Road Trip!

I've just returned from a trip to the Midwest--Minnesota, to be exact--and am grumpy, fairly wrinkled, and just a bit stinky. Not to mention weary. To the bone.

In other words, if I were looking for Prince Charming--or in Regency terms, the Duke of Charming--I would probably yell at him because he hadn't brought me my coffee just the way I like.

Yet so many Regency heroes and heroines take off on a vast journey and manage to fall in love. Without an airplane! Or a Northwest snack box (only $3!). How do they do it? I love road romances, even though I would make an awful heroine in one; in fact, on the plane I was sneaking pages of Georgette Heyer's Sylvester, which takes the hero and heroine to France and back again (I'm assuming they come back, I haven't finished it yet).

Some of my favorite Regencies are, in fact, road romances (click here for the link to AAR's Special Title Listings of Cabin and Road Romances). Here is a partial listing of some of the ones I've loved.

Tallie's Knight (2001) by Anne Gracie
Sprig Muslin (1956) by Georgette Heyer
Sylvester: or The Wicked Uncle (1957) by Georgette Heyer
Miss Billings Treads the Boards (1993) by Carla Kelly
Miss Chartley's Guided Tour (1989) by Carla Kelly
Miss Whittier Makes a List (1994) by Carla Kelly
Summer Campaign (1989) by Carla Kelly
The Wedding Journey (2002) by Carla Kelly
With This Ring (1997) by Carla Kelly

Carla Kelly seems to love taking her characters on the road--and really, how better to make two people who in a normal situation would never come in contact with each other fall in love? Throw in an adventure, usually involving a child or a lost or stolen inheritance, and all bets are off. But the romance is on!

Could you see yourself spending eight hours in a jostling carriage traveling over country roads with your loved one and a precocious child? Or your loved one and an irascible old lady and her pug? How about if you were abducted by said loved one in pursuit of some lost or stolen treasure?

Do you like road romances? Which are your favorites?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

A Great Read

In my occasional--very occasional series of great commuter reads, here's a book that I don't think is in print in the States, but is well worth going on to Amazon.co.uk to find. It's by Philippa Gregory (who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl).

A Respectable Trade is about the lives of people caught up in the slave trade. It's set in Bristol, one of the English cities whose wealth was built on the trade before business moved to Liverpool. The heroine, Frances, marries merchant Josiah Cole, who decides it's time to move up in the world now he has a wife with social skills and connections--and also, because in his way, he cares about her and wants her to equal any other fine Bristol lady. And one of his plans to get rich is to import and train slaves for the English market. Frances realizes she can't pretend to herself how her husband's money is made, and can't deny the slaves their humanity. It's a book that is as harrowing and painful, and as full of ambiguities, as the period in history itself.

What Philippa Gregory does with her characters is astonishing. Even Josiah, the slave trader, is someone you can't stop yourself feeling sorry for as you see him plunge toward total financial disaster, betrayed by the elite traders of Bristol from whom he so desperately craves acceptance. And Frances' growing conscience and her awareness that her slaves are more than commodities or savages are wonderfully done.

It is, too, an amazing love story, although not a romance. One of the slaves Frances sets to train is Mehuru, formerly a priest in the African kingdom of Yaruba. Frances has just asked him how, in his country, a man would tell the woman he loved that she was beautiful:

"A man would tell her that he wanted her as his wife," Mehuru said simply. "He would not tell her that she looked as well as another woman. What would that mean? He would not tell her that she was enjoyable--like a statue or a picture. He would tell her that he longed to lie with her. He would tell her that he would have no peace until she was in his arms, until she was beneath him, beside him, on top of him, until her mouth was his lake for drinking, and her body was his garden. Desire is not about 'beauty,' as if a woman as a work of art. Desire is about having a woman, because she can be as plain as an earthenware pot and still make you sick with longing for her."

An amazing, thoughtful, moving book. Get hold of it.

School's out...

...and I'm desperately holding onto sanity.

This painting by John Linnell depicts "Lady Torrens and her Family" (1820). Linnell wrote "There Lady Torrens, in the most exemplary manner educated her six children to the admiration of all who witnessed the harmony & happiness with which her family was conducted..."

This level of serenity and harmony is actually what I strive for--and even often achieve, in my own family. But at transitions like this first week of the kiddos home, it isn't easy. I can't help thinking that Lady Torrens (in addition to having servants help her with household cares) wasn't also trying to write a book.

Frankly, I'm a creature of habit, and changing schedules disorient and stress me out. I try hard to balance things, but crafting that balance requires different strategies at different seasons and different ages. Until it's all figured out, my muse sulks somewhere complaining that I love the children more than her. And the fact is, they do come first, but until I get the schedule down that allows me some writing time, I feel like I go a little crazier every day.

In the past, I've relied on a few weeks of summer camp to get me some clear writing time (and the kids love them, too, so there's no guilt). Other weeks, though, I need to scrounge writing time here and there. In the past I've had trouble getting my darlings to leave me alone while writing. Their definition of an emergency is a bit different from mine (I do not consider losing a doll's glasses an emergency).

But I have to say this week is going better. For two days now they have actually left me alone for an hour each morning. Perhaps it was my paraphrasing Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter's mentor, who cautions the students at Hogwarts "...the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Anyone else out there trying to rebalance life with kiddos at home? Any tips and tricks that work for you?

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, Romantic Times Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

Favorite Heyers

Georgette Heyer. Frequently imitated, never duplicated. Yes, other authors have done wonderful things, splendid, hilarious, beautiful things -- but these are their own wonderful things. No one can replicate Heyer's touch, Heyer's style, and the wise do not try.

So . . . what are your favorite Georgette Heyer books?

By the way, I love this question. I've heard at least twenty different novels listed on "favorites" lists. Some crop up a lot, some crop up rarely, but it seems no one's list of Heyer favorites is exactly the same as anyone else's.

Do you like her early, 18th-century books, full of masquerades and highwaymen and Scarlet Pimpernel-influenced escapades? These Old Shades, Powder and Patch, The Masqueraders, The Convenient Marriage? Or do you like just some of these, and not others?

Do you like her more serious romances? Her more farcical ones?

Do you prefer her alpha males (such as the heroes in Venetia and Regency Buck) or her more sensitive men (such as the heroes in Cotillion or The Foundling)?

Have you read Heyer's mysteries? Her modern novels? If so, do you like them at all?

How about her more historical works, such as Royal Escape and The Conquerer? Or do you prefer to stick to her Georgian and Regency fiction?

So -- what are your favorite Heyers? All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King -- www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER -- Booksellers' Best Finalist for Best Regency of 2005!

Finding Regency in all the Strange Places

The weekend of June 17 I was in Alabama for my high school reunion. I lived at Fort McClellan, Alabama, those years, an army post that closed about five years ago and is now being rejuvenated into a very nice community. My friend Barbara and I visited the neighborhood where we used to live, a neighborhood that is now a historic site, Historic Buckner Circle (just like Chatsworth!). here is a picture of my house and a view of the neighborhood:














Barbara and I attended Jacksonville High School. Our high school building has been demolished, but the town of Jacksonville is very unchanged. We went into a used bookstore in town and look what I found!


It is a book I didn't own, too. But I own it now.














We also killed time one day at an antique shop and I found this:
It is, of course, a print of the famous Gainsborough portrait of one of my favorite historic figures, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. I have not taken it out of its frame to see if it is an original engraving, but most likely it is a reproduction. In any event, I happily bought it. She looks so beautiful.






The moral of this story is, never pass up a book store or an antique store. You never know what you'll find.
But I'll bet you all knew that already.
Cheers,
Diane

REGENCY AUTHOR UPDATES

Risky Regencies is your trusty Regency Emporium, serving all your Regency needs. Our readers asked for author updates, and so what do we have for you today? Author Updates!

So grab a cup of tea, pull up a cozy chair, and find out what Regency authors are up to...

VICTORIA HINSHAW tells us she's been recharging her batteries -- thinking, playing with lots of different ideas for plots and characters, and catching up on all the reading she missed while writing three books a year for Zebra. She has a Regency historical in the works, and has also been working on a fictional biography of Princess Charlotte. (I've noticed a couple other Regency writers have been going the nonfiction route in one form or another -- hmm...is this a trend? Or just three individual writers making individual choices?)

What Victoria Hinshaw was too modest to mention (but we know anyway -- ha!) is that her 2005 books have been doing extremely well with the recent contests. ASK JANE (Zebra Regency, April 2005) finalled in several prestigious contests, and won the Golden Quill Award for Best Regency. (That's the contest our own Elena won in the historical category -- so we know it's a good contest.) :-) And with her August release LEAST LIKELY LOVERS, Vicky is competing against Diane and Cara for the Booksellers' Best Award. (And we still like her! How's that for professionalism?)

JENNA MINDEL reports, "Here's what I'm up to now...I've been working on a contemporary Inspirational romance set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan." She's also a RITA finalist for her Regency Miss Whitlow's Turn!

DOROTHY McFALLS "feels blessed to have landed firmly at Venus Press." She's obviously been very busy, with FOUR titles out this year, all different subgenres! Lady Sophia's Midnight Seduction, a short erotic Regency; Neptune's Lair and its sequel Marked, which are paranormal erotic suspense; and The Huntress, contemporary mainstream. Wow! Plus her Signet Regency, The Marriage List, is a finalist in the National Readers' Choice Award. For details on all these projects, visit http://www.dorothymcfalls.com

JO ANN FERGUSON is still writing Regencies. She just turned one in to her editor at Signet where she's writing as Jocelyn Kelley. She's been writing the medieval series "The Ladies of St. Jude's Abbey" as Jocelyn Kelley for the past two years. A Moonlit Knight came out in May and My Lady Knight is scheduled for January 2007. Then she returns to Regencies when the Regency-historical trilogy "The Nethercott Tales" are published by Signet Eclipse. For those of you who enjoyed the Priscilla Flanders mystery series from Zebra Regency, look for these books about the three Nethercott sisters that have suspense elements along with ghostly paranormal. The first book in the series (with a working title of The Mistress School) is scheduled for July 2007 to be followed by Gentleman's Master. She's also still writing for ImaJinn as J.A. Ferguson. In 2006, she's got Luck of the Irish (a leprechaun story), Sworn Upon Fire (an alternate world futuristic), and The Wrong Christmas Carol (an angel Christmas story) coming out.

ANDREA PICKENS/ANDREA DaRIF has been busy with a new series for Warner Forever, the "Hellion Heroes." The first book, The Spy Wore Silk, is out in March 2007. This is what she says about it: "At first blush, Mrs. Merlin's Academy for Select Young ladies is the very pattern card of a proper boarding school. But looks can be deceiving, along with music, art, dancing, and the social graces, the students--all streetwise orphans chosen for their toughness and intelligence--are being molded into an elit fighting force. England's secret weapon. When a critical government document is stolen from Whitehall, the student known only as Siena is given the assignment to keep it from falling into enemies' hands..."

So, what have your other favorite Regency authors been up to? Check here every Sunday to find out! And if there's a certain author you'd love to have an update on, let us know!

The Riskies

What Amanda Is Doing Now

If I told RR every project I have in the works, it would take a triple-length post, I think! I have a confession to make--my name is Amanda, and I am a researchaholic. I'm addicted to libraries, to the papery smell, the quiet, the cool air, everything. Give me a desk tucked behind some stacks and a pile of history books, and you won't see me for weeks. It was a favorite method of my parents when I was a kid. I'm also very easily distracted by stray factoids I come across in researching, so lack of ideas is never my problem. The problem is stopping with the research and starting on, you know, writing a book.

So, I'll just let you know about my Top Two (okay, Top Three) projects of the moment, ones that are actually sitting on various editors' desks and not just a gleam in my eye and a bunch of research titles on my Barnes and Noble receipts.

1) Historical fiction number one, working title Tincture of Secrets. This one is set in Florence and Venice in the 1470s. Our heroine, Isabella, wants to be an artist. And, lucky for her, her cousin happens to be Botticelli's favorite model--but she also happens to get Isabella mixed up with the Medici, right at the height of the bloody Pazzi Conspiracy. Art, murder, revenge, gondolas--what else does a story need???

2) Historical fiction number two, working title Fortune's Fools (thanks, Cara!). No gondolas here--it's set in Elizabethan England, early 1580s. Penelope was a Maid of Honor to the Queen, until her naughtiness got her exiled to rebellious Lancashire. There she meets a young Shakespeare, a Catholic conspiracy, a new love--and gets set on a path to the Tower.

3) And, since this is Risky REGENCIES, a Regency historical called The Alabaster Goddess, Book One of the Muses of Mayfair. An aristocratic thief, archaelogical high jinks, a mysterious artifact (the titular goddess), and a hero and heroine on a collision course with fate--and each other. No gondolas here, either, but then you never know what might happen in Book Two... :)

And that's what Amanda is doing on her summer vacation!

Frampton Comes Alive (And Reveals All)

Even though I have been a voracious reader for eons (I'm older than I look), I never dreamed of becoming a writer. Now I can't imagine NOT being a writer, even if I only ever publish one book.

That book, A Singular Lady, was also the first book I ever wrote (I know, I was exceedingly lucky to get it published).

So since then I've been trying to learn how to:

a. write faster.
b. write better.
c. write better, faster, more-plotted books.

The results? Not bad, although the ultimate affirmation--a second offer of publication--hasn't happened yet. But meanwhile, here are my Wondrous Works In Progress:

After A Singular Lady, I wrote Mothering Heights, a mom-lit contemporary. It tells the story of a Brooklyn mom (like me) with a son (ditto) whose husband leaves her penniless, health-insurance-less, and alone (not like me, although the Sensitive Husband has problems reading the story because of the similarities). That is finished, and is in the hands of an editor, who is considering it. Word on the street is that she really likes it, but has concerns about its needs for some editorial revision (did I mention a plot is not my strong suit?). The best thing that happens is that I get an offer for it, but it needs revision; the second-best is that they reject it, but say if I revise, I can resubmit; the worst, natch, is that it gets rejected outright. But no matter what happens with it, I don't regret writing it a bit, since it was in a new genre and in a new POV (first-person).

I'm also in the process of revising a Regency-set historical titled Lessons In Love, about a Greek-English widow who discovers she was never really married, and who is forced into a situation she does not want in order to survive. The hero is a wealthy bastard--literally, an illegitimate man whose wealth and good looks have given him entre into society. And there are some lessons. And some love. Once I am happy with the revision, I will pass it along to my agent, who will try to work her magic on it, and get it sold.


My next project will be a much darker Regency-set historical involving opium addiction, virgin auctions, vicar's daughters, and thinking that you kill everyone you've ever loved. Oh, and hero looks a lot like my constant and ongoing obsession, Clive Owen (otherwise known as Mr. Broody).

So that's it for me--thanks for the opportunity to talk about myself, because goodness knows, I don't do that enough.

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Janet peels away the layers...

Or, what I'm doing at the moment.

My next book (and you have no idea what a thrill it is to be able to say that), finally has a working title--The Chronicles of Miss Wellesley-Clegg with the Occasional Scribbles of Mr. Inigo Linsley--and will be out (probably) in October 2007 (Avon). It's a Regency chicklit, and here's an excerpt, a series of letters written and discarded by the hero to the heroine after she's discovered why he really proposed to her:

Madam,
I do not deserve the censure you have heaped upon me. Consider that you are so depraved as to accept from gentlemen you barely know offers of marriage in water-closets and

Dear Miss Wellesley-Clegg,
Despite the offence you caused me today when you slandered my person, I shall deign to forgive you as you come from Trade and cannot

My dear Miss Wellesley-Clegg,
I shall forgive your for your impertinence towards me this afternoon, for a mere woman cannot be expected to understand the delicacies of the responsibilities thrust upon a gentleman

Dearest Miss Wellesley-Clegg,
It is indeed regrettable that I may have caused you inadvertent distress when I revealed my

Dear Philomena,
I do not wish to injure your maidenly modesty further by addressing you so, and regret deeply any indelicacy I may have shown when

Dearest Philomena,
Say I may call you thus. I cannot forget the look on your face, the contempt in your eyes, and I am to blame

Sweet Philomena,
Forgive me. I am a callous brute and you the gentlest and most lovely of women

Philomena,
Sweet beautiful Philomena, forgive me for the hurt I inflicted upon you so unthinkingly. I cannot eat for thinking of you, and were it not but three hours since we parted, I am sure I should toss restless all night on a bed of agony.
I lo...

Also in the works, an erotic historical set in the very early 1800s (technically the Georgian, not Regency period). an erotic novella based on Miss Bates which exists mainly as a collection of postits stuck into a copy of Emma, a couple of things to rewrite, and an idea for a Christmas novella that's a sequel to Dedication (except I don't think Christmas Regency collections exist any more). Not a to-do list as impressive as Cara's or (either) Diane's, but I try...

Janet

P.S. the artwork is something I came across while looking for something appropriate for my post on the Cult of Virginity a couple of weeks ago. Tasteful!

What Elena's up to now

When Santa asked for an update on our projects, I had mixed feelings. I love that someone cares enough to ask, don't get me wrong! But I also have to admit something: I've been wandering for a while.

After completing LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, I started work on a historical romance with a Regency balloonist as the hero. I thought it would be fun, but instead it soon felt like pushing a boulder uphill. I switched gears to work on a different story that I believed was more "high concept", only to find the going slow on that one, too. Then not long ago the market seemed to call for something darker than what I was writing. Then sexier--plot setups where the sex starts from the get-go, whereas most of my couples would take about half the book to get to that point.

After desperately mulling around the 15-20 story germs in my idea file, I realized I'd allowed fears about marketability to suck the joy out of the writing. By some wonderful serendipity, around the same time the Smart Bitches blog posted some words of wisdom from Laura Kinsale. And many of her words resonated with me.

"I began to write because I loved to write. That is still the only way."

I realized this was true for me as well. So I went into Deep Think Mode, looked back over my list of story ideas and asked myself which one I really wanted to write. And I got not one but two answers, so here's what I'm working on now.

Project #1: Completing the balloonist story. I guess I like closure and having looked back over the partial draft I wonder why I thought it was so bad. Galloping lack of self-confidence, I guess.

Project #2: Character and plot brainstorming on a story I don't feel comfortable describing yet. In my rational mind, I know perfectly well that the Riskies and our guests would probably say, "Go ahead and write this story" but my insecure inner artist will assume you're just being nice.

Anyway, the mojo is back. I am enjoying the process of writing again, even if it will take a bit longer for me to get another book completed.

Thanks again for asking about this, Santa!

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, Romantic Times Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

P.S. The image above is a cartoon published by McCleary, A Balloon Tete-a-tete, c. 1820. Since the speech bubbles aren't clear in this picture, I'll let you know that the lady is exclaiming "How it rises!" and the gentleman, "It ascends exquisitely!!"

What Cara's Been Doing

To continue this week of updates on what we Riskies have been up to...

CARA PROJECT #1: A light-hearted Regency romance that's a bit of a Cinderella story. My heroine Ruth (yes, she's a poor parson's daughter!) is clever and witty and quite underappreciated. She's also stuck in the middle of the most lonesome part of Norfolk (full of pretty flint churches, like the Norfolk church pictured here). As she's a proper young lady, she can't escape except through marriage:

She could not travel without a husband, and she was not likely to find a husband while living in a nowhere part of England known only as "take the smaller road north from Little Ellingham, pass the village of Ipsham, and stop before you reach a large herd of sheep."

There were few men in this corner of the world, and most of them owned more canes than teeth. And even if eligible gentlemen ever appeared--if they were lost, for instance--she knew they still wouldn't want to marry her.

She had sense enough to know that men wanted more than just sense in a wife. They wanted a pretty face and a docile spirit, sparkling conversation and at least some semblance of a bosom.

This project is currently being considered by an editor at a publisher that will remain nameless, lest I jinx myself. (Knock wood, fingers crossed, et cetera.)

CARA PROJECT #2: Another Regency, this novel borders on farce, and is set in Bath, beautiful Bath. (My heroine will of course visit the Upper Rooms, pictured here -- the photo's from the movie of "Persuasion.") My youthful heroine, Essie, has far more enthusiasm than prudence:

"I shall be so good, you will not even know me! I promise not to gossip, or get into scrapes, or complain about anything. That is, I shall certainly try," she amended, recalling that she was also not to make promises she could not keep.

If the aforementioned publisher buys Project 1, then they will hopefully want Project 2 as well -- which will be a lot of fun to write. (It's only just begun, as the song says...)

CARA PROJECT #3: I have a young adult novel -- partly a romance -- that I am currently shopping about. This is about the adventures of a high school student who starts dating a college guy -- and not just your average college guy, but an engineering student at a nearby technical college.

You could hardly call me cute. Stick-figure skinny is more like it. You ever heard of those things called breasts? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, my knowledge is entirely theoretical. It's not like I've ever actually owned a pair.

( You may notice that this heroine has a similar problem to Ruth in Project #1! Ah, the concerns that span the ages...)

CARA PROJECT #4: I have begun a new young adult novel, this one with a paranormal twist. I can't say any more -- my muse has sworn me to secrecy...

Well, that's (most of) what I'm up to, barring a few science fiction short stories, and a play I want to write. (What was that? Did someone say I'm writing in too many genres? No, surely not.) :-)

Well, here's a question for those of you who've actually read this far (or just skipped to the end): what young adult novels (if any) did you love when you were a teen? (Or which do you love now, if you are a teen, or if you're still reading YA, as I am?)

Cara
Cara King -- www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER -- Booksellers' Best Finalist for Best Regency of 2005!

Diane Updates!

Santa asked a great question last week--what’s next for the Riskies? Being Monday’s Riskie, I get to go first! Or perhaps I’ll let my alter ego, Diane Gaston go first. She has the next thing out from the Dianes.


Next up for Diane Gaston is a novella in a Christmas anthology from Harlequin Historical, due out in October 2006. Although the anthology is as yet untitled, my novella is called A Twelfth Night Tale:
One impulsive Twelfth Night of passion blights the lives of Zachary Weston, the new Earl of Bolting, and governess Elizabeth Arrington, until this Christmas season finds her stranded at his estate with her charge, a young unwed girl about to give birth. Together Zak and Elizabeth witness the miracle of new life, and with it a rebirth of their love. Just as happiness is within their reach, the pain of the past comes back to haunt them. Will this new Twelfth Night unite them forever or doom them to life apart?

In 2007 (date to be arranged) Innocence and Impropriety by Diane Gaston will be released by Mills & Boon. This book tells the story of Rose from A Reputable Rake:
When Jameson Flynn, secretary to the Marquess of Tannerton, hears Rose O’Keefe sing in Vauxhall Gardens, he is powerfully aroused, both sensually and emotionally, but the marquess wants Rose for himself and charges Flynn with making the arrangements. Rose desires love not a business arrangement, and the man she loves is Flynn. Into this triangle comes Lord Greythorne (from the Harlequin Daily Read, The Diamond), and Greythorne wants Rose for more sadistic pleasures.


Diane Perkins has not been sitting on her duff, either. Do you remember Blake from The Marriage Bargain? Blake’s story is coming in 2007. Still untitled and the month unscheduled, but coming nonetheless:
After Spence’s reunion with his wife, Blake and Wolfe go to Brighton and soon learn they must try to thwart a con artist attempting to swindle Blake’s parents into total ruin. There Blake meets the lady-of-the-night who, two years before in Paris, stole his money and his heart. Mariella has reappeared now as cousin to Lord Caufield (Harry and Tess from The Improper Wife) and may or may not be part of the scheme to swindle Blake’s parents. Whatever and whoever she is, the passion between Mariella and Blake is hot enough to consume them both.

Still to come from Diane Perkins is Wolfe’s story, and from Diane Gaston, The Marquess of Tannerton’s story. Both of me will be hard at work on both from now to 2007.

Cheers!
Diane

PS The pictures are details of fashion prints from 1815 La Belle Assemblee- I own the whole 12 months!

Author Updates

Ah, writing. Not always the smoothest-sailing of careers, but one that has many perks -- such as an excuse to put a picture of Wentworth in one's blog post, because he's writing, and therefore not off-topic at all.

With the demise of Signet and Zebra's traditional Regency lines, most of their Regency authors had decisions to make regarding their futures. (Certain course changes were made, some large, some small). Santa recently asked what we Riskies were each working on now, and what certain other Regency authors were currently writing. (Answers are coming, Santa!)

This made me wonder -- are there any other particular Signet or Zebra Regency authors that any of you are curious about? We Riskies are exceedingly well-connected -- we all have vouchers for Almack's, after all (although I'm not sure how certain persons got one -- I suspect blackmail was involved). So if you all let us know which traditional Regency authors you want updates on, we can use our extensive networks of spies and informants to obtain this information for you.

So -- which authors do you want updates on? Please share!

Cara

Happy Father's Day

So, tomorrow is Father's Day, and I still haven't found a gift for my dad. He is the hardest person in the world to shop for--he already owns every electronic gizmo there is, plus every DVD and CD he might want he's already bought for himself. I wonder if people in the Regency had this problem? Oh, yeah--they didn't HAVE Father's Day then. Lucky them. :)

Besides scanning the Internet for possible gifts, I've been trying to decide on a good theme for this post. In college, I once wrote a paper on fathers and daughters in Shakespeare. To borrow from that idea, here is a selection of fathers from Jane Austen:

From Mansfield Park, there is the uncle/father figure Sir Thomas Bertram. Now, he benevolently takes Fanny in and raises her alongside his own offspring, but Sir Thomas is really pretty distant in her life, a fearsome figure of authority. He is not outwardly affectionate, and is definitely highly concerned with outward appearances, but in the end he does acknowledge that he should have really spent more time overseeing his children and not left them to his lax wife and crazy Mrs. Norris.

From Pride and Prejudice, of course there is Mr. Bennet. He spends most of his time reading and hiding out in his study, which really who can blame him, but he also comes across as a bit careless to his family's ultimate fate. With Elizabeth he is concerned and loving, but with his three younger daughters he lumps them together as the "silliest girls in England" (and again, who can totally argue with him?)

From Sense and Sensibility, I guess you can say there is Mr. Dahswood, who dies at the beginning. Yet it appears he loves his wife and daughters and wants to provide for them, hence he makes his son promise to take care of them. That the son breaks that promise isn't really his fault, I guess...

From Emma, there is Mr. Woodhouse, the invalid. It's said "she loved her father, but he was no companion to her." He sees no fault in his daughter, and they spend a comfortable life together indulging each other in their whims and self-delusions.

From Northanger Abbey, we see Mr. Morland, a respectable, well-enough-off clergyman, with "considerable independence, besides two good livings." But he is not much of a presence, probably because he has two livings and ten children. His wife appears equally distracted, leaving Catherine lots of time to do stuff like roll down hills and read horrid novels.

There is also General Tilney. He is very wealth-obsessed, boasting, annoying, and preoccupied with himself (when not meddling in his children's lives). I sometimes wonder how Catherine is going to handle having him for an in-law...

And, from Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliott. He spends all his time reading the peerage and probably looking in the mirror. He loves his daughter Elizabeth, who is like a reflection of him in female form, but is quite indifferent to Anne and probably to Mary. "Vanity was the beginning and end of his character."

And that is my thumbnail sketch of fathers to be found in Austen. They're kind of a pitiful lot when looked at like that, aren't they? :) I thought of many other things that could go into this post--fathers in romance novels, fathers in the real-life Regency (btw, the picture is George III, Queen Charlotte, and their Six Eldest Children by Johann Zoffany. Thanks for the tips on uploading pics to Blogger!). But I really do need to get to the shops and find a gift for my own dad, who luckily is no Mr. Elliott or General Tilney. What are some of your favorite examples of fathers in books or histories? Or comments on Austen fathers, either fictional or Rev. Austen himself?

Happy Father's Day!

Talk to Me!

First off, may I just be so bold as to say "great minds think alike?" Amanda has a post on her blog about Bloomsday, also, although the smarty-pants actually finished the darn thing.

Me, I made it to the second page.

Elena had a post awhile back about giving up on books--I think most of us agreed that we didn't used to, but time was too short, and there were too many books to read, to waste time on a book that wasn't grabbing you. I think Joyce's Ulysses is just too smart for me (I really admire, however, the premise behind Bloomsday: Ulysses recounts a modern-day traveler's odyssey through Dublin on June 16, so Bloomsday celebrants relive Ulysses's progress. Here in New York City, Symphony Space hosts a 12+-hour event to celebrate. So happy Bloomsday, everyone!)

But back to where I was attempting to go with this, albeit in a most Framptonian circuitous manner. I gave up on a book recently, one much less erudite (with less crudity) than Joyce's because it was too slow. Was it me, or the book? The book was published in 2002, which means the author wrote it sometime in 2000 or so. I think that in that time, readers have come to want a different style in their romances. Instead of long, descriptive narrative, now most top-of-the-charts romances have tons of dialogue. Instead of love stories that take at least six months to begin and culminate, we've got stories that can take place over the course of a few days to a month. Is our attention span that much shorter?

Personally, I like the dialogue-heavy books. And I have a theory about how this sea-change happened: Julia Quinn. Julia Quinn writes amazing dialogue, light, witty banter that reveals loads about the character speaking, and she doesn't spend a lot of time on description. Her books are a breath of fresh air.

Are the newer romances an improvement over the slower ones? Do you value dialogue over narrative? Which authors would you like to see stretch out their prose? What do you think of my theory?

And is this post itself too long?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

The Book of your Dreams

I hear contradictory theories on your dream book. One is to go ahead and write it. The second is not to write it.

So what do you do when you have that one story roiling around inside you, itching to get out? The characters who’ve been knocking around forever, getting in the way, clamoring for attention (“Me! Me! I wanna be in this one!”)?

Somehow you have to get them out of your system.

The book of my dreams isn’t a historical in the usual sense. I’ve stopped and started it about five times. It’s so unlike anything else I’ve written I don’t know how it would fit in with the general direction I seem to be taking. It’s part time-travel (without the characters actually going anywhere), part romance, part I don’t know what. It’s about an archaeologist in England who has a parallel existence in the first century on a site he’s excavating. So does the woman he’s in love with. One very interesting thing I found out at about the third rewrite was that his parallel character is actually the first century female one—interesting, but it didn’t help much. The latest manifestation of it was a change of locale, with the excavation taking place on one of the lost cities of Maryland, the most famous of which is St. Mary's City—a fascinating sliver of history you can explore, if you’re into serious time-wasting today. Also, this time the hero/heroine time traveled in the sense that they became another person in the seventeenth century. (I actually came up with this when our local RWA chapter invited a NY editor to do a workshop on query letters and we were afraid we wouldn’t have enough. She commented that this book would be very difficult to write. No kidding, but I think it could work.)

And it would take an awesome amount of research. Aaargh.

Question: can you identify “dream books” in your reading? Do you have one you’d like to write? Or, how about the ever-popular hybrid, hero from book A, heroine from book B, plot from book C?

Do tell.

Janet

Flavors of Dark

I’ve kept thinking about our discussion last week’s post about Prinnyworld vs. the real Regency, also about news I had that a particular publisher was looking for “dark” stories, and it’s led me to wonder what dark means to different people.

“Dark” requires torture, but what sort?

The first darker books I read were some of Mary Jo Putney’s, stories like PETALS IN THE STORM (heroine raped by the men who just killed her father) and THE RAKE (alcoholic hero). Later, I discovered Laura Kinsale, whose stories are usually dark: FLOWERS FROM THE STORM (hero a stroke victim put into an insane asylum), SHADOWHEART (hero raised by his father to be an assassin). What some authors do to their poor characters…

My own darkest book was LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, the dark elements being the grim reality of the lives of foundlings and the bad first marriages of the hero and heroine. I put in a lot of lighter elements, though, this is “Little League” dark compared to Putney or Kinsale.

So there’s the sort of “Real World Dark” that draws upon real world elements, like poverty or war or sexual abuse. Things we still read about in the news.

My other darker book was SAVING LORD VERWOOD, in which it seemed everyone wanted to kill the hero. It was dark in a Gothic sort of way: deranged villain, eerie setting (north coast of Cornwall, where there are so many cliffs to throw people over). Despite the attempted murder plot, this book felt lighter to me than LDM. I think “Gothic Dark” is somehow less grim than “Real World Dark”, just because these elements are further removed from our lives and everyday news.

Then “Gothic Dark” shades over into “Paranormal Dark”, which often taps into the angst of the accursed and those who love them. My favorite paranormal Regency is Karen Harbaugh’s THE VAMPIRE VISCOUNT. This sort of story provides a delicious roller-coaster of emotion, a thrilling touch of horror. It’s so different from our ordinary lives that I think it is more escapist.

There end my musings… These flavor categories are just for fun, and I don’t mean to imply any of them is better or worse than the others. What do you think? Have I missed some flavors? Do you have favorites? Which authors do dark better than anyone else?

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, Golden Quill Best Historical Romance!
www.elenagreene.com

Cara's signing!

Well, here I am in Regency dress at last weekend's signing! (I'm not sure why the picture's so blurry -- sorry!) On the down side, I never got my hair right -- it looks totally non-Regency (the curl fell out -- surprise surprise).

On the up side, I found some cool gloves at the last minute (though they really ought to extend to above the elbow, of course, which they don't -- in fact, they almost look like wrist-length gloves here, they've slid down so far) and my nice fan (which Todd painted for me, also at the last minute). Kind chapter-mates in LARA (Los Angeles Romance Authors, my local RWA chapter) tied me into my dress. And also bought some of my books. I love LARA!

There were eight other authors signing, and it was a lot of fun! We chatted and bought each other's books and joked about copy-editing mistakes and had a great time. And the signing went by so fast that before I got a chance to buy everyone's books that I meant to, everyone had gone! (Well, that's what I get for spending too much time fussing with my pens and chocolate and gloves and hair, and trying to fish out the bobby pins that kept falling down my bodice.) :-)

If you look closely at the photo, you'll see some little rectangles lined up next to my book -- those are the Regency chocolates that I gave away. Okay, they aren't actually Regency chocolates -- such did not exist, after all! -- they're Hershey's Miniatures, covered with Regency pictures. Todd designed them, and they turned out fantastic! Milk chocolate bore the picture of my heroine's face, dark chocolate had her playing cards, and the other two flavors had miscellaneous Regency-era pictures.

So, here are today's questions:

1) If you're an author, and someone asks you to sign your book for them, do you write something inane in the front of it, wishing you could think of something clever to write? Or do you write something clever? Or what? Or are you too experienced or too sensible to worry about these things??? (Is it just me???)

2) If you're a reader (and we're all readers, even those of us who are also writers), have you ever met an author you admire and said something inane while trying to say something clever? (Or is it just me???) :-)

Cara
Cara King, author of MY LADY GAMESTER -- finalist for the Booksellers' Best Award for Best Regency of 2005

Regency Heroines

Several weeks ago when I had the good fortune to join Risky Regencies, I prosed on forever about Regency heroes, fictional and those appearing on cover art (not to mention GB). It is time I spoke about Regency heroines.

When I conceive a story in my head it almost always starts with the hero. Heroes are so much easier for me. Apart from the obvious reason that I love to fantasize about dishy Regency guys, I think it is because the men in those times were able to lead such interesting lives, while the women had very few options, unless they were willing to risk social ostracism or give up on respectability altogether and live in the demimonde.

In some ways I love to explore women who were willing to risk being shamed (Morgana running a courtesan school in A Reputable Rake, for example; Emily gambling in The Wagering Widow; or even Maggie, a total imposter, in The Improper Wife ). I like even more to imagine what life would be like for those women outside of respectable society (Maddie, the ruined girl, in The Mysterious Miss M). My next Mills & Boon features a singer as the heroine, and in my next Warner--now called Hachette--the heroine is a con artist.

All of these heroines require a mindset quite different from today's woman, and it is sometimes hard to find that point where the modern reader can identify with the Regency woman's predicament. Why be afraid you are going to wind up a prostitute? the modern woman might say. Why not just get a job?

The reality was, the Regency woman could not just get a job. She had to have references, even for such lowly positions as house maid or shop girl. And once ruined, any respectable employment was denied her.

There are plenty of weak, victim-like Regency heroine stereotypes - governesses, servants of any sort, impoverished vicar's daughters, ladies companions, abused wives - but I thin