Camping!

This weekend I'm taking the kids to Salt Springs State Park for a church group camping weekend. Hopefully we will have good weather, but if it's hot we can always wallow in the creek.

My family used to go camping every summer, usually in Canada, so we have a lot of camping anecdotes. My favorite is when my brother and I went out to play and brought a pair of baby black bear cubs back to camp. We were very young at the time, as were the cubs. They returned to their mother when she showed up and the family just left. Black bears aren't typically dangerous but we were still fortunate that this mother didn't become aggressive.

I've never read of anybody camping in the Regency for fun. The Regency characters we read about that might have camped are our Napoleonic War veterans. Here's a picture from The Wheatley Diary. The caption says "two blankets thrown over a stick was our house."
At some point they had better tents, but they still weren't nearly as good as the ones we use today.

Here's an account of the conditions from "Adventures in the Rifle Brigade" by John Kincaid.

"Encamped on the face of La Rhune, we remained a whole month idle spectators of their (the enemy's) preparations, and dearly longing for the day that should afford us an opportunity of penetrating into the more hospitable-looking low country beyond them; for the weather had become excessively cold, and our camp stood exposed to the utmost fury of the almost nightly tempest. Oft have I, in the middle of the night, awoke from a sound sleep, and found my tent on the point of disappearing into the air, like a balloon, and, leaving my warm blankets, been obliged to snatch the mallet, and rush out in the midst of a hail-storm, to peg it down. I think that I now see myself looking like one of those gay creatures of the elements who dwell (as Shakespeare has it) among the rainbows!

By way of contributing to the warmth of my tent, I dug a hole inside, which I arranged as a fireplace, carrying the smoke underneath the walls, and building a turf chimney outside. I was not long in proving the experiment, and, finding that it went exceedingly wekk, I was not a little vain of the invention. However, it came on to rain very hard while I was dining at a neighboring tent, and on my return to my own, I found the fire not only extinguished, but a fountain playing from the same place, up to the roof, watering my bed and baggage, and all sides of it, most refreshingly."

Hopefully we will have a more comfortable time of it this weekend.

Do you enjoy camping? What is your most interesting camping anecdote?

Elena

Stunning!

One of the reasons many of us love the Regency period so much is the clothing; the Georgian period, which preceded it, was often ridiculously overwrought, with men wearing red heels and patches and powder, and women wearing oversized, silly hats and wigs.

The Victorian styles were often fussy and constricting for women. The men looked okay, but really, I don't fantasize about wearing a nice suit, whereas I do fantasize about wearing some lovely gowns.


I am hoping to make it to the Met to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit. It shuts soon, and I'm mortified I haven't made it there yet. So I went looking at the website, and found some gorgeous designs, which I'll share.

I haven't been following fashion much lately--my son is, well, male, and he hasn't gotten beyond manga t-shirts and jeans yet; my husband is a dandy, but he manages to stay on top of trends quite well without me. I did go out last night to see live music, and there were many twenty-somethings decked out in their glory; it was funny to see some of the fashion I wore as a high schooler thirty years later (yikes!).

I'd heard, and accepted, that McQueen was a fashion genius, but until I scrolled through some of these images I didn't actually know. I will try to get to the Met soon, and meanwhile, do you have a favorite designer? Or a favorite look of these three?

Megan

Kindling thought

I joined the 21st century a couple of weeks ago when I returned from NYC and found I hadn't spent nearly as much money as I'd anticipated. So, with a couple of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket I made the leap and bought a Kindle.

I wasn't and still am not particularly comfortable about supporting the Amazon behemoth. My favorite online bookstore is bookdepository.com which offers free shipping worldwide and sells my Little Black Dress books, although, bizarrely, Mr Bishop and the Actress is available on Kindle on Amazon. Ah, those were the days when the digital rights were a paragraph blip that didn't mean anything in particular in a contract.

But apart from that owning a Kindle has made me think about reading and how and why we read so this is a non-Regency type post. Physically, it's different, to state the obvious. It's small, it almost fits comfortably in your hand, and once you've stopped waving your fingers in the air to turn the page and decided which digit to use and on which side it's fairly easy to use. But it's a small screen and it's rather like reading a children's book.

Another objection I have is that the fonts of the books are all the same. I'm one of those typography geeks who enjoys reading at the end of the books something like: This book was set typeset in Dogbreath Seriffe, a font developed in 1657 by Melchior Astrolabe of Sicily ... I like having a cover, particularly in any other genre than romance, and reading the credit for the original art on which the cover artwork is based.

I also suspect that reading is different. I've discovered I tend to skip the last line as I "turn" the page and frequently have to go back to make sense of the new page. This suggests that the physical act of reading and turning a page is far more ingrained than I thought.

But the major objection I have is that you can't press the book you've just finished into someone's hands and tell them they MUST read this. Reading is a solitary occupation but a great community of readers exists. Similarly, with the demise of brick and mortar bookstores we're losing those places which were more than a building in which you could buy books; we all know that buying a cup of expensive joe was a small price to pay for a safe and comfortable environment in which the books may have been secondary, but they were there. Did you know that the average visit to a Borders was two hours? If you've lost your local bookstore, where will you meet your friends, or find a place to host a writing or reading group?

But back to the kindle. Do you own an e-reader? Have you found that your reading habits change? We all read a lot anyway, but there are many articles, like this one from the Wall Street Journal in 2010 claims that people are reading more with ereaders.

Here's a useful free software I came across: Make Your PDF Files More eReader Friendly with Briss.

And finally, a light for your e-reader, the EbookLite. Do you own one or is there another you'd recommend?

Thoughts?

So Sorry

The day job (hah! right now it's the day and night job) is messing with my life right now.

So, if there was a Regency person (Thing 1) and in a moment of madness Thing 1 called a certain other person (thing 2) a warty toad with all the personality of a bug and then Thing 1 turns around that THERE THAT PERSON WAS (Thing 2) and Thing 2 was about to hand Thing 1 a gift of incredible thoughtfulness:

what is the best possible apology Thing 1 could make?

Answer in the comments. You can create whatever constellation of personages you need to fully answer the question.

Michelle Willingham Winner!

Dalia G, you are the winner of a signed copy of Seduced By Her Highland Warrior! Email us your info at Riskies AT yahoo.com....

Pleasure Bound

First of all, I have been so turned around lately with everything that is going on that I almost forgot I have a Harlequin Historical Undone story out in August!!!! Unlacing The Lady in Waiting is set at the court of Mary Queen of Scots, and was so much fun to write, so I'm excited to see it out now, and with such a yummy cover. (see more info and how to order here...) I'll talk more about it next Tuesday and give away a free download!

And lately I have been reading every non-fiction book I can find about the Victorian era for my next Laurel McKee series (book one, One Naughty Night will be out in June 2012...), and right now I'm in the middle of a great read. Pleasure Bound: Victorian Sex Rebels and the New Eroticism by Deborah Lutz is one of the works that has really opened my eyes to the truth of the period, which belies its rule-bound surface and myths and shows the bubbling cauldron of massive change and rebellion underneath, personified by artists, poets, and explorers like Dante Gabriel Rosetti and Richard Burton (among others). It's fascinating stuff, and perfect for my research on a series that centers around an artsy, scandalous family that stands just outside the reach of propriety.

From the cover copy: In this stunning expose of the Victorian London we thought we knew, Lutz takes us beyond the eyebrow-raising practices of these sex rebels, revealing how they uncovered troubles that ran beneath the surface of the larger social fabric; the struggle for women's emancipation, the dissolution of formal religions, and the pressing need for new forms of sexual expression.

I especially enjoy the way the author describes the many figures of this movement in a way that brings them to life and centers them in their world. One especially fascinating person I don't know a great deal about (except for her appearance in paintings) is Jane Morris, wife of William Morris and lover of Rossetti and others: She fashioned herself into a bold character, making living a creative act...Jane too could play at Byronism. Taking the part of a mysterious, gravely silent cipher, she seemed to others to hide a brooding interior and a tormented, unknowable past. She topped it off with a secret sexual life, unusual for a woman of her time. Designing, dying, and sewing her own clothes, Janey shunned the current ultra-feminine fashions with their crinolines, corsets, and bustles for medieval art robes....


And, since it is yet another day of 100+ temps here and my mind seems friend along with my lawn (and because I just like them), let's look at some pretty Pre-Raphaelite paintings!






Do you enjoy the Pre-Raphaelites? What's your favorite painting by them? Anything surprising about history you've discovered through reading? And how are you staying out of the heat?? (I finally got to see the new Harry Potter movie this weekend--it was fabulous, but a little sad it's all over now...)

Happiness in "Our" Time

There are so many horrific events in the news I decided we need to focus on happiness today.

The Romance genre celebrates happiness. After all, isn't that what the "happily ever after" ending is all about? We're such optimists, we romance writers and readers. We believe that love conquers all. We relish stories where the hero and heroine face seemingly insurmontable barriers to happiness, but, through love--and the ability to change--they achieve their happy ending.

The Regency period lends itself very well to the these ideas of love conquers all and happily ever after. The idea of marrying for love was a relatively new concept by the Regency period. Before then, people married for advantage or security or power, but the concept of the individual and individual happiness was a new idea. I think this was partly what made Jane Austen successful in her time period. Her books, especially Pride and Prejudice, juxtaposed the old concept of marriage for advantage with the new ideas of love and personal happiness.

Not only is the concept of happiness relatively new, the concept of beauty changes in the 1700s and early 1800s. More natural beauty became desirable. The formal gardens of the 1600s were torn down to create the "natural" landscapes of Capability Brown. The powdered wigs, brocades, lace, and voluminous skirts of the 1700s gave way to more natural silhouettes. Men's clothing, influenced by Beau Brummell, became simplified and form-fitting. Women's dresses, with empire waists and filmy fabrics also showed off the female body from top to toe.

When wars closed Europe for the Grand Tour, it became fashionable to tour the British countryside, searching for the "Picturesque." Touring the Lake District, visiting ruins (or building faux ruins on your country estate) became the thing to do. Taking pleasure in the natural became a new source of happiness during the Regency.

Who of us doesn't smile when we see beautiful clothes or a beautiful landscape? Enjoyment of beauty is a part of happiness.

Love, happiness, beauty....that's my idea of the Regency. And I love escaping "real" life by spending my reading and writing time in such a lovely place.

What part of the Regency makes you happy? What else makes you happy? I challenge you to think of 5 things that make you happy. Then go out and smile at someone today.

The Riskies Welcome Michelle Willingham!

Welcome back to Risky Regencies, Michelle! Tell us about your new book Seduced By her Highland Warrior...

Seduced by Her Highland Warrior is the second book in my MacKinloch Brothers series. It features the clan’s chief, Alex MacKinloch, who is fighting to rebuild his clan’s fortress after they survive a battle with the English during the Scottish Wars of Independence. He’s estranged from his wife after they lost their infant son. In grieving, they grew apart and though they love each other, they’ve become virtual strangers. Laren found solace for her grief in making stained glass, and it’s a secret she’s kept from her husband. Alex tried to remain strong and focus his efforts on keeping the clan together, and he’s never faced the grief over losing their child. Together, they must work through the past to rebuild their childhood love.



I love the idea of a heroine who works with stained glass--what was the research like for that?

The research was fascinating! I visited a glass studio in Damascus, Maryland, called Art of Fire (http://www.artoffire.com). Bruce taught me how hot the furnaces needed to be to melt the sand, ash, and lime together and how to blow glass (it took around eight hours for the fire to be hot enough). It meant that I had to create a secondary apprentice character to keep the fires tended for the heroine. I also used On Divers Arts, a medieval treatise written by Brother Theophilus, a monk who lived during that era and documented the procedures for making glass. The ash used in the sand and lime mixture was typically from a beechwood tree. Brother Theophilus describes that when melting the glass, it is first clear, then a flesh tone several hours later, and finally, a purple color hours after that. Oxidation helped achieve the colors, and they later discovered that minerals such as silver, iron, and manganese could be added to the raw materials to bring out the various tints.

My heroine, Laren MacKinloch, became their clan priest’s apprentice in secret, and when the priest died, she continued his craft with an apprentice of her own. In glassmaking, she finds her own worth. She also builds her own stained glass windows, from the colored glass she’s made.



What were some of the challenges of a story that starts in the middle of a broken relationship?

Since the hero and heroine were already married and had children together, some of their story is told in flashback sequences, so the reader can learn how their marriage broke apart after the death of their son. I wanted to write about characters who genuinely loved one another, but who had grown so far apart, they didn’t know how to rebuild what was lost. Laren’s shyness makes it hard for her to be the wife she thinks a clan chief needs—a “take-charge” heroine. She loves her husband but doesn’t know how to bridge the distance. Alex is frustrated because she’s kept secrets from him, but when a greater enemy threatens them, Laren’s glass holds the key to helping them all.

And what's next for you???

I wanted to return to my Victorian series, to write the third book in the trilogy—The Accidental Prince. It’s set in my fictional kingdom of Lohenberg and it’s a Cinderella reversal, where Prince Charming loses his throne and has to live like a commoner while he tries to win the heart of his own princess. It releases in June of 2012. In the meantime, I’m currently finishing another Scottish medieval for the MacKinlochs. The hero of this book, Callum MacKinloch, lost the ability to speak while he was a prisoner of war, and it’s been quite a challenge to handle the “dialogue!”

I’d love to offer up a signed book or a Kindle copy of Seduced by Her Highland Warrior today. Have you ever worked with stained glass before? What’s a hobby you enjoy? Just tell me what you love to do in your spare time, and we’ll draw a winner from the comments.



About the author: Michelle Willingham is the author of over a dozen historical romance novels and novellas. Visit her website at: www.michellewillingham.com for more information about her books and excerpts or interact with her on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/michellewillinghamfans .

Cover!

I just got this new cover art from Hot Damn Designs and I couldn't be more happy!

Thank you all for helping me brainstorm cover ideas and titles. Based on your inputs, I decided to leave the original title. The last thing I want to do is look like I'm trying to sucker readers into buying the same book twice.

Since the cover artist was so quick, I'm going to scramble to get the formatting done so I can start publishing on Kindle, Nook, etc...

I also want to update my website and consider other ways to possibly increase my online presence. I enjoy blogging and would love to get back to visiting more blogs than our own! So far I haven't done an author page on Facebook and I am clueless about Twitter, but these are things I'm looking into as well.

I often find out about new authors by word of mouth. I'm lucky enough to have friends with similar enough taste to mine that I'll always enjoy their recommendations. The nice thing about word of mouth is it's based on writing a good book, which is something I'm already trying to do. Preserving the writing time is very, very important to me.

But I also think one may have to do some things to get that word of mouth going, though I'm not sure what they are.

What do you think? Since you are here, I'll assume you enjoy blogs. Are there other ways you find new (to you) authors? I've heard Facebook may be declining; do you think it's dead or just leveled out? How about Twitter?

Elena

Global HeartWarming

Today there's awful news about explosions in Norway. Now, back in the time of our heroes and heroines, it would have taken days, maybe longer, to find out about things happening in other countries. Now it's seconds. And people are responding to the crisis with sympathy and offers of help, as they should.

It's my belief that the more you can find commonality with someone, the more sympathetic you are. It's not a controversial opinion, and it is why I think many city-dwellers are more comfortable with people of other ethnicities than people who live in more segregated (no pejoratives meant) communities.

Anyway. One way that many of us in the romance community find commonality with others is through our shared interest in books. This is a theme I have talked often about, the great joy and amazing friends I've found through reading. It's hard to dislike someone if they love Loretta Chase as much as you do, for example. Or perhaps if you find you have reading in common, you might find other areas you can discuss.

Not that global crises such as what might have happened in Norway could be solved if we all shared a book; I'm not even close to that naive. But the commonality of reading makes me appreciate what I've learned through that sharing with others.

I'm grateful for that, so thanks to all my friends, both on- and off-line.

Megan

Housewifery skills at Riversdale

Last Saturday I attended an event at Riversdale House Museum, Maryland, where historians taught us the skills of the Georgian-Federal era housekeeper. Kate Dolan, who was our guest last Thursday, was also there--here she is with an apron full of herbs.

The house boasts a beautiful garden where herbs, flowers, and vegetables are grown, often sharing the same space, and most of my pics were of the garden. If you'd like to see some really good photos of the costumed participants, go here.

After a short presentation on herbs we gathered them to make our own herb vinegars in the kitchen of the dependency (behind Kate)--it's a mid nineteenth century building outside the house which is now used for open hearth cooking demonstrations.

We had a delicious lunch we prepared that featured produce from the garden, using some American eighteenth century recipes and a couple from Mrs. Beeton. Joyce White, the Foodways expert on staff at Riversdale, emphasized the importance of setting the table correctly and making sure that each dish (served a la francaise) was beautiful in appearance, garnished with flowers, herbs, and asparagus fronds from the garden.

Here are some pics of the garden. The right one shows the house and the monster asparagus plants on the right.















In addition we experimented with authentic cleaning substances and techniques for brass and mahogany--guess what, they worked!

We were very lucky to have Katy Cannon, an expert in historical cosmetics giving a demonstration. Check out her website at AgelessArtifice.com. She burned some pastills for us, which were thought to perfume the air and therefore prevent infections, and we learned that our ancestors enjoyed making pastills embedded with gunpowder for innocent fun in the parlor. I bought some of her products, and here is my loot from the event:

From left to right:
Cologne
A Ball to take out Stains (and it does. In use. It's soap, lemon, and alum.)
Bags for preffe or clothes, that no Moth may breed therein. Snappy name! From a 1653 recipe, juniper wood, cloves, rosemary, wormwood. It smells delicious!
My very own rosemary and thyme vinegar.
In front, it looks like jam but it's mahogany polish.

Tell us if you've tried any historic recipes or cleaning methods. Did they work?

Also if you're in the greater Washington DC area, please come to Riversdale's Battle of Bladensburg Encampment on August 13. It's free, with house tours, kids' activities, food, music, uniformed historical reenactors, and loud explosions. More details here.

And in the Blatant Self Promotion department, here are two places where you can comment to enter a contest for a copy of my erotic contemporary TELL ME MORE: Snap, Crackle, and Popping Blog and Write About.

Risky Read Along - Edith Layton's To Wed A Stranger

Questions to Address in Comments

1. Did you like the story overall? What did you like and/or dislike about it?

2. What did you like/dislike about the heroine?

3. Same for the hero.

4. Things you LOVED?

5. Anything that irritated or annoyed you?

I will add my 2-3 cents in the comments, too.

Discoveries

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Here we are now in Day 27 of 100+ temps, so I am staying in the AC and drinking lots and lots of iced tea. But I'm also on my "try new things" campaign, which meant I went out on a date with a new man last night (definitely something different!) and am going back to yoga class today for the first time since the surgery. Every day feels more and more "normal" again, and I love it. I'm also on a blog tour with authors Paula Quinn and Sue-Ellen Welfonder (look at my blog for dates--lots and lots of giveaways!)

While I'm trying to stay cool, I'm also making my way through a huge TBR pile of both fiction and non-fiction. One of the books I forgot I bought is Jonathan Downs's Discovery at Rosetta: The Stone That Unlocked the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. If you're read some of my posts here, or my "Muses of Mayfair" series, you know I'm fascinated by archaeology and ancient myths, so I happily settled down to read this last week. And I found out July 19 is the anniversary of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone....

The Rosetta Stone is a pretty dull-looking black granite stele inscribed with a decree issued by Ptolemy V in 196 BC, but it's inconspicuous appearance belies its enormous importance--since it's inscribed with the decree in 3 different scripts (ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic script, and ancient Greek) it was the key to beginning to understand hieroglyphs, which had been a mystery before that.

Originally displayed in a temple, it eventually found itself part of the building materials of Fort Julien near Rashid (Rosetta), where it was discovered by a French soldier in 1799. Luckily Napoleon had taken not only military to Egypt, but a group of 167 scholars and experts known as the Comission des Sciences des Arts to study the history and culture of the region. (This group had a long and colorful experience in Egypt, but that's another story...). The stone fell into British hands in 1801 and has been in the British Museum since 1802. The first translation of the Greek text appeared in 1803, but it was 20 years before Jean-Francois Champollion announced the initial decipherment of the hieroglyphs. Like many objects, it's a source of conflict to this day...

For more information, you can visit the Britsh Museum's site (but I warn you--this site can be a total time suck!)
What are some of your favorite things you've come across in museums? How are you staying out of the heat this summer??

Christine Merrill's Winners

Congratulations to.......

Artemis!!

You have won a signed copy of Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess.

And to....

Na!!

You have won a signed copy of Lady Drusilla's Road to Ruin

Ladies, email us at riskies@yahoo.com

Carolyn's Read Along

Short post today because I have spotty internet access!

I started To Wed a Stranger by Edith Layton in order to prepare for Carolyn's Risky Read-Along. I intended to read a little each day, like I usually do, and I expected to be behind in my reading as I usually am.

But I literally could not put this book down. I can't wait for the Read-Along to begin!

While I was poking around the internet for information about Edith Layton, I came across this write-up on Wikipedia. Subject: Regency Novel: "Georgette Heyer, Barbara Metzger, Joan Smith, Marion Chesney, Mary Balogh, Jo Beverley, Nancy Butler, Lisa Kleypas, Stephanie Laurens.... Amanda McCabe and Julia Quinn."

Our Amanda in such exalted company!!!! Now that's just where she belongs.

What was the last book you read that you could not put down?

Are you prepared for the Risky Read-Along?

Christine Merrill Talks About Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess

Today the Riskies welcome Christine Merrill, a fellow Harlequin Historical author, whose Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess is in bookstores this month and available online.

"Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess was an entertaining historical romance with a gothic touch, a plot with some twists and turns and a nice romance..."--The Bookaholic Cat

"I enjoyed this book...It was sexy, dark and satisfying. 4 stars."--Red Hot Books

Christine will give away one copy of Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess and one copy of Lady Drusilla's Road to Ruin to two lucky commenters chosen at random.

Welcome, Christine! Tell us about Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess.
In Miss Winthorpe’s Elopement, my hero, Adam, had an unfortunate past with his best friend Tim’s wife. I think I had half a plan that Tim and Claire would rekindle their relationship in a second book and live happily ever after. But the more I learned about her, the more natural it seemed for her to die in a mysterious fall down the stairs, and for Tim to be the prime suspect in her murder.

Daphne is Claire’s cousin, and was one of the few people who was genuinely fond of her. She insinuates herself into the household to find out the truth. But she doesn’t count on having real feelings for the children she’s pretending to care for, or her attraction to Tim.

What captivated you most about this story?
I wanted to do a Gothic, with a governess heroine and a brooding hero. And if possible I wanted to work in as many of the old conventions, with Daphne sneaking around an old dark house, barefoot and in a nightgown, in the thrall of a hero who might kiss or kill her. But I wanted a heroine who wasn’t quite as spineless as the ones I remember from my youthful reading. I was plotting it out about six months before I could work it into the writing schedule, and had a lot of fun creating my version of the stories I read back in the 70’s.

What is Risky about Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess?
It’s really a pretty dark story, and the characters are not always likeable. I know that Tim Colton has a marshmallow center, and loves his kids. But he’s pretty messed up through most of the book, bitter, suicidal, and definitely capable of murder. Although Daphne grows to be a better woman by the end of the book, she’s been listening to the advice given by the faithless Claire, and begins as a shallow, willful brat. The first love scene between them can hardly be called that. But I don’t think either one of them is capable of love at that point.

Did you discover anything interesting when you were researching the story?
My hero is a botanist, and I assumed he would have his own glass house. But I wasn’t totally sure what that entailed, or what would be grown there. I learned that English gardening was a pretty sophisticated pastime, with fruits forced out of season, all the way back in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. John Nash, a popular architect of the Regency period, did some very nice conservatories and orangeries and Thomas Hopper redid the conservatory at Carlton house.
Tim Colton’s imaginary glass house is a bit more functional then that. But it would have had a glass ceiling and some very nice cast iron columns to support the windows.

I understand you also have a book out this month in the Uk. Tell us about that one.
This month’s UK book is Lady Drusilla’s Road to Ruin. It’s the second book in the Ladies in Disgrace trilogy which will be out in the US in spring of next year. John Hendricks was personal secretary to the hero in the first book, Lady Folbroke’s Delicious Deception, and he’s leaving London broken hearted, drunk and unemployed.

Drusilla is headed north on same the mail coach, trying to rescue her little sister from a disastrous elopement with a dancing master. When she hires John to help her, she learns how much fun it can be to lose one’s reputation on the road to Gretna Green.

What is next for you?
I’ve just started working on a new book with an actor hero. Jack, who is a bit of a con man, is pretending to be a member of the nobility, trying to marry an heiress for her money. He ends up with Cynthia, who thinks she is tricking him into marriage and is trying to get his nonexistent fortune.
They end up joining forces against common enemies, and repairing the fortunes of both their families by any conniving and underhanded means possible. They are both totally devious. I think they make a lovely couple.

Anyone still have a taste for Gothics? Do you have a favorite? And what can be done to buck up all those too stupid to live Gothic heroines of the 70’s?

Two lucky commenters will win today! One, Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess; One, Lady Drusilla's Road to Ruin

Skipping the sex scenes

First, due to popular request, here's a pic from a few years ago when my children and I trick or treated as Hermione, her cat Crookshanks and Professor McGonagall.















Now back to my regularly scheduled post...

I’ve heard some readers say they skip sex scenes, but I've never done so. Once I’ve decided to read a book, I want to take it all in the way the author intended it. Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ll miss something. At an RWA workshop given by Julia Ross, she said something to the effect that if readers skipped her sex scenes, they’d have no idea what was going on. That’s how it should be. Sex scenes should not be skippable!

Sometimes I’ve found my attention wandering while reading a sex scene, though usually this happens in a book in which I’m already losing interest and may not finish. This happens if the hero and heroine seem like a generic romance couple. I love deep characterization and I don’t believe one can isolate the body from the mind from the heart. To me, sex scenes are a way to show the whole tangle, and that’s what makes them so much fun to read and write. In a well-written sex scene, the sex is never just a physical act and the characters remain true to themselves. That makes the sex more real and more exciting. What they do can be inventive or not; it just has to make sense for them.

So maybe some readers skip sex scenes when the characterization falters. On the other hand, I’ve heard some of the sex-scene-skippers say they just don’t want to be in someone else’s bedroom. I think that’s a matter of reading style. If you like to read about the hero and heroine, you might feel like an intruder. When I’m reading romance, I want to be the heroine and fall in love with the hero. So I don't feel like an unwanted third party, even if the scene is in the hero’s point of view (which I really like reading and writing sometimes).

How about you? Do you ever skip sex scenes? Why or why not? Do you like sex scenes written in heroine or hero point of view, or either?

Elena

Winner of Deceptive Behavior

We have a winner!

Kat, you have won the download of Deceptive Behavior. Please contact us at riskies AT yahoo.com for your prize

Summer Fridays

Some of you (okay, most of you) likely indulged in the deliciousness of Masterpiece Theater's airing of Downton Abbey.

In it, Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, eyeballs the new heir--the sadly middle-class Matthew Crawley--and asks, with perfect seriousness, "What is a weekend?"

Oh, wow. Can you imagine not looking forward to Friday afternoon, and not having dread on Sunday evening? Not even thinking about a difference between, say, Wednesday and Saturday?

For all of us, I'd say, that is an impossible dream. So with that in mind, let's tell Violet what a weekend is, and what we plan to do with it. I'll start:

I am having a few friends over to watch North and South. Again. There will be swooning over Richard Armitage, some snacks, and perhaps more swooning over Nicholas, the rougher bit in N&S.

I will be catching up on True Blood; I'm two episodes behind.

Reading--currently engrossed in Stacia Kane's City of Ghosts, hope to dive into one of the many Mary Baloghs I've got on the TBR pile.

Walking--now that I'm working, I sit a whole damn lot, and I hate it. I hope to get to the gym, too.

I will not be drinking ratafia, bossing the servants around, or bemoaning my lack of an Almack's invite.

What are you doing?

Megan

Guest Kate Dolan

Our guest today is Kate Dolan who writes traditional Regency romances for Blush (formerly Cerridwen) Cotillion as well as a variety of other totally unrelated books and articles. Her third Regency, Deceptive Behavior, comes out today in ebook format. And she shares her home with both dogs and a rabbit. That's her version, so I'll add that she's a brilliant and productive writer, a very well-informed historian, and a good friend and critique partner. The thing I love about Kate's books is that she includes some very risky topics and that makes her a natural here.

So naturally she's chosen a very non-PC topic. And, oh yes, she's offering a free download of Deceptive Behavior or one of her print backlist to one lucky person.

For the third book in my “Love and Lunacy” series, I wanted a hero who was a bit different. The challenge was to devise characteristics that would make him seem odd and even unmanly to those in Regency society, but still masculine and appealing to modern readers. He needed to be athletic, but without engaging in the traditional exercise of gentleman, such as hunting and fencing.

I made him a fast runner, but Regency gentlemen did not compete in track meets, so I needed a reason for him to run – and chasing after the heroine didn’t count.

Then I remembered a sport introduced to my husband by one of his colleagues: beagling.

Definitely doesn’t sound very masculine, does it? The sport is very similar to fox hunting, but the quarry is a hare and it is usually chased on foot. So by making my hero a beagler, I gave him an opportunity to become a good runner.

Modern hunts tend to proceed rather slowly with the field walking along behind the beagles, but sources indicate that it used to be a running sport. The Trinity Foot Beagles, a history of a Cambridge club written in 1912, is full of cartoons of men running and the theme song of the group includes a verse that says “It’s the deuce of a run, And I’m pretty well done…It’s lucky by gad, For I think every lad, Has pretty well used up his breath.”

Beagling is now outlawed in the U.K. as a blood sport, but it still has aficionados in the U.S. While clubs such as the Roscommon Hounds proclaim that it “is a dark day if anything is ever killed” during a chase, that too was obviously not true in the past. The lines I deleted from the quote from the Trinity Foot Beagles song talk about the quarry being near its death, and later lines describe the hounds “breaking up” the “pussy,” which was apparently the term of affection for the rabbit that was chased and ripped to shreds.

While “pussy’s death knell” might have a place in some romance stories, it really didn’t fit a traditional Regency, so I was fortunate that in my story I never had to depict an actual outing. My hero did chase a rabbit for a few hundred yards, but then the rabbit stopped so there wasn’t much challenge after that. (Rabbits in my yard do this all the time. They run away frantically and then just stop in the middle of the yard, somehow thinking my dogs and I can no longer see them.)

The Trinity Beagles history describes a “most rotten joyless day” of chasing a hare through turnip patches in the November drizzle, losing the quarry twice and finally giving up after at least 45 minutes of running. “And yet,” the author notes philosophically, “where there is no disappointment, there is no sport. Good days are those which exceed expectation, or they would not be good; and the red letters of the good days would not stand out in bold relief were there not the deep black shadows of the rotten, joyless ones.”

This is of course true for more than just beagling, or any other sport—it applies to everything.
So I wish you many red letter days, but remember that there is an important purpose served by the “rotten, joyless days” as well.

Please weigh in on the advantages or disadvantages of having characters who engage in pursuits now no longer socially acceptable (and we don't mean with each other), and how do you think this is best handled when writing about such a bloodthirsty age? Or, tell us your favorite dog or rabbit stories. We'll pick a winner tomorrow!

Read Along Info

Did you get your Read Along book yet?

It's Edith Layton's To Wed a stranger:

• Amazon Kindle and paper
• BN: Nook and paper
• Book Depository
• Books a Million
• IndieBound

So, whatcyha waiting for?

I got mine. Do you have yours?

Bold Women In History

Last week, I went to a follow-up appointment with the surgeon, and one of the things I had to do was fill out a post-op questionnaire all about how I'm doing since I came home. One of the questions asked if the patient was suffering feelings of depression, and I realized something very important--I've actually been feeling very happy, eager to go out and have fun even. I guess a near-brush with disaster will do that, or maybe it's a compensation for missing out on RWA, lol. But it led me to do something I always said I would never, ever do--sing karaoke. It was a friend's birthday party Saturday, and well, one thing led to another, and next thing I knew I was singing "California Gurls." Keep in mind that I have a terrible singing voice and am very sensitive about it, but when it was all over I realized it was actually kinda fun. Liberating.

So now I am on a "Make The Most Of Life" campaign. Every week I am going to try something new, just to help me remember life should be an adventure. I will post what I find to do (as long as it's PG-rated...)

And when I was looking for topics for today's post I found out that July 12 is an anniversary for one of my very favorite Bold Women in history--Dolley Madison, First Lady of the US from 1809 to 1817, who died on that day in 1849 after a long and very eventful life. She seemed appropriate to talk about today. I first "met" Dolley when we got an assignment to do a report on a figure in American history in the 5th grade. I found a book about her in the school library and loved her immediately! She was all the things I wished I could be.

She was born Dolley Payne into the Quaker Payne family on May 20, 1768, one of 8 children, and grew up in Virginia until 1783 when her family sold the family slaves and moved them to Philadelphia, where his business promptly failed and he died in 1792, leaving Dolley's mother to run a boarding house to take care of the family. She married lawyer John Todd in 1790 and had two sons with him, but he and their younger child died in a yellow fever epidemic only 3 years later. In May 1794 she met James Madison, who had been admiring her from a distance, through their mutual friend Aaron Burr. At first glance they were a strange couple. James was 17 years her senior, a longtime bachelor, short and quiet, while Dolley was tall, buxom, and supremely outgoing, but they fell in love and were married in September of that year. She was then cast out of the Quaker church, which freed her to pursue her love of the latest fashions (especially elaborate hats and turbans!)

In 1797, James retired from the House of Representatives and took Dolley and her son to live at his home at Montpelier in Virginia, where they planned to live a quiet, private life. Fate intervened when Thomas Jefferson asked James to be his Secretary of State in 1801 and the family moved to the brand-new capital Washington DC. James became the 4th president in 1809, and Dolley really came into her own. She was a great First Lady, known for being very fashionable and giving fabulous parties. She redecorated the White House to reflect its stature, and was also very intelligent, shrewd, and charming, renowned for her ability to bring quarreling factions together and smooth quarrels at a very hotheaded time. (Too bad we don't have her around now...)

Her most famous moment came during the War of 1812, as the British Army converged on DC and the populace fled. Alone at the White House, Dolley packed up vital papers and insisted on making sure the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington was saved before she left for safety herself. As she later wrote to her sister, "Our kind friend Mr. Carroll has come to hasten my departure, and in a very bad humor with me, because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. The process was found too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas taken out..... It is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen from New York for safe keeping. On handing the canvas to the gentlemen in question, Messrs. Barker and Depeyster, Mr. Sioussat cautioned them against rolling it up, saying that it would destroy the portrait. He was moved to this because Mr. Barker started to roll it up for greater convenience for carrying."

And another account of her perilous journey, "The friends with Mrs. Madison hurried her away (her carriage being previously ready), and she, with many other families, retreated with the fleeing army. In Georgetown they perceived some men before them carrying off the picture of General Washington (the large one by Stewart), which with the plate was all that was saved out of the President's house. Mrs. Madison lost all her own property. Mrs. Madison slept that night in the encampment, a guard being placed round her tent; the next day she crossed into Virginia, where she remained until Sunday, when she returned to meet her husband."

She was a beloved figure for the rest of her husband's presidency, and indeed for the rest of her life. James died in 1836 after 42 years of marriage, and even though Dolley was plagued by worries over her n'er-do-well son for the rest of her life, she lived in DC and entertained and enjoyed life until her own death in 1849.

Lavinia Kent Winners and Where is Megan Winner

Winner of a download of Kathryn the Kitten by Lavinia Kent, first in the Real Duchesses of London series is...

Jane

Winner of the Real Duchesses of London T-shirt is...

Artie Mesia

Ladies, email us at riskies@yahoo.com

Winner of a $.99 Kindle download of your choice for participating in Where In The World is Megan Frampton is...

Louisa Cornell

Louisa, email me at diane@dianegaston.com

Governess Story

Where do you get your story ideas?

My latest story idea came from my friend Julie. She recently returned a manuscript of mine that she'd had at her house and with it was a chapter I had written about a governess and a marquess. I had forgotten all about this story! But once jogged, I remembered it very well.

It is a governess story and I can hardly wait to start writing it.

Ever since reading Jane Eyre, I've loved the fantasy of the governess winding up with the lord. It was one of my favorite themes in traditional regencies and one of my favorite variations on the Cinderella story.

In Emma, Jane Austen gives us a good idea of a governess's fate, both in a positive way--her own beloved governess, Miss Taylor, who was treated as a beloved family member and who married well--and a negative way--Jane Fairfax, who looks upon the prospect of becoming a governess with as a fate akin to death. Charlotte Bronte's later depiction of a governess is similarly bleak, and includes the gothic elements that Victoria Holt (another of my favorites) popularized in later years in The Mistress of Mellyn, or another classic, Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.

Here's a long list of traditional regencies with governess heroines.

I think governesses are perfect for Cinderella plots, because their status and situation set them apart from the society in which they live. Often they are depicted as well-born young ladies fallen on hard times who must toil for long hours for little pay. They neither fit in with the servant class nor the class of their employers. (But they might befriend some darling mice and pretty little birds--and have a fairy godmother)

Do you like governess stories, or are you (gasp) sick of them? If you like them, do you have a favorite?

Our guest for next Sunday has written a governess story. Christine Merrill will join us to talk about her latest release, Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess.

Hurry up and comment on yesterday's interview with Lavinia Klein if you want a chance to win a download of Kathryn the Kitten or a Real Duchesses of London T-shirt. I'm picking the winners at midnight.

Lavinia Kent's Real Duchesses of London

Today the Riskies welcome back my good friend Lavinia Kent. I'm so excited about this latest venture of Lavinia's. It is so much fun!

Lavinia is one of the first authors for Avon's new digital imprint, Avon Impulse, which aims to offer fresh, exciting content in digital format, available wherever ebooks are sold.

Lavinia has written a series called The Real Duchesses of London, four short, connected novellas based on the "Real Housewives" TV series. Kathryn the Kitten, the first novella in the series is available now.

Here's some of the review rattle for Kathryn the Kitten:

"Interesting and intriguing...fabulous reading..." --Novel Reaction

"...a terrific blend of love, friendship and a tad bit of suspense." -- Tracy's Place

"I can't wait to read about the romantic tribulations of the four other women and to find out who is behind the caricatures." -- Romance Novel News

Take a look at this fabulous Book Trailer for Kathryn the Kitten:

There's also a longer video, for the entire Real Duchesses of London Series.

Lavinia will give away one download of Kathryn the Kitten to one lucky commenter chosen at random AND to a second randomly selected commenter, a Real Duchesses of London T-shirt featuring the Real Duchesses logo!!

Tell us how you came up with the idea for the series The Real Duchesses of London.
I was watching a episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and thinking how ridiculous it all was. Then I started to think about how their real lives must be different from what was seen on TV. I’d also just watched Downton Abby and was excited by the idea of having the maids take the place of the TV viewer.

Who are the "Real Duchesses"?
The real Duchesses are a group of aristocratic women who are brought together when a print of them all is pasted to shop windows all across London. Each of the women either has a problem with her husband or develops one as the result of a scandalous print.

Kathryn the Kitten is available now. What is her story?
Kathryn, the Duchess of Harrington, has always done everything perfectly. When a tragedy changes her world Kathryn doesn’t know how to react and finds herself withdrawing farther and farther from her husband. When a cartoon implies that her husband has a huge secret, Kathryn must find away to start a new relationship with the duke.

What is Risky about this series and its first story?
The relationships between the women can be very risky. In the first story Kathryn discovers things about her dearest friend, Linnette, the Dowager Duchess of Doveshire, that change and almost ruin their long-lasting friendship.

From a personal standpoint the most risky thing was trying to write a scene with several duchesses in the room and still make it clear who was talking. There were “Your Graces” all over the place. I had to move everybody to a first name basis much sooner than I would have otherwise or it was just too confusing.

Where was most of your research time spent? Watching the "Real Housewives" on TV or researching in the regency? Did you discover anything interesting in your research?
I spent time looking at old prints and cartoons. It’s hard to call it research because it was just so much fun. It is amazing the things that could be printed for anyone to see.

I also re-examined the fashions of the time because I moving into the early 1820’s with these stories and things were starting to change. I actually make use of the great bell shaped skirts in my second story, Linnette, the Lioness.

Tell us how the YouTube video and its depiction of the Duchesses came about.
It all started when I saw my friend Janet Mullany's daughter making a drawing for another author. I loved it and asked if she could do one for me. Even if I never used it I thought it would be fun to have a drawing to represent the first cartoon in my book.

My daughter, who is taking computer graphics in high school, asked why I didn’t have a book trailer – and before I knew it she was creating one for me. The original concept of using the cartoon and combining it with the opening credits from The Real Housewives was mine, but she took it and ran with it. The ultimate product is very much her creation.

What's next for you? What's the next book in the series and what is your next book?
The next novella in my series is Linnette, the Lioness. It comes out this Tuesday. It’s a reunion story and also a story of learning to love again after a past betrayal. Annabelle the American will be released in August and Elizabeth the Enchantress, in September.

My next book, What a Duke Wants, comes out this October and is the story of a runaway lady and a duke who doesn’t want to be a duke. I had great fun writing about mistaken identity and learning to survive when life doesn’t work out the way you want.

A question from me:

Is there anyone who will admit to liking the women’s clothing of the 1820’s? I am genuinely curious. I love true regency dress and then suddenly the skirts poof out and the sleeves as well – and the bonnets . . .

I just can’t imagine ever wanting to wear it. How about you?

Thanks for visiting the Riskies, Lavinia. Remember, everyone, to comment for a chance to win either a download of Kathryn the Kitten or a Real Duchesses of London T-Shirt! Winners will be selected after midnight Monday night and announced on Tuesday.