Jo here, wherever here is today. Ottawa, I think. Charlie's still in the tux.
Writing is a weird business.
In my unpublished fantasy novel, the ordinary people call the Magickers "weirders."
Anyway, when I was answering some interview questions about To Rescue A Rogue (on shelves now, selling briskly, get it while you can!) I rembered something strange. I killed Lord Darius Debenham at Waterloo, you see, and both I and my readers regretted it. I wasn't sure how to bring him back, however. Amnesia seemed too obvious, and anyway, it's a serious medical condition.
So time went by and I wrote another Rogues book, Christmas Angel, and then another. The more time past in the fictional world, the more difficult his absence was to explain. The strange memory that popped up was that in my desperation I'd played with the idea of my misfit mage, who passes time exploring portals to other places, checking out earth in the middle of Waterloo. Very nasty. Dare lands on him at point of death, and Quiriniac takes him home to save him. I even wrote some of this and was intrigued by the idea of Quiriniac returning Dare to Regency London and being loose among the ton for a while.
I found the little bit I wrote and I've put it up on the web. Click here to read it.
Another strangeness is this castle which appears on the stepback cover of TRAR. I wasn't at all sure what it is or why the art department put it there. The slightly crooked tower roof is particularly, well, weird. I only just realized that the art department is weirdly psychic, and it's Castle Cruel. As in The Ghastly Ghoul of Castle Cruel, which is the Gothic novel Dare and Mara work on in To Rescue A Rogue.
It starts out as The Captive Corpse of Castle Cruel, but as Mara quibbles, how can a corpse be kept captive? And why? Unless it threatens to rise. Hence the Ghastly Ghoul of Castle Cruel, 'a rhyme, began, to boot."
Unless ghoul and cruel don't rhyme in American. Tell me it aint so!
We could all try to make posts in rhyming doggerel.
Blogs all around, some witty, some trenchant,
For being inflammatory, others have penchant.
One day there'll be Pulitzers for the cleverest posters,
Or perhaps silver cups for the classiest hosters,
But we are the Wenches with cats, dolls, and Barbies,
And no one could claim that any are harpies,
So we'll go as we have, and we'll blog as we will,
And hope that occasionally, we give a mild thrill.
Have a go! Reply in rhyme. The best will win a book when I get back home. I can't access my files of cover images so I'll put a link instead.
A link to a page about my current and recent books.
Jo
"Unless ghoul and cruel don't rhyme in American. Tell me it aint so!"
They rhyme, even with my Left Coast surfer drawl. *GRIN* Let's just not go into how old I was before I found out that gaol is pronounced "jail". I’d been mentally pronouncing it “gale” my whole childhood. :::Blush:::
I ordered TRAR from Amazon (love online shopping!) and I'm just itching to get my hands on it. Dare has always been my favorite character from this series.
Posted by: Kalen Hughes | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 07:22 AM
To the Author of a Ghoulish Affair,
I read the story of Mara and Dare
Over the weekend in leisurely ease.
Frankly, it brought carthartic release
To see the fitting end
To the Rogues and their friends.
Thanks!
Posted by: seton | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 08:36 AM
"Let's just not go into how old I was before I found out that gaol is pronounced "jail". I’d been mentally pronouncing it “gale” my whole childhood."
It's not just you, only I pronounced it "gowl," rhyming with "howl," until I was, um, well, older than I care to admit.
Posted by: Susan Wilbanks | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 10:16 AM
There once was as Castle called Cruel,
That was haunted by a Ghastly Ghoul,
In a novel rare,
By a courting pair,
Each of whom is a true jewel!
Many, many thanks for this most wondrous story, I enjoyed it imensely!
Posted by: Jane | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 11:26 AM
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Jo wants doggerel
What's a wenchling to do ?
Roses are pink,
Daisies are white,
Poet I am none,
No rhyme training in sight
Roses are yellow
Sun and water they need
Rogues seem to need rescuing
Good women, take heed !
Roses are orange
Their thorns are most tragic
In a pinch,can good women
Apply touch of magic ?
Roses are lilac,
Lilacs are blue,
Can one reinvent villains
Out of scarred Waterloo ?
Roses are cream,
A green herb is called sage
To reinvent villains -
Nothing simpler for a mage !
Roses are purple
They grow next to castles
Perhaps ghouls look less cruel
When sporting fresh tassles ?
Roses are lovely
As is heroine Mara
Would Dare have been put off
Had she been called Dara ?
Roses have blossoms
My poem talent has none
I'd like to meet Charlie
Mayhap he'll inspire some
Roses are wilting
My tale is now done,
To boundless relief,
of you and of me
with novels will run
my future quill a-plen-ty.
(You can't say I didn't warn you ! No really. I did.)
Posted by: Maya | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 01:12 PM
From Sherrie:
I'm not eligible because I'm staff, but I couldn't resist joining the fun!
There once was a writer named Jo
The words from her pen, they did flow
She wrote with great ease
Her fans she did please
And publishers raked in the dough
How could she just kill off young Dare
And make all her fans scream, "Unfair!"
But do it, she did
His body she hid
Then brought him back home with fanfare
And now one more Rogue walks the street
While women fall down at his feet
This man, name of Dare
A hero most rare
He rose from the dead very neat!
Posted by: Sherrie Holmes | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 05:40 PM
Jo here, settled into hotel in Ottawa, having got lost. Very embarrasing when I used to live here. But I was out in an unfamiliar part of town, it was raining and then it grew dark, then I took a wrong turn, which might not have been too bad if it hadn't been a winding road so I ended up totally disoriented.
Then, when I stopped to look at the map I found I'd left my reading glasses behind. So I drove a bit more, found a drug store, a Shoppers Drug Mart, went in and bought a new pair.
The point of this rambling story is that when I went to the check out, I told the teenage clerk that I needed them to read a map and added, "Where am I?"
She sort of smiled vaguely and continued scanning the glasses, then offered to cut off the tab etc.
I said. "That was serious. Where am I?"
She looked straight at me and said, "In a Shoppers Drug Mart." She probably does get some weird characters now and then.
I laughed and said, "No, I'm lost. What street is this?"
From there we established that I'd been heading in entirely the wrong direction, but that if I reversed I'd be in a straight line for my hotel, and here I am, not too frazzled.
Great rhymes, people! Keep at it. I'll let this run until the 23rd.
And thanks muchly (a good north of England term) for warm comments about TRAR. It's always heart-warming to hear that readers have enjoyed a book.e
Cheers,
Jo
Posted by: Jo Beverley | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 07:12 PM
You have an unpublished fantasy novel?
Oh, how awful!
Are publishers zeroes?
I loved "The Trouble with Heroes!"
Posted by: MaryK (not a poet) | Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 10:22 AM
There's Trouble with Heroes--
Let's Rescue a Rogue,
Or dance with a Duchess
At Schroedinger's Ball!
Posted by: Jane | Friday, September 15, 2006 at 02:28 PM
I'm glad I poked my head out of the trenches
and stopped by to catch up with the wenches
A book by Jo Beverley as a prize
Is enough to get your spirits to rise
I want the Rogue to knock on my door
And happily bring me out of this bore
Please add my name to the big draw
If I win you'll hear me hollar, Yee haw!
Posted by: KimW | Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 08:53 AM
Haven't a hope of winning from what I've seen
But here's a go anyway, you'll see what I mean.
So glad that Dare get his own Happy Ending
Now to read while children I'm fending
More Rogue stories, I hear, what a treat
Waiting on pins a needles here in my seat
And a Fantasy maybe, oh please, do delight us
And to your signing tour don't forget to invite us
Sorry to hear 'bout your uncharted drive
But so glad you made it back alive!
Posted by: DeniseM | Sunday, September 17, 2006 at 06:31 PM