Y’all!

Click to see the original cover copy

It’s that time again…time for another ReCOVERy Room where we strip down Dorchester cover copy and you and your friends make it your own! This week’s ReCOVERy Room is inspired by thrill-seeker James L. Thane’s No Place to Die. A “two-in-one treat,” says Sam Reaves, author of Mean Town Blues, “a convincing police procedural bolted to a nail-biter suspense novel.”

Get your pencils, printers, and friends ready! Stretch out your facial muscles and prepare for laughs! “Just another Manic Monday,” huh? Not with this edition of ReCOVERy Room! Enjoy!

Fans of the new blog series? Let us know what you think in the comment thread and be entered to win a collection of genre fiction worth over $30. Happy Holidays!

* * *

Right click the image to print or click the link below for a printable PDF.

No Place to Die ReCOVERy Room

ReCOVERy Room: SIREN

Click for original cover copy.

Today’s edition of ReCOVERy Room takes a page from horror heavyweight John Everson’s playbook. Everson’s Siren is a melodious exploration of the classic seaman’s myth with dark, twisty curves in all the right places.

Throw out your own perilous descriptors with your co-workers in the breakroom today and see where the story takes you. Just click the link below to print the PDF.

Cheers,
Allison Carroll
Dorchester Publishing

Let us know what you think of the new ReCOVERy Room series and be entered to win a $50 holiday prize package!

* * *

Siren ReCOVERy Room PDF

ReCOVERy Room: THE RUBY KISS

Click to see the original cover copy

Mondays just got a whole lot better! I’m tickled to introduce ReCOVERy Room, a new series on the Dorchester Community Blog. Now, it can be said that a book’s blurb, or cover copy*, especially among the genre fictions, is already quite comical in its own right. But this takes it a step further and puts you in the driver’s seat.

Easy to play, alone or with a group, ReCOVERy Room is inspired by the beloved childhood word game we all seemed to have played on long car trips growing up—Mad Libs®. But instead of filling in the blanks for newscasts and history reports, you exploit your vocab to turn already steamy cover copy into hilarious, and perhaps even steamier, cover copy—the perfect word game to bring a chuckle and a chortle to any genre lover’s lunch hour. And who knows—you might just find your next read!

Every Monday we’ll post a new edition ReCOVERy Room for your enjoyment (we realize today is indeed Tuesday, however yesterday belonged to The Ruby Kiss as well with this Sexy Snippet). So grab your co-workers, friends, enemies and what have you, then print and fill in those blanks (the more wicked the better)!

Cheers,
Hannah

*For those of you not familiar with the industry term ‘cover copy,’ it simply refers to the descriptive blurb on the back cover of a book.

Right click the image to print or click the link below for a printable PDF.

The Ruby Kiss ReCOVERy Room

 

Like this cover copy? The Ruby Kiss is now available in e-book!