Power to the Dresses and Shoes!

It will be no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I subscribe to way more fashion magazines than are good for me. This year, I have resolved to save money and cut back to just 2 or 3. But which ones? I really ought to cut Vogue. They often have, er, questionable cover model choices (Blake Lively? Really? Don't they know those Gossip Girl clothes are chosen by a wardrobe team???), condescending articles about The Wonders of Shopping at Target (who knew?), and too many socialites no one has ever heard of, yet who Vogue seems to think we should really, really care about. And yet, Vogue, I just can't quit you. Because once in a while you come with a fabulous issue like the new March '09.

I squealed when I opened my mailbox and saw this gorgeous Michelle Obama cover. It makes up for Blake Lively last month. Plus articles about Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Queen Rania of Jordan, and one about English country estates incorporating contemporary art into their gardens (like Sudeley, Lismore, and Houghton Hall. I'm not sure what I think about this, really, after seeing that ridiculous Koons exhibit at Versailles last fall, but the houses look gorgeous...)

The Obama article actually deals very little with fashion, aside from a couple paragraphs and some speculation as to what influence she will have on American style. Obama says, "I love clothes. First and foremost, I wear what I love. That's what women have to focus on: what makes them feel comfortable and beautiful. If I can have any impact, I want women to feel good about themselves and have fun with fashion."

Fashion 'leaders' are nothing new, of course. There was Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, etc. And Marie Antoinette became Queen of France at a very young age, after a long line of dowdy, dusty queens (it was seen as a mistress's job to be fashionable, not a queen's). Caroline Weber, in her great book Marie Antoinette: Queen of Fashion says, "From her earliest days at Versailles, Marie Antoinette staged a revolt against entrenched court etiquette by turning her clothes into defiant expressions of autonomy and prestige." And others followed her lead, even as she shocked with her rebellious innovations. Felix de Montjoie, in his 1797 biography of the queen, said, "By one of those contradictions that are more common in France than anywhere else, even as the people were criticizing the Queen for her outfits, they continued frenetically to imitate her."

She introduced the "pouf" hairstyle, the idea of a 'trendy' color (such as the vividly named 'caca dauphin' when her first son was born), and the frilly muslin 'gaulle' dress and straw hat ("the unofficial uniform of the Petit Trianon," says Weber). She also liked polonaise-style gown, the masculine-tailored redingote and tricorn hat for riding, and shorter trains and smaller panniers even for court life.





In England, queens were also not traditionally looked to for fashion trends. (Not since Elizabeth I, maybe, with her ruffs and white makeup. No one asked Queen Charlotte for style advice, I'm sure!). That was up to ton ladies, especially dashing, charismatic ones like Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Her every outfit, every accessory, was observed and avidly copied (towering plumes, picture hats, colors like "Devonshire brown"). The gaulle caught on in England when Marie Antoinette made a present of one to Georgiana (which she then wore to a ball given by the Prince of Wales, setting off a furor). The Lady's Magazine wrote, "all the Fair Sex now, from 15 to 50 and upwards...appear in their white muslin frocks with broad sashes."

In 1785, a purveyor of perfumes and toiletries advertised he had 'just imported a quantity of curious, beautiful, and sweet Powder a la Duchesse, or Devonshire Powder.' In 1786, a scandal ensued when one of her dressmakers sold drawings to several ladies, supposedly of Georgiana's latest gowns. Imagine the horror when they all showed up at a ball in the same gown--and Georgiana in something else entirely!

She was, like Marie Antoinette, not shy about using fashion in the service of politics. She often wore the Foxite "blue and buff", especially when on the campaign trail. During the first Regency crisis, she and her friends donned a 'Regency cap' designed after the Prince of Wales crest with three feathers.

There could, of course, be a post days long on the crazy fashions of Marie Antoinette and Georgiana! I'm only grateful now that Michelle Obama tends toward sleeveless dresses as a trend and not poufs. But what do you think? Who are some of your favorite Fashion Icons? (I like Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel).

And be sure and check out my Oscar picks here, and don't forget to become a 'fan' of Risky Regencies on Facebook! Happy weekend, everyone...

Motivational Speaker

It's a perpetual problem for me, and I suspect for most of us, staying motivated. Especially since I have no deadline except for a self-imposed one. Which is a roundabout way of saying I know I've blogged about this before, but it is something that surfaces often:

How can I maintain a writing schedule and discipline, especially when things--MI-5, the recession, my son's homework, ironing the Dandy Spouse's shirts, going to the gym, etc.--all serve to distract me from writing?

Right now, I am sitting in my friend Liz Maverick's apartment, having made a Writing Date with her. That is one way for me to write, if I schedule it in; another way is to remind myself that while I am not published now, the only way for me to have that possibility is to generate new writing (my agent, btw, is still out with my Regency-set historical, but things are moving slowly, so it's not completely a dead ms. Whew for me).

Another way to motivate myself is through rewards: If I write this chapter, I can justify spending money and time on novels. If I don't keep writing, I'll just be wasting my time and money on a passion I can ill afford.

Plus Spring always makes me cheery, and today is a particularly beautiful day in New York City.

So now? I am going back to writing. Let me know how you stay motivated for whatever you do.

Megan

Escape of the Corsican Monster

On this day in 1815, Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba, where he'd been exiled for just under a year, set sail for France, and in one of those unexpected twists of history, returned to power. No one's quite sure how he managed to escape, but Napoleon was a man of great energy and industry, and although contemporary cartoons depict him as a disconsolate exile on a rocky island, that was artistic license. His exile gave rise to this palidrome--able was I ere I saw Elba.

Now one of the many differences between the rest of us and the Corsican Monster is that if we were living in a castle in this sort of scenery, we'd grit our teeth and stay put. But not Napoleon. Apart from plotting his escape, he was quite busy as Emperor of Elba, carrying out social and economic reforms. He had a personal escort of 1,000 men, a household staff, and 110,000 subjects.

It was a time of great misery for Napoleon, the man who'd once had almost all of Europe at his feet. The Treaty of Fontainbleu, which appointed him Emperor of Elba, also sent his wife and son to Vienna. Napoloen was so distraught he attempted to commit suicide with a vial of poison he carried, but the poison was old and only made him sick. Shortly after his arrival, he learned of the death of the former Empress Josephine.

It's possible his English guardians on the island aided, or at least turned a blind eye to, Napoleon's escape plans. The restored French monarchy was proving unsatisfactory, which meant that once again the balance of power in Europe was threatened. This is discussed in this fascinating article, A Sympathetic Ear: Napoleon, Elba, and the British, which also explores the phenomenon of Napoleon as tourist trap.

British seamen proved to be keen visitors. Indeed, Napoleon had embarked for Elba on April 28th, aboard the frigate HMS Undaunted, whose captain, Thomas Ussher, wrote home on May 1st: 'It has fallen to my extraordinary lot to be the gaolor of the instrument of the misery Europe has so long endured'. By the end of the month, the man whom Ussher could not even bring himself to name had become his 'bon ami', and had given him 2,000 bottles of wine, and a diamond encrusted snuffbox. In return Ussher presented Napoleon with a barge, which he flatteringly reserved for his own exclusive use.

Napoleon landed in Cannes on March 1 and declared:

I am the sovereign of the Island of Elba, and have come with six hundred men to attack the King of France and his six hundred thousand soldiers. I shall conquer this kingdom.

As he progressed through France, soldiers sent to attack him instead joined him, so that he made a triumphant return into Paris on March 20. There's a great first-hand account of his arrival here.

I'm over at the History Hoydens today talking about the French invasion of Fishguard in Wales, a fascinating but fairly obscure event, and it brings to mind similar thoughts. We have the popular image of Napoleon brooding alone on his rocky island, when in fact he was as busy as ever, planning his escape and probably with British collusion.

So why do you think some historical legends persist and others are forgotten?

Would you have gone to visit Napoleon on Elba?

Heroine of the Battle of Salamanca by Delle Jacobs

Good morning, everyone! It's always such a delight to be a Risky for a Day.

You might know I've started my own blog called "In Search of Heroes," and I'm having alot of fun with it- the way I look at it, everything related to reading and writing romance is the search for the hero. Today reinforces my theory because today, my hero is a woman, Susanna Dalton Dalbiac, the Heroine of the Battle of Salamanca..

Susanna was born in 1787 and married James Charles Dalbiac, who had joined the 4th Light Dragoons as a cornet in 1797 and made them his lifelong career. Charles joined the Portugal campaign in April 1809, and when he fell ill of a fever, Susanna rushed to his side to nurse him,
and thereafter stayed with him.

According to William Napier, "This gentle lady has followed her husband through two whole campaigns in the Spanish Peninsula. She has been by his side in every danger- in every vicissitude she has borne her loving share. In all the thrilling movements of the past few days she has ridden close to her husband's regiment. Again and again has he urged her to seek security but as often she has refused to leave him."

On the night before the Battle of Salamanca, Susanna and her husband slept beneath the stars, she wrapped in his greatcoat, when a thunderstorm struck, stampeding the terrified cavalry horses. Charles snatched up his wife to safety atop some artillery pieces, and he climbed up after her, but there were many of the dragoons who were trampled, Thirty horses were still missing the next morning.

Despite such an inauspicious start to the day, Wellington found the advantage he needed in the audacious mistake of his counterpart, Marmont, who thought he was seizing an opportunity to outflank the British-Portuguese Army. But he didn't know Wellington had judiciously hidden Pakenham's 3rd Division behind the hill, at an angle to the main force, the very place where Marmont's troops hurried to attack and turn the British flank. As the French over-extended themselves to trap their foe, Pakenham lunged, cutting off a good part of the French forces. Then
Le Marchant's Heavy Cavalry came at the enemy in a wild and brutal assault that left the French in ruins and their commander, Thomieres, dead..

The 4th Light Dragoons were a part of Le Marchant's assault, and Susanna rode after them. As described by Major Elliott, "The cannon shot of the enemy flew past her, the French shells burst all around. Leaden bullets pierced her riding habit in many places.. . The cavalry trumpets rang
out an order, the horses broke into a rapid trot, she drew aside her horse, for she knew that a desperate charge was at that moment to be delivered."

As the cavalry rode into their own cloud of dust, Susanna spotted a color guard with an arm wound gushing blood, and she bandaged it and gave him wine from her flask. From then on, she raced about from one wounded man to another offering aid, and when her wine was gone, she
bent to a stream to refill her flask, bullets flying all around her and splashing water in her face.

It was many hours later, hunting through the thousands of dead, dying and wounded, not knowing if he lived or had died, before she finally caught up with her husband again, and they embraced on the battlefield. "As the regiment was dismissed from its ranks, all its remaining men gathered around the brave lady with demonstrations of deepest admiration and respect."

Susanna stayed with her husband until they returned to England, and never returned to the campaign again. In 1814, she gave birth to her daughter, Susanna Stephania Dalbiac, who later married the Scottish Duke of Roxburgh. Many years later, Charles spoke of his wife, "Of this
incomparable wife I will only add that a mind of the most refined cast, and with the frame of body alas too delicate she was, when in the field, a stranger to personal fear."

In looking for pictures of Susanna, I could find nothing at all. Then I came upon a family genealogy site which showed a picture of her husband James Charles Dalbiac, in his later years, still in uniform, and one of her daughter. But there's something wrong with that photo. Most of you can probably spot it quickly. The young woman in the photo- probably a photo of a painting- is wearing a dress of the very late 18th or very early 19th Century, when the elder Susanna would have been a young woman. The younger Susanna was not born when this style was in
fashion. So I think the similarity of names fooled someone, and likely the younger Susanna's husband was better known.

There's another reason I believe this photo is of Susanna Dalton Dalbiac. When I look at her as a young woman, and at Charles as an older man, there's just something in their faces. These two were married to each other, don't you agree?
--
Delle Jacobs
SINS OF THE HEART
ADVENTURE as rich as gold * LOVE as delicious as chocolate
www.dellejacobs.com

Jane Austen's Oscar Nominees

In all the rampant Oscar coverage, I'm shocked that no journalist unearthed the fact that the early versions of all five of this year's Best Picture nominees were actually written by Jane Austen!

There. You didn't know it either, did you?

What -- you don't believe me?

Here, as proof, are excerpts from all five:


Jane Austen's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

No one who had ever seen this slumdog in his infancy would have supposed him born to be a millionaire. His situation in life, the poverty of his father and mother, his predatory elder brother, were all equally against him. He was fond of all boy's plays, and greatly preferred cricket not merely to reading, but even to life itself--for how else might one explain his unaccountable attachment to bowling at the wicket even in the face of rapidly descending airships? His school was three months in teaching him the names of two of the musketeers, but he never was able to remember the third, for he was often inattentive, and occasionally lured by an award-winning soundtrack into running through the streets of Mumbai during school hours.


Jane Austen's BENJAMIN BUTTON

Daisy, who could not think a man only a few years older than herself so exceedingly ancient as he appeared to the fancy of certain in the room, ventured to clear Grandma Fuller from the probability of wishing to throw ridicule on his age.

"But at least, Grandmamma, you cannot deny the absurdity of the accusation, though you may not think it intentionally ill-natured. Benjamin Button is certainly older than I am, but he is young enough to be my brother. It is too ridiculous! When is a man to be safe from such wit, if youth and vigor will not protect him?"

"Vigor!" said her grandmother, "do you call Benjamin Button vigorous? I can easily suppose that his age may appear much less to you than to one my age; but you can hardly deceive yourself as to his having the use of his limbs! Did not you hear him complain of the rheumatism? and is not that the commonest infirmity of declining life?"

"Grandmamma, you are not doing me justice. You know very well that Benjamin Button is not old enough to make his friends yet apprehensive of losing him in the course of nature. He may live twenty years longer."


Jane Austen's MILK

Harvey Milk ascended the podium and began speaking. "There is one thing," said he, "which a man can always do, if he chuses, and that is, his duty; not by manoeuvring and finessing, but by vigour and resolution. It is the duty of any American to enter a vote in favour of equal rights. He knows it to be so; and if he wished to do it, it might be done. A man who felt rightly would act at once, simply and resolutely, within the ballot box, as well as without."


Jane Austen's FROST/NIXON

Mr. Frost gazed steadily at his companion. "I say again, Mr. Nixon--Did you see what happened to the missing eighteen minutes? And do you feel in your heart any degree of shame or regret for committing actions which were not in complete accordance with legal statute?"

"And now that I understand your question," cried Mr. Nixon, "I must pronounce it to be a very unfair one. It is always the president's right to decide on the degree of erasure of any secret record. John Dean must already have given his account.-- I shall not commit myself by claiming more than he may chuse to allow."

"Upon my word! you answer as discreetly as G. Gordon Liddy could do himself. But his account of every thing leaves so much to be guessed, he is so very reserved, so very unwilling to give the least information about any body, that I really think you must say more than you have so far."

"Must I, indeed?" exclaimed Mr. Nixon. "Then I will speak the truth, and nothing suits me so well. The truth, my dear Mr. Frost, is that if the president does it, it cannot with literal truth be said to be in actual violation of the law."

Mr Frost's handsome face betrayed surprise. After a moment, he said quietly, "Excuse me?"

"Do I shock you?"

"No," said Mr. Frost in some embarrassment. "I simply have no idea what you just said."


Jane Austen's THE READER

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a good figure, must be in want of a young, skinny, inexperienced lover.

However little known the feelings or views of such a woman may be on her first meeting any teen boys, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the boys (if, indeed, such creatures can be said to have minds at all), that she is considered the rightful property of some one or other of them.

"My dear beautiful blonde mystery woman," said one such skinny teenager, "have you heard that I am available to have an intimate liaison?"

The blonde woman replied that she had not.

"But I am," returned he; "and I can offer you all the benefits of a regular love affaire except for skill, experience, clever conversation, or any knowledge of the world."


There you have it! The scoop of the year!

And you saw it here first -- on Risky Regencies. (And if you want to read Jane Austen's versions of STAR TREK, DARK KNIGHT, and more, just click on the "Austen Trek" link at the bottom of this post!)


Cara
Cara King, who was also written by Jane Austen

Winner of Sophia Nash's Love With A Perfect Scoundrel

The Winner of Love With A Perfect Scoundrel is......
Margie!

Email us at riskies@yahoo.com and give us your address.

The Riskies

Gaming Counters

(I'll leave the Academy Award Blog to Amanda, but just gotta say--Is there anything Hugh Jackman can't do????)


Last week my friends Mary Blayney, Julie Halperson, Lavinia Kent, and I finally got together for our Christmas dinner--(we were all very busy)

This was my gift to each of them. It is The Jane Austen Centre's eco-friendly shopping bag. You can order one of your own, or any number of lovely things here.

This is what Lavinia gave me:

Gaming Counters from the 19th Century! What our Regency heroes and heroines gambled with, like we would gamble with poker chips.

It was the fashion in the mid-1700s -1800s to use these small (that's a US quarter to give you an idea of size) mother-of-pearl chips for gambling, or even friendly games of cards. The chips came from China, through the East India Company. Each is carved and each have a Chinese scene on them. Here is a nice little history of the Chinese gaming counters.

And here is a good image of two counters and the kind of detail that are on them.












The gaming counters came in a variety of shapes, some like fish.

These are what Lydia Bennett meant in Pride & Prejudice, when she talked "incessantly of lottery tickets, of the fish she had lost and the fish she had won..."

You can win this set of counters on ebay.

Some of you know Lavinia. She was a 2008 Golden Heart Finalist and has been a GH finalist a bunch of times. Her GH entry, A Talent for Sin, sold to Avon and will be released in May!! She'll be our Risky Regency guest author when the book is released.

Do you like to play cards? What is your favorite card or board or computer game?
Do you like eco-friendly bags? Do you use them at the grocery store?
Have you found something Hugh Jackman can't do?

Visit Diane's website to learn about her April Undone, The Unlacing of Miss Leigh, and her April Novella, Justine and the Noble Viscount, in The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor.
Diane is also blogging today at Wet Noodle Posse about "Writing Love Scenes from Real Life"

Sophia Nash is here!

Nash's vibrant, fresh storytelling sparkles as she tells the tale of a woman's secret desires and the man who can make them all come true. Here's a fantastic story you'll want to go on forever! --Romantic Time BOOKreviews 4 1/2 stars for Love With A Proper Scoundrel

Let's give a warm Riskies' welcome to my friend, Sophia Nash. I knew Sophia even before she became an award-winning Regency Romance author, and I'm delighted she's visiting us today. Sophia writes for AVON and she's here to talk about Book 3 in her Widows Club series. Sophia is also giving away a signed copy of Love With A Proper Scoundrel to one lucky commenter.---Diane


1. Tell us about Love With A Perfect Scoundrel.
This is the third book in the series I've had a wickedly fun time creating for Avon.
Here is the back cover blurb:
Twice jilted in the last two years, the achingly beautiful yet stoic Grace, Countess of Sheffield has given up on love. Now she's no longer capable of maintaining the elegant, serene facade with the members of the Duchess of Helston's secret circle of friends. And so she flees… only to encounter wretched disaster during the carriage ride north.
But little does Grace know that once she faces all fate has tossed her way, she will find a new life…with a tall, rugged stranger who not only saves her life but forces her to dig deep into her hidden reserves of desire and fortitude to blossom into the woman she was destined to become—a lady willing to sacrifice all for a mysterious, yet powerful man who insists he is nothing more than a perfect scoundrel.

2. How did you think of writing this particular book? Did it start with a character, a setting, or some other element?

It started with a character--Grace Sheffey. Many readers wrote in and demanded that this poor woman have her own happily ever after after the first two books. She was a challenge to write because after horrid endings for her in the first two books, she was very unsure of herself. So right away I put her in a situation where she had no choice but to prove how strong she was under her elegant facade. And the hero? Well, Michael Ranier is my very favorite hero I've ever created--enough said.

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

Absolutely-- the plot! While the characters were firmly fixed in my head early on, the overall plot was more elusive. Luckily I had planned a research trip to England months before. After driving 1,200 miles through a gazillion hair-raising roundabouts, I arrived in Derbyshire--right into the teeth of a freak snowstorm. And I wondered....what if Grace Sheffey got caught in a blizzard in Derbyshire? A hundred scenes popped into my head and a story was born.

4. What do you think is the greatest creative risk you've taken in this book? How do you feel about it?

I remember one of my favorite authors suggesting a long time ago that it was very difficult to have only two characters in a story. And she was right. But I wanted to delve deep into the psyches of two strangers cocooned in the middle of nowhere together. I have to say that I really loved writing this part of the book. The extraordinary chemistry between the hero/heroine made it easier than I had imagined. The tricky part was weaving in bits and pieces of the mysteries and secrets of Grace and Michael along the way.
Can you tell I loved writing this book? It's not always that way. I will admit that The Kiss gave me ALOT of sleepless nights!

5. Your books have won an incredible number of awards in the relatively few years (in publishing years) that you’ve been writing, including the biggest of all, the RITA. What has this been like for you?

Well, while the initial glow of winning an award is lovely, I've also learned not to take any of it seriously. Author Anne Lamott wrote something like, "whenever the world throws rose petals at you, beware the cosmic banana peel right behind." I've found this to be dead on. Right after the RITA and having a book named "Top Ten Romance of the Year" by Booklist the Signet Regency line closed, I struggled with a proposal that flopped, changed agents, wrote a new proposal, etc. ad nauseum before FINALLY, my stories found a new home.
And of course the opposit is true re my Banana Peel View on winning awards: All the writers watching the winners crying on stage are the ones with the last laugh since they're the ones being offered the "significant" deals, right?

5. You’ve also had a variety of exciting careers, from news producer to Capitol Hill speech writer to Executive Director of the Washington International Horse Show. Why in the world did you become a Romance Writer? And how does writing Regency Romance compare?

The reason I turned to writing is a very sad story. My father, a WWII war hero and the most avid reader I’ve ever known, had always talked about the idea of one of us writing a novel. During the last stage of an illness, he made me promise to write a book because he said life was too short and he knew I secretly wanted to write. So I I forced myself to write a terrifyingly bad first draft of A Secret Passion. My father edited the first few chapters and I gave him my word before he died that I would see it through. Needless to say it is dedicated to him. Which of my jobs did I like best? Writing will always be my first love, although the nightly adreneline rush of the Miami newsroom was great. It was kind of like boot camp with alot of hairspray and duct tape.

6. What’s next for you?

An anthology: Four Dukes and a Devil arrives on book shelves this coming July. And then the final book in the Widows Club quartet, which I'm currently writing. Although...there might be another widow or other liar lurking about in mourning if the powers that be have a say...

Here's your chance to ask Sophia a question. Or simply make a comment. You'll be in the running for her prize, Love With A Proper Scoundrel
Thanks for blogging with us today, Sophia!

Independent Characters and Other Nuisances

Happy Saturday, everyone! I am off to our annual Friends of the Library book sale this morning (500,000 books all piled up, just waiting for me! And super-cheap, too). But first, a couple items. I've been doing research this week on 18th century fashions, and posted some of the gorgeous images on my own blog. And I've finally set up my own Facebook page, so "friend" me, if I haven't already tracked you down! And I just added a Risky Regencies page yesterday, so while you're at it come and sign on as a Fan...

And, of course, tomorrow is the Oscars. My predictions--Actress, Winslet (she is way past due!); Actor, Penn (maybe Rourke); Supporting Actress, Cruz, the only really good thing in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, except Barcelona itself (or maybe Davis--she only had one scene in Doubt, but it was an amazing one); Supporting Actor, Ledger; Picture, Slumdog Millionaire (a good movie, IMO, but not a great one, not a Best Picture for the Ages, but still the best of this lackluster line-up). And Costumes, I'm going to guess The Duchess.

Plus Hugh Jackman is the host. I would watch for that if nothing else.


Now on to today's RR topic! A few weeks ago, Julia Justiss guest-blogged about smugglers. I've never written a book featuring smugglers, though I've thought about it. But I do love me some anti-authority characters, both as a reader and a writer (and in real-life historical figures, too!). I'm always attracted to characters who follow their own natures and hearts, even when it has the potential to get them into trouble. Who refuse to conform, to compromise their own essential characters.

At the moment, I'm wrestling with this in my WIP. It's the first book in my "Irish trilogy" (out from Grand Central Publishing in February 2010!), set amidst the 1798 United Irishmen uprising. In this story, it's my heroine, Eliza, who is anti-authority--despite being a countess (and thus not really "outsider," as Megan talked about yesterday), she believes fervently in Irish independence, and has been writing "seditious" pamphlets and aiding fugitives. Back into her life comes her girlhood sweetheart, William, the gorgeous man she never forgot. But he is a major in the British Army. He sees the injustices of life in Ireland, but believes they can only be solved from the "inside," reforming politics--not overthrowing it, as Eliza and her friends think. Neither will budge--which will prevail? (And when will they stop being stubborn and do what I tell them???)

Any which way, the dilemmas of these two strong people have me tied up in writing knots...

Who are some of your favorite anti-authority characters? (Or types--smugglers, pirates, rebels, bluestockings?). Any Oscar predictions or favorites? And now I am off to book-shop, yay! I will let you know if I make any great finds today.

Race Relations

Is everybody in the world sick with the flu? Or does it only seem like that?

Anyhoo, when our house hasn't been running through tissues like a bunch of softies watching Terms of Endearment, I've been revising my super-racy, not-quite-erotic novella. It takes place in Paris in 1831, and its hero is a Free Person of Color.

The first inspiration for him was Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January, a free man of color in New Orleans around the same era. January spent many years in Paris, enjoying freedoms unknown to persons of color in America. But in figuring out how my guy ended up in France, I had to research how persons of color became freed in the slave era. Like January, Fortune--my hero--had been freed by his owner. Unlike January, however, he was freed only at his owner's death, a former placee [a woman of color who entered into a legal contract with a white man to be his official mistress] who had a sizeable fortune and owned property in New Orleans.

[I originally wanted my hero's former owner to be Haitian, but it was a more direct route from New Orleans to Paris; but do check out the history of the first successful slave revolt in Haiti here. Really cool.]

There are a few examples of such a woman, including Eulalie de Mandeville, whose white lover married her at his deathbed and left her his entire fortune, which was upheld even though his white relatives contested the will. Another such example is Rosette Rochon, who took what her various white lovers bestowed upon her and speculated in real estate, entered in money-lending and bought and sold mortgages, among other things. She died at age 96, still illiterate, with a fortune valued at about a million dollars in current valuation.

It's been interesting, as a white twentieth century woman, to navigate the delicate balance of race relations in France in the nineteenth century. I have to admit, moreover, that my first draft didn't take that into account, so I am revising with an eye to that.

Hambly describes January's constant concern that he be taken and sold as a slave, despite being freed. He carries one set of papers at all times showing his status, but keeps another set in a secure spot in case the first set doesn't suffice. My hero is equally uncertain as to how he will be treated, and he carries that awareness of race with him, no matter how much money is in his pocket.

One of my favorite themes, both in reading and in writing, is the outsider, and Fortune is the epitome of that: An educated, dark person of color living in a white world with resources but without ever quite belonging.

Do you like reading outsider stories? Do you have favorite outsider heroes or heroines? And would you think this kind of story too risky for a romance?

Blue Thursday

So what is Prussian blue?

You can read a fairly technical description at Wikipedia or a slightly less daunting description at painting.about.com, but briefly it was a synthetic pigment first discovered by accident in Berlin in 1704 by the chemist and paintmaker Heinrich Diesbach and alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel; it was Dippel who was responsible for providing Diesbach with contaminated potash while he was trying to create a red pigment. Dippel, I guess, was probably trying to turn some unlikely substance into gold.

Previously, the only way to get a vivid blue was to use ground lapis lazuli, expensive and rare, which is one of the reasons the color blue has powerful religious symbolism, the color of the sky and of the Virgin Mary's robes. Prussian blue quickly became the first, easily available commercial blue color, used in paint and fabric, the "greatest hit" color of the eighteenth century, and one of its first commercial uses was for the uniforms of the Prussian army.

It quickly caught on as a popular color for house interiors. The bright blue showed off elaborate plaster ceilings to great effect. This is the drawing room at Kenmore in Fredericksburg, VA, where George Washington's sister Betty lived (and which reopens after restoration on March 1). This is Prussian blue mixed with yellow ochre, to give the "in your face" shade so popular at that time.

Here's painting underway at Montpelier, VA, the home of James Madison, which reopened after major restoration last year. The original Prussian Blue, applied in 1775, lasted until 1844, when the last of the Madison line sold the house--the durability and resistance to staining or fading of the color was another reason for its popularity. I blogged about visiting Montpelier while it was under restoration in 2007 and I'm hoping to go back and see the finished product soon (and blog about it!).

These gorgeous, restored blue doors are from the Temple of Concord and Victory at Stowe House, UK. The building of the temple was started by Lord Cobham in the mid eighteenth century, with James Gibbs, architect of St-Martin-in-the-Fields and other famous buildings. In the great tradition of aristocrat dabblers, Cobham's descendants messed with the design. Below, left, is Stowe, and the restored temple to the right.














For more about the color blue, read this wonderful book by Michel Pastoureau.

If you're interested in historic interior design or restoration, visit adelphipaperhangings.com where you can look at before and after restoration pictures of early wallpapers. Wallpapers deserve their very own post, which I'll probably do at some time.

Have you visited any historic sites recently, or any sites where restoration is underway? Or what places would you like to visit?

Elizabeth K. Mahon Guests On Lady Emma Hamilton!

This Wednesday, we welcome guest blogger Elizabeth K. Mahon, who writes the Scandalous Women blog, covering women of repute throughout the ages. In addition to that, Elizabeth is the past President of RWA-NYC, a former actress, the consummate New Yorker, and a woman who wears the most incredible shoes.

Welcome, Elizabeth!


I’m thrilled and excited to be here at the Risky Regencies today. I write about Scandalous Women, and one of my favorites is Emma Hamilton and her love affair with Horatio Nelson. The film That Hamilton Woman, starring real life lovers Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh at the height of their beauty and fame, was my first introduction to their story (How crushed was I when I realized that the real Lord Nelson looked nothing like Olivier). Nelson and Emma’s rise to fame neatly coincided with the rise of the tabloid press in Britain. Their affair was not just the talk of Britain, but France and Italy as well. England’s Hero and England’s Mistress coming together seemed designed to sell newspapers and magazines. Not since Antony and Cleopatra had the world seen anything like it. Their romance was a publicist’s dream come true.

Maid, wardrobe mistress, celestial goddess, courtesan, artist's model, fashion icon, and ambassadress, Emma Hamilton had lived more lives by the time she met Nelson than most women do in a lifetime. Born to a dirt poor family, she started life as plain Amy Lyon on April 26, 1765 in Ness, a small village twelve miles from Liverpool. By the time she was twelve, young Amy was on her way to London to find work as a maid.

By the age of seventeen, Emma had found her first protector--Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh, a spoiled young squire. The relationship lasted until Emma found herself pregnant with his child whom she named Emma. Sir Harry refused to acknowledge the child as his, kicking Emma to the curb. But she had already met her next protector, Charles Greville. Now calling herself Emma Hart, she began to pose for the great artists of the day including George Romney and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Soon prints of her portraits were available everywhere, making her an 18th century sex symbol. Emma had the type of beauty that transcends time and fashion. Looking at her portraits, one sees a young woman who radiates on the surface an innocent sensuality but with a slightly knowing look in her eye. When Greville began to tire of her, he passed her on to his uncle Sir William Hamilton who had long been the ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples.

At first upset to learn that she was being treated like a hand-me down sweater, Emma soon realized the opportunity she had been given. Always anxious to please, she made herself indispensable to Sir William, fussing over him when he was sick, learning to speak French and Italian, and taking singing and dancing lessons. Entertaining English visitors and foreign guests with her ‘Attitudes,’ Emma soon found herself the toast of Naples. She became a confidante of the Queen, Maria Carolina, and cultivated the friendship of celebrities like the Duchess of Devonshire. After several years as his mistress, Sir William and Emma were secretly married, probably around 1791.

In late 1798 Emma and Nelson met again. They had met briefly in 1793 when he was plain Captain Nelson. Now he was the hero of the Battle of the Nile and Emma was determined that Nelson would fall in love with her. Not only would it be her crowning achievement but it would catapult her onto the world stage. Before he’d even arrived, she’d primed him by writing a passionate fan letter to him. ‘How shall I begin? It is impossible to write….I am delirious with joy and assure I have a fervour caused by agitation and pleasure.’ When he arrived at the docks to a hero's welcome, Emma threw herself into his one arm, weeping. She flattered him; threw huge parties in his honor, and went out of her way to make friends with his step-son Josiah. Not exactly a dreamboat, Nelson was less than five foot six, scrawny, weather-beaten, with one good eye and arm. It was a dream come true that this beautiful woman found him exciting.

In Emma, it seemed he’d found his ideal woman. Like her, Nelson was a self-made man, ambitious, headstrong, longing for fame and riches. Born to a country rector, he joined the navy at the age of 12 as a midshipman. Married to a widow with a young son, the marriage floundered when it became apparent that there would be no children and that she wasn’t the great heiress he’d assumed she was. Before Emma and Nelson were lovers in truth, everyone was gossiping about the two. Nelson was so in love that he was soon neglecting his duties, reluctant to leave his mistress. Sir William turned a blind eye to the relationship between Nelson and his wife. He was fond of him, and was probably happy to have someone else entertain his energetic young wife. All of London was buzzing about the scandalous affair; caricatures soon appeared in the print shops depicting the relationship.

Emma determined to give Nelson the one thing that his wife couldn’t give him, a child, preferably a son. During her pregnancy, she started a fashion craze for what was essentially a maternity dress. In January 1801, she was granted her wish, when she gave birth to Nelson’s daughter whom she named Horatia. The idyll ended with Nelson’s death in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar. Emma had already lost Sir William in 1803, but Nelson’s death sent her into despair.

She was also deeply in debt. Emma had always lived beyond her means, and now with limited funds from Sir William’s estate, she was hard pressed. Despite Nelson’s dying wish that the nation should take care of his mistress, no money was ever forthcoming. For the next several years Emma tried to keep up appearances, giving lavish parties for her friends. She was also supporting several of Nelson’s relatives as well as her own poor relations. Three years after his death, she owed thousands of pounds to a host of creditors. Soon she was forced to sell Merton, the home she had shared with Nelson and many other mementoes of their life together.

A wiser woman would have quickly tried to find another husband or at least a protector. But when one has been the beloved of one of the greatest heroes England had ever known, how could any mortal man compete? Emma finally fled to Calais in 1814 to escape her creditors. By now her health was ruined from too much rich wine and food, and she also might have caught a parasite. Racked with pain, and tended by her teenage daughter Horatia, Emma died on January 15, 1815. She is buried in Calais, far from her lover Nelson. Their daughter Horatia married a clergyman and had eight children. Although she was happy to claim Lord Nelson as her father, until her death, Horatia refused to believe that Emma was her mother.

Emma’s story continues to fascinate because it is a story about ambition and heartbreak, love and pain. She rose from the depths of poverty to the heights of fame and fortune, only to end up back where she started. Her childhood had left her ambitious, and hungry for the limelight, but it was a hunger that could never be appeased. Emma always wanted more. Like Icarus in the Greek myth, perhaps she flew too high.

Thanks, Elizabeth! Please visit Elizabeth's blog Scandalous Women to read more about other fascinating ladies.

What's your favorite historical true-life romances? What movie or book got you first intrigued about the period, like That Hamilton Woman did for Elizabeth?

Brain Reboot needed

Sorry for the late post!

My brain has been offline since sometime yesterday evening.

I need a massive reboot.

Any suggestions? So far I've tried sleep and tea...

(Hence the picture here of tea! I'm massively creative today. Obviously.)



And don't forget...

on the first Tuesday of March...

we'll be discussing the Anthony Andrews SCARLET PIMPERNEL!

So please join us...


Cara
Cara King, who can't think up anything clever for her sig line either

Regency Military Organization

Last night as I was plugging along on my revisions, I discovered AN ERROR, one I could not ignore, even though maybe only about two readers would recognize the error.

From the beginning of this book, my villain was a general in the British army and his son, the mini-villain, was his cowardly aide de camp. I thought I was so lucky because I put him in charge of a regiment, the Royal Scots (1st Regiment of Foot), while my hero was in the East Essex (44th Regiment) and they both fought at the battles I needed them to, including Waterloo.

A couple of days ago I also discovered that these two regiments fought at Quatre Bras as well as Waterloo AND they were in the same brigade. This fit perfectly with some changes I'd decided to make.

Then last night I noticed something. The real commanders of the regiments were all colonels. After about two hours of searching the internet and my dozens of Napoleonic War books, I verified that, indeed, colonels commanded regiments, not generals, and colonels do not have aids de camp. (I also phoned my friend Eugene Ossa who knew all this stuff off the top of his head)

So I had to revamp a few things and go through the whole manuscript to make sure I fixed everything.

Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night....

This is what I learned.
Armies were made up of Divisions (and Artillery, but that's a whole different ballgame)
Divisions were made up of Brigades
Brigades were made up of Regiments
Regiments were made up of Companies.

Armies were led by important people, like Wellington, called Field Marshall Wellington in this battle.
Divisions were commanded by Lieutenant Generals
Brigades were commanded by Major Generals (inferior in rank to Lt. Generals)
Regiments were commanded by Colonels, assisted by Majors.
Companies were commanded by Captains, assisted by Lieutenants.

Of course, each regiment had surgeons, bandsmen, clergy, a paymaster, but I didn't need to know that to solve my problem.

I sent my manuscript on time, then got permission to go through it one more time, just to polish the prose (and hope that I don't discover another ERROR)

But first I'm going to sleep.....


So...has this ever happened to you?
Do you understand the British Army in 1815???

Stay Tuned

Diane is still in the throes of revisions with only two hours to go before her deadline passes one way or another.

Here is something to console you in the meantime.

Scandal-ous Winner!

Deborah, you have been randomly chosen to win a copy of Carolyn Jewel's book Scandal. Just email your info to riskies@yahoo.com to claim your prize!

Happy Cupid's Day

Today, of course, is February 14, Valentine's Day! The Big V-Day. The day of pink and red, of flowers and chocolates. The day of over-priced "special menus" in restaurants, served by surly waiters who definitely don't want to be there helping you make the day Very Special. But the flowers and chocolates (and champagne!) make that okay...



Speaking of flowers, I have a very cute old book that belonged to my grandmother about the "language of flowers." Floriography (a means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages) was especially popular with the Victorians, who loved all things sentimental. But this idea goes back to antiquity, and was well-known in Medieval and Renaissance art (all those saints with their symbolic blossoms). So, I took out this book and tried to put together bouquets for various romantic couples. Here's what I came up with...


Emma and Mr. Knightley Arbor vitae (everlasting friendship); Daffodil (chivalry, respect, uncertainty); Gorse (love in all seasons); Heliotrope (devotion); Honeysuckle (devoted affection); Lavender-colored roses (love at first sight--literally in their case); Lavender (devotion)


Elizabeth B. and Mr. Darcy Buttercup (riches); Mint (suspicion); Oats (music); Blue poppies (mystery, attaining the impossible); Red tulips (declaration of love); Light pink roses (desire, passion, joy of life); Wheat (wealth and prosperity)


Cathy and Heathcliff Amaranth (immortal love); Bird's foot trefoil (revenge); Lobelia (malevolence); Mallow (consumed by love); Marigold (pain and grief); Love lies bleeding (hopelessness); Black poppy (death, hatred, farewell); anemone (forsaken, sickness). Wow, they sound like they'd be fun on Valentine's Day...


Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester Acacia (secret, chaste love); Purple carnations (my heart aches for you); Oak leaf (strength), Oxeye daisy (patience); White poppy (consolation); Eglantine rose (a wound to heal); Elderflower (compassion); Snowdrop (consolation or hope); Blue and white violets (faithfulness/modesty)


Catherine Morland and Mr. Tilney Purple and white lilacs (first love/youthful innocence); Mullein (good nature); Cherry blossom (a good education); Forget-me-not (true love); Red and yellow mixed roses (joy, happiness, excitement)

What are your plans for Valentine's Day? Any favorite romantic couples you'd like to send flowers to? And hey, what are your own favorite flowers? (I love pink roses and gardenias...)

Friday With Carolyn Jewel!

This Friday, we have a special interview with Carolyn Jewel, whose new book, Scandal, is released this week. Scandal has already gotten some stellar reviews:

Dear Author gave it an A-; Romance Novel TV gave it "5++++++++++" stars, saying, "WOW. Simply, wow. That is the only word I can use to describe this masterpiece. It has been such a long time since I have read such a rich, emotional and tension filled romance."

Carolyn lives in Northern California with her son, three cats, a border collie, several chickens, some sheep and various strays and other rescued critters. In addition to writing luscious historicals, Carolyn writes edgy paranormals, with her next book, My Forbidden Desire, coming out in May. Megan is honored to have Carolyn as a faux critique partner, and even more thrilled that she was able to help, in some small way, with Scandal's brilliance.

Carolyn took some time out from basking in the glow of excellent reviews to answer a few questions. Comment on the interview to win a copy of signed copy of Scandal, the winner chosen randomly by the Riskies.


Q. Tell us about this book—its characters, setting, etc.

Scandal is set during England’s Regency era and takes place in the countryside and London. It’s the story of a young woman who marries unwisely and pays a fairly severe price for her love.

Lord Banallt is a rake who behaves very badly with Sophie. They’re both married, and although Sophie would never, ever be unfaithful to her husband, Banallt has no such scruples. By the time he realizes he’s in love with her, it’s too late. She’s convinced, with good reason, that he is irredeemable.

Two years later they have both lost their spouses and Banallt sets out to prove that he really has changed. And he has. It’s a genuine transformation for him. Convincing Sophie of that is the challenge.

Q. How long did it take? Was this an easy or difficult book to write?

It took Banallt the entire book to convince Sophie he’d changed – oh. You mean how long it took to write the book?

I wrote at least two very different versions of this book, one of which was probably okay, the other one(s) was/were pretty awful. My agent read the opening chapters of sucky version 10.5 and advised me to start over. So I did. Scandal underwent its own transformation to a version that was truer to the original version, but much, much better. My fabulous agent sold it shortly after I resubmitted the proposal, and I wrote the rest of it in about four months, and spend the last two absolutely convinced there was no way I’d ever finish on time.

So far every single book I’ve ever written has been difficult. All of them. I don’t foresee that changing.

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

In a way, I did the opposite. Rather than research for the book specifically, I drew on research that I did in graduate school (in 2005/6 I believe) when I chose Regency Era author Eleanor Sleath as a project subject for my academic research course. Our assignment was to find everything EVER written about our subject. The trick then, was to pick someone who wasn’t too famous, because then you’d never be able to track down everything, and yet find someone who wasn’t too obscure, because then there wouldn’t be enough material for all the research papers we were to write in this course.

Jane Austen fans will recognize the title of Sleath’s most famous book, Orphan of the Rhine, which Austen mentions in Northanger Abbey. For quite some time scholars believed Austen made up the titles. She didn’t. All of them have been located, with Sleath’s book the very last to be found. The account of that is actually rather exciting.

The other exciting thing is that in the course of that research, I discovered what no one else knew; that Eleanor Sleath was a wealthy widow who married Reverend John Dudley under rather scandalous circumstances. The really silly thing is that I should have written a paper on this discovery since, actually, I think there are now only three people who know Sleath’s biography; me, the English historian who was researching Dudley, and a professor I happened to be corresponding with on the subject of Regency era novels. But I was working full time, going to grad school, parenting a soccer playing son who was young enough at the time to need more attention than he does now at 13, and writing novels. Frankly, I was a bit overwhelmed. I did not have it in me to write the paper on top of everything else.

So, after that lengthy digression, in the course of my Sleath research project I learned an absolutely astonishing amount about publishing in the Regency. The economies, I was surprised to discover, are not vastly different from today. My heroine, as the wife of a man who is spending all her money as fast as he can, takes to writing in secret in order to have some money to pay the bills. This research informs a great deal of the backstory in Scandal.


Q. What is it about the Regency period that interests you as a writer?

Larger than life characters like Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft and too many others to name. The period is a transitional one, in my opinion anyway, sandwiched as it is between the Georgian period and the far more stultified Victorian era (which probably wasn’t quite as stultified as the stereotype). It is in the Regency that we see so many of the events that drove the Reform movement and, ironically, and ultimately, led to the decline of the aristocracy Regency authors so love to write about.


Q. What do you think is the greatest creative risk you’ve taken in this book? How do you feel about it?

My philosophy is to risk everything in every book. There is no point in holding back. Alas, I have varying degrees of success with this, which I sometimes don’t see (or not see) until long after it’s too late to fix things.

I am a character driven author, which means my stories develop from my characters. The risks, therefore, tend to derive from them and what they are bringing to the story that unfolds as I panic that everything completely reeks of failure and I’ll never ever pull it off.


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

No. It’s happened in other books, but not this one.

Q. What are you working on next?

I just turned in another historical, Indiscreet, which will be out from Berkley Sensation in October 2009. Right now, I’m –shudder-- writing proposals for more paranormal romances. Very soon, I imagine, I will be writing a proposal or two for more historicals, too.

Q. Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you or your books?

Can we just skip this question? I am too boring to answer it.

Thanks, Carolyn, for joining us here today. Comment to get a chance to win a copy of Scandal.

Lincoln, Darwin, and Gaskell

Unless you've been living in an obscure cave you'll know that today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of President Lincoln. I wanted to tell you about a touching memorial to him in Manchester, UK.

This statue bears the inscription:

This statue commemorates the support that the working people of Manchester gave in the fight for the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War. By supporting the Union under President Lincoln at a time when there was an economic blockade of the southern states the Lancashire cotton workers were denied access to raw cotton which caused considerable unemployment throughout the cotton industry...

Technically, Britain was neutral during the Civil War, but Liverpool, the port where the south's cotton was unloaded, was a wholehearted supporter of the confederacy. The confederacy headquarters were in Rumford Place, where a US flag still flies.

In an 1863 letter to the "working men of Manchester," Lincoln termed this action "an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age."

The other big birthday today is that of Charles Darwin, born in the same year. His mother was a member of the Wedgwood family and the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell was an obscure cousin. Her last book, and one my favorites, Wives and Daughters, was published around the same time as The Origin of Species.

It's possible that her portrayal of Roger Hamley, the nature-loving hero of the book, is based on her memories of Darwin as a young man:

He had gone about twenty yards on the small wood-path at right angles to the terrace, when, looking among the grass and wild plants under the trees, he spied out one which was rare, one which he had been long wishing to find in flower, and saw it at last, with those bright keen eyes of his. Down went his net, skilfully twisted so as to retain its contents, while it lay amid the herbage, and he himself went with light and well-planted footsteps in search of the treasure. He was so great a lover of nature that, without any thought, but habitually, he always avoided treading unnecessarily on any plant; who knew what long-sought growth or insect might develop itself in what now appeared but insignificant?

For Darwin Day celebrations, check out this site.

There are many Lincoln celebrations taking place across the US. Here's the link to the Library of Congress's With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition.

What are you doing today?

Hands Across the Water, Part One

While Elena's away, the members of the UK Historical Romance Blog bravely offered to cross the Atlantic and take over on a Wednesday--in fact, there are so many of them, and they're such a talkative lot, they'll be visiting again on March 4. So, a warm welcome ladies, and take it away...

Hi! It's great to be here on the Risky Regencies blog. We're a group of British Regency writers and we got together a few years ago to chat about our favourite genre. We run the Historical Romance UK blog so please drop by and visit us! And if you sign up for our monthly email newsletter, you can enter more competitions to win books and goodies. Just send a blank e-mail here and we'll do the rest!

Ever since the Riskies invited us to blog we've been thinking about the differences between Regencies in the US and in the motherland, which largely depend on which publisher we're with. Here are our thoughts, together with some information about us and our books, and of course there are plenty of competitions for you to enter, too! What better for February than some Regencies to win?! Unless otherwise stated, the closing date for our competitions on this Risky blog is 28th February.

Amanda Grange: I write a lot of Jane Austen inspired novels - Mr Darcy's Diary, Mr Knightley's Diary, Captain Wentworth's Diary, Edmund Bertram's Diary and Colonel Brandon's Diary - which retell Jane Austen's stories from the heroes' point of view. This kind of book is very popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but the UK books tend to stay closer to Austen in style and tone. A lot of the US books take Jane Austen's characters into new territory, exploring their sex lives, and giving them more dramatic storylines, whereas my books aim to be as close to Austen as I can get them. I particularly liked writing the backstories for Wentworth and Brandon, whereas the US books tend to focus more on continuations.

Visit Amanda's website to enter a competition to win a hardback copy of Colonel Brandon's Diary and a trade paperback of Lord Deverill's Secret. Just email Amanda with the answer to these questions, which can be found on her site: What is the name of the heroine in Lord Deverill's Secret? And what is the name of Colonel Brandon's first love?

Jane Odiwe: It's lovely to be invited over to the Risky Regencies Blog!I'm an English author with an American publisher, Sourcebooks Inc. and find my inspiration from the wonderful novels of Jane Austen. Lydia Bennet's Story, a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, appealed to me because I saw a challenge in developing a secondary character. I like the idea of telling the stories that Jane Austen didn't relate and it was during a trip to Brighton that I started to wonder how Lydia and George Wickham came together before eloping. As I walked along the seafront I could imagine the balls and the promenades against the backdrop of fashion, scandal and frivolous living at the Marine Pavilion. I wanted to write a comic novel,and I thought with Lydia there would be plenty of opportunity for laughs.

Willoughby's Return is my next sequel. I wanted to know how Marianne would fare in her marriage to the much older Colonel Brandon and how she might react if a former love, Mr Willoughby, returned to the neighbourhood. Margaret, another secondary character from Sense and Sensibility, is eighteen in this novel and I wanted to give her more of a heroine's role,intertwining her story with that of her sister's. Some of the story takes place in London with several of Austen's characters like Mrs Jennings and Lucy Steele reappearing. I love to write scenes with these wonderfully humorous characters.

Having an American publisher means they are very open to scenes which Austen might not have written herself; and there are a range of sequels that Sourcebooks produce from those with no sex to the very steamy! My books have mild references to love-making and contain double entendres, but remain true to the Austen spirit. I am writing for a British and American audience, some of whom are Austen experts and some not, but I like to be meticulous in research and detail, reflecting the themes that Austen wrote about herself.


Monica Fairview: Yes, I think the expectations of Jane Austen fans in the US and the UK are quite different. I recently read a quote from Virginia Woolf which I loved. She says “anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware… that there are twenty-five elderly gentlemen living in the neighbourhood of London who resent any slight upon her genius as if it were an insult to the chastity of their aunts.”
Of course, no one thinks that way today, but a hint of Jane Austen as untouchable still lingers in the UK. I think US Austen fans demand a lot, too, but they are willing to tolerate more creative licence.

My Austen-inspired novel, The Other Mr. Darcy, is coming out in June 2009 in the UK, and will be published later in the US by Sourcebooks. The Other Mr. Darcy deals with cross-cultural issues. It features an American main character along with the woman everyone loves to hate in Pride and Prejudice, Miss Caroline Bingley. My hero, Robert Darcy, is a Boston Brahmin, (though the term wasn’t used until after the Regency) so he has his own ideas of what constitutes a “gentleman.” Obviously his ideas are going to clash with Miss Bingley’s. I had great fun writing the novel, which I hope is in the spirit of Jane Austen, if not in the letter.

Louise Allen: my last book was the final title in my six part Those Scandalous Ravenhursts series, out along with numbers four and five this year. I thought I had got to grips with writing a series, but I soon discovered I had a lot to learn when I embarked on my current project - writing two stories as part of a, yet untitled, eight-part Regency continuity for HMB. My fellow authors for that project are Christine Merrill, Gayle Wilson and Julia Justiss from the States and Margaret McPhee and Annie Burroughs from the UK.

Thank goodness for email, is all I can say, I don’t know how we could have created all our intertwining plots and characters without it. I’m lucky enough to be close enough to London to go and check out oak trees in Hyde Park (for kissing behind) or whether a certain square is just right for someone’s hero’s town house while the others contribute fascinating research on Romany life and curses, Cornish smugglers, the American navy or keep our tangled stories straight.

It doesn’t matter which country you’re in, I’ve decided – historical romance writers are all sisters under the skin. My aim is to create heroes and heroines who will reach out to a 21st century reader while staying true to their Regency world: find out more at my website.

To win signed copies of the first 3 Ravenhurst titles e-mail me and tell me why you love Regencies to be entered into my prize draw. Passion… from the past into the present.

Amanda: I write other types of Regency as well as Austen inspired novels. Books like Lord Deverill's Secret and Harstairs House are closer to Georgette Heyer in feel, with an adventure as well as a romance.

Lord Deverill's Secret takes place in Brighton, with visits to the races and the Pavilion, and Harstairs House is set on the Cornish coast. I think the closest equivalent in the US would be the trad Regency, although US trads don't seem to have as much adventure as the UK trads.




Jane Jackson: My books have never been traditional regencies - mainly because my stories are set in Cornwall - or at least begin there before travelling to countries served by the Packet Ships, and few young ladies would ever have managed to get to London for the Season. That said, Truro and Penzance had their own Assembly Rooms, their own circulating libraries and gentlemen's clubs.





We had our own mini-Season here in Cornwall, where the daughters of the gentry would attend parties, balls and suppers with the express purpose of meeting eligible gentlemen. It was simply done on a smaller scale. My stories are adventure romance. We have such a rich and dramatic heritage here in Cornwall that I will run out of time before I run out of inspiration.

Visit Jane's website to enter a competition to win a copy of either of my most recent books, Devil’s Prize or Bonded Heart (you choose). Just answer this question: What is the name of the village featured in both stories? Send your answer to me via the Get in Touch link on my website. Good Luck!



Kate Tremayne: Like Jane Jackson's the Loveday series of novels are set in Cornwall where the family have their estate at Trevowan and a shipyard on an inlet of the River Fowey. Again they are not standard regencies as I am now writing book ten in the series that covers the lives, romances, conflicts, rivalry and adventures of four sets of Loveday cousins. The series has been reviewed as being a sweeping family drama in the tradition of Poldark with the mystery and suspense of Daphne du Maurier and an emotional intensity that transcends time. The novels weave through adventures and drama involving the French Revolution to the Napoleonic wars, smuggling, highway robbery, the criminal underworld and theatrical world of London, transportation to Botany Bay and a visit to Virginia involving a scandal involving their American kin.

Adam Loveday, the first book in the series, is rich in drama and passion, filled with memorable and feisty characters, with the atmosphere and flavour of Georgian England. The childhood rivalry between Adam and his elder twin St John continues to govern their fated passions and chequered fortunes. St John has become a dissolute wastrel but Adam, with a talent for ship design and a thirst for adventure, has fierce family pride in the family estate and yard. He will never accept St John as the rightful heir. St John is equally determined that Adam will never get his heart's desire: the estate, the shipyard - and Meriel Sawle, the seductive daughter of the local innkeeper. whose violent family are infamous in the smuggling trade.

I can't think of an American equivalent but if any of you know of something similar in the US, please let me know!

Visit Kate's website to enter a competition to win a copy of Adam Loveday. Just email Kate with the answer to this question, which can be found on her site: What is the name of the Loveday estate in Cornwall?

Kate Allan: After writing Perfidy and Perfection, a Jane Austen inspired Regency rom com, I have been interested to see a handful of Regency rom coms appearing in the US and hope this is a trend that will continue. My other Regencies are all romantic adventures. I like setting my stories in different parts of the UK and making sure the local detail is correct as possible. One difference between Regencies published in the UK and those in the US is the level of historical realism that is required by publishers here. My next novel, which should be out at the end of this year, is set in Cornwall and the hero is a ex-smuggler back for revenge of those who betrayed him. It is a little darker in tone than my previous books. It is grey and raining throughout the whole novel and the sun only comes out at the very end.

Monica: Like Kate, I’m very fond of Regency romantic comedy. In my opinion, a comic touch is important to Regency. If you look at both Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, who laid the foundation for Regency romance, comedy is at the heart of both. I think of my novel An Improper Suitor as a comedy of manners, though it also has an element of suspense and adventure to it. Generally in the UK there is still a hearty tradition of adventure attached to Regency romances, following Heyer, whereas in the US there’s been a drift towards longer historicals that are more spicy and more relationship-focused.


Well, that's all from us for now. We'll be back again in March, when the rest of Historical Romance UK will be talking about their take on the similarities and differences between UK and US Regencies.

If you'd like to buy any of the UK published books and can't find them in the US, The Book Depository delivers them free worldwide.

Regency Limericks

I thought I'd try to write some Regency limericks...and so here goes!



Scientific discussions at White's,
All too frequently ended in fights.
Until one gloomy day
When Beau Brummell did say:
"Far better invent brighter lights!"


Tom Belcher yelled "Miserable brat!
He's splattered mud on my cravat!"
But Brummell looked glad,
And said "Don't hit the lad,
You'll be famous for looking like that."


This world lit by candle and lamp,
Which all bears the Regency stamp,
Seems quite free and easy
In flicks from the BBC,
But the real thing was cold and too damp.

Anyone else want to give it a try? Or revise my limericks?


Cara
Cara King, who is hoping Bertie will write one in a comment...

Cross Out As Many Adjectives and Adverbs As You Can

This quote from E.L. Doctorow seemed appropriate. I'm into my final week of revising my next book, which now has an early release date of early 2010.

Oddly enough my editor never mentioned a word about adjectives and adverbs. I kinda like adjectives and adverbs, and I've never had an editor, reviewer or reader complain about my use of them.

Revising has me thinking about--revising. How do we go about it, whether it be at our editor's request or our own polishing of a finished manuscript?

Here's how I do it.

First, I fix the easy things. These are often:

Repeated Words - I used "flamed" an awful lot and this story is not about fire.
Spelling and Grammar mistakes - although I often find these as I read through the manuscript
Factual Errors - mixing up names, mixing up dates, historical errors (my English editors are good at catching historical errors)

Then I really just plod through the manuscript, starting at page one.

Here are things that often need fixing in my manuscript:

Character - one or more characters need tweaking, for example, in this book, my hero needed to show his strength sooner; my heroine needed to be not so jaded; my villain needed to be more villanous.
Story threads - some work but some don't. I sometimes have to delete whole scenes that involve a story thread that isn't working and add scenes from elements of the story that I didn't focus on enough.
Telling vs Showing - we all have a tendency to explain our stories rather than to use words that show what the POV character is experiencing. I always find places in the ms where I've done this.
Awkward phrases - Some of those word gems I thought were so clever just don't work when reading with a critical mind-set.
Dialogue tags - how many "he saids" and "she saids" can I eliminate by inserting some action or thought instead?

I have done a little skipping around during this revision process. I've needed to add or change some scenes, so I'm constantly going back and forth to be sure I'm not adding more inconsistencies. (Do you ever find that you can't remember what you wrote before or what comes next?)


My friend MJ Frederick (whose Samhain book Hot Shot is available in paperback this month) told me about a book, Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell. Naturally I had to buy it.

The Bell book looks very good! Take a look at the Table of Contents including that great 34 page checklist!
Trouble is, I don't have time to make the best use of it.

How do you go about revising? Are you systematic? Or do you just plod through, starting with page one? Any good tips out there? (Before it is too late?)

Diane's website has been updated. Take a look! Diane's contest ends Feb 10. Hurry and enter to win one of her backlist books.

Meet Eliza Knight

A big Riskies welcome to Eliza Knight, who's offering a free copy of her e-novella Her Captain Returns to one lucky commentor today. Eliza is the author of multiple sizzling historical romances and Highlander time travel erotic romance novellas published by The Wild Rose Press. She is a freelance copy editor, Newsletter Editor for Hearts Through History Romance Writers, and President of the Celtic Hearts Romance Writers. Eliza is the author of the award-winning blog History Undressed and has published numerous articles in various newsletters. She presents workshops on history, researching techniques and writing craft, to writing groups online.

How could anything considered sinful feel so good?

That is what Miss Corinne Claymore asked herself as she gave into the titillating suggestions of Captain Ryder Montgomery. Corinne never knew what she was getting into with her innocent flirtations with Ryder. Scandal ensues as they are discovered in an amorous embrace in the gardens at Lady Covington's ball. Corinne finds herself not only married to Ryder, but abandoned. A short letter tells her he will be gone for several years ...

Thank you Risky Regencies for having me today!

In light of my recent Regency release, Her Captain Returns, part of my Men of the Sea series, I thought I would take today to talk about Royal Navy Captains in the Regency era. Let us travel through the hero of my novella, Captain Ryder Montgomery’s training, and life at sea.

Ryder was born the second son of an earl, and from his earliest days, had a penchant for the sea. It was only natural for him to join the navy at the age of thirteen as a mid-shipman. He certainly did his share of scrubbing the deck and tying knots, but when he was a little older he was allowed to take care of the log line, and sometimes delegate sailing duties. By the age of twenty, he was promoted to Lieutenant, and by 23, was Captain of his own ship, HMS Conqueror.

Ryder himself was only flogged once, but several of his shipmates were flogged regularly. What for, you ask? Ryder himself was given ten lashes for neglect of duty. Ever hear the term poor salt on a wound? Well that’s exactly what the ship’s surgeon did when he was taken there after his punishment… We must remember, poor Ryder was only fourteen at the time, and he wasn’t exactly neglecting on purpose, he was in fact heaving his guts out from dinner the night before.

Food on the ship wasn’t exactly appetizing, although, most sailors were excited to have regular meals, as when they were on land, eating three times a day wasn’t always a guarantee. The main staples of a navy diet, included salted meat, which was sometimes so rancid it was inedible by some, and even when boiled for hours the meat could still be as hard as a rock, unless they hadn’t been at sea very long and “fresh meat” in the form of livestock was onboard. This would be made into a stew with whatever fresh or dried veggies were available and rice or oats. Instead of bread, they had ships biscuits that were either filled with weevils. Sounds tasty! For breakfast it was porridge sweetened with molasses. To drink, if the fresh water had already turned a slimy green, they had watered down ale, watered down wine or watered down rum.

As a member of the crew, Ryder slept in a hammock twenty inches from the next hammock. When he became a captain he got his own room aboard the ship, but had a hammock placed inside, as he found after ten years at sea, it was much easier to sleep on.

The life of a Naval Officer wasn’t all pomp and squalor. While most of them lived privileged lives, they had to earn it. Some were second or third sons of the nobility, and some were sons of well to do merchants. And there were even those who were born at the bottom of the barrel and made their way to the top.

During the Regency era, a ship’s captain could become quite wealthy. How? Was the king paying well? The salary for a seaman was meager, and for a captain also wasn’t opulent—most would try to marry for money. No, most captain’s made their riches from other captains, especially during the Napoleonic campaigns. When a ship’s captain commandeered another ship, the whole crew shared in the spoils.

Officers in the military were well respected by the people, and since most came from well to-do families, they often hob-nobbed with the rich and the aristocrats.

In Her Captain Returns, Ryder ends up going away on a mission for several years, and isn’t allowed contact with anyone outside, including his wife. One of the things I wanted to illustrate in this story, was how hard it was for the wife of a man of the sea. Just as it is today with a military wife, it was much the same back then, except they didn’t have television to see what was happening, and their news stories were a lot more delayed. A wife may have still been receiving correspondence from her husband, only to learn he’d been dead for two months.

To end this blog, I leave you with a couple of fun naval terms:

Bitter End - Have you heard the phrase “faithful to the bitter end”? Well, it is a naval term! The wooden or iron posts sticking through a ships deck were called a bitt. Turning a line around them was called, the bitter end.

Chewing the Fat – Remember my description of the nasty meat? Well some men would chew on it for hours, and referred to it as, chewing the fat.

He knows the ropes – Nowadays this means someone is pretty skilled at what they’re doing. Back in the day though, it meant literally, novice and that all he knew were the ropes.

Took the wind out of his sails – this originally described a battle move where one ship would get so close to the other it would take the wind away, and slow down the opposing ship.

Your comment or question will enter you into a drawing to win a copy of Her Captain Returns, so come and chat with Eliza!

Queen of the Goths, Georgian Style

Happy Saturday, everyone! First, a few tidbits: As Megan said yesterday, she and I are on Twitter (thanks to Keira's urging, and my own never-ending quest to find ways to waste time online). Come and "follow" us, though most of my updates consist of "drinking tea and looking at stuff on Etsy while meant to be working."

For the last, er, year or more, I have done no updates to my own blog, but am going to start doing at least a few, if only to keep myself up-to-date on what's going on in my book world! Book releases, vacations, maybe what I'm reading that day. Visit me here!

MAC cosmetics is coming out with a genius new line of Hello Kitty goodies! I have a pink lipgloss called "Nice Kitty" on order...

And, most important, I have a new alter ego! Her name is Laurel McKee (Laurel being my middle name, McKee a random Irish name I liked), and she will be writing my "Daughters of Ireland" series with Grand Central Publishing! She's hoping to have her new website unveiled St. Patrick's Day, with the first book out February 2010. It's going to be fun having a split personality!

And author Ann Radcliffe died on this date in 1823. She could be called "Queen of the Gothic novel," as many of the standard elements of her plots can still be found in novels today, such as innocent heroines, dark, mysterious heroes, dramatic settings, and wicked villains. (And she was the most popular writer of her own day, influencing Keats and Scott among others, and forming the centerpiece of Catherine Morland's literary obsessions in Northanger Abbey).

She was born in London in 1764, the only child of William and Anna Ward, and married William Radcliffe at age 22. (Radcliffe was a lawyer, and later editor and owner of The English Chronicle). Ann was said to be shy and reclusive, so not much was known about her private life, which gave rise to many rumors. (She had gone mad as a result of her terrible imagination and been sent to an asylum! She had been captured as a spy in Paris! She ate rare pork chops before bed to stimulate nightmares for her novels!)

J.M.S. Tompkins writes that in all Radcliffe's novels "a beautiful and solitary girl is persecuted in picturesque surroundings, and, after many fluctuations of fortune, during which she seems again and again on the point of reaching safety, only to be thrust back again into the midst of perils, is restored to her friends and marries the man of her choice." Sounds like the Victoria Holt stories I was addicted to as a teenager!

Her best known works include A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Italian (1796), and of course The Mysteries of Udolpho. She also wrote a travelogue, A Journey Through Holland and the Western Frontier of Germany (1795) and various poems, which were published by her husband after her death along with the historical romance Gaston de Blondville.

More information can be found (mostly on the books, since the details of her life are still obscure--though I doubt the pork thing) in Deborah Rogers' Ann Radcliffe: A Biography-Bibliography (1996).Have you ever read any of Radcliffe's works? Have any favorite modern Gothic authors?? I'm thinking a Mysteries of Udolpho-theme Halloween party would be lots of fun...



Have you ever read any of Radcliffe's books? Have any favorite modern Gothic authors? And what might you wear to my Halloween party???

Aagh!

We are featuring an interview with Carolyn Jewel soon, but due to some technical difficulties [curse you, Yahoo!], we won't be posting the interview today.

[Edited to add: Look for the interview NEXT Friday]

So, sorry for the no-post post, but let's just start some chatter, shall we?

Do you Twitter? Amanda and I do. If you do, come find us!

Do you think Clive Owen will be plausible in a romantic comedy (as it seems to be advertised) with Julia Roberts? Last time they were together, it was in Closer, where he had some pretty harsh words for her. Not a romantic comedy (as you can tell, I am skeptical).

I am about to start watching Cranford; is it awesome, or not so much?

Are you watching the Grammys this Sunday? If so, keep an eye out for my gal Adele, who's nominated, and who'll be performing.

Anything else on your mind this frigid (in New York, at least) Friday?

Newsletters and other promotional devices

I'm over at the History Hoydens today, talking about sewing boxes and embroidery--or at least I think I will be, since I have notes but nothing written yet.

I woke up today thinking that I really should send out my allegedly quarterly newsletter. It really depends what you mean by quarterly. Sometimes my quarters are only about two months long, and sometimes, as now, they span the seasons. Because I'm a great believer in only sending out a newsletter when I have something to say, and for long chunks of time I don't.
I can't produce giggly writerly stuff about what my family and/or cat is doing (mostly asleep) and my fabulous writerly life (because I don't seem to have that sort of life), and exciting places I've visited (because generally I don't go anywhere). And, oh, yeah, sign up here.

And at the moment I do have something to say, which is that I'm getting a new website from designer Haven Rich, who gave us this beauteous new Riskies blog--we've just started work and I'm very excited about it. When it goes live on May 1 I'll have a contest. And there's more, like a book coming out in August, and sneak peeks and so on.

Now the Riskies newsletter always has something to say--that's how you get advance warning on guests, contests, and special topics for the month--and I squeeze it out every month from yahoo (which really don't like you to send great chunks of mail). What, you're not signed up for the Riskies newsletter? Good heavens. Sign up now, please. Send an email to riskies @ yahoo.com (without the spaces) and put newsletter in the subject line. (We're still getting lots of mail from people who want bank account information and/or prayers or something else I'm not likely to release, and I don't want to miss you.)

There are a couple of newsletters I find really informative and which I'd like to share with you:

The Jane Austen Center. This is a fabulous resource with both scholarly and fun articles about Austen, Bath, and her times and, if you browse around the site, you can spend large amounts of money (still, even now the dollar is stronger) in the gift shop which does indeed ship worldwide.

Book Marketing Experts--written by a team who are the leaders in book marketing online and who really understand the Internet and how web sites and newfangled things like Twitter work.

And nothing to do with the Regency or writing, but just incredibly entertaining, Cartalk's Time Kill Weekly, which always includes a lame joke and, they, like me, have a rather fluid sense of time.

What do you think makes a good newsletter, and which ones do you enjoy?

Highwaymen of the High Seas: The Romance of the Smuggler by Julia Justiss

Many thanks to the Riskies, hostesses of one of my favorite destinations in the blogosphere, for inviting me as a guest during Elena’s leave of absence. And my best wishes to Elena and her family for her husband’s speedy recovery!

From the time I began reading Georgette Heyer, who made frequent reference to the serving of brandy on which no duty had been paid, I’ve had an interest in smugglers. Even more so than the highwayman, the free trader was a romantic figure who received a great deal of popular support from coastal residents, both the customers who bought at a cheaper price the goods they wanted and the workers who augmented their meager incomes as farmers, fishermen and laborers by assisting the smugglers in transporting their cargo.

Though Samuel Johnson described a smuggler as "A wretch who, in defiance of the law, imports or exports goods either contraband or without payment of the customs,” many would prefer the definition of Adam Smith—himself a Customs commissioner: "A person who, though no doubt highly blamable for violating the laws of his country, is frequently incapable of violating these of natural justice and who would have been in every respect an excellent citizen had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so."

Since the reign of Edward I in the mid-1200’s, when English wool was bought by French weavers who then made cloth that sold for lower prices than the English goods, the English government has tried to restrict trade. From the “owlers” of Kent and Sussex who smuggled English wool out of the country by “owl light,” to the “gentlemen” of the Regency, who dealt in tea, tobacco, spirits and luxury goods, traders sought to buy goods at origin and resell for a fair price, eliminating the taxes imposed by the government middleman.

Understandably not wishing to lose out on its share of the sale of sought-after goods, as early as 1698, the government established the Landguard of riding officers of the Customs, whose job it was to try to halt the illegal trade. Originally, each riding officer was assigned about 10 miles of coastline to patrol. He was also responsible for checking ships landing cargo in his district, searching inland places he suspected might be harboring contraband goods and gathering intelligence.

However, the profits to be made were high enough—and collusion with local officials so frequent—that it soon became evident that riding officers alone were not adequate to stem the flow of illegal goods. In 1723, the government began posting units of dragoons at points around the coast, who could be called out by the riding officers to assist in rounding up smugglers or their cargos.

Despite a spate of anti-smuggling laws throughout the 1700s that imposed ever more severe penalties on smuggling, the practice continued. In fact, by 1780 it was estimated that two-thirds of the tea consumed in England had not passed through Customs.


For moving their cargo, free traders used luggers, ships that were broad of beam, shallow of keel with a flat bottom that allowed the vessel to put in close to shore, and rigged with a lugsail that allowed them to sail close to the wind. Later, cutters that could make higher speed were preferred, and galleys, which combined sails and rowing seats for navigating in shallow water or narrow spaces.

Once the daring captain sailed his cargo across from France or Ireland, where did he land it? As you can see from the photos, Cornwall’s many coves and inlets and its limestone cliffs riddled with caves made the area an ideal spot for smugglers. In addition to its natural advantages, supportive locals expanded the concealment possibilities of the caves by offering barns and granaries as short-term storehouses for smuggled goods. There are reports of tunnels dug from the coastline up into inns, private homes--and even churches! In some instances, church towers were elevated to a height sufficient to allow them to serve as navigation aids for smugglers trying to locate a particular landing spot for their cargo.

A successful operation began with the “venturer,” who through his agent, the “bagman,” collected the sum necessary to purchase the goods to be smuggled. The bagman, whose accounts were kept by the “quill-driver,” often the parish clerk or schoolmaster, would collect the sums pledged, then meet the captain of the smuggling vessel to sail for the Continent. After exchanging his coins for the items requested by the shareholders, he would load the cargo and bring it back to England.

Once he’d determined by lantern-flash that it was safe to make for shore, the captain would turn his cargo over to a “lander,” whose responsibility was to summon, organize and pay the beach party that transferred the cargo from the ship to the waiting ponies and wagons to convey it inland.

Colorful stories and tales about smuggling and the smugglers abound. On one end of the spectrum, Isaac Gulliver, the “gentle smuggler” of Dorset who claimed never to have harmed a revenue officer during the course of his business, amassed a vast fortune smuggling tea, brandy and gin, bought property all over England and was highly revered by his fellow citizens. At the other end, the notorious Hawkhurst Gang in Kent was not above using murder, beatings and coercion to induce the cooperation of the local populace.

Already by the Regency, better enforcement and harsh penalties had begun to hamper the trade. But the practice was to continue unabated into the mid-1800s, not dying out entirely until tariffs were reduced to the point that the potential profits no longer outweighed the risks.
And so the era ended…but the romance, the legends, the stories and the lore continue to this day, when a visitor to Cornwall can still take a “Smuggler’s Tour.”

Okay, question: Do you think of smugglers as "romantic" figures, the Robin Hoods of the seas bringing fairly-priced goods to customers who want or need them? Or as mere law-breaking brigands? Should they be portrayed as heroes, villains...or both?

--See The Smuggling War: The Government’s Fight against Smuggling in the 18th and 19th Centuries by Geoffrey Morley.

PICTURE COMMENTARY
First: “Hidden among the bracket at Carn Brea, a smuggler’s cave.”
Second: “Zawn Trevilley near Land’s End: a narrow inlet perfect for leading to a smuggler’s trail.”
Third: “Sketch of Luggar”
Fourth: “St. Ives Parish Church—a smuggler’s storehouse?”
Fifth: “White Sands Bay near Sennen, Cornwall—with a smuggler’s hut in the left foreground?”

Julia is researching smugglers for a book to come out in 2010. For a glimpse of high seas revelry before then, check out Risky hostess Amanda McCabe’s High Seas Stowaway, a January Harlequin Historical release. For comments on the progress of Julia’s book, to view other research tidbits and oddities, or to enter Julia’s contest, visit her newly redesigned website, www.juliajustiss.com.

JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB: Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)

Welcome to the February meeting of the Risky Regencies JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB!

Today, we'll be discussing the 1934 version of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon.

(And be sure to come back the first Tuesday of next month, when we'll be discussing the Anthony Andrews version!)

To aid the discussion, the major credits on the film include:


DIRECTOR: Harold Young

CAST:

Leslie Howard: The Scarlet Pimpernel

Merle Oberon: Marguerite Blakeney

Raymond Massey: Citizen Chauvelin

Nigel Bruce: The Prince of Wales

Bramwell Fletcher : The Priest

Anthony Bushell: Sir Andrew Ffoulkes

Joan Gardner: Suzanne de Tournay

Walter Rilla: Armand St. Just

Mabel Terry-Lewis: Countess de Tournay


So...what did you think?

In particular, is Leslie Howard how you envision the Pimpernel? If not, does he work, in his own way? Or is he your favorite Pimpernel?

Did you like the movie?

All answers welcome!

Cara
They seek her here, they seek her there...Those kitties seek her everywhere...

Green Room Woes

I'm working on revisions for my next book, the first in my soldiers trilogy. Revisions always come with unique challenges and one of mine is to discover if my hero needed an invitation to visit The Green Room of Drury Lane Theatre.

"What" you are asking, "Does Drury Lane Theatre and the Green Room have to do with three soldiers?"
Nevermind.....you'll find out later...when the book is out.

The Green Room is the backstage room in a theatre where the actors can lounge while not on stage and where certain people can visit after the performance. In Regency Romance we know it mainly as the place where gentlemen pick up actresses and ballet dancers. My question was--did gentlemen gain entrance to the Green Room by invitation or could anyone come in?

Here's how I tackled finding the answer.

First I Googled "Green Room English Theatre"

I found out from this that the Green Room is not necessarily painted green and that there are all sorts of theories as to why it is called the Green Room. My favorite was, "Sitting in a totally green room before a performance, however, was believed to ward off the powers of this evil colour." (ArtsAlove.com)

I googled around some more, adding "19th century" or "18th century" but I didn't learn much more than the warding off evil thing.

My next strategy was to search in Google Books. Here I had more luck. This snippet came from The London Magazine, Jan Jun 1822
"...Not that I dislike Macready —but I never saw any picture so expressive as the fine countenance of Kean, when he is addressing you on dramatic subjects. Don't you think so ? But oh I true—you never saw him in a room—you should go to the Green-Room with Tom, for he has the entre at all the houses—I wonder why they call it a Green-Room—for Tom says it is not green."

The word entre gave me a clue that not just anyone could get in, but it wasn't a very strong clue.

This from Life in London by Pierce Egan (and illustrated by Cruikshank):
"Where shall we go this evening?" said HAWTHORN to his Coz. "Apropos," replied the CORINTHIAN, " I have the offer of an introduction to the performers in the Green-Room of Drury-Lane Theatre." "Excellent," exclaimed JERRY; "it is DON GIOVANNI to-night, and the numerous characters that piece contains will afford us plenty of fun!"

Offer of an introduction....another clue.

I also looked at the links provided on the Beau Monde website, poked around in my research books, and even asked on the Beau Monde loop.

Then I had a really great idea.

I asked Cara.

Her reply:
" All I can say is that in the new 1811 Drury Lane, there were two (at least two) green rooms, both (if I read the diagram correctly) on the ground floor, which was either the same level as the stage, or one below. In "Mrs Jordan's Profession," about Drury Lane sometime in the 18th C, it says "at Drury Lane visits to the green room -- the actors' common room -- could not be made merely at whim; special passes had to be agreed and provided by the management." Then again, I have no idea if this later changed; also, my feeling is that in the "shared world" of Regency romances, one does not need a pass for the green room! (FWIW, in Gamester, I had the H&Hs younger brothers go to the green room during an interval...and surely they had no pass! Then again, one of them is wealthy and high-ranking, and the other sneaky, so I'm not sure it would have stopped them...)”

One of the members of the Beau Monde (the only one who answered my question) also thought that invitations were not required for the Green Room.

Sigh!

The way I see it, I still don't have a strong, clear answer to my question. You'll see how I solve this problem when the book is published! I still don't know.

What do you think? Do I have enough evidence to keep my respectable soldier, but not a gentleman, out of the Green Room?

What do you do when you don't have the answer to a research question and you have to get the book done?

Diane's website is being updated today. Take a look! dianegaston.com
The theme for February on the Wet Noodle Posse Blog is Isn't It Romantic? Come and see.

Not-So-Secret Winner!

Lana, you are the winner of a signed copy of Lauren Willig's latest book, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine!

Please email your info to riskies@yahoo.com to claim your delicious prize!

The Not-So-Secret Interview With Lauren Willig

The Riskies are delighted to welcome Lauren Willig as our guest today!

Lauren’s latest book, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, has just been released, and continues the series begun in The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. And it’s also just made the New York Times Extended Bestseller List! WTG, Lauren!

Lauren has a lot of degrees, and if she weren't such a lovely, funny person, you'd hate her because she is so multi-talented and smart. She's returned to her native New York, and is writing full-time, having (gladly) given up her her career as a lawyer.

Learn more about Lauren at www.laurenwillig.com.

And enter a comment or question for Lauren by midnight Sunday, February 1 for a chance to win an autographed copy of The Temptation of the Night Jasmine (winner to be chosen by the Riskies).


Q. Tell us about how you came up with this series.

In 2001, I was a second year grad student pursuing a PhD in English history. That April, I staggered home from my General Exams, tripped over a pile of library books, and vowed, as the microwave was my witness, that I wasn’t going to so much look at a seventeenth century manuscript until the following fall. I was sick of footnotes, sick of the basement of Widener Library, sick of… well, you get the idea. I settled down with a big pile of Julia Quinn novels and BBC costume dramas and decided it was an excellent time to write a romance novel.

I toyed with the idea of a novel set around Luddite unrest in 1811 (since electronics break down as soon as I enter a room, I’d always felt a sneaking sympathy for the Luddites). But Fate stepped in, in the form of my DVD pile. I was watching the Anthony Andrews Scarlet Pimpernel, an old, old favorite of mine, while eating one of those miracles of haute grad school cuisine—a microwave hot dog adorned with squirty cheese. I watched with a connoisseur’s detachment as Sir Percy dispatched yet another round of gullible French guards. There was something wrong there. Not with Anthony Andrews (how can one not love Anthony Andrews as that demmed elusive Pimpernel?), but with the whole scenario. He had it too easy. His men all followed his commands without question; his wife mostly stayed out of the way; and the evil French spies all did exactly what evil French spies were supposed to do.

Someone, I decided, enthusiastically squirting an extra round of cheese onto my hot dog, needed to mix things up a bit. What if you had a super-dashing English spy bedeviled, not by the French (they’re always so easy to thwart), but by a young lady set on tracking him down—so she can help him? Every spy’s worst nightmare! I bolted for my computer and thus the original Pink Carnation book was born.

Q. Did you imagine, when you were writing your first book, that it would now be in its fifth installment?

It seemed miracle enough that the first one made it into print! I knew how slim the odds were. I had sent off manuscripts before and had them promptly sent back. As I was working on The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, I was also teaching two sections of a class on the Second British Empire. I scribbled down wistful ideas for future books Pink books—including the 1803 rising in Ireland that became the basis of The Deception of the Emerald Ring, and the conflicts in India that provided the plot for the sixth book in the series—but I knew that it was all a pipe dream and the odds of my ever getting to use those notes were slim to nonexistent. I really can’t quite believe that I’m up past five books and, yes, I got to use my Irish rebellion and my India idea and I still get to go on writing more…. Excuse me. I need to go pinch myself again.

Q. How long did it take? Was this an easy or difficult book to write?

I wrote this book in a manic three month haze. I left my job as a lawyer at a large New York law firm in January; my deadline for The Temptation of the Night Jasmine was March 31st. I stocked up on food, permanently staked out my favorite table at my local Starbucks and wrote. All in all, I’d say this was one of the easiest books so far. I love both Charlotte and Robert and their story swept me along with it until I found myself, confused and gasping, back in a rainy New York March, wondering where the past few months had gone. I know I went on a book tour for The Seduction of the Crimson Rose at some point in the middle there. I must have eaten and slept and occasionally spoken to friends and all those other things, but I don’t really remember any of that. Those months galloped past in a blur of gilded palace antechambers and smoky hellfire caves. It was exhausting and wonderful.

Q. Tell us more about your characters. What or who inspired them?

As I was planning it, I jokingly called this book my Judith McNaught tribute book. My previous heroines have been cast along very different molds, but Charlotte, the heroine of Night Jasmine, is a McNaught girl—erudite and innocent all at the same time, perceptive about some things and very naïve about others. There is also a lot of me in her: a lifelong bookworm, Charlotte interprets the world around her through the plots of her favorite books, a practice that doesn’t always correspond to reality.

As for Robert, the hero, he’s an amalgam of a number of literary influences, including Richard Sharpe and Tom Jones. What they all have in common is their uncomfortable place outside the usual societal framework, saddled with a disconnect between their upbringing and position. In Robert’s case, although a series of deaths rendered him a duke, he was raised by a brawling wastrel of a father in low circumstances and then ran off to join the army in India as a teenager. He finds himself at the apex of a society whose rules he doesn’t know and whose members he finds alien and a little intimidating. He admires—and is intimidated—by Charlotte’s easy familiarity with that world just as Charlotte admires and is intimidated by what she perceives as his worldliness.

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

This book has been one of my favorites to research. The hero, Robert, is on the trail of a traitor who murdered his mentor by shooting him in the back at the battle of Assaye. He manages to track the malefactor to the Hellfire Club, which meant that I had a fascinating time reading up on the practices of the mid-eighteenth century groups who set the Hellfire trope for generations to come. What surprised me there was how wrapped up in the governmental administrations of their day the early Hellfire groups were—and that they didn’t call themselves the Hellfire Club! The name was a later invention. The most famous of the earlier groups called themselves the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe or the Monks of Medmenham.

Meanwhile, my heroine, Charlotte, is a maid of honor to Queen Charlotte, which gave me an excuse to read up on life in the royal court in 1804, the same year that George III went mad for the third time (the second time had been in 1801). Most of us have some idea, thanks to The Madness of King George, of how his illnesses went, but reading about the sheer agony of some of the remedies employed—bleeding, blistering, cupping, purging—was truly eye-opening. It’s a wonder that the cure didn’t drive him around the bend!

Q. What is it about the period that interests you as a writer?

My books so far have all been set in 1803/1804. The first madness of the French Revolution has died down—it has been a full decade since the Terror—but the French government keeps changing, their armies keep marching, Europe is in upheaval, manners and mores are in flux, and no one knows quite how it’s all going to fall out in the end (not unlike our own current period!). It’s an era that doesn’t quite belong to the eighteenth century, but hasn’t taken on the patterns we think of as belonging to the Regency a decade later. I love all that energy and uncertainty and the idiosyncratic cast of characters that goes with it: George III, who keeps lapsing into madness and recovering, sending the government into fits every time he does (I used that as the basis for Night Jasmine); Napoleon and his band of ridiculous relatives…. I could go on and on.

Q. What do you think is the greatest creative risk you’ve taken in this book? How do you feel about it?

I felt like I was taking a big risk with the structure of this book, which divides into two segments. For the first quarter of the book, my hero and heroine seem to be dancing their way blithely towards happily ever after. It’s a self-contained segment in more ways that one, a Christmas house party at the ducal estate that lasts from Christmas Eve until Twelfth Night. While the darker notes are there, Charlotte and Robert use each other as a means of keeping unpleasant realities at bay for the duration of the Christmas season. Realities being realities, their mutual fantasy land falls apart on Twelfth Night, opening the door to the main body of the book, where they are forced to re-learn each other in a more realistic way. In the end, although I was worried about being able to pull it off, I think it was the only approach that would work for these particular characters. Each had to be forced to re-evaluate their priorities and prior convictions before they could come together in a real way. I like the contrast of the effortless happily ever after—the one that didn’t work out—with the hard won happily ever after that they finally achieve.

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

Funnily enough, there was…. My editor was worried by the fact that the hero and heroine of this book are cousins. Although marriage between cousins wouldn’t have been uncommon at the time, she was concerned that a modern audience might be, well, grossed out by it. In order for the plot to work, the cousin thing couldn’t be taken out entirely—the hero, descended from a black sheep branch of the family, has come to reclaim his inheritance and has lots of guilt feelings about usurping what he doesn’t believe to be rightfully his—but we agreed that I would remove every place the hero and the heroine called each other “cousin” in the first few chapters. I was sad to see that go, since I felt that their transition from thinking of each other as “cousin” to first names signified their changing perceptions of each other, but I did see her point about it being potentially incestuous sounding.

Q. What are you working on next?

The answer to that is easy—another Pink Carnation book! I call this one my India book, since it’s set in Hyderabad in 1804. The heroine of this book, Penelope, managed to disgrace herself during Night Jasmine and was sent off to India, along with her new husband, to give the scandal time to die down. India in autumn of 1804, however, isn’t exactly a peaceful place to be. I had an amazing time reading travelers’ narratives and letters to get a sense of the English experience in India at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It differed markedly from the world of the Raj that developed later on—and it also made a very nice change from writing about Almack’s Assembly Rooms!

Q. Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you or your books?

All of the books have a modern framing character, a Harvard grad student researching her dissertation in London (all too familiar for me!), who comes upon a well-guarded cache of family papers and their handsome owner (sadly, not so familiar for me). I invented Eloise partly because it was fun to have a way to sound off about grad school and the vagaries of contemporary life. But one of the joys of using Eloise as a framing device is that—in theory, at any rate—the historical story is all filtered through her imagination. That meant I get to have my characters shout things like, “Follow that sedan chair!” or flip through The Cosmopolitan Lady’s Book for fan-wielding tips (in Night Jasmine, my hero went to a Hellfire Club event, but didn’t inhale). All complaints about historical inaccuracies should be addressed to Eloise in London, SW2….

Thank you so much for allowing me to call on you here at Risky Regencies, and to natter on like this! It has been simply lovely. Warmest regards to all!

Thank you, Lauren!

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