Winter activities

The other morning I walked outside and it smelled like spring--damp and mild. Of course it was Mother Nature fooling around, but it has seemed recently, with the slightly longer days, that spring is on its way. So I started thinking about activities that might make spring seem a little nearer.

For the gardeners among us, the catalogues start arriving, to be seized with damp sticky fingers and fondled and pondered. That got me thinking about food--oh, to be honest, when am I not thinking about food--and so I thought I'd check out what was available in the Regency kitchen garden at this time of year. According to Samuel and Sarah Adams, you could have beetroot, broccoli, cabbage plants (as opposed to cabbage, best in May and all summer, and if someone would like to explain that, please do), celery, endive, leeks, parsley, parsnips, potatoes, and spinach (The Complete Servant, 1825). Not too bad--of course availability of many vegetables would depend on what the weather was like and how deep the ground was frozen--England was emerging from a minor ice age (hence the Frost Fair on the frozen Thames in 1814).

The Adamses don't mention tomatoes at all at any time of the year, because the fruit/veg, whatever it is, was regarded with some suspicion in England. Allegedly, Hannah Glass's cookbook of 1758 included a tomato recipe but until the end of the century cooks used them sparingly and mostly for flavoring soups. After all, the plant looked suspiciously like deadly nightshade. Others thought tomatoes might be aphrodisiacs, and the French referred to them as pomme d'amour (love apple). Italians, who adopted the new world oddity with enthusiasm, called them pomi d'oro (golden apple, suggesting that the first varieties to make it to Europe may have been yellow tomatoes).

This gorgeous illustration is of the African tomato from Basil Besler's Hortus Eystettensis (1613)--you can see more of the prints from the work here.

What are you doing to prepare for spring? Are you dreaming of tomatoes or daffodils or beaches?

Roughing it

Right now I’m deep in researching the details of my army brat hero’s background and one of my absolute favorite references is Life in Wellington's Army by Antony Brett-James. It’s just full of the sort of detail that is missed in most history books, much of it gathered from journals and letters of soldiers and officers.

Life in Wellington’s army was no picnic. Read on if you are not too faint of heart…or stomach.

Consider this letter from Charles Napier to his mother: “We are on biscuits full of maggots, and though not a bad soldier, hang me if I can relish maggots.”














Or the story of biscuits (of American make) that were so hard and thick that Lieutenant Wyndham Madden of the 43rd Light Infantry suggested they could turn a bullet aside as he put one in his jacket. “Never was prediction more completely verified,” a fellow officer wrote, “for early in the day the biscuit was shattered to pieces, turning the direction of the bullet from as gallant and true a heart as ever beat under a British uniform.”

(The illustration is "Half Rations" from The Military Adventures of Johnny Newcombe by Rowlandson.)











As for living conditions, when they were not billeted in some village or other, the men often had to sleep in the open. Sometimes they used makeshift tents. In 1813 tents were made general issue but were only a marginal improvement. With twenty soldiers to one tent, it meant, according to Sergeant Cooper, that “none could turn without general consent, and the word ‘turn’ given.” Moreover, in the wintry conditions in the Pyrenees, “mountain gusts and drenching rain tore the wooden pegs out of the mud and left the soldiers to flounder in horrible, enveloping wet folds of canvas.” Brrrr!

(Sketch from The Wheatley Diary.)

I was raised doing all sorts of camping, spending weeks with my family hiking in the Adirondacks or canoeing in the Canadian wilderness. At least we had modern, reasonably waterproof tents. And of course, no maggot-ridden biscuits--although I learned to love Spam while camping. I don’t know how it is—I’ve since tried it at home and found it disgusting!—but frying it over an open fire makes it crispy, salty and delicious beyond words.

Much as I cherish the memory of those family camping trips, now I am married to a man whose idea of roughing it is staying at Day’s Inn rather than Marriott. I still like to hike and canoe, but now our "camping" involves something more like this. Even I have to admit there's something to be said for modern plumbing!

So how about you? What have been your experiences in "roughing it"? Did you enjoy it? Or would you rather just read about it?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB: Mansfield Park (2007)

Welcome to another "meeting" of the Jane Austen Movie Club! This is where like-minded folk gather to discuss, debate, and dissect every adaptation of Jane Austen that we can get our hands on.

Today we're talking about the new adaptation of Mansfield Park.

To aid the discussion, here are the major credits, with a few notes on some of the people involved.



DIRECTOR: Iain B. MacDonald

SCREENPLAY: Maggie Wadey

Maggie Wadey wrote the screenplay for the 1986 (creepy Tilney) adaptation of Northanger Abbey! She also wrote the 1991 Adam Bede and the 1995 Buccaneers.


CAST:

Douglas Hodge -- Sir Thomas Bertram

Maggie O'Neill -- Mrs. Norris

Jemma Redgrave -- Lady Bertram

In case anyone was wondering exactly what the relationships are, Jemma Redgrave is the daughter of Corin Redgrave (who played Sir Walter Elliot in the 1995 Persuasion), the niece of Lynn Redgrave and Vanessa Redgrave, and cousin to Natasha and Joely Richardson.

Billie Piper -- Fanny Price

Billie Piper, of course, is famous for Doctor Who. She also played Sally Lockhart in the adaptation of the Victorian-set Philip Pullman novel The Ruby in the Smoke, and its sequel, The Shadow in the North (which also featured Northanger Abbey's J J Feild).

Blake Ritson -- Edmund Bertram

Does Blake Ritson look familiar? He played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Catherine Steadman -- Julia Bertram

James D'Arcy -- Tom Bertram

James D'Arcy is certainly a familiar face -- he was First Lieutenant Tom Pullings in Master and Commander, Blifil in the 1997 Tom Jones, and Nicholas Nickleby in the 2001 adaptation of the same name.

Michelle Ryan -- Maria Bertram

Michelle Ryan, in case you didn't recognize her face from a million adverts and billboards, is the new Bionic Woman.

Rory Kinnear -- Rushworth

Joseph Morgan -- William Price

Joseph Morgan has played a sailor before -- though his previous character had a less happy outcome. His William Warley, captain of the mizzen-top, didn't end well in Master and Commander.

Hayley Atwell -- Mary Crawford

Hayley Atwell played alongside Billie Piper in The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North.

Joseph Beattie -- Henry Crawford


So...what did you think???

All comments welcome!

Cara
Cara King, who will give a puppy from Pug's next litter to whoever can say what country dances they were doing

An Awful Crush

I have virtually nothing to say today, so I opened one of my (newly rebound)Annual Registers and found this account from June 27, 1811, about what happened when the Prince Regent opened Carlton House to the public to tour the interior. I'm abridging it greatly!

Yesterday being the last day that the public were permitted to view the interior of Carlton-House, the crowd from an early hour in the morning was immense; and as the day advanced, the scene excited additional interest....The gates were only opened at certain intervals and when this was the case, the torrent was to rapid, that many people were taken off their feet, some with their backs toward the entrance, screaming to get out....Lord Yarmouth and the Duke of Gloucester appeared, and announced to the public, that the gates would not be again opened...this, however, had not the desired effect....Those behind irresitstibly pushed on those before, and of the number of delicate and helpless females who were present, some were thrown down, and shocking to relate, literally trod on by those behind without the possibility of being extricated. When at last the crowd got inside of Carlton-House gates, four females were found in a state of insensibility, lying on their backs on the ground, with their clothes almost completely torn off. One young lady, elegantly attired, or rather who had been so, presented a shocking spectacle; she had been trodden on until her face was quite black from strangulation, and every part of her body bruised to such a degree, as to leave little hopes of her recovery: surgical assistance was immediately had, but her life was not expected to be saved. An elderly lady had her leg broken, and was carried away in a chair; and two others were also seriously hurt, but on being bled, were restored to animation....The situation of almost all the ladies who were involved in this terrible rush was truly deplorable; very few of them could leave Carlton-House until furnished with a fresh supply of clothes; they were to be seen all round the gardens, most of them without shoes or gowns; and many almost completely undressed, and their hair hanging about their shoulders....

Can you imagine it?

Now there's an exciting scene for one of our books.

Have you ever been in such a crowd where you feared being trampled? I've been at exhibits that were so crowded you couldn't see what you came to see, but this Carlton-House visit was literally a crush!

Hope you all have a splendid week and that no one trods on you.

Schedule for Jane Austen Movie Club

Just a reminder of the schedule for our "Jane Austen Movie Club" -- where we meet online to discuss adaptations of Jane Austen's works!

(And the occasional Film Of Interest To Austen Junkies.)

All meetings are on Tuesdays.

We always meet the first Tuesday of every month -- plus, we have extra meetings when called for (and PBS's Complete Jane Austen certainly calls for it!)

SCHEDULE

January 29: the new MANSFIELD PARK

February 5: MISS AUSTEN REGRETS

March 3: 1940 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Greer Garson & Laurence Olivier)

April 1: first half of the new SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

April 8: the rest of the new SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

And if you would like to participate in some of our previous discussions, it's not too late! Just click on the link at the bottom of this post that says "Jane Austen Movie Club," and you'll see all of our discussions.

As always, we'd love to hear your opinion!

Cara

A Night at the Opera 1790

So, in the news this week--the Oscar nominations! The nods for Best Costume Design are:

Atonement

La Vie en Rose

Across the Universe

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Sweeney Todd
The only one that really surprised me was Across the Universe. I might have guessed Becoming Jane or maybe Pirates of the Caribbean 3. My personal pick might be Elizabeth, but my crystal ball says Sweeney Todd. As for the other noms--too close to call. :)



In entertainment news in 1790, there was the premier of Mozart's Cos fan tutte.

According to Henry W. Simon's book Festival of Opera, CFT "has been sung under more names than any other opera in history." For example, the Metropolitan has called it Women Are Like That (the translation I've heard the most often). In England, it was once called Tit for Tat. In Denmark, Flight From the Convent, in France The Chinese Laborer (funny--I don't recall convents or Chinese laborers in the story at all!). And in Germany, lots of different things, such as The Girls' Revenge and The Guerillas.



Under whatever name, it had its premier at Vienna's Burgtheater January 26, 1790, with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte and music by Mozart (the two had also collaborated on Le nozze di Figaro, my personal favorite Mozart opera, and on Don Giovanni.) The source of the story is not known, though there is a (probably apocryphal) tale that it was suggested by Emperor Joseph II based on a high society scandal of the day. Whatever the inspiration, the Emperor did commission the work, requesting a comedy. Mozart was paid 450 guldens for it, and it was nearly his last opera (only La clemenza di Tito and Magic Flute, both 1791, are later).

During the 19th century, the plot was considered rather risque and the opera was rarely performed. It's an ostensibly lighthearted look at the twists and turns of romantic love. It begins in a Naples cafe, where two young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, argue with Don Alfonso that their fiancees, the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, would never betray them. Aided by Despina, the sisters' saucy maid, the men hatch an elaborate plot to test the womens' loyalty. They disguise themselves as Turkish soldiers and woo each other's girlfriends, eventually winning over the at-first reluctant sisters. In the end, the disguises are revealed, and all is forgiven--though just how happy such marriages can be is anyone's guess.




At the premier, Adriana Ferrarese and Luisa Villeneuve played the sisters; Francesco Bennuci and Vincenzo Calvesi their lovers; Dorotea Bussani was Despina; and Francesco Bussani Don Alfonso.

So, we have News in Entertainment 2008 and 1790! Which movie do you call for Best Costumes (or any other nominee)? Do you have a favorite opera? And Happy Saturday! (I always do love Saturday...)

Death Wish

I came up with the Driving Plot Force of my next book, Road To Desire, and spilled the details to my friend and fellow Regency author, Myretta Robens. Myretta (who is also a celebrity blogger for PBS when they show Pride And Prejudice!) frequently has to listen as I discuss my plot, or what passes for my plot, when I am figuring out a book.

"Your heroes certainly have a death wish, don't they?" she commented. And it's true: My last hero, Alasdair, wanted to take drugs until he expired; this hero knows he will die as a result of An Action he is Determined to Take. In fact, all the heroes I am considering have a dark edge that may or may not result in their death.

Why? I do wear black most of the time, but I'm not a nihilist. I write romance, for goodness' sake! I think it's because I believe in the inexorable saving grace of love--a force so strong it can bring people back from any brink. And what brink is brinkier than death?!?

In pondering the heroes that made me swoon the most, a lot of them had death wishes, or faux death wishes: Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, most (all?) of Anne Stuart's heroes, and I am sure there are others. What makes that kind of single-minded, determined hero so darn attractive to me? Not sure, but I am set on a course for Death Wish heroes for a long time to come (except for the erotic novella I have in my head; the only death is the "little death" he is planning for the heroine. Heh, heh).

Do you find Death Wish heroes attractive? Who are your favorites?

Mad bad and dangerous to know

As the lovely and talented Keira pointed out yesterday, it was Byron's birthday on Tuesday. (I always remember Byron's birthday because it's my father's birthday too--he just turned 97! Younger than Byron, but not by much.)

So happy birthday, Byron, the ultimate bad boy-- mad bad and dangerous to know as the equally mad bad and dangerous Lady Caroline Lamb, defined him. But heck, the man was HAWWWT.

I blogged a little while ago about this excellent book by Jude Morgan about Byron, Shelley, et al, and I urge you to read it--it's fabulous. (And I've just read Symphony by Jude Morgan, about Berlioz and Harriet Smithson, an amazing book. But I'm saving that for another time .) So I thought we'd celebrate Byron's birthday with some of his quotations--many of which I found at this excellent site, not that there's a shortage of sites about Byron. And throw in a few more pics of him.

I awoke one morning and found myself famous.

I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all.

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.

What men call gallantry, and gods adultery,
Is much more common where the climate's sultry.

The reading or non-reading a book will never keep down a single petticoat.

A woman should never be seen eating or drinking, unless it be lobster salad and Champagne, the only true feminine & becoming viands.

I am about to be married, and am of course in all the misery of a man in pursuit of happiness.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause for breath,
And love itself have rest.

So share your favorite Byron quote, poem, or anecdote. Or tell us how long it would have taken you to enter into a scandalous and public liaison with him (me: ten minutes).

Learn the latest shocking scandal involving Lord B---- every month via the Riskies newsletter; send an email with NEWSLETTER in the header to riskies@yahoo.com. All contests all the time--enter to win a signed copy of Jane Lockwood's Forbidden Shores in a contest sponsored by Pam Rosenthal ; and you only have a week left to read an alternate ending to The Rules of Gentility and enter to win a prize at janetmullany.com.

How much should we care?

Last week, in a new installment to the Cassie Edwards saga, Paul Tolme spoke out at Newsweek about the experience of having words from his Defenders of Wildlife article on black-footed ferrets used as dialogue in a romance novel. He's clearly delighted that the resulting publicity has caused a spike in donations and ferret adoptions. However, he's also upset some romance readers and writers by his use of terms like "trashy romance novel" and "standard romance-novel schlock", for which he has since apologized.

It brings up the question of how much should we care when people mock the romance genre.

I certainly understand those who feel upset about it. Yet I can't personally blame Paul Tolme. How could he resist such material? And he hasn't exactly had a good introduction to the genre, has he? There are just too many people who share this view of romance (some of them even my relatives and friends). I just don't have the energy to be angry with all of them.

What I do think is that too much righteous indignation can make us look foolish. Maybe we should just enjoy what we read and write and not worry about what people think.

But on the other hand, I've met too many women who might enjoy romance and won't even try one, perhaps for fear of being thought foolish or frivolous. Especially if one of them admits to loving Jane Austen and/or the Brontes, I suspect there are romance novels that might appeal to her. If we managed to somehow tap into that market, it could lead to more sales of the sort of books I want to read and write.

So anyway, I do care and have always paid attention to advice coming through RWA and elsewhere on how to improve the image of the romance genre.

Sometimes we are advised to quote statistics (the ones like romance accounts for 50% of mass market fiction sales). Some people will be impressed by the size of the business even if they don't think they'd care for the product. On the other hand, that can be like telling people they should be impressed with McDonald's food because of the X brazillion burgers sold.

The problem is I don't really feel comfortable trying to defend the entire romance genre. Some books are pretty indefensible. The covers are sometimes cheesy. Sometimes the contents are, too. (There are also some pretty cheesy covers on some wonderful books and vice versa, but that's a whole different blog post.) There is usually some truth to any stereotype.

Anyway, I don't think indignation or a blanket endorsement of the genre are the right responses. If someone is rude (like the teen who walked up to me at a bookstore signing and said "Eeeewwww, romance!") I smile and tell her she is entitled to her opinion. If someone is more polite and seems open-minded, I talk about the variety that exists within the romance genre.

I have occasionally tried to "convert" friends to romance. Not that that is the right word, actually. I wouldn't want someone to try to convert me to reading horror, for instance. (Nothing against horror, I enjoyed the one Stephen King novel I read. But it's just not my favorite flavor.) What I'd really like to do is to get more people to try romance.

Last year, I got Julia Ross's THE WICKED LOVER onto my book group's reading list. I thought her use of language and her characterizations would appeal to them. However, most members didn't read it. It could be in part because it was the December book and everyone was busy (no one read the previous December book either and we've since decided to skip the month). But I don't know if it would have flown in any other month.

I'm at peace with that. I can't change the world and I did get one member into romance. She started out with Julia Ross but has moved on to many new authors. I'm happy about that small gain and I'll continue recommending good romance novels--especially those by the Riskies. :)

So how do you feel when people diss romance? Do you think it matters? What do you do about it?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB: Northanger Abbey (2007)

Welcome to another special "meeting" of the Risky Regencies Jane Austen Movie Club!

Today we're discussing the newest version of Northanger Abbey, which aired this Sunday in the US, and last spring in the UK.

We discussed the new Persuasion last Tuesday -- and if you missed the discussion, it's not too late to stop by and add a comment! Opinions on it were mixed, but with few raves, and a fair amount of disappointment (particularly about the run and the kiss at the end).

I suspect, however, that opinions on Northanger Abbey may be a bit different! Can't wait to hear what you all thought of it...

Here are a few pieces of information I found interesting:

This Northanger Abbey was filmed entirely in Ireland.

And, not surprisingly, a lot of the cast are Irish actors doing English accents.

The screenplay is by Andrew Davies, who also scripted the upcoming BBC version of Sense and Sensibility, which will air in the US on March 30 and April 6.

Davies is, of course, the screenwriter for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice (the one with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) and the 1996 Emma (which starred Kate Beckinsale), both of which will be shown on PBS as part of their "Complete Jane Austen." He also did the screenplays for Bridget Jones's Diary, the 1994 Middlemarch, the 1998 miniseries of Vanity Fair, the 2002 Daniel Deronda, and the 2005 Bleak House.

According to imdb.com, Northanger Abbey was played by Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, Ireland.


To aid discussion, here are some of the major credits:

CAST:

Catherine Morland: Felicity Jones

The Voice of Jane Austen: Geraldine James

Mrs. Morland: Julia Dearden

Mr. Morland: Gerry O'Brien

James Morland: Hugh O'Connor

Mr. Allen: Desmond Barrit

Mrs. Allen: Sylvestra Le Touzel

Sylvestra Le Touzel is a Jane Austen veteran, having played Fanny Price in the 1983 BBC miniseries of Mansfield Park. She was also seen as Marianne Thornton in 2006's Amazing Grace.

Henry Tilney: JJ Feild

John Thorpe: William Beck

Mrs. Thorpe: Bernadette McKenna

Eleanor Tilney: Catherine Walker

General Tilney: Liam Cunningham

Capt. Frederick Tilney: Mark Dymond

Isabella Thorpe: Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan is no stranger to Austen either, having played Kitty Bennet in the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice. She was also young Ada in the 2005 miniseries of Bleak House.



SCREENPLAY: Andrew Davies

DIRECTOR: Jon Jones

So....what did you think???

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King, who danced Catherine & Tilney's dance last Saturday at the annual Jane Austen Ball!

Rebinding Old Books

Remember me mentioning my Annual Registers? Annual Registers were compilations of important information of the previous year: world events, politics, news stories, births, deaths, marriages, promotions, even poetry sometimes. I wrote a bit more about them at History Hoydens last week.

When we both were very new Regency authors, my friend Kathryn Caskie called me to say that an antiquarian bookseller had several Annual Registers he was willing to sell, enough for each of us to have a complete set of 1810 to 1820. Was I interested? Was I!!! He sold them for $20 each, which was a bargain for us and a steal for him, because they were in such bad shape he probably would have thrown them away.

Here's what they looked like, covers falling off, binding torn or missing, tape holding them together:
I priced rebinding, but it was much too expensive and I couldn't justify spending more money on these books. They were usable and that was enough for me.

Then my husband's friend came to visit. He's a printer, which I always knew, but I didn't know he was also a bookbinder! He had an old binding device and materials which he gave me with instructions on how to rebind my books!

Today I mustered the courage to give it a try. Here's how I did it.

Step 1. I gathered the materials. (This is my dining room)

Step 2. I removed the old binding (I'm going to use that rolling pin)








Step 3. Next I lined up the cardboard.








Step 4. Then I glued it down and used the rolling pin to press it down and force out all the air bubbles. (This is my second try, using black cardboard)








Step 5. I glued on the inside lining and positioned the binding glue strip.








Step 6. I then placed the pages in the new binding and put it in the machine.











Finished!








I'm a little sad to let the old binding go, especially on the books that have the least damage, but now I'll be able to handle the books without them falling apart and crumbling in my hands and without the pages coming loose.

Have you ever rebound books? Or have you ever taken a chance on doing any kind of craft that you never did before?

(I can't wait until tomorrow and Cara's discussion of Northanger Abbey!)

.

Prom Night!

I don't watch many reality TV shows. I've never gotten sucked into Survivor or American Idol or The Bachelor, but when I do find one I like I tend to get a wee bit obsessed. And the two I love are Dancing With the Stars (sadly not on right now!) and Project Runway. Last week's episode was wondrously fabulous! It involved making prom dresses for picky 17 year olds! Woo hoo!

I didn't agree with the winner or the loser of that challenge, but that was beside the point (though I have to say, honestly Christian, what were you thinking??). The point was designing a beautiful dress that was also age-appropriate, and also pleasing and flattering to the client (even if the client was a bit of a looney). It made me think of my own prom dress, and the terrible angst involved in shopping for it, and finding the right shoes and jewelry and hairdo. And the great joy of talking it over with all my friends every day for a month before the Big Night! (The talking and shopping were actually more fun than the actual prom itself, but that's another story...)

It made me wonder what was out there for today's Prom Girl, so I did a Google search for 'prom dresses.' Here are a few I found, along with various historical figures who might have worn them.


Catherine the Great

Emma Hamilton

Isabella of Spain

Marie Antoinette

Caroline Lamb

Elizabeth I

This one I'm not sure about--who do you think would wear it?

What was your prom like? Did you get your dream dress/date? What would you wear if you were going to prom now???

The Power Of The Internet

Elena blogged about the Cassie Edwards situation earlier this week; the whole kerfuffle came to light because of the internet: The Smart Bitches discussed their opinion of Ms. Edwards' body of work, someone wondered just why it was the way it was, they did some googling, and voila, accusations of plagiarism ensue. It seems quite clear that it would not have happened without the internet. Who would have found those old books and compared them if it meant hours and hours in dusty libraries?

Your opinion of what Ms. Edwards may or may not have done aside, I think this situation, this possibility, is a good thing--transparency of information is fabulous, whether I'm searching for a butternut squash recipe, or want to see 1814 walking gowns, or a Biblical quote for my vicar's daughter to spout during an argument with the hero.

The internet is also an incredible word-of-mouth vessel. For example, a blog-friend, Kristie, has been on a Crusade to get people to watch the BBC version of Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South. I had heard of it from an offline writing friend, but hadn't gotten around to watching it, especially since my local library didn't have it. Thanks to Kristie, who lit a fire under my posterior, I got it from the New York Public Library and watched it this week.

I have to say, thank goodness for the internet. I wouldn't have known about the splendor of North & South, and the compellingly dark charisma of the hero, played by Richard Armitage, without it. Any fan of romance, and history, and alpha-sexy Mr. Broody-Pants-type heroes should try to see it.

In other 'What has the Internet Done For Me?' testify stories, my husband and I are renovating a house right now (fingers crossed: March 1), and we've done TONS of research on the web: Paints, stoves, refrigerators, lighting, building codes, etc. Would we even have a clue about anything without it? Unlikely. Not unless we wanted to spend tons of money on reference books or loads of hours in that same dusty libraries.

I find recommendations for books, food, movies, foxy guys, connect with friends, meet new friends (hi, Kristie! hi, Cindy!), introduce myself and my writing to potential readers, and have made some lasting connections that have escalated beyond the keyboard (hi, Myretta! hi, Tracy!).

And, of course, without the Internet we wouldn't all be gathered here, sharing a love of Regency romances.

What do you love most about the web?

My yearly rant and more of the same...

One of our best-known newspapers wants to do a story for St. Valentine's Day on romance writers' bedrooms. Now it is for the Home section, but even so...read the whole entertaining mess at Smart Bitches.

Why do romance writers (and by implication their readers) suffer so in the media? Why are these stereotypes still around? Can we really keep blaming this pink old lady and her dogs? [insert mental pic of Barbara Cartland and her Pekinese here, because Blogger will not let me do the real thing. Thanks]

Here's my theory. It's the cult of the storyteller. This is why I find the Cassie Edwards/plagiarism case is so richly ironic. It didn't matter that Ms. Edwards's style left something to be desired (to put it mildly) because she was a storyteller. She could spin a tale, tell a story--actually that was debatable--but a lot of people thought so. Somewhere, somehow, a divide developed between those who cared about words and language and those who thought the story mattered the most, when in fact one carries the other.

And now suddenly the words do matter in romance. Unfortunately, they matter because the words in question belonged to someone else.

[mentally insert a fab fairy story illustr