Super Guest Author Time!!!

It's nearly my day to tour the fabulous MARIANNE MANCUSI on behalf of the Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit, but since my internet access will be dicey over the next 10 days, I'm going to post news about her terrifically funny book, A CONNECTICUT FASHIONISTA IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, today! Read here for an excerpt!

A Q&A with Marianne Mancusi:

Alesia: So, about time travel - doesn't the lack of deodorant and toothpaste back in Medieval times squick you out?

Marianne: If it were real life – then yeah, ewh. But we’re going with the fantasy here. In my book, Lancelot has great smelling breath and is never too sweaty. J

Alesia: Have you ever been the Guinevere to your own Arthur and Lancelot?

Marianne: Actually yes, but I’ve learned my lesson about posting lurid tales from my past or present on the Internet for the world to read. So I’ll take the story to my grave! But I will say this. While it did end tragically for all parties involved, I’m happy to report I escaped the whole burning at the stake thing, for which I will be forever grateful.

Alesia: You're an Emmy-award winning news producer - when are you going to write about that? And didn't Holly Hunter ROCK in BROADCAST NEWS?

Marianne: Funny you should ask! I actually have a proposal called “News Blues” sitting on some editor desks now. It’s a chick lit set in a TV newsroom – an insider’s look at the reality behind the nightly newscast. It stars a special projects producer who always gets stuck producing the “common household products that kill” stories – until one day when she gets the story of a lifetime dropped in her lap. It’s a bit of a tell-all kind of thing, but with a dramatic fictional storyline and a hot romance to round it out. This is the book that’s closest to my heart, so I do hope it sells soon.

Broadcast News was an excellent movie! Probably the only realistic movie about TV news I’ve ever seen. (Don’t get me started on that Michelle Pfeiffer Robert Redford one!)

Press Release:

MOVE OVER BRIDGET JONES! DORCHESTER PUBLISHING RELEASES FIRST EVER CHICK LIT TIME TRAVEL NOVEL

Imagine a Bridget Jones like character spiraling back in time to the days of Camelot. That’s the unique premise behind the latest chick lit offering from Dorchester Publishing. "A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur’s Court" (May 2005) combines, for the first time ever, chick lit attitude with a time travel plot. Debut author Marianne Mancusi, an Emmy Award winning television news producer for the NBC affiliate in Boston, pens a sexy, magical, laugh-out-loud romp through the legend you only thought you knew.

"I love the voice of Chick Lit," says Mancusi. "But I felt the same old plotlines about a girl in the city with a bad boss and good shoes were getting old. I wanted to do something a little different."

Connecticut Fashionista features an outspoken fashion editor named Kat, who’s certainly not your typical damsel in distress. But when a gypsy curse sends her back in time to the days of King Arthur, she’ll need every ounce of her 21st century wits (and pop culture references) to navigate the legend. After all, surviving a magical plot, an evil prince, and a case of mistaken identity--all without changing history or scuffing your Manolos--takes some doing!

So slip on your stilettos and clutch your Cosmos tight, as Dorchester Publishing and Marianne Mancusi send you on a wild, wacky, and oh-so-fashionable trip back in time.

About Marianne Mancusi

Marianne Mancusi is a multiple Emmy Award winning television news producer for WHDH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts. She has worked for news stations in Orlando and San Diego. A Massachusetts native, she currently lives in Massachusetts with her British husband Aaron and their dog Molly. She has six other adult and teen chick lit novels under contract with Dorchester and Berkley.