Amanda's New Book!

Today, Amanda launches her newest book, The Winter Queen (November '09, Harlequin Historicals) with the help of interviewer Megan! Comment for a chance to win a signed copy, and be sure and visit Amanda's website for more behind-the-book info...

Sent to Serve...
As Queen Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting, innocent
Lady Rosamund is unprepared for the temptations
of Court. She is swept up in the festivities of the
Yuletide season and, as seduction perfumes the air,
Rosamund is drawn to darkly enticing Anton Gustavson...

Seduced By A Master!
With the coming of the glittering Frost Fair,
they are tangled in a web of forbidden desire and
dangerous secrets. For in this time of desperate
plots and intrigues, Anton is more than just a
handsome suitor--he may have endangered the life
of the woman he is learning to love...


"A delightful holiday gift of romance and intrigue! McCabe mixes in historical fact with fiction to create a fascinating page-turner of a novel" --Fresh Fiction Reviews

Megan: First off, let me say I am absolutely blown away by your skillful interweaving of history and romance. The Winter Queen reminds me of those books I read when I was young, the ones that taught me history even as I oohed and aahed over the love story. Bravo! Next, it might be like asking which of your children (or in your case, dogs) are your favorite, but which period is your favorite to write in? What joy do you find in writing Elizabethan?

Amanda: As anyone who reads RR knows, I am a history junkie! Regency is my oldest love (thanks to all those Heyers and Regencies by Marion Chesney, Joan Smith, etc I read as a kid), but I also love the Restoration, the Italian Renaissance, and 18th century France. The Elizabethan era has a special place in my heart, since Elizabethan poetry was my specialty in school (very useful in the job market, too!). It's an era full of such unbelivable raw, bawdy energy and high emotion, more so than any other I've found. England was expanding as never before, becoming a real player on the world stage, sending explorers such as Drake and Hawkins around the globe on voyages of exploration. It was also a great time for the arts, maybe THE greatest time in literature and theater (though music and painting were no slouches, either). Poets and writers who would have been giants in another, less crowded time were overshadowed by the "3 S's" (Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser), and almost everyone was "into" theater and poetry.

It was also a good time for women, and not just because the country was ruled by a woman. Much like salon society in 18th century France, women, while technically powerless, wielded a lot of influence "behind the scenes." (On my own blog, each Heroine of the Weekend for November is going to be a fascinating Elizabethan woman--Lettice Knollys, her daughter Penelope Rich, the Countess of Pembroke, and Amelia Lanyer). Plus the clothes are great, especially in the time of TWQ (1564), before high Elizabethan nonsense like drum farthingales and wagon-wheel size ruffs took over! It's just a very sexy, energetic, exciting period. And obviously I get very carried-away talking about it!

Megan: Your story is very Christmas-specific. What fun facts did you learn about the Elizabethan celebration in doing your research?

Amanda: If anyone knew how to party at Christmas, it was the Elizabethans! I'll have a longer post tomorrow on some of the celebration traditions, but for the 12 Days of Christmas there were endless celebration. Banquets, masquerades, dances, plays, fox hunts, lavish gift-giving (the courtiers all tried to outdo each other with fancy presents to the Queen, of which detailed inventories still exist!). There was also a great deal of general, and probably drunken, silliness. One popular holiday game was called Snapdragon, which involved a bow of raisins covered with brandy and set alight. The players had to pull out the raisins and eat them without burning themselves. (We won't be doing this around my house for the holidays...)

There are several good sources for the parties and holidays of the period, including Maria Hubert's Christmas in Shakespeare's England; Alison Sim's Food and Feast in Tudor England; and Hugh Douglas's Right Royal Christmas.

Megan: What made you cast a Swede--and a dark-haired one at that--as the hero?

Amanda: Well, he had a very unusual inspiration--Dancing With the Stars! I always knew my love of that show's ridonkulous costumes and hilariously inappropriate music would be useful someday. A few seasons ago the winner of the mirror ball trophy was Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno. I had really liked him in the Olympics, but on DWTS he was so cute and charming, and also so fiercely determined to win that fugly trophy. I couldn't figure out how to get a skating hero into an historical romance, until someone said, "Maybe he could be Dutch or something? Didn't they skate?"

That's when I remembered two things: 1) The winter of 1564, when Queen Elizabeth had been on the throne for 6 years, was the coldest in memory. The Thames froze through, and at Christmas there was a Frost Fair on the river, complete with booths for food and merchandise, sledding--and skating! 2) In this time period, every eligible bachelor in Europe was after Elizabeth's hand in marriage, including King Eric of Sweden (who later went insane and was deposed by his brother, but that's another story...) He sent delegations to London to woo Elizabeth. And Swedes skate, right? So Anton Gustavson was born. (And since he was half-English, he has dark hair. I didn't know Alexander Skarsgaard then...) Anton is also a soldier, a spy, and a man with secrets.

Megan: The heroine, Rosamund, is a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. Would you have wanted this job?

Amanda: No way! From everything I read, Elizabeth was very strict employer with a fiery, uncertain temper. (She regularly threw things at her ladies if she was impatient, and used her fearsomely witty tongue to make fun of them). If one of her ladies dared to fall in love or want to get married, they usually found themselves in trouble (The queen's cousin, Katherine Grey, even went to the Tower for secretly marrying!).

On the other hand, positions at Court were really the only way ladies of the upper classes could wield a measure of influence or make any money of their own (the stipends were not much, but bribes from those who wanted the ear of the Queen were always possible, and they often had gifts of cast-off, very valuable clothing and furnishings). There was travel and exotic visitors from other countries. And the Court was the center of everything--culture, power, gossip, etc. (Plus, again, the clothes...) (A good source for the life of the Queen's ladies is Anne Somerset's Ladies in Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day)

Megan: Who would you cast as Rosamund and Anton?

Amanda: Well, we already talked about Anton! I kind of pictured Rosamund as looking like Abbie Cornish in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (a big, dull snooze of a movie, but beautiful costumes!)

Megan: Do you know how to skate? What would you have wanted to do at the Frost Fair?

Amanda: I've tried ice-skating, but more often than not end up on my backside on the ice! Plus it's cold. If any hunky Swedes wanted to teach me, though...

I think I'd like to have some hot apple cider to drink, ride in a sleigh, and buy some satin ribbons! All things Rosamund gets to do.



Megan: And what are you working on now?

Amanda: I just finished writing my second Laurel McKee book for Grand Central Publishing! Its title is Duchess of Sin, the sequel to the February '10 release Countess of Scandal, and it will be out next December. (It also features Christmas, though this time in Ireland 1799). Now I have to dive into the next Harlequin book, a Regency spin-off from the Diamonds of Welbourne Manor anthology, and start researching an Elizabethan theater book where we move into seamier environs than the royal Court.

Megan: In your writing, do you feel like you're taking risks? How?

Amanda: I don't feel like I'm being "risky," though I guess by stepping into a lesser-used time period (for romances, anyway--historical fiction is chock-full of Tudors!) that is a bit risky. I also like characters who are a bit out of the ordinary, both as a writer and a reader. And I'm currently working on a proposal for a book set in World War II Paris, possibly the riskiest thing I have yet attempted! :)

BTW, TWQ is available in the UK in a two-in-one called Christmas Betrothals (along with Sophia James's Mistletoe Magic).


And I have another "Undone" short story coming out in December called The Maid's Lover, which is connected to The Winter Queen! We get to see what's really going on with Rosamund's friend Anne Percy and her suitor Lord Langley (hint: it involves nookie in the snow, and maybe a little light bondage, LOL!). I just got the cover and I love her purple velvet gown...

The book is now available at eHarlequin.com, and my mother reports it was on the shelf at Wal Mart yesterday!

Halloween Eve!

Now, this morning I thought I might write about the insights I gleaned at last week's New Jersey RWA Conference; or, I thought, maybe I'd talk about reading the third book in a trilogy that had a huge build-up of a relationship without a satisfying resolution (they got together, I think, but I didn't get to read about the whole event. Ahem. I like reading about events).


But then I thought boring and decided to talk about Halloween! I love the holiday; our house is decorated with skulls, black velvet, mirrors, pumpkins and spiders. My son has a distinct flair for picking Halloween costumes. Last year he was Gene Simmons (that's him in the pic; the second pic includes my husband, who dressed as a roadie) and this year, he decided he would be a . . . giant eyeball. My mother-in-law is a costuming genius (she made the Simmons outfit, I did the make-up), and this year, she has outdone herself. This pic below is the inspiration for his costume; there's a very obscure musical collective called the Residents who perform in these outfits and have never shown their faces. And can I say? His costume looks almost exactly like these guys. I'll post pix at my own spot next week.

My only issue with these costumes is that it looks like we're trying to be those lame pushing their kids into coolness parents. And we're not! He thought of these by himself, we had no input; can we help it if he is cool on his own?

So Happy Halloween, everyone! Some burning questions: Do you still dress up? What's your most and least favorite Halloween candy? What are your kids going as for Halloween? What was your favorite costume when you were growing up?

Megan

New Julia Justiss Winner

Vanessa Kelly already bought From Waif To Gentleman's Wife so she asked us to pick another winner!
The new winner is....
Lustyreader.

email us at riskies@yahoo.com with your snail mail address.

The Regencyland Hotline

Thank you for calling the Regencyland Hotline. Please listen carefully as our options have changed.

If you are a debutante about to embark upon your first London season, please press 1 for a hot seduction in the conservatory at your first ball, 2 for an embarrassing episode at Almacks, 3 for the invasion of your bedchamber by a stranger whose identity you cannot discover, 4 for a secret baby.

If you are a gentleman spy, please press 1 for your next assignment, 2 to report on your last, 3 for an application to the Spies' Club of your choice, or 4 for a secret baby. You will be required to enter your ID and password. If you have forgotten your password, you will be asked to enter your ID and the answer to your secret question. If you have forgotten your ID, you will be asked to enter your ID and the answer to yet another secret question. If you have forgotten both your ID and your password you're screwed and you might as well give yourself up to the Frenchies immediately, because frankly all that sex has ruined your memory and we're not particularly bothered about you giving away any state secrets.

If you are an experienced woman of a certain age, please press 1 for the availability of any Dukes looking for a mistress (please be patient; there are more than enough Dukes for everyone), 2 for any naive young men of the ton seeking sexual initiation, 3 for any of your younger siblings whom you selflessly and tirelessly support, 4 for a secret baby.

If you are a Duke, please press 1 for the availability of a suitable mistress, 2 for spy opportunities (you will be asked to create an ID and password. Even though you are horribly inbred and not the sharpest knife in the ducal drawer you must try and remember them and do not use something easily remembered like the name of your dog) 3 for any recent challenges to your title, 4 for a secret baby.

If you are a commoner and male, please press 1 for a current list of dukedoms inherited under mysterious circumstances that may be open for dispute, 2 for current opportunities as minor characters with the possibility of advancement to your own book later in the series, 3 for opportunities for emotional damage and/or interesting scars if you have already filed your minor character application, 4 for opportunities to beget secret babies.

If you are a ... OK, it's your turn.

Janet, who has spent most of the morning on the phone but is pleased to announce that A MOST LAMENTABLE COMEDY has gone into a second printing and that you can see the very pretty cover of her next book IMPROPER RELATIONS (with incorrect tag line) here.

It's Poetry Day!

By the time you read this, I hope like heck this is how I feel about my manuscript.

My Star

All that I know
    Of a certain star
Is, it can throw
    (like the angled spar)
Now a dart of red,
    Now a dart of blue;
Till my friends have said
    They would fain see, too,
My star that dartles the red and the blue!
Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled:
    They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it.
What matter to me if their star is a world?
    Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it.

But I might feel more like this.

My Last Duchess

Ferrara

That's my last duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said
"Fra Pandolf" by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
That depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 't was not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps
Over my lady's wrist too much" or "Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat:" such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart -- how shall I say? -- too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed: she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 't was all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace -- all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush,at least. She thanked men -- good! but thanked
Somehow -- I know not how - as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech -- (which I have not) -- to make your will
Quite clear to such a one, and say, "Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss
Or there exceed the mark"-- and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse
-- E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will 't please you rise? We'll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting is my object. Nay, we'll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me.

P.S. These are by Robert Browning. Quite the poet.

Winner of FROM WAIF TO GENTLEMAN'S WIFE

Congratulations, VANESSA KELLY!
You are the winner of a signed copy of From Waif To Gentleman's Wife by Julia Justiss.

Email us at riskies@yahoo.com with your snail mail address.

Halloween Week Post

Deadline Status: Done! (Almost--the writing-writing is done, now I'm hammering it into some kind of coherent shape. Lucky for me my editor is on vacation until the 3rd...)

Movie Status: Good! I saw two excellent movies in the last couple of weeks, which is much higher than average for me. After Diane's review, I had to go see Bright Star, which was beautiful. (I must have a ballgown with a standing ruffled collar! I did a little post about the movie on my own blog, too). And I went with a friend who writes reviews to see a preview of An Education, starring Carey Mulligan who was so great in Bleak House and Northanger Abbey. This was the best movie I have seen all year. I predict both movies will see Best Actress noms when the Oscars come around (and probably Best Costumes, too!)

And in honor of Halloween, my subject for this post are the ghosts of the Tower of London! Needless to say, there's no shortage of haunted places in England to talk about (see info on Borley Rectory, the "most haunted place in England" here, and info on London ghosts here), but when I went to the Tower last year there was such a sad, melancholy feeling about the place. I suppose that's inevitable for a spot so old (over 900 years) and so full of sad, tragic stories. Here are just a few of the tales (which the Beefeater guides are happy to expound on at length!):

The first reported sighting of a ghost at the Tower was, surprisingly, Thomas a Becket (who was killed far away at Canterbury and, as far as I know, was never imprisoned at the Tower!). During the construction of the Inner Curtain wall, it's said Becket was angry about the construction and appeared to reduce the wall to rubble with his cross. It was the grandfather of Henry III, who had ordered the wall built, who was responsible for Becket's murder, so maybe that was his problem? Who knows. But Henry ordered a chapel built at the Tower and named it after Becket, and there were no more problems from the Archbishop.

The Bloody Tower (possibly the most obvious building name in all England!) was the scene of the disappearance of the Two Princes, Edward V (age 12) and his brother Richard, Duke of York (age 10) who are thought to have been murdered in 1483 (possibly on the orders of their uncle, the Duke of Gloucestershire, later Richard III). Late in the 15th century, two guards passing the Bloody Tower saw two small figures gliding down a staircase clad in the nightshirts they had on the night they were last seen, holding hands. They faded into the stones. These apparitions are still sometimes seen.

The most commonly seen ghost is Anne Boleyn, beheaded at the Tower in 1536. She's seen in the Queen's House, where she stayed before her death (probably the most haunted spot in the whole place; along with Anne, Jane Grey, Catherine Howard, and Arbella Stewart hang around there, too). In 1864, a guard saw her float out of the Queen's House, and charged at her with his bayonet only to have it go right through her before she disappeared. He fainted, and was court-martialled for dereliction of duty. Luckily, 2 others saw what happened and he was acquitted. Anne can sometimes be seen gliding across the execution spot, or leading a procession down the aisle of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, ending at her resting place under the altar. I did not see her, though I wouldn't have minded if she wanted to show herself to me!

Lady Jane Grey, who was 17 when she was executed at the Tower (after being queen for 9 days), is often seen as "a white shape, forming itself on the battlements." She was reportedly last seen in 1957, though, so maybe she has moved on. Her husband, the unfortunate Guildford Dudley, is sometimes seen weeping in Beauchamp Tower. Catherine Howard is said to scream in her old room at the Queen's House (though how they know it's her screaming and not some other poor spirit, I don't know)

One of the worst stories of the Tower is that of the Countess of Salisbury, Margaret Pole, friend of Katherine of Aragon and one of the last of the Plantagenets. When she was in her 70s, her son Cardinal Pole (who was safe in Rome, and would later be Queen Mary's chief advisor) started mouthing off against Henry VIII. In retaliation Henry brought Lady Salisbury to the block. The feisty elderly Margaret refused to put her head on the block like a common traitor, and the inexperienced, flummoxed executioner chased her around the scaffold, hacking at her until she was dead. It's said every day on the anniversary of her death this gruesome, ghostly scene is reenacted.

At one time, the Tower also housed the Royal Menagerie (lions, leopards, bears, monkeys, etc). One night in January of 1815 a sentry saw a giant bear emerge from a doorway. He lunged at it with his bayonet, which passed right through the (understandably) enraged ghost bear. The sentry passed out with fright, and later died of the shock.

The Salt Tower is one of the oldest and most haunted spots in the Tower. It's said dogs won't enter there, and neither will the guards at night, after one was nearly throttled to death by an unseen force. There are also reported sightings of phantom funeral carriages, and "a lovely veiled lady that upon closer look proves to have a void where her face should be."

Happy Halloween, everyone! This is my favorite holiday. What are you going to do to celebrate? What's your costume? (I may get a blond wig and pull out a cocktail dress and call it Betty Draper...)

And be sure and join us this weekend as I launch my Elizabethan Christmas book, The Winter Queen! (The Tower makes a brief appearance, but no ghosts). Megan will interview me about the book, I'll have a post about Christmas traditions of yore, and there will be a book giveaway...

A Regency Ghost Story

Here is a tale from:

ACCREDITED GHOST STORIES.
COLLECTED
BY T. M. JARVIS, ESQ.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. ANDREWS, NEW BOND STREET.
1823.
(Google Books)

It is the tale of Lord Lyttleton. Not the "great and good" Lord Lyttleton, but his "witty and profligate" son, who in 1778 (a little before the Regency- I exaggerated) "retired from the metropolis, with a party of his loose and dissapated companions" to his country house, Pit Place, near Epsom in Surrey.

One day his friends noticed that Lord Lyttleton's mood had turned depressed, putting a damper on their debauchery. At their urging he finally told them what had altered his mood.

Two nights before, on his retiring to his bed, after his servant was dismissed and his light extinguished, he had heard a noise resembling the fluttering of a dove at his chamber window. This attracted his attention to the spot; when, looking in the direction of the sound, he saw the figure of an unhappy female, whom he had seduced and deserted, and who, when deserted, had put a violent end to her own existence, standing in the aperture of the window from which the fluttering sound had proceeded. The form approached the foot of the bed:—the room was preternaturally light; the objects of the chamber were distinctly visible:—raising her hand, and pointing to a dial which stood on the mantelpiece of the chimney, the figure, with a severe solemnity of voice and manner, announced to the appalled and conscience-stricken man that, at that very hour, on the third day after the visitation, his life and his sins would be concluded, and nothing but their punishment remain, if he availed himself not of the warning to repentance which he had received. The eye of Lord Lyttelton glanced upon the dial; the hand was on the stroke of twelve:—again the apartment was involved in total darkness:—the warning spirit disappeared, and bore away at her departure all the lightness of heart and buoyancy of spirit, ready flow of wit, and vivacity of manner, which had formerly been the pride and ornament of the unhappy being to whom she had delivered her tremendous summons.

Lyttleton's friends laughed at his superstition and tried to cajole him into believing he'd merely had a bad dream. Later when he retired to his room, they had a brilliant idea. They turned all the clocks ahead an hour and kept Lyttleton busy enough that he did not notice.

When eleven o'clock on the appointed day came, Lyttleton again became depressed, fearing his death, but soon enough the clocks all struck twelve. "Thank God, I'm safe," exclaimed Lord Lyttelton. He and his friends celebrated with a lot of wine. He retired to bed and his friends waited out the hour for twelve midnight designated by the vision. Lyttleton's bell rang violently as the clocks struck one. The men ran up to the room and found their friend. Lyttleton "lay extended on the bed before them, pale and lifeless, and his countenance terrible convulsed."

Two years later Lyttleton's stepmother painted the scene of the apparition appearing to him. The painting hung in her drawing room and showed the dove in the window and the female figure in white.

Do you have any Regency ghost stories?
What's your favorite ghost story?

On New Releases, Axminster Carpets and the Peculiar World of Publishing by Julia Justiss

Thanks to the Riskies for inviting me to share their elegant space! As I settle into my Chippendale chair and wait for them to pour tea, let me muse a bit on what prompted this topic.

First, I’m excited that the next book in my on-again, off-again Wellingford family series, FROM WAIF TO GENTLEMAN’S WIFE, is now on the shelves. The story of Ned Greaves, good friend of Nicholas Stanhope, Marquess of Englemere, hero of my first book, had simmered in mind for a number of years. I was delighted to give Ned, a self-proclaimed “simple country gentleman” a chance to encounter and win a bewitching lady while they both try to save a failing agricultural property and solve a mystery.

The obligatory blurb: “When a destitute governess faints on Sir Edward Greaves’s threshold, chivalry demands that he offer her temporary shelter. However, the desire Ned feels when he catches her in his arms isn’t at all gentlemanly.

In spite of his attraction to her, Ned finds it extremely suspect that a lady claiming to be the sister of the fired estate manager happens to end up on his doorstep just after his carriage has been attacked by Luddite agitators. But Joanna Merrill’s large, troubled eyes and slender frame call to something deep inside this guarded man. For one who has purposefully shunned the conniving beauties of London society, just how much is Ned risking by allowing this intriguing woman under his roof?”

Though I truly love this story, in the odd time warp world of writerdom, it has been hard to fully wrap my mind around the reality of its release. While I’ve been doing some blogs and contests to promote WAIF (visit my website, http://www.juliajustiss.com/, for a chance to win a sample of heroine Joanna’s exotic perfume,) I’m also simultaneously going through the final edits for next summer’s release, THE SMUGGLER AND THE SOCIETY BRIDE, (Book 3 of a first-ever 8-book Regency continuity series that features three main families, scandal, murder, a hanging and revenge that reaches into the next generation.) And at the same time, I’m struggling with an unusually recalcitrant Muse to write my next story—another Wellingford tale—that features Greville Anders, that fired-estate-manager brother of WAIF heroine Joanna Anders Merrill.

As for the edits, along with changing back to commas the copy editor’s strange predilection for colons—in the middle of sentences—I also scratched my head over the c.e. changing “Axminster carpet” to “soft carpet.” Although I knew these carpets were accurate to the Regency period, the copy editor’s questioning of the term spurred me to research them a bit further.

It’s true enough that carpeting as we think of it was unknown in Regency England. Wall-to-wall didn’t exist and woven carpets were still quite rare and expensive.

Knotted woolen and silk carpets were first brought back by Crusaders from the Middle East. Although elaborately embroidered and designed wall hangings had been made in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, not until the 17th century did monarchs there, eager to embellish their palaces with all manner of luxury items, begin to sponsor local craftsmen to produce such “Oriental” carpets.

Having taken over from the Italians the mantle of being Europe’s premier producer of luxury goods (when the Sun King Louis XIV imported Italian artisans to tutor French craftsmen,) it’s not surprising that the French were in the forefront of carpet-making. In 1627, by royal order, the Savonnerie factory was established at Chaillot in Paris to create pile carpets for use in the king’s palaces and as royal gifts. This establishment, which later merged with the famous tapestry-making firm Gobelin, created carpets with floral and architectural patterns, some based on designs (called “cartoons”) by famous painters. (The business continues today, still crafting exquisitely-made carpets for a discriminating and wealthy clientele.)

The carpets made at Savonnerie greatly influenced the designs of other firms, including the one established at Axminster by cloth maker Thomas Whitty in 1755. Like those produced in France, Axminster carpets often featured architectural or floral patterns that mimic those of Oriental carpets. And like fine carpets to this day, the Axminster designs were hand-knotted of wool on woolen warps with wefts of flax or hemp.

Although other carpet works were begun about the same time in Exeter and near London, Whitty’s firm in Axminster established itself as the premier producer of English-made carpets. King George III and Queen Charlotte visited the works, and following the royal lead, orders were quickly placed by others of wealth and high rank. Axminster carpets soon graced the Royal Pavillion at Brighton, Warwick Castle, Saltram House and Chatsworth.

Axminster, I discovered, is located in Devon—along whose smuggling-rich coast the story I’m currently working on, Greville’s story, takes place. In a further curious coincidence, Powderham Castle, the stately home outside Exeter in Devon I’d already chosen as the prototype for the dwelling of Lord Bronning, father of Greville’s heroine Amanda, happens to possess one of the first and finest of Axminster’s carpets.

Powderham Castle was built in 1391 by Sir Philip Courtenay and is still owned by the Courtenays today. The original castle, rebuilt and modified over the years, was further embellished by William Courtenay, third Viscount Courtenay and later Earl of Devon, with the addition of a Music Room designed by the famous architect James Wyatt. This handsome chamber also featured a carpet made by the newly formed Axminster Carpet Company--the biggest carpet ever made by the firm, until the Prince Regent heard of it and ordered a larger one. (Can we say “carpet envy?”)

Axminster dominated the English carpet market until 1835, when Samuel Rampson Whitty, grandson of the founder, declared bankruptcy following a disastrous fire which destroyed the weaving looms. With competition from Europe and the rise of high-quality but cheaper, machine-made carpets, it was too expensive to try to revive the works.

The Blackmores of Wilton, near Salisbury, bought the remaining stock and looms. Weaving had been a prominent trade in Wilton since the 17th century, and at the turn of the 19th, Lord Pembroke helped establish the Wilton Royal Carpet Factory. With this purchase, the firm extended their business to include patterned, hand-knotted carpets, which despite the change of location were still called “Axminsters.”

But in the mid-20th century, another curious development occurred. A carpet manufacturer named Harry Dutfield beguiled the tedium of a train journey by chatting with a vicar with a heavy West Country accent. Upon learning of Dutfield’s occupation, the vicar told him about the famous Devon town where carpet-making had thrived before the disastrous fire in the 1830’s. Intrigued, Dutfield followed up on the story and in 1937, began again to manufacture carpet in the town of its historic roots--Axminster.

In 2005, another event occurred to complete the merger of copy-edit suggestions, my research about Devon, Powderham Castle and the Courtenays. For the 250th anniversary of carpet weaving in Axminster, a special commemorative rug was produced. As in days of old, when church bells rang to signal the completion of each time-consuming, hand-made work of art, this special carpet was paraded by Axminster’s weavers through the town to the Minster Church, where it was blessed by the Bishop of Exeter. It was then presented to the Queen’s representative—the 18th Earl of Devon, William Courtenay--to be conveyed to its new home at Clarence House--the home of HRH the Prince of Wales.

I think “our” Prinny would be pleased.

(By the way, you can visit Axminster’s website, http://www.axminster-carpets.co.uk/250years.htm, to see a photo of the rug-carrying ceremony.)

There’s something inherently satisfying about discovering a family and a business that has thrived from early days through Regency times to our own. Inspired by those events, when I mailed in my changes to the copy edits, I instructed production to change “soft carpet” back to “Axminster carpet.”

So, what do you think? Will the odd place name pull you out of the story--or add to its richness? Do you prefer the boring adjective “soft?” Log in your comments for a chance to win an autographed copy of WAIF. (Though I should dearly love to offer one of Axminster’s finest carpets as the prize, I fear I shall have to limit myself to books!)

Proud To Be A Series Sheep

So, what hooks you?

Is it a dynamic family? A writing style? A multi-book mystery? What makes you stick with an author for the duration of a series? I'm thinking about it for a couple of reasons; first is that I gave my friend Kwana my copy of Tessa Dare's Goddess Of The Hunt, she read it, and twittered that she is hooked, and is going to have to get the second and third books of the series. Me, too, I chimed in.

Next is that I am eagerly awaiting Lilith Saintcrow's next release in the Jill Kismet series, her fourth. Jill has a pretty smokin' boyfriend, but it's not romance, but urban fantasy (I think; I get so muddled up on genre). I followed Saintcrow through all of her Dante Valentine series, and have yet to take her off the autobuy list.

Last is that I am super excited for the HBO mini-series of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, starring one of my fave dishes, Sean Bean. That series is a commitment, people! I've read two of the 900+ page books, with at least two more to go, and I know I'm going to make it. (Of course, I have visions of me lying on my deathbed with the last book in the series clutched in my dying hands, but that's another story).

Many, many people read all the way through Julia Quinn's Bridgerton family; others (self included) read all of Mary Balogh's Slightly series; still others are getting through all gazillion books in Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time fantasy series (I put my foot down on that one--over 11 books? No way. I WOULD be dead before finishing all of those).

So--why do you like or don't like series? What series do you still follow? Which ones did you give up on?

Megan

PS: I'll be in Jersey, too this weekend, listening to Janet's lovely accent. If you're there and you see me, say hi!

On the road

I really think I shall have to sack my maid. She is not only a saucy piece who makes the humble yet necessary job of ironing into some sort of grand seduction, but she's incompetent! You should see the wrinkles in my clothes and the evidence of hasty, last minute laundering. When we reach our destination later today I shall have to stand over her and supervise her every move. I am just grateful that there will be very few gentlemen attending the event.

I shall spend the better part of an hour discussing the neverending problem of servants to anyone who cares to attend.

As for me, I shall be most modestly and suitably attired for travel--note that my maid seems to have lost her kerchief again--it is an excessively tiresome habit.

I shall take the precaution of taking my apothecary chest lest any of my acquaintances suffer a fit of the vapors or appear crapulous following an evening of gossip and refreshment.

And of course my writing slope will accompany me, for although I am not in such dire straits as Miss Jewell or Miss McCabe regarding their literary obligations, I do have a great deal of work to do.

In translation: Yes, I shall be attending the New Jersey Romance Writers Conference, giving my workshop on servants, and signing at the Literacy Bookfair on Saturday. I hope I'll see you there! Next week I shall have pictures.

Oh, Look! Pretty

To distract you from the fact that I have no post (some of you may know that I have a book due November 1st) ---

Note to Self: Arrange to post here on a day when Amanda doesn't post the day before. She has an 11/1 deadline, too, and she has this factual, interesting totally awesome post. I have this. But I bet my deadline is much deader than hers. Or maybe it's me that's dead.

---

Here are some pretty pictures:



Blogger making this smaller doesn't do justice to the photo, I'm afraid. But this rose is called Honey Dijon.





OK, to make this go faster, I am now choosing random photos. Oh my God, this is so fun! What will show up?


Mystery Photo #1




Mystery Photo #2




Mystery Photo #3


Mystery Photo #4


Mystery Photo #5


Yeah. So guess what I like to take pictures of?

ETA: I think everyone should just guess what the pictures are of. Wackiness wins points. Hint: Plants.

P.S. I took all these pictures at my house.

P.P.S. The deadline is still killing me.

Happy Birthday Pauline Bonaparte

Amanda's Deadline Status--Moving forward! Two weeks to go! I'm still alive! I think!

And one more quote came through this week, too, I am so excited! (Can you tell I'm living on tea and chocolate? The caffeine/deadline diet!)

"COUNTESS OF SCANDAL captures your heart and won’t let go."—Cathy Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author of The Earl Claims His Wife




As for today's blog, I recently read Flora Fraser's fascinating new biography Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire. What a naughty woman that Pauline was! She might have to reform a bit to make a good romance novel heroine (and a story of that reform would be lots of fun to read...). And I found out today is her birthday--October 20, 1780.


Pauline was born in Ajaccio, Corsica to Marie-Letizia and Carlo Bonaparte, the third youngest of their many children. She received almost no formal education, and her young life was abruptly disrupted when she was 13 and had to flee with her family to the French mainland. She was a famous beauty even before she was 16, attracting legions of admirers (much to her strict mother's dismay!). Around this time she fell passionately in love with a man named Stanislas Feron, a brave solider in her brother's army but also a 40-year-old, syphilitic philanderer who never did much in his life. She ended up marrying Colonel Victor Emmanuel Leclerc on June 14, 1797 at Napoleon's command (he had caught them in a compromising position, natch!). Young marriage proved no impediment to Pauline's affaires.


In 1801, Leclerc was given command of the army in Haiti, where Pauline and their young son Dermide (who died at the age of 8) went to join him. Leclerc died of fever there in 1802, and Pauline hotfooted it back to Paris soon after. She married again within 8 months, in August 1803. Prince Camillo Borghese was one of the richest men in all of Italy, but money couldn't keep Pauline at home (though she did love spending it!). The prince tried putting her under house arrest; that didn't work, either. She shopped, gave big parties, had love affairs, and posed famously nude for the sculptor Canova. Her brother gifted her with the duchy of Guantalla, which she promptly sold to Parma for 6 million francs (but kept the title Princess of Guantalla), thus demonstrating a distinct lack of interest in ruling anything but herself.

When her brother was exiled to Elba, however, she liquidated her assets (including a wide array of jewels) and went to stay with him, the only sibling to even visit him. After his escape and final defeat, Pauline went to stay with her mother in Italy. When she tried to move back into the Palazzo Borghese, her estranged husband ended the marriage and she bought her own lavish estate near Rome. By this time she was suffering from ill health, though she tried to maintain her lavish lifestyle of lovers and parties until she died in 1825, age only 44, of cancer. She had become reconciled with Borghese near the end, and he allowed her to be buried in the family chapel among popes and saints (ha!)



Who are some of your favorite "bad girls" in history? Do you enjoy novels with naughty heroines? (I do!!)

And on Thursday I'll be at the Pink Heart Society blog talking about favorite childhood reads and The Winter Queen! Be sure to pop in and see me there...

Bright Star Redoux

I did it! I went to see Bright Star, the movie I blogged about a month ago, the movie about John Keats's love affair with his neighbor, Fanny Brawne . It finally came to two local theaters so Sunday night I finally got to see it.

I liked it very much for many reasons.

It was wonderfully acted. Abbie Cornish as Fanny definitely should be nominated for an Oscar. She had the most expressive face; you could almost tell what she was thinking. Ben Whishaw as Keats was also very good, although I can't figure out why he was always unshaven. Was that supposed to show he was poor? Anyway, he managed to be masculinely appealing while still sensitive and poetic and sick. Paul Schneider played Brown, Keats's friend and roommate. He also is said to be Oscar worthy. I was surprised to discover he is an American actor, from South Carolina, no less. He spoke with a very authentic-sounding Scottish accent. In addition to these main characters, even the minor roles were very well done.

The costumes were spectacular, especially Fanny's dresses. Fanny Brawne designed and sewed her own dresses, so her costumes were beautiful creations. All the costumes were well done, though. I loved the hats and lace caps! I think the costumes in this movie were the most beautiful depiction of Regency era fashion that I have ever seen. Even the shoes were fascinating.


In addition to the costumes, the settings were wonderful. The four seasons were beautifully represented. The snow really looked like snow; the rain, like rain. Details were attended to. Stacks of books in Keats and Brown's rooms, tea cups and dishes at dinner, the kitchen pots.

I had not expected the movie to be as emotional as it was. It had me trying to hold in sobs!

I thought there were some weaknesses in the movie. It was sometimes difficult to tell what was going on, who some of the people were, and why the scenes skipped from one to the other. If I had not read up on this part of Keats's life, I would not have understood as much as I did.

The pace was slow. (One of my friends said she started thinking, "Die already, Keats!") But because the film was so beautiful to look at, I didn't mind so much.

If I wanted someone who knew nothing about the Regency period to fall in love with it, I'd probably recommend the BBC/Colin Firth version of Pride & Prejudice. But if someone is already in love with the time period, I'd definitely recommend Bright Star.

Have you seen Bright Star? What did you think of it?
Of movies set in the Regency era, which do you think best would make someone new fall in love with it?


I'm hoping my December book, Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady, evokes a rich Regency setting, a great love story, and lots of emotion. The excerpt is now up on my website. And a new contest.