Risky Regencies

Lord Derby's Dressing Room

2012-02-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased two reference books that I adore.

The first is The Great Houses of London by David Pearce (The Vendome Press) in which there is a floor plan for 26 Grosvenor Square (Derby House) c 1773 by Adams.

The floor plan shows two stories on a rectangular lot that was 50 feet wide. The house is shaped a bit like a squared off lower case b with the bottom portion of the B being the street facing side. The gap between the upstroke of the b and the rectangle of the lot appears to be a garden or other outdoor area. There was also a square structure at the back, the width of the lot, also two stories. That housed the kitchen on the ground floor and was connected by a walkway to the main house. The first floor of this structure housed the laundry, the hayloft and the groom's room.

In the house proper, in the lower (square) of the b, the entry is on the left into the hall. To the right of the hall is an ante-room. "Above" the hall are two staircases, one to the left, the other to the right. To the right of the right-most staircase is a parlor.

In the upstroke of the b, from bottom to top are:

Great Eating Room
Library
Lord Derby's Dressing Room
Staircase || Cabinet
a staircase || a space into which the kitchen passage would exit.

Following that same pattern for the 1st floor:

Ante Room || First Drawing Room
Stairs || 2nd drawing room

In the upstroke of the b:
Third Drawing room
Lady Derby's Dressing Room
Bed Chamber
stairs || Closet

Do you notice there is only one bedchamber?

The library is an oval (on its side)

Lady Derby's Dressing Room is easily 1.5x the size of the bedchamber and, since it is over the library, it is also oval.

Lord Derby's Dressing Room is really pretty small, and on the ground floor, while Lady Derby's HUGE dressing room is on the 1st floor.

The 3rd drawing room as built opens into Lady Derby's Dressing room and the opening is wide wide wide with columns. There would be no privacy between the two spaces.

The other book I bought is The Lost Mansions of Mayfair by Oliver Bradbury (Historical Publications). It is, as you might guess, all about Mayfair mansions that no longer exist. There are a LOT of pictures and illustrations. This book is lovely, but it makes me sad.

Question

So. Why do YOU think Lord Derby's Dressing Room is so small and where did he sleep?

Much Ado About Loving

2012-01-31T08:18:00.000-08:00

I seem to be talking a lot lately about books I've been reading, but I seem to be in the middle of a good reading run!! I just finished the tons of fun Much Ado About Loving: What Our Favorite Novels Can Teach You About Great Expectations, Not so Great Gatsbys, and Love in the Time of Internet Personals by Jack Murnighan and Maura Kelly, which mines works of literature for modern dating advice. (PW called it "...a clever, amusing hybrid of lit crit and relationship advice"). I've often thought novels are a great source of guidance when it comes to dating and love myself, so I snatched up this book and spent a wonderful afternoon laughing at its lessons!

Some of my favorite chapters: "The Blabbers Karamazov: The dangers of revealing too much too soon"; "Not-so-great-Gatsby: Is it flattering or creepy when a guy persists?"; "Bride and Prejudice: Does wanting to get married give you champagne goggles?"; "Madame Ho-Vary: Is cheating ever okay?"; and "Jane Erred: Why it's silly to put principles over passion" ("When and if you're lucky enough to find true love, don't muck it up with mindless adherence to convention. Throw away that list of requirements....")

And then there is "Lady's Chattering Lover: 10 things not to say after sex." Example #8--Tread with caution when talking about his penis ("And now it's tiny and soft like a little bud of life!"
What romance lessons have you learned from your favorite books??

Winner of Victoria Vane's A Breach of Promise

2012-01-31T07:54:00.000-08:00

And the winner is........

Kat!

Kat, email me at diane@dianegaston.com and let me know what kind of download you require for your free copy of A Breach of Promise. I'll pass the information on to Victoria right away.

And many thanks to Victoria aka Emery for being our guest!

Diane

An Author's Walk On The Wild Side - A Guest Blog!

2012-01-29T22:43:00.000-08:00

I'm on the downhill slide to finish my Marquess and the Governess book and my friend Emery Lee aka Victoria Vane kindly volunteered to guest blog for me. How cool is that? Do you know what is even better? She's giving away a free download of her new erotic Georgian novella, A BREACH OF PROMISE to one lucky commenter chosen at random.

Give a warm welcome to Emery Lee/Victoria Vane!!!

Since this blog is very much about risk taking, I am posting today about my own huge and exciting risky transition from romantic historical fiction to erotic historical romance, and to share a bit about my naughty new novellas.

How it all began… Late last spring I found myself in both a crisis of confidence and already floundering in a writing career that had only just begun. As many authors are aware, the oh-so-wonderful publication of that first novel is only the beginning of one's struggles. Often the second and third book deals don't come much easier than the first. While I had sold and finished my second novel, FORTUNE'S SON, and was continuing to write my little heart out, my publisher had taken a "wait and see" stance on my proposed third, fourth and fifth novels, leaving me sitting impotently on my thumbs. To make matters worse, my agent quit the publishing business altogether, leaving me high and dry.

It was during this frustrating dry spell that the wonderful Diane Gaston suggested I try writing something short to help bridge the gap until I could sell another of my full length novels. While I had read a number of the Historical Undone titles, it had never occurred to me to write anything short. To be honest, I didn't know if I even could. Novella length romantic fiction presents some serious challenges—to fully develop characters and a plot readers will embrace in 50-100 pages is no easy feat. Yet, it seemed a logical and productive use of my time, so I decided to give it a go.

Loosely inspired by The Belle's Stratagem, a Georgian era play I had read, the result of my efforts was a 15K word story about a broken engagement. Believing it “perfect” for Harlequin's Historical Undone line, I joyfully sent it off. Unfortunately, Harlequin didn’t share my sentiments! But by then, I had already submitted to several other publishers, certain that one of them would snatch up my short masterpiece. Wrong again. I got several more rejections.

Having by then decided to write it all off as a “failed experiment,” you can imagine my shock in receiving a conditional acceptance from an erotic romance publisher who loved the story but felt it needed more development and a higher heat level. Develop the romance and make it longer? (Big smile.) No problem! Amp up the heat level to erotic level? (Gulp.) I was terrified.

You see, I had never written steamy love scenes. While having strong sexual tension, my other books are pretty much PG-13. Yet, armed with a burning desire to see something, anything, published to keep my career moving forward, I accepted the contract with the promise to deliver a scorching hot historical romance that readers would love. Easy, right? NOT!!!

After working tirelessly for weeks, I submitted my revised manuscript only to receive 8 pages of notes back from my editor! I was crushed. Where did I go wrong? What was lacking? While I had adopted the more graphic language used in erotic romance and had the “mechanics” in abundance, my editor described the weakness in the manuscript as lacking the “sixth sense,” or the emotional connection the reader must feel. In any great love scene, the reader must be engaged with the characters' emotion not just visualizing the act. Engaging the reader in this manner is one of the most difficult undertakings of any writer, but to integrate this into sex scenes is exponentially harder. It is a true gift when done well.

Wanting very much to learn how, I set out to find authors who meld strong emotion into explicit love scenes, authors I wished to emulate. While the idea was truly daunting, I also perceived a golden opportunity to stretch myself as a writer. It was time for a crash course in Sex Writing 101.

I began by reading- devouring actually- works by bestselling erotic romance authors to learn what they do and how they do it. I discovered authors like Robin Schone, Sylvia Day, and Charlotte Featherstone, who combine beautifully crafted prose in stories with deep sensuality, and Lila DiPasqua who I much admire for her creative vision in melding real history with eroticism.

Armed with what I had learned from these amazing authors, I went back to work on A BREACH OF PROMISE with the goal of writing an erotic level romance my own way— with a well-drawn and emotionally compelling plot, sympathetic characters, witty dialogue, a touch of humor, and scorching heat without the "kink factor."

Released a month ago, my "naughty little novella" has had an incredible early reception and has already scored me a three book deal with another erotic romance publisher. Me, a purveyor of high quality smut? Who knew? ;P

ABOUT VICTORIA VANE:

A lover of history and deeply romantic stories, Victoria combines these elements to craft romantic historical novels and novellas for a mature reading audience. She also writes non-erotic historical fiction as Emery Lee. Erotic Historical Romance Titles:

A BREACH OF PROMISE, Ellora's Cave

A WILD NIGHT’S BRIDE, a sexy rollicking Georgian romp - Coming soon from Breathless press.

A BREACH OF PROMISE by Victoria Vane

WHEN CHARM AND PERSUASION FAIL… ONLY SEDUCTION REMAINS….

On the night of her betrothal, Lydia Trent receives just a taste of what ecstasy will be at the hands of her fiancé…and then he leaves her wanting. After waiting six years, and tired of being neglected by her exceedingly reluctant husband-to-be, Lydia decides to break it off. When Marcus, Lord Russell, receives Lydia’s letter requesting a release from their contract, he is stunned by her audacity. Confident he’ll have her eating out of his hand with his usual wit and charm, he’s determined to repair the damage. However, the headstrong woman she’s blossomed into is equally determined to thwart his every effort to win her back. Marcus discovers, in spite of her conviction to end the union, Lydia is more responsive to his touch than he ever imagined. He just needs to get her alone to unleash the promised passion he sees within his wanton virgin. Marcus will use any tool in his arsenal to exploit her weakness—his kisses, his hands, his mouth…her own body. In short, he’ll just have to ruin her!

“Reckless hearts, battling wits, and plenty of steam in a wonderfully well drawn Georgian setting.” -NYT Bestselling author Grace Burrowes

LINKS TO EXCERPTS:

http://authorvictoriavane.com/a-breach-of-promise-prologue/

http://www.jasminejade.com/productspecs/9781419937330.htm

Thanks Emery/Victoria for being my guest! Everyone, tell our guest what level of sensuality you like best in your Historical Romances! Or any comment for a chance to win a download of A BREACH OF PROMISE.

Winner of THE PENWYTH BRIDE by Mallory Jackson!

2012-01-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

Congratulations, raspberry tart!

You've won an ebook copy of The Penwyth Bride by Mallory Jackson. To receive your book, please email elena @ elenagreene . com (no spaces) and indicate your preference for Kindle or Nook.

Mallory Jackson and THE PENWYTH BRIDE

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Our guest today is Mallory Jackson, author of The Penwyth Bride, a haunting paranormal romance set in 18th century Cornwall, now available on Kindle and Nook.

Mallory’s fascination with gothic romance started when she read Jane Eyre as a teen and it never let up. She says “I’m a huge fan of heroes who have a dark secret. For some reason, I think that’s sexy. I like writing about heroines who have a few secrets of their own.”

Mallory also writes young adult fiction, fantasy, historical romances and paranormals. She’s written novels under a variety of pen names, but historical romance is her first love. She adores research and finding obscure facts, because for her those overlooked tidbits can become fodder for a novel. “Don’t get me started about the East India Company,” she says. “I can bang on about them for hours.”

Mallory is a West Coaster who has learned to love the seasons and bitter cold winters of the Northeast, where she currently lives with her husband, daughter and a horribly spoiled cat.

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

At the time I started writing The Penwyth Bride (2001), I’d been having a love affair with traditional gothic romances. You know, books written by authors such Virginia Coffman, Mary Stewart, and Daphne DuMaurier. Those authors wrote with incredible precision and detail. Their heroines were usually plucky innocents and their heroes magnetic and tortured by a dark secret. I wanted to write a historical romance that took these classic elements and updated them for today’s reader, with plenty of sensuality and a dash of magic.

I’d also just finished watching the classic BBC miniseries Poldark with its emphasis on interpersonal family drama with a ton of drama and angst, and I wanted to capture that mood as well.

Finally, I wanted a story set in the 18th century. It was an interesting time where superstition and reason were butting heads with each other. I wanted to explore the tension between the two points of view. On a shallow note, I also really like the 18th century’s ambiance – fashion, music, preoccupations.

It wasn’t until I’d finished the manuscript and my agent at the time started shopping it around that I learned that a) publishers weren’t interested in a historical romance with classic gothic elements and b) weren’t keen on family dramas and c) didn’t like the fact that my heroine was a witch. Historical romances at the time were heavily “duke” oriented, set mostly in the first 50 years of the 19th century, and with characters that fit a specific framework. Happily the publishing situation is different now. Very.

Tell me more about your characters.

Much like the 18th century, Persia Eames is a woman caught between two worlds where the old superstitions and new focus on reason and “enlightened” thinking are in constant friction. Her father was a landed squire while her mother was a witch who was killed by the villagers. She’s trapped between these dual heritages and is struggling to find her own place in the world. She’s under constant danger of being unmasked as a witch, while at the same time she’s also considered a rich marriage prize. She’s sent to Cornwall for an arranged marriage. But she meets Roger Penwyth, a moody troubled man with secrets of his own, and is both repelled and drawn by him. Unfortunately he’s not the man she’s been sent to marry. So she’s got a lot to deal with.

Roger Penwyth also has a lot to deal with. He’s a loner on the outs with his extended family, the Penwyths. The rift widens when he meets Persia and falls in love with her. But she’s intended for his cousin who is handsome, charming and has everything going for him— the sort of man every woman dreams of, and the sort of man he isn’t—and he knows this. Roger is also carrying a dark secret that torments him. But his passion for Persia pushes him to risk everything, including his life.

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

I’m a research junkie and I immersed myself in Cornish lore and legends, which I wove throughout the story. I found the Cornish traditions fascinating, both brutal, beautiful, and layered from centuries of storytelling. They seemed like an oral record of what we would call magic, which I used to inform the plot.

What was your publishing journey like, and what advice to you have for other writers?

The Penwyth Bride languished for quite some time. This book had been rejected by everyone. I’d get quite lengthy rejection messages from editors who said the writing was gorgeous, the plot compelling, and the characters wonderful – but they were passing on the book because it “wasn’t quite right for their lists”. After a year of rejections, my agent and I stopped the subbing process and I moved on.

Then, I sort of forgot about it. But a few months ago, my critique network started encouraging me to consider digital publishing. They remembered the book and how much they loved it. With encouragement from writers like Elena Greene, who generously blurbed my book, I took the digital publishing plunge. I figured if even just a few readers discover the story and it entertains them, the book wasn’t written in vain.

My advice to other writers is if they have a project that had been rejected because publishers were too risk-averse to buy their book back in the day to go ahead and publish their book themselves. Readers are comfortable with e-books now and are eager for good stories. Just make sure your story is the best it can be and that the editing is flawless.

What do you think is the greatest creative risk you've taken in this book?

The greatest risk I took was to write a story that pleased me and not the marketplace. I’d written a paranormal gothic historical romance with flawed characters who weren’t titled nobility and who had priorities that weren’t what publishers wanted at the time. So often novelists were constrained by the need to fit a certain commercial imperative because they didn’t want to spend a year writing novels they knew wouldn’t sell. Editors wouldn’t buy books that didn’t fit certain checkmarks. Digital publishing has completely blown this away, and now writers can write what they want and find ways to get it to readers without having to go through the traditional publishing gatekeeper. And the cool thing is that readers are responding. I think now there’s more variety than ever in historical romance, even among traditional publishers because readers have demonstrated that if you give them choices, they will respond positively.

What are you working on now?

I write under a variety of nom de plumes so right now I’m finishing a commission. But as soon as that’s off my plate, I’m returning to historical romance and another gothic story set in late 18th Brittany France.

I enjoy your use of first person, a point of view that emphasizes the gothic heroine’s vulnerability and the hero’s mystery. Would you share an excerpt?

He would have been sinfully handsome if not for two frown lines scoring between gilt brows, and a mouth downturned in a moody glimmer. Guinea gold hair, wild before, had been wrenched back, and he had shrugged carelessly into a coat tailored from expensive claret-colored Bristol cloth frogged with silver filé buttons.

He must have ridden like Lucifer to arrive ahead of me, I thought, and when I told myself to have done with the satanic metaphors, he himself roared:

“What the devil do you mean standing there while this lady has fallen?”

If his features were handsome, his voice was doubly so, the burred timbre as arresting as the first sip of amber malt.

I blinked into a gentleman’s neckcloth; a small tear rent the priceless lace fall. Farther up, eyes fiery with anger blurred inside a sudden smarting of tears in my own.

Faintly I heard the hired coachman’s stammered reply, and a respectful mutter wrenched from Hazel. The hard hand pinned my arm while he made a few more choice comments in that velvet whiplash voice, sending Hazel scurrying into the inn and Coachman Bobbet fawning like a cur. Then he turned his attention to me.

A chill of premonition furred the back of my neck.

“Are you Damon Penwyth?” I blurted.

It must have been imagination that made me see a flash of something like furious despair lighting the strange green eyes, the color of night mist running over a sailor’s moon, because in the next instant they stared down at me as opaque as slate.

“No. You’ll be relieved to know that I am Roger Penwyth.”

That voice.

I shivered. A lilt of indifference edged the creamy cadence as if the speaker found life not worth the effort. “Roger?” I repeated stupidly.

“Damon’s cousin. Go into the inn and set yourself aright. You can walk? Good. I’ll be with you shortly for I am come to fetch you.”

I made no move. He raked me again with those queerly blank eyes that missed nothing, and then, with a slight start, he noticed that he still imprisoned my arm securely under his fingers. He dropped it, clenching his fist before walking away, the chink of the spurs marking his gait. Beyond him, the black-and-white horse was tethered like any ordinary beast to a tiny tumbled-down cairn of rock, lipping at sparse blades of grass.

My eyes followed Roger Penwyth’s retreating back in bemusement. The flame that had ignited those features when I first saw him had been banked. He now appeared sullen rather than bitter, I thought, morose rather than ferocious. He moved with the grace of one who spends his life out-of-doors, except for a hunching of shoulder, Prometheus-like, away from the flapping vulture. Well, the heart must be protected, mustn’t it?

Thanks, Mallory!

Questions or comments for Mallory? Be sure to comment for the chance to win a Kindle or Nook edition of The Penwyth Bride!

Void where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Post your comment by midnight EST on January 29. I will post an announcement on Monday, January 30th, so please check back to see if you have won.

Is Fassbender Too Risky?

2012-01-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

We're all about taking risks here. Normally ones found in books, but heck, we like a good risk-taker no matter what the genre.

So this week the nominations for the Academy Awards were announced, and Michael Fassbender was not a nominee for Shame, which (by all accounts--I haven't seen it) is a daring, riveting film, and MF (great initials!) is fantastic in it.

And he showed it all on-screen. Not the first time he's done so, but it drew mass attention because of George Clooney at the Golden Globes, suggesting MF doesn't need a golf club to play golf. Personally, I think that's a weak joke, but then I don't have a faux golf club myself--maybe it's a man thing?

Hooray for the Risk-takers! What risks have you taken recently?

Happy birthday, Robert Burns!

2012-01-25T07:38:00.001-08:00

I have made a disturbing discovery. In a few hours I will be aboard a plane to England and if there are any Scotsmen aboard, it may not be a restful flight.

Today is Robert Burn's birthday, celebrated with a traditional Burns Supper which range from stentoriously formal gatherings of esthetes and scholars to uproariously informal rave-ups of drunkards and louts (Robert Burns Country).

Reflecting Burns' vigorous, earthy, emotional poems, a Burns Supper menu should include Neeps and Tatties (recipe here), featuring the ever popular combo of rutabagas (also known as swedes) and potatoes, and haggis, the great chieftain o' the pudding race. Mmmm!

... oat-meale mixed with blood, and the Liver of either Sheepe, Calfe or Swine, maketh that pudding which is called the Haggas or Haggus, of whose goodnesse it is in vaine to boast, because there is hardly to be found a man that doth not affect them. The English Huswife, 1615

Here's a modern recipe for haggis. Hungry yet?

There are many Burns resources online so I thought I'd mention a couple I found. You can find all of his poems at Robert Burns Country including a translation of dialect terms into several languages including American. At robertburns.co.uk you can download the XXX-rated The Merry Muses, which includes such masterpieces as Nine Inch Will Please A Lady. (Talking of which, check out this timeline of Burns' busy and prolific life at the Burns Museum in his birthplace in Alloway, Scotland.)

And naturally the celebrations are washed down with whiskey/whisky, however you'd like to spell it. And although in Romancelandia Regency dukes swill it like water, it didn't really catch on until much later, notably after whiskey production became legal in 1823, following years of enthusiastic consumption in Scotland. So unless his grace is Scottish and/or has a still at the bottom of the garden of his London town house, it's not going to be the ducal beverage of choice. There's a history of whiskey here which includes an account of the funeral of Peter Grant, who was the oldest survivor of the 1745 Jacobite uprising (110 years old!) in 1824; four gallons of whiskey were drunk even before the coffin was lifted to take to the burial ground.

Questions for you: when did people start drinking whiskey socially in England? And what would you include, including favorite Burns' poems, at your Burns Supper?

I Just Can't Let This Go By Unremarked Here

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Normally, I don't cross-post my own blog with this one, but I'm making an exception because this has me hopping mad.

Last night, I posted this on my blog:

*******
Go take a look at what Mr. Cale McCaskey has to tell us about Romance: The Problem with Romance

Women are, of course, quite familiar with arguments like his. They've been used for centuries to denigrate anything associated with women that would, if left unremarked, disprove the bias.

Basically, he's saying that all Romance novels are inferior because if a book that might otherwise be called a romance is actually good, it's necessarily anything but a romance. This is EXACTLY like the Victorian era physicians who performed an autopsy on a respected colleague only to discover that their colleague was a woman. When faced with the presence of female genitalia, they pronounced her a hermaphrodite. Because it just wasn't possible for a WOMAN to have been successfully masquerading as a physician and to have been good at it, too.

Right. When the evidence contradicts you, redefine the world rather than adjust your assumptions.

I'm told he's busy deleting comments he doesn't like, so feel free to read his post and come comment here if you worry he'll disagree with you and have to delete your comment in an attempt to keep his narrow world view safe from anything like truth or an open mind. [Risky Readers can comment here if they like.]

********

For him, Jane Eyre is a good novel so it's not a Romance. (Forget the HEA)
Pride and Prejudice is trash (Because he didn't like it, never mind that it's still being read, critiqued, analyzed, transformed into other media and used as inspiration 200 plus years later.)
Those two Bronte sisters didn't write anything besides Jane Eyre and [Wuthering Heights]. Forget Charlotte Bronte's brilliant Villette (he might like it, though, because it's not a romance.) And wait, wasn't there THREE Bronte sisters? Why yes! There were. Ann Bronte wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which, OK, isn't the greatest, but I've always thought it showed promise.

The intellectually challenged among us, which, I guess is anyone who reads romance, can comment about rainbows, unicorns and glitter. If you need help forming a coherent thought, I'm so sorry I'm too dumb to help you.

Catherine the Great

2012-01-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I just realized that it is Tuesday. I got back from a weekend trip to Santa Fe late last night, and this morning rolled out of bed and went to see what was going on with the Riskies today....

On my trip, I started reading one of my birthday gifts, Robert K Massie's new biography of Catherine the Great. I love Massie's work--his Nicholas and Alexandra was what got me interested in Russian history in the first place, when I read it years ago, and this book was no less fascinating. Massie has the gift of making history come alive and feel immediate and real, and in the coomplicated, fascinating figure of Catherine he has the perfect subject.

Catherine was born Princess Sophia Fredericka Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, the daughter of a minor German princeling who had not much money or influence. But her mother's brother had been engaged to Empress Elizabeth of Russia before dying on the eve of the wedding, and Elizabeth (an equally complex character!) had fond memories of him. Plus she wanted a young girl she could control who could give Russia an heir. She brought Sophia to Russia and married her to her nephew Grand Duke Peter, a disfigured, alcoholic obesessed with the Prussian military (a complete wackjob, in other words). But after years and years of a painful marriage, loneliness, and virtual imprisonment (which luckily gave her much time to read and plan) Catherine overthrew her deeply unpopular husband in a coup d'etat and became Empress in her own right. She reigned from 1762--1792.

Among other achivements, Catherine added 200,000 square miles to Russian territory (mostly at the expense of the Turks and the Poles), was a patron of the arts, literature, and education (she corresponded with French philosophes like Voltaire and Diderot, whose libraries she eventually purchased), opened the Smolny Institute to educate girls, wrote the "Nazna" (a code of laws), and tried to impose Enlightenment ideas on her vast empire (with mixed results). She also had at least 12 lovers, including the vastly gifted Gregory Potemkin. As she got older they got younger and dumber (the last of them, Zubov, was 40 years her junior)....

Massie's book is full of court intrigue, seductions, romance, illegitimate children, bloody uprisings, power grabs, battles--and a 389 carat ruby. What can be better???

For more info on her complicated life, look here...

What have you been reading lately??? What books have sparked a love of history and historical heroines in your life?

William Pitt, the Younger

2012-01-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

Last week I talked about the death of Sir John Moore, the anniversary of which was last Monday. Today is the anniversary of the death of William Pitt, the Younger. (I seem to be on a death kick)

Pitt became the youngest Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1783 at the age of 24, finally accepting the post after King George III had urged it on him three times. He was ridiculed for his youth, even in a popular ditty of the period that called Great Britain, "a kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care."

He replaced Charles James Fox, whom the king detested and who became Pitt's lifelong political rival. Pitt resigned the office in 1801 when he clashed with the king over Catholic Emancipation.

Pitt became Prime Minister again in 1804, a stressful time due to the rise of Napoleon in France, and Fox's continued opposition.

Pitt, who had suffered from bouts of ill health since childhood, became ill in 1806. He died on this date in 1806, probably from peptic ulceration of the stomach. Pitt never married.

Parliament passed a bill to pay Pitt's debts and to honor him with a public funeral and a monument. It passed easily, although Fox opposed it. Pitt was buried in Westminster Abbey.

When I went on the Regency Tour in 2003, we visited countless country houses of the Regency period. In almost all of them a bust of Pitt was displayed.

When I discussed Sir John Moore last week, I mentioned that he sent his regards to that intrepid traveller, Lady Hester Stanhope, whom it was thought he would have married had he lived. Well, Lady Hester Stanhope was William Pitt's niece. She designed his gardens and acted as his hostess for a time.

Do you have any interesting connections like that? Like knowing someone in one part of your life who also is connected to someone in another part of your life? For example, my husband, a government computer guy took a training class recently and sat next to someone, not in the government, who was an employee of my friend Pam Palmer's husband. I'm not sure how, in a computer training, they got to talking about romance novels....

Next week I will have a guest blogger! My friend Victoria Vane aka Emery Lee will be blogging about her latest, an erotic novella set in the Georgian period, Breach of Promise. She'll also be giving away a free download of the novella to one lucky commenter chosen at random!

Do-overs

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Now that I’ve finished reissuing my old “Three Disgraces” trilogy, I’m looking at the remaining two titles in my backlist. I’m pretty sure I want to reissue my novella “The Wedding Wager" which first appeared in the anthology HIS BLUSHING BRIDE, as it is. Although it's different in style than my later books and may need a different cover to match, it should please readers who like sweet, traditional Regency novellas.

I’m not so sure about my first published Regency, LORD LANGDON’S KISS, which I recently glanced through. To put it as kindly as possible, I have improved a great deal as a writer since then! Some readers and reviewers loved it, but it garnered about 3 stars on the average (which is probably about right). One reviewer talked about the “increasing depth of characterization” in the book and now I understand what she meant. The first half or so could use some work.

The question I’m pondering now is whether to reissue the book at all. I don’t want readers who happen to read this title first to be put off trying my later books. If I do reissue it , should I try for a do-over?

This is the cool thing about reissues. I was tickled when Janet announced that a new edition of her debut Regency, DEDICATION, is coming out from LooseId. Not because the original wasn’t fantastic already, but because this time Janet says it will have “all the sex I really wanted to put in the first time around but which was just inferred". What’s not to love?

What do you think about do-overs? Any books you would like to rework or see reworked?

Elena

www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

P.S. Next Saturday, I’ll be interviewing Mallory Jackson, author of THE PENWYTH BRIDE, a haunting paranormal romance set in 18th century Cornwall. Visit and comment for the chance to win an e-copy!

Regularly Regency

2012-01-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

To be honest, I am not the best researcher out there (I know! Color you all surprised).

What I am is a good mimic. I cut my teeth on Regency-era romance, and spent a lot of my formative years alone, so a lot of my language and vernacular was formed by what I read. For example, I use "disguised" to mean drunk, as Heyer did. I always say a lady is "mutton-y" (as in mutton dressed like lamb) when she is wearing clothing too young for her age, think (in my head, at least) that they're mushrooms if they're aspiring above their station in an aspirational way, and also use phrases like 'cut my teeth' (see above).

I also love language, and vernacular, and how idioms come about. We all know what we mean when we say something has "jumped the shark," but the first time someone used it, they were likely met with puzzled stares (as I recall, it is the example of Happy Days when Fonzie was out waterskiing and literally jumped a shark, which was the precipitous downfall of the show's quality). I think my love of language has made it possible for me to write in the Regency period, even though I might not know what exactly happened during certain years (not to mention the whole title thing--oy! I stink at that!)

Do you have any favorite phrases? What Regency-era terms delight you?

Megan

Dancing and fine feathers

2012-01-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

I attended a Twelfth Night Ball last weekend (a bit late, but who among us really tracks these things?) at Riversdale House Museum. It was fab, I wore my new feathers, and after talking to fellow guests my ladies maid (husband) and I retired to insert my feathers to their upright position. The secret? When you twist your scarf into a turban, you pin in your feathers and use the twist to hold it into place. It will remain upright for some time even after vigorous dancing. If your feathers remain erect for more than four hours, you must seek immediate medical help...

And here's a video of how to twist a scarf into a turban. And doesn't this lady in the center, who used this technique, look great?

The ball was a lot of fun with dancing and supper. One interesting thing was that at the beginning we seemed to have more men than women and then toward the end many of the men mysteriously disappeared and so we actually had a distaff set for one of the later dances. In Regency/Federal times they would have retired to drink and smoke, but since this is a fragile historical building, this was not an option. I think they went for a quiet sit down, exhausted by female energy.

Here we are dancing in a room that was originally the house's stables and carriage house. It's actually the west wing of the house and went through various incarnations over the past two hundred years and the walls are hung with copies of portraits of the Lords Baltimore, the founders of Maryland (like no one ever lived here before?). The first owner of the house, Rosalie Calvert, married into the family, although she was a Belgian with sophisticated European tastes who had fled to the New World to escape Napoleon.

If you're in the Washington DC area you must visit Riversdale. Come this Sunday and you'll meet me--I volunteer as a docent. Coming up on February 11, we have a program on chocolate, Tasting the Past: A Chocolate Sampler, which explores the history of chocolate in America. I definitely plan to attend that one! For a full schedule of events throughout the year, go here.

Other news I have to share today include our own Risky Elena guestblogging at Writer Unboxed on her successful comeback in the age of digital publishing. Go Elena! And you go on over there and say hi!

I linked earlier in the post to turban-tying instructions at American Duchess. This is a wonderful site, with lots of how-to stuff, solid historical research, and a source for historical footwear. If you love Downton Abbey (and who doesn't, with the exception of me) you have surely noticed the clothes. Even I like the clothes. This is her latest offering, these glorious Astoria shoes from that period. The way it works is that the Duchess must receive pre-orders to go into production and if you put in an order early (now) you'll receive a discount. Yum.

One of the other reasons this period is so popular right now, other than PBS, is that this April is the 100th anniversary of the Titanic and there's a lot of historical reenactment connected with it. It's also the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812, something Riversdale is involved in since the inglorious Battle of Bladensburg took place very near the house, followed by the sacking of Washington. Are you taking part in any events or planning to attend as an observer?

Carolyn Does Regency Science - Post 2

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I left you last Wednesday on a bit of a cliffhanger. If you missed it, that post is here. I was attempting to follow an early 19th century recipe that, one supposes, any young Regency lady might do as a project to pass the time.

A few general observations and hyptheses about my results, which were not the Epic Failure of last week's post, but not quite an unqualified success. Then we'll move to pictures

1. The instructions say to leave the item in the alum solution for 24 hours. My best results came when I removed the item after something like 2 hours.

2. Based on No.1 I began to wonder if today we have what might be called Super Alum from the perspective of a Regency lady trying to impress her bother's hot friend with her artistic abilities. Is today's alum so pure I need to considerably dilute my solution? Or is a beer quart of water more like a gallon?

3. Could I possibly have a crystallizing super power? (If so, why did it take so long to manifest?)

4. The crystals are not even remotely orange. Or that unfortunate yellow. They are still white. Super Alum may be impervious to red food dye and rose pigment.

5. I believe my finest results would be displayed on a Regency mantle by an indulgent papa, to be, alas, thoroughly mocked by the brother, as any sibling would do, regardless of the century.

Edited to add: I just discovered that if you click on a picture, you get a slide show. And since I uploaded very high-resolution pictures, you can see an amazing amount of detail. I high recommend doing that. Really. One of the pictures has a reflection of the view from the kitchen window...

Picking up from the Cliffhanger in Pictures

Fern Frond. It is Green

Surely this is delicate enough? Frond snipped and dipped.

24 hours later . . . .

Fern Frond?

Or the Loch Ness Monster?

This picture (above) looks more successful than it was. It's definitely prettier and not a rotting mess. But the crystals are quite heavy. The frond used to be delicate. now it's not, except to touch. But this IS a crystallized fern frond.

A clump. The crystals are still too big and heavy for the delicate fern fond. Your brother's hot friend will not be sufficiently impressed. Damn.

The Technique Requires Refinement

So....

I reheated my solution and went looking for more victims.

Witches Brew, Poison Dart Frog Color

A doomed fuschia.

I used a quarter to weight my clothes pin so it would stop flipping over because of the bouyant fuschia. I thought that was pretty clever, actually. When I was done, my son insisted on the return of his quarter.

Help me!!! Helllllloppppp Me!

The fuschia looks like a monster. A scary monster. Don't go in the water!

Here's the fuschia and the fern frond. Hanging out together. Thinking they're safe. They're not.

The Final Results?

Picture Taken Several Days Later

CRYSTALS!!

Well, this is somewhat successful, in that there's crystals but as you can see, the fuschia is drying up, and it's not what you'd call pretty.

So, I went and got another kind of fern frond, reheated my solution, and uttered my sacrificial prayer. Two hours later I walked past my Jar Of Science and saw there were crystals all over my frond. So I removed it even though there were, strictly speaking, 20 hours to go.

You'll note that these crystals are considerably smaller.

AND.....

It's kind of pretty!

Diamonds!

Not really.

This is the other side of the last fern frond. Again, kind of pretty. I could suspend them from something and it might look kind of cool if you only got a quick look!

Conclusions

I'm going to try again with a rose and a bath time of maybe an hour or two. I may also further dilute my solution.

The process works. But would the young Regency lady win the heart of her brother's hot friend?

Or would she get revenge and attempt to crystallize someone's pen knife?

Happy Birthday!

2012-01-17T00:32:00.000-08:00

So last weekend was my birthday! I got many lovely gifts, including the books Vauxhall Gardens: A History (thanks to Diane for the rec!), Versailles: A Private Invitation, and The Empire's New Clothes: The Russian Fashion Industry 1700--1917. These will all keep me busy for quite a while. But what I really love about birthdays is cake!!

The Regency period wasn't a big one for elaborate birthday celebrations, though there might be a special meal and small gifts of books and embroidered handkerchiefs and things like that, but even then people did like their cake. They probably didn't have one like mine (which was this "Princess and the Frog" model), so I went to consult my bookshelves to see what they might have had. I pulled out Ian Kelly's fascinating book, Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Careme, First Celebrity Chef.

Careme is said to have invented the chef's toque as well as the souffle, and he lived in remarkable times, being chef for the French royal family as well as Napoleon (he made the Emperor's wedding cake when he we Queen Marie Louise!) before moving on to the Russian court, the Prince Regent's household, and the Rothschilds. I found this recipe for Genoises Cakes a La Maraschino in the back of the book. (The historical note states that it was made at the Bighton Pavilion and Carlton House around 1817: "Maraschino, the Prince Regent's favorite liqeur, was used repeatedly by Careme to flavor Brighton Pavilion recipes").

I don't quite have Carolyn's dedication to hands-on research, so I can't vouch for how this tastes! If you try it let me know how it turns out...

4 ounces almonds
Half an egg white
2 whole eggs
6 ounces flour
6 ounces pounded sugar
6 ounces butter
Zest of one orange
Maraschino brandy
Salt
Cochineal

Pound together 4 ounces of sweet almonds, half an egg white and then add six ounces of flour and six ounces of pounded sugar. Mix and add the zest of an orange, two whole eggs and a spoonful of brandy, a grain of salt and a splash of cochineal. Stir this for a full six minutes with a spatula, then take six ounces of butter, softened in the mouth of an oven, stir it a little, and then put it in the corner of a tureen, mix it with a little of the paste, and then more, stirring the whole for 4 or 5 minutes longer. Spread on a baking tray to the thickness of half an inch and level with a knife. Put in a slack (???) oven and as soon as the genoises are firm, cut them in all kinds of shapes, after which put them back in the oven to crisp

What is your favorite kind of cake? What would you choose for your birthday if you lived in the Regency? (And I love this Brighton Pavilion-shaped cake...)

What If?

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights leader who, with nonviolent protest, reminded our country and the world that "all men are created equal"and should be treated as such. Here in the Washington, D.C. area there will be special events and celebration of Dr. King's life at the new memorial dedicated to him.

What if Dr. King had not lived? How would the course of the civil rights movement been changed? What if his life had not been so tragically cut short? What other great accomplishments might he have made?

That's my theme today. What if? Regency-style.

Today is also the anniversary of the death of Sir John Moore. On this date in 1809, the British army in Spain was in retreat from French forces, reaching the sea in Portugal where transport ships were due to arrive to take the soldiers back to England. Sir John Moore commanded the British forces and gained a tactical advantage over the French which enabled the British army to escape. During the fighting, Moore was struck by cannon shot and, after several hours of suffering, died from the wounds.

Moore had a distinguished army career that began with the American Revolution, included the Irish Rebellion and establishment of several army reforms, culminating with the Napoleonic war in Spain.

But it seemed to me that his death was also one of those pivotal events in history. If Moore had not been killed, the course of history might very well have been altered.

Moore was commanding in Spain at that time, because three senior commanders had been recalled for inquiry after allowing the defeated French army to evacuate their troops, with all their materials, supplies, and plunder, without further conflict. One of those recalled was Sir Arthur Wellesley, who was commanding forces at Vimeiro. Wellesley, who would, of course, become the Duke of Wellington, had been vehemently against the evacuation and he was ultimately cleared of any wrong doing.

After Moore's death Wellesley was appointed to head all the forces in Portugal. What if Moore had not been killed? Would he have retained the command? Could he have accomplished all that Wellesley accomplished in Spain? Would Moore have been in command at Waterloo? Could he have brought about that victory?

One more interesting note about Sir John Moore. While he was dying, he is supposed to have said to his friend, Stanhope, "Remember me to your sister." The sister was Lady Hester Stanhope, the colorful and adventurous Middle Eastern traveler. Some thought Lady Hester and Moore might have married. What if that would have happened?

Can you think of other pivotal moments in history? Do you ever wonder "What if?" about an event in your life?

Check my Diane Gaston blog today for my January 15 website contest winner.

And spare a moment today to think about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Snake Root, Bloodletting and Winners!

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

I've been sick most of this week and Behind on Everything, so I thought I'd recycle this post from a few years ago. Old but still apropos.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"People do not die of little trifling colds."

But what Mrs. Bennett didn’t say is sometimes it feels like you could.

I’m so annoyed. The kids have just gone back to school and this was supposed to be my chance to reconnect with my writing. Instead, I’m battling a stuffy nose, the plugged ears, chest congestion, cough and interrupted sleep. Despite the vaporizer fogging our upstairs with eucalyptus steam and a full complement of medicines, traditional and herbal, I am just barely functional when I wanted to be blazing into the new story. It’s so not fair!

Anyway, I thought I’d check out one of my period sources on medicine. It’s DOMESTIC MEDICINE, by William Buchan, first published in 1769 with 18 subsequent editions. Buchan was pretty forward-thinking about general health and prevention and many of his suggestions are far less kooky than those of his counterparts (though that’s not saying much!) I think of it as the sort of book my heroines might have owned and used to help keep their families healthy during the happily-ever-after.

Anyway, here are some suggestions:

“THE patient ought to lie longer than usual a-bed…”

Please, Dr. Buchan, tell that to my kids!

“A SYRUP made of equal parts of lemon-juice, honey, and sugar-candy, is likewise very proper in this kind of cough. A table-spoonful of it may be taken at pleasure.”

This sounds very nice.

“If the pulse therefore be hard and frequent, the skin hot and dry, and the patient complains of his head or breast, it will be necessary to bleed, and to give the cooling powders recommended in the scarlet fever, every three or four hours, till they give a stool.”

I checked some of the recommended medications, and they include “Peruvian bark” and “snake root”. Googling these exotic terms, I learned that Peruvian Bark is also called cinchona bark, and can still be used to treat fevers. Seneca Snake Root has expectorant properties. OK, so far, Dr. Buchan is not so dumb.

However, I don’t think my medicine cabinet contains any Peruvian Bark or Snake Root…

And the bleeding I could definitely do without!

Here’s another tidbit.

“MANY attempt to cure a cold by getting drunk. But this, to say no worse of it, is a very hazardous experiment.”

Aw, I’m willing to try it at this point. It couldn’t make me feel any worse, could it????

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I'm still not up for bloodletting, but I am grateful for: Advil Cold & Sinus, echinacea and green tea. As a bonus, this week I watched Northanger Abbey (the delightful 2007 version) with my older daughter, who was also sick and off school for a day. I'd been promising her this ever since we read the book together, and it certainly made us both feel better!

How do you comfort yourself through a cold?

And congratulations to the following winners of a Kindle or Nook copy of SAVING LORD VERWOOD. Please send your email address, and if you wish, the email address of a friend who might enjoy a copy, to elena @ elenagreene.com (no spaces). Also, please be sure to let me know if you want Nook or Kindle.

Karen
Lorraine
Maria D
Helena
CrystalGB

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Time-Traveling Spies Eating Steak and Salad with Their Kids!

2012-01-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

There are a few things in romantic fiction I don't care for; they include spies, people eating steak and salad in contemporaries (why is it always steak and salad?!?), children who do not act like children, and telling a story using time period shifts.

But forget the kids and the food; I am currently reading Joanna Bourne's The Black Hawk, and damned if I'm not liking it, despite it being about spies and using time period shifts to reveal the story.

Bourne's use of language and description is incomparable--it's as close to Kinsale and Ivory as it can get without being anything like either of those. Plus I like that her hero isn't hugely tall or overly buff without reason:

The muscles of his belly, his shoulders, his arms, were stark as rocks jutting from a hill, smooth as peeled wood. He was a fierce and violent simplicity, like a force of nature. There was not the least softness upon him anywhere.

I have had to tell myself to be patient as the story unfolds. But it's worth it. And shows me that all rules--even my own!--are meant to be broken, if the circumstance is extenuating enough (I have to say, though, that the cover guy looks very little like how I picture Hawker. But I'm reading on my e-reader, so I don't see the cover a lot).

What are your reading idiosyncracies?

Megan

End of an era

2012-01-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering whether to blog about this or not but on the other hand it's been on my mind. Two weeks ago I showed you a picture of two people a century apart in age, one of whom was my father. He died very peacefully last Sunday after living rather too long and with increasing mental and physical frailty. I saw him last in 2010 and he didn't really know who I was but accepted cups of tea from me, some of which he said were lousy. Sorry, dad.

Think about it: a hundred years. His mother, at the time of the 1901 census, was 20 and a housemaid in London (possibly a family secret I unearthed) at 28 Alma Square in Marylebone, London, something I now incorporate into my presentation on Regency servants. The house is still there (thanks, google maps, although I don't know which one it is! It is now a VERY posh area. I don't think it was in 1901). There's a lot I don't know about his family because he wouldn't volunteer information or talk about them, and he's the last of his generation by a long shot. He was of Irish descent and his grandfather (who came over from Dublin) drove a hansom cab in London. When he was a very small child he was put on a train to visit relatives and was given chocolate to cheer him up by young soldiers who were going to the front in World War I.

He gave me my appreciation of music and books. I thought everyone went to sleep listening to their father play violin accompanied by their mother on piano. Wrong. Here he is in a local community orchestra, as a youngster of 92, playing that most geeky of instruments, the viola.

He and I had a very nice Jane Austen moment one time when I was a rebellious teenager and we weren't getting along too well. Somehow we got onto Jane Austen, and I said I liked Emma best and he said he liked P&P, particularly the smackdown scene between Lizzie and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and we then read it together. I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate this into the funeral service at the end of this month. And if I ever need to think of the way a Regency person would say something, I recall my father's way of speaking, which had a very old-fashioned cadence. So I owe him a lot.

He read my first book, Dedication, but by then his memory was already going and he had trouble connecting thoughts. He did however comment that he'd be too embarrassed to donate the book to the church jumble sale.

We had some memorable moments when he and my mother visited the States a couple of decades ago. He may have been the only person ever to take a mule ride in the Grand Canyon wearing a necktie (he didn't feel properly dressed without one). And he was thrilled to find a "Sod and Sodding Services" section in the yellow pages. English people used the term "turf." Over there, "sod" and "sodding" mean ... something else. I cut it out for him and he took it back home to show people.

It's the end of an era. I'm sad he's gone but when someone lives this long you have expected it for a long, long time. So don't feel bad for me, but do tell me about any interesting ancestors you may have!

Science Experiment! Regency Style

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Stand Back! I'm Going to Try (Regency) Science!

Sort of. As you'll see.

In the course of Googling historical stuff in Google Books, I came across a reference to something I'd not heard of before: Chimney Ornaments. Which led to more Googling and the discovery of instructions to crystallize things in order to make chimney ornaments. Chimney ornaments are things you put on your mantle -- just like today!

I read the instructions for how a young lady might amuse herself by crystallizing things and thought it didn't sound too complicated. Basically, you need the following items:

A quart of Spring Water (beer measure)
18 oz Alum
A jar or container
String
A wooden stick or something
Something to crystallize

Science Requires Accuracy and Precision

You've probably guessed that I ran into trouble right away. I am nothing, however, if not adaptable.

I won't bore you too much with the details, but finding that much alum wasn't all that easy. I started at the drug store, tried the grocery store and ended up at various websites. Did I need did alum powder or alum crystals? I didn't know. I assumed powder was what I needed but now think it wouldn't have mattered if I'd obtained alum crystals.

At last, I obtained 16 oz of alum for an amount that didn't make me see red with rage. All I needed to do is wait for delivery. My alum came in due course.

We're on well water here at Jewel central so I pretended that was the spring water.

The container, stick and something to crystallize was also easy.

String was an issue. Someone cleaned out the junk drawer where there used to be string. I decided I would use leftover ribbon from wrapping Christmas presents. (That turned out not to be necessary.)

Math and Measures

The next hurdle was figuring what a quart of water, beer measure is. After much Googling the answer appeared to be: a quart.

Naturally, I was suspicious of that result. Why call it a beer quart if it's the same thing as an actutal quart? Two different sources showed a table in which a beer measure quart was equal to a quart. Must be true, right?

I declined to confirm this by doing the math for a square inch of water and calculating that out.

Note: If I'd forced my son to do the math for me, one of us would have been peeved at the interruption of Skyrim for mathematics anyone could do. (The teenage math whiz is not particularly understanding of the math challenged.)

As you can see from the ingredient list, it's 18oz of Alum per quart of water. I also declined to calculate how much water I needed for 16 oz of alum (since that's how much I had). I estimate all the time when I'm cooking dinner and nobody's died yet.

Note: based on the results, the stated proportion is WRONG or else a beer quart measure is more like a quart plus 1.5 cups, give or take.

Better Living Through Chemistry

You're supposed to dissolve the alum in hot spring water. When it's almost cool, you tie a string to the object to be crystallized, tie the other end of the string to a stick or something and suspend the item in the alum water. You put the container in a cool dark place and leave it for 24 hours.

What could be simpler?

Indeed, what? (Said in an ominous tone...)

I decided I would crystallize a rose, because wouldn't that be pretty? The instructions said you could crystallize grass, moss, flowers and other dainty things. A rose is pretty dainty, I thought. Well, as it turns out, actually not dainty enough. There's a reason the guy didn't mention crystallizing roses and specifically mentioned only very small, very VERY delicate things.

Also, leftover ribbon from Christmas proved to be an unusable substitution for string. It was also an unnecessary one because the rose was buoyant. You cannot suspend a buoyant object in solution.

As you'll see, I found a work around.

The Results in Pictures - Round One

The pictures were taken via iPhone or a Nikon D-80 with a macro lens because it's the only lens I have right now.

Friday, December 30, 2011

I call this "Alum Sludge" You cannot dissolve 16 oz of alum in only a quart of water. I had already added more water in this picture, and more is needed. My rose had a long stem AND it floated. Suspending the rose was not actually possible. Luckily, with a lid on, the long stem hit the top of the lid and kept the rose jammed down in the jar.

I should mention that a bud attached to the rose I was using broke off. I let it drift to the bottom of the jar. Same with some little leaves. More about them anon.

At this point, I did not hold out much hope of anything like success.

24 Hours Later

I had forgotten all about my experiment. You should all be grateful I did not go into science as a career.

I was on deadline, see, and not cooking. Take-out and survival of the fittest only in the Jewel household. There was no need to open the side of the pantry where I put the jar. In fact, after I turned in the book on January 2, I made cookies for dinner. They were delicious. The sugar and flour are on the other side of the pantry. I did not see the jar.

Ignorance, they say, is bliss.

I enjoyed my day off on Monday. I ate more delicious cookies and put whipped cream in my coffee.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Rose In Alum Solution

Most of Wednesday, I thought it was Tuesday. You may recall my post to that effect. This is what my experiment looked like (above). Note that the water is no longer cloudy with alum, yet whitish. It's more yellow. Like maybe horse pee yellow. That's because the rose I used is a Honey Dijon rose, which is a beautiful bronzy yellow.

Rose in Alum Solution after way more than 24 hours

Oh. Oh, dear.


There ARE Crystals

Hm. Wonder what this looks like? There are crystals, yes, but this is OBVIOUSLY not the delicate, crystallized rose a Regency Lady would make whilst she dreams of her brother's hot friend.

Umm. Basically WTF?

Most of the crystals that appear to cover parts of the leaves sheared off with a disgusting plop. It didn't smell, which was good, but yeah. It's pretty much as gross as it looks.

Rose Decomposed

Are there words to describe this? Probably, but I won't use them here.

Lump of Alum Crystals. They sloughed off a leaf.

What I was left with was a rotting rose which I put into the compost, lumps of alum crystals that sloughed off the leaves, which were in no way strong enough to hold the weight of huge (relatively speaking) clumps of alum material.

AND!

Pictures of the minor success in a bit.

Kind of Pretty. Alum Crystals

This is for artistic effect. Sparkly crystals. Oooh.

The Broken Off Bud From The Bottom of The Jar

This is the bud that broke off. It's pathetic and sorry-looking but there ARE crystals clinging to it. Plainly, the process works. Just not following my method. Or that guy from 1807.

Two Little Rays of Sunshine

This isn't a total disaster. There are lessons learned and some interesting results that point me in the right direction . . .

These shots were taken after the salvageable bits had dried overnight or longer.


Two crystallized bits

These are the two small bits of matter that broke off and floated to the bottom of the jar . . .

Close up of the top of the Rosebud


Another shot of the top of the Rosebud

As you can see, the tiny rosebud, while still a hot mess, has its bits of crystal beauty.

Very small leaves with crystals


Three kind-of crystallized leaves.

I pretended the scattered alum crystals were diamonds. Feel free to do the same.

Obverse of 3 leaves, covered with crystals

Another shot of crystallized Stuff

Plainly, this project can succeed if I work out the alum solution issues and use very small and very delicate matter to crystallize. They're kind of pretty in a way.

Project Crystallization - Part 2

I decided I would reuse my alum solution. The instructions say you can find clever ways to color the water and so achieve crystals with color. As you might recall, my alum solution is horse pee yellow. For a while, I thought, sure! Yellow is a happy sunny color. But every time I looked at the jar, it looked like horse pee.

Through twitter, someone pointed me in the direction of instructions from 1900 in which the process was mostly the same, only the instructions were clearer. Also these instructions said that the alum must be dissolved in hot water (over the stove) until the point at which the water can no longer absorb the alum. Hot diggity! I was already most of the way there with my yellow alum solution and copious alum sludge and lumps of pre-crystallized alum.

I put my ingredients in our cast-iron pot, which had last been used to make popcorn, by the way. I decided I would add three drops of red food coloring so as to make the solution orange, because orange does not look like horse pee. Orange is another happy color. Also, we only had red food dye because my son likes red velvet cake, which I cannot eat because I am allergic to red dye.

Alum Solution Success?

Alum Solution No Longer Looks Like Horse Pee

I realize this looks kind of like tomato soup. But I soldiered on. As the sludgy solution heated, it began to smell suspiciously like popcorn. I continued to stir and think about melted butter and before long, all the alum was dissolved. Like magic almost.

But, I wondered, have I contaminated my solution with the residue of popcorn cooked the only way you should ever bother making popcorn? I decided to filter my solution using a funnel and a Chem-Ex coffee filter.

Only when I was already filtering did it occur to me that I did not know whether dissolved alum would pass through the filter or be trapped in some kind of awful "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids But Not Small Enough" parody.

Well, too late.

Cheerfully orange Alum Solution Filtering

Filtering the Solution into the Jar

Well, obviously, some of the red dye was filtered out. The filter itself was not gritty nor was there any residue that I could detect. I figure there's alum in there.

Ominous Orange Alum Solution

My alum solution no longer looks vaguely like tomato soup. A tomato-soupy-ish solution might actually be kind of comforting. This looks like poison to me and to be honest, I'm pretty sure some Poison Dart Frogs are this color. Whatever you think it looks like, it is, however, completely free of alum sludge.

A Doomed Fern Frond

I went outside and clipped a bit of delicate fern frond, just like a Regency Lady would have done. I was wearing my fuzzy black slippers because it was cold outside, jeans, and my Bronte sisters T-shirt so, yeah. Not period at all. Comfy though.

Wooden Skewer holding a Clothes Pin Holding the Doomed Fern Frond

Since we still didn't have string, but I did know where there was a clothes pin and a wooden skewer, I jury-rigged a system for suspending the fern frond in the ~~poison dart-frog~~ alum solution.

The Plunge! Fern Frond in the Alum Solution


Fern Frond at the Bottom of the Jar

24 hours later?

I will continue my Adventures in Regency Science next week.

Reforming The Rake (and other romance novel lessons)

2012-01-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope you've all recovered from the post-holidays. I've been working on the next book and trying to get back to exercising and NOT eating leftover Christmas candy.

I've also been reading fashion magazines and some celebrity gossip blogs while pretending to write. And something struck me when I was reading that Katy Perry and Russell Brand split after 14 months of marriage (something besides the fact that I thought "If she had just read a couple chapters of My Bookie Wook she would have totally known he was not a good husband bet" that is...). In romance novels we're always asked to suspend disbelief and trust that a man with a, er, colorful past (say,your average historical Duke of Slut, TM) will meet his True Love and happily settle down for life with nary a thought to his old wild ways. Or that a marriage of convenience will work out to romantic bliss every time. Stuff like that.

I have been reading romances a long time, and I've also been dating a long time. I've never taken my dating cues from books (there are no dukes around here, for one thing). Aside from the fact that I learned one valuable lesson from these stories that has always served me well--never stay with someone who doesn't treat you well, doesn't respect you for who you are, or just plain doesn't feel right. That can mean it takes longer to find the Right One maybe, but then it's a lot easier to spot him when he does come along...

What life lessons have you learned from romance novels? Which lessons would you stay clear of? And have you read anything good lately??

Anne Gracie Winner!!

2012-01-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the winner of a signed copy of Anne Gracie's Bride By Mistake......

Barbara E.

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

Thanks to Anne for being such a great guest and to everyone who made her feel welcome!

The Riskies

Downton Abbey Whacha Think?

2012-01-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

People Magazine (1/9/12) gave Season 2 of Downton Abbey a rather negative review:

"What's that new building next to Downton Abbey? The proportions are off, the materials look cheap--is it prefab? Oh: It's season 2."

Our own Janet is less enamored of the series than I am. But I must say, I enjoyed the first episode of Season 2. The obvious reason (besides the beautiful settings and fashions, which do not disappoint!) is to find out what will happen to Lady Mary and Matthew, Bates and Anna, but one thing I particularly liked about this episode was the way the writers threw more complexity into the characters.

For example, I didn't have much sympathy for Thomas in Season 1. He was a pretty thorough villain, but in this episode, we see another side of him, something of his personal pain. Same for O'Brien. For both Thomas and O'Brien, it was a glimpse of their personal pain that captured my interest, as well as a kindness in them that had not been evident before.

I saw an unexpected side of Edith, too, one that made me like her better and one that made me want to cheer her on.

So, building from Megan's blog of last Friday, about sexual tension between romantic characters, I realized that there were other elements of story that hook me. Show me the character's pain. Show me a glimpse of their good side and suddenly I care and I want to know what happens to them, whether it be in a movie, a mini-series, a soap opera, or a book.

What about for you? What hooks you into a story? Have you ever been hooked on a show or a book series that you'd reluctantly confess to even your closest friends?

What did you think of the first episode of Downton Abbey?

I'll announce Anne Gracie's winner after midnight today! So keep your comments coming on her guest blog, as well.

Anne Gracie and Bride By Mistake

2012-01-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

Exciting day today. Today our guest is the incomparable Anne Gracie (be sure to read her bio! Find out why her parents were called "Chalkers."). Her books have been lauded in North America and Australia, and today she is talking about her latest release, Bride By Mistake.

Praise for Bride By Mistake:

"Gracie pens an unconventional Regency romance with an original heroine and setting for the next Devil Riders story. This character-driven romance appeals to readers yearning for a love story with an unforgettable twist." --RT BookReview

"I loved Bride By Mistake. Gracie created two great characters, a high tension relationship, and a wonderfully satisfying ending. Not to be missed!" --Mary Jo Putney, NYT Bestselling Author.

Anne will be giving away a signed copy of Bride By Mistake to one lucky commenter!

1. Tell us about Bride By Mistake and how it is connected to your Devil Riders series.

The Devil Riders series is about four friends, Gabe, Rafe, Harry and Luke, former soldiers who have returned from years at war and are trying to settle in to a peacetime existence. Each one finds it hard, and for each the key is finding the right woman. The problem is, they don't always realize she's the right woman.

Bride By Mistake is Luke's story, the 5th in the series, but each book is stand alone. (The last book, The Accidental Wedding was an off-shoot of the series and starred Nash, an estranged brother of Gabe and Harry.)

2. What sparked the idea for Bride By Mistake?

I suppose it was a kind of dream. I just woke up one morning with a scene rolling in my head like a movie. A young girl was being attacked in the mountains, a hero rides to the rescue, and then, having saved her and promised to protect her, he doesn't know what to do with her.

I wrote it down, still half asleep, and even though I was working on another book, that scene kept haunting me, so I knew there was more to it, possibly a book. So I asked myself what-if questions until I knew more about the story and the characters, and where it might go from there, and then I wanted to tell that story.

3. We're all for risky! What is risky about Bride By Mistake?

I never think about whether a book is risky or not — I just get an idea and follow the characters. It's only later when the book is in that I start to worry that it might be risky.What's risky about Bride By Mistake?

Let's see...
(i) It's set mostly in Spain — I've been told readers don't like foreign settings, but I've set quite a few books outside of England, and they've all sold well, so fingers crossed this does, too. The way I see it is, why not incorporate some delicious exotic elements when you can?

(ii) The scene where the hero and heroine first meet is dark and quite violent. But they're in the middle of a war, so it's not surprising. There is also some violence later on, and there's also comedy, so mixing the two might be risky. I think/hope it works, though.

(iii) The heroine is only 13 when she marries the hero. But it's not how it looks, as my hero makes clear to when breaking it to his matchmaking mother that he's already married:

"But Luke... Thirteen, a mere child! How could you?" She looked at him with faint horror.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mama," he said with asperity. "Of course I never touched her. What do you take me for?" And because he could still see the confusion and anxiety in his mother's eyes, he continued, "I married her to protect her, of course. And then I gave her into the care of her aunt, who is a nun."

So it's eight years later when the story — and the marriage— really starts. And the heroine has spent all that time in a convent — not too happily, I might add. ;)

4. Did you come across any interesting research when writing Bride by Mistake?

Yes, I read quite a bit about the period — journals and books — trying to learn about the situation in Spain during and after the Napoleonic wars, because I had to know how my heroine had lived. Of course it was for backstory, so hardly any of it was used in the book, but that's what happens with most research anyway.

It was a very difficult time for Spain — the country was split. To cut a long story short, the Spanish King abdicated in favor of Napoleon's brother, and half the country followed suit and half the country rebelled. The Spanish rebels called themselves guerrilleros. They were on the side of the English — anyone who would help them throw the French out, really.

Another interesting thing was that after the war, many of the great aristocratic families were ruined financially, which meant their daughters had no dowries. Pride dictated that this not be known, and pride also dictated that their daughters not sully their aristocratic blood by marrying beneath their class, so many young women were simply sent to convents. Their sons, however married into the nouveau riche quite happily. The family name must not be allowed to die out, after all. So my heroine was in the convent with some girls in this situation.

Bella had explained this to Paloma a dozen times, but all Paloma did was smile and say, "We must all have faith."

She'd make a good nun, Isabella thought. Or a saint. St. Paloma of the missing dowry. Paloma's brother had gambled Paloma's dowry away, and now he was refusing to let her return home. Things were different since Papa died, he'd written. There was no appropriate husband for her and she was better off in the convent, in the tranquil environment she was used to.

Bella picked up a well worn sheet and ripped it savagely in half. Tranquil environment indeed! She'd love to lock Paloma's brother up here, give him a taste of tranquil environment. Endless prayers, endlessly repeated dreary, pointless conversations and endless, endless sewing.

I also researched Spanish food and some regional cuisine. Tough work, but somebody has to do it. :)

5. Tell us what it is about the Regency that inspires your writing.

I first fell in love with the period through Georgette Heyer, who I've been reading and rereading since I was eleven. In a way, I feel as though I've grown up there, so it doesn't feel foreign or artificial or even old-fashioned to me — it's just another place I visit.

I also love the sheer scope the Regency era gives a writer — from elegant ballrooms, fabulous clothes and witty conversations, to wars, industrial changes, social upheaval, major political changes, a huge expansion in travel and trade and more. Almost any kind of story I want to write, I can set it in the Regency.

6. What is next for you?

I've started on a new series, about four girls — two sisters and two friends they make along the way and pass off as sisters. It's probably a bit risky too, come to think of it, but I'm a bit superstitious about talking about books until they're written. All the stories will be set in London, at least I think they will be at this point. It's still fairly fluid. But the first story has sprung to life, which is a good sign, and I keep waking in the morning with scenes in my head, which is even better. I think/hope they're going to be fun.Diane and the Riskies, thank you so much for inviting me to chat with you. I've really enjoyed it.

Let me ask, what appeals to you about the Regency Era that you enjoy seeing in historicals?

Diane, here. You can also ask Anne questions! It will soon be tomorrow in Australia, though, so part of the time, Anne will be sleeping.

Remember, one lucky commenter will be chosen at random to win a signed copy of Bride By Mistake.

Gothics and Giveaway!

2012-01-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

(n) Gothic romance (a romance that deals with desolate and mysterious and grotesque events) -- from the Princeton University website

My introduction to Gothic romance was in high school, where I first read Jane Eyre and got sucked in by all the classic Gothic romance elements: a romantic but dangerous setting, an innocent and vulnerable heroine, a hero with Secrets. Later (having gone to an all-girl Catholic school) I also read Rebecca, a more modern Gothic that fascinated me and many of my classmates.

I suspect a lot of Gothic romance authors have been inspired by Jane Eyre, but Charlotte Bronte was by no means the founder of the genre. During the Regency, readers enjoyed Gothic romances such as those published by the Minerva Press. It was Ann Radcliffe who made them popular with examples like The Mysteries of Udolpho, which inspired much of the foolish behavior of Catherine, the heroine of Northanger Abbey. Although Jane Austen poked fun at Gothics, I suspect she enjoyed reading some of them herself. BTW I find this cover for Northanger Abbey very funny!

Gothics can go awry. I think the concept of the TSTL (Too Stupid to Live) heroine arose with romances in which the heroine runs off in her nightie, holding nothing but a candle, to investigate an eerie sound in the attic or cellar where dire events are suspected to have occurred.

I still like Gothic romance and I happily suspend disbelief to follow the characters into situations that are wildly unlikely in real life. I played with some of these elements in my recent reissue, SAVING LORD VERWOOD. I haven’t read many recent historicals like this (though I’m admittedly way behind in my reading) but dark paranormals provide the same thrill. A well-written romance with Gothic elements is like a piece of luscious chocolate. Who cares if it’s good for you?

Do you enjoy romance with Gothic elements? What are some of your favorites, classic or modern?

I’ll be giving away 5 Kindle or Nook copies of SAVING LORD VERWOOD to commenters chosen at random. If you win, you can also nominate a friend to receive a free copy. Void where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Post your comment by midnight EST on January 13. I will post an announcement on Saturday, January 14, so please check back to see if you have won.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

The Thrill of the Chase

2012-01-06T08:29:00.000-08:00

One of the things that readers prize so much is the anticipation, the sexual tension between characters even before mouth touches mouth.

If an author throws her characters into bed without teasing out the tension, it's almost like she was too easy. But writing that tension is hard (for me, at least), since I also want to make my characters happy. But the whole point of writing a book is to make them suffer.

Because if characters are too happy, they're boring. Just remember the opening lines of Anna Karenina:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

And, to prove the point, last night's series return of the Vampire Diaries featured a kiss that has been anticipated since the Salvatore Brothers first arrived in Mystic Falls (Amanda will back me up, I know!). If you don't watch the show, just scoot halfway through the clip to see the relevant parts.

Sexual tension. Who does it best?

Megan

News for the new year

2012-01-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

As usual I'm about a week late with everything but I've been thinking a bit about new year's resolutions. If I make them, which I don't, it's something like:

Write more regularly
Maintain a life outside writing
Eat less/better, exercise and all that good stuff
Write real letters to people

All of which are pretty basic and ongoing. So what do I anticipate happening in 2012? First, I have Dedication coming out from Loose-Id, a rewritten version because everyone complained about the breakneck ending and with more sex, although the original had quite a lot. It was originally published as a trad Regency by Signet in 2005 and astonishingly had two bondage scenes and some fairly grown up sort of sex--well, what did they have to lose?--the line was ending.

I'm currently working on revisions of Hidden Paradise, an erotic romance about an Austen scholar who participates in a very glamorous, sexy and cleaned-up Regency living experience, with a cover that proudly proclaims purple passion. After pondering all the fascinating options available to Regency women at a country house party (croquet! embroidery! viewing the family portraits!) I figured out that the only really interesting activity was sex, so that's what the book is about. That will release in November.

I also have some self-pubbed projects in mind although you can pretty much count on the bottom falling out of the self-pub industry as soon as I come on board. More about those later...

I was thinking that traditionally the old year/new year is represented by extremes of youth and age, so here's a picture that does just that. My father, who is heading for 101, my brother, and a very new baby that belongs to a neighbor's daughter. My father didn't eat the baby although he looks as though he's going to. I love this pic because I don't think I've ever seen a photograph before (and certainly not in my family although we're not big photo takers) which includes two people a century apart in age.

So happy new year everyone. If you're planning new year's resolutions, good luck with them.

Oops. It's Wednesday

2012-01-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

Oh, dear. I had Monday off and just realized that yesterday was Tuesday which makes today Wednesday, not Tuesday.

Ahem.

I am preparing a post on crystalizing stuff per instructions from 1807, which I guess I will debut NEXT Wednesday. As a teaser, the process clearly works, but requires refinement. I have some pictures and, I just realized, a jar of alum sludge in the pantry that by now must be a god awful mess, since I was only supposed to leave the item in there for 24 hours and now it's been days. Uh-oh.

I think my pictures should be sufficiently disgusting that you guys should calendar the Wednesday post next week. You won't want to miss it.

My historical, Not Proper Enough, is done and turned into my publisher. But not before discovering that I had written TWO marriage scenes. Yes. My hero and heroine got married twice. I thought I'd deleted one of them but didn't!

So, how's the New Year been for you so far?

Finished! (Almost)

2012-01-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012, everyone! I have a feeling this is going to be a good, healthy, happy year. I am starting off today getting ready to turn in the WIP (just doing a final smoothing-out, taking care of little details look before it goes winging off through cyberspace to London). Wish me luck!

This has been a very different project for me, as it's the last of 8 books in a new continuity series coming out from Harlequin Historicals later this year. (Carole Mortimer kicks off the series and I end it). It doesn't have a name yet, but when they asked me to take part in the project they said they envisioned it as "Downton Abbey in the Regency" (a grand house, an old family mired in scandal and financial difficulties, lots of crazy things going on behind a beautiful facade, etc). How could I resist this??? I adore Downton Abbey, and can't wait for season two to start on PBS this weekend (I've been trying to avoid any spoilers, but it hasn't been easy). This project has been a very interesting one, and a good way to change things up a bit (as well as get to know some other authors), but it has also been a challenge for a pantser writer like me. Often I have no idea what is going to happen in a story until I am writing it, but I had to be far more organized with this story, following plots that were already set up and trying to be true to other writers' characters.

I hope it has all turned out okay (fingers crossed!). Then it is on to the next project...

In the meantime, as I frantically get on with editing, let's look at some pretty. I confess, one of the big reasons I love Downton Abbey (besides the fact that I would sit and watch Maggie Smith be a sarcastic Dowager Lady Whatever for days) is the costumes. The Edwardian period is one of the very prettiest for fashions (IMO) and they've done a fabulous job. So here are a few favorites, plus a Vogue pic of the 3 sisters (which shows that Edith is not really so plain after all...)

Have you been watching DA? What do you think of it? And do you like to read continuity series in romance???

War Horse

2012-01-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

When I first saw the trailer for War Horse, I immediately said, "I want to see that movie!"

I knew I'd love a movie about a boy and his horse, separated by World War I. I'd heard that it would tug on one's heartstrings and that it would have you on the edge of your seat, wondering if it would end like Old Yeller. But as a child I loved National Velvet and Black Beauty and the Black Stallion. I even loved The Incredible Journey, about a cat and two dogs who have to find their way back home.

This weekend I did see the movie and I loved it.

I don't want to give any spoilers, except to say it was an emotional movie, but it won't leave you devastated at the end.

The horse--or horses, because there were several who played the title role--were spectacular. You always knew what the horse was thinking and feeling, although the animal was never anthropomorphized. All the acting was suburb. Jeremy Irvine, the new actor who plays Albert, the horse's owner, is absolutely appealing. He's a young man with a great future, I predict.

I'm a sucker for battle scenes and this movie has a wonderful cavalry sequence that will certainly inspire my writing.

Another thing that I considered important for my writing was that the characters in the movie were complex. There were no outright villains, and even the tough German sergeant warned his soldier never to name the horses--because they were basically worked to death. There were also breaks in the action, relief in the emotionality of the movie. The temporary truce between the British soldiers and the Germans was a great scene.

But the best scene was when the horse finally runs from the war, runs over a tank, and through the fighting. You see bits of this scene in the Trailer.

Have you seen War Horse? What did you think of the movie?
What other movies have you seen lately?

Our guest next Sunday, Jan 8, is the incomparable Anne Gracie, who will be talking about her January release, Bride By Mistake.

Happy 2012!

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Since I’ve been working hard on finishing my balloonist story and can’t read romance while trying to write it, I’ve been catching up on books in other genres, especially those recommended by friends. Of these, my favorites were The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks. To me, there’s something moving and deeply satisfying about each of these.

I’ve also read some outstanding YA novels with my daughter. These had me totally engrossed: the first two books in Mary Jo Putney’s Dark Mirror series and Jane George’s The Mumbo Jumbo Circus. Although settings and styles of these books are very different, both weave in great writing, intriguing characters and magic.

Although it's not a book or movie, another exciting discovery was hearing up-and-coming pianist Shai Wosner play Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto with the Binghamton Philharmonic. Although he has immense technical talent, he plays with loving attention to every note and phrase, allowing the music to speak, never just showing off. I’ve added a clip of him playing Schumann’s “Carnaval”.

Continuing in the spirit of trying new things, my family and I will once again cook together on New Year’s Eve, trying recipes we’ve never made before. One year we tried making individual Baked Alaskas—a science experiment that sort of blew up but the debris was rather tasty! This year should be easier. The menu is herb stuffed mushrooms to start, bacon wrapped scallops as the main course and for dessert, lemon poppy-seed cake with glaze.

What were your discoveries of 2011? Are you planning anything special for New Year’s Eve? Whatever it is, I hope you have fun and that 2012 brings you much joy!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Resolving

2011-12-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

So the start of each year (and often the start of each month, actually!) I make resolutions. They are usually along the lines of more sleep, more fun, more exercise.

And each year, I don't achieve those resolutions with quite as much resolve as I'd like.

But still, hope springs eternal, so my resolutions remain the same for this year, adding in 'more writing,' including 'more and better blogging.'

What are your resolutions as we head into 2012? Do you make them? Do you track your progress?

And Happy New Year!

Megan

Best of 2011

2011-12-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

Like Carolyn I too am on deadline with a Jan 1 deadline, but it's a rewrite. Piece of cake. I hope. So, fab things I have read and seen this year.

I saw three movies this year but they were all winners. One was the Jane Eyre and I blogged about that here. The other was Bridesmaids, which had so wisdom and insight on female friendships. The other, which I caught last week, was Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a documentary about some amazing cave art in Chauvet, France. It was made in 3D which I imagine is spectacular although I saw it on normal format. The paintings are the oldest ever found--35,000 years old--in a beautiful "crystal cathedral" (to quote director Werner Herzog) of limestone. There is no public access and scientists visit only for four hour stretches. There is one part of the cave that has so much CO2 from tree roots that it's dangerous to stay in too long and access throughout is limited to boardwalks created to protect the environment. The movie is available on Netflix where I found it.

And on to books. I acquired a kindle this year and, gawd, I have never read, or started to read, so many bad books in my life, but I won't talk about those. I do find the lure of the free, $1.99, and kindle daily deal irresistible. For the first time in my life I have a TBR (digital) pile.

One book I didn't buy for the kindle--some books just won't work, particularly books with pix--was Adam Hochschild's brilliant To End All Wars, about World War I. For me, it gave some entirely different perspectives on the war, particularly what was happening at home in England, where the authorities were terrified of revolution.

I said I wouldn't talk about books I didn't like (I have some discretion) but the much-vaunted and revered Death Comes To Pemberley by P.D. James sucks a major one, as we literary critics say. This article in the Guardian says it all--warning, contains spoilers, but the book is so poorly written you know who's done it almost immediately. I would however recommend The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen by Lindsay Ashford who I met very briefly at the JASNA conference last October. It's moving, sexy, and beautifully written. At the moment it's really only available on kindle or from the ever-faithful bookdepository.com. Another writer I met at the conference was the lovely Syrie James (you should have seen her outfits!) whose non-Austen book Nocturne I also recommend--nothing to do with Austen, but one of the best vampire love stories I've read, and one which is smart enough to tackle the outcome of a mortal/immortal's future together.

I also loved this collection of short stories by Laura Lippmann, Hardly Knew Her, a kindle bargain. Most of them are set in Baltimore or Washington, and several are about a high class hooker who maintains the identity of an upperclass suburban mom. Fascinating stuff.

At the moment I'm reading Laura Miller's The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia, which has some wonderful things to say about reading (and by extension about writing). It's a book that absolutely resonates with me as I too loved the Narnia books (apart from The Last Battle) as a kid, and have returned to them at different stages of my life.

But what about romance? Okay, okay. Miranda Neville's funny, sexy, smart The Amorous Adventures of Celia Seaton. (Refers to kindle.) Cafe du Hour by Lilian Darcy, Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald, Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (not technically a romance but I've always loved the Lawrence/Temeraire dynamic), and I finally got around to reading Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase which to my surprise I liked.

Have you read any of these? What were your favorite 2011 reads?

Dear Readers I am Resolved!

2011-12-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

My book, Not Proper Enough, is due Jan 1, 2012. I am, therefore, not fit company for much of anyone. Two and a half hours of sleep one night (night before last for those of you panicking that I drove to work in such a sleep deprived condition) actually makes you mostly brain-dead the next day.

I will see you in 2012 with a list of my New Year's Resolutions which will be something like this:

1.

2.

3.

Actually, could you-all fill in the blanks for me?

Thank you.

Carolyn

My Favorite Things

2011-12-27T00:16:00.000-08:00

Happy (almost 2012) everyone! I'm afraid to admit this, but my house is in complete chaos at the moment. I have book due (eek) Monday, so the shreds of wrapping paper are still piled on the floor and the new books I got for presents (yay books for presents!!) are stacked on the table. But as I look back on 2011, I remember some really fabulous reads. I can only hope the new year is as good!

Here are a few I liked:

Amanda Foreman, A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War

I admit I don't know nearly as much about American history as I do European, but I found this epic tale, featuring more than 200 characters with distinctive and linked stories, fascinating and absorbing. I couldn't put it down...

Kady Cross, The Girl in the Steel Corset

Two of my favorite new things in a good fiction read--YA and steampunk! Plus a fabulous heroine and some great dialogue

Jehanne Wake, Sisters of Fortune: America's Caton Sisters at Home and Abroad

I am not sure how I missed the story of the 4 Caton sisters of Maryland (granddaughters of the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence), but the story of these Regency precursor's of the Victorian "Dollar Duchesses" who went to England and married titles is amazing. Marianne married Wellington's brother (and was said to have been the great love if Wellington himself); Louisa became the Duchess of Leeds and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria; and Bess made her own fortune in the stock market.

Alan Bradley, A Red Hering Without Mustard

The first Flavia de Luce mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, was one of my favorite novels of last year, and this one was just as enjoyable a read. Flavia (a wickedly precocious 11-year-old) and the English village setting of Bishop's Lacey are tons of fun!

Deborah Lutz, Pleasure Bound: Victorian Sex Rebels and the New Eroticism

Who can resist a research book with "sex rebels" in the title?? The Pre-Raphaelites, Richard and Isabel Burton, the poet Swinburne and his favorite flagellation brothels....a great look at a scandalous counter-culture...

Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

I was reluctant to pick this up at first, it was so hyped, but I am so glad I did. Truly a magical and absorbing read.

Chris Adrian, The Great Night

Another magical read! It's Midsummer Eve in 2008. and 3 humans with romantic troubles get trapped in San Francisco's Buena Vista Park with Titania, Oberon, Puck, etc for some truly crazy doings (and a group of homeless people putting on a musical version of Soylent Green...)

Priya Parmar, Exit the Actress

Another one I was reluctant to pick up at first--I love Nell Gwyn and have read sooo many novels about her. How could I need another one?? But this was unlike any other I've read lately, I started it early one evening and didn't stop I finished it!

Chris Skidmore, Death and the Virgin Queen

A new account of the mysterious death of Amy Robsart Dudley in 1560, utilizing some fascinating new forensic evidence found from the original inquiry. A story I never tire of speculating about!

Cherie Burns, Searching for Beauty: The Life of Millicent Rogers

I grew up visiting Taos, New Mexico every summer, and my parents would take me to the Millicent Rogers Museum many times. But I never knew much about the woman who once owned that house and the fabulous art and jewelry collections it houses (except for the fact that she wore fabulous clothes in the photos on the wall!). It turns out the Standard Oil heiress (who died in the 1950s at age 51) had an incredibly adventurous and glamorous life that reads like an novel...

I haven't been to the movies much this year, but I did see some I enjoyed very much: Like Crazy, The Descendants, Melancholia, The Mill and the Cross, and the gorgeous Midnight in Paris were a few.

How was your reading year in 2011??? Did you get any fabulous new books for Christmas presents?

Better Late Than Never!

2011-12-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was filled with family, food, and presents, and I had a great day. Even my pre-Christmas cold gave me a reprieve!

This week we are looking back at the year and posting our favorites--Favorite books, movies, TV shows, whatever!!!

But I've been on the road today, and now am in Williamsburg VA to visit the in-laws. When we got here, their cable was down. It is fixed now, but we are almost ready to eat.

So let me say Happy New Year. I hope your look back at 2011 is filled with many favorites!!!

See you back here next year!

What's on your Christmas tree?

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

I recently read this article by Alison Barnes in History Today. It describes how Queen Charlotte (Prinny’s mother) introduced the Christmas tree to England by setting one up at Windsor in 1800. It was decorated with “bunches of sweetmeats, almonds and raisins in papers, fruits and toys”. I wish I could locate a picture!

The article lists several examples of Christmas trees during the Regency and states that the tradition was “firmly established” by 1818, although information I’d read before indicated that Christmas trees were not that common during the Regency. The article goes on to say that by 1860 nearly every family of means had one. This makes me think that Queen Charlotte started the custom but perhaps it was Victoria and Albert’s famous tree of 1846 that made it universal.

Our own tree is a hodge-podge. At one time I had this vision of a designer tree and so I started a collection of blown and cut glass ornaments and made a bunch of crocheted snowflakes. But life evolved and so did the tree. I still enjoy my glass ornaments and my snowflakes, but I’m happy to let them share space with others: stuff my children have made (Q-tip snowflakes decorated with craft store “jewels”, Vaguely Identifiable Things made out of pipe cleaners and beads), my husband’s sports ornaments (featuring the Mets, Giants and Rangers), and a Star Trek shuttlecraft that plays a holiday greeting from Mr. Spock. It’s all good and I don’t miss the designer tree at all. :)

Do you have a Christmas tree? What are your favorite decorations?

Happy Holidays!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Holiday Actually

2011-12-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

As we bustle about, some of us baking mad treats (Carolyn!), others of us pirouetting in gorgeous dance gowns (Amanda!), spending time with faraway family (Diane! and likely the rest of us, too), being especially seasonal (Janet, with her delicious accent), and probably having a white Christmas (Elena!), I'd like to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season.

Here's to rest, relaxation, and a good book.

Merry Christmas!

Megan

Listen to Christmas

2011-12-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

Mostly videos today, something to put you in the Christmas spirit, and I want to share with you some of my favorite Christmas music.

First, here's a new favorite, a Winter Solstice piece--thanks to Jane George for directing me to this.

Moving on to something entirely different and not necessarily anything to do with winter or Christmas, and from one of the all time flops of the big screen, a dance scene from Becoming Jane. (It's the season for parties, after all!) I think this is so brilliantly done because the expressions and gestures tell us so much about the relationships:

But moving a little toward Christmas now, here's Steeleye Span performing Gaudete (rejoice), a medieval plainchant. I've been a fan of this group for, uh, a very long time:

What would Christmas be without the Messiah? I always try to get to a live performance although I think this year I'm not going to make one. I'm torn between the Messiah performing style I grew up with, featuring a huge local choir, and the original instrument/performance practice approach I now prefer. So here's Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge (all boys club!) a reconstruction of the 1752 version.

And now it's time to make you cry. First, John McCutcheon, Christmas in the Trenches. (It's all true!) Listen to what he says at the beginning about this "story that needs to be told 365 days a year"--and may all our loved ones come home safely.

Finally, what for me is the ultimate tearjerker, the December 24 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the Choir of King's College Cambridge again--this is the beginning of the 2010 service. It always starts with the treble solo singing Once in Royal David's City, and is broadcast live worldwide. Check out American Public Radio for the time in your area. There's a wonderful shot of the vaulted ceiling and windows of the Chapel at about 1:20 in.

Hope you like these. What are your Christmas sounds?

Happy holidays, everyone.

Holiday Wishes from Risky Carolyn

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

To all our wonderful Risky Readers out there, Happy Holidays from Risky Carolyn!

Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite, California, April 1933

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season. However, I caution you to stay Risky. Life is better that way.

What are your plans for the holidays? Me? I have a book due. I will be writing.

About the Picture

Original Caption: Trees with snow on branches, "Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite," California. April 1933.
U.S. National Archives' Local Identifier: NWDNS-79-AA-U01
From: Series: Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941 - 1942, documenting the period ca. 1933 – 1942 (Record Group 79)
Created by: Department of the Interior. National Park Service. Branch of Still and Motion Pictures.
Production Date: 1933

Photographer: Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984

The Nutcracker

2011-12-20T01:04:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I got to do something I haven't done in a few years--I went to see The Nutcracker! It was so much fun--when I was a kid we used to go every year, and I got a new Christmas party dress to wear to the performance. It was wonderful to see all the little girls in their pretty clothes, so excited to see the dancing and the sparkling lights.

It's funny that something that's become such an intrinsic part of the holiday season was a bit of a flop when it first opened! It started out promising. After the great success of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, the director of the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg asked Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa to collaborate on another production, one based on ETA Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It turned out to be not a very harmonious partnership--Petipa sent Tchaikovsky very detailed instructions for each number in the ballet, right down to tempo and number of bars, and Tchaikovsky didn't like working under such restraints. The production was further delayed by Tchaikovsky's visit to the US and Petipa's illness, but it did open at the Mariinsky Theater on December 18, 1892 in a version much condensed from the original story (there are only two acts, the first act the Christmas party and battle of the Mouse King where Clara helps save the Nutcracker Prince, and act two at the Kingdom of Sweets where we meet chocolate, coffee, marzipan, snowflakes and Sugar Plum Fairies...)

The first production got decidedly mixed reviews in a town that was very, very picky when it came to their ballet. One reviewer called the Sugar Plum Fairy "pudgy" and one complained about how confusing the Mouse King battle was ("One cannot understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and forwards--quite amateurish"). It didn't take off, though Tchaikovsky did have some success with a suite of the music.

Its first complete performance outside Russia was in England in 1934, and the first US performance at the San Francisco Ballet on December 24, 1944. The New York City Ballet debuted their version in 1954, which is when it really started to become the big money-maker it is now and a cherished tradition for many families like mine (most ballet companies function all year from the proceeds from their Nutcracker performances!)

For more information on the history of the ballet, I really like J. Fisher's book Nutcracker Nation: How An Old World Ballet Became a Christmas Tradition in the New World (2003)
Do you go to see The Nutcracker? What are your favorite memories of the ballet??

Christmas Shopping - Regency Style

2011-12-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend I finally got serious about Christmas shopping. I had good intentions of going out to the mall, but, every time I thought of what I might buy, I'd look on the internet and find the exact item with a promise for delivery by Christmas. As a result, I have done 99 per cent of my shopping all online! We'll see how smart this was when Christmas eve rolls around. Will these vendors make good on their promises or will I have to write notes in empty boxes for my family to open on Christmas day?

This got me to thinking....What gifts would I purchase for my family if the year were 1819 and I'm shopping in London?

Guess what? I could go to the mall--The Burlington Arcade, I mean.

The Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping area behind Bond Street on what was formerly the garden of Burlington House. Lord George Cavendish, younger brother of the Duke of Devonshire owned Burlington House and wanted to do something to prevent ruffians from throwing trash and oyster shells into his garden. He hired architect Same Ware to design the arcade which had spaces for 72 enclosed shops. The arcade opened in 1819 and was an instant success. It is still the place to go for fashionable shopping in London.

By the way, in my next book, A Not So Respectable Gentleman, Leo, the hero and brother of the Diamonds of Wellbourne Manor, runs into the Burlington Arcade to escape the bad guys....

But I digress! I'm supposed to be shopping.

If I can't find all the gifts in the Burlington Arcade, I can shop at a department store--Harding Howell and Co, which sells everything from lace and every kind of haberdashery, but also jewelry, watches, clocks, perfumery and more. Harding Howell and Co. was opened in 1807 in Pall Mall.

Between these two places, I ought to find gifts for everyone on my list.

Dear Husband: He likes gizmos. And he loves clocks. I think I'll buy him a French clock. But he'd like a gizmo toy, too, like some kind of automaton.

Dear Daughter: She's a music lover. I might buy her the latest piano sheet music from the music seller in the arcade although guitar is her instrument of choice these days. Maybe she'd play the harp in the Regency.

Dear Son: He'd probably want the latest in dueling pistols. Or the best hunting whip, although in this time period, his shooting would be confined to video games and his vehicle accessory would probably be a car radio or GPS.

Dear Sisters: for one I'll have to go to Jermyn Street and buy her some fragrance from Floris. The other might like a pretty new bonnet.

Dear Friends: Oh, I know what I'd buy them. BOOKS!!! Perhaps in 1819, I'd buy them two books in one. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, published in 1818. Sadly the author died in 1817, but she is our favorite author.

What gifts would you buy for friends and family if you were shopping in Regency England?

Christmas is only 6 days away. Yipes!!!! Pray for prompt UPS men!

You still have more days to enter the Harlequin Historical Authors Holiday Giveaway, though. Enter daily for the best chance to win the grand prize--a Kindle Fire!

Jane Austen Birthday Week Winner

2011-12-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

The winner of our Jane Austen Birthday Week is .....

Susannah C!!!

Susannah, you have won your choice of an annotated edition of Pride and Prejudice or one of Persuasion. Email us at riskies@yahoo.com with your choice and your mailing address.

Thanks, everyone, for commenting!

The Riskies

The Winner of Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners

2011-12-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

The Winner of Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners: Compliments, Charades 'N Horrible Blunders is:

bettielee

Bettielee: email me at carolyn AT carolynjewel.com and let you know you're the Riskies winner! If you'd prefer paper, make sure you include your complete mailing address. If you're good with an eBook, I'll need the email address to use! Thanks for stopping by!Carolyn

Jane, Bad Boys and Winners!

2011-12-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

As far as I can recall, Jane Austen never used the term “rake” in her stories, but it’s my understanding that during her time, it had a different spin than we put on it in modern historical romances. Jane’s villains tend to be what might have been called rakes; their common trait is they take advantage (or try to) of women in the stories. Her heroines always end up with the good guys.

Jane’s bad boys aren’t all equally villainous and I have a little more sympathy for some than others. Actors’ interpretations can bring out nuances, too.

Frank Churchill from Emma is the lightweight, more selfish puppy than dark schemer. I can’t remember enough of other portrayals of Frank Churchill to judge, but here’s Ewan McGregor in the 1996 (Gwyneth Paltrow) version.

At the other extreme, Pride & Prejudice’s Wickham is pretty loathsome. Here are Adrian Lukis and Rupert Friend, from the 1995 and 2005 versions, respectively. I think Lukis’s Wickham is a little too obvious to fool Elizabeth. Friend, on the other hand, has a gaunt look about him that makes him seem more vulnerable and thus more deceptive.

William Elliot from Persuasion is another villain without redeeming qualities, but at least Anne sees through him pretty quickly. Here’s Samuel West, from the 1995 film that is my favorite adaptations. Honestly, I can’t remember other portrayals. I need to watch more Austen movies over the holiday break!

Willoughby (Sense & Sensbility) is more interesting. Dominic Cooper in the new version seemed kind of a toad; I prefer Greg Wise’s portrayal in the 1995 (Emma Thompson) version. He gives the sense that he will regret giving up Marianne for the rest of his life. Though perhaps he deserves his fate, I can’t help feeling a little sorry for him.

I also find Henry Crawford from Mansfield Park intriguing. Although I haven’t yet seem a film version of MP that I liked, here’s Alessandro Nivola in the 1999 version.

Although I find these last two the most well rounded as villains, they’re still not quite the reformable rakes of historical romance, who may get around but don’t treat women as badly.

So what do you think of Jane’s bad boys? Which do you find most interesting? Which actors did the best job with them? What do you think of good guys versus rakes in historical romance?

Comment for the chance to win either the annotated copy of Pride & Prejudice or Persuasion. Our Jane Austen Week winner will be announced on Monday.

And congratulations to the following winners of the Kindle ebook of THE REDWYCK CHARM. Please send your email address, and if you wish, the email address of a friend who might enjoy a copy, to elena @ elenagreene.com (no spaces).

Virginia
Beebs
Bibliophile
Na
Barbara E

Happy holidays!

Elena

www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Happy Birthday, Jane!

2011-12-16T05:22:00.000-08:00

Yay! Happy Birthday, Jane! You don't look a day older than 235.

We've been celebrating Jane's birth all week here at the Riskies, and of course she was on my mind as I rode the subway to work this morning. I haven't read more than snippets of Jane's books in years, mostly because I reread them obsessively when I was in my teens, so much so I know I have parts memorized, even thirty years later.

Jane showed me a person could have a different personality and still be likeable. Could still have misguided ideas and still be a good person. Could be tolerable, and also desirable.

Those are some pretty important life lessons.

Earlier this week, Amanda discoursed on Austen film interpretations, and I have to admit to secretly loving the Greer Garson/Laurence Olivier version of Pride and Prejudice. That's mostly because it was my first version (and you never forget your first...), and I'm pretty sure I saw the film before reading the book, so I didn't comprehend the incongruity with the text. I knew nothing about historically accurate costumes, or the correct age for the characters, or any of that. I only knew he was handsome, and she was feisty, and I admired her for rejecting such a catch.

Thank you, Jane, for showing me that you should reject people--foxy though they are--if they don't accept you entirely as you are.

Megan

Christmas letters from Austen

2011-12-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Are you bracing yourself for them? Do you write them? Do you enjoy those cheerful missives from obscure relatives?

What do you think Austen's characters would say?

My dear Wickham has acquitted himself most gallantly in protecting us from crazed weavers; just imagine, they complain of working 18 hours a day yet still find time to roam the streets in a most vulgar way, bemoaning their lot, hurling filth at the regiment's handsome regimentals, and demanding an extra 2d a day! Talking of which, I regret my dear Wickham has suffered misfortune at the gaming tables once again, and if every member of the family could contribute a little, say 2 guineas, or possibly 5, we could overcome our temporary embarrassment and not bring shame upon the family... Captain and Mrs. George Wickham

Oh I am so happy in the great house and magnificent grounds of Pemberley; I roam for hours exclaiming aloud over my extreme felicity and great good fortune in marrying my dear Mr. Darcy, who naturally is busy with his trout streams and other male pursuits. We are both so well occupied that we meet but little, although I have taken the fortuitous step of drawing the route to the bedchamber in chalk upon the floors so that we may at least meet at night; Mr. Darcy suggested it after I lost my way and had to spend the night in such places as the third minor stillroom and once sharing the housekeeper's bed. She sang her master's praises all night long and I scarce got a wink of sleep... Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy

Ann proves herself a formidable ally against the enemy. Upon boarding our latest prize I was most diverted to find her at my side, her face black with powder and a knife clenched between her teeth, uttering terrible oaths and despatching several terrified Frenchies with violent blows. She demands a share of the prize money and her ration of rum but you will be pleased to learn she occupies herself also with more womanly pursuits such as comforting the wounded. Our ship's surgeon says she beats any he has seen in the execution of a fast amputation... Captain and Mrs. Frederick Wentworth

In our first year of married bliss dear Mr. Knightley is so agreeable and charming it is quite as it is before which pleases Mr. Woodhouse mightily. Mr. Knightley spends most of the day with us, although he makes haste to return from visits to Donwell Abbey before nightfall, as for Mr. Woodhouse's peace of mind we now have a dozen armed guards and as many mastiffs patrolling the garden and chicken coop after dark. I believe that Mr. Woodhouse will eventually not need to knock on our bedchamber door enquiring after our health at night; he is easily alarmed by various groans and other sounds that emanate from that room--he is all tender consideration!... Mr. and Mrs. George Knightley

Edmund and I enjoy the most perfect felicity and harmony and delight in counting the twelve toes of our beloved daughter Julia... Reverend and Mrs. Edmund Bertram

Happy birthday, Jane Austen, and sorry for the many liberties I've taken for so long... Give us your ideas for snippets of news from Austen characters' holiday letters.

Why, may you ask, is there a pic of a naked man on this post? God knows why but I see them all over the place. I think it has something to do with writing romance.

The New Jane?

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Have you seen this?

It's believed to be a new portrait of Jane Austen. You can read all about it here. Interesting story though it doesn't sound like it's been fully authenticated.

Two out of three experts believe it's Jane!

Drawn about 1815.

She's slouching, but probably thinking really deep and wonderful thoughts.

Which brings me to a request.

What do you think Jane is thinking?

Opine in the comments. I will send a random commenter a copy of Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners: Compliments, Charades 'N Horrible Blunders
You may elect to receive paper or the Kindle version. The rules are below:

The Rules

Void where prohibited. Must be 18 or older to win. Winner chosen from among the commenters at random. Leave a comment by Midnight Pacific on Friday December 16. If the book is not available by the time the prize is awarded, Risky Carolyn will provide an Amazon card equal to the value of the paperback book.Go.

Austenesque Winners

2011-12-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

Sophia Rose--you're the winner of
Henry Tilney's Diary.
TxDee--you're the winner of
The Unexpected Miss Bennett.
TxDee, please email riskies AT yahoo DOT com

Happy Birthday, Jane!

2011-12-13T00:10:00.000-08:00

It's always very easy for me to remember Jane Austen's birthday, because it is also my mother's! (Though luckily only one of them expects a present...). It's also the birthday of Beethoven and Katherine of Aragon (among others), and it also tells me It's Almost Christmas. But it's not always easy to think of what to write about. There are so many things I love about Austen's books, and so many gifts they've given me as I read them over the years. But since Janet and I got to meet Andrew Davies at the JASNA AGM back in October (and hear about his work on various adaptations), I decided to take a look at my DVD shelf and review my thoughts about some of the various films from Austen's books.

What follows is a Highly Scientific Analysis:

Pride and Prejudice
1995--really, really love (probably my second favorite of all the adaptations!)
2005--love (a controversial opinion, I know, but I thought it very romantic...)
1980--I have the DVD but it's been a long time since I've felt the urge to watch it. It's a little...slow. But I like it, mostly for Elizabeth Garvie's Elizabeth
1940--good for a laugh

Sense and Sensibility
1995--really liked
2008--also really liked (especially since the actors were more age-appropriate)

Persuasion
1995--really, really, really love (my number one favorite of all)
2007--the least said the better, I think

Northanger Abbey
2007--loved (so adorable!)
1986--I only saw it once; I think I might have liked it better if I hadn't been overwhelmed by that music...

Mansfield Park
1999--sorta liked? (it was...interesting)
2007--another one where the least said the better
I really think MP is ripe for a Davies miniseries treatment...

Emma
1996 (the Paltrow version)--liked
1996 (the Beckinsale version)--also liked. I wish I could combine aspects of these two to make something better
2009--sorta liked, especially the beginning (until Romola Garai's weird facial expressions started to get to me)

And there you have it! This is what I think about every Austen adaptation I have seen. What are your favorites?? Least favorites?? Which one would you like to see made again, with your own dream cast???

Jane Austen's Christmas...and Birthday...and a Prize!!!

2011-12-12T00:10:00.001-08:00

Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775. To commemorate her birthday, each year we devote the week to celebrating her life and the wonderful books that have endured and given us countless pleasure, much inspiration, and a love of the Regency.

This week, as we have done before, we are offering a prize to one lucky commenter, to be randomly selected from comments all week long. Comment every day! We'll announce the winner by next Monday.

The winner will have the choice of either the annotated Pride and Prejudice or the new annotated Persuasion. These are beautiful editions!

Birthdays were not the grand occasions for celebration in Jane Austen's time as in our own, but Christmas could very well be. Jane's Christmases often meant having visitors, and, because travel was such a difficulty, guests stayed a long time.

Gifts at Christmas were often made by loving hands, things like monogramed handkerchiefs or needle cases. There were plenty of games, however. Cards and charades and games of chess.

There might also be theatricals. As a child, Jane Austen wrote a one-act play at Christmas, about a daughter traveling to get married.

Jane also attended balls at Christmastime and, in a letter to her sister Cassandra, wrote of one:

There were twenty dances, and I danced them all without any fatigue. I was glad to find myself capable of dancing so much, and with so much satisfaction as I did; from my slender enjoyment of the Ashford Balls (as assemblies for dancing) I had not thought myself equal to it, but in cold weather and with few couples I fancy I could just as well dance for a week together as for half an hour. My black cap was openly admired by Mrs Lefroy, and secretly, I imagine by everybody else in the room

I wonder if acknowledgement of her birthday became lost in all these festivities and visitors? If so, it is fitting that we stop and remember it here at Risky Regencies.

Do you, or anyone you know have a birthday close to Christmas? Is it celebrated as a birthday might be the rest of the year? Or are you or they short-changed?

Remember, one lucky commenter will be selected by next Monday for her choice of the annotated edition of Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion.

And don't forget that the Harlequin Historical Authors Holiday contest is still going strong. See details here.

A Hero Who Understands Muslins

2011-12-11T03:04:00.000-08:00

We're delighted to have Amanda Grange as our guest today, author of Henry Tilney's Diary, the latest in her line of takes on Austen leading men (and yes, she's also tackled Wickham and Darcy as a vampire!). Amanda will give away a copy of her book, so please comment or ask her a question to enter into the drawing! Since Amanda is on UK time, we'll be choosing a winner at 12 noon EST on Monday.

I was thoroughly engaged. I believe my money and my time, well spent; surely one of her best diaries to date! Austen fans may declare Mr. Darcy as their favorite, I dare say, Mr. Tilney improves on acquaintance. Even if you are not as familiar with Northanger Abbey as other Austen works, you will still find the tendency of Henry Tilney’s Diary to be altogether recommendable. A must for your reading list. Austenprose

I adore Henry Tilney and I’m so glad your book is about him. What do you like best about Henry?

I like his wit and his irreverence, in fact, I love them. He doesn’t take himself, or life, too seriously. He has an odd life in many ways: his mother died when he was young, his father is overbearing and his brother is dissolute, but Henry manages to rise above it all and go on being amusing and entertaining. Anyone who can maintain his good humour in the face of such adversity is someone I really love.   

Did you find him more difficult to write than Austen’s more alpha male heroes such as Darcy and Wentworth?

If I’d written him as the first hero, I think I might have done, but after writing so many alpha males I was glad to have a break from them and write about someone warm and witty instead. I particularly enjoyed exploring his relationship with his sister, which we know to be a close one, and I think it’s this relationship that makes him so open and comfortable around women. I think that’s why Henry avoids so many of the problems the alpha heroes have in their romantic relationships. Although Darcy is close to his sister, it isn’t a relationship of equals as there is too much of an age gap, but Henry and Isabella are friends as well as siblings.

I read somewhere that Henry and Catherine are doomed to become Mr. and Mrs. Bennett—that Catherine’s sweetness and prettiness alone aren’t enough to sustain a long term relationship. How do you expand upon Catherine’s character?

I don’t see it like that. I think there is a solid basis for their future together because Henry is a clergyman and Catherine is a clergyman’s daughter, so they have the same kind of background, whereas Mr. and Mrs. Bennet came from different spheres of life: he was a landowner and she was the daughter of a country attorney.

And of course, Henry won’t have so much to try him. Catherine’s follies are the kind that she will naturally grow out of, in fact she’s already started to mature by the end of Northanger Abbey. She realises that she was a fool – however sweet – for imagining the laundry list was something sinister, and for thinking that the abbey was the scene of a murder. But I think she will remain imaginative, and that Henry will always appreciate this, because it’s one of the things that attracts him to her. There is a bit in Henry Tilney’s Diary which sums this up for me (Henry’s words):

“Not for me the unthinking, unfeeling woman who wears a halo of common sense and sees nothing in an abbey but an old building with inconvenient passages. Far rather would I have a young lady whose head is in the clouds, when those clouds are filled with such startling adventures.”

  Did you make any interesting discoveries about Henry and the rest of the Tilneys? 

Oh, yes, a lot. I started the book when Henry was fifteen so that I could explore his backstory and find out what makes him the man he becomes. I delved into his relationships with his parents, his brother and his sister. This led me to elaborate on Eleanor’s romantic relationship, and the ways in which Henry helped it along. I’ve always been intrigued by Eleanor, because although Austen tells us, at the end of Northanger Abbey, that Eleanor marries, we don’t see her husband in Northanger Abbey. So I created a house party at which she meets her future husband and Henry sympathises with her difficulties, namely that her father won’t countenance a match with a poor man.

I also had a lot of fun with Frederick. To begin with, I was going to make him a Wickham / Willoughby type, as he seems like a typical rake, but there are hints in Northanger Abbey that he is something more, and so I cast him as a disappointed romantic – which is often the reality behind a cynic. I created a backstory for him which explains his behaviour and also allows him to develop a friendship with Catherine, once they come to know each other better after Catherine’s engagement. I don’t want to say any more because I don’t want to spoil it, but I really enjoyed writing it.

I think we’re left at the end of Northanger Abbey with a divided extended family—the General isolated from his children, and a lot of awkwardness between Catherine and her former BFF Isabella. How do you think everyone will get on in future?

The General is reconciled to his children when the young man Eleanor wants to marry inherits a fortune and title – “never had the general loved his daughter so well in all her hours of companionship, utility, and patient endurance as when he first hailed her Your Ladyship!” (last chapter of Northanger Abbey). And through Eleanor’s good offices, he is reconciled to Henry and Catherine’s match. So although he will never be close to his children, he will at least be invited for Christmas, or vice versa! And in Henry Tilney’s Diary, I have him reconciled to Frederick as well, even though he hurt Frederick a great deal when Frederick was a young man.

As for Catherine and Isabelle, I don’t believe they will ever see each other again. They will move out of each other’s lives, and a good thing, too.  

What research did you do for the book?  

I read Northanger Abbey again very carefully, once to put myself back into the mood of the book and then again to make detailed notes on names, places etc. Then I worked out the timeline for the book and drew up a calendar of events. And then I set about reading some of Mrs. Radcliffe’s Gothic novels again, to choose one for Henry and Eleanor to read together in the early part of the book. I wanted to use The Mysteries of Udolpho, but somehow it didn’t gel – I wanted to use some actual quotes from the book, to give readers a flavour of the Regency Gothics, and the story of Udolpho didn’t fit. So I read through about half a dozen other Gothics until I came to A Sicilian Romance, which has a plot that beautifully complements Northanger Abbey and paves the way for Catherine’s wild imaginings. As to the other side of research – the historical detail side – I’ve written so many Regency novels that I now have files of notes I can turn to when I’m not sure about something, but for the most part I can move comfortably in that world because I’m familiar with it.

Who would your dreamteam movie cast be for the book? 

Although I generally think of English actors for Austen characters, I actually think that Bradley Cooper would make a good Henry. I would choose Sophie McShera for Catherine. She plays Daisy the kitchen maid in Downton Abbey and I think she would have just the right mixture of naïveté and innocence for Catherine. Plus it would give the actress a chance to wear some better frocks!

For Eleanor I would choose Carey Mulligan. She played Isabella in the recent TV adaptation of Northanger Abbey, but she’s a very versatile actress and I think she would also play Eleanor very well. For Frederick I would choose Rob James-Collier for Frederick. He plays Thomas in Downton Abbey – can you tell I’m obsessed with Downton Abbey? – and is perfect for a sleazy lothario, but I also think he’s capable of giving depth to the character, which is perfect for my view of Frederick.

So let's get chatting! Have you read Northanger Abbey? Who's your favorite Austen hero (other than Darcy)?

Farces, Romps and Giveaway!

2011-12-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

During the Regency, farces were short comic plays, generally performed after a full length drama on the same evening. But I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with Regency farces as I am with modern ones.

When I saw a TV rerun of the 1968 film version of “A Flea in Her Ear”, written by George Feydeau in 1907, with Rex Harrison and Rosemary Harris, I loved it: the mistaken identities, the timing, the sheer silliness. Since then I’ve seen a few live farces. The funniest of them is “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn, what he called a “farce from behind”, in which a troupe of actors stumble catastrophically through a farce and their mistakes are funnier than what was originally intended.

I like Regency romps too: romances that take some of those elements of farce and combine them with a love story. I’d call many of Georgette Heyer’s Regencies romps. Barbara Metzger did a great job with this type of story. In historical romance, Julia Quinn and Loretta Chase have written some fantastic Regency romps. It’s this sort of blend of romance and humor that I aimed for in THE REDWYCK CHARM, the second book in my “Three Disgraces” series, in which the heroine masquerades as an opera dancer and the hero pretends to be a rake.

Do you enjoy farces and romps? What are some of your favorites?

I’ll be giving away 5 Kindle copies of THE REDWYCK CHARM to commenters chosen at random. If you win, you can also nominate a friend to receive a free copy. Void where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Post your comment by midnight EST on December 16. I will post an announcement on Saturday, December 17, so please check back to see if you have won.

And here’s a clip from the South Coast Repertory Company’s production of “Noises Off”.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Charge Me Up

2011-12-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

As Amanda commented in her post earlier this week, it's been a challenging year. But, then again, is any year not challenging?

This weekend is my annual Megan is Alone weekend, where the Frampton Boys head out of town and leave me by my lonesome. I plan to read, sleep, work out, and write.

I love this time alone. I really need time by myself to recharge (some people require other people to get more energy--I think those people are strange creatures whom I envy).

Earlier this week, I got the news from my editor that the revisions for Vanity Fare were accepted, so that work is all done. I've got some other projects I am working on, but nothing that is all pickmepickmepickme! so I might open a document here, fix a word there, add a few sentences, but not sit down, nose-to-grindstone.

It's weird, in fact, not to have something to do every single minute of every single day. I bet this is how some of our heroines felt most of the time, hence the looking forward to a huge treat for days in advance. And speaking of our heroines, I recently reread The Ideal Wife by Mary Balogh, and it sure stood up in revisiting. My heart got squozen when the heroine doubted herself, and the handsome, honorable, tolerant hero was almost too perfect. I loved him.

This is a very all over the place post, but that's how my mind is going, so there you go.

How do you recharge?

Megan

The Unexpected Miss Bennet

2011-12-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

As part of our Austen birthday celebrations, we're delighted to welcome Patrice Sarath, author of The Unexpected Miss Bennett.

“It is a comforting belief among much of society, that a plain girl with a small fortune must have no more interest in matrimony than matrimony has in her.”

The third of five daughters, Miss Mary Bennet is a rather unremarkable girl. With her countenance being somewhere between plain and pretty and in possession of no great accomplishments, few expect the third Bennet daughter to attract a respectable man. But although she is shy and would much prefer to keep her nose stuck in a book, Mary is uncertain she wants to meekly follow the path to spinsterhood set before her...

What an engaging and endearing tale about Mary Bennet! I loved witnessing her gradual transformation, her realization that she can never be something she isn't, and her newfound understanding of men and relationships. Yes, there is romance in this story! And the hero is just as unexpectedly charming as Mary Bennet!—Austenesque Reviews

Mary Bennet! What appealed to you about her? Austen isn't very kind to her.

No, Austen was not kind to Mary at all. I don’t think she saw Mary or Kitty as fully fleshed characters. They were more types. Remember that awful scene in P&P where Mary rushes to the piano to show off? I felt so horrible for her even while I understood Lizzy’s embarrassment. But I liked Mary for all that. I saw a book-loving middle sister who wanted attention and was shy and socially awkward.   

I've always wondered why Mr. Collins didn't choose Mary--it's certainly something that's been hinted at in movies. Any ideas?

Austen was writing social commentary rather than romance. The reason that Mr. Collins ended up marrying Charlotte is so that Charlotte can exemplify the terrible situation women of Austen’s era found themselves in. If you were very very lucky you married a man for love or at least respect and were well taken care of. But more than likely you had to make a very pragmatic match and you had very few options. And Charlotte looks around pragmatically at her situation and moves in, snaring Mr. Collins to secure herself a position. Charlotte has that great speech about men and women and being sure of one’s potential suitor and Lizzy rejects her argument, but I think in that moment, Austen herself was speaking through Charlotte.

Of course, that just left the field open to me. I decided to write about exactly why Mr. Collins never saw Mary as a potential wife and had a lot of fun with it.   

I've always suspected it was because Lady Catherine wouldn't see Mary as suitable wife material! What made you change genres from fantasy to Austen-related fiction?

I didn’t make a permanent shift. I am still writing fantasy, both with the continuation of my current series and the new projects I’m working on. But I read in all genres and see no reason not to write in all of them. I don’t want to limit myself.   

How do you handle the Austen worldbuilding--any favorite research books or sites?

Oh goodness, Shades of Pemberley is one of the best sites out there. I also visited Jane Austen’s house in Chawton, went to Bath, and read and reread all of her books looking for phrasing, word choices, slice of life vignettes so I could get at what it was like to live back then (Emma is best for this by the way) and things like that. I am not a research hound but I try to know and understand more than ends up in the book.   

I'm an Emma fan too. Which is your favorite Austen?

I knew you would ask that! My favorite is Pride & Prejudice. But Austen’s best book is Persuasion, and there are bits of it that edge out P&P for sheer enjoyment.   

We're celebrating Austen on and off this month at the Riskies since her birthday falls on 16th. What are you doing to celebrate?

I’m taking part in Austen’s Birthday Soiree, which is being hosted by Maria Grazia of My Jane Austen Book Club. But here’s the funny thing. Even before I wrote The Unexpected Miss Bennet, I’ve always noted Jane Austen’s birthday on the calendar. You know how in January you fill in all the birthdays and anniversaries for the family on the new calendar? Well, Jane Austen, Joan of Arc, John Lennon, and random celebrities have always been written in. So in a way, I’ve always celebrated and lifted a glass to her on the 16th.   

What's next for you?

The most recent project is underway; it’s a modern fantasy. I’m also editing my third book in my Gordath Wood series, which reboots the series from a different character’s point of view, and her adventures in a fantasy world. Also, I have Kitty’s story yet to tell, but I need to find exactly the right way to get to the truth behind her character, as I did with Mary.

Thank you for the opportunity to visit with you on Risky Regencies.

What do you think of Mary Bennett? Or is there any other minor Austen character whose story you'd like to learn? Your comment or question enters you into a drawing for a copy of the book, so let's get chatting!

Which Regency Hero Should You Marry - A Quiz

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this works. There are five possible answers to select for each question!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com | SnapApp Quiz Apps

Tis A Few Weeks Til Christmas

2011-12-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

So I heard on the radio this morning that we have 19 shopping days left until Christmas!! How did this happen?? The year slipped past while I was not watching. I had a, shall we say, challenging year, and have just started to feel pretty much completely normal again, but it does seem to me like it ought to just be time for Halloween. Not Christmas.

But Christmas will come whether we expect it or not. So how have I been getting ready for it? Well, I have to finish two books and a novella by the end of February (one of those books right after Christmas!) so that is the main way I am spending my holiday. Isn't the Christmas spirit all about yelling at uncooperative characters and beating one's head against the desk? Luckily there is online shopping for gifts, and also looking at Cake Wrecks and Go Fug Yourself.

I will get out some of my favorite holiday movies to watch (like Love Actually), decorate the tree, burn my new Marshmallow Peppermint and Dark Mint Chocolate candles from Bath & Body Works, and look at my pretty new party dress. I am also going to see The Nutcracker this weekend (haven't been in years, so I am very excited!)--I love to see the little girls in their velvet dresses, so excited to be at their first ballet. I will get out some of my Christmas anthologies and re-read some novellas. And on Christmas Eve, there will be my family and my dad's "famous" margaritas, guaranteed to make even the most frazzled writer feel much, much better...

Last weekend my mother and I made Christmas candy to give as gifts, which is time-consuming (and I usually end up sugar-sick) but is totally worth it. It reminds me of holidays when I was a little kid and would sit in the kitchen watching my grandmother do her holiday baking (she would let me stir the bowls and eat the samples). This Christmas especially I am grateful to be here and spending time with people I love, doing things I love. And that includes writing, which I love even when I hate it. :)

Here is one of the candy recipes we make. It could not be easier, and it's very yummy:

Christmas Bonbons
1 stick butter
2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1 can Angel Flake coconut
Tsp vanilla Chopped pecans
Chopped maraschino cherries

Mix these up, refrigerate until chilled. Then form into little balls.

1/4 pound paraffin
Large package chocolate chips (I use dark!)

Melt in double broiler, and dip coconut balls in. Let them harden, and you're done! (The pecans and cherries are optional--you can really use anything that sounds yummy to you)

What are you doing to get ready for the holidays? What are you grateful for this winter season?? And what movies do you always get out to watch this time of year?

Christmas Pudding or Omigosh I Missed Stir Up Sunday

2011-12-05T00:04:00.000-08:00

Stir Up Sunday is the Sunday before Advent begins, when, according to the Book of Common Prayer, the prayers begin:

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord the wills of thy faithful people, that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Traditionally, the prayer read at Church was supposed to remind cooks that they should mix up their Christmas pudding.

This year Stir Up Sunday would have been on Nov 27, so I am a week late and my pudding will not be ready for Christmas.

To us Americans, pudding is some chocolate or vanilla or banana custard-like dessert, but English pudding is a mixture of lots of different ingredients, including some grain product.

In the Regency, meats such as beef or veal could be added to sugar, raisins, sherry, lemon, orange, prunes (the dried plums that give plum pudding its name), cinnamon, cloves, brown bread, and such unfamiliar (to me) ingredients as cochineal (a food dye made from insects), suet, sack (a wine from the Canary Isles), hock (another wine), and treacle (a sugar syrup).

Into the mixture was stirred a coin (for wealth), a ring (for marriage) and a thimble (for blessedness. Each member of the family stirred the mixture and made a wish. The mixture was then boiled in a cloth for hours, and hung on a hook to dry until Christmas.

On Christmas day, the pudding was covered with warm brandy and set aflame, making it a dramatic and exciting addition to the Christmas dinner.

If you would like to make a Christmas pudding for your Christmas the Regency way, you are too late, because it has to age to get the best effect and flavor. But never fear! Modern technology comes to the rescue:

And while you are waiting for your Christmas Pudding to be ready, you can play the Harlequin Historical Author's Holiday Giveaway, based on the Advent calendar. We started a couple days after Stir Up Sunday and are going strong until Dec 23. Enter each day for chances to win daily prizes and for the most chances to win the grand prize of a Kindle Fire. If you've missed some days, go back and catch up. You'll miss some prizes but not the grand prize.

What special "pudding" (aka dessert) do you make for the holiday season?

Carols and Winners!

2011-12-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

In the past, I've taken the Unplug the Christmas Machine workshop, designed to help people focus on what is personally meaningful during the holidays, rather than burn out trying to do it all. For me, music is essential. Last week, I attended the “Lessons and Carols” concert with our local Madrigal Choir, who often perform older, less well known carols. If like me, you are tired of “Carol of the Bells” being used to sell cars and electronic gadgets, you might want to check out some of these videos for a taste of an earlier, less commercialized Christmas.

The first Christmas carols to appear in English were in a 1426 work by John Awdley, who listed 25 “caroles of Cristemas". Carols were sung by wassailers who went from house to house and also as part of mystery plays. The carols were often only loosely based on the Christmas story and considered entertainment more than a religious practice.

Here’s an example, “The Cherry Tree/10 Joys of Mary” performed by Nowell Sing We Clear, a group devoted to preserving these early Christmas carols. I’ve seen them and they put on a great show.

Here is a performance of the Coventry Carol by the Westminster Cathedral Choir. This is part of a 16th century mystery play, depicting the Massacre of the Innocents when Herod ordered all male infants in Bethlehem to be killed. It makes me cry, but I believe stories like these are an important reminder to be compassionate during this season.

Cromwell and the Puritans tried to suppress the singing of carols, but not surprisingly, did not succeed. Carol singing survived into “our” period and carols continued to be composed and recorded. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was first listed in a 1760 broadsheet and is probably older than that. Here’s a performance at King’s College, Cambridge.

By the Regency, many Christmas customs were considered rustic and weren’t practiced by the upper classes. Our Regency romance characters gathering around a Christmas tree to sing carols, though not impossible, wouldn’t have been the common thing. While Queen Charlotte did have a Christmas tree at Windsor in 1800, that custom and the singing of carols (especially in church) were more a Victorian thing.

But the process did begin during the Regency. Already, some people longed for simpler, bygone traditions. Some began to create collections of Christmas carols, Davies Gilbert with “Christmas Carols” published in 1822 and William Sandys with “Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern” published in 1833. During that period and later, old carols were revived and many new ones composed.

Here’s “Gaudete” performed by the John Brown University Cathedral Choir. “Gaudete” is from “Piae Cantiones”, a compilation of Finnish and Swedish sacred songs which was published in 1582 but only came to England in 1853. So it’s not Regency at all but I’m including it because I love it!

Another favorite of mine is “Masters in this Hall”. I thought it was older, being fooled by the fact that it is based on an old French dance tune, but the lyrics were written by William Morris in 1860.

What do you think of these? What are your favorite carols? How do you try to “unplug” Christmas?

And congratulations to the following winners of the Kindle ebook of THE INCORRIGIBLE LADY CATHERINE. Please send your email address, and if you wish, the email address of a friend who might enjoy a copy, to elena @ elenagreene.com (no spaces).

Jacqueline Seewald

Keira Soleore

Margay

Shelley Munro

librarypat

Happy holidays!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Wimpy, or Just Overthinking?

2011-12-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

The past 24 hours, I've been devouring EL James's Fifty Shades of Grey, a book that was recommended to me by a reader whose opinion I respect. One of the reasons I thought I'd like it is that even though it is an erotic BDSM book, its characters have issues. Like, serious issues.

In other words, the characters are like me. And I like that.

I think it started with quiet, plain Jane Eyre; I definitely identified with that character, even though I wondered why she didn't just settle for foxy St. John Rivers. Later on, of course, I was all about the fun of getting Mr. Rochester, external damage added to his internal damage.

But in reading some opinions of Fifty Shades, I saw some people thought the heroine was wishy-washy, insecure, and self-obsessed. Um, again--like me. I like characters like that, characters who don't make the right choices, think they're the center of the universe even if they absolutely know they're not, characters who think and overthink and think again.

Which, being that kind of post, leads back to me. I've just sent in a revision for my upcoming book, and in re-reading it, I am guessing many, many people will hate my heroine. I wish they wouldn't, but they will--she's self-absorbed, neurotic, self-questioning, insecure, and self-deprecating. Ahem.

That's not to say I don't appreciate the feisty, says-what's-on-her-mind heroine; I do. I just have that much more of a step back in my perspective of viewing her, so it takes that much more for an author to get me into her heroine's head. Usually, that happens, although sometimes I do wonder what the heroine was thinking to rush into danger like that.

Do you like reading characters who are similar to you? Do you notice?

Megan

Holiday Daze and The Things You Learn

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving is recovering from their feasts.

This year we brined our turkey and let me just say this is the first year ever when we did not have dry turkey. I also made pumpkin pie (from fresh pumpkin) and pumpkin bread (with and without cranberries). I also put whipped cream in my coffee for as long as the whipped cream lasted. I want more.

Chimneys

I have been unable to stop thinking about my post from last week in which I went off the deep end with the inventory of the contents of Fonthill. The reference to "chimney glass" continued to nag at me. So did "chimney ornaments" so back I went to Google and now I have a few more things to share.

First this:

Antique Chimney from Jamb

I came across Jamb which aside from being a beautiful website, is also a fantastic resource for chimney information and pictures. As well as lots of other things.

Any way, chimney glass is as you might have guessed, a mirror set above the chimney, though usually, from what I gather, in a large plate. If you were looking to cut corners, you might devise a decorative panel between the ceiling and the top of the chimney glass so you didn't have to use as much glass. For quite some time, in rooms that needed to impress, the chimney glass went from mantle to ceiling.

At Fonthill, the South Bed Chamber contained: A chimney glass in a white frame, 2 plates 31 by 16 (I am pretty sure that's inches, not feet, but 62 inches by 28 is darn big). In the Turkish room, there was this: A ditto [french plate glass] over the chimney, Seventy-three Inches By Fifty-nine, in a blind frame.

If you go back to the Turkish room inventory, most of the room that wasn't windows was covered with mirrors. (Gee, I wonder why? They wouldn't have done anything naughty in there would they? Nah.)

Chinmey Ornaments

Chimney ornaments on the other hand, are much more fun. They were, more or less, brik-a-bak for your mantle. They might be brass (such as a flat brass fiddler) or porcelain -- one writer made a rather snide remark about all the porcelain Buddhas from China. They were also a source of craftwork for women. Things to make with which to decorate the mantle. There were also numerous instructions for making chimney ornaments from vegetables -- cutting off the top of a carrot and letting the green part grow, for example as well as a recipe for crystalizing objects for the mantle using alum. You might crystalize a rose, for example, or any number of decoratively arranged objects from nature.

Fonthill, by the way lists: Two India and 3 china chimney ornaments so really, I think you could have anything there. Tasteful or otherwise.

Questions for the Risky Among you

So, if you were a rich Regency lady, what kind of chimney ornaments would YOU make? Or would you save your pennies and buy them? Would you give a crystalized rose to your beau?

Also, just curious, what would YOU do in the Turkish Room and who would be there to party with you?

Happy Anniversary Shakespeare!

2011-11-29T01:09:00.000-08:00

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?? Did you eat wonderful food and spend time with friends and relatives? Did you do any Black Friday shopping? (I did all my weekend shopping online...). Did you read any good books??? I have been writing, reading (The Night Circus, which is terrific), and getting out Christmas decorations. But today I'm taking time out to show you my new covers!! I am so excited about them.

They're the first two books in my new Laurel McKee series for Grand Central, the Victorian-set "The Scandalous St. Claires," about a notorious underworld family of gamesters, actors, and rakes, and their centuries-old feud with a ducal family (begun by a romance gone bad, and now ended by new romances):

They will be out in June and December of next year! You can pre-order One Naughty Night here...

I also wanted to say Happy Anniversary to William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, who were (possibly) married on November 28 in 1582. At the time Anne was 26 and Will was 18 (below the age of consent, scandal!), and Anne was pregnant (not uncommon--it's estimated that 1/3 of Tudor era brides were pregnant before the wedding). On Nov. 28, two husbandmen of Stratford called Sandells and Richardson were sureties for 40 pounds in the consistory court of Worcester so the marriage of "William Shagspeare and Anne Hathwey" could go forward with only one publication of the banns. They were married at St. Andrew's Church at Temple Grafton, about 5 miles from Stratford (possibly--see this link for more info...). The couple moved in with Shakespeare's family and 6 months later their daughter Susanna was born. No details are known about the clothes or music, it was probably very quiet.

More wedding info can be found here

And some Elizabethan wedding customs here...

What historical wedding would you like to attend? What are some wedding customs you especially enjoy (or think we could so without)???

The Harlequin Historical Authors Holiday Giveaway!

2011-11-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

I just had to share this with our Risky Regencies readers!

The Harlequin Historical Authors Holiday Giveaway is back. And you can win a Kindle Fire! In the spirit of an Advent calendar, we Harlequin Historical authors are giving away daily prizes and a Grand Prize of a Kindle Fire. Starting November 29--That's TOMORROW!!--play every day for daily prizes and more chances to win the grand prize.

Each participating author will have an activity planned for their special day. You may be asked to comment on a blog, find an ornament, or visit a Facebook page. Just click on the calendar to reach that author's giveaway. (Or click on the author's name below)

For each day you participate, your name will be entered into the Grand Prize drawing. On December 23, one entrant from all the calendar days will be randomly selected to win the Kindle. The more days you visit, the better your chances!

"What if I miss a bunch of the days," you ask. Don't worry. You can go back, enter on each day, and catch up. You might miss some daily prizes but you can still have multiple chances to win the Kindle Fire.

"What if I live in a country that doesn't have access to Kindle Fire?" you also ask. No problem. If you win, we'll substitute a Kindle you can use.

The promotion is open to U.S., United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and European countries where a Kindle may be shipped.

My day is Friday Dec 2. Because I'm at the first of the month, I'm going to have both a prize--a $10 Amazon gift certificate-- for that day and a prize--another $10 Amazon gift certificate-- at the end of the contest. Come to my website on Dec. 2 to enter. Amanda's day is Dec. 21.

Official rules and eligibility

Participating Authors

November 29 - Michelle Willingham

November 30 - Elizabeth Rolls

December 1 - Charlene Sands

December 2 - Diane Gaston

December 3 - Annie Burrows

December 5 - Elaine Golden

December 6 - Barbara Monajem

December 7 - Michelle Styles

December 8 - Deborah Hale

December 9 - Marguerite Kaye

December 10 - Lynna Banning

December 12 - Carol Townend

December 13 - Blythe Gifford

December 14 - Julia Justiss

December 15 - Terri Brisbin

December 16 - Ann Lethbridge

December 17 - Bronwyn Scott

December 19 - Sarah Mallory

December 20 - Kate Bridges

December 21 - Amanda McCabe

December 22 - Jeannie Lin

December 23 - Grand Prize Drawing

Favorite Places and Giveaway

2011-11-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

This week, the ebook edition of The Incorrigible Lady Catherine, the first of my “Three Disgraces” series, went live.

Catherine is the most flawed heroine I’ve written so far and she’s drawn a lot of mixed reactions. In any case, readers have loved the hero, Philip. He’s been described as the perfect Beta hero. The way I see it, he’s a strong man to deal with a mess like Catherine.

This is a story about healing and since I often seek healing in nature, I decided to set it in one of the most beautiful places I visited in the UK: the English Lake District, near Ullswater, where Wordsworth was inspired to write his famous poem about the daffodils. My husband and I paddled around it in a canoe, enjoying the play of light and shadow cast by scudding clouds over the hillsides, until rain forced us back to shore.

We also hiked to see Aira Force, a waterfall that the characters visit in the story and that is featured on the new cover.

Below is a picture of Castlerigg Stone Circle. Since I have this fascination with “old rocks”, I invented a similar fictional stone circle and set it on Philip’s lands.

I’ve set other stories in Kent and Sussex (where I lived during my assignment). I’ve also used the Cotswolds and Cornwall. I have a story in the idea file that would feature the North York Moors.

What are some of your favorite places, in the UK or elsewhere? Where would you like to see more stories set?

I’ll be giving away 5 Kindle copies of The Incorrigible Lady Catherine to commenters chosen at random. If you win, you can also nominate a friend to receive a free copy. Void where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Post your comment by midnight EST on December 2. I will post an announcement on Saturday, December 3, so please check back to see if you have won.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Black and Ivory: Judith Ivory's Black Silk

2011-11-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

A recently-widowed woman, who was in love with her much older husband, meets her husband's relative, a notorious rake who is currently embroiled in a paternity lawsuit and is basically co-habitating with his married mistress.

The hero and heroine--the widow and the rake--don't kiss until the book is way more than three-quarters done, don't have sex until the last fragment of the book, and he receives a certain type of attention from his mistress more than halfway through the book.

Sounds risky, right? Like a self-published book that was self-pubbed because the author couldn't find a home for it in traditional publishing?

It does sound like it--but it's Judith Ivory's Black Silk, published by Berkley in 1991, and republished in 2002.

I read Black Silk way back when I first returned to romance, and I know I liked it at the time, but I'm not sure I appreciated it as fully as I should have. I never, ever re-read, so this was a big deal for me to pick up again--but I knew I was in the mood for something perilously close to literary fiction, but with a happy ending, and I knew Ivory, especially her early books, would suit. Plus it had been so long my memory was hazy with what exactly had happened during the course of the book. I just knew I liked it.

At the end, when Graham finds Submit (yes--that's the heroine's name) and bares his soul, the language is practically elegaic:

"I love soft saddles and mean horses and bright, booming fireworks that end in a rain of sparkling ash. I would love to roll around on the floor with all of these, touching them with the most sensitive parts of my body. But the truth is, none of them are really as good for fucking as the woman I love. And you're it."

Later on, she's trying to pull away from him--after that declaration, even!--and he says,

"Submit, listen to me. There are probably good reasons why we shouldn't be together. But the overriding fact is I love you, and you love me--you need me. I can keep your life form becoming hopelessly earthbound. And I need you, as sure as leaps in the air need gravity."

Whoa. Who could resist that? I couldn't--and luckily for our Happy Ending, neither can Submit. Black Silk is a rarity, a risk-taking book that succeeds in what it attempts, a literary fiction book masquerading as a romance, a delicious tour de force from an immensely-talented hand.

Besides our books, what books have taken risks that you've loved?

Happy thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Here are my guidelines for a successful Thanksgiving gathering:

Eat too much
Don't eat too much
Try a bit of everything
Ignore the nephew who eats with his mouth open
When you go around the table sharing what you're thankful for, don't say "Prozac"
Tolerate Uncle Ted's stories about body parts you'd rather not hear about
Smile nicely at the rabid vegan niece who wants to educate everyone about the realities of turkey farming
If asked when you'll write a real book, respond "When will you?"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and for those who don't celebrate the day, remember the weekend is almost upon us.

Party in the Turkish Room (At Fonthill)!

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

I came across this in Stegman's The Rule Of Taste:

[S]ince, however, Fonthill was not a cathedral but a house it was inevitable that it should be pronounced eccentric and looked on, if not with amazement certainly with suspicion, just as [George] Beckford must have appeared suspicious to his neighbors, a man who, inheriting a fine mansion, should pull down that mansion and build another and a greater, might be thought extravagant, but when he proceeded to pull that down in turn and replace it by yet another, and even larger, and with, moreover, a soaring tower, employing two armies of workmen laboring alternately by day and by night (the tower collapsed immediately it was completed, and was promptly put up again,) then beyond doubt he must be thought eccentric; finally, for a man so wealthy and so evidently original to live alone in celibate aloofness was in the highest degree suspicious.

So, first, hella long sentence there, buddy!

Apparently, if Mr. Beckford had done all this but slept with the maids and local virgins and held parties, that would not have been suspicious at all.

I have a question for you guys at the end, so check it out.

Ah, to be Stinking Rich

Beckford, in case you don't know, inherited 100,000 pounds. According to Stegman, he wrote Vathek (That's a whole 'nother post) in French in one sitting over the course of three days and two nights. (p84, fn 1) Also according to Stegman, he sold the house in 1822 for 330,000 pounds. The tower collapsed shortly after the sale because it had no foundations. The contractor was a cheat, it seems. The house was torn down shortly after the sale.

More Stuff

Google books is a goldmine, and I highly suggest a search for “Fonthill”, limiting your search to 1800-1825. There's poetry and list of the books in the library.Here's a link to the list of the contents being auctioned off in 1801.Ever wonder what kind of rooms these big old houses had? Here's a few:

Dining Parlour
Turkish Room
Library
Grand Entrance Hall
Tapestry Room
Great Dining Room
State Dressing Room
State Bed Chamber
Great Saloon
Cabinet Anti Room
Picture Gallery
Small Anti Room
Right hand Attic
Left Hand Attic
West Corner Bedroom
East Corner Bedroom
Bedroom adjoining

Here's a list of the contents of another of the bedrooms:

SOUTH CORNER BEDCHAMBER.

A blowing stove, shovel, tongs, poker, fender and hearth broom
A 5 foot 6 mahogany bedstead, with carved feet posts, double screwed, with quilted chintz furniture, lined with blue silk and fringed
A goose featherbed, bolster and 2 ticken pillows
A check mattress and 2 white ditto
Four white calico window curtains, 3 breadths, 10 feet long, with laths, lines and pins
Four white Holland spring blinds, with lines and tassels
A 3 feet 2 feet bedstead with white dimity furniture
A featherbed, bolster and 1 pillow filled with goose feathers
A white mattress, 3 blankets and a counterpane
A mahogany GUARDROBE, 8 feet wide and 8 feet 6 high, with sliding shelves and 4 drawers in the middle part, the two wings lined with green baize, 2 rods and 12 brass hooks to hang clothes on
A mahogany chamber table, a deal top for ditto and a pembroke table with 4 drawers
A mahogany chest night stool with brass corner plates
A neat inlaid French bedside table with cupboard, ornamented with ormolu
A ditto its companion
A mahogany chamber table with a drawer at the end, and a dressing glass with 3 drawers in a swing frame
A wainscot two-flap table, with 2 drawers, a dressing stool with cushion and case, a small glass in a mahogany swing frame and a mahogany stool
A pair of japanned and gilt fire screen stands, with Barre silk fan screens and 2 small mahogany chairs covered with striped hair cloth
Eight chairs neatly japanned with drapery backs and cane seats
A Kidderminster carpet to cover the room, 23 feet by 19 feet 6, exclusive of chimney
A pier glass in a rich carved and burnished gold frame, in two plates, bottom plate 43 by 37, top plate 37 by 26, and glass borders
A chimney glass in a white frame, 2 plates 31 by 16, and a dressing glass in a japanned frame
An inlaid pier table ornamented with ormolu
A neat inlaid work table en suite

Various KITCHEN And Other FURNITURE REMOVED FROM THE LOFTS.

Two copper kettles with covers and cocks and a still
A large pot and cover and a turbot kettle, plate and cover
An oval fish kettle, plate and cover, a stewpan and cover, 5 saucepans and 2 covers
Two large saucepans and covers and 3 stewpans and odd covers
Six French stewpans and covers and 2 cullenders
Four French stewpans and 2 covers, a frying pan and cover, 2 cullenders and sundry pieces of copper
An oval stewpan, a warming pan, a fish drainer, 2 brass skillets, 2 skimmers, 2 spoons, a bell metal mortar, pestle and a dredger
Two preserving pans, a bronze tea urn, a frying pan, 2 gridirons and 5 odd covers
Five pewter dishes, a fish drainer, 8 plates, 4 high iron candlesticks, a bronze tea urn, 2 tin stewpans and covers, a candlebox, a trumpet and a double gridiron
Eighteen stove trivets, part of the iron work of a copper, a large gridiron, a smaller ditto, 2 footmen, 3 beef forks, a pair of steak tongs, a cleaver and a charring dish
Two high charring dishes, 2 hand ditto, a pair of dogs, a round fender, a pigrron; a salamander, 3 jack chains and £ round stoves
Three tin fenders, and 3 iron ditto, large spits and sundry tin ware
Twenty tin steam kettles, a lark roaster, sundry tin paste and patty moulds and a quantity of tin ware
A German stove and pipe, 2 baking tins, 4 mahogany dish stands, a cheese ditto, 58 blanc-manger and pudding moulds
Two iron fenders, 2 steel ditto, 4 fire shovels, 3 pokers,2 pair of tongs, 2 high brass candlesticks, 10 pair of bellows and sundry lamp stands

TURKISH ROOM.

The BARRE SATTIN HANGINGS of the ROOM containing about 205 yards, fringed, with a rich silk fringe, with gold and silk Bullions
A superbe Ottoman Sofa with the return from the door to the chimney, 2 squabs, 9 back cushions, 3 seat ditto and 2 bolsters, filled with hair, in canvas, covered with Barre sattin, trimmed with silk fringe, a set of cotton and a set of dimity cases, compleat
A DITTO, en suite with the preceding, from the glass with the return to the chimney, and 2 sets of cases
Six Stools, gilt in burnished gold, covered with Barre sattin, finished with gold welt and silk fringe with white dimity cases
A pair of Superlatively Elegant TRIPODS, formed a la Turque, exquisitely carved and gilt in a superior and expensive stile, designed by Boilieu
A capital Axminster Carpet, maroon ground, with a coloured border, 20 ft. 3 by 19 ft. 9, exclusive of chimney and windows, and a piece for the door way
A brilliant French Plate of Glass between the windows Ninety-eight Inches By Forty-eight, in a blind frame
A ditto, facing the door, Eighty-seven Inches By Forty-five, and a carved and gilt frame round the sides and top
A ditto over the chimney, Seventy-three Inches By Fifty-nine, in a blind frame
Two white Holland spring blinds and a hearth rug
Two pair of sashes, glazed, with 16 squares of plate glass, 22 by 19, and 2 pair of window shutters, with the suffcit, richly carved, gilt and painted, by Feuglet
Four Paintings on the cielings [sic], (by Boileau) the architrave, mouldings, and all the carved and gilt wood ornaments on ditto

LIBRARY.

Three lilac sattin festoon window curtains, lined, 10 ft. 9 long, with laths, lines and pins, compleat
Three pair of door curtains to match the last lot, 7 ft. long with brass rods
Four stools, carved and gilt, in burnished gold, the tops, stuffed and covered with sattin, with white dimity cases
A Brussels Carpet to cover the room, 22 ft. 6 by 19 ft. 6, exclusive of fire place and windows
Two India and 3 china chimney ornaments
Two bookcase doors with wire work and mahogany tops in 2 windows
Three mahogany doors with wire work west side of the room
Three ditto and 2 pair facing windows
Six ditto fronting the chimney and 2 ditto on return of side room
A neat inlaid sattin wood oval Pembroke Table with a drawer on castors
Three white Holland spring blinds and a hearth rug
A marble bust of Homer, on an inlaid marble pedestal
A ditto of Virgil on ditto
A 45 inch Bath stove, shovel, tongs, poker and fender
An elegant sattin wood Library Table, inlaid and banded, the top covered with red Morocco leather
Two small tables, on rich carved and gilt frames, 20 by 12

Question for You

So, having perused this, tell me in the comments what you thought/imagined/desperately desired as you read the various lists.

Me, I say, PARTY IN THE TURKISH ROOM!

Cara Elliott Winner!

2011-11-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

The winner of Cara Elliott's Too Wicked To Wed is...Leanne! Congratulations! Please send us your contact info at Riskies AT yahoo.com...

Thanksgiving Things

2011-11-22T01:03:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is ready for the Thanksgiving holiday this week! I--well, I am not, but then the holidays always have a way of sneaking up on me. I am going to the shops today to stock up on groceries and do a little preliminary Christmas shopping, and then will spend the rest of the week eating turkey leftovers and arguing with my family (in a fun way of course, LOL!).

In the meantime, what went on in history on November 22? Lots of good things, it turns out:

Henry Purcell (one of my favorite composers) had a premier in London, of a piece called "Welcome to all the pleasures" (apropos for the holidays!)

Benjamin Britten was born in 1913

Man of La Mancha had its premier in 1965

And one of my favorite authors, George Eliot, was born in 1819. Let's take the opportunity to look at Rufus Sewell, one reason to really be thankful this year!

And if you have company the day after Thanksgiving and they are still hungry, my friend swears by this French bread casserole recipe from Paula Deen:

Ingredients

1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
Butter, for pan
8 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt
Praline Topping, recipe follows
Raspberry Syrup, recipe follows

Directions

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch thick each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 45 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with Raspberry Syrup.

Praline Topping:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Spread over bread as directed above.

Raspberry Syrup:

1 cup raspberry preserves

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur (recommended: Framboise)

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until warm and thinned out like syrup.

How is your holiday week going? Heard any good music or made any good recipes??

Thanks for the Regency

2011-11-21T06:24:00.000-08:00

This is Thanksgiving week and a time to be thinking of all the things for which we are grateful. I've had many blessings in my life. Family and friends are chief among them. I thought it would be fun to look at some "Regency" things that make me grateful.

Thank you for.....

1. Jane Austen.

Without Jane and her wonderful books would this time period be thought of as a setting for romantic historical fiction?

2. Georgette Heyer.

Heyer made the time period come alive. For Jane, the Regency (or late Georgian era, to be specific) was contemporary and it would not have occurred to her to make it part of the appeal of her books. Heyer, writing later, embraced the era and made it come alive with great wit and cleverness.

3. The Drama.

The few short years of the Regency were filled with drama, the fodder of a novelist. With a mad king, a frivolous Prince Regent, social unrest, a war with Napoleon, and even dramatic weather (the year without a summer in 1816; the last Frost Fair in 1814), few eras could compete.

4. The People.

Think of all the larger than life figures who inhabited the Regency: The Duke of Wellington, still revered as a national hero (and by me... and Kristine Hughes). The Prince Regent, almost the polar opposite of Wellington. Lord Sidmouth, the force behind the repression of social protest, Lord Castlereagh, Foreign Secretary who, at the Congress of Vienna, brought peace and order to Europe and who tragically killed himself. Literary people, like Austen, naughty Byron, Shelley, Keats, Sir Walter Scott. Personalities like Harriette Wilson and Beau Brummell. The list goes on.

5. The Beauty.

Beautiful fashions for women, starting in the late Georgian era, stopping short of the excesses of the Victorian era. Beautiful settings - Country houses, Mayfair, the Pavilion in Brighton. Romantic modes of transportation - elegant carriages pulled by matched sets of horses, racy phaetons and gigs, riding horses, ships.

I'll stop here, although, if I took a little more time, I could probably think of more. I am very thankful that I can "live" in the Regency every day in my writing. I'm thankful that my success has afforded me the ability to keep on writing Regency romance. I'm grateful for those wonderful, loyal readers who still love books set in the Regency. You'll see more books from me!

Here's something for which YOU can be grateful! The Harlequin Historical Authors are again hosting a Holiday Contest. In the spirit of an Advent Calendar, there will be daily prizes and a grand prize of a Kindle Fire! More on that next week....

In the meantime, what about the Regency are you most grateful for?

And Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

The Fossil Hunter

2011-11-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

I ran across The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling at the Museum of the Earth. I couldn’t resist a book that brought together two unlikely loves of mine—dinosaurs and the Regency.

As children, my brother and I decided we were going to be a brother-and-sister paleontologist team. We read voraciously. We loved going to natural history museums, browsing the gift shops for dinosaur models and making a whole paper mache world for them to inhabit. Even though I eventually moved on to other interests, I haven’t quite lost that fascination with dinosaurs. I’ve seen all the Jurassic Park movies. Although the sequels were nowhere near as good as the first, the kid in me still enjoyed the dinosaurs.

I always thought it was cool that a brother and sister, Mary and Joseph Anning, were the first to discover a fossil ichthyosaur, in 1811. But not until I read this book did I realize that Mary Anning went on to make many other important discoveries, including the first plesiosaurs, prehistoric fish and the first pterodactyl found outside of Germany. The image below, Duria Antiquior, is a watercolor by Mary’s friend, the geologist Henry De La Beche, depicting the creatures she discovered.

Mary was born into a poor, Dissenting family. Despite the dangers (she was almost killed in a landslide that killed her dog Tray) she sought shells and fossils in the Blue Lias cliffs near Lyme Regis, selling her finds to help support her family. But she clearly brought a passion to her business. She had a keen, inquisitive mind and read as widely as she could. She was skilled at reconstructing her fossils and making accurate sketches of them. She worked with some of the most influential geologists of the time, sometimes guiding them on fossil hunting tours and selling them specimens. Nevertheless, she was not always given credit for her contributions.

Her friend Anna Maria Pinney wrote:

“Men of learning have sucked her brains, and made a great deal by publishing works, of which she furnished the contents, while she derived none of the advantages. She says she stands still and the world flows by her in a stream, that she likes observing it and discovering the different characters which compose it. But in discovering these characters, she takes most violent likes and dislikes. Associating and being courted by those above her, she frankly owns that the society of her own rank has become distasteful to her, but yet she is very kind and good to all her own relations, and what money she gets by collecting fossils, gives to them or to anyone else that wants it.”

Her finds, as well as other new discoveries of land dinosaurs around the same time, led to much controversy. Many geologists of the time were men of the cloth and deeply religious. Although some were moving away from a literal interpretation of the Bible and saw Genesis as an allegory for events that in reality took longer to unfold, they still strove to reconcile science with their faith.

Many sought geological clues to support a worldwide flood. At that time, the concept of extinction was controversial, for Noah was supposed to have saved all the animals. Some wondered if the dinosaurs perished in the flood. Others speculated that dinosaurs might still exist in remote, unexplored parts of the world. Another problem was how man could have coexisted with such creatures. If not, why would God create a world that for a long time was dominated by fearsome reptiles?

However, even when the goal was to reconcile science with the Bible, new discoveries were made. These sparked new ideas and helped to lay the groundwork for Darwin to develop his theory of evolution. And Mary Anning contributed greatly to this process.

She struggled financially for much of her life and became ill in 1846. Some of her geologist friends created a fund to help her, but sadly she succumbed to breast cancer the next year, at the age of 47. There is an exhibit on Mary Anning at the Philpot Museum in Lyme Regis and discoveries are still being made on the beaches of Lyme Regis, part of a 95-mile stretch of shoreline called the Jurassic Coast.

I recommend this book. Mary’s life makes for interesting reading and there are so many interesting insights into the history of scientific thought, the role of women, along with glimpses of what life was like in Lyme Regis during the Regency and after. It makes me want to go hunt some fossils myself.

Anyone else into paleontology? Did you know about Mary Anning? Did you know she inspired writer Terry Sullivan to compose the following tongue-twister?

She sells seashells on the seashore
The shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure
So if she sells seashells on the seashore
Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Hard Work is Its Own Reward? Not So Much.

2011-11-18T08:29:00.001-08:00

This week has been a busy one--I received my second round of revisions for my upcoming William Morrow book, so I have to get cracking on those, plus I'm revising my Regency-set historical, AND dealing with parent/teacher conferences and being sick and stuff.

The worst part about not feeling well is dealing with the resulting lethargy--it's really hard for me to get motivated when I'm headache-y and grouchy, so I look to outside forces to aid me.

For me, the outside forces include such carrot-on-stick ploys as "You can play Scramble once you've finished this chapter," or "No wine unless you've at least opened the document" to "After this, you can google image pix of Michael Fassbender for at least five minutes."

How do you reward yourself?