Another straphanger cliffhanger

A few months ago I blogged about a biography of Harriet Wilson that I was reading on my commute to work. My latest tart-on-the-tracks experience was with this biography of Mary Robinson by Paula Byrne--Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson.

It's a pretty good biography, but you don't get a sense of who Mary Robinson really was. There's something enigmatic about her--she did an excellent cover-up job with the media and with her own writing. Even her biography is, acccording to Ms. Byrne, fairly typical for its time, full of omissions and inventions, always anxious to appear a nice, respectable girl. First and foremost an actress, she was adept at assuming roles--as a leader of fashion, a woman of politics (Fox was her lover for a time), an abandoned waif, child bride, tragic heroine. She began her theatrical career as a protegee of Garrick (although she probably wasn't his mistress), before attracting the attention of the youthful Prince of Wales. He became besotted with her in the role of Perdita in The Winter's Tale, referring to himself as Florizel, when she was a lovely young thing of 20 or 21, and he was as much of a lovely young thing as he was ever going to be at the age of 17.

The other love of her life was Colonel Banastre Tarleton, a hero of the American Revolutionary Wars, and not a particularly pleasant person (his nickname over here was "Butcher," a dead give away). But there must have been something about him (maybe it was his third arm as the portrait suggests)--their affair lasted for years, with Mary, ever the publicity hound, submitting sentimental poems to newspapers at each breakup and reconciliation. They were the Posh and Becks, the Jennifer and Brad of their time, adored, imitated, extravagant leaders of fashion. Politically they were at opposite ends of the spectrum. She was a supporter of the abolitionist movement and in sympathy with the French revolution; Tarleton came from a rich Liverpool family and was pro-slavery and old school; nevertheless Mary wrote (some of) his political speeches and they co-authored a book together about his military experiences. I can't help but think of Mary leaning over his shoulder correcting his spelling while he writes with his lips moving.

She gave up her stage career at the request of the Prince of Wales, who proved unreliable thereafter in his annuity payments, and after illness and disability from rheumatic fever ended her career as a courtesan, earned her living writing poetry and novels. Godwin and Coleridge were her friends and admired her work. She was rediscovered in academic circles in the 1990s though I have to admit the poetry copiously quoted in Ms. Byrne's biography left me cold and/or slightly cringing at its sprightly archness.

I must admit she didn't appeal to me as much as Harriet Wilson, but I enjoyed this biography--there are some great descriptions of clothes and of late eighteenth-century London; it's just a pity that Mary is presented mostly as a series of public personae. And that's the way she would have liked it...here's to you, Mrs. Robinson...

What I read during my summer vacation

As I mentioned earlier, I just enjoyed the most relaxing vacation. One of the best parts was being able to catch up on a number of books I've been wanting to read, some of them romance classics in the I'm-ashamed-to-admit-I-haven't-read-that category.

I started out with our own Diane's THE MARRIAGE BARGAIN. It's a classic Regency romance, beautifully written (no surprise there!) with heartfelt passion and intriguing secondary characters who are clearly heroes-in-waiting.

Having loved MISS WONDERFUL, I was eager to read Loretta Chase's MR. IMPOSSIBLE and I wasn't disappointed. It's set in Regency Egypt (how's that for different?), the characters are adorable, the dialogue witty, classic Loretta Chase. Now LORD PERFECT is beckoning from the TBR shelf.

On the recommendation of one of my CPs, I tried BLISS by Judy Cuevas (who more recently writes as Judith Ivory). This book is so different and so risky. It's set mostly in France, in 1903, a time period one rarely sees in historical romance. The hero is a blocked artist, an ether addict and impotent. The heroine seems--at first glance--like a rather superficial adventuress. Cuevas/Ivory is brilliant enough to bring out layers and layers of these characters and pull it all off. It's beautiful.

The next book I read was MY SWEET FOLLY by Laura Kinsale. First let me say (for anyone who doesn't know this already) that she is and always will be one of my favorite authors. However, I have to agree with other readers who thought the prologue was beautiful and the rest of the book disappointing in comparison. According to her website, Laura wrote this book during the worst of her battle with her muse and doesn't remember much of it. Without knowing the circumstances it's hard to say if anything could have helped, but I wish that somehow she'd had the chance to rest, relax, regroup, whatever she needed to work it out. Anyway, Laura Kinsale on autopilot is still better than many authors. And that prologue is a gem.

The last book I picked up was THE PROPOSITION by Judith Ivory (aka Judy Cuevas). It's her RITA-winning Victorian historical featuring a hero that's a rat-catcher, of all things. I am in awe. I am adding all her backlist books to my TBR list (sigh). I'm delighted to see that there's a new Judith Ivory coming out in October, ANGEL IN A RED DRESS.

So here I am, a week away from my kids heading back to school. Not only have I enjoyed this self-indulgent binge on good romances, I am feeling totally stoked to get back to my own works-in-progress!

So has anyone else read these books? What did you think? Have you read anything else noteworthy lately? I'm always up for adding some more books to that endless TBR list!

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers' Choice, Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

Alternative Regency Fiction

As I mentioned last week, I just went to Worldcon, i.e. the World Science Fiction Convention, which is five days of all sorts of fascinating fun.

One of the authors there was Madeleine E. Robins, author of the Regency-set slightly-alternate-history Regency adventure-mystery novels POINT OF HONOUR and PETTY TREASON. Unfortunately, I missed the panels she was on (there were always ten or twenty wonderful things to do every hour, and I kept wishing I had Hermione Granger's spell to split into five people), so I can't relay any brilliant inside info. But I can say that I really enjoyed POINT OF HONOUR, am looking forward to reading its sequel, and love to see what writers in different genres do with the Regency.

Also present was Naomi Novik, author of the hot new series about the Napoleonic Wars with a twist -- dragons. I haven't yet begun the series (which starts with HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON) but I now have a signed copy of the second installment, and have heard great things about these books.

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think?

What other Regency-set books from other genres (mystery, SF, fantasy, general fiction, anything else) have you read? What do you think about them? Which would you recommend? Which ones are you looking forward to reading?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King, winner of the Booksellers' Best Award for Best Regency of 2005, for MY LADY GAMESTER

Apologies from Diane

I have lost my mind. I totally forgot to blog yesterday, my Risky Regency day.
Here are my excuses:
1. I'm slogging my way throught the revisions to Desire in His Eyes, Blake's story, to be released by Warner in 2007.
2. I have to write a new Mills & Boon / Harlequin Historical by the end of October.
3. My daughter moved back in after living in NYC.
4. She brought her cat with her.
5. That makes four cats in our house.
I've hardly even looked at a picture of Gerard Butler, either. Honest. I promise to find my mind by next Monday and have something better than this for you to read.

Coming soon to a blog near you...

this blog...
and a week from today, Sunday September 3, 2006:
An interview with PAM ROSENTHAL about her new release The Slightest Provocation.
Your chance to ask Pam about her work and how risky she gets with her latest book.

Fantasy Regency Vacation

By the time this post is published, I should be on my way home from a week's vacation in a lakeside cottage. If all has gone well, I'm nice and relaxed, having done a lot of swimming, canoeing, and reading books by Loretta Chase, Judith Ivory, Laura Kinsale and our own Diane Perkins.

Still, wouldn't it be exciting to have a time-travel machine and travel back to some exciting or beautiful British location during the Regency? Where would you go?

Would you like to dance at Vauxhall gardens with a devilishly handsome rake?

Or would you prefer the more sedate elegance of Bath? While we're at it I have to say when I was there I tried the water and it really wasn't half as bad as most Regency novels make it out to be.

Are you into nature? I am. One of the things I fantasize about is experiencing the countryside without hearing the hum of traffic, gazing into a sky full of stars without modern light pollution.

In one of my favorite Regency fantasies I would be hiking around the Lake District with a companion that looked remarkably like Colin Firth.

Perhaps I'd go even farther afield and explore the beauties of Scotland.

So tell me about your fantasy Regency vacation!

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers' Choice Award, Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

Big Dumb Sex*

If you’re a romance reader, and you’ve admitted as such to anyone who doesn’t read them, chances are they’ve given you a smirk and said, ‘oh, you read bodice-rippers,’ like they’re the first ones who thought of that clever bon mot.

Yeah, and no-one’s ever mentioned Peter Frampton when I say my last name, either, bucko.

Anyway.

Back in the day, bodice-ripping was SOP for the romance hero. And chances are, if you were reading them, there was something there that made you thrill as said hero ripped said bodice. And bent the heroine to his will until she was all trembly and kissed him back.

Right now, I’m reading an older (1994) Linda Howard book, Dream Man, which was recommended by two of my favorite reader bloggers. And the hero, Detective Dane Hollister (whose name is even alpha!) has had a persistent erection since meeting the heroine, whom he mistrusts, even considers a suspect in a murder case, and still wants to throw her on her kitchen floor and have his way with her. He stands too close to her just to unsettle her, follows her all day and says nasty, dismissive things to her. When he's finally alone with her, he tries to ‘gentle’ her (he himself makes the stallion/mare comparison):

“I know you’re skittish with men now, babe, but I’ll take care of you. I’ll take real good care of you.”
. . .
“What are you talking about?”
. . .
“In bed, babe. When we make love.”

Oh, you wicked Neanderthal! I am loving this book, and relishing every time he does something totally un-P.C., which is about every page or so. I am the most Bleeding Heart Liberal (with all its PC implications, although I am not a ninny) you will find in real life, but in my romance reading life?

To quote ‘80s comedienne/not-so-good songstress Julie Brown:

When I need somethin' to help me unwind
I find a six foot baby with a one track mind
Smart guys are nowhere, they make demands
Give me a moron with talented hands
I go bar-hopping and they say last call
I start shopping for a Neanderthal
I like 'em big and stupid
I like 'em big and real dumb
I like 'em big and stupid
The way he grabbed and threw me, ooh it really got me hot
But the way he growled and bit me, I hope he had his shots
The bigger they are the harder they'll work
I got a soft spot for a good lookin' jerk

I think that's one of the reasons paranormals are so popular--if you're a werewolf male, you can't help being all alpha on her ass (so to speak). If you're a vampire, you're probably leader of your clan, or tribe, or whatever loose aggregation you belong to, and you have to use your superhuman speed and strength to protect yourself and your family.

In other words, it's acceptable to be an alpha jerk.

So while I don't want to see the return of the long, meandering narrative where the hero and heroine chase each other across land and sea, with years inbetween, I would like my heroes to be more--heroically obnoxious. Current non-paranormal authors who write my type of guys are Anne Stuart, Christina Dodd, and Sabrina Jeffries . Another reader blogger swoons over Derek Craven in Lisa Klepas's Dreaming of You, and I have to agree he's pretty darn sexy in that 'it's-my-way-or=the-highway' kind of way.

Do you like these type of guys? If so, which authors do them best? If not, why not? Have you turned to paranormal to get your alpha fix on? What do you think?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com
*A Soundgarden lyric whose refrain is "I know what to do/I want to f***, f***, f*** you." Love that song.

Why not?

It's nothing to do with the Regency, or books, or writing. Just a painting I like, The Arnolfini Marriage aka The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami painted in 1434 by Jan van Eyck. The original is in the National Gallery in London, and is surprisingly small and modest (about 30" x 20"). What I like about this painting is its sense of mystery and the huge amount of symbolism the ordinary household objects convey; and also its sense of intimacy as though you're peeping through an open door at the marriage ceremony.

The candle burning in daylight represents the all-seeing Eye of God; the image of St. Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth, is carved on the back of the bed, and the fruit on the window ledge represent both fertility and the fall from the Garden of Eden. The dog is a symbol of fidelity, and the discarded shoes a symbol of humility. A bird flying outside represents the Holy Spirit.

If you poke around online you'll quite easily find some hi-res images of this painting, and be able to zoom in on a closeup of the mirror. There you can see the reflection of the artist and another figure--witnesses to the marriage? The amount of detail is fabulous--the decorative projections of the mirror each represent a meticulously painted religious scene. The mirror itself is convex and represents the room--and more, the sky and garden outside.

Wow. If I were feeling more clever tonight, I might draw some sort of conclusion between what van Eyck is doing and what writers try to do, the creation of worlds within worlds. Showing everything but keeping that sense of mystery.

That's all.

Janet

A Scented Palace

Hi, Amanda here, sitting in for the vacationing Elena! Elena will be back with you Saturday, and then next week we'll be back to our regularly scheduled Riskies.

I had kind of a hard time coming up with a topic today (again!), so you're going to get something of a book report. I just finished reading a short (about 131 pages) but totally fascinating book, A Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer by Elisabeth de Feydeau (whose bio says she earned a Ph.D in the history of perfume at the Sorbonne--I wish I had majored in the history of perfume!). It's a biography of the perfumer Jean-Louis Fargeon, and is full of tidbits about life at Versailles, fashions, gossip, the ingredients and composition of perfumes, and all kinds of fun things. Like these:

On the process of dressing the queen: "The dressing of the Queen was a masterpiece of etiquette, with rules for everything. The lady in waiting and the dame d'atours, if they were together, were assisted by the First Lady of the Bedchamber and two ordinary women, responsible for the main service, but there were distinctions between them. The dame d'atours put on the petticoat and presented the dress. The lady in waiting poured the water for the Queen to wash her hands and put on her chemise. But when a princess of the royal family attended the dressing, she replaced the lady in waiting to accomplish the latter task. However, the lady in waiting did not cede her place directly to the royal princess; she gave the chemise to the First Lady, who then presented it to the princess. All of the Queen's ladies scrupulously observed these customs and jealously guarded their rights of duty."

And on choosing the garb for the day: "The wardrobe boy delivered to the Queen's apartments green taffeta-covered baskets containing the things she would wear that day; he then brought the First Lady a book containing swatches from the dresses, ceremonial garb, and negliges. The First Lady presented this book to the Queen when she awoke, with a pin cushion. The Queen would place pins in the swatches of all the things she wanted to wear that day; one for the ceremonial garb, another for the afternoon neglige, another for the evening gown she had chosen for cards or games or supper in the private apartments. The book was returned to the wardrobe, and soon the Queen's choices arrived, wrapped in taffeta...The wardrobe consisted of three large rooms lined with cupboards, some with rungs, others with rails. In each room there were large tables that served to spread out the dresses and costumes and to refold them."

The details about perfumes are very yummy. Marie Antoinette enjoyed scents of rose, violet, jonquil, and tuberose, and she bought a hand cream called "Pate Royale," hair pomades of rose, vanilla, carnation, and jasmine, various soaps, powders, bath sachets, and potpourri for her rooms. She commissioned a scent called "parfum de Trianon," meant to remind her of her beloved hideaway. It contained rose, orange blossom, lavender, citron and bergamot, iris, nd a touch of jonquil.

Between this book, and the giant "fall fashion" issue of Vogue I got yesterday that features Kirsten Dunst on Marie Antoinette costume on the cover, I can't WAIT for the movie Marie Antoinette! What are some of your own favorite scents? And are you looking forward to this film as much as I am? :)

Caroline Bingley Spock?

Tomorrow, I'm headed off to Worldcon -- the 64th annual World Science Fiction Convention. There will be a couple thousand science fiction and fantasy authors, fans, illustrators, actors, and others there, including Connie Willis, Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven, Garth Nix, and Madeleine E. Robins (author of the Regency-set Point of Honour and Petty Treason.) There will be Regency dancing, we'll find out who won the Hugos this year (I got to vote!), and there will be panels with names ranging from "I'll Pull Out Your Eyestalks and Stomp on Them" to "Should Californians be Farmers?" to "Writing While Holding Down a Day Job" to "The Slytherin Question."



Something for everyone, in other words. So in the spirit of mixing up Regency dancing and quantum black holes, here's a different kind of mix-up for you to play with. If Mr. Spock had to marry one of Jane Austen's characters, and it was your job to choose the one who would make him the happiest (and he her, of course), who would you pick? Caroline Bingley, Elizabeth Bennet, Miss Tilney? Miss Bates? Someone else? The choice is yours!

Or, if you prefer, find the lady who will finally keep Captain Kirk from straying!

Who will it be? Fanny Price, Emma Woodhouse, Elinor Dashwood? Mary Crawford? Lucy Steele? Elizabeth Elliot? Mrs. Dashwood? Someone else? Who would finally keep the captain with the ripped shirt on the straight and narrow?

Who would enjoy traveling about to other planets? Anne Elliot, perhaps? Who wouldn't mind sleeping on beds covered only by thin metallic blankets? Who would be easily able to deal with Klingons and Organians and the like? Who wouldn't mind raising children who rarely get to see a blue sky, a dog, or natural fabrics?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King, winner of the Booksellers's Best Award for
MY LADY GAMESTER

Starch makes the gentleman, etiquette the lady--Beau Brummell.

When one writes in the Regency era one must pay attention to fashion. In fact, the fashions of the Regency are one of the things I love about the time period. Usually, though, when I think of fashion, I think of the beautiful empire gowns for my ladies. When my editor's revisions for my next Warner book, Desire in His Eyes (aka Blake's story), included a comment, "describe how he looks" I realized I had to think about my Regency hero's clothes. The question - would the breeches of his formal wear be white or black?

I have an aversion to thinking of my hunky heroes in white or buff-colored breeches and white stockings. I prefer them in boots up to the knee and form-fitting pantaloons, but no Regency gentleman would wear boots to a formal affair. Goodness, he'd be turned away from Almack's in an eyeblink.

So I went on the web, to see what I could find. I used Yahoo and put in "Mr. Darcy Pride & Prejudice" and selected "Images". As I hoped I got a lot of Colin Firth and Matthew MacFadyen, but none showing their legs. Not in formal attire anyway.

But I did find these, from a site called www.paperdollparade.com that is no longer in existence.

Which do you like better?

The boots?

Or the breeches?









Then I found these really charming illustrations from the 1895 C. E. Brock editon of Pride and Prejudice. Notice Mr. Collins is wearing black breeches and stocking. We know he isn't stylish.

But the issue is the same. Boots?


Or Breeches?

Well, I described Blake, my hero in Desire in His Eyes, wearing buff breeches and white stockings.

But I got him back into boots as soon as I could.

Mariella, the heroine, got him out of them, though.

Well-dressed heroines

I have to admit, I've got nothin' for my post today. I couldn't come up with one single topic that was anything but totally boring. Maybe it's the heat. It seems like at the end of summer, when it's still hot (or very hot, as it is here--the temps have been in the triple digits for over two months straight now), and I'm longing for Fall but it's nowhere in sight, I just get very lazy. It's hard to concentrate on research and writing and work. One thing I've done far too much of in the last few days (okay, weeks) is read fashion magazines. I'm lusting for fall tweeds and boots and those cute cropped jackets, for dark lipstick and that elusive bottle of Chanel Black Satin nail polish (my new obsession).

So, I decided not to fight against my shallow current but go with it for this week's post. I started wondering--who are some of the best-dressed women in literature? Some of the best descriptions of clothes and how they help define the womens' characters? My method here was highly scientific--I scanned my bookshelves and pulled down books that I remembered as having some lovely fashions in them. Here's what I found:

--Linda from Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love: Not just when she went to Paris and hooked up with Fabrice, who bought her that fab French wardrobe ("Linda had never before fully realized the superiority of French clothes to English. In London she had been considered exceptionally well-dressed...she now realized that never could she have had, by French standards, the smallest pretensions to chic"), but when she was a young deb, too. "Linda had one particularly ravishing ballgown made of masses of pale gray tulle down to her feet. Most of the dresses were still short that summer and Linda made a sensation whenever she appeared in her yards of tulle, very much disapproved of by Uncle Matthew, on the grounds that he had known three women burnt to death in tulle ball-dresses."

--And Rose, Cassandra's sister, in Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle (one of my favorite books from adolescence): Later Rose gets engaged to Simon (the object of Cassie's crush), and has a vast and stylish trousseau, but I loved the girls' early efforts, when they lived in "romantic" poverty. In an effort to make their clothes look new, they dye them all green, and Rose has their stepmother's cast-off teagown, "it had been a faded blue, but dyed a queer sea-green..." I pictured it as a sort of tie-dyed mermaid dress!

--Flora, from Stella Gibbon's Cold Comfort Farm: "Flora's own dress was in harmonious tones of pale and dark green. She wore no jewels, and her long coat was of viridian velvet...Flora knew she did not look as beautiful as Elfine, but then she did not want to. She knew that she looked distinguished, elegant, and interesting. She asked for nothing more." (In the great film adaptation, Flore wore in this scene not green but a sort of metallic-gold lace dress. Elfine still wore white satin, though)

--Of course, Holly Golightly from Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffanys: "...she wore a slim cool black dress, black sandals, a pearl choker...there was a consequential good taste in the plainess of her clothes that made her, herself, shine so"

--Anna in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "Anna was not in lilac, as Kitty had so urgently wished, but in a black, low-cut velvet gown...The whole gown was trimmed with Venetian lace. In her black hair was a little wreath of pansies, and there were more of the same in the black ribbon winding through the white lace encircling her waist...Now she {Kitty} understood that Anna could not have been in lilac, and that her charm was just that she always stood out from her attire, and that her dress could never be conspicuous on her. And the black dress, with its sumptuous lace, was not conspicuous on her; it was only the frame, and all that was seen was she--simple, natural, elegant, and at the same time gay and animated"

--And, from Girl of the Limberlost, Edith Carr (this was another favorite book when I was growing up, and, even though she wasn't the heroine, I lusted after Edith's ballgown at her engagement party. She bases her dress after a rare moth, the Yellow Imperial, that serves as a major plot point in the story): "...she stood tall, lithe, of grace inborn, her dark waving hair piled high and crossed by gold bands studded with amethysts and at one side an enameled lavender orchid rimmed with diamonds that flashed and sparkled. The soft yellow robe of lightest weight velvet fitted her form perfectly, while from each shoulder fell a great velvet wing lined with lavender, and flecked with embroidery of that color in imitation of the moth. Around her throat was a wonderful necklace and on her arms were bracelets of gold set with amethyst and rimmed with diamonds."

And these are just a few. I left out Gone With the Wind, Wuthering Heights, and lots more. I didn't even include any romances, because there are just too many (though a favorite is the green dragonfly-embroidered gown in For My Lady's Heart, and the Maeve costume in Megan McKinney's Lions and Lace). What are some of your favorite fashions in books, or stylish heroines?

Just ONE!

This week, we've talked about classic books we should have read but didn't, and books our Regency heroes would have read. (Advance apologies for no pictures; Blogger not so nice this morning).

Today I'd like to talk about books that no-one thinks everyone should read, except you. Yes, your Buried Treasure books, books that in your opinion are shockingly, shamefully overlooked in the canon of Great Literature.

I asked my Spouse which book he'd recommend, and after berating me for asking such a hard question, I answered for him, and he grunted a slight affirmative. It's John Hawkes' Whistlejacket, which takes place in contemporary times and in flashback to when 18th century painter George Stubbs painted a portrait of a horse named Whistlejacket. It's dark, intense, dangerously sexual, intricate writing that is not easy to read, but it is very, very compelling.

If posed the same question, I might answer Charles Willeford's Cockfighter. It's a first person narrative by a mute cockfighter (and the story behind his muteness is amazing!), and again, it is incredibly written and powerfully compelling. Willeford is mildly famous for his Hoke Moseley series (Miami Blues, which was made into a movie), but his darker noir stuff is not as celebrated. If I could cheat, I'd also recommend his Burnt Orange Heresy, about art collectors in Florida.

In romance, I'd cite Kate Moore's Sweet Bargain, a traditional Regency with as much sexual tension as the most erotic of eroticas.

So what obscure book, romance or otherwise, would you recommend? And why?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

And they all lived happily ever after

Do you believe in fairies? Or, to be more specific, do you believe in fairy stories and/or archetypes?

Enough of the questions already. No, I don't believe in fairies although my husband told me that once, when he was a child, a little man in green walked across the the landing outside his bedroom door. Yes, I believe in fairy stories or archetypes, purely because when I'm writing and it's working, I'll think Oh, of course, this is .... Cinderella...Sleeping Beauty and suddenly it all makes sense.

But the fairy story I ponder the most, and the one that fascinates me, is Beauty and the Beast. One of my favorite writers, Angela Carter, was intrigued enough by it to write several versions in her marvellous collection The Bloody Chamber. Cocteau made an amazing movie of it too. Beauty is a true heroine--no, she's not some sort of kickasss type, but she's her own person, which is both her strength and her weakness. If she'd asked her father to bring her home a length of silk or jewels, and not a white rose, she wouldn't have started off the chain of events at the Beast's castle. And she makes the decision to return to the Beast and brings about his transformation, her own heroic journey when she truly comes into her own.

I read a lot of illustrated versions aloud to my daughter when she was little, but I think this one by Marianna and Mercer Mayer was my favorite. This was long before I started writing myself. There was one illustration I found particularly captivating--Beauty, dressed in silk, sits at the window of a circular tower, surrounded by books, and with a bird, released from its cage, perched on her hand. She has a dreamy, contemplative expression on her face as though escaping into some inner world, the world of her imagination; she's caged by the Beast, but she's found a freedom beyond the stone walls of the tower. Now I see her as an allegory of a writer, invited into a fantastic world and bringing to it her own feelings and experience, and maybe that's why that illustration in particular had such an appeal for me.

So what's your favorite fairy story? Why? And do you think it influences what you like to read and write?


Janet

My well-read hero

Great minds do think alike, because Cara's post yesterday is the perfect lead-in to this one.

I am indeed ashamed to admit that I haven't ready anywhere near enough of the sort of things our heroes and heroines would have had in their libraries. Now my sins are coming home to me, because I'm writing a hero who insists on being very well-read. I am hoping that reading more of what he has eagerly devoured will help me get into his head. (Or maybe I'm just procrastinating, but that's another post!)

This is why I'm currently slogging through Paradise Lost. It's something I've just heard referenced too many times and I feel a dunce for not knowing it. Some of it is slogging, especially the long passages full of more allusions that make me feel still more ignorant. But I am nothing if not stubborn and there are some rewarding gems in there.

Being slightly obsessive-compulsive (OK, maybe more than slightly!) I'm trying to come up with a list of works that will at least help me fake a broader knowledge of literature prior to 1820.

One area I need to brush up on is the classics. My O-C tendency isn't quite strong enough to make me learn Greek or Latin but I'd like to read at least a few works in translation. Somehow I think having viewed some of those old Technicolor movies based on mythology isn't going to help me here!

Re Shakespeare, I've read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Othello, and seen quite a few more, but there are quite a few plays I haven't experienced either way. King Lear and The Tempest are a few that come to mind. (More shame on me!)

Another area is novels; this hero doesn't despise a good novel. I've read everything by Austen and a goodly few by Scott but I haven't read anything earlier. (It is a disgrace, I know.)

Re poetry--I've read some of the Lake poets but nothing by Byron. (Gasp!)

So two questions for the Riskies and visitors:

1) Which works would you recommend I read in the cause of developing my bookish hero? The ones that will help me look better-read than I am but are also the most interesting, thought-provoking?

2) Am I getting too obsessive-compulsive here? On second thought, maybe I don't want to know! If it helps, it helps. I am writing, too.

Elena
LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers' Choice Award, Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

The "My Most Embarrassing Omission" Game

Do you remember those embarrassing games that other kids always wanted to play? Games like Truth or Dare? Well, here's an embarrassing game for adults -- for adults who read, that is. It's called:

MY MOST EMBARRASSING OMISSION

Or, at least, that's what I'm calling it until someone thinks up a better name.

To play it, you name a category of fiction or literature (or if you want, make it film or something else) that you think you should be well versed in....or want to be....or pretend to be....or are, except for one or two (or thirty) embarrassing omissions. Then, of course, you name the most shocking omission you can think of.

Yes! Humilitation all round! And great fun to play at home, in the car, or at an academic conference (if you already have tenure).

Okay. I'll go first.

BRITISH LITERATURE: As you may have guessed by the laughing Albert Finney pictured above, I have never read Fielding's TOM JONES. There are many other greats of British lit that I haven't read, but I think this is the one I most WANT to have read.

DRAMA: I try to have a basic working knowledge of the great plays....but I confess I've never seen (nor read) Chekhov's THE THREE SISTERS. (Um, and while we're on the subject, I can say the same about THE SEAGULL, UNCLE VANYA, and all but the first act of THE CHERRY ORCHARD -- which I was supposed to read in high school. Don't tell Mrs. Johnstone I never finished it, please. It was a busy week.) So when fellow drama lovers start talking about someone always wanting to go to Moscow...or maybe it was St Petersburg...I just nod my head and try to look intelligent.

WORLD LITERATURE: If you include American authors, I've never read (drumroll, please -- long list coming): LES MISERABLES, WAR AND PEACE, DON QUIXOTE, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, MOBY DICK, and so much more!

ROMANCE:Okay, this is perhaps my most embarrassing omission of all, given that I am making it in the Risky Regencies blog.... I have never read Laura Kinsale's FLOWERS FROM THE STORM. Yes, I know it's great. Yes, I'm sure I'd love it. Yes, I have meant to read it for years. And yes, when I'm around other romance writers (particularly Regency writers) I always pretend I've read it. But I'm confessing to you now. I haven't.

As for MOVIES: Hmm...I haven't ever seen ANIMAL HOUSE, or THE MALTESE FALCON, or ... wow, I've spent far too much time seeing movies -- I can't think of many really embarrassing omissions. (Guess I know what I was doing when I should have been reading TOM JONES!)


As for SCIENCE FICTION TV & MOVIES: -- I've never seen a single episode of DR WHO! (Doesn't he looked shocked!)

Okay, there, now that I've begun -- who here has an embarrassing omission to make??? :-)

Cara
Cara King -- www.caraking.com

To Google or Not to Google....

In Sunday's Washington Post there was an article about Google's effort to digitize all the books in the Stanford University Library...and their dream to digitize all the books in the world.

Here is the article "Search Me? Google Wants to Digitize Every Book. Publishers Say Read the Fine Print First" August 13, 2006
(you may have to register with The Washington Post to read it)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/12/AR2006081200886.html?sub=AR

In a nutshell, Google will digitize Stanford's collection and provide what they consider "fair use" of the material. They will provide the ability to search the text of the books, but will only show "snippets" of the work, what they feel fits the "fair use" stipulations of copyright law. I won't go into the complicated details, but suffice to say that the Author's Guild and several publishers have filed suit against Google.

I'm ambivalent.

As an author, it makes a frisson of trepidation crawl up my spine, like discovering someone stealing my book without paying for it. Google argues against this, but the gist of the lawsuits have to do with using material without renumeration for the publisher or author, who create the book in the first place.

As a researcher, however, my response is, "Wow!" Imagine all that information at my fingertips! Imagine me being able to enter "Castle Inn Brighton 1816" (a setting of my next Warner book, Desire In His Eyes, aka Blake's story, now in the revision stage). It would take me hours in a library, days perhaps, to search out such information. Wouldn't it be great if I could have it at my fingertips?

Then I think of out-of-print books, like The Regency Companion by Sharon Laudermilk and Teresa L Hamlin. I am lucky enough to have obtained a copy of this regency research classic years ago by bidding $40 on ebay on a Thanksgiving evening, but now ABEbooks.com lists this book as going for a low of $224.50 and a high of $595.00. Obviously this puts the book out of reach for 99.9% of regency writers and readers, but wouldn't it be great if everyone had access to its information?

Well, what would be great is if Laudermilk and Hamlin would just authorize a re-release of the book. I'd happily buy another copy! If it were a searchable e-book copy, like Dee Hendrickson's Regency Reference Book, I'd like it even better.

I empathize with the fact that Laudermilk and Hamlin didn't get one penny of the money I spent on their book, and would not get a penny of that $595, if anyone chose to spend such an amount. If I think of this being multiplied a brazillion amount of times for every author----shudder! There goes that frisson again.

What do you, dear readers and friends, think of Google's plan? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Congrats to Nicole and a Contest for Writers

Congratulations, Nicole! As I mentioned Wednesday, I did a drawing (highly official, one of my children picked the name and my husband was the witness) for a visitor to receive a copy of my first book, LORD LANGDON'S KISS. You're the winner. Please send your snail mail addy to egreene@stny.rr.com and I'll pop it into the mail.

Also, I recently found out about a contest that should interest the writers in our Risky community. My friends at Writer Unboxed are giving away a spandy new Alphasmart 3000 to a deserving unboxed writer. If you don't already have one of these delightful devices, head on over and check it out.

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

A Risky Year

When I was a teenager, I was kind of weird. I know--shocking. :) I was a serious ballet student, and when I wasn't at school or in dance class I had my nose in a book. Not much time for the concerns of most other teenaged girls around me; often it felt like I didn't even speak the same language as everyone else. Then, on a whim, I tried out for a school play and voila--there was my "tribe"! Theater geeks! Suddenly other people were speaking my language, and I wasn't considered strange anymore. It was okay to be bookish, to love art and history, to quote from "Monty Python" and Shakespeare. I had found a niche.

I feel the same way about Risky Regencies, and my writing friends in general. We speak the same language (usually). Writing (or any of the arts) can be a very tough business, with more ups and downs than most. Business decisions, reviews, contests, etc. can all feel very personal, when directed at our precious, hard-wrought stories. I stick with it because I have to. So many ideas crowd my head that I'm sure my brain will explode if I didn't get them out there! But I could never keep on with it without my friends, and without fun places like Risky Regencies. It's been an honor to be part of this for a year, to be associated with with five fabulous authors and great friends, and to have the opportunity to make new friends!

So, thanks to Cara, who I think totally understands the 'theater geek' way of life, and has a wonderful flair for punctuation (and asked me--me!--for a cover quote for My Lady Gamester, so obviously has great taste in authors. Ha!). To Elena, a terrific conference roommate and complete sweetheart, who somehow manages to write great books while raising children and dealing with flooded houses and exploding computers. To Janet, who makes me feel like an ill-read rube (even if she insists she's just a "faker"!" and has a yummy accent, too. To Megan, my sister in Hello Kitty, party dresses, and cocktails (it's okay that you selfishly keep Clive to yourself, because Orlando is MINE. And Matthew, too!). And to Diane, who once was my roommate for over two weeks on a tour of England, and who never once screamed at me to Just Shut Up Already, as anyone else would have (that's a pic of us at Stratfield Saye, the country house of the Duke of Wellington).

Here's to many more Risky (and fun) years!

Things I Have Learned the Past Year

1. Amanda likes Hello Kitty even more than I do.
2. Every other Risky is much better-researched than I.
3. If one gets mildly peeved one did not final in a contest, one ought to remember that one did not enter any contests, except for the RITA, where two people really liked one's story, two thought it was okay, and one really didn't like it.

4. Other Riskies like their male obsessions about as much as I like Clive Owen. And that's okay. Just don't step to me on Owen ownership, at least not here.
5. Other writers are just as insecure and neurotic as I am. Almost.
6. Not everyone thinks I am funny.
7. But hopefully my fello