How Wealthy Is Mr. Darcy--really?

I came across an essay with that title recently in an old copy of Persuasions, the publication of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America), and it made for some fascinating reading. One of the major themes of Austen's books is money--who has it, who doesn't, what size house can they afford, and can they marry, should they marry, must they marry?

Naturally I now can't find that issue and the article,* but fortunately I took notes, and I also came across this wonderfully useful site, www.measuringworth.com where you can translate the value of the pound from the thirteenth century into modern (2006 British pounds) currency, based on the retail price index. If you double that figure, you get, more or less, today's $ value. As a rough guide, for calculating yearly incomes, for instance, multiply by one hundred.

Quick currency lesson/refresher: 12 pennies (d for denarius) make a shilling; 20 shillings (sh or s) make a pound (can't find the symbol on blogger, but it's a curly L for libra). Then there are guineas, which are a pound and a shilling, and used for some items--wages, horses, carriages, gambling debts--mainly luxury items. Sometime I'd like to research what was priced in guineas and what wasn't. Anyone know? These are both sides of a golden guinea from the first decade of the nineteenth century.

The article took some prices from Jane Austen's letters of 1810 and I translated these into the modern equivalent (rounding them up to the nearest 50c). Jane liked silk stockings which cost her 12s a pair or about $65--what you'd probably pay now for silk stockings by Prada (yes, it was an excuse to go onto ebay). She had a cloak made for 10s, about $54, which seems quite cheap for tailor-made clothes. Meat was 8d a pound ($3.50), butter a shilling a pound ($5), cheese 9 1/2d a pound ($4)--fairly close to our prices. But fresh salmon was a whopping 2s 9d a pound for a whole fish, $14--presumably because of the expense of shipping it (anyone know which rivers were the salmon rivers then? I'm guessing the Avon--I think the Thames, coming back now as a salmon river, was too polluted). A copy of Pride & Prejudice cost 18s--$94! She paid 30 guineas for the piano at Chawton, or $3,282--about what you'd pay now for a superior upright.

The most telling figures I found, however, were for the price of a quartern, the four pound loaf, which cost 11 3/4 d (eleven and three farthings) in the period 1800-1804, but by 1810 the price had risen to 2s 6d (half-a-crown), or from $6 to $13. This was the staple food of most common people and laborers made probably only a few shillings a day--life was very hard at the bottom of the social scale.

And now it's question time. What's your favorite money-related scene in something you've read or written?

Feldman, James, “How Wealthy Is Mr. Darcy--Really?” Persuasions, 1990, Vol. 12.

Sign up for the Riskies newsletter at riskies@yahoo.com and learn how to spin straw into golden guineas. Or not. But put NEWSLETTER in the subject line.

Reputatie op het spel!

I recently found out that a Dutch translation of LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE is being released!

It's my first international sale. I'm delighted about the nice little sum I got from the foreign rights sale, which will help keep me in paper and print cartridges as I work on finishing mess-in-progress. But mostly I just think it's very cool.

I googled around and found the cover and blurb at www.chasingdreams.nl. You have to scroll down about halfway to find it.

Though I wish it were larger I think I like the cover--better than most on the site which lean heavily (and I mean heavily!) toward man-titty. The dress looks a bit off but Livvy and Jeremy look right.

I used an online translator to figure out the title. "Reputatie op het spel" translates literally to "Reputation on the game" which I think probably means something like "Reputation on the Line" or "Reputation at Stake". Either way it sounds right for the book, which I've heard isn't always the case with translations.

Now for the part that drove me a bit crazy. In my googling I also ran across a Dutch message board where (I think) readers were discussing the book. I felt the temptation to run their comments through the translator but then decided I'd better not blow writing time to discover they hated the thing. Oh well, there were lots of emoticons of all sorts in one of the posts so at least the book sparked a reaction.

So anyway, friends, what do you think of the packaging? Which cover do you like better?

And do you think I should go figure out what those Dutch readers think of my book or just get back to my mess-in-progress? OK, I think I know the answer to that one!

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

THE COMPLETE JANE AUSTEN

Jane Austen Alert!

Masterpiece Theatre in the United States just announced that, beginning January 2008, they will present "The Complete Jane Austen."

This will include new adaptations of Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility, plus the popular Andrew Davies-scripted adaptations of Emma (the one starring Kate Beckinsale) and Pride and Prejudice (the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth version.)

Two of the new adaptations will also be written by Andrew Davies (the new ITV Northanger Abbey and the new BBC Sense and Sensibility.)

I admit I was sadly disappointed by the 1986 "Peter Firth As A Creepy Tilney" version of Northanger Abbey, so I'm really hoping Davies and director Jon Jones give us a great interpretation of one of my favorite Austen novels.

This one stars lovely young Felicity Jones as Catherine (pictured here, on the cover of the British DVD release!)

By the way, I love Austen movie synchronicity -- that is, finding that actors in one Austen (or Regency-interest) movie appear in another -- and so I will point out that this Mrs. Allen is played by Sylvestra Le Touzel, who played Fanny in the 1983 Mansfield Park, and also appeared in the recent Amazing Grace.

My biggest worry with Northanger Abbey is that it was filmed entirely in Ireland. We've rolled our eyes at that before at Risky Regencies, but I think it's worth doing again..

Northanger Abbey? Not at all filmed at Bath? The best Bath novel in the world, with the Pump Room and the Lower Rooms and the Upper Rooms and Milsom Street and Pulteney Street and everything else? The novel is practically a guide-book, or at least a high-brow advertisement, for Bath -- so how can they make it without Bath?.

Okay, enough eye-rolling. Ironically enough, the only part of the earlier Northanger Abbey adaptation that I thoroughly liked was the gorgeous Bath backdrops.

Next up, perhaps the adaptation that has me worried most of all: Mansfield Park.

So: why does this have me worried, you ask? To begin with, look at the photo (courtesy of another UK DVD release.)

What is she wearing?

And why is her hair like that?

This actress, for those of you who haven't already shouted "I know WHO she is!" (sorry, bad joke) is Billie Piper, famous for being the female sidekick of Dr. Who in the last few seasons. And her hair in Dr. Who is surprisingly similar to her hair here...

My second worry: the entire Mansfield Park is all of two hours long, including commercials.

(Plus, I confess I peeked at bits that were uploaded to YouTube, and I'm not terribly impressed.)

But I should give it the benefit of the doubt...right?

Here are some more pics.

They worry me too.

Mostly, it's the hair.

And Fanny's constant sulky/sexy expression.

Interestingly enough, the script for this adaptation was written by Maggie Wadey, who wrote the 1986 Northanger Abbey (the one you may have already noticed I don't much care for. Then again, Peter Firth would not have been her fault.)

My piece of Austen/Regency (okay, not Regency, but Georgian, anyway) synchronicity here: Tom is played by James D'Arcy, who played Blifil in the lovely 1997 Tom Jones.

The third ITV Austen movie will be Persuasion.

Now you may be thinking just what I am: how could anyone improve on the sublime 1995 Roger Michell/Nick Dear version, which starred Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds?

It was short, but near perfection. And it had an amazing supporting cast: Simon Russell Beale, Fiona Shaw, Sophia Thompson, Sam West -- and such camerawork, gorgeous Bath backdrops, a subtle script... And Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds were both divine.

(Can you tell I liked it?)

This new version is written by Simon Burke, who scripted some Cadfaels and also the 1997 Tom Jones. Our new Anne is Sally Hawkins, whose synchronicity credit came when she played Mary Shelley in the 2003 BBC Byron (starring Jonny Lee Miller).

More synchronicity (okay, this is post-Regency, but I don't care) comes with Rupert Penry-Jones, who plays Wentworth. In the Ciaran Hinds Jane Eyre, he played St John Rivers. Plus, Alice Krige (who was La Marquesa in Sharpe's Honour, Mary Godwin in Haunted Summer, and is best known as Star Trek's Borg Queen) plays Lady Russell.

The piece of casting, though, that many will find hardest to take, is Anthony Stewart Head as Sir Walter. Many who know him as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are crossing their fingers that they'll buy him in this very different role. (I hope so -- how rotten for an actor to be forever typecast!)

Good news: the earlier rumor that this Persuasion was also to be filmed entirely in Ireland was quite untrue; scenes were filmed in the Bath Assembly Rooms, at #1 Royal Crescent, and at other locations in Bath.

The last of the new adaptations, the Andrew Davies-scripted Sense and Sensibility, has not yet debuted in the UK, so I know little about it.

What I do know: as opposed to the other three new Austen adaptations, all of which aired on ITV and had running times of two hours (including commercials), Sense and Sensibility is a BBC production, and will run three hours (which I think is a good idea!)

It stars Hattie Morahan (pictured above left) as Elinor, and Dominic Cooper (right) as Willoughby. (Those of you who saw History Boys will recognize Cooper as the rakish heart-breaker Dakin.)

So...what do you think? Which Jane Austen adaptation are you most looking forward to? Most worried about?

Do you think I'm being too negative about certain things? Should I have a more open mind? Or are you, too, leery about some of these choices?

What do you think of Austen adaptations in general?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King, author of MY LADY GAMESTER and obsessive Austen-adaptation fan

Andrea Pickens Interview WINNER!

Lois, you've won a signed copy of The Spy Wore Silk!!! Please send your address to riskies@yahoo.com

Thanks to everyone who commented! Stay tuned this weekend as the Riskies visit with Colleen Gleason...

Fallen Soldiers

Today is Memorial Day, the day set aside by the US after the Civil War to honor military personnel who have lost their lives in service to their country. Memorial Day is particularly poignant for Americans this year, with so many of our soldiers making the ultimate sacrifice.

As the daughter of an Army officer, I have a particular regard for soldiers. Some of the heroes of my books are soldiers, and in all my books the war with Napoleon is mentioned. I love my Regency soldiers. I secretly yearn to write some Napoleonic war romances, sort of like Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, except love stories. I own a brazillion books on the Napoleonic war and its soldiers. It seemed fitting today to tell you about one of them: Intelligence Officer in the Peninsula Letters and Diaries of Major The Honorable Edward Charles Cocks 1786-1812, Julia V. Page, editor (1986, Spellmount Ltd)

Major Cocks served in various capacities in the Peninsular war. He was attached to the regular Spanish army for a time and also with the 16th Light Dragoons. He worked as an intelligence officer behind enemy lines, performed special missions for Wellington, and was a field officer commanding soldiers. His family wanted him in Parliament, but Charles, as he was called, loved soldiering more than anything else. He was the consummate professional soldier, very much in his element in the war in Spain.

In a letter to his uncle, Charles wrote:

Few regard soldiers in their true light, that is as a body of men giving up many individual pleasures and comforts for a general national advantage, coupled certainly with the hope of personal fame and at the same time preserving more individual independence than any class of men....Men unused to war and ignorant of its ways regard slodiers as pernicious characters because they always figure them as intent on the desruction of their enemy, but a soldier only meets his foe now and then and he is every day engaged in reciprocal offices of kindness with his comrades....for my part I think there is much less ferocity in putting your foe to death when you see him aiming at your life, than in coolly rejoicing in your cabinet at home at successes purchased by the blood of thousands--Your dutiful and affectionate nephew, E. Charles Cocks

On October 8, 1812, Charles was acting as a field officer in the seige of Burgos. In the hours before dawn he led his men up a slope to regain the outer wall. When he reached the top, a French soldier fired straight at him. The ball passed through his chest, piercing the artery above his heart. He died instantly.

That morning Wellington strode into Ponsonby's office, paced to and fro without speaking for several minutes. He started back toward the door, saying only, "Cocks is dead" before he walked out. Later Wellington wrote, "He (Cocks) is on every ground the greatest loss we have yet sustained." When Wellington stood at his graveside, ashen-faced and remote, none of his officers dared speak to him.

Admiration for valor, gratitude for sacrifice, grief at loss. Today is not very different than 1812.

My father, Daniel J. Gaston, pictured here circa 1940s, was not called upon to make a soldier's ultimate sacrifice. He reached an advanced age, long enough to see his daughters well-situated and happy, and his grandchildren grown. He died peacefully in 2001 before my writing career took off.

Do you have a soldier, real or fictional, who deserves tribute?

Would you like more war romances?

Can you think of any Napoleonic war romances (Heyer's An Infamous Army comes to mind and one of Mary Jo Putney's, featuring a blood transfusion--title fails me)?


To all our soldiers......Thanks
Diane

Andrea Pickens Interview

Andrea Pickens started writing books at the age of 5 (or so her mother tells her!), with a Western tome lavishly illustrated with crayon drawings of horses. Since then she has moved from the Wild West to Regency England, with numerous titles for Signet, Pocket, and now Grand Central Publishing (nee Warner). She graduated from Yale University, and now lives and works in New York City as Creative Director of a magazine.

Commenters to the interview will be entered to win a copy of The Spy Wore Silk! Be sure and check out the Official Rules of Entry here. Winner announced on Tuesday!

Welcome to the Riskies, Andrea!

Q: First things first! Tell us about your new release...
A: The Spy Wore Silk is my first book with Grand Central Publishing! It's the start of a Regency-set trilogy featuring a secret school for female spies. The students at Mrs. Merlin's School for Select Young Ladies are streetwise orphans, who are trained in the arts of seduction and swordplay. They're England's ultimate secret weapon, dispatched to handle only the most dangerous assignments. It's due out June 1, and I'm very excited about it! So far the feedback has been positive--it was a June Top Pick at Romantic Times, and received a nice review at Publishers Weekly, so I hope the readers enjoy it.

Q: What gave you the idea for the Merlins? What are the next stories for us to look forward to?
A: I love the swashbuckling fun of Pirates of the Caribbean, but found myself wishing Keira Knightley would do more arse-kicking of her own! So I started thinking--and decided it would be fun to make the heroine the secret agent, capable of beating powerful men at their own game. I also liked the challenge of having my heroes come to grips with women whose physical skills and intellect are as finely honed as their own.

The series features 3 roommates--Siena, Shannon, and Sofia. Each is assigned her own perilous mission, starting with Siena in The Spy Wore Silk. She must unmask a clever traitor lurking among an exclusive club of Society rare book collectors. Seduced by a Spy, due out in Spring '08, follows Shannon to Ireland and the Scottish Highlands as she seeks to parry the attack of a French assassin. And Sofia's story, as yet unnamed, follows her through the ballrooms and back alleys of London as she untangles a web of deceit.

These women are as close as sisters, but they each have very different personalities, with their own strengths and weaknesses!

Q: You had some great (and very unusual!) Regencies from Signet before you broke into the single title market. Which was your favorite of these books, and how do you think they differ from your new titles?
A: I think I've always been intrigued by trying to find a little twist to convention! One of my favorite Signet Regencies to write was A Diamond in the Rough, a golf story, where I had the hero forced to learn the game in order to win back the ancestral estate his father gambled away. The heroine is the best golfer at St. Andrews, but of course she has to play disguised as a boy. A friend asks her to teach the hero the game, so, acting as his caddie, she takes on the assignment. At first, it may seem sport and Regency romance don't seem an ideal match. Which is probably what made me think "Oh, this could be fun!"

As to how the Signet stories differ from the new books, I would have to say they both explore ideas about unconventional heroines in unusual situations. The historical format allows a longer word count, so the stories can be a little more complex.

Q: Were there any challenges in researching the Merlins books? Any new or interesting historical facts you discovered?
A: I love research, so I'm always reading obscure books and poking around in used bookstores and antique shops for inspiration!

For The Spy Wore Silk, I found a wonderful resource by attending a lecture on using technology to teach Medieval history. There's a section of the British Library's website called "Turning the Pages." It lets you actually thumb through rare medieval manuscripts and books and zoom in on details, so it was perfect for researching the illuminated psalters that play a part in the story.

In researching Shannon's book, I found a great resource on gunpowder! So I fear the reader is going to be bombarded with a lot of little facts I found.

Q: What is it about the Regency period that makes you want to write about it?
A: I love how the era is so richly romantic. It was a world aswirl with silks, seduction, and the intrigue of the Napoleonic Wars. A time when old ideas were constantly clashing with radical new ones. What better place for an unconventional heroine?

Q: Who are some of your favorite authors/influences?
A: Well, I'll start with you, Amanda! I love your books, and am really looking forward to your first Harlequin Historical! And of course I'm a big fan of Diane Gaston, Mary Jo Putney, Loretta Chase, Barbara Metzger, and Lynn Kerstan.

Q: The title of our blog says it all! We're proud of our "Risky" Regencies. Tell us what's "risky" about your stories?
I find the parallels between the Regency and today so intriguing, in that both societies confront elemental challenges to traditional ways of thinking. The upheavals in science, literature, music, technology, and social structure are so similar, and thus individuals--especially women--ask the same sort of questions about their basic sense of self. I try to play with modern sensibilities within Regency conventions, hoping the blend will strike a chord with today's readers and still be historically authentic. I love historical romance to be alive and relevant, not some stuffy story we can't relate to!

Q: Can we look for you at any appearances or booksignings soon?
A: I'll be at RWA in Dallas, doing the Literacy signing, so please stop by and say hello!

8 Things

Anna Campbell over at Romance Bandits tagged me for the 8 meme (list 8 random facts about yourself). I was VERY glad she did, since I had no idea what to blog about this week! (It was a hectic week, my Pug got an ear infection, I didn't finish the WIP like I wanted, and Dancing With the Stars had its finale...)

So, here 'tis! Way more than you ever wanted to know about me, Amanda.

1) This is no surprise to anyone here at RR, though it might surprise people at the day job, who think I'm a serious, fairly normal, grown-up person. In reality, I am a crazed fan-girl. I have Steady Boyfriend Orlando (Pirates of the Caribbean opens today!!), New-ish Boyfriend Matthew Macfadyen, and Totally New Boyfriend Apolo Anton Ohno. If only I could put up their pics in my cubicle...

2) Another factoid not unknown to the Riskies (and related to #1)--I do love cheesy things (as well as actual cheese, come to think of it. Especially Gouda). I love Hello Kitty, garden gnomes, travel souvenirs like teapots shaped like the Tower of London, DWTS, and Disney movies. Also 1930s musicals with huge production numbers, where Fred and Ginger (in dresses made of feathers!) dance in a fake Venice or rain-swept gazebo.

3) I love music like Turandot, Mozart, Ravel, and Miles Davis. But I also like Abba. Especially Dancing Queen. And that Waterloo song.

4) I've worked in bookstores and libraries, in the office of a company that sets up estate sales, a classical music radio station, the marketing office of the symphony, and now back to a library. Where will I end up next??

5) In grad school, I specialized in Elizabethan poetry, just to be sure I'm totally unfit for any "real world" job. Therefore, I'm hopeless at sales calls and Excel spreadsheets, but if you ever need the symbolism analyzed in Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, I'm your girl.

6) I'm the oldest child in my family, I have one brother who is several years younger. He's a snowboarder and mountain biker, and doesn't much like to read. Sometimes I wonder how we ended up in the same family, but I love him dearly.

7) I love raspberries and chocolate, cherry gelato (also saying the word "gelato"), samosas, and pad thai with shrimp. I hate brussels sprouts, lima beans, liver, and bananas (okay, I don't 'hate' bananas, but I don't much like them).

8) If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be Maui. Or the English countryside. I can't quite decide. A bungalow near the beach or a cozy Tudor cottage?

I'm supposed to now tag 8 people, but instead I'm going to tag all of you! List your 8 in our comments--let us get to know you. Enjoy the holiday weekend, and be sure and sign up for our Riskies newsletter at riskies@yahoo.com. Please don't make us list 8 reasons why you should...

Wallflowers Unite!

Although there are many things I don't envy about the Regency, I do wish there was more formality these days. The thing is, I can be painfully shy in social situations, but if there was a proscribed method of behavior I would be a lot more comfortable.

Last night, we celebrated my husband's 40th birthday. A group of his friends gathered at a restaurant and helped devour an entire roasted pig (and pictures are forthcoming, but I haven't gotten them yet--I forgot my own camera, duh.). Of course, there were friends of his--from work, mostly--who I didn't know, and it felt awkward, the whole going up and introducing myself thing, then the idle chit-chat, then the standing around and stuff. I was wishing some dowager would sail in out of nowhere and command Mr. So-and-So to dance with me or something, so I would have something to do. And if it were a lord? Woo-hoo, let the muslin dampen!

My shyness is one of the reasons, ironically enough, I thrived so well in event planning; I had a purpose, I knew why I was there, which made me totally comfortable. Maybe that's why some of our shy heroines don't do so badly after all in the ball room: They know they are there to find a husband, and either they are okay with that (usually not), or they are equally determined NOT to find a husband. Either way, they have a goal, a method of behavior that is proscribed and understood, and everyone else there knows their role, too.

How about you? Are you shy in social situations? Or do you wish you were making your come-out at a ball given in your honor, with all eyes upon you?

Megan
PS: This pic is of a real wallflower, although it doesn't appear anywhere near a wall. Go figure.

Happy birthday, your Majesty

Yes, today is Queen Victoria's birthday. She was born in 1819, the daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield. Apparently the Prince Regent threw a hissy fit about her christening because he didn't like his brother and was upset, since the death of Princess Charlotte, that one of the Duke's children might succeed him. So she wasn't given one of the "traditional" family names--Charlotte, Elizabeth, Georgina or Augusta--and the Prince Regent decided she should be called Alexandrina Victoria (the Alexandrina in deference to her godfather by proxy, Russian Tsar Alexander). Victoria came to the throne in 1837 and ruled until her death in 1901.

Now the history lecture is over, I want you to take out your notebooks and...

Sometimes it seems that the Victorian and Regency ages overlap and sometimes they seem poles apart. Fashions changed radically. So did attitudes--or did they? The Regency era had the great infrastructure of the Royal Mail, and then a few decades later the railway changed the countryside and people's perceptions of time and distance. The Victorians were prudes but Bowdler was busy cleaning up Shakespeare in the Regency.

What comes to your mind when you think of the Victorian Age? What do you like about the Victorian era that wasn't around during the Regency?

Janet

Sign up for the Riskies newsletter at riskies@yahoo.com and we'll come over and lace you into your stays! Just kidding. But we will send you advance notice every month of what fun stuff is coming up. Put NEWSLETTER in the subject line so we don't throw you away.

Fantasy Risky Retreat

I love, love, love trip planning! So after my post a few weeks ago about my writers' retreat I couldn't help fantasizing about a Risky Retreat. It probably won't be practical to do this for some time but just thinking about it was fun.

As far as location, a country house inn somewhere in England would be ideal. Someplace we could all find plenty of peace to write (or read--our non-writing Risky visitors would be welcome too!) Maybe some side excursions to stately homes or museums. And of course, great food and wine.

I thought about some of my husband's and my favorite getaways in England, country inns like Trengilly Wartha Inn in Cornwall or the Waltzing Weasel in the Peak District but these are perhaps a bit small and not quite the Regency feel. So I googled around a bit and here's what I found.

How about Middlethorpe Hall in Yorkshire (above). According to the website, it's "a William III country house, close to the city, set in 20 acres of its own gardens and parkland. Built in 1699, it was once the home of the famous diarist, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu." How cool would is that? It also has a Health & Fitness Spa so we could exercise, have beauty treatments, massages, etc..., or just plot our next award-winning novels in the whirlpool.

Or how about Hunstrete House? It's situated on 71 acres of woodland, gardens and deerpark and situated between Bath and Wells, convenient for side excursions to either.

Or Hintlesham Hall in Suffolk? It looks like another lovely spot, also with a health club. And maybe we could get them to do a Sabrage evening for us?

So what do you think? Other suggestions of places to stay? Do you like the idea of just reading, writing and excursions or are there other special activities you'd want to add? Any fantasy guests you'd like to invite?

Elena :)
www.elenagreene.com

Upcoming interview with Andrea Pickens!

On Sunday, May 27th, the Riskies will be interviewing award-winning author Andrea Pickens!
Andrea will be talking about her upcoming release, The Spy Wore Silk.

Comment for the chance to win an autographed copy!

Bertie the...Superhero?

Hello!

Bertie the Beau (our resident Regency time-traveling exquisite) and I watched the season finale of Heroes last night, and Bertie just can't stop talking about it!

So I thought -- why not have an online discussion with him, to see what a Regency dandy thinks about superheroes?

Luckily for me, he agreed.

Hi, Bertie! Thanks for joining us!

Delighted to be here! Thank you for the tea.

You're very welcome! So, Bertie -- what did you think of Heroes last night? Did it fulfill your expectations?

Oh, I found it fascinating. But I do wish there hadn't been quite so much fighting. Firearms, swords, fists -- I did wish it would stop!

Oh -- did the violence bother you?

Bother me? Oh, no. I quite like violence.

You...like violence? (Should I be worrying about this? Are you going to start having melees in my living room?)

Goodness, nothing of the sort. When I say I like violence, I mean I enjoy watching things such as prize-fighting (the science, the agile movements, the beautiful bodies) and fencing (the sheer poetry of motion).

So...what part of the fighting in Heroes didn't you like?

They got all messy. It was highly displeasing!
The characters in Heroes should look dapper, like this:

Ah, yes. Such a nice coat. And I do like the hair.

Precisely! That is what heroes should look like.

Not with their hair all over the place, and dust and dirt and whatnot randomly sprinkled about, like this:

Now I ask you: is that attractive?

Well, as that is the villain, I don't think he's supposed to be attractive.

Nonsense. Everyone should be attractive. (Particularly the villains. After all, isn't it said that villains should be rounded characters, and not all bad? That's a subtle way of saying they should be handsome and well-dressed. And definitely clean.)

Hmm... I fear we've gotten off the subject. (You do have a wonderful way of leading the conversation into unexpected paths.) So I'll just finish by asking: if you could have one superhero power, what would you have? The ability to always be elegant, or never get dirty?

Ahem. I already have those powers.


Oh, yes, sorry. I knew that. So, what would your power be?

I would most like the ability to render all animals around me (particularly cats) magnetic, so that if they shed their fur, it still sticks to them, and never touches my coat.

Lovely. (Though I'm not sure you'll be invited into the Justice League anytime soon. That's not exactly a power to rescue people with, is it?)

Oh, very well. I will specify that my power will affect all cats everywhere on the globe -- and I will so beautify the world that I will be hailed the most superb of all super heroes.

Thanks for joining us today, Bertie!

My pleasure. (And yours, too, of course.)

Cara

Sabrina Jeffries Interview WINNER!

Amy, you have won a copy of Sabrina's new book, BEWARE A SCOT'S REVENGE! Please email riskies@yahoo.com to claim your prize.

And thanks to all who commented! We'll have more great interviews (and giveaways) soon -- and don't forget the Regency fun we have here every day! Thanks for joining us -- and do come back often!

The Riskies

Reality TV

Since Amanda already disclosed our obsession with Dancing with the Stars (final competition tonight!) and Project Runway, Top Chef, Top Design, Shear Genius, etc etc, I thought I might update you on Bullrun.
Remember our interview with romance cover model Richard Cerqueira? He announced that he and his brother were competing in the reality TV show, Bullrun, a cross country road competition on Spike TV.




I watched every episode of the competition and it had much of the drama and excitement of those other reality TV shows mentioned above. There were petty rivalries, close calls, major obstacles to overcome. The personalities of the competitors were, of course, a major component of the show's drama.




I'm pleased to announce that Richard and his brother came in second in the competition! They didn't win the prize money, but they put forth a great effort, coming from behind, barely making the cut in the first weeks of the show. I was disappointed that they did not get more air time and mystified why the show's producers thought that the mostly bleeped out dialogue of the other teams were more screen worthy. Team Cerqueira did not swear nearly as much as the others and they pretty much reached their position by using their own resources. Other teams made alliances in the early weeks, seeking to better their chances of winnng over other teams, but the Cerqueiras made it on their own. They came in second even with a major setback of having to use 2 hours to get their brakes repaired. I was really glad they made it to the top two teams.

Spike TV is not my cable channel of choice. I do watch a lot of the shows on the Style Network, like How Do I Look?, Fashion Police, The Look for Less. These shows all involve style makeovers of one sort or another. My very favorite makeover show is What Not to Wear, both the British version and the American one.

I'm also fond of reality shows such as Clean House and Clean Sweep (which I can't find anymore!). These two shows basically go into a cluttered person's home, clear out their cluttered room, sell the junk at a yard sale and redecorate the space into a neat, organized, pretty room. It is the stuff dreams are made of...come clean MY house and make it beautiful!! It is the turmoil the characters go through to give up their beloved but junky items in order to have a functional room that intrigues me.

I also love the drama of selling houses and so watch the HGTV channel and its House Hunters, Sell this House, and Designed to Sell.

Lately I've also been watching reruns of The Biggest Loser.

How this all fits in to writing risky regencies, I'm not so sure. I am certain some of my other Riskies are slack jawed with shock at my level of entertainment.....

But I know Amanda shares this folly. Keira, our Risky frequent poster is also with us....although maybe even they have not slid this deep into the mire....

(What reality tv shows are YOUR secret pleasure...mmmmm? And did anyone else watch Bullrun?)

Sabrina Jeffries Interview!

Sabrina Jeffries is a New York Times bestselling author, a lover of outrageous jewelry, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and son. Her latest book, Beware A Scot's Revenge, has just come out, and is the third in her School For Heiresses series. Commenters to the interview will be entered to win a copy of Beware A Scot's Revenge; check out the official rules here. The winner will be announced on Monday night.

Welcome to the Riskies, Sabrina. Thanks for joining us.

1. Can you talk a little bit about your background, and how it helps—or doesn’t—in your writing?

Growing up in Thailand opened my mind to different cultures, which is good for any writer. Also, because we were isolated in the country and I had no other American kids to play with (and my Thai friends spoke little English while I spoke little Thai), I spent more time reading than most kids. Being out there alone must have also sparked my creative bent, because I made up stories all the time. There was nothing else to do.

2.Which of your books is your favorite?

That’s like asking which child you love best! I like them all, for different reasons. I loved the whole childless theme of Married to the Viscount (and I really love that it landed me on the New York Times Extended List for the first time ☺). I can identify with the heroine of Never Seduce a Scoundrel. I adore Lachlan Ross from Beware a Scot’s Revenge, just because I have a thing for Highlanders, and he’s my only one. I could go on and on.

3. You’re continuing your School For Heiresses series with Beware A Scot’s Revenge. What was the spark that series? Did it start with a character, a setting, or some other element?
The generation of this series wasn't nearly as clearcut as for The Royal Brotherhood series. Pocket said something about wanting a character who went across all the books, and for some reason, I thought of Charlie's Angels. Weird, I know, but I did love that TV show, and I think I'd just seen one of the movies. Anyway, I loved the camaraderie of the women in the show, and I especially loved the anonymous Charlie. I wanted so badly to find out who he was. So that was in the back of my head when I came up with the series -- I wanted an anonymous benefactor who could end up in a romance with the school's headmistress (whom I subconsciously named after Charlie by naming her Charlotte, even though the mysterious guy is Cousin Michael). Then it went from there.

4. Was Beware A Scot’s Revenge an easy or difficult book to write?

The beginning of any book is usually difficult for me. I tend to go back and revise the beginning several times before I’m happy with the characters and their motivations. Once I get to that point, writing the rest of the book generally comes pretty naturally. But Beware didn’t fit the pattern. I sailed along on it until about chapter 18, where I came to a grinding halt. It took a couple of weeks for me to figure out what was wrong in the book, so I could go on.

5. How do you do your research?

I‘ve accumulated several research books already, but for book-specific research, I use the internet and libraries (Wikipedia rocks!). I‘m lucky that I live in an area with several major libraries, so I can always find what I need at ONE of them. I usually don‘t do much research in the beginning—just enough to confirm that my plot will work in the period. But once I start writing, I have to research individual points, so that takes me lots of different places. My website has a page that discusses the research I did for each of my books, in case readers are interested.

6. What are you working on now?

I’m writing the fourth book in the School for Heiresses series—Once a Rake, Always a Rake.

7. In your writing, do you feel as if you are taking risks? How?

My risks are small ones—things like having a gay secondary romance in In the Prince’s Bed—but that’s only because I truly enjoy the classic romance, and have no great desire to mess with what I like. I don’t feel this incredible pressure to stretch. I just want to entertain. If being entertaining required me “stretching,” then I’d do it.

8. Your writing is deliciously light and very, very readable, especially as compared to your earlier books. Was that a conscious decision, or did it just evolve naturally?

Definitely a conscious decision. Early in my career I wrote darker historical romances under the pseudonym Deborah Martin, with less dialogue and more history and complicated plots. At some point I realized that I wasn’t writing the books I enjoyed reading, but the books I felt, as a former academic, that I somehow ought to write. What I enjoyed reading was Regency historicals by authors like Johanna Lindsay, Amanda Quick, and Judith McNaught. I finally decided that it was time to start writing what I liked reading.

9. Did you run across anything new and unusual while researching this book?

I always run across something new and unusual. In this case, I discovered that there were wildcats in Scotland in this period, and that they looked like giant tabbies. I even saw a woodcut of one. I just thought they were so cool that I had to put one in the book.

10. Is there anything you wanted to include in the book that you (or your CPs or editor) felt was too controversial and left out?

Not really. If I really want to include something in a book, I do. My CP’s job is more to give me a perspective on things that I, in my clueless way, sometimes don’t pay much attention to. For example, I had my hero nicknaming the heroine Princess Priss. Later, he utters some doggerel about how “Princess Priss hates to piss” (he was deliberately being coarse), and my CP said that from there on out, she heard Princess Piss every time he teased the heroine. Which was NOT a side effect I was aiming for. In fact, only once in my career did my publisher ask me not to do something because it was too unappealing, and that was YEARS ago.

11. You are a part of the GoddessBlogs group blog; what is your favorite part of participating there?

I love interacting with readers, but more than that, I really enjoy the authors there. We’re a good mix of fun-loving types, so doing the blog is sheer enjoyment for me. Which is what I was aiming for.

Is there anything else you’d like the Risky Regencies readers to know about you?

I can’t think of anything. But thanks for having me!

Thank you, Sabrina!