Where in Williamsburg Can You Buy Diane's Book?

After Christmas we spent a few days visiting my in-laws in Williamsburg, Virginia, and this time we actually took a stroll down historic Duke of Gloucester Street to see the Christmas decorations. The weather was beautiful!

I knew from doing the booksigning that the Barnes & Noble in Historic Williamsburg didn't carry Harlequin Historicals, but emboldened by discovering my book in two local Northern Virginia bookstores, I set out on a quest to see where in Williamsburg I might find The Vanishing Viscountess on the shelf.

The answer? NOWHERE

After our walk in Colonial Williamsburg, we drove to the Barnes and Noble in "New Town" (a nearby trendy new shopping center/residential complex that is supposed to mimic a city street, except the fake rocks beneath the lamposts play Christmas music). No Harlequin Historicals there. In fact, they only had a very small Romance section tucked away in a corner beyond the manga and the sci fi. Why stores limit their Romance sections is beyond me. You would think they would love the genre which sells almost 50% of all mass market books.

But I digress.

I begged for us to make one more stop--A Books A Million store in a perfectly ordinary shopping center in Williamsburg. Surely they would carry Harlequin Historicals--But they didn't. By this time my husband and in-laws just wanted to get home to eat some dinner, so they wouldn't take me to check the local Walmart, which I was almost sure would have The Vanishing Viscountess.

I love writing for Mills & Boon Historical/Harlequin Historical. I think Harlequin Mills & Boon produce wonderful books and innovative ones. They are not at all afraid of taking a chance on new time periods and settings, like Amanda's A Notorious Woman, or on "the Regency underworld," my little niche. They continued to print Westerns when the other publishers wouldn't touch them.

The Harlequin Historical line was almost discontinued in 2003-2004. Instead, Harlequin turned the acquisition over to Mills & Boon Historical, which has done wonders with the bookcovers and has increased the number of books released per month. To save the line, however, they also limited distribution to only their best selling venues.

This means you don't see Harlequin Historicals in grocery stores or lots of places that carry the other Harlequin lines. Obviously, not every big bookstore sells them, either. If a bookstore does sell them, they are typically with the other Harlequin lines and are usually on a bottom shelf. You have to work hard to find Amanda's and my books in a bookstore.

Most of our Riskie readers are familiar with ordering books online , but if you want to buy a Harlequin Historical in a bookstore and you can't find it, there is something you can do.

Ask.

Ask a clerk if they have the book buried in a bottom shelf. If they don't, ask the clerk to order a copy. All of the bookstores that did not carry The Vanishing Viscountess told me they could order it for me.

And if you do see Harlequin Historicals in a bookstore, do us a favor and turn some of them out so they catch the browsers' eyes.


Everyone have a very safe and happy New Year's holiday! This is not one of my favorite holidays, because of the whole drinking and driving thing and because my kids will be "out there" where people are drinking and driving. My husband, the cats, and I will stay at home and watch TV and maybe have champagne. However you celebrate...stay safe!

And let me know if you see my book on a bookstore shelf. Oh, Michelle Willingham's latest Harlequin Historical is out in January, too, so also look for hers. We'll be interviewing her this month.

Today I'm off to see PS I Love You...again! Yippee.

New Year's Fun!

Warning: Totally frivolous and useless post ahead! Some of you probably need a little break from the holiday craziness (like me!), so here are a few fun Internet finds to wile away some quiet moments as you plan your New Year's Eve.

Cat Head Theater: Animated cats performing a scene from Hamlet 'Nuff said.


A music video using scenes from Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and North and South. Kinda sappy (okay, really sappy), but fun!



An article on how to make your own green evening gown from Atonement, if you're so inclined. And if you are, I'll buy it from you! But will someone please give Keira Knightley a cheeseburger, immediately!!! (Bertie, can I count on you?)

Tartx jewelry--I think I've talked about this site before, but I just love it so am doing so again! The necklaces are beautiful, and the quality terrific, too (I own a couple of pendants, Marie Antoinette and Jane Austen, plus keep a wishlist there!)



Richard Armitage Online Because I got my own DVD of North and South for Christmas, and I've been watching it way more than is good for me this last week. It almost makes me want to write a Victorian-set story! Maybe I'll rewatch P&P, too.



A short trailer for the movie The Duchess. I'm still trying to figure out if that bit with the pillared balcony is set at the assembly rooms in Bath (Diane and Deb, what do you think??)



Happy New Year, everyone! What are your resolutions? I have the usual. Go to yoga class more. Eat more vegetables (french fries don't count). Write 10 pages a day. Okay, 8. And, for now, cut back on watching North and South. I also have a new dress for the New Year's party, but sadly things on that holiday never seem to go like in that cheesy-but-great movie The Cutting Edge. You know--sparklers, music, a handsome hockey player-turned ice skater to kiss at midnight. But I have hopes for this year...

See you in 2008!

Megan's Missing -- Maybe Make a Movie

Megan's not missing, but I needed the alliteration. She's merely stuck in New Jersey and unable to blog today. So I thought it would be a good idea to go to a movie.

Like PS I Love You (I can't believe that a Gerard Butler movie has been out for one week and I haven't seen it yet. )

















Or Sweeney Todd with the versatile Johnny Depp (Is there nothing Depp cannot do?)

Or Keira Knightly and dreamy James McAvoy in Atonement

Or Juno or Enchantment or National Treasure or The Golden Compass or....several more. This is a great week for movies. Have you seen any of these yet? (I haven't seen a one, but I might get to PS I Love You tomorrow!)

If you could go to the movies tonight, which movie would you see?

Read Well And Respond Urgently

That was the header of a piece of spam I received recently that struck my fancy because I think it pretty much sums up what happens when you read a good book.

And here's picture/map that I think is so charming I decided to post it, although know nothing about it; I don't know the artist or title--I'd guess it's eighteenth or nineteenth century. It's so clever! I've been wanting to share it ever since I first found it. Do any of our learned and esteemed visitors and friends know any more about it?

Other than the random nature of this post, I wanted to talk about my 2007, which has been a real learning experience, both good and bad. Here are some of my highlights, although some of them are things I've known for years but thought you'd like to know:

• Running out of tea is a state of national emergency.
• You really don't need to clean your bathroom more than once every six months but it's easier if you do it more often.
• TV is for folding laundry.
• It's possible for a publisher to contract a book as one subgenre and market it as another and not tell the author.
• Google is for other things than looking up your own name.
• If you buy a case of toilet paper and live in a small house, after a while you get used to the box in the living room.
• If you squeeze a couple of pages out every day it amounts to more than if you don't.
• When a cat sleeps on your bed with you, s/he expands to about a yard wide and 200 degrees.
• No one ever wants the last cookie, so go for it. You're doing them a favor.
• No one ever wants to eat sardines or beets, but they don't want you to eat them either.
• You should always carry reading material.
• Make sure you have sufficient dust bunnies, books, and old newspapers under the bed for any contingency.
• If you or the man in your life buys navy blue socks in bulk they will never match once they're worn and washed.
• If you can't avoid visitors, plug in the vacuum cleaner and leave it ostentatiously in the middle of the room. They will actually believe you are halfway through cleaning. (Of course, if you can't find the vacuum cleaner you're out of luck.)
• If there is a cold going around at work, avoid any bowls of candy on your colleagues' desks.

Read well and respond urgently--share your pearls of wisdom with us!

Receive a great honking pearl of wisdom every month with the Riskies newsletter: sign up by sending an email with NEWSLETTER in the header to riskies@yahoo.com. And while we're in the small, eye-catching italic section, check out what Pam Rosenthal is giving away in her contest; and read an alternate ending to The Rules of Gentility and enter to win a prize at janetmullany.com.

Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Boxing Day!

Of course, I'd heard about Boxing Day before but since I never needed it for a story, I had only a vague idea that it had to do with giving presents. In boxes, of course. So exactly what is Boxing Day and what are the associated traditions? I googled and found a delightful explanation on the website of the Woodlands Junior School in Tonbridge, Kent. Boxing Day is a time of charity. During the Regency, people would give gifts to their servants and to the poor. According to the website, an "'Alms Box' was placed in every church on Christmas Day, into which worshippers placed a gift for the poor of the parish. These boxes were always opened the day after Christmas, which is why that day became know as Boxing Day."

Other traditional Boxing Day activities include fox hunting, indoor games or appropriate wintry outdoor pursuits. There is also a custom of hunting the wren, a bird one was not allowed to hunt any other day (though why one would wish to hunt wrens is beyond me).

Today, I will not be foxhunting, nor ice skating, nor hunting wrens. Instead, I'll be on a family outing organized by my parents to see a dinner theatre performance of "White Christmas". The group will include all 5 grandchildren ranging in ages from 5 to 11. I don't know if my parents know what they are letting themselves in for! My own children are among the older ones and they will behave (or risk, as Dumbledore put it, "a very painful death"). But as for the others--all bets are off. Plan A: pretend we don't know them. Plan B: drink heavily.

So what are you doing to celebrate Boxing Day?

If you are looking for something to do, why not send a postcard to the Woodlands Junior School? (Here's the address.)

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

The Eggnog Made Me Do It

Merry Christmas, to those of you who celebrate Christmas! And happy 25th of December to everyone else!

For quite a few years now, I have included a satirical "faux holiday letter" in my holiday cards -- and as this year I have the honor of writing the Risky Regencies Christmas post, I thought that instead of sharing a lovely informative bit on Christmas in the Regency, or anything useful like that, I would post my silly letter instead. So here it is! Proof of just how weird I am...

CARA'S ANNUAL HOLIDAY LETTER IN WHICH SHE EXTOLS THE SUPERIORITY OF HER STUFFED CAT AND TELLS YOU ALL ABOUT PEOPLE YOU'VE NEVER MET BUT WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY WAY COOLER AND WAY SPIFFIER THAN ANYONE ON EARTH EXCEPT MAYBE CARA'S STUFFED CAT

Hello, O Fortunate Recipient of this yearly literary gem! Here is an abstract of all the clever things I did this year; the actual paper has been submitted to Phys Rev Letters and will be peer-reviewed as soon as they locate someone who will admit to being my peer.

JANUARY: I attend the annual Jane Austen Ball. The pleated hem of my Regency gown is so brilliant that it finds a solution to global warming. Unfortunately, someone steps on my hem while dancing Mr Beveridge's Maggot, and the solution hits a snag.

FEBRUARY: I appear as Paulina in Caltech's production of THE WINTER'S TALE. My wig is massive enough to nearly start a nuclear implosion. Todd's wig, however, actually does implode, creating a quantum black hole. This quantum black hole travels back through time, turning things that should be benign into hugely destructive forces (e.g. squirrels, computer solitaire, and SUV drivers who tailgate while talking on cell phones and eating pastrami.)

MARCH: As the hottest new trend involves combining two different
popular genres (e.g. the recent television hits "CSI: Shakespeare" and
"Superman vs. the Sopranos"), I write several installments of "Austen Trek: or, if Jane Austen Wrote Star Trek" for my blog. My blogmates all pretend to enjoy these (their ecstatic compliments range from "that's really just...bizarre" to "who's Yeoman Rand?"), but Jane Austen threatens to sue.

APRIL: I pretend to work on my new young adult novel.

MAY: Having lived in our condo for almost five years, Todd and I decide to finally put our posters up. Exhausted by our bout of decision-making, we put off the actual putting-up for another five years.

JUNE: Todd and I visit Nice, but not before 2,306,973 people tell me that they hear it's very nice there.

JULY: The new Harry Potter book is released, making Britain the world's second-greatest economic power, right behind Walmart.

AUGUST: Todd becomes Associate Chair of his department. This takes up huge amounts of his time which might otherwise be used for important things like watching DVDs from Netflix and writing witty comments on my blog.

SEPTEMBER: We receive our millionth charity solicitation and billionth offer to refinance; we have now papier-mâchéd an additional room onto our condo, which would look perfect except that it really needs some posters on the walls.

OCTOBER: I attend what may be the last ever Genesis concert at the 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl, which is followed by an exodus of incredible numbers of people trying to trample the Kings (and Rubins and a Brun), which leads to a few lamentations on our part. Crowd control at the Bowl must be an incredible job, but whoever judges that it's okay for us to get mobbed like that is pretty ruthless, if you ask me.

NOVEMBER: Todd and I see Ian McKellen play King Lear. My favorite part is when Lear disinherits his annoying youngest child, Pippin, in favor of Frodo and Merry, but Todd's favorite part is when Edgar pretends to be a mad creature named Gollum who wears nothing but a loincloth and a lot of dirt.

DECEMBER: Someone informs me that just because WGA writers are on strike doesn't mean that there's any reason for me to not write. My explanation of how my brain refuses to cross the picket line having failed, I am now procrastinating by doing important things like writing my holiday letter and talking to my stuffed cat.

There you have it! Until next year, I remain...Cara King.

And it's absolutely true. I do remain Cara King. (Though come to think of it, I'm not really sure why; it probably has something to do with metaphysics...or maybe kilophysics...)

And don't forget! Next Tuesday, we're discussing the 1986 version of NORTHANGER ABBEY!!! So it'll be a Northanger New Year's Day!

Cara

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!

I’m a happy little elf. My family are all well and we’re together. My niece and nephew are also in town, so we’ll see them for Christmas dinner at my sister’s house. I don’t have to cook (yay!). I’ll do dishes, but, since I’m convinced in a past life I was a Regency scullery maid in a fine English country house, dishes are no problem at all.

Other nice things....

Cataromance gave The Vanishing Viscountess 4.5 Stars! Here’s part of what the reviewer, the wonderful Debby, said:

"Looking for a book with passion, love, action, danger and surprises? Look no further; The Vanishing Viscountess is perfect for you. Diane Gaston will grab your emotion with this one. "

Oh that feels GOOD!

(here’s the whole review)

In my last-minute Christmas shopping expeditions I’ve visited two bookstores and in both, The Vanishing Viscountess was on the shelf! Over a week early. I turned them out so my hero’s bare chest showed to best advantage.


I also received my author copies of the UK edition of The Vanishing Viscountess. This is a special edition released to celebrate Mills & Boon’s 100th Birthday. Its embossed in gold and is as thick as a Diana Gabaldon book because it contains a free bonus book--The Mysterious Miss M.

You can order the UK version of The Vanishing Viscountess, if you are so inclined, either through Amazon.ca
Or Amazon.co.uk

And my little Christmas gift to you, a poem written by John Clare (1793-1864), an English poet who grew up in extreme rural poverty in Northamptonshire, rising from the working class to write some celebrated poetry, only to fall back into obscurity and madness at the end of his life. In recent years there’s been a renewed interest in his poetry.

I love this poem for its vivid description of an old English country Christmas.
(Warning. It's long)




Christmas Time by John Clare

Glad Christmas comes, and every hearth
Makes room to give him welcome now,
E'en want will dry its tears in mirth,
And crown him with a holly bough;
Though tramping 'neath a winter sky,
O'er snowy paths and rimy stiles,
The housewife sets her spinning by
To bid him welcome with her smiles.

Each house is swept the day before,
And windows stuck with evergreens,
The snow is besom'd from the door,
And comfort the crowns the cottage scenes.
Gilt holly, with its thorny pricks,
And yew and box, with berries small,
These deck the unused candlesticks,
And pictures hanging by the wall.

Neighbors resume their annual cheer,
Wishing, with smiles and spirits high,
Glad Christmas and a happy year
To every morning passer-by;
Milkmaids their Christmas journeys go,
Accompanied with favour'd swain;
And children pace the crumpling snow,
To taste their granny's cake again.

The shepherd, now no more afraid,
Since custom doth the chance bestow,
Starts up to kiss the giggling maid
Beneath the branch of mistletoe
That 'neath each cottage beam is seen,
With pearl-like berries shining gay;
The shadow still of what hath been,
Which fashion yearly fades away.

The singing waits — a merry throng,
At early morn, with simple skill,
Yet imitate the angel's song
And chaunt their Christmas ditty still;
And, 'mid the storm that dies and swells
By fits, in hummings softly steals
The music of the village bells,
Ringing around their merry peals.

When this is past, a merry crew,
Bedecked in masks and ribbons gay,
The Morris Dance, their sports renew,
And act their winter evening play.
The clown turned king, for penny praise,
Storms with the actor's strut and swell,
And harlequin, a laugh to raise,
Wears his hunch-back and tinkling bell.

And oft for pence and spicy ale,
With winter nosegays pinned before,
The wassail-singer tells her tale,
And drawls her Christmas carols o'er.
While 'prentice boy, with ruddy face,
And rime-bepowdered dancing locks,
From door to door, with happy face,
Runs round to claim his "Christmas-box."

The block upon the fire is put,
To sanction custom's old desires,
And many a fagot's bands are cut
For the old farmer's Christmas fires;
Where loud-tongued gladness joins the throng,
And Winter meets the warmth of May,
Till, feeling soon the heat too strong,
He rubs his shins and draws away.

While snows the window-panes bedim,
The fire curls up a sunny charm,
Where, creaming o'er the pitcher's rim,
The flowering ale is set to warm.
Mirth full of joy as summer bees
Sits there its pleasures to impart,
And children, 'tween their parents' knees,
Sing scraps of carols off by heart.

And some, to view the winter weathers,
Climb up the window seat with glee,
Likening the snow to falling feathers,
In fancy's infant ecstacy;
Laughing, with superstitious love,
O'er visions wild that youth supplies,
Of people pulling geese above,
And keeping Christmas in the skies.

As though the homestead trees were drest,
In lieu of snow, with dancing leaves,
As though the sun-dried martin's nest,
Instead of ic'cles hung the eves;
The children hail the happy day —
As if the snow were April's grass,
And pleased, as 'neath the warmth of May,
Sport o'er the water froze to glass.

Thou day of happy sound and mirth,
That long with childish memory stays,
How blest around the cottage hearth,
I met thee in my younger days,
Harping, with rapture's dreaming joys,
On presents which thy coming found,
The welcome sight of little toys,
The Christmas gift of cousins round.

About the glowing hearth at night,
The harmless laugh and winter tale
Go round; while parting friends delight
To toast each other o'er their ale.
The cotter oft with quiet zeal
Will, musing, o'er his bible lean;
While, in the dark the lovers steal,
To kiss and toy behind the screen.

Old customs! Oh! I love the sound,
However simple they may be;
Whate'er with time hath sanction found,
Is welcome, and is dear to me,
Pride grows above simplicity,
And spurns them from her haughty mind;
And soon the poet's song will be
The only refuge they can find.

I feel like I can see these people and I'm sharing their day!

I wish our whole Risky family a happy holiday, filled with the joy, and peace, and love, and hope that is symbolized in this day. You all are a very precious gift to me!

Book Year in Review

I have to admit--I haven't read much fiction this year! The reason is simple. I've had tight deadlines, and when I'm working on my own stuff I avoid other novels. My ego is fragile enough as I try to finish a story, I don't need a fabulous book giving me a breakdown. I would end up spending all my writing time sobbing "My book will never be as good as this! Never, I say!" So, I buy books and put them on my teetering TBR mountain, and save them for a bribe for finishing the book before deadline. Or at least on deadline.

On my romance TBR pile right now are: Janet's Rules of Gentility (soon to be joined by Diane's Vanishing Viscountess and Michelle Willingham's Her Warrior King), Elizabeth Hoyt's second two books of the Prince trilogy, Juliet Landon's The Warlord's Mistress, Kathryn Albright's The Angel and the Outlaw, and Lisa Kleypas's entire "Seasons" quartet (yes, I'm a bit behind). I've also been re-reading Mistletoe Kisses for the holiday season, which includes Diane's novella Twelfth Night Tale. It's perfect for escaping from modern-day holiday madness!

I've been mostly reading non-fiction, research type books, but there have been several real gems this year. I had to cut my list down to the Very Best, and here are just a few:



Janet Todd's Death and the Maidens: Yes, yet another book about the Shelley circle, but Todd (who also has great bios of Mary Wollstonecraft and Aphra Behn to her name) centers her story on the rarely-seen Fanny Wollstonecraft, go-between, smoother-over, overlooked first daughter of MW, who killed herself at age 22. It's also a meditation on the role of all women in this sphere, which makes me feel lucky to have only known them through books!



Janet Gleeson's Privilege and Scandal: a biography of Harriet Spencer, Countess of Bessborough, sister and inseparable friend of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, mother of Caroline Lamb, lover of--well, lots of people. Her life in many ways mirrored that of her sister--turbulent marriages, massive debts, illness, travel, dramatic love affairs. All written in a riveting style that turns these long-ago lives into fascinating soap opera!



Lucy Worsley's Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion, and Great Houses: Worsley is Chief Curator of Britain's Historic Royal Palaces (a job I envy deeply), this detailed book centered on the 17th century William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, shows her work in every loving, lavish detail of his houses and all the people who lived in them. A fabulous resource for the period. (For more of this family, check out Katie Whitaker's terrific biography of William's author wife Margaret, Mad Madge)





Linda Colley's The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: I recently saw that the NY Times listed this as one of their Top Ten books of the year, which surprised me. Not because this isn't a great book, which it is, but because I thought I had found a hidden gem, LOL! This book chronicles the obscure but extremely adventurous life of 18th century Elizabeth Marsh. She came from a seafaring family who rose to prosperity thanks to an ambitious uncle in the Admiralty. At 20, she was captured by Barbary pirates and nearly ended in the Morcocan sultan's harem. She married a British merchant, and went through times of prosperity and high living followed by bankruptcy and a new life in India (where she spent 18 months touring the country in the company of a dashing officer who was not her husband!). And these were just a few of her adventures...



And Georgina Howell's Gertude Bell, Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations: Another book about an adventurous woman! Gertrude Bell is not obscure like Elizabeth Marsh, but I find the details of her life fascinating. Born into England's 6th richest family, she was a poet, historian, archaeologist, mountaineer, gardener, linguist, and politician who was vital in shaping the early 20th century Middle East (which also makes her story very timely for today).



As far as films go, for most of the year I was pretty disappointed by the movies I saw. Then, in the last few weeks, I've seen 4 great ones! Atonement, Juno, Enchanted, and the DVD of the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose. All very different, but all highly recommended. :)

So, that is my reading year in review! I just hope 2008 is just as great. What have been your own favorite reads this year? What are you looking forward to in the coming months??

Megan's Favorites, 2007-Style

Anyone who stops by on Friday knows that Organization is not my middle name (for the record, it's Alyssa).

So trying to remember what media I've loved during 2007 is hard; as usual, I'm going to freestyle:

Meljean Brook had two amazing books this year: Demon Angel and Demon Moon. Wow. Brook writes intense, complicated, just insanely good books filled with terribly wonderful characters.

Not to be all sycophantic, but I also loved Jane Lockwood's Forbidden Shores. Who knew a menage a trois could be so fun? I really liked this one, and also Amanda McCabe's A Notorious Woman, which blends just the right amount of romantic angst, setting, and intriguing characters. Go us! (Note: I have Diane's Innocence and Impropriety yet to be read on the shelf, and I still haven't read the Rules of Gentility, hence no props to them yet).

I continued my love for Elizabeth Hoyt with the Leopard Prince and The Serpent Prince. My biggest complaint about historicals these days is that they keep a distance between the reader and the story--not so Hoyt. Her writing is lively and fresh, and I love her flawed characters.

Although I didn't love Lover Revealed and Lover Unbound as much as previous J.R. Ward books, I still devoured them like dark chocolate on a hot night. Yum.

This year, Myretta Robens introduced me to Julia Spencer-Fleming. The first book is In The Bleak Midwinter, and read this opening line: "It was one hell of a night to throw away a baby." Wow. The series continues on, with a new hardcover slated for March, 2008.

Although their first collaboration was a DNF for me, I loved Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer's Agnes And The Hitman. Totally delicious, breakneck prose with crazy-fun characters.

Anne Stuart had two releases this year, only one of which I've read: Ice Blue. Not her best work, but still pretty damn impressive. Sign me up in the Stuart fan-girl list, for sure. I am saving Ice Storm for when I really deserve a treat.

Liz Carlyle's Never Deceive A Duke was up to Carlyle's usual standards, which is to say the book was lush, dense, complex and compelling. I liked Never Lie To A Lady, too.



Of course, media means more than books (ha! See how clever I am?), so I have to say Eastern Promises was an amazing movie, not just for the nude Viggo scenes. I am loving the David Cronenberg/Viggo Mortensen collaboration (first in A History of Violence, now here), and Eastern Promises was easily the best movie I saw in 2007.

In music, Alice Smith's For Lovers, Dreamers & Me blew me away. She has as rich and soulful a voice as Alicia Keys, with some of the same earthy elements, but her soul is more elemental, less poppy. I can not stop listening to this record.

Also in music is stripped down hip-hop artist Lady Tigra, whose Please Mr. Boombox is excellent throughout, no fancy tricks or gizmos, just honest, basic beats with her skillful rhyming.

I know that once I publish this I'll think of a baker's dozen more media I loved this past year, but this was what sprang to mind this busy Friday morning. Thanks for sharing YOUR favorite media with us, too!

Janet reads too much, again

I'm a steady reader since I have a commute by metro to work and also need to read before I can fall asleep at night, so it was hard to pick only a few books I enjoyed this year. I blogged on Mary Shelley's birthday about Passion by Jude Morgan, and I can't wait to read his next one, Symphony, about the love affair between Berlioz and Harriet Smithson (hint to nearest and dearest--it's on my Amazon wishlist). I also loved The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James whom the Riskies interviewed earlier this month.

OK, first, let's get the literary crack out of the way. Read this hilarious spoof by the Smart Bitches and you'll know what I mean--I find JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series immensely entertaining, embarrassingly addictive, and I just about still respect myself in the morning. I can give them up any time I wahnt (a joke, not a typo). Same with Anne Stuart's Ice books, where--what's not to love--phenomenally good looking male operatives are trained to be so good at sex that they can make women do anything. And they do. Terrific escapist fun, both series.

My friend Robin L. Rotham published her first book Alien Overnight this year--it's funny, sexy, and very well-written and has a hilariously over the top cover. Carry a big stick, har har. How's this for a killer opening sentence: "Notice the slight emergence of the male's accessory sexual organ, or what the Garathani refer to as a breeding spur."

Well, what can I say. I'm in love with another species myself. I pooh-poohed the idea of dragons in the Napoleonic wars when Megan blogged about them last year, but I read all four of Naomi Novik's fabulous Temeraire books in less than two weeks. I take it all back. These are a brilliant blend of fact with fantasy, and I'm absolutely in love with both Temeraire the dragon (whose neck fringes are infinitely better than Gerard Butler's and everything is much much bigger) and the wonderful, gentlemanly Captain Laurence.

I also enjoyed new books by two favorites--Making Money by Terry Pratchett (check out the macroeconomic model in the basement of the bank) and Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next--First Among Sequels. If you don't know these two writers you're in for a treat; Pratchett writes (sort of) satirical sci-fi; Fforde writes about an investigator for the Department of Jurisfiction in an alternative literary England. I'd suggest trying to read them in order, although Pratchett has a huge amount of books in print.

I was also thrilled that Jennifer Crusie and Bob Meyer's second collaboration, Agnes and the Hitman, was right on the money; great, funny stuff, although I still can't get used to the idea of Jennifer Crusie writing about the mafia. Maybe Bob wrote those bits. You really can't tell, with such a seamless collaboration.

I discovered a new author, Fiona Neill, whose book Slummy Mummy is about that most hideous phenomenon, London yuppies in reproductive mode. As well as the obvious jokes involving high-powered women putting their formidable talents into child-rearing, this book had a lot of heart and wisdom. I recommend it highly.

I finally got around to a 2006 release, Mozart's Women, about the women he loved and the music he wrote for them, and I desperately want the gown Nannerle his sister is wearing on the cover. Also in nonfiction, London in the Nineteenth Century by Jerry White, which was excellent, although disappointing in only very brief mentions of servants and the black population. I don't think it's available yet in the US.

And finally, The Elements of Internet Style for anyone who's interested in literacy, books, the web, and where everything online and in print seems to be going. It's entertaining and smart, and I wrote a section of it.

Have you read any of these? What's on your wishlist?

All contests all the time. Check out what Pam Rosenthal is giving away in her contest; read an alternate ending to The Rules of Gentility and enter to win a prize at janetmullany.com.

Elena's Best Reads of 2007

There are fewer romance novels on my list this year than usual. I've been writing very intensively and have trouble reading and writing romance at the same time. I read romance only in brief binges between drafts and during vacation. I did get to enjoy a few of the Riskies' recent releases, but some are still on my TBR pile. I won't mortify myself any further by telling which ones or trying to pick favorites! Anyway, the best non-Risky romances I read during this year's vacation were NOT QUITE A LADY by Loretta Chase and THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION by Pam Rosenthal, both highly recommended.

I have managed to do a lot of reading out of genre, since it's my second year with a book discussion group. My favorites among this year's selections included: ORDINARY HEROES by Scott Turow, DIGGING TO AMERICA by Anne Tyler, THE BIRTH HOUSE, by Ami McKay and WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. Probably of most interest to Riskies and friends was MARCH by Geraldine Brooks, the story of what the father of Louisa May Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN experienced during the year he was away from his family. I love Brooks's use of period language and detail. I also found the portrayal of the adult Marches very illuminating: not idealized as seen through their daughters' eyes but with human imperfections revealed but still consistent with the world Alcott created. Having rather recently become a Unitarian Universalist, I also found it interesting and inspiring to read about these early Unitarians and their concern for social justice and the abolition of slavery.

This year I've probably read more research books than most, because this current mess-in-progress is a veritable research hydra. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a masochist to come up with a hero who's an army brat turned balloonist. But I love him. I digress. Back to the books.

My favorite new reference is LIFE IN WELLINGTON'S ARMY by Antony Brett-James. It's chock-full of wonderful details on all those aspects of military life that are glossed over in the big histories: how they camped, ate, marched, what they did for fun. It's so vivid the theme music from the Sharpe series kept playing in my head as I read.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Three Books and a Movie

This week is devoted to our favorites of the year -- and I've decided to add a movie to mine. (I'm not sure if this is breaking the rules, but I have Blogger at my fingertips and I've gone mad with power!)

There were lots of great books this year, both by my fellow Riskies (who, as we all know, are fabulous writers) and by other folks...but end-of-year time-crunch panic has set in for me (Todd is sick again and I'm picking up the slack with my hey-wait-I'm-lazy-why-are-we-working hands), so I'm just going to talk about a few of them: one book series, and one movie.

My friend Heather (book pusher extraordinaire) turned me on to Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books. And -- wow