RWA Friday

Good morning! Or whatever time it is when you read this.

Currently, all of the Riskies except Elena are in Orlando, FL, at the Romance Writers of America's annual conference. And last night, two of us--Carolyn and me--had a Donut Party in our room, which wound up sometime around 2:00am.

Needless to say, I am a wee bit tired.

But here is what I know after a few days at Conference:

--Carolyn Jewel has an excellent eye for judging what accessories I should wear with my conference outfits.

--there is a man who lives in New York with the Largest Appendage who cannot find a woman to love him (his name is Jonah Falcon; google him, if you must. NSFW).

--it costs a lot of money to take a taxi in Florida.

--Air conditioning is usually too cold for me, unless I am sharing a room with people who want it warm. In which case I am suddenly too warm. Apparently I am a contrary jerk.

--I think I need more than five hours' sleep.

--There are many, many supportive people who belong to RWA, and I am honored to count some of them as my friends.

--Amanda McCabe, aka Laurel McKee, has the Cutest Gowns Ever. She is taking me as her date to the RITA Awards (she is nominated) and her RITA gown is just gloriously delicious.

--I am still a) opposed to strapless pantsuits and b) the most gullible person ever.

--And I am really stoked to write when I return to Brooklyn. Yay! Just for that, RWA is a worthwhile endeavor.

Hope your summer is going well, see you next week!

Megan

Report from RWA 2010

Greetings from the Enchanted Kingdom of the Mighty Mouse where this Risky is battling technology with a new camera and the internet of our grandfathers. Suffice it to say that we endured the worst shuttle service ever from airport to hotel as Carolyn so eloquently reported yesterday, and we had a real fun time at the Beau Monde Conference yesterday.

Here are pics of Riskies at the Literacy Signing last night. For some reason I found Carolyn extremely difficult to photograph--I think she's a vampire--I kept missing the top of her head.

And note the blue banners denoting that both Carolyn and Amanda are RITA nominees--more to report on that later. The awards ceremony is Saturday night.

After a day of stimulating workshops--I don't believe anyone slept through mine, and I was awake and on my feet which is always good for a presenter--we changed into Regency finery for an evening of incompetent dancing, gambling away our estates, and gossip.

If you're attending the Conference, please join us for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Wednesday Report

I am blogging to you from Orlando Florida where all the Riskies are attending the RWA National Conference. I have already declared that IT'S TOO HOT OUTSIDE and am determined to stay inside.

Also, I am going to reimagine my journey from Oakland California to the Dolphin Resort Hotel and it will be up to you to pick out the lies from the truths, if any there are of either sort.

I ran into a charming friend from the Beau Monde at the airport and thus I was accompanied in the flying post-chaise that was to bear me to my destination. I was worried about the unseemliness of traveling alone since my maid took desperately ill the night before and passed over, leaving me quite on my own. My companion was delightful and relieved the tedium of the long journey through the skies. I had, naturally, my own correspondence to work on, I owe a lengthy missive to an associate in New York and took this opportunity to add to my opus.

We arrived in Orlando Florida only a few minutes late whereupon my companion and I discovered there were several other persons whose destination matched ours. We engaged to travel from the flying carriage hostel to the inn where we were all to stay. But can you imagine? There was no carriage or horse to be had, despite our paying for it, for nearly two hours! Tempers flared and I do confess one of our party (not I) was ready to do bodily harm. She was restrained, but barely.

Oh the tedium of waiting whilst the conveyancers dealt with the masses of people who had reserved their trip to our hotel in advance. It seems it did not occur to anyone in their employ to count the number of reservations and compare that to the number of available conveyances... I can speak of this no more as I can feel the tears of frustration arise even now. Hire a private carriage if you can.

I sat next to a charming young lady (very young!) who had just flown in from London, but her baggage was damaged and the flying-carriage employees four times misdirected her as to where she might put in a claim. They were, alas, quite rude and uncouth and I confess I heard such tales from more than one person.  My charming new friend had been on this large post-chaise for an hour with no explanation for why they weren't traveling anywhere but in circles around the hotel. She was tearfully considering returning home to London as she had by then been at the flying carriage hostel for four hours.  I gave her my cell phone number and my email and told her if she had any further problems or needed help at anytime during her stay to please get in touch, as she will be here for a year.

Three hours after alighting from our flying coach, we arrived at our inn. The poor staff appeared overwhelmed as there were fifty travelers awaiting assignment to a room and but two servants to make the arrangements.

We were, all of us, tired, hungry and, well, peeved, but being ladies nearly all of us, we maintained our cheer as best we could under such circumstances.

But now I am in my rooms with my delightful companion and fellow Risky, Mrs. Megan Frampton and I have showed her my new tattoo. She was in transports! It's quite fetching. Tomorrow, of course, I will meet the duke of Orlando and we shall see if he suits me.

Yours ever so,

Carolyn


Lies? Truths? Opine in the comments.

At Conference!

Like many of you (and most of the Riskies!) I am off at RWA this week doing writerly, business-y things (or more likely wandering around Disneyworld in my light-up Cinderella shoes--yes, I do have a pair, don't ask...) . Back to regularly scheduled blogs and lots of conference wrap-up info next week!

If you are at RWA, come and say hi to me at one of these places (or in the bar, where I can usually be found):
Literacy signing, Wednesday 5:30
Grand Central Publishing signing, as Laurel McKee, Saturday 3:00 (Southern Hemisphere Salon One)
NAL signing (as Amanda McCabe), also Saturday, 12:00, Salon Two
Risky breakfast meet-up, Friday at the conference continental breakfast

See you all there!

The Romance of the Road

Oh, for the romantic days of coach travel!

Today I am on the road with my friend Julie. We're driving to Orlando for the Romance Writers of America Annual Conference and it will take us two days. Should be fun, especially since we'll spend our overnight at our friend, Maggie Toussaint's house.

But what if this were Regency England and we were traveling by carriage?

For one thing, we'd be hard-pressed to find a journey from one end of the UK to the other that would as long. Mapquest says our journey will be 852 miles; from Plymouth, England to Kirkwall, Scotland is only 798 miles.

If we were taking such a journey in Regency times, we would undoubtedly be traveling by coach, and at our middle class income levels, we would probably be passengers on a stage coach, like these.










On the other hand, Julie does drive a convertible, so maybe we'd be in a more sporting vehicle, and not public transportation at all.















Mapquest says our trip will take a total of 13 hours 19 minutes.

The trip from Plymouth to Kirkwall by coach, assuming there wouldn't be the problem of mountain roads and bad weather, would be a great deal longer.

When figuring travel time in the Regency, I always rely on Shannon Donnelly who is such a great horse and carriage expert! Shannon says that a coach in the Regency could travel 4 to 12 miles per hour. (For my books, I usually estimate travel time by using 9 mph), but horses have to be rested or changed every 10-11 miles. A crack group of stable workers at a coaching inn could change a team in two minutes. Most would have taken longer, I'd guess.

So using the 9 mph estimate, our Regency trip of 798 miles would take 89 hours. That's a whole lot more than Julie's and my 14 hours.

I figure Julie and I will travel about 10 or 11 hours before we stop at Maggie's house, then the next day we should only have to travel 4 or 5 hours. If our Regency selves also travel for 10 to 11 hours, we'll go a distance of 99 miles in a day. That means our trip to Kirkwall would take us about 8 days.

And I'm not even discussing the differences of spending the night in inns, getting meals and.......BATHROOM BREAKS.

Are you traveling this summer? If you are coming to Orlando for RWA, how are you getting there? If you are coming to RWA, join us for breakfast on Friday. We'll find a table at the free breakfast and try to make it easy to find us. If you are not coming to RWA, where are you traveling and how?

Julie is coordinating the Literacy Booksigning and I'll be helping her all day Weds. If you have some time to spare, come and we'll put you to work!

Thursday I'll be blogging at Diane's Blog and I hope to post some Conference photos. Next Monday Julie and I will be on the road again, but I'll try to post some photos of friends in their Beau Monde Soiree Regency finery. Or SOME photos from Orlando! Maybe we'll even get all the Riskies together for a photo!

Til then, Bon Voyage!!

We're ALL Special

"Oh, I'm real. Real enough to defeat you! And I did it without your precious gifts, your oh-so-special powers. I'll give them heroics. I'll give them the most spectacular heroics the world has ever seen! And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be super! And when everyone's super--[chuckles evilly]---no one will be." Syndrome, from The Incredibles

First off, I gotta thank Diane for posting that I had gone MIA last week. Life got a bit busy last week, and I wasn't able to think of anything to post but sobbing, and lord knows you didn't want to read that. So anyway. Things have settled down, and so here we go.

This week, I finished reading a really lovely book, Sarah MacLean's Nine Rules To Break When Romancing A Rake. I've also been working on my latest WIP, a paranormal that would seem to have nothing in common with a historical romance. But wait! I can find parallels in anything!

And since I was thinking about Sarah's book after finishing it (always a good sign) and thinking about my own writing (always a solipsistic sign), I realized why I like some heroines more than others: They're not special.

Let me explain. Unlike the books many of us cut our romance teeth on, the heroines in many of today's romances are not immediately memorable; they're not impossibly beautiful, or dramatically above the crowd in some aspect. Instead, they're likely to have brown hair, be considered plain or plump (as in MacLean's heroine) and yet, by the end of the book, the hero thinks the heroine is the most gorgeous, sexy thing ever.

And isn't that what we all want in our real lives? Honestly, if we were all stunning, wouldn't it be hard to walk around in the streets with people falling all over themselves to look at us? I feel bad for Angelina Jolie sometimes because of that--it must be hard to be THAT remarkable looking when all you want is a little time to think. But if there is a special someone who thinks WE'RE a special someone, that's what true love is, right?

In my paranormal romance, for example, my heroine has absolutely no skills, beyond being smart and a relatively fast runner. That's why she's chosen to do what she does in the book, because she doesn't pose a threat. And when she first meets the hero, he is intrigued by her, but can't figure out why. By the end of the book, he still won't have figured out why, but he'll have fallen in love with her by that point, so it won't matter.

I don't want to read about people who are remarkable, who are supers, in my romance. I want to read about people like me--people who are normal, but perhaps there are a few special things about them that only the hero can recognize (the impossibly gorgeous, sexy hero. It's not like we're even-handed here. It IS a fantasy, after all). And by the end of the book, the reader thinks the heroine is special, too. And is pleased knowing that Specialness is within HER grasp, as well.

Which 'plain Jane' heroines are your favorites? Do you like reading about regular women and the stunning men who love them?

Megan

Visit to England, Part 2

Last week I gave a quick overview of my visit to England and today I wanted to talk a little more about the visit to Chawton, where Jane Austen made her home for nine years, polished and wrote her novels, and hung out with vampires (next book!). Naturally I haven't finished unpacking yet and some of the stuff will get tossed into the bigger suitcase for Nationals, for which I really didn't buy any more clothes. Sorry. I leave all that to Amanda.


Before visiting Chawton, we went to St. Nicholas Church in Steventon, which is where Jane Austen's father was vicar, a living taken over by one of Jane's brothers. The house where they lived no longer exists, but the church still stands, a tiny, charming building.

Austen enthusiasts from all over the world have visited and contributed money to restore the church.



Outside the church door is a venerable yew tree nine centuries old, where once the church key was hidden.




From there we went to Chawton, a place I hadn't visited in about fifteen years so I was thrilled to see the changes there. The working areas of the house have been restored--the seventeenth century house was once a farm, so it has substantial outbuildings as well as a lovely garden.

Here's Jane's donkey cart, used on shopping expeditions (they kept two donkeys) and the copper (for washing clothes) and bread oven.

The kitchen has been fitted out with a range which is early Victorian but not period, and to the left of it is a Rumsford stove, probably original. The bricks above the fire had holes into which pots could be lowered or placed above. (If you're going to attend my presentation on servants at the Beau Monde Conference next week you'll see these pictures again!)

I was struck by how tiny and crooked the rooms in the house were--probably less crooked two centuries ago! Very little family furniture remains, although there is a desk and two chairs in the parlor which came from Steventon. And of course the most famous writing table in the world is there too.



It had been very hot the previous week and the weather had only just broken, so the garden possibly isn't as lush and green as it should have been, but I thought it was gorgeous.




And here's the last picture, the new cover for Jane and the Damned. When they told me it was going to be pink, I wasn't very happy. I'm not a pink sort of girl and Jane Austen, as I depict her, wasn't either. But I love it! Grubby pink works so well. What do you think?

Have you visited Chawton? What did you enjoy seeing there?

Compare and Contrast

My fellow Risky Amanda and I have a lot in common. To help you out with telling the difference, I've made this handy chart.

Trait	A	C
Both Riskies	Y	Y
Write Historical Romance	Y	Y
Is Under 5 Feet 6 inches	Y	Y
Unpacked from RomCon	Y	Y
Packed for RWA a freaking week in advance	Y	N
Owns lots of cute clothes	Y	N
Member of Cucumber Club	Y	Y
Loves Alexander Skarsgard	Y	Y
Bringing a box of protein bars to RWA in order to save on meals	N	Y
Wears cute shoes	Y	N
Spiffy platinum hair	N	Y
Lives in a villa in Tuscany	N	N
Has proof of second third career as a Romance Cover model	N	Y

Hopefully if you see us at RWA, you'll be able to tell us apart. But if you can't, squint at our badges or just say hi.

Conferences Etc

Happy Tuesday, Riskies! I've only just now finished unpacking, doing laundry, and getting back into the writing schedule after RomCon, and now I have to put everything back in the suitcase for RWA. Luckily I have new dresses, new bookmarks to give away, and I'm all warmed up for the conference rounds.

I had so much fun at RomCon! Carolyn's recap last week was excellent and I totally agree with her--it was the first year for this conference, and they have some kinks to work out and organize for next year, but I thought it was highly enjoyable and lots of fun. It was much smaller than RWA or RT, and focused on reading and the love of romance novels and all the things that go along with them (covers, characters, whatever). The small size (and the hotel lobby full of comfy sofas and chairs!) made it much easier to sit down and really talk to people--I sometimes feel overwhelmed at RWA and it can be hard to do that sort of thing. It was fun to remember what brought me to writing romance in the first place, the fact that I was addicted to the books. It was also fun to talk to writers of so many different genres, and it planted lots of new ideas in my head...

I have to admit I wasn't as organized as I could have been! I missed many workshops (including the "controversial" ones! I always seem to miss it when there is controversy going on!), didn't get to see a few people I meant to look for, and spent what seemed like hours trekking around the massively long hallways of the conference center. I also gave into the lure of the shiny covers of the many giveaways, which now reside in a pile by my desk trying to tempt me away from my writing. (Seriously, if you love to read, I have never seen so many book giveaways at a conference!) There was good food, secret rites of the Cucumber Club, and lots of wine. A fun conference. (And there are lots of posts floating around the Internet if you want to know more...)

I didn't take many pics, but here are a few:

At the workshop I participated in, "Stripping the Heroine," in my Regency day dress and new spencer and bonnet, with Terri Brisbin and Pam Nowak! (Sorry it somehow go turned around)


At the Saturday signing with my neighbors, Melissa Mayhue and Monica McCarty!


Carolyn at the signing with her neighbor Brenda Jackson!

Hopefully I can make it there next year, I had lots of fun and Denver was blessedly cool compared to the heat and humidity here!

Now on to RWA. Are you going to be in Orlando???

(Also, yesterday, July 19, marks the day the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799! Since this post was already long enough, I'm talking a bit about it at my own blog later today)

Winner of Mary Blayney's Courtesan's Kiss

And the winner is.......

Cynthia!

You win a signed copy of Courtesan's Kiss by Mary Blayney

Cynthia, email us at riskies@yahoo.com with your mailing address.

Congratulations!

The Riskies

The Lady Packs for Travel

This week I am slightly obsessed by What. To. Pack. For. Orlando. Orlando, as most of you reading this will know, is where the Romance Writers of America is holding its annual conference. NEXT WEEK.

Each year I tell myself I'm not going to buy anything for the conference, just make do with my old conference clothes (worn only once or twice), but inevitably I wander into Macys (virtually or for real) and devour the sales racks. I found some pretty blouses I couldn't resist and some great light-weight sweaters from Land's End for chilly conference rooms. I'm all set.

And I might as well announce here that I will be signing copies of the September book, Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Lady at the Literacy Booksigning! Get your signed copy early and do something good for Literacy.

Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Lady is Book 2 of my Three Soldiers Series. I'm working on Book 3, Gabriel's story as we speak. I hope to bring it to an end before leaving for the conference next Monday.

In Gabriel's story, my heroine, Emmaline must travel around England with Gabe, so she had to pack a bag, too, right? just like I will be doing...I had to imagine what she would take with her.

Emmaline is not of the aristocracy, so her clothing would be more functional than elaborate. It is summer, so a nice shawl should be enough for cool nights (she wouldn't need any clothes for the "hot" nights!).

She'd have one bag she could carry herself- a portmanteau. My imagination has her carrying a portmanteau made of sturdy cloth, like the carpet bags of the Post Civil War South, but I couldn't find any Regency era images, so she might have carried a leather valise similar to this. (This is a handmade reproduction. You can actually purchase one like it at River Ridge Leather)


What would she pack? Here's my guess:
1 Pretty dress, suitable for impressing Gabriel.
1 Traveling dress in a fabric that can be brushed off to clean it.
1-2 other dresses in lightweight fabric.
1 pair Half boots for travel
1 pair of slippers for other
2 pairs of gloves, one for traveling, one for "good"
2 bonnets, one for travel, one for "good"
2 shifts/chemises, one to wear, one to launder
2 corsets? Or maybe she would only have one. It might take up too much room in the portmanteau.
Hairbrush, comb, hairpins
Tooth brush and tooth powder
Bar of soap
Small bottle of scent -lavender, I think.
Clothes brush
Reticule

Okay, what am I missing? What else might she need?



Tonight here I'll announce the winner of Mary Blayney's Courtesan's Kiss. Tomorrow at Diane's Blog, I'll announce my winner of my two week Blog Contest for a signed copy of Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady (still time to enter - just leave a comment)

And next Monday I'll be on the road to Orlando!

Mary Blayney's Courtesan's Kiss

Welcome back my good friend, Mary Blayney, who is here today to talk about her latest book, Courtesan's Kiss, in bookstores NOW! I already have my copy on my Kindle and have started the book. This is a terrific story!

Mary is giving away a signed copy of Courtesan's Kiss to one lucky commenter chosen at random.

With the fourth in the Pennistan series Blayney crafts a powerful story with an outspoken modern heroine ... who wins readers’ hearts. All of Blayney’s characters leap from the pages into fully realized people you care about....the twists and depth of emotion turn something ordinary into the unforgettable."
— Kathe Robin, RT Book Reviews

Welcome, Mary! We are delighted to have you back at Risky Regencies.Tell us about Courtesan’s Kiss and how it fits into the Pennistan family saga?
Literally, COURTESAN’S KISS fits into the sage as the fourth in the series with one to books still to go. But it brings the family on stage in a whole new way.
Being the second son (with two more after him) David Pennistan went off to sea at a young age. His ship sank in the Gulf of Mexico and for seven years he was presumed lost. It was an amazingly happy day when he showed up at Pennford, older but otherwise healthy.
He will not talk about his years away, but it is clear to everyone that his experience changed him. In LOVER’S KISS we first meet David as the estate manager for his brother, the duke. As the years pass, David’s ambition pushes him to leave home and work to further the family name and fortune by building a mill. He sees manufacturing as the key to wealth in the future and does his best to convince the duke to support his efforts and to base the Pennistan wealth in more than land.

And that brings us to the opening of COURTESAN’S KISS.

What inspired this story? Was it a character, a setting, a situation, a theme?
And where is the courtesan, you ask?

Yeah, Mary. Where is the courtesan?
Mia Castellano is giving serious thought to becoming a courtesan and she is definitely the inspiration for this story. An important secondary character in STRANGER’S KISS, Mia is now being shunned by the ton after her engagement ends. On her way to visit her guardian, at said guardian’s insistence, Mia is tired of people telling her what to do and how to do it.
We’re all about “risky” at Risky Regencies. What sort of creative risk did you take with Courtesan’s Kiss? Mia and David are as different as two people can be. I wasn’t sure that they would be attracted to each other at all and even if they were, would they have what it takes to make a life together? As I wrote I realized that the two of them were alike in one significant way and that made all things possible.

What interesting research did you come across when writing this book?
During research, I came across exactly the sort of mill that David wanted to build – the Quarry Bank Mill in Styal near Manchester. It is still in existence and operated by the largest water wheel in the world. It was built and originally owned by Samuel Greg and by 1832 it was the largest cotton spinning business in the UK.

Quarry Bank Mill remains an historical site in Manchester, not only because of the size of the water wheel, but also because Greg provided housing and educational opportunities for the young workers. It was great to find out that this concept was not just the brain child of a twenty-first century writer.

Also I had great fun researching “angling with a fly” what we call fly-fishing and was delighted to read classic book on the subject - THE COMPLETE ANGLER and give author Izaak Walton a mention in the book.

What’s next for you?
For Bantam I am working on the last book in the Pennistan series, Jessup’s story. ONE MORE KISS is the title. It takes place in Birmingham and the central theme is forgiveness and reconciliation. Jess meets Lydia Chernov, a widow, who is being threatened by her husband’s family. In the process of helping Lydia, they fall in love, but both have a view of family that must change before they can be happy together.

Before that comes out in 2011 I am one of five authors with a novella in a Berkley anthology entitled THE OTHER SIDE, out at the end of November, 2010. Maybe I can visit again then. . .

You bet you can, Mary!

And what Mary is not telling you is that the other four authors of the Berkley anthology are J.D. Robb, Patricia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas. I've had a peek at part of Mary's story in this one and it is going to be wonderful!

Who doesn't like a courtesan story? What makes courtesan stories so popular these days? Do you have any other questions for Mary? Here's your chance.

Remember one lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Courtesan's Kiss!

Where's Megan????

She's had a busy, exhausting day after a busy, exhausting week, and apologizes for missing her Riskies post. She'll be back next Friday.

Let's give her our sympathies. We've all been there, right?

Visit to England, Part I

I'm returning home today after a wonderful week in England, and I want to show you some pictures of where I've been.

I've enjoyed reading about Amanda and Carolyn's conference experience, but I think I can safely say that the conference I attended last weekend, the RNA Conference in Greenwich, London, had the best conference location ever! The weather was hot and sunny (I found it refreshing after the hot mugginess of Washington, DC) but the nights were awful. We stayed in student accommodation where the windows would only crack open and we would compare notes in the morning on how we kept cool. My technique? Have a cool shower and sleep on the wet towel.

We had a celebratory dinner in the Trafalgar Inn, which Dickens attended for whitebait suppers, and about which he wrote in My Mutual Friend.

I met some lovely people at the conference. Here's Susannah Kearsley signing, and me with Lucy Inglis who writes the amazing Georgian London blog.




Here's the Thames in the evening. I spent most of the time in Greenwich but went to the London Museum where I saw, among other wonderful things, the front door of Newgate Prison and a fantastic recreation of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.

After the conference I traveled to Hampshire where I stayed with friends who happily took me to Chawton where we visited both Chawton Museum, Jane Austen's home, and Chawton House, a gorgeous Elizabethan-Jacobean mansion which is now a library of women's literature from the sixteenth to nineteenth century. Sadly we couldn't take pictures inside.

Chawton House was one of the properties owned by Jane's brother Edward, who was adopted by the Knight family and inherited their estate. He lived in Godmersham, Kent, but provided his mother and sisters with the permanent home of the cottage in the village.

We also went to Winchester Cathedral where Jane Austen is buried, and the magnificent Salisbury Cathedral. Here's a 13th century carving from Salisbury that depicts an African man, almost certainly a cathedral workers\ who was immortalized by his colleagues. Who was he? How did he end up in Salisbury?

I'm also blogging today at Supernatural Underground and showing off more of my photos.

Remember A Damned Good Contest is still open!

RomCon

Darling Risky Readers!

I have returned from RomCon and can report back to you all-- well nearly all --my adventures. I am very much looking forward to hearing all about Amanda's experiences, though. I feel it's safe, however, to announce that our very own Amanda McCabe became a member of the Cucumber Club while she was there. Yours truly was already a member on account of a certain scene in my paranormal My Forbidden Desire. I'll let Amanda share the details of her initiation, though I will say she was present during a scene of Cucumber mayhem. Make sure you leave congrats in the comments!

My roommie and I flew in Thursday evening, and arrived rather late as our flight was delayed in Las Vegas due to the arrival of Air Force One and the subsequent shut down of all air traffic for half an hour. Thus, our conveyance did not timely arrive in San Francisco to whisk us away to lovely Denver. This is the problem with traveling Post. One is subject to the whims of the road. I mean air.

I was on the Catherine Morland austerity plan (Northanger Abby) so I had with me 12 energy bars so I wouldn't have to pay for food. (Double Chocolate and Chocolate Peanut Butter, in case anyone is interested ... they still taste suspiciously like sawdust but I guess that's due to all the protein.) Friday morning, my roomie (@SonomaLass -- if you happen to be on Twitter, give her a follow!) and I headed down to meet up with Jane from Dear Author.

Jane let me play with her iPad. OMG! We watched a bit of Batman on it and it was awesome. Writing on it would not be horrible at all, especially with the physical keyboard. The software keyboard is much better than I expected it would be. Aside from the cucumber menage, that might well have been the highlight of the con. Then a bunch of us went out to lunch, including Berkley Books executive editor Cindy Hwang, historical author Courtney Milan, Urban Fantasy, Steampunker Meljean Brook, SonomaLass, Jane, of course and several others, including writers, bloggers and readers. Cindy Hwang picked up the tab, which was exceedingly generous.

Then I moderated the Anti-Heroes you Love to Hate Panel. I think I should have had a special hat or maybe an orange vest and some traffic cones. There were 39 people in attendance to hear such authors as Nalini Singh, Jo Beverly, Cindy Gerard and others. No one told me Jo Beverly was going to be on the panel so I didn't have an introduction for her and when I looked over and saw her among the authors, I had a total fan girl moment and could hardly breathe. If I'd had that orange vest, I could have completed the Carolyn is a Dork moment. I ended up dividing the authors among the tables and letting them have at conversation. Every five minutes the authors switched tables. This gave all the attendees a chance to hear everyone speak in a personal setting. Many prizes were given out.

I attended a couple of events that were on my schedule, most of which were a complete surprise to me. Oh, I'm doing that? Okay! and in between those things I sat around gabbing with folks; bloggers, readers, authors, agents and editors. And it was wonderful great fun! Many of the panels were games and though they might sound silly let me tell you, the games I participated in were a blast. Monster charades with author Carolyn Crane involved participants pulling a slip of paper that contained something to do with paranormal books (authors, titles, characters, creatures etc) for which the person, assisted by an author if needed, gave clues. Good golly, there were women there who know their paranormal romance!

I ran into Julia Quinn several times and I have to say she must be the most charming person in the world. She was very gracious about my gushing over her Ten Things I Love About You, a recent release of hers I read and absolutely loved.

In conclusion, I must say that I would go to RomCon again. It was fun and intimate and really different from most Cons that I've been to. I loved the opportunity to just sit and chat with all combinations of readers, bloggers, publishing folks and authors, formally and informally.

I've heard rumors the Con date will move to another date, but remain in Denver next year. Having the Con so close to RWA made it a bit tight for me in terms of time off from work and money. Alas, I was back at work Monday. I think having the Con in some month other than July would be a Good Thing. By the end, I was a little sick of energy bars, but they got me through the con without having to pay for any food, except for once when Amanda, Meljean and I decided to order room service Saturday night after the hotel shuttle door jammed, thus preventing us from going off site in search of dinner.

RomCon: Win. If you have the opportunity next year, this is a fun conference for readers, bloggers and authors

Fashion Linkage

I'm still out of town, but will be back next week with photos and a recap of RomCon and looking ahead to RWA! In the meantime, I'm up in the mountains of New Mexico where Internet is iffy, so I'm leaving some of my favorite fashion history links, which I used in the workshop last weekend. Enjoy--and let us know some of your own favorite sites!

18th Century Blog
Costumers Guide to Movie Costumes (not history exactly, but tons of fun!)
FIDM Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Costume Institute has a wonderful searchable database)
Worn Through
The Costumer's Manifesto
Jessamyn's Regency Costume Companion
Elizabethan Costuming Page
Sense & Sensibility Patterns (great links)
Cathy Decker's Regency Fashion Page
Demode Couture
Fashion-Era
The Costume Gallery
The Costume Site (tons of great links!)
Tudor Links

And of course these are just the tip of the fashion iceberg...

Wicked Wyckerly Winner!

Barbara E., you're the winner of a signed copy of THE WICKED WYCKERLY.

Send your snailmail address to riskies AT yahoo.com.

Congrats!

Yard Sale!

Have you ever held a yard sale in order to fund a home repair project? Well, that's precisely what Earl Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, did when he needed ten million pounds to repair the roof at Althorp and fund other home repair projects. Rather than use his driveway and front yard, Earl Spencer used the famous Christies auction house to auction off paintings, furniture, carriages, livery, uniforms, walking sticks, canes, snuff boxes, spoons, linens, porcelain, inkstands, and more.

See all the items here.
Read more about it here.

Too bad the auction is over, because I would have selected these items for myself:


I'm partial to prints and artwork and would not have been able to resist a miniature of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806). Georgiana died before the Regency, but she was a super star of her day, a fashion icon and a political hostess as well as a lady who personified some of the excesses of the Georgian era.








This is Lady Anne Horatia Seymour, wife of Lord Hugh Seymour, one of the Prince Regent's set, and good friend of Mrs. Fitzherbert. Isn't she pretty?








This fellow is Colonel Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour, son of Lady Anne Horatia Seymour. Doesn't he just look like the perfect Regency gentleman? Look at that hair!





I also love antique porcelain and I thought these Chinese Famille Rose plates (1736-95) were particularly beautiful.







I also could not resist this lovely piece of furniture which the auction house called a "Louis XVI Giltwood Canape."

There were so many treasures at the auction that it would have been hard to limit myself. As it was, I "spent" about ten thousand pounds. And I noticed that most of what I coveted was Georgian, not Regency. I suppose my Regency world is furnished with Georgian decor.

Did you ever buy a treasure at an auction or a yard sale? When I was at college I bought a desk and a vacuum cleaner worth every bit of the ten dollars I spent!

Which of Earl Spencer's treasures would you have purchased?


Come visit me on Thursday for Diane's Blog and next Sunday here at Risky Regencies when my friend Mary Blayney will talk about her latest, Courtesan's Kiss.

Interview with Patricia Rice

A big Riskies welcome to Patricia Rice and her July 2010 release, THE WICKED WYCKERLY. In her own words ....

That’s where you’ll find my much-maligned Earl of Danecroft and his…umm…spirited daughter. Poor chap, his irresponsible bachelor’s life has just come to a crashing, nearly fatal, end with the inheritance of a bankrupt earldom and the arrival of a six-year-old dispenser of flaming dragon dung. Where’s a wealthy, understanding woman when one needs one?

Tell us about your inspiration for The Wicked Wyckerly and the 
Rebellious Sons Series.


My editor and I were brainstorming at RWA in San Francisco. I told her I was tired of dukes and lords and wanted to write about younger sons. I also had this idea about a bankrupt hero who grabs his daughter and runs. And another idea about a wealthy widow who grants bequests to deserving spinsters—sort of a Cinderella story. And by the time we were done, the whole series came together!

Your blurb for the book sounds straight out of Heyer (that's a 
compliment!)--a tribute to Frederica. Who are your influences?

Why, thank you! I came late to Heyer, reading them when I first became enamored of the Walker Regencies in our very limited small town library. I had read and re-read Austen regularly since childhood but didn’t know there was an entire category of Regency romances out there. I fell in love instantly. I believe I read Patricia Veryan, and Jo Beverley, and Loretta Chase first, and once I realized I could buy the paperbacks, I drove thirty miles to a bookstore and haven’t stopped reading them since. I still re-read those old favorites. Heyer is on my bookshelf but to be truthful, I don’t have her memorized, so I had no idea the story was similar!

Did you run into any interesting research for this book?


Exploring bankruptcy among the ton proved gambling was just as ruinous as our books portray. Some of the wealthiest, most powerful aristocrats were so addicted that they died owing more than they ever earned—to tradesmen, because gambling debts had to be paid immediately. Of course, there were others who simply thought money flowed like water and spent it acquiring enormously expensive collections until their debtors came knocking. Aristocrats couldn’t be thrown in debtor’s prison, but their debtors could go to court and seek restitution by stripping their homes of everything they owned. Which is why my Fitz walked such a precarious line…

You're a very prolific writer, writing in at least three subgenres-- 
historical, paranormal, contemporary. How do you get yourself in a 
Regency mindset and set the mood for writing historicals?

I have a weird brain. Really, I’ve been published for over 25 years and I’ve always had a need to switch back and forth between genres to clear my head. For whatever reason, my lizard brain starts percolating Regency stories while I’m writing paranormals or contemporaries, and vice versa. When it comes time to write those ideas, I’m right there in that setting. For Regencies, of course, I have tons of resource material I can dive into to recall the language, but mostly, the writing is a subsconscious act. Perhaps I’ve read so many Regencies over the years, it’s part of who I am. Or maybe I’m a reincarnated Regency servant.


What do you like about the Regency period? Dislike?

I think what I like most is the contrast of politeness of manners to actual behavior. There were all these rules about how to dress for when and where and how to leave cards and even which road a lady is allowed to walk down—and I suppose anyone conquering all these rules felt very secure. But underneath that gentility was a population just coming out of the bawdy Georgian era where once the heir and spare were in place, anything went sexually. So it’s quite reasonable to write about a repressed spinster and a dashing rake, or a polite scholar and a seductive widow, and characters who aren’t certain what is expected of them. Built-in conflict! Oh, and the clothes, of course. Men in skin-tight breeches and boots, women in frail muslin and ribbons… Sigh, all good.

I’m not entirely certain that there’s anything I particularly dislike about the Regency, from an author’s point of view. There was much to dislike in the era itself, from the lack of running water to the crime-ridden slums and the horrendous criminal system. But as a writer, those make for fantastic stories, so I can’t dislike them.

Our standard question: What makes your books risky?


Each book presents a different risk, a different challenge. I get bored if I’m not sticking my neck out and being perverse. Writing a series about the younger sons of aristocracy instead of the usual dukes, of whom there seem to be three per square inch in romance, is a market risk. Writing a romp after my darker historical trilogy was a challenge to myself, and possibly another market risk since everyone is reading dark these days. But if we’re not pushing boundaries, then we’re simply regurgitating what’s already out there, and who wants that?

What do you like to do when not writing?



Read! I need more reading time! I garden and travel and visit with family when I can, but I’m always reading.

When will the next Rebellious Sons book come out and can you give us 
a hint of what it will be about?

The next book is THE DEVILISH MONTAGUE. Blake has a brain like an encyclopedia but nowhere to use it, so he vents his frustrations physically by nearly getting himself killed in duels and races and war, like any good Corinthian. Until he meets his Waterloo in a woman all society calls Ladybyrd and suddenly, instead of endangering his own life, someone else is trying to take it. Trying to protect his woman, her parrot, and his life presents more challenge than he’s ever been up against.

The Riskies will choose one a winner from today's conversation to receive a signed copy of the book, so let's chat!

How many of you enjoy becoming involved in a series world? And those who do not, why?

Hot Fun, Summer In The City

Isn't summer supposed to be a time of leisure? Of Summer Fridays, lounging by the pool, drinking festive cocktails?


Oh, right. That's for people who work or don't have kids. Or both. Not neither.

But thanks to the continuing aging of my child (we BEGGED him to stay five years old, he was so cute, but would he? No.), it is way easier to amuse him or let him just hang out on his own and amuse himself (see: video games).

I still haven't been writing much, nor even yet reading all that much either. But in the course of my freelance work, and to follow up on my post last week, I read a story about libraries trying to revitalize themselves in the 21st century, with some of them moving to shopping malls, adding cafes, even going so far as to add drive-in windows! The good news for my own library is that funding wasn't completely savaged, so neighborhood libraries will be open five days a week and the campaign raised $320,000 with 30,000 advocacy messages sent to the powers-that-be.

Meanwhile, it's not all freelance and entertaining the child (which, to be honest, is usually him rolling his eyes at his mom's antics. Heh. He's only 11. Wait for a few years, hon, then I'll really embarrass you!).

We are heading on vacation, going to visit a fabulous aquarium, see gorgeous scenery, eat nommy food and--in the best part for me--not have to cook or clean for almost a whole week! And then when we return I will, hopefully, settle back into a routine that includes writing. The Champion Agent is waiting for more pages from me, which is a nice feeling.

And you? Any fun or not-so-fun plans for the summer?

Thanks for stopping by,

Megan

Coming Home

Notes from the road. I arrived in England late last night and decided that on the way I'd make note of interesting things and conversations I observed on the way.

Nice idea, but since I kept falling asleep (did I mention I had to get up at 2:30 am to get to the airport?) I don't have a lot to report. First, Reagan National Airport at 3:30 am is a truly horrible place, but I could have guessed that. The first leg of the flight was to Toronto, my first venture into Canada, or strictly speaking, a Canadian airport. The security people were charming. Really!

I started reading the third Stieg Larsson book on the plane, highly recommended. And then I went to sleep a lot. But we were lucky enough to fly over England with very little cloud cover and I was amazed at how much rural land there was (unless we were passing over France). You could see what were once iron age hilltop forts and I think--but I'm not sure--that we were over Dorset and the west of England, which would make sense. Lots of medieval field patterns and once a stretch of what must have been a Roman road. We passed over London and you could see the Thames loop around just as it does in the maps, which always surprises me, but I'm not sure why.

So today I'm going up to London on the train and then to Greenwich for the RNA Conference, and after that to Hampshire and Chawton next week. There should be photos. I'd hoped to get one of my extremely ancient father, who is looking very patriarchal and bearded, but he's gone for a lie down.

And that's about all the news so far. I highly recommend daytime flights to England, btw. You have to get up so early to get to the airport you're out like a light on the plane and then you go to bed when you arrive. A great sleeping experience.

What are you doing today/this week? What are you reading?

Don't forget A Damned Good Contest!

"Duchess of Sin" Winner!

The winner of an arc of "Duchess of Sin" is...Virginia! Please send us your snail mail info at Riskies AT yahoo.com

Catching Up is Hard To Do

Seems like I'm behind in everything these days.  Le Sigh.

Conferences!

This month, I am a traveling girl. Indeed, this very weekend I will be in Denver Colorado attending the RomCon conference. I do believe there are other Risky girls attending the conference. Amanda, for example. (Anyone else?)

I will have limited copies of my books available at the signing so if you're going to be there, come by and say hello so I don't feel like a doofus. I'll be at the Anti-Heroes panel on Friday afternoon since I am the moderator (proudly adjusts shirt). Other than that, I do believe I will be trolling the halls looking for my favorite authors. Any reader who wants to say hi, totally should.

If you're wondering if I'm prepared for travel, the answer would be no. I have my airfare all squared away, I'm not THAT bad, but other than that, I leave Thursday evening and will probably pack Thursday afternoon. Here's hoping I have appropriate clothes!

Later on this July, of course, there's the RWA National conference, but more about that as the date draws nearer.

Book News

I have a story in the Mammoth Book of Regency Romance, which is out later this month and will be available from places like Amazon etc. There are loads of great authors in the book, so if you're a fan of the Regency, this might be a tome to check out. Sometime in August, my story will be available for download with some fairly awesome artwork, so you will just have to check back for further details.

Carolyn Does Literary Sleight of Hand

Watch me take this cover (below) and relate it to the Regency. Ready?

How, you must be asking yourself, is the cover of my January 2011 paranormal My Immortal Assassin, in anyway related to the Regency? Is it a time travel?  (No.)  Are there flashbacks? (No.) Does anyone wear an an Empire gown or an immaculate cravat?  (No and no.) Then what!?

As I wrote this story, the constant idea in the back of my head was that my hero, the assassin of the title, was, at heart, a Regency Rake. He's a totally modern demon sort of fellow, but he's has these old fashioned tics that come out sometimes in the way he speaks and the way in which he is, every now and then, completely flummoxed by the modern American woman.

Meanwhile back at the Ranch

I have a book due August 15. ACK!!!!!