Countess of Scandal Launch Party!

(This weekend I'm soooo happy and excited to launch Laurel McKee's debut book here at the Riskies! Countess of Scandal is on the shelves now, and we'll also be giving away a copy here to one commenter--along with an Irish lucky penny. The lovely Kwana Jackson from Kwana Writes agreed to interview me about the book, and then I in turn interviewed my editor at Grand Central Publishing, Alex Logan, to get her take on the book...)

"Countess of Scandal combines a passionate romance with a nail-biting plot. The author's research shines through to make the era come alive, as well as her characters. An exciting tale out of the common mold" --Romance Reviews Today

"McKee sets the stage for a romantic adventure that captures the spirit of Ireland and a pair of star-crossed lovers to perfection" --RT Book Reviews, 4 stars

"How is it possible to take such a devastating time in history and turn it into a heart-warming, tender love story? The answer it appears is the writing ability of Laurel McKee and the talent to turn what could be seen as only sadness and despair into love and romance. This book gives you a history lesson that makes you understand how personal this fight was and help the reader understand how tragic the circumstance was but yet how two people that really love one another can make the best of the worst time. Excellent Read!" --The Reading Reviewer, 5 stars

"Laurel McKee's magical pen captivates you instantaneously! In Countess of Scandal she has fashioned a hero that takes your breath away, a heroine that you immediately wish were you, blistering sensual romantic scenes, and a love story that will forever be etched in your mind. I don't know how I'll manage the wait until book two is out!" --Romance Readers Connection

Kwana: Hi, Amanda! Thanks so much for having me over here at the Riskies. It's an honor to be hanging with so many women that I'm a huge fan of and admire so much. I'll try and contain myself and do a proper interview.

So, I was thrilled to receive a surprise ARC of Countess of Scandal in the mail recently by someone named Laurel McKee. I was like, now where did I hear that before? That said, let's talk about this alter ego of yours, Laurel McKee, shall we? Is this anything like the whole Beyonce/Sasha Fierce alter ego thing? How is Laurel different from Amanda McCabe?

Amanda/Laurel: LOL! Well, I don't have a weird robotic glove thing like Sasha Fierce, though maybe I should get one. And I like to blame any dumb thing I do on Laurel (she's always forgetting to pick up milk and dog food, and buying shoes that don't match anything else in the closet). I once read that Beyonce uses Sasha to help overcome shyness and let loose on stage (not that Beyonce ever seemed paralyzed by shyness to me...), so that could be really useful! (Luckily Laurel is my real-life middle name, so she's not entirely unfamiliar to me)

But when it comes to writing we're not so different. I do a ton of research on all my stories (that's one of the fun parts of this job!), and I love to use history to create conflict. Real life is usually so much weirder and more interesting than anything we could totally make up! Laurel's books are a little longer, a little more action-packed and fast-paced, and the length means I can use more secondary characters and subplots to add to the main conflict.

Kwana: How did the idea for the "Daughters of Erin Trilogy" come to you?

Amanda/Laurel: I've wanted to do an Irish-set book for a very long time! My own Irish family background is very inspiring, and Ireland itself is such a gorgeous country, with a dramatic history filled with passionate people. But I knew I would have to find just the right characters and situation. A few years ago, I happened to read 3 books about strong women in Georgian Ireland--Janet Todd's Daughters of Ireland (about the scandalous King sisters and their heiress mother), Stella Tillyard's Aristocrats (along with the gorgeous "Masterpiece" series), and an old book I found in an antique store called Women of '98 by Mrs. Thomas Concannon. And I also remembered touring Castletown, the enormous, beautiful estate of Lady Louisa Conolly (one of the Lennox sisters from Aristocrats, who married the richest man in Ireland, and transformed this Georgian house into one of the most elegant places in 18th century Ireland--which is saying a lot. Georgian architecture reached a zenith in Ireland!). That was how I happened to meet the 3 Blacknall sisters and learn their stories.

Kwana: Now Ireland during a bloody rebellion doesn't sound like the most romantic setting, and at times it was very bloody and downright heartbreaking. What drew you to this particular era for Eliza and Will's sexy love story in Book 1, Countess of Scandal?

Amanda/Laurel: It's definitely true that an uprising is not the first setting people think of when you think 'romance'! (though you can't get away from them in writing about Ireland!). A Regency ballroom, maybe, or a Medieval castle. But Ireland in the late Georgian/early Regency period has so many of the things I love in a great Regency story (beautiful architecture, glittering parties--the Irish Ascendancy loved to party!, dashing men, and especially really great clothes. My stories have to have great clothes!). It also has passionate convictions and heightened emotions, acute danger, as well as the deepest of stakes. It made Eliza and Will's love story feel very immediate and Romeo and Juliet-ish to me. At times I feared for them, even though I was the one writing the story!!! (They were childhood sweethearts, torn apart when they were young by family expectations, and going on to their own lives--marriage and rebellion for Eliza and the Army for Will. Even when they met again as adults, free to make their own choices, the fact that they stood on opposite sides seemed to keep them apart! Every day was a new adventure writing about them...)

Kwana: Tell us a bit about your research process for your stories. How do you begin and how deep do you go in order to be historically accurate?

Amanda/Laurel: Research is one of my favorite things! I would have happily stayed in school forever, buried in a library, and this gives me a chance to do that in a way. Once I had the idea for the story of Countess of Scandal, I started with the books I already had on my shelf--the 3 I've already mentioned, plus sources like Thomas Pakenham's The Year of Liberty and Thomas Bartlett's The 1798 Rebellion: An Illustrated History, as well as books with visual resources, like the gorgeous volume Irish Georgian from the World Design series. (there's a more complete list of sources on my website here, along with some historical background info). I wanted to be very careful to give an accurate portrayal of the country and the events.

Kwana: Anna's story is up next (Duchess of Sin, December 2010). Give us a little bit about Anna. What makes her a heroine to get behind?

Amanda/Laurel: Oh, I love Anna! Ever since the first time I met her, in the assembly room scene in Countess, I looked forward to telling her story. She's the middle daughter, the 'beauty,' not considered as "intellectual" as her sisters, maybe a little spoiled, but very generous and big-hearted, fun-loving and kind. Her experiences in the rebellion affect her very deeply, and when we meet her in her own book (set around the upheaval of the Act of Union between Ireland and England in 1800/01) she tries to erase the trauma with parties, card-playing, and mischief. It's during one of those escapades that she encounters again the dark, dangerous Irish Duke of Adair. Since their book is out in December, I got to do research on an Irish Christmas!

Kwana: Finally, the cover gods seem to be totally on your side! They are just gorgeous. Tell me, do you have some shrine hidden in your closet or a chant that you'd like to share with the rest of us mortals?

Amanda/Laurel: Well, you need sandalwood incense, a bowl of wine, a dish of sea salt, set up before a statue of the Goddess of Covers (whose name shall not be said). Then you need to find someone to teach you the Super Secret Cover Chant (which I have sworn to said goddess not to reveal).

I've had a few covers that weren't so great (IMO), but they just make me appreciate the beautiful ones all the more. Grand Central has done an amazing job on these first 2 covers--they're beautiful and eye-catching with those bold colors, and also suit the stories. I can't wait to see what they do for Book 3, Caroline's story (Lady of Seduction, 2011). Harlequin has also been doing some lovely covers lately--I couldn't be happier! (Though I do give that cover chant before opening any email cover attachments from my editors!)

Kwana: Thank you so much for letting me interview you today, and being here at Risky Regencies. It was an honor and I thoroughly enjoyed Countess of Scandal!

(Watch for Kwana's review of the book to be at Booksquawk)

(And my editor at Grand Central, Alex Logan, was kind enough to take time to be interviewed as well...)

Amanda/Laurel: What was it that first drew you to this book when it landed on your desk?

Alex: For me, the main attraction of this book was the historical backdrop of war-torn Ireland. We often talk about the setting as one of the characters in a book, and this is a good example. From the glittering society parties to the fatal battles in the countryside, Ireland during this period comes alive. We receive many wonderful Regency-set submissions every single month, so the Irish history really made this one stand out!

Amanda/Laurel: And what do you think readers will like best in the story?

Alex: Despite all the wonderful things I just said about the setting, I think readers will love Captain Will Denton best! We have a strong heroine to admire, too, but I think a good romance is all about falling in love with the hero. I can't say it better than author Michelle Willingham: "I wanted to lick the hero like an ice cream cone"

Amanda/Laurel: LOL! What are you looking for in submissions right now (besides lickable heroes)?

Alex: Well, I'm working on quite a few continuing historical series right now. So I wouldn't rule out another great historical if it came my way, but I'm actually setting my sights on romantic suspense. I like my romantic suspense pretty gritty. If there are any writers reading this and thinking "Me, too!" please let your agent know to send it my way. Thanks!

So there you have it! Comment on this weekend's post for a chance to win a signed copy of Countess of Scandal...

Zip Up Your Coat, Lady Britney!

Any moderately well-read Regency reader can spot an anachronism from pages away: A woman who refers to her gown as having an Empire waist, zippers, chocolate, calling people of other nationalities by politically-correct names. Sure, and some of us authors (ahem!) have fallen down on the job of getting titles right, etc.

But what about the more subtle nuances? Or things that seem anachronistic, but aren't?

For example, this week I watched a Chinese romantic comedy called Needing You. It stars my new favorite, Andy Lau, and the adorably cute Sammi Cheng. They work in the same office, and Lau is Cheng's boss. The movie was made in 2000, so I was stunned when Lau commented to one of the other women in the office that her outfit would look a lot better if it was lower to show her boobs and the slit in her skirt were higher. Whoa, he said that?!? That would never pass muster in an American-made film, unless later he were forced to wear the outfit in question and go through a cat-call gauntlet. Not to mention it's illegal in American workplaces to mention anything about appearance (right? I don't work in a workplace, so I can compliment myself as much as I want, since I'm the only one here).

There were a few other instances of double standards in the workplace in the film, and it was hard for an American woman such as myself to take them in stride. But that reality is their reality, not mine, and if it's something that rings true to them, so be it. I'm the outsider who has to deal with it.

Another film I saw this week was Inglourious Basterds, where a spy was found out because he made a gesture no German would do. It wasn't even anything he thought about because it was so subtle, but it was a beacon for the gestapo guy sitting across from him. Societal norms are so strong within each of us that we don't even think about the way we eat, or hold a pen, or make our "7"s, or wear our jeans--but you can always spot someone who's not from around your parts by any of those tiny tells.

Then there's language. Some of our 'dirtiest' language has been around for centuries, even though it might seem like a modern invention. So sometimes when it's used in our books it's not just for the shock value, but because that's how they spoke. And, yes, certain sexual acts have been around forever, too, even though once I heard (laughably) an author say indignantly that Regency people didn't do that. In a pig's eye, I say; as long as men have had those, and we've had all this, all those acts have been done. Just saying.

Of course, that's not to say Regency authors should worry less about historical and social accuracy, but just to say that there were doubtless exceptions for every accepted fact in our history. Things couldn't exist that hadn't been invented, but it is important to remember every Society has its own quirks, even societies existing within the same time period such as my Chinese film above; it's kinda fun to think about, actually, and makes reading and writing the books even more fun.

What's the most egregious error you've ever spotted? What have you thought was an anachronism that wasn't? Which anachronisms bother you the most?

Megan

Gaslights

Today's the anniversary of the first public gas lights in London in 1807, which illuminated Pall Mall. Or possibly not, because according to this article in The Times, the two-hundred anniversary was celebrated on June 18, 2007, when a lamplighter, using the traditional pole, lit a lamp on Pall Mall. In 1985 a timing device was introduced to light the lamps, maintained by a team of six lamp light attendants. London has 1600 remaining gas lights, mainly in the areas of Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and the Mall. Here's one at Lincolns Inn.

For some other really gorgeous pictures of gas lights, visit urban75.org.

The possibilities of using coal gas to illuminate buildings and streets was not a new idea. In 1735 Dr. John Clayton of Wigan entertained his friends, and then the members of the Royal Society, by capturing "the spirit of coal" in animal bladders and then setting them alight (boys will be boys). In 1792, William Murdoch (or Murdock) refined the method of capturing and controlling gas and illuminated his house in Cornwall. The technology was first seized upon by industrialists who saw it as a way of expanding the workday and their profits, and then applied it to lighting the streets of cities.

London, like all large cities of its time, was a riotous and dangerous place, riddled with gangs and criminals. The only protection, other than footmen for the wealthy, were the night watchmen, ineffective and figures of fun. So the idea of illuminating the mean streets caught on worldwide. France experimented with gaslights in 1801. In 1812, the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company used wooden pipes to light Westminster bridge in time for New Year's Eve, 1813. You can read the transcript of the 1819 Parliamentary debate on the pros and cons of gas lighting online here.

Baltimore became the first city to be lit by gas in 1816. Germany's inaugural gasworks opened in 1825, by which time in London, over 40,000 gaslights illuminated 215 miles of streets.

Here's a Rowlandson cartoon from 1809 celebrating the Pall Mall lighting. From left to right, the speech captions are as follows. I particularly like the new challenge that gas lighting offers to the sex trade:

Well-informed gentleman: "The Coals being steam'd produces tar or paint for the outside of Houses -- the Smoke passing thro' water is deprived of substance and burns as you see."

Irishman: "Arragh honey, if this man bring fire thro water we shall soon have the Thames and the Liffey burnt down -- and all the pretty little herrings and whales burnt to cinders."

Rustic bumpkin: "Wauns, what a main pretty light it be: we have nothing like it in our Country."

Quaker: "Aye, Friend, but it is all Vanity: what is this to the Inward Light?"

Shady Female: "If this light is not put a stop to -- we must give up our business. We may as well shut up shop."

Shady Male: "True, my dear: not a dark corner to be got for love or money."

And now the bad news. I discovered quite a lot of this information from an article in the Guardian, Life Before Artificial Light, which went on to discuss a book--yes, it's another one for the TBR pile, I'm afraid, by Roger Ekirch, At Day's Close. What artificial light did, in addition to making the streets, and people's homes, safer at night, was to change sleep patterns that are probably prehistoric in origin.

Ekirch discovered that pre-industrial revolution sleep patterns, from the time of Homer onward, seem to have been segmented, with a "first sleep" until about midnight, when people would awaken and maybe get up for a time, followed by a "second sleep." (People were probably going to bed, at the latest, at around 10 pm.) The waking up period, with what light was available, lamps, rush lights, candles, might include card games, conversation, reflection, and the obvious. A sixteenth century doctor reported that sex was better after than before the first sleep, which makes sense.

Furthermore, a study at NIH which deprived young males of artificial light reported that they naturally fell into this sleep pattern (no, I don't know if they had sex, or with whom, in the middle of the night).

Interesting stuff. Have you ever lived entirely with natural light and did you find your sleep patterns changed? Do you think you'd enjoy a first and second sleep pattern? What would you choose to do in the middle of the night?

When I Was Stubborn

Today I am telling you the true story of four books I resisted reading for no good reason except well, nothing. I had no good reason.

A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh.

There was a time when I belonged to a book club where if you did nothing, they just sent you books. If you were the organized timely sort of person, you could decline the choices or change them to books you did want. Well, I'm not all that organized and not all that timely so I often ended up with books I didn't want. Of course, you could send them back, but you had to be timely about that, too. Which I wasn't. A Summer to Remember was a book I ended up with that I hadn't wanted but, being disorganized etc. Well, there it was. I was going to send it back but by the time I found where I'd put it, it was too late. Then the book sat around for nearly a year. I didn't like the cover very much and I'd never heard of the author. Why would I want to read it?

Then one day I ran out of other books I wanted to read and I was feeling guilty about all the bad thoughts I'd been sending toward that book with the cover I didn't like and the author I'd never heard of. So, I said to myself, I'll try it. I figured I'd read a page or two, not like it, and could then toss it with impunity.
Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa.

How wrong could I have been? So, very very wrong. I adored the story. I adored the writing. As soon as I finished it, I re-read it. And then I went about getting everything I could by this author I had never heard of.

The Wild Baron by Catherine Coulter

I didn't want to read this book because I thought the title was lame. If I recall correctly, someone gave me this book along with several others by various authors. Free books! I like free. But didn't want to read about a plain old Baron. Not even if he was wild. I wanted earls, marquesses and dukes. Boo for Barons, said I to myself. As with Balogh, I had at this time, not read anything by Catherine Coulter though I had at least heard of her. Again, I found myself in a desperate reading situation so, in a kind of pissy mood, I started reading it.

Oh.

Oh!

I loved Coulter's style of writing. I loved the hero of this book even though I would have preferred something better than a Baron. I forgave him this shortcoming about two sentences after his appearance. And then I dug out the other Coulters in the stack and read them. One of them was the infamous Rape Scene story and the other was the But I Used Cream story. But I liked them anyway even though I thought those two heroes were jerks. I read all the historicals of hers I could find. I was very sad when she stopped writing historicals.

The Viscount Who Loved Me, by Julia Quinn

Right. So I also picked up this book because I heard lots of buzz about her way back when. Once again, I thought the title was lame. I still do, actually. I did, however, like the cover. It was a very pretty blue and didn't have a clinch. I have never been fond of the clinch cover. I didn't want to read the book because I was being a stubborn idiot. No band wagon for me, please. No way.
But I finally cracked the cover and started reading.

And I LOVED the breezy writing EVEN THOUGH there were historical inaccuracies. I adored the hero. And I about busted a gut when the heroine was hiding under the hero's desk as he's (supposedly) alone with a lover. And he steps on her hand -- knowing she's there.

I'm saving the most embarrassing for last.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

For whatever reason, I was never assigned this book in Junior or Senior High School. But I knew, oh, hoh! I knew this was a Book You Must Read. So I didn't read it for twenty years. Twenty years! I would be interested to know if anyone else resisted a book for that long. If you did, fess up.

Well, of course, when I finally broke down and read the book, I wanted to kick myself for waiting so long.

What can I say? I have now fessed up. Any of you have similar confessions?

Tuesday Variety

Today is going to be a Miscellaneous Day, since I'm totally distracted with wrapping up the WIP and getting back into the day-job schedule, etc. Here's what else I've been thinking about lately:

1) More covers! Just got this one for Duchess of Sin, the second "Daughters of Erin" book, which will be out in December. I love the red and gold colors, the dress, the holly! Speaking of the "Erin" books, Amazon says Countess of Scandal is shipping today, and it's been spotted in some bookstores (sadly, not here yet!). I am so excited I can't stand it!! We'll be having the launch party (with giveaways) this weekend here at the Riskies.

2) The new Emma on PBS! I have read complaints of the series and Romola Garai's performance, but I think if parts 2 and 3 continue on the same way she will probably be my favorite Emma. I like both the Paltrow and the Beckinsale versions (aspects of them both, anyway), but Emma is such a delicate balancing act, a perfect mixture of sweetness and acerbic wit that makes the story of the book just right. Paltrow leaned more to "cuteness" (as did the secondary actors), Beckinsale to crankiness (and fugly hats), where Garai has a little more of the mix down. Sure, Emma is spoiled and arrogant and bossy, but she's also kind, well-meaning, and fun to be around, which is what makes (almost) everyone in Highbury love her and want to be around her. So I'm liking this Emma a lot.

I also wholeheartedly approve of the houses and costumes (especially love Emma's coral-red dress with the teal-green sash, and all her pretty shawls). I was doubtful of Jonny Lee Miller as Knightley, but am coming around (the chemistry between Emma and Knightley here is palpable, which helps!). Miss Smith is pretty, sweet, and dumb as a box of rocks, as she should be, and Elton vain and silly, as he should be (can't wait to see Christina Coles's Mrs. Elton! She was such a good wicked-snobby Blanche Ingram in Jane Eyre). I'm not sure Michael Gambon is not a little too robust for Mr. Woodhouse, but he's good as always, and Miss Bates is excellent in the way you can see the despair behind the cheeriness with just a look. I wish Jane Fairfax was a bit more charismatic--as it is, I'm not sure why everyone is so interested in her. And Frank Churchill (aka Margaret's whiny brother from North and South) is a dud. But I'm enjoying this version a lot, and am so glad Emma finally got the series treatment, instead of cramming it all into 2 hours! (Now if they would just do the same for Mansfield Park)

3) Yesterday in history--Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were married in a secret ceremony at Whitehall Palace in 1533. Er--happy anniversary?

And today in history, Mozart's opera Cosi fan tutte had its premier at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1790. The cast at this performance was Adriana Ferrarese as Fiordiligi, Luisa Villeneuve as her sister Dorabella, Francesco Benucci as Guglielmo, and Vincenzo Calvesi as Ferrando. It's theme of "fiancee swapping" didn't in the least offend the sophisticated Viennese audience, but it was considered quite scandalous in the 19th century and was rarely performed until after World War II. Now it's on Opera America's list of the 10 most-performed operas.




So, to sum up: Covers, book releases, Emma, ill-fated weddings, and opera! What did you think of Emma? What's your favorite opera? (Mine is Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, or maybe Tosca). And what's your favorite ill-starred couple of history???

The Sense and Sensibility of Kathy Gilles Seidel

This past weekend, our Washington (DC) Romance Writers workshop was a discussion of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, both the book and the Emma Thompson movie, led by our very own Austen scholar, Kathy Gilles Seidel.

In addition to having a Ph.D in English, Kathy has won every romance writing prize you can think of. She was the speaker at the very first WRW meeting I ever attended, talking about endings. I was enthralled and so very impressed. Kathy continues to impress me at every WRW Retreat where she is our opening speaker. Her talks are always intelligent, literary, accessible, and very practical.

This talk was fun. Kathy showed clips from Sense and Sensibility and compared and contrasted Emma Thompson's adaptation with Jane Austen's first published work. Interspersed in the discussion, Kathy imparted her Sense and Sensibility about writing books.

Here are a few of her gems (more or less direct quotes):

"Your opening should be consistent with the overall tone of your book."

Originally, the S&S movie was going to start with a bloody fox-hunting scene in which Mr. Dashwood falls from his horse, but the tone would have been all wrong.

"If you have a character whose virtues are not appreciated, and you want the reader to invest in him, have a character criticize him."
This was about Edward. Kathy felt that Emma Thompson improved Edward as a hero in the movie.

"Secrets are fabulous. Secrets keep readers reading."
This was about Edward's secret betrothal.

"Restraint is cool and sexy."
A response to Alan Rickman's portrayal of Col. Brandon! But we already knew Alan Rickman was cool and sexy in the role, especially when he says, "Give me an occupation, Miss Dashwood, or I shall go mad."

"Books are all about the connections between people."

I don't remember the context, but I love the quote.

Kathy pointed out that the minor characters in the movie often provided the movie's "feel good" moments and that it is important to think about "how readers will respond to minor characters."

Kathy also pointed out that the point of "Ritual Death," the "Black Moment" should be an "alternative to the happy ending," the point where the character has to believe nothing will work out.
In S&S, the scene where Elinor believes Marianne is going to die is the Black Moment. Everything has gone wrong. Willoughby has abandoned Marianne, Edward is to marry Lucy, and Elinor is about to lose her sister.

I wish I could reproduce the discussion that led to these pieces of wisdom. All I can say is that it was stimulating and fun.

What's the best piece of writing wisdom you've heard lately?

When you are reading, do you notice these things in the book, or do you just get lost in the story?

Try Kathy's latest book about the mother of the groom, Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige.

Take a look at my website, with its new stuff and new contest. If you missed some of my early books they are being re-released in the UK. February is The Wagering Widow and March is my RITA winner, A Reputable Rake. See details on my UK page. Remember, Book Depository offers free shipping (and both are sold at discount)!

And while you are on the Book Depository website, also pre-order Janet's February UK release, Improper Relations. I'm reading an advance reader copy and it's fab! (and there's a 53% discount on it!)

Moo! A winner!

Congratulations,

Robynl

You are the winner of the fine, regifted (at least once)
copy of Pruned and Prejudiced, signed by author Margaret Dews.

Send your snailmail address to riskies AT yahoo.com to receive your lovely prize.

Reading Out Of The Zone

Right around this time, members of RWA are receiving big packets full of dreams--Golden Heart and RITA entries. The Golden Heart is RWA's national contest for unpublished manuscripts, while the RITA is for published books.

I got my ginormous (eight books!) box of books this week, and I have a lot of reading to do. What I like best about judging the RITA is the chance to get exposed to books I don't tend to pick up; yes, they're all romance, but this box includes a bunch of category romances, which I don't normally read. I pride myself on keeping a good perspective on the books, even if they're not my usual cup of tea, so I feel comfortable taking on these genres (all except inspirational; I had one of those last year, and it was very hard for me to gauge. I hope I did a good job with it).

Reading out of your comfort zone can be liberating and exciting; maybe you'll find an author you absolutely adore, or a trope you just can't stand. It can also confirm your reasons for not reading in that genre, but that just means you know more coming out than you did when you started the book.

Do you read entirely within your normal range? Or do you take risks with other genres? If so, what was the last book you broke your own boundaries with?

Thank you, Dr. Jenner

Today's the anniversary of the day Edward Jenner (1749-1823) introduced the smallpox vaccine in 1799.

Smallpox was a terrible disease, now eradicated, that killed one in three of those who caught it and could severely disfigure anyone who survived. Yet folklore, as Jenner knew, held that milkmaids or others associated with cows, caught a minor form of the illness (cowpox) which seemed to protect them from smallpox. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, during her time in Constantinople, became a convert to variolation, an early form of vaccination, and brought the practice back to England. There were several other contemporaries of Jenner's, including a Dorset farmer who successfully vaccinated his wife and two children, who were thinking along the same lines.

In 1796, Jenner tested his theory by inoculating an eight year old boy with material from the cowpox blisters of milkmaid Sarah Nelms, who had caught it from a cow named Blossom. Blossom's hide hangs in the library of St. George's Medical School, University of London--sadly, I could not find a picture.

In 1801 James Gillray produced this cartoon of the Smallpox Inoculation Hospital in St. Pancras, London.


And here, yuk, is the arm of William Pead, from an 1800 engraving, an illustration used by Jenner in An Enquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variola Vaccinae.

Jenner named the procedure vaccination from the Latin word for cow, vacca.

His home in the town of Berkeley is now a museum. This is his Temple of Vaccinia in the grounds. The museum has a petition to sign to return Jenner's statue to Trafalgar Square this year to commemorate thirty years of the eradication of smallpox, so if you're a UK citizen, please sign it!

I'm having trouble thinking of an appropriate followup question. I don't want to know about any pustules you may have developed and I doubt many of us own cows so I can't ask you the name of your favorite cow.

So, how about inventing a bit of dialogue for Jenner and his milkmaid, Jenner and his cow, or someone about to receive a vaccination without knowing exactly what is involved, such as:

"Just a little prick, my dear."
"Oh, la, sir, you are too modest."

The one I like best will receive a prize, a truly dreadful collection of the plots of Austen's novels in verse, that I was sent by my favorite ex-sister in law in England, who probably acquired it at a church jumble sale. It is signed by the author.

So get busy!

Lord Byron and his contemporaries -- What did people REALLY think?

I've been meaning to post about this for a while. I've finally gotten my act together for our mutual enjoyment -- I hope.

Lord Byron is, as most of you already know, frequently name-dropped in Regency-set historicals. Makes sense. Today we know Byron as a major literary figure. The really great thing about Byron is his reputation as the Bad Boy of the Regency. I have to confess, however, that Byron name dropping is becoming a pet peeve of mine.

Authors of Regency set historical romance often look for Regency-era poets and writers to mention in their books. The intent, of course, is to add background and depth to a story. The problem is that there is now a practically trite set of characters: Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Shelly et ux. Southey comes in for mention on rare occasion. But I don't often see other authors mentioned.

I've begun to feel as if I know exactly what the author was thinking -- the hero or heroine is reading something. Poetry. Who would the h/h be reading? And the author, being a history nut, already knows these now famous poets, or perhaps Googles and comes up with this list. Byron gets picked a lot. It's almost as if the man was the only poet of the Regency. I get why. He's a fascinating, titillating character who also wrote poetry that will, some two hundred years later, make your breath catch.

I'd like to put forth the argument that writers could do a little better than the stock list. Not that we shouldn't mention these poets. But I do believe it's important to remember that every generational period contains a range of ages, from infant to elderly. We can look back from the comfort of our centuries in the future and say that the man who wrote the words She walks in beauty like the night was (as my mother would say) a beady-eyed genius.

In Byron's own time, you can be assured, there were men (and women) of substance and influence who would have despised Byron for being new and different and young or morally corrupt, or who would have thought, correctly, early on in the poet's career, that here was a young flash who had yet to prove his literary staying power.

Dad: Don't talk to me about that new fangled poetry! New school indeed.
Son: It's really good! Just read it!
Dad: That poser doesn't hold a candle to Pope or Donne. And Milton! Milton! Now those are men who could write poetry! There were rules then and they followed them, by gad!
Son: (rolls eyes) That's so eighteenth century.
Dad: (cups ear) What's that? Eh? Why it's a bell. And it's tolling for thee. (Looks past son) Is that Satan I see coming for you?
Son: I'm going to Almack's tonight. Don't wait up.
Dad: Three AM and not a minute past, young man. (shakes finger) And you ask Miss Crackers to dance. She's got fifty thousand a year.

For readers and authors today, Byron has become a stand in for real meaning. The very word Bryon has become recursive in that Byron refers to and defines itself. No explanation needed. With that self-referential symbol Bryon we no longer need to explain what we mean because the word alone conveys so much that is already understood. Bryon, Byronic. Bad Boy. Genius. Wicked. Fame. Scandal. Sublime. Sex. Untimely death. New. Racy.

Such symbols are handy and they can be used with enormous impact in writing so long as the author understand what comes with the choice. What happens too often, though, is a writer chooses Byron merely because the name is now a reference to a whole constellation of meaning and without due consideration of what comes with that choice.

The result is usually a reference the reader skips over because she already understands what's packed into the symbol. The reader drops out of the story long enough to say, Oh, Byron, and then back. And yes, she picked up the meaning, but without the detail really great writing slips in. Richness of meaning is lost if that's all that happens. When this happens, the story begins to feel like wallpaper.

The writer's job is to find a way to introduce Byron and what we understand to be represented by Byron in a way that prevents the reader from skipping over the reference. It's hard work and it's also why it's becoming even more important to know about other writers of the period. Don't just stand on the shoulders of giants. (Thus concludes Carolyn's Physics joke of the week.)

As a writer, don't make the mistake of mentioning the major poets solely with the knowledge that we have today. Just because we call them the Romantics today does not mean they were called that then (they weren't) or that everyone understood their genius or, conversely, that everyone misunderstood (but for your heroine). When you do that, you're wallpapering your story and it will feel shallow.

By the way, if you carefully read the excerpt I've included, you will find an intriguing clue about how these poets were styled contemporaneously.

During my grad school days, I came across this book: Scribbleomania: or, The Printer's Devil's Polichronicon. A sublime poem By William Henry Ireland. I may have mentioned it in a previous post or two. It was published in 1815, so it's contemporary to our period. Here's the Google Books Link

I was looking for materials that addressed The Minerva Press, which this book does. Scribbleomania is full of names of contemporary and mostly forgotten (except to the PhD sorts) authors -- good information for the historically minded, I dare say. There is also a nice section on Lord Byron, and I thought The Riskies sort of person would be interested to hear how at least one of Byron's contemporaries thought of him and assessed his talent.

Scribbleomania is one long poem about (wait for it!) poetry and literature and the people who write it. I find that to be a rather delicious irony since Ireland's poetry is pretty awful. Though in his defense, he was going for satire, sarcasm and humor. The footnotes are what make for fun reading. There's quite a lot of interesting detail in those footnotes.

Before we get to Ireland's section on Byron, a word or two about the author is in order. The book was actually published anonymously (for reasons I will shortly reveal) under the name Arthur Pendragon. Don't think about that name for too long. . . Groaaaannnnn

Mr. Ireland was, alas, a man of poor judgment and character. His father was a noted collector of Shakespearean documents and young Mr. Ireland took it upon himself to forge some such documents and sell them to his father as the genuine Shakespearean article. The Wikipedia article about Ireland is fairly accurate if you want to know more.

Well, all right, a little additional set up here. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is the poem that brought Byron fame in his time, and it was published between 1812 and 1818. Not all at once, mind you.

Here we go, in the rhymes of William Henry Ireland:

Lord Byron

ac discas multa, et vites nescire doceri.
Cato. (Take heed to learn many things, and shun not the opportunity to reap instruction.)

Some strange combination must rule o'er the
spheres,
Since our age teems with many Parnassian peers.
A Byron, not lacking of fancy some store,
Who, study possessing, hath purg'd mental lore,
With Strangford respectably gracing my poem,
Whom last I recorded, of lordlings the proem.

This titled enditer, tho' beauties possessing,
Childe Harold must needs with old phrase still be
dressing:
A style of composing shall ne'er claim my praises;
The Muses thus robing in masquerade phases.
For, as planets will oft seem halv'd, gibbous, or
These obsolete terms, to my mind, seem suborn'd
To torture our language, for ages corrected;
Which, now at its acme, must needs be neglected.
Having own'd that his lordship much fancy possesses,
May his flights henceforth throw off such harlequin
dresses.
As a bard thus I grant him the praises his due,
And, with care, bid him Pegasus's journey pursue. (c)

(c) We are frequently told by the reviewers, that birth and fortune do not produce the smallest influence upon their decisions respecting any point connected with the republic of letters; which is, however, to my mind a very problematical assertion.
Notwithstanding due praise be allowed to Lord Byron, on the score of assiduous labour, scholastic acquirement, and classical elegance, he most assuredly cannot at present lay claim to real genius or originality; and, with deficiencies so palpable, the productions of his lordship could never have received those unqualified eulogiums, had not the talismanic charm of nobility infused its balsam as an ingredient into the dose of criticism. Considered in the light of a didactic writer, Lord Byron is deserving a considerable portion of praise; but any attempt to soar into the heaven of heavens, is a task beyond the powers of this Parnassian nobleman.

Some time has elapsed since the former part of this note was committed to paper: since which period a few short ebullitions have met the public eye, that do infinite credit to the muse of Lord Byron. I would, however, most seriously advise this nobleman to apply his abilities to some more sterling and lasting topic: let him obliterate from his thoughts all recollection of the new school. His judgment is obviously much matured; and the style he adopts is seldom characterized by a want of perspicuity: and, as the sublimity of Alpine scenery elevates the soul to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, even so will the mental energies expand in proportion to the grandeur of the subject which is selected to put them into action. Under such an impression, therefore, do I advise Lord Byron to lay the ground-work of a poem, the superstructure of which may justly entitle him to the praises of futurity.

Well. There you have it. Ireland does not seem to have cared much for Childe Harold but was, it would seem, sufficiently impressed by later words to think Byron could do better.

Here's the intriguing clue: let him obliterate from his thoughts all recollection of the new school. From this I feel I can quite cleverly say that these young poets were styled by at least some as New School. I bet there were people ranting against the New School the way Joyce Kilmer had it in for Free Verse and the Imagistes.

I'll leave you with this non-Bryonic tidbit from Scribbleomania because the spirit will be quite familiar:

On the subject of the Irish poet Mrs. Henry Tighe:

So many ladies have written, and still continue to produce trash, that no praise offered at the shrine of feminine excellence should be deemed fulsome; since the panegyric may prompt such unfortunate essayists to consult the productions of the personage so extolled, from whose style they may perhaps be prompted to correct their own effusions, or, if endowed with sense, to discriminate their natural inability, discard the pen, and thus relinquish all literary claims for ever. Independently of the poem of Cupid and Psyche, the lady now under Sir Noodle's review produced numerous other short effusions, all of which are characterized by every requisite that could tend to adorn a female of the most refined taste and exquisite sensibility.

Ouch. Is that a backhanded compliment or what?

As with so many other female writers of the period, she's been dismissed for centuries and her contributions forgotten.

About Mary Tighe who influenced Keats. More about Tighe. Pysche, by Mary Tighe. Here's an 1812 edition of Psyche with other poems. Pysche was originally published in 1805.

Cooking For Kings

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I missed you last Tuesday (thanks to Angela James, Carina Press, and Megan for filling in!), but I have been thinking about many things this week. Among them are:

Author copies! I got a box full of Countess of Scandal this week, and have been ogling them ever since. So pretty! So shiny! So purple! I've been working on this book for a long time, but somehow nothing seems quite "real" until I hold a copy in my hands. It releases on January 26, and I'll be doing a launch party and giveaway here at the Riskies on January 30. Join us for a chance to win one of these very copies!


Birthdays! Mine was Friday, and there was cake (Italian cream!) and presents, including this Hello Kitty watch (in its equally fab Hello Kitty box!). It makes getting older a little more fun.



And new book covers! This one is for the US release of To Catch a Rogue, Book One of "The Muses of Mayfair" (in April!) I'm so excited to see these books coming out here, and I love that you can see the actual Grecian statue from the story in the background of the cover. I haven't seen the covers for the other two yet, or for the "Undone" story that will be out in March to launch the series (To Bed a Libertine), but stay tuned.

I also avidly watched the Golden Globes red carpet arrivals (though I forsook most of the ceremony in favor of Return to Cranford!), and am talking gowns on my own blog today...



And now for today's regularly scheduled post, which was actually meant for last week! I had started it, but didn't feel up to finishing it yet, so here it is just a bit late. I'm not much of a cook, but I do love to eat (as well as watch the Food Network and Top Chef)! And I love the history of cuisine. I enjoyed Ian Kelly's book Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Careme, the First Celebrity Chef. As I read it, I couldn't help but imagine him as the snarky judge on an 18th century Top Chef. And January 12 was the anniversary of Careme's death, in 1833.

The man who came to be known as "The King of Chefs, and the Chef of Kings," one of the first internationally known "celebrity" chefs, didn't have a promising beginning. He was born in Paris to poverty-stricken parents in 1792, at the height of the French Revolution, and grew up working as kitchen boy in cheap cafes for his room and board. In 1798, he came to be apprenticed to the famous patissier Sylvain Bailly, who had a fancy shop near the Palais-Royal. Careme became famous for his pieces montees, elaborate subtleties several feet high made entirely of sugar, marzipan, almond paste, and other sweets in the shape of temples, ruins, pyramids, all the things antiquities-mad society loved. Bailly displayed these in his shop window, and Careme gained more fame for creating delicious sweets such as gros nougats and croquantes (made of almonds and honey).

In the meantime he branched out, doing work for the famous politician and gourmand Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, who recommended him to other members of the highest Paris Society, including Napoleon (he would do the wedding cake for Napoleon's second wedding). As he found more work, he expanded his creative repertoire from pastries to main courses and especially sauces, which would transform French cuisine. In 1804, Talleyrand moved to the Chateau de Valencay and hired Careme full-time to cook there (after a test: create a whole year's worth of menus, without repeating a dish, using seasonal produce). He succeeded admirably, and created a new way of cooking in the process, using fresh herbs and vegetables and simpler sauces with fewer ingredients and better flavors.

After the fall of Napoleon, Careme went to London and worked as chef de cuisine to the Regent. He then traveled to Russia to work briefly for Tsar Alexander I. He ended his career as chef to the wealthy banker James Mayer Rothschild, and died at age 48. He was buried in the Cimetiere de Montmartre with honors. He's credited with numerous things, such as inventing the chef's toque, replacing the service a la francaise (serving all dishes at once) with service a la russe (serving each dish in a course), and creating sauces that are still the basis for classic French cooking. He wrote several cook books, especially the enormous L'Art de la Cuisine Francaise (5 volumes, published between 1833-34), which included hundreds of recipes, plans for menus, table settings, a history of French cooking, and steps for organizing the kitchen.

If you'd like to try one of his recipes, there are several in the back of the Kelly book! Here is a nice simple one (albeit modified), Fromage Bavarois Aux Noix Verts, created for the Brighton Pavilion in 1817:

25 walnuts
1 pint double cream
8 ounces sugar
isinglass or gelatine
1 pint whipped cream

Take 25 peeled walnuts, and pound with one pint of cream and eight ounces of sugar. Leave to infuse for an hour, and then add the isinglass and set it to cool in the fridge for half an hour. When still not set, stir in a pint of thickly whipped cream. Set it immediately into a jelly mould and leave overnight.

Voila! Regency Jello.

What have you been thinking about this week? Who is your favorite celebrity chef or French meal?


Late breaking news! I just got the cover for To Bed a Libertine! I want her hair. (TBAL is the story of Erato, the real Muse of Erotic Poetry, who comes down to Regency England to inspire a hunky artist, so the gown is totally right for her!)

Books I Forgot I Had

I'm up to 361 catalogued books so far, with about 8 shelves to go. This is not counting my fiction books, though.

So far I've found five books with duplicates:

The Country House and How It Worked
Con Men and Cutpurses: Scenes from the Hogarthian Underworld
Regency London by Stella Margetson
All You Needed to Know About What Materials Were Used When, With What Colors and Gems, Through the Ages (by Marisa Jones for the San Diego RWA Chapter)
Waterloo by David Howarth (a Pitkin book)

I'll donate these to the Beau Monde Conference's Silent Auction and hope that my Book Collector software keeps me from buying duplicates as often as I do!


I also discovered lots of books I forgot I had! (I'm a sad case, I know...) Some of them are very old and some...I just forgot.

Memorials Of St. James 's Street Together With The Annals Of Almack's (1922)
A quote:

St. James’s Street, which sheltered Waller and Pope and Byron; where Maclean, the highwayman, lodged cheek by jowl with the “quality” whom he robbed; where Wolfe once stayed and wrote to Pitt asking for employment in 1758; and where Gillray threw himself out of a window; where the clubs and coffee houses took in and gave forth half the intellect and aristocracy of the land; where Dr Johnson, requiring a pair of shoe-buckles, came to the shop of Wirgman, here, to get them, as faithfully recorded by Boswell—St James’s Street is, notwithstanding its famous habitués and its notable events, as much associated with the name of Betty, the fruit woman, as with that of any other person during the eighteenth century.

Byng's Tours
"Every summer for ten years, the Hon John Byng set off on a tour of England or Wales. He sampled the landscape and history of the countryside, visited houses and sketched ruins. This book contains his journals."


Edinburgh In The Nineteenth Century Or Modern Athens Displayed In A Series Of Views
(follow the link to the google books version)





Rebels Against The Future: The Luddites And Their War On The Industrial Revolution : Lessons For The Computer Age

This book tells of the Luddite rebellion against technology and relates it to the present day.





This cataloguing job is turning into an adventure!

Do you ever come across books you forgot you had? Do you ever buy a book you already own?

Check my website for lots of new announcements and a new contest!

Dreams of Lakes

An acquaintance having, in a morning call, bored him dreadfully about some tour he had made in the North of England, enquired with great pertinacity of his impatient listener which of the lakes he preferred ? when Brummell, quite tired of the man's tedious raptures, turned his head imploringly towards his valet, who was arranging something in the room, and said, " Robinson." " Sir." " Which of the lakes do I admire ? " " Windermere, sir," replied that distinguished individual. " Ah, yes, — Windermere," repeated Brummell, " so it is, — Windermere."

From The Life of George Brummell by William Jesse.

I’m not able to pull off such elegant snark myself and I’d find it hard to act blasé about lakes. I love ‘em. I visited the Lake District several times during a three year international assignment in England. Windermere is lovely, but my favorite is probably Ullswater of Wordsworth’s “Daffodils” fame. My husband and I rented a canoe to go out there on a truly picturesque sort of day, when the weather couldn’t make up its mind to be fair or rainy. I loved the play of light over the water and surrounding hills and didn’t mind the sprinkle of rain that eventually sent us to seek a nice pub lunch in Glenridding. Later, I would set one of my early Regencies, THE INCORRIGIBLE LADY CATHERINE, in the same region.

I am thinking of lakes because I’m currently planning a summer vacation in the Finger Lakes. Vacation planning helps me get through the cold, dark doldrums of January! Anyway, we were hoping to go to England last summer, but my husband’s stroke made it impossible to go anywhere. This year, I promised the family and myself that we would do something fun, even if not as ambitious.

So, along with my brother and his family, we’re renting a cottage in the Finger Lakes, complete with a pebble beach and kayaks. It’s not far and there are wineries to visit (I love the Finger Lakes Chardonnays and Rieslings), gorges and waterfalls and some cool museums for rainy day excursions (the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca and the Corning Museum of Glass, where I can get lost for hours in the art galleries.)

A fantasy destination for me would be the Italian lakes Como, Garda and Maggiore, with their spectacular scenery, Mediterranean climate, architecture and literary associations. It was
Shelley who said Lake Como ‘exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty’.

Are you planning any fun vacations? Do you have any favorite lake destinations, real or fantasy? Any favorite romances with a lake setting?

Elena

www.elenagreene.com

The Devil Wants A Hot Beverage

Okay, so I think it's rather chilly down below: I am actually looking forward to writing a synopsis.

I've had a writing crisis lately, which has made me question just why I persevere. This, in Megan-speak, is almost every day, but this writing crisis has been unusually strong, so it should actually be titled the Writing Crisis, with capitalization and everything.

But I tried to slog through it, and scheduled a writing date with my friend Liz Maverick, who proceeded to talk out the crisis with me. We decided it was foolish to leave work unwritten, and I have over 100 pages of a contemporary that I should finish. But to finish it, I needed to write the synopsis. So I did.

Meanwhile, in the throes of procrastination, I glanced at the first few pages of a paranormal I started. And now that I've finished the first synopsis (I did! I finished it!), I am going to write the synopsis for the paranormal, so I don't just meander. And I am looking forward to it.

Hence my devil needs warming up comment above.

So my question to you today is--what awful task have you actually found yourself enjoying, or even looking forward to? What's the longest you've procrastinated?

Megan

PS: (Yawn, Megan): Richard Armitage is the inspiration for the 'hero' in the paranormal.

Austen and music

I recently went on an online shopping spree with a gift certificate that included buying things I had not received for Christmas and, as is the way, things I didn't know I wanted until I found them. Last night, while I was wondering what I'd blog about, I listened for the first time to this CD of soprano Julianne Baird and other artists singing music from Austen's collection. Because sheet music was so expensive (we know she paid six shillings for a book of piano music), many of the pieces were copied by hand from music Austen borrowed from friends or circulating libraries. Her music books include instructions for playing or singing, and in one song, replaced the word soldier with that of sailor, reflecting her loyalty to the Royal Navy.

Baird has a wonderful intimacy to her delivery and the collection of music is extraordinary, including opera arias by Handel and Gluck, songs by Stephen Storace the London theater impresario, and a song arranged by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire to words by Sheridan. This isn't the only collection from Austen's music books--I was tempted by one recorded in Chawton Cottage, but according to one review, the sound quality is poor.

As we all know, music was an important part of a Regency lady's life. Here are some instructions on drawing room performance from an 1813 fashion and how-to book for gentlewomen, Mirror of the Graces:

What has been said in behalf of simple and appropriate dancing, may also be whispered in the ear of the fair practitioner in music; and, by analogy, she may not unbeneficially, apply the suggestions to her own case.

There are many young women, who, when they sit down to the piano or the harp, or to sing, twist themselves into so many contort lions, and writhe their bodies and faces about into such actions and grimaces, as would almost incline one to believe that they are suffering under the torture of the toothach or the gout. Their bosoms heave, their shoulders sill-up, their heads swing to the right and left, their lips quiver, their eyes roll; they sigh, they pant, they seem ready to expire ! And what is all this about? They are merely playing a favourite concerto, or singing a new Italian song.

If it were possible for these conceit-intoxicated warblers, these languishing dolls, to guesa what rational spectators say of their follies they would be ready to break their instruments and be dumb forever. What they call expression in singing, at the rate they would show it, is only fit to be exhibited on the stage, when the character of the song intends to portray the utmost ecstacy of passion to a sighing swain. In short, such an echo to the words and music of a love ditty is very improper in any young woman who would wish to be thought as pure in heart as in person. If amatory addresses are to be sung, let the expression be in the voice and the composition of the air, not in the; looks and gestures of the lady singer. The utmost that she ought to allow herself to do, when thus breathing out the accents of love, is to wear a serious, tender countenance. More than this is bad, and may produce reflections in the minds of the hearers very inimical to the reputation of the fair warbler.

This is the piano in Chawton Cottage which probably wasn't Austen's. We do know that it's a Clementi (the composer, in residence in London, had a piano and print music business) from the first decade of the nineteenth century. Occasionally musician visitors are allowed to play it. It's a square piano, the instrument that became affordable to the middle classes and invited a whole slew of women to simulate orgasms in public. Which brings me to my next self-inflicted gift, Mr. Langshaw's Square Piano: The Story of the First Pianos and how they caused a Cultural Revolution by Madeline Goold. I started reading this last night, and it's a wonderful account of how Ms. Goold bought a square piano, had it restored, and researched the history of the instrument. It was made by the Broadwood Company, which made pianos well into the 20th century, and whose records are still in existence. You can read more about the book, the restoration process and hear soundbites at mrlangshawssquarepiano.co.uk.

What Broadwood did was to produce a piano that was compact and affordable, with a base price of 24 guineas, that were shipped all over England and worldwide. When Lady Catherine de Bourgh invites Elizabeth to practice at Rosings, she refers her to the square piano in the housekeeper's room, not the grand piano in the drawing room. Jane Fairfax's piano is a square piano, according to Ms. Goold (aha! yet another excuse to re-read Emma) a dead giveaway that it was a gift from someone who knew the dimensions of the Bates' parlor and not Colonel Campbell. Knightley still complains that it's too big, though, which gives us a good impression of how low the Bates family had sunk.

Do you play the piano or would you like to learn? What sort of music do you like to listen to, if any, while you read or write?


And in other news, Improper Relations (February 2010) has its first review at Beyond Her Book:

What I continue to love about Janet Mullany's books is how she manages to convincingly tell her story in first person from both her hero and her heroine's perspective. The first person narrative gives an extremely refreshing take on the insanity which populates the plot; from the way her heroine observes the foibles of her own family, to the slowly beautiful dance it takes the hero to discover he's in love. I can't wait to see where she goes next.

Trolling Through Carolyn's Library Again

Literary and Historical Memorials of London by John Heneage Jesse. Printed to Francis A. Niccolls & Co., Boston. I don't see a publication year anywhere, but according to Google Books, it's circa 1847.

And here's something I hadn't noticed before: Edition De Luxe, Limited to One Thousand Copies. No. 2.

Heh! I'm Number 2!

This book has some really lovely etchings in it, too. Covered over with tissue paper. However, Google Books makes it apparent that my De Luxe edition is lacking fold out maps and more drawings ... So, actually, I would like to know what's so De Luxe about it? I'm a bit peeved to be honest.

Anyway, here's the Google books link

Tidbit from this book:

May Fair, the site of which was anciently known as Brook Fields, derives its name, it is almost needless to remark, from the celebrated fair which was held in its green meadows from the reign of Henry the Eighth till the middle of the last century. "May Fair," says Pennant, " was kept about the spot now covered with May Fair Chapel, and several fine streets. The fair was attended with such disorders, riots, thefts, and even murders; that, in 1700, it was prevented by the magistrates, but revived again, and I remember the last celebrations. The place was covered with booths, temporary theatres, and every enticement to low pleasure."

Enticements to low pleasure? In Mayfair? Gasp Do you believe that? But hey, how about those temporary theatres? Very medieval.

Malcolm, in his " Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London," quotes an advertisement which appeared in the London Journals of the 27th of April, 1700, which affords us a curious picture of this memorable fair. "In Brookfield market-place, at the east corner of Hyde Park, is a fair to be kept for the space of sixteen days, beginning with the 1st of May; the three first days for live cattle and leather, with the same entertainments as at Bartholomew Fair, where there are shops to be let ready built for all manner of tradesmen that usually keep fairs, and so to continue yearly at the same place." As mentioned by Pennant, the disgraceful scenes of outrage, riot, and profligacy, which were annually to be witnessed at May Fair, led, in 1700, to its temporary suppression. In the Tatler of the 24th of May, 1708, we find;--"The downfall of May Fair has sunk the price of this noble creature [the elephant] as well as of many other curiosities of nature. A tiger will sell almost as cheap as an ox; and I am credibly informed a man may purchase a calf with three legs for very nearly the value of one with four. I hear likewise that there is great desolation, among the ladies and gentlemen who were the ornaments of the town, and used to shine in plumes and diadems, the heroes being most of them pressed, and the queens beating hemp." May Fair, however, was again revived. Notwithstanding that a part of the ground was built over as early as 1721, we find a donkey-race attracting great crowds to the fair in 1736, and as late as 1756, it is still mentioned in Maitland's Anecdotes as being annually celebrated.

So, check it, there were ready-built shops. Pre-fab, people, in 1700! In our period, there would be people alive who remembered all this. They may have indulged in low pleasures. But they would have stories to tell! Complaints to make of today's youth and how they don't know how to have fun on the cheap.

Moving along to check what this book cites -- what is the Anecdotes book he mentions?

Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London During The Eighteenth Century; INCLUDING THE CHARITIES, DEPRAVITIES, DRESSES, AND AMUSEMENTS, OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON, DURING THAT PERIOD; WITH A REVIEW Of THE STATE OF SOCIETY IN 1807. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SKETCH OF THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, AND OF THE VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METROPOLIS. ILLUSTRATED BY FORTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS

by James Peller Malcom

Published in 1810.

And there is this fascinating bit that's just calling out for a plot point in someone's Regency era novel:

To shew the difference between past and present methods [of lotteries], it may be worth while to insert a modern scheme;

State Lottery begins drawing October 13, l807, containing more Capital Prizes, and 5000 less Tickets, than last Lottery. The first drawn Ticket entitled to 10,000l.; all other Capital Prizes are afloat. Purchasers of Tickets and Shares will have the opportunity of obtaining all the Capital Prizes, provided they purchase before the drawing commences. The Scheme has equal advantages of 20,000l. Prizes, 10,000l. Prizes, 5,000l. Prizes, &c. &c. to former Lotteries of double the number of Tickets.

No. of Prizes.	Value of each	Total Value
3 of	L.20,000	are L.60,000
3	10,000	30,000
3	5,000	15,000
5	1,000	5,000
8	500	4,000
20	100	2,000
40	50	2,000
4,100	20	82,000
20,000 Tickets	--	200,000

20,000 Tickets only, and no other State Lottery to be drawn this year.

So, who's got a heroine, living in Mayfair who just won the lottery prize of 20,000 pounds? Or maybe a hero? Come on. Irascible great uncle who engaged in low pleasures at May Fair, now lives in Mayfair with his young niece who just won 20,000 pounds in the lottery. What if she doubled down and won two tickets?