The Word Wenches are thrilled to announce that Sharon Shinn will be our guest on Friday, December 5. Mary Jo, who calls Sharon "a wonderful writer of romantic, richly imagined fantasy," will interview Sharon. Please drop by Friday to see what Sharon has to say about the world of fantasy writing.
P.S. Be sure to scroll down and see who our latest winner is!
And her name is fedora! She has won an autographed copy of the reissue of Loretta's The Last Hellion.
Fedora, please send me (Sherrie) your mailing address and we'll get that book in the mail to you. You can get my e-mail address by clicking on my picture in the left sidebar, or by going to the Winners sidebar on the right. Congratulations, fedora!
But wait, there's more! On December 12 Jo will announce the winners from her previous post, and in addition she will blog some more about heroes. Mark your calendars, and be sure to drop in to see if you are a winner!
Here's Charlie, hanging out with a putto in Versailles. :)
Perhaps the title for this blog should be "happy anniversary to the Earl of Wraybourne and Jane Sandiford," the hero and heroine of my first book, Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed. It's rather a clunky title, isn't it? Should I change it for the trade paperback reissue next year, do you think? Yes, the remaining trad Regencies are going to be reissued. :)
As LWB came out late in 1988, this is my twentieth anniversary as a published author. Not knowing at all what to expect back then, I was stunned when Melinda Helfer, reviewer for a sister publication of Romantic Times (and what was it? Anyone remember? Was it actually Rave Reviews? ) gave it a total rave of a review, ending with "the sky's the limit for this extraordinary talent." Wow. I really think by that she both inspired and terrified me, and whatever I've achieved since is due in part to her, because how could I not try to live up to even a part of her prediction? Alas, Melinda died quite a few years ago now, and is sorely missed as a reviewer. I have no doubt she's looking down from the great library in the sky, expecting the best of her authors.
Now, I'm the author of 33 published novels, and the last one at last made the in-paper NYT list, reaching #10. I'm trying, Melinda, I'm trying!
BTW, the paperback of LWB had one of my worst ever covers. The hardcover wasn't great, with that strange Lolita chick on it. (The pale strip on the left is because my archival copy has faded a bit with the light.) This was my first pictorial cover and I was eager to see what an artist would make of my characters. It boggles my mind that anyone chose that guy to pose for this! I call him Igor.
I've been asked a few times about the differences between then and now, and they're immense. I won't go into the changes in the genre, but they are continuous, of course, because romantic fiction changes as society changes, as women change. But look at technology.
I know I wouldn't have become a novelist without the word processor. I'd never learned to type, and thus was slow and error prone. The whole business of carbons and erasing errors was bad enough over a few pages, never mind hundreds. Also, my writing style is messy. Though I start at the beginning and keep going until I get to the end, in the process, I go back and insert, delete, rewrite. I remember the trouble this gave me even with early computers.
We had PET computers from the early days. The first was a 4 K. Can you imagine? It used a cassette tape for data storage. We also had Commodore 64s and a VIC 20, but I think I wrote on a 32 K, with the larger floppy disks of not great density. The picture is our eldest son playing a game on one of them. It could even be that 4K.
I couldn't even get a chapter on one of those disks, so I'd save 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 etc. But then I'd change something in 1:2 and create disk 1:22 and 1:23. You can see how this went. In theory, in printing, the computer could go in sequence through the files, but I always screwed up somewhere and a chunk or chunks would be missing.
And then there were the dot matrix printers that editors hated, and which took a whole day to print out a book, after which someone had to tear off all the feeder strips. I remember borrowing a better dot matrix printer to print out the first submission copy of Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed. It didn't get published at that time 1984, but whoever you were, dear lady, thank you!
And, of course, there was no internet for ordinary people, and certainly no World Wide Web. Extraordinary to think of now.
Enough of nostalgia -- though feel free to share your stories from antediluvian writing technology. And just to tie things up, there's my 2008 book. Georgian not Regency. Sexy not sweet. And a lot more copies out than the 1500 copies printed of that first hardcover. :)
Here's my celebratory anniversary challenge.
Which hero of mine would you most like to spend an evening with? What you do with the time is completely up to you and him! Say why. Argue your case. In addition, pick one hero from any other Wench book on the same basis -- the hero you'd most like to spend an evening with.
I will pick a winner from among those who chose the most popular hero from one of my books. That person will get a copy of the book, if they don't already have it (and if I have one spare) plus a $20 Cdn gift certificate to the Amazon branch of her or his choice. I thought of making it $20 US, as most of you probably are from the US, but what the heck. I'm Canadian. But I'll give you the equivalent in local currency. It's only a bit less than $20 US. :)
I will also pick two other winners from all the people who comment and they will get a book of their choice.
I know this is a bit complicated, so I'll lay it out in another way.
1. Decide which hero from my books you'd most like to spend an evening with. Post a comment saying who that is and also saying why. The name alone won't count.
2. Also, consider the books by other Wenches. Include in your comment one Wenchly hero you'd also like to spend an evening with. Two names, two reasons.
At midnight, Pacific Time, on Thursday 25th November, I'll pick the three winners.
First I'll tally the posts to decide which of my heroes is the winner.
Then I'll write the name of each person who chose him on a piece of paper.
Then I'll draw a name. That'll be the grand prize winner.
Then, from everyone who posted a comment, I'll pick two more winners of books.
Have fun. Feel free to argue among yourselves and try to get people to choose your favorite. I'll sort out the final decisions by each of you.
And happy Thanksgiving to all here who are American! As you know, we celebrate Thanksgiving earlier in Canada, but as far as I'm concerned that just gives us two chances to celebrate the good things about our lives, and one of those for me is the wonderful 20 years as an author and the readers who make it all happen.
Looking over those years, here's an official RWA photo of the Hall of Fame, alongside the other members, Cheryl Zach, Eileen Dreyer, and Nora Roberts. Julie Garwood wasn't present. I became a member in 1994 after winning 3 RITAs in the Regency category, but they didn't decide to give us RITA statues for Hof F until 1996, when this photo was taken.
Lastly, a special gift to the historically interested. I've uploaded images of parts of a Poole's Gentlemen's Pocket Memorandum from 1819. This was acquired and scanned by Anne Woodley, who kindly gave me permission to share it. I hope it's readable. If not, feel free to save the images and enlarge them. If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll find another way to upload them. The Shutterfly blog is simple, however, and I'll be uploading more pics. The Baronial Hall, BTW, is the apartment I'm currently enjoying as we're between houses. And yes, we do have deer wandering by!
All best wishes,
Jo :)
We promised Loretta Chase hadn’t entirely left the Word Wenches, and here she is back again, exactly as we promised. Emerging from the depths of writing and revisions, Loretta returns to talk about the reissue of THE LAST HELLION. This is one delicious book, filled with Loretta’s usual mix of charm, wit, and truly unforgettable characters. And for those of you who haven’t had the good fortune to discover this book for yourselves yet, here’s a hint to tempt you: Dain, the LORD OF SCOUNDRELS himself, reappears in these pages. ‘Nuff said.
As a reader and longtime Loretta fan, I’m personally delighted to see THE LAST HELLION returning in a fresh package for new readers to discover. Would you tell us a bit about the story?
This was one of the cases where a secondary character intrigued me. The Duke of Ainswood makes a brief drunk and disorderly appearance in LORD OF SCOUNDRELS. That was all he was supposed to do. But he kept bugging me. What was his problem? What was he covering up or running away from? It turned out that the Duke of Ainswood is a drunken boor because he’s paid an unbearably high price for his position. But his brand of self-destruction takes him slumming--and puts him on a collision course with big, blonde, and dangerous Lydia Grenville, crusading journalist (and secret romance writer). This story is special to me because it was an opportunity to deal with some aspects of Regency life that one doesn’t encounter often in historical romances. It was a way of getting into that Dickens world I love so much while allowing both my characters to try to fight the good fight--along with fighting with each other and falling in love.
I’m terrible at summarizing my stories, so I’ll let readers look at the back cover blurb here and an excerpt here, at the Avon microsite.
Lydia Grenville is an untraditional heroine, nearly six feet tall, nearly thirty, and full of fire and conscience. She’s also a “career woman” in a time when ladies didn’t work, let alone work as crusading journalists. What inspired you to develop her character?
Dickens gave me the general inspiration for the setting, and the novels he and others wrote in serial form gave me the idea for her pseudonymous ROSE OF CAIRO. But more important, Lydia is one of the many woman characters I’ve created in reaction to women in 19th C novels and to 19th C sexism and misogyny in general. Specifically, what set me off was critics’ reaction to Lady Morgan’s two-volume ITALY. You can read her response to some of the criticism here.
According to Paul Johnson’s THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN, “they hated Lady Morgan as a woman writer...and they were further incensed by the news that the publisher Colburn had paid her the immense sum of £2000 for the book. Byron hailed the book as ‘fearless and excellent.’” Everyone else went nuts. Here’s a sampling from Johnson’s book: “‘she spewed out of her filthy maw/A flood of poison, horrible and black. “She was ‘an Irish she-wolf’ a ‘blustering virago,’ a ‘wholesale blunderer and reviler’; she wrote while ‘maudlin from an extra tumbler of negus in the forenoon.’” This was typical “criticism” of the time--reviewers today are pussycats by comparison. What fascinated me me was the how much they hated her simply because she was a successful woman writer.
It was a tough world, and journalism then was definitely no place for a lady. So I got the idea of a heroine who was both a tough cookie journalist (a HIS GIRL FRIDAY kind of dame)--and a writer of highly popular romantic tales. And the two occupations reflect the two sides of her personality.
While Lydia is unusual, her hero, Vere Mallory, Duke of Ainswood, outwardly seems that most stereotypical character, the rakehell peer. But it only takes a few pages for readers to see the only typical thing about him is that he’s one more in a long line of deliciously unforgettable (and irresistible) heroes. What makes him so special?
Well, he’s a big, dumb jerk, for one thing. I love writing tough, smart, cool heroes like James Cordier of YOUR SCANDALOUS WAYS or Lord Rathbourne of LORD PERFECT. But the Regency had its cowboys, too, and creating those types of heroes (Rupert of MR IMPOSSIBLE is one of my cowboys) is a different kind of challenge, and a different kind of fun. Sometimes I think we have an overly refined image of what men were like then. There’s a great passage in Conan Doyle’s RODNEY STONE: “He was a type and leader of a strange breed of men which has vanished away from England--the full-blooded, virile buck, exquisite in his dress, narrow in his thoughts, coarse in his amusements, and eccentric in his habits.” The “coarse in his amusements” concept influenced heroes like Lord Dain and the Duke of Ainswood.
Another inspiration for this story and his character was Pierce Egan’s LIFE IN LONDON. I could easily picture Ainswood in the situations Cruikshank illustrates.
As sorry as we were here at the Wenches to see you shift to “Wench Emerita” status, we do know that it means there’s another new book on its way. Would you please tempt us with a hint about what’s next, and when we can expect it?
As the green Barbie signals, I’m still somewhat deranged, having just completed revisions faster than the speed of light, so I’m not sure how coherent I can be about the new book.
Let’s see. DON’T TEMPT ME has brought me back to a London setting and, for the first time in a very long time, it’s the high society London we all know and love--with no road trips. In other words, I’ve gone back to my Regency roots on this one--and it’s been quite a challenge, returning to that hallowed ground and finding ways to make it fresh.
When Zoe Lexham returns to England after twelve years in the exotic east, she knows everything a young lady shouldn’t and nothing she ought to know. She’s a walking scandal, with no hope of a future...unless someone can civilize her. Enter Lucien de Grey, the Duke of Marchmont. Sarcastic, cynical, and easily bored, he’s known for loving women and leaving them--with parting gifts of expensive jewelry to dry their tears. He’s got everything--money, rank, and popularity. He’s welcome everywhere. Make Zoe respectable? Nothing could be simpler...he thinks.
I’ll let the readers decide what they think.
I’ve been invited to return at some point to talk more about DON’T TEMPT ME--and maybe some other things. Once you’re a Wench, see, you’re a Wench all the way, from your first cigarette--oops, that’s WEST SIDE STORY. Anyway, I’m not a Wench all the way, but I shall return from time to time.
Meanwhile, I’ve got a fresh new edition of THE LAST HELLION waiting for one lucky commenter.
As mentioned in last week's announcement, Loretta will return tomorrow, 11/24, to talk about the reissue of The Last Hellion, which came out this month. Susan Holloway Scott will interview Loretta. Do stop by for a visit and leave a comment. If you do, you may win a copy of The Last Hellion!
Don't go away, now. Scroll down to the next post to see if you won a book!
Anna C. Bowling, you have won a Shirl Henke book. Helen, you have won a Laurie Kingery book. We've already contacted Anna, but Helen, we don't have an e-mail address for you. Please contact me (Sherrie) and let me know your mailing address. I will pass it on to Laurie.
Congratulations, Anna and Helen!
Pat here:
One has to wonder what historians will do in the future in their attempts to piece together how twenty-first century writers wrote their classic tomes (or presidents commanded their triumphs and errors) when everything we do today is by computer and prone to disappearing.
Once upon a time I would make innumerable paper copies of the various drafts of my books. I would keep copies of the copy-edited manuscript and the final page proofs. The University of Kentucky even requested that I donate all this "dead matter" (as publishing so lovingly calls it) to their archives, and they’ve stored a truckload of
boxes of my immortal words. I don’t even want to imagine the number of documents in a presidential archive!
But these days, I might print a single draft copy so I can do a final read through and edit on paper. After typing in those changes, I send my final version by e-mail so I don’t have paper copy of the final, although I try hard to save it on CD as well as on my USB drive. I do all my revisions by computer, and now my publisher is doing copy edits electronically—unfortunately or not, depending on who you’re talking to on what day.
Apparently, I am one of my publisher’s guinea pigs. The electronic copy edits are brand new for them, and everyone is struggling to find all the glitches. And boy, did they give it to the right person for
finding glitches! I can destroy a computer simply by glaring at it. Luckily for all concerned, the copy edit was remarkably clean, so no glaring was involved. But ellipses take a special formatting, and I use a lot of them… The end result seems to have been a global delete of ellipses which I did not improve by stetting. (for a fun take on punctuation marks and the place I stole the vegetable ellipsis: http://corporatecartoons.blogspot.com/2007/11/lets-rate-punctuation-marks.html)
And then, of course, I worked the copy edit on my MacBook because it’s so much more comfy to sit in a recliner when working tedious tasks. More complications set in. The final result is apparently gobbledygook and panic in New York. So nice to know that I haven’t lost my touch. And that Apple and Microsoft can still snarl at each other.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, would SIMPLIFY their software instead of constantly adding new gobbledygook that only makes it more difficult for different people to work on the same document? I’ve seen the new Office Word and it has stuff in there only a cartoon artist on crack could use. What makes them think that everyone in the world wants graphics and numbers and drawings and all this fancy technology? Has it not occurred to them that SPECIALIZING is the next wave of programming? Word for Writers has a lovely ring to it. Word for Artists. Word for Business. We all use different functions, different languages, comprende?
And then, once I wave my wand and convert Microsoft to my way of thinking, I want a simple method of permanent document storage. According to my techie sources, neither CDs or USB drives are reliable for long-term storage. And I’m a trifle tired of copying all my old electronic files to every new format that comes along. If paper is good for a thousand years, why can’t technology beat that?
Anyone else want to get creative and send a message (or darts) to Bill Gates?
And who wants to imagine what historians and archeologists in the future will have to do to uncover the secrets of the 21st century? Read minds?
And if we have anyone here from the future—will you please tell me the best way of preserving my files?
by Mary Jo
Westerns are sometimes considered THE American story. Often they’re set in the semi-mythic frontier lands of the Old West. The iconic hero is a lone wanderer such as a gunfighter or cowboy, a version of the knight errant who wanders wild and beautiful lands, stopping now and then to help people out. Western mythologies permeate American culture, including Hollywood and politics, so it’s not surprising Westerns have played a very large part of the historical romance market. The early historical writers (like Pat Rice) often jumped from setting to setting, including medievals, Westerns, Revolutionary or Civil War, etc.
But in the last few years, as the Regency setting practically took over historical romance, Westerns largely disappeared. Not entirely—a few long established writers have continued to spin Western tales, but the setting became a very small proportion of the total number of historical romances published.
Now Westerns are showing signs of being on the upswing. I was going to pontificate, but the three Western writers I talked to for this blog have pretty much said all that needs saying:
First up is Shirl Henke. (http://shirlhenke.com/) Shirl’s very first published romance in 1986 was Golden Lady, and it won the Romantic Times Best New Author award and was a Rita finalist. She grew up reading Luke Short, Max Brand and Zane Grey. With a few detours to England, some contemporary suspense and two thrillers under a pseudonym, she’s overwhelmingly stuck to the West for her settings.
Shirl Henke: The West is a whole lot more than cowboys and Indians:
“...if either Freud or the Navajo speak true, westward we shall find the hole in the earth through which the soul may plunge to peace...”
Bernard DeVoto
"Have you ever seen Bonanza dubbed in Japanese? I have. Sounded a little weird, but it illustrates the universal appeal of the West, an idea as limitless as human imagination. “Space...the final frontier...”
Exploring the unknown, taming the wilderness, starting over again are the stuff of primal myth. Captain Kirk and Marshal Dillon had a lot more in common than Hollywood ever imagined...at least until Joss Whedon put it together in Firefly. Because the West holds such a deeply rooted place, not only in America's imagination but the world's, Westerns will always return in cycles and so will western romances.
There is a panoply of raw materials from which to craft a story. No other time or place in history drew together as many people from around the globe as did the ever-expanding American frontier: Spanish conquistadors, czarist Russians, French fur trappers, Anglo riflemen, Scots merchants. Cattle barons were often literally that—titled gents from England or Germany. The dispossessed came searching for a better life: Irish, Chinese, Hawaiians and Jews. African-Americans from the post-Civil War South left their mark as cowboys, lawmen and legendary Buffalo Soldiers. With this cast, how could any writer fail to find her muse?
I believe that Westerns and romances uniquely compliment each other. Nothing holds more mythic allure than the concept of frontier. Nothing is more powerful than the male-female relationship. I can't imagine a better setting for the essential conflict between a hero and heroine than the West, a place beyond ordinary rules, filled with extraordinary promise. I put my protagonists at risk. They come from opposing cultures—Anglo vs. Hispanic, white vs. Indian, Mormon vs. Gentile. In a violent land they discover who they are and what they really want—each other.
My newly released western romance, Pale Moon Stalker, has an English nobleman turned bounty hunter offering a marriage of convenience to a mixed-blood Sioux woman. I introduce a paranormal element with an old Cheyenne medicine man who sees their future and helps them track down a truly nasty remittance man. Where else could I have set Max and Sky's story but in the West?
I’ve committed to this Wild West Series that began with The River Nymph Feb 08. Pale Moon Stalker is out now and Chosen Woman will be out July 09. I intend to continue this project as long as readers want the books."
Patricia Potter is another long-term writer, possessor of a full tribe of RITA nominations. Pat started out with Westerns, including some that used Civil War Western history. More recently she’s been writing contemporary romantic suspense and Scottish historicals, but lots of people remember her Westerns with passionate enthusiasm. http://patriciapotter.com/
I contacted Pat, and found out that not only has she just agreed to do three Westerns for Harlequin Blaze (the line is adding a historical a month). but another publisher has also expressed interest in having Pat write Westerns for them.
Patricia Potter: You can go home again
“Yes, I do think there's a longing among readers for the Western. I regularly receive queries about when I'll do another Western and laments about the lack of them. There seemed to be a fluttering interest about their revival among publishers two years ago, then it slackened. But I see it coming back again.
I think the appeal of Westerns is still out there. Publishing has a habit of picking up on a trend, then overloading the market and eventually destroying it by over-publication. We've seen it with Westerns, romantic suspense, chick lit, and now we're in the midst of a paranormal boon. All eventually return in more measured publication.
I believe the appeal of the Western is still strong. It was a time of discovery, both in the land and in the strength of the people who settled it. There were amazing real life heroines and men bigger than life. There are so many wonderful stories to be told.
Westerns are doing very well with Harlequin Historicals and Kensington. I've just agreed to do three in the Blaze line. I hope this is one boom that is coming back."
Those three upcoming Patricia Potter Westerns are good news for lovers of the genre! Pat is a member of http://petticoatsandpistols.com/, a blog of Western writers as well as http://storybroads.com/, a more general romance writer blog.
Besides classic Westerns, new forms of Western are appearing, including erotica and even vampire Westerns. I talked to my Texas born friend Laurie Kingery, who wrote Westerns and medievals for Dorchester, Harlequin, and Warner under the pseudonym Laurie Grant. (http://lauriekingery.com/)
Now Laurie is writing Westerns for the Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historicals line of inspirational romances. Her first book for them, A Hill Country Christmas, is a November release and she has another one in production. (The Outlaw's Lady, August 2009.)
Laurie Kingery: Western Inspirationals, a match made in heaven
“I'm not sure western romances have ever been totally eclipsed, but they were indeed overshadowed for a time by Regencies and medievals. But publishers like Harlequin Historicals and now, Love Inspired Historicals, have recognized that Westerns are the backbone of historical romance with their appeal to a simpler time when our country was still young and a vast expanse of western land needed to be settled by strong men who were able to protect their ladies, and ladies who were strong enough in their own way to be the equal partner to these men.
Many of us grew up watching Westerns on TV and in the movies, and while those weekly TV shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Rawhide” are gone, the continuing popularity of Westerns reveals itself in the movies that are still made for both the cinema and TV like Tombstone (my personal favorite), Appaloosa and Broken Trail.
However politically incorrect it is these days to make a hero of a man who's good with a gun, something in many of us harkens back to when this quality meant survival for a man and his family. It's also a way to re-explore our ambivalent relationship with the Native Americans.
Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historicals, drawing on the core audience of Harlequin Historicals (they're both part of the same huge publisher) is currently publishing two historicals a month. One of these is always a Western, which speaks to the strength of that readership.
The difference between a secular historical and an inspirational one is the addition of the faith journey of the hero and heroine. In a secular romance, the main characters are the hero and heroine; in an inspirational one, God is a third main character, forming an unbreakable three-stranded cord.
These stories do not always involve conversions and are not merely "religious tracts within a story," but the hero and heroine are usually at different points in their faith journey, which forms part of the conflict. Westerns are a natural fit for inspirational historicals, because it was a time in our nation when most average people were people of faith, for it's hard to imagine how people could come from the civilized east of America—and from countries all over the world—without strong faith in a God who watches over them and cares about them.
Laurie is currently working on Marrying Milly, the start of the "Spinsters of Simpson Creek" series. So it looks like Westerns are alive and well at Love Inspired.
To round out the subject, I asked Kate Duffy, my wonderful editor, about Westerns at Kensington. Her reply:
“Well, the God’s honest truth is that here they never went away. We as readers love them. Brava currently has two Western historical writers doing great business – Diane Whiteside and Beth Williamson.
In Zebra, Georgina Gentry, Janette Kenny, Elaine Levine (just off the top of my head) and we are lucky to have Jodi Thomas in some anthologies including, coming next February, Give Me A Cowboy, following the success of Give Me A Texan. I am sure I am leaving some authors out but in my defense, I haven’t had enough coffee.
So we never experienced an eclipse. We certainly saw fewer of them submitted to us. And that seems, as I said in San Francisco (at the RWA conference) to be because of the impact of this notion which really wasn’t valid, at least at Kensington.”
So there are the thoughts of four experts on Westerns. How about you—have you missed them? Do you have favorite Westerns that you loved? Tell us about them!
As a special treat, Shirl Henke and Laurie Kingery will give away signed copies of their current releases (Pale Moon Stalker and A Hill Country Christmas, respectively) to lucky commenters before midnight Friday. So speak up!
Mary Jo, who only ever wrote one Western novella, but is glad to see Westerns reviving.
Hi Word Wenches and Wenchlings!
I'm Susie Felber, Edith Layton's daughter. I'm a comedian and I write a buncha stuff, including this Dumb Blog for truTV. CNN links to it and I hope you'll read our newsy dumb entertainment early and often. Speaking of reading, my mom has a new historical novel coming out 11/25 entitled A BRIDE FOR HIS CONVENIENCE. You should order it now, one for each eye. Yes, I got my writing talent from my mother. But that "one for each eye" jazz? I totally stole that from her outright.
Shameless promo out of the way, I'm thrilled to be here. I wasn't pressed into service -- I wanted to get share-y about what it has been like being a romance author's daughter and display some rare Layton photos plucked from the Felber archives -- like this one back from when she still smoked and I was a natural blond -- but you'll need to click on the links to see all the vintage snaps. And so I don't risk boring you, I'm going to make this a "to be continued" post.
I'm immensely proud of my mother and all she's accomplished. I think she's a killer role model and a great writer. But while she was always my mother, she wasn't always a romance author, a designation that comes with plenty of perks and bushels of baggage.
You may have heard how she intended to be a playwright. How she freelanced for everything from the El Crappo Gazette to the New York Times and once even got a telegram from Barbara Cartland after writing an article about reluctantly discovering the delights of the Dame after a back injury. How she wrote three different books in three different genres before one got published and received enough rejection letters to, in her words, paper a small bathroom. But since this is about ME, let's skip ahead to her first published novel which came out in 1983.
The family was very excited. So excited that we hightailed it to the local mall and each got ourselves T-shirts with felt iron-on letters spelling out THE DUKES WAGER. Wearing our custom Woolworth getups with pride, we threw her a book party complete with balloons and a banner, produced on the home computer, back when computers had to be painstakingly programed with GOTO commands and the printer paper still had those annoying perforated side bits you had to carefully peel off. (Private to Hollywood: I'm still 18)
But during the party (pic at left) something happened, which was a foreshadowing of things to come.
In our kitchen and milling about the living room, some were tittering about "hot" novels and finding the whole idea of her being a romance author uproarious. They weren't industry or society types, they were just friends from suburban Long Island. They were just having fun, and maybe a little too much wine.
Oh how my hackles went up! I was pissed on her behalf. She was triumphing after years of struggle, and they hadn't even read the book, or any like it. That's when I realized it would take more than felt-lettered shirts to convince people how cool she was.
Soon after, I brought the book to show off to Mr. Bimberg, the elementary school librarian. I came armed with the information that this was a Regency novel, and therefore very much above the fray. He glanced at the cover, laughed and said, "Oh, your mother writes dirty books! HA HA HA!"
I told him it wasn't dirty and then I was rendered speechless.
Not because I was shocked, mind you, but because I realized that my impulse to tell him the truth -- that if he wanted to see a really dirty book he'd have to check out the armfuls of fantastic free historical smut that I'd picked up at the Romantic Times conference and then had quickly hidden under my bed -- might get me sent to the school therapist, STAT. As in, "So tell us Susie, how long have you been dabbling in throbbing manhoods and frothing caverns?"*
And although I was always her staunchest defender, and knew what she wrote, how good she was and how hard she worked, the embarrassment soon descended on me like a fog.
In the early years, with every release, we'd make a bee line between B. Dalton and Walden Books to see if her books were there, and if so, how many. Mortified by the Romance section with its pink and purple covers festooned with acres of man boobs, I'd hide out in the nearby Mystery or Fantasy sections.
She'd say, "Oh look, they have five copies, come take a look!" And I'd be cringing an aisle or three away in front of the dragon books, thumbing a Niven and saying, "Yeah that's great. I can see fine from here, really!" Remember: This is long before there were in-your-face unabashedly girly intelligent feminists like "Smart Bitches" to champion the genre.
Anywho, she'd inevitably press me to really look, and hating myself for being such a lousy daughter and a wimp, I'd sulkily come by and take a peek before scampering as fast as possible to the safety of the magazines, hoping no boys had seen me lingering in the land of paperback longing and love.
Of course, once mom had left, I'd sneak back to do what she never had the promotional sense or guts to do -- quickly rearrange the shelves, positioning the Layton line attractively in face-out position.
So, I was always an in-your-face girly feminist and champion of historical fiction. It's just that until I grew up, I worked mostly as a covert agent.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Next time: The joy of Romantic Times conferences, one too many research trips to England and throwing mom her second-ever book party -- thirty novels later.
PS Feel free to leave a comment and say howdy!
* By the way, I can't make this stuff up -- "frothing cavern" was burned in my memory from a particularly bad Zebra I read in the 80's. No, I wasn't traumatized, I thought it was hilarious even then.
Thank you, Dr. Josh, for another great post about historical medicine. Here at Word Wenches, our tradition is to show our gratitude to our guests by bestowing upon them a singular honor when we elevate them to the status of Honorary Word Wench, and award them a virtual gift chosen just for them.
Since you're not a wench, ahem, we've decided to declare you, Dr. Josh, our first ever Honorary Word Wizard! This entitles you to add the initials H.W.W. after your name. Now when you sign off as Dr. Josh, M.D., H.W.W., your medical colleagues will be mighty impressed by all those mysterious and erudite letters, especially if you don't tell them what it means.
Your virtual award is something we thought you'd enjoy, since your nickname is sometimes "the Viking" (meaning, "tall, cute blond guy") ... your very own Viking Costume!! This was chosen just for you at an apres-Halloween discount (if you're hankering for the real thing, and who could blame you, it can be found at www.walmart.com). Just the thing for researching Anglo-Saxon medicine -- and perfect for a guy who hangs out with Wenches, ja?
AND, since you have been a guest of the Wenches before, we'll throw in, at no extra charge, this fabulous one-of-a-kind reindeer costume for Reesie, your adorable beagle-Jack Russell mix -- just the companion every Viking doc needs! (www.costumedogs.com).
Gratefully,
the Word Wenches
Good morning! We have a little fun planned for you on Monday. Edith's daughter, Susie Felber, will be blogging about what it was like growing up as the daughter of a famous romance writer. Susie is a comedian, writer, mom, and veteran blogger. She's also a frequent commenter here at the Word Wenches, so she'll feel right at home. We're looking forward to Susie's visit when she Tells All. Drop in tomorrow. We guarantee you will be entertained!
Be sure to mark your calendars for 11/24 when Loretta returns to the Word Wenches to talk about the reissue of The Last Hellion, which came out earlier this month. The book has a handsome new cover (see image on left) and a new back cover blurb. Susan Holloway Scott will interview Loretta, and we encourage you to leave a comment, because Loretta will be giving away an autographed copy of The Last Hellion to a lucky commenter.
After the Renaissance, most of medicine gradually became dominated by the forerunners of modern medicine, with their midnight dissections and surgical advances. But the four humours -- those long-established ancient and medieval theories of the sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic types, based on imbalances in blood, yellow and black bile, phlegm, etc. -- persisted well into the 1800s. The germ theory of disease faced quite the uphill battle even into the early 20th century, although the possibility of infection was suspected by early Arabic physicians who insisted on cleanliness as part of treatment. Hi all, Dr. Josh here again – this time to talk briefly about medicine through history (currently I'm in the ICU working 80 hours per week, so free time goes to sleeping, eating, showering, and a little blogging for the Wenches--‘brief’ is the operative word!). But when Susan Sarah (aka Mom) asked if I wanted to visit the blog, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some earlier European medical traditions, particularly the approach of the common people in households and villages in Europe and especially Britain.
To me, medieval medicine seems wilder and more fascinating than the medicine of Paracelsus’s day, and that may be simply because I have been educated in the medical system that is steeped in the latter. And it's a good place to start a general look at the historical medicine practiced in British households. Medieval medical therapies aren’t well known or well understood now, though. For the most part, it seems to have been a hodgepodge of tradition (folk practices with some actual physiologic basis, i.e., they often worked), superstition (folk practices that didn’t usually work), and practices sponsored and administered by the Church (those didn’t usually work either). Rituals of various kinds were generally involved, with or without a physiologic basis to the treatment. The rituals became more religion-based as the Church gained a foothold, although folk-based superstition, charms, chants, etc. always persisted, though forced, to some extent, to become secret practices.
Three basic groups of healers were available to medieval people: lay physicians, both medics and surgeons, many of whom were university trained, academic physicians whose studies relied on ancient medical knowledge as well as philosophy, astrology and theology; folk healers whose training depended upon shared knowledge handed down through generations; and monks (and nuns) who might be trained in either, or both, traditions. Folk practices were gradually subsumed into academic medicine practiced by monks, with some added religious fanfare along the way. This resulted in some particularly bizarre treatments. For example, a therapy from the Lacnunga, a collection of Anglo-Saxon medical texts, involved stirring butter made from the milk of a cow of a single color with a stick that had four prongs, each of which contained the name of an evangelist. Religious blessings, folk superstition, accumulated knowledge and common sense (sometimes) were blended in early medicine.
Monasteries and convents had infirmaries or hospitals, where the ill and dying were taken for treatment. Bloodletting was common, leeches were applied, and examining the urine was typically done by academically trained practitioners, with some success. Much of medicine in those days -- both academic and folk-traditional -- was dependent on herbs, flowers and plants for treatment. Other common remedies involved wine, alcohol spirits, charcoal, oils, etc. There were salves, potions, poultices, unguents, plasters, tinctures, infusions prepared from various sources according to recipes both physiological and just plain illogical. There were charms and incantations, prayers -- and other practices reliant on sheer luck. Remedies and treatments might spring from common sense, their usage proven over the ages through trial and error and knowledge passed down from one healer to another. Other remedies evolved through superstitious belief systems; those ranged from truly bizarre to inherently practical.
For example, in medieval Britain it was widely believed that a certain prayer invoking a particular angel was the best cure for diarrhea, if the written text was hung about the neck on a string. For fever, one must write saints’ names along the arms of the afflicted – and the practical advice of the rest of that cure was to simply rest, drink fluids and wait out the fever.
As the Church took hold, traditional folk healers, those who combined herbal therapies with superstitious pagan rituals, were reviled and persecuted, although many still visited them in secret. Folk traditions remained so persistent that many of them survive to this day. Where I went to medical school (Penn State), I met some patients who attended the Central Pennsylvanian ‘Pow-Wow’. Despite the name, this practice is a medical system wholly derived from German folk healers who emigrated to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. The traditions of herbal remedies and superstition hark back centuries.
A number of texts dealt with the medicinal properties of herbs. In the British Isles, these went back farther than the year 1000, around which time some Latin works were translated into Old English. There were earlier texts in use as well, some based on Greek and Arabic originals. Medieval practitioners of an academic bent (and those who could read and afford books) might consult the Lacnunga, along with Bald's Leechbook, and much later, Culpeper's indispensable Complete Herbal. These and many other texts, from herbal guides to anatomical studies, often held good quality information, give or take the odd superstition. It has been suggested that two-thirds of the plants listed, with their properities and uses described, would indeed act as a useful remedy in some way, shape or form based on our current scientific understanding of the compounds involved. Many of the herbs listed were used in ritualistic treatment, such as those used to make amulets that ward off evil. Lavender, for example, was said to be protective against intruders, so its physiologic effect as a calmative would make sense—one would relax, knowing lavender was on the job.
It's unclear what knowledge and what material treatments the average person had available to them. Personally, I suspect that this is a reflection of both the low level of literacy at the time among the common folk practicing various methods of treatment (no first-hand records from any but well-educated monks and nobles). Presumably what the average person kept in their medicine chests drew upon the same traditions as the folk healer. These treatments would not have been welcomed by the prevailing authorities (the Church, and local clergy in particular), who asserted that all healing ultimately came from God. Anything outside the Church's circle of acceptance was highly suspect, and could be seen as heretical, even verging on witchcraft. However, many of these traditions survive today in the forms of home remedies. We are all familiar with such treatments as honey for cough (with its soothing texture and mild natural antibiotic properties), mint for indigestion. Also, modern medicines derived from traditional herbal remedies such as aspirin (from willow) and digoxin (from foxglove). Many medicines and herbal treatments have in common their chemical properties and certain effects on diseases, conditions and symptoms.
While medical practitioners no longer recommend applying egg whites to the forehead to cure insomnia, axle grease for hemorrhoids or a cow dung poultice for eczema, the benefits of some tried and tested herbal remedies can be acknowledged -- minus the incantations, jumping on one leg while reciting the Lord's prayer, burying a black rooster (thought to be a cure for epilepsy), and the like. The history of medicine is long, varied, complex and pretty fascinating. While folk and herbal remedies are not my areas of specialization, thanks to Word Wenches, I’m enjoying the chance to look further into the matter of materia medica.
Dr. Josh
Anne here, with my dog, Chloe supervising. That's a red feather boa she's wearing, by the way. She's a kelpie, a working dog, but strangely she likes feathers.
It's books and reading that incline a child toward writing, they say, and for me, at least, it's true.Though I was an outdoors active kid during the day, in the evenings I was a total book worm. I pretty much read everything I could get my hands on, but since this is a historical blog, I thought I'd share a few of the fabulous historical writers I grew up with.
The very first historical I recall was a little book called Guy of Warwick (and yes, I suspect I was the one who colored in those letters on the cover.) It was special because I got it when we were away from home and I had nothing to read. It was about a brave knight (Guy) who committed great acts of bravery (usually by wiping out the last of some endangered species) in order to win the heart of the cold Lady Phyllis. I was a picky romance reader even at eight, for I thought Guy deserved someone a whole lot nicer than Phyllis. But I still read it over and over.
Rosemary Sutcliff was the next historical writer I remember reading as a child. She swept me away into Roman Britain and to this day I love The Eagle of the Ninth (a story of Roman Britain and a young man's quest to retrieve the lost Eagle of his Father's Legion, the Ninth)
But the writer who truly thrilled and haunted me with his historical settings was a man called Henry Treece.
His books were called 'children's books' and certainly, in the libraries where I found them, they were shelved in the children's section, but they were bold, dark, confronting, fascinating books. They took me to places and times I'd never known, and brought Romans, Britons, bronze age tribesmen, Vikings, Ancient Greeks and more to life for me.
Rereading them, I can't believe they were called children's books. He didn't hold back, didn't soften or sanitize his books for the sake of young readers —there was blood sacrifice, sex, politics, and violence, all taken completely in context — not written to shock, just to evoke the times—he was a schoolmaster and a passionate historian. And evoke the times they surely did.
Here's a piece I read when I was 11 or 12 and never forgot. It's from The Dark Island — when Romans first come to pagan Britain. I'd visited Stonehenge some years before, when we lived in Scotland and were tourists every weekend, but it was this book—this scene— that truly brought the place to life for me.
The tribes have gathered and some Romans are there as guests of the chiefs. A group of boys —chieftains' sons—have sneaked up to watch a forbidden ceremony.
Suddenly an old woman began to call out and whine, "O King, it is my son on the stone before you. He did no evil. He loved the gods. Why must you take him, lord?"
The boys heard her start to cry and then scream; then she was silent and Beddyr looked with his wide black eyes at a gaunt soldier he knew and said, "What has happened, Pedair? Why is the old woman crying , then?"
The soldier, his eyes still fixed on the blood-stone, said, "It is nothing, Prince, only an old cockle woman selling her wares."
And before the boy could ask again, a group of black-haired Picts began the long, low, rhythmic moaning that is the prelude to their death-dances and a party of soldiers had to break ranks to quieten them down.
So the boys got onto their knees and tried to look between the legs of the chiefs, but they could see little.
"He's got red hair," whispered Morag excitedly.
"They always have," said his brother.
Then they shrank back, blinded for a moment by the sun's first long ray that struck inch by inch along the eastern avenue. And when they could see again, Caradoc said to his friend Gwyndoc, "I can see Father's feet. He's dressed like a druid."
"What's he doing?"
"He's pushing a stick into the red-haired one! No, it isn't a stick, it's a mistletoe stake! He's having to push very hard, the red one is wriggling so much!"
Then they became aware that they were enveloped by a great silence, that no-one, the length or the breadth of the plain, was speaking or moving, and they fell silent, too. And a strange sound came to their ears; it was quite like a hare when you tried to wring its neck and couldn't quite. Then there was sobbing and gurgling, and all over the plain people were gasping and moving and talking again.
[Henry Treece, The Dark Island]
Powerful stuff, eh? No wonder I devoured his books, even though I'm sure they gave me nightmares at times.
But shortly after I'd worked my way through all of Henry Treece, I discovered an author who affected me even more powerfully, though in a very different way. I wasn't haunted by her, her books weren't frighteningly real — they were pure, delicious fun!
Of course, I'm talking about Georgette Heyer. I borrowed These Old Shades from the adult section of the library on a dare. My friend Merryn and I were sure I'd be told off for such impudence, but to our amazement the librarian didn't turn a hair. We never looked back.
These Old Shades plunged me into a world of Georgian fabulousness, where men wore red high heels and jewels and powder, and yet were still thrillingly masculine—and a little bit sinister. I was hooked. I practically inhaled all the Heyers in the library, giggling madly at Pel and Pom in The Convenient Marriage, and at Ferdy and his Nemesis in Friday's Child, loving the gallantry of The Mountain as he guarded his Prudence's sleep... and swooning at Damerel and his rose petal scattering habits... and I guess that stamped me as a romance reader forever more.
We moved to the city when I was fifteen, and I found a wonderful old second hand store, Berry's Antiques, that had tables full of books for 20 cents. I spent all my pocket money on those books and I gathered an almost complete collection of Heyers. I have them still, and reread them often; my favorite comfort reads.
I'm sure, if I hadn't read and fallen in love with Heyer's books and Heyer's world, I wouldn't be a romance writer today. Who knows, perhaps I might be writing dark historical novels...
What about you? What books did you love as a child? Were there books that confronted, and maybe haunted you? What were your first, beloved historicals?
I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date....
So sorry. I had my Wench day wrong on my calendar, but then as well I've been ditzy recently with deadlines and computer disasters and all the rest.
Let me explain. You knew I was on a deadline. Things were going well until my computer decided to dance with death. This computer. It's a video card problem. It's still not quite right, but as you see, it's working. It made the deadline interesting though, because though I write on another computer, I need this one to send the book to my editor in Word.
The Secret Wedding's back, BTW, and my editor loves it. Yay! She copy edits in Word, and I respond the same way. It actually works very well, but I think it'll be hell on archivists in the future and they don't have much hope for the preservation of electronic media.
The Secret Wedding will be out in April, which means there's zero slack in the timetable. It's a follow on to A Lady's Secret and about Christian, Major Lord Grandiston. I'll tell you more later.
I have four computers at the moment. I write in the brilliant XY Write on a DOS 486. I think my edition of XY Write is from the mid '80s and I've never had to update or learn new tricks. Heaven! It also doesn't think it knows better than I do and try to help. It doesn't display as pages, so it doesn't jiggle as it aligns and shifts. It's a glorified typewriter and I adore it.
I am a true Luddite. The Luddites were not mindless vandals. They saw, accurately, that new machinery was going to be bad for them and they tried not to go there. In this enlightened age -- and with a husband willing to store and maintain old computers and parts (including keyboards with the F keys at the left) I don't have to.Now there's a hero. Isn't it true that in the end the hero of a romance novel should have skills that enhance the heroine's life -- in more ways than that, you hussy! ?
I also have an old Toshiba laptop. It did excellent service but the battery's good for about half an hour, plus it weighs about 10 lbs. I use it now as a ridiculously oversized audio book player. My local library has downloadable audio books, but I don't have a portable thing that'll play them. As I mostly listen in the kitchen when cleaning and cooking, I just put the Toshiba there.
I replaced it with a Mac Airbook, which I love. (That's it with Charlie up there, overseeing the world. :) My two other monitors are behind. This set up isn't ideal, but it's temporary.) I can pop the Mac in my backpack and hardly know it's there. I don't find the Mac system nearly as easy as they think it is. They need to recruit some non-Mac users and watch them struggle. Then they'd know what we don't know. But I do love it, and now I have a DOS emulator and XY Write on it, so I don't have to switch formats to work on the road.
And I've been on the road a lot since July. Did I ever point you to my other blogs?
Jo Talk is where I posted about my trip to Australia as sidekick to the wonderful Barbara Samuel.
Then there's Minepast where I post any snippets of historical interest, especially peculiar ones. I just posted about a couple of interesting books from the wonderful Dover Books. And also about a list of causes of death in the late 19th century. If you haven't visited, cruise the archives.
To add to the general chaos of my life, the other day it poured with rain here. An ominous bubble appeared in the ceiling of the apartment bedroom. So the bed's in the living room, which is huge, but still.... On the brighter side, my Christmas cactus is blooming.
And of course there was the US election. I won't get political, but it was certainly fascinating enough to require some time and attention,wasn't it? And I will say that it's great to have a true orator back in politics. In the past, members of Parliament would weep to hear some speak. I don't have time to look it up. Pitt the Elder, perhaps? Anyone know?
We used to have to learn great speeches in school. I remember one that started, "We live in a land of rich soil..." and perhaps went on "and bounteous harvests." I thought it was by Disraeli, but a quick search isn't finding it. Anyone want to do a treasure hunt? First one back with it gets a book.
Oh, and the other computer is this Pentium whatever which is driving me scatty because it doesn't like its video card, not even the new one, and it might be a fan problem -- the whirl around and cool sort, not the stalking Misery sort. :)
And there we are. A glimpse of life chez Beverley. And I'll finish with a picture I took recently here which is just, well, one of those pictures.
So, go hunting for great political orators and that speech. I think it might be "We live in a land of rich soils and wholesome temperatures...." now I come to think of it. The gerbils in the back of my brain are muttering and cursing and they attack the files of long neglected "useless data."
Mother Margaret Mary, Layton Hill Grammar School, Blackpool.Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away...
BC. Before Cabbagepatch.
Jo :)
Once more, we trot out the happy lady on the left with her hands full of books. Here is the latest batch of winners:
Nina Paules - wins an Edith Layton book
MJ Selle - wins an Anne Gracie book
Cheryl Castings - wins a Patricia Rice book
MJ Selle, you're the only one we haven't been able to reach. Please send your mailing address to Sherrie so that we can get that book in the mail to you!
Congratulations to all the winners!
By Susan Holloway Scott
They say that love makes the world go around, and there’s no one who believes that with more certainly than Harlequin Books. Whether under the guise of Harlequin, Silhouette, or Mills & Boon, the Toronto-based publisher remains the romance world’s answer to Micky D’s, with zillions of romance novels sold in just about every place on earth where there’s a woman waiting to buy. Unlike most American books that require a new contract negotiated with a separate publisher for each foreign edition, Harlequin has its own publishing branches based in more than twenty different countries, all publishing foreign editions at a furious rate.
This can come as an exciting revelation for a Harlequin writer. The editors based in New York don't tend to play up the international editions, nor do they have any input into them, anyway. Not all books are published everywhere, and there doesn’t seem to be any sort of timetable for publication, either. Some are released overseas a month or two after North American publication, while others suddenly pop up a decade later. Thus, when you least expect it, five copies of your book in a new language and format will suddenly appear in your mailbox (and, with luck, on your royalty statement, too.)
But while misguided cover art for a new book can offer exquisite torment to even the most jaded writer
––
not to mention hysterical calls between editors, agents, production heads, marketing, and legal, all with the result that Nothing Really Gets Changed –– the foreign covers are just, well, a surprise. There’s no input with writers at all regarding the art, or even the new titles (foreign editions almost never have the same title as the North American edition.) I've heard that the actual art isn't painted specifically for a cover, but more a case of "what's around the office that we haven't used for a while." My foreign covers may have already graced other books. As for the inside, and what is lost or found in translation –– ah, the wise author will never, ever go there, not if she wishes to keep her sanity.
Thus for the sake of education, amusement, or horror, I’m posting the covers of several of my books for Harlequin Historicals, written under the name Miranda Jarrett.
One of my earliest books for Harlequin, originally published in 1992 as Columbine. Set in the New England wilderness around 1700, it fit right in with then-popular movie The Last of the Mohicans, and was full of colonial history, adventure, and an idyllic romance. When it was published in Brazil (above right), the cover art didn’t change, but the title became Insane Passion, and I swear every sentence inside ends in an exclamation point.
Clearly covers are pitched in different ways to appeal to different markets. My British covers tend to be realistic and low-key, showing the couple happily together but usually not embracing. (They're also often the painting printed in black-and-white on the inside cover of the North American editions: the junior varsity cover, I guess.) The heat-factor rises dramatically with my German and French covers, which favor lurid clinches with plenty of heaving bosoms, bulging muscles, and flying hair. Japanese covers have artwork that's more like colored drawings than paintings, and often forgo people altogether in favor of pastel landscapes.
The original cover for Sparhawk’s Angel (1996) was almost sweet, a lace-trimmed confection. A year later, the German edition seems to promise something altogether different. This past year, the book was released in Japan, with a cover that doesn’t look even vaguely historical. All I know is that my name’s on the copyright page.
Of course, marketing shenanigans take place everywhere. The holiday anthology Christmas Wedding Belles: A Regency Christmas on the High Seas was released last year, both here and in Great Britain by Harlequin. This year, Mills & Boon is releasing it again in Great Britain. Same book, same authors, but the sailors have vanished. Now it’s Regency Christmas Weddings: Three Glittering Regency Love Stories, and features artwork that belongs on a Victorian candy-box. (I have to admit that I prefer the candy-box cover with the plump, rosy-cheeked heroine in her bonnet.)
Another Christmas anthology earned a more traditional Christmas cover in Poland (and isn't it fascinating that the English word "Bestsellers" must have the same appeal regardless of the language?) On the version sold in the Czech, a seasonal wreath has been looped around the lovers. My favorite part of that one is that I’ve become Miranda Jarrettova, and there’s new Wench Anne Gracieova, too.
And in my opinion, some of the foreign covers are a definite improvement over the North American originals. I hated the cover for The Duke’s Gamble (2006): a bilious yellow cityscape with a priggish couple and a horseless carriage. The English cover for Mills & Boon is an improvement, and especially interesting since it must have been a rejected version of the North American one -- note that same blue dress with the poufy sleeves! Still, I think the Swedish version with the sly, card-holding heroine is the real winner.
The American cover for The Rake’s Wager (2007) fell short, too, with its curiously faceless heroine and the hero reduced to a mere cane and top hat (top hat??) But the couple on the Italian cover captured the relationship of the hero and heroine in a much better way, and the cover of the Mills & Boon edition –– ah, who says a smiling hero is a turn-off?
What do you think? Do you prefer the North American covers, or those on the foreign editions? And if you’re one of our international readers, what do you think of the romance covers in your country?
Pat here:
I finished the first draft, let’s here a bit shout out—HURRAYYYY!!!!!
Deep breath, exhale, stretch and wiggle, and now I can look around and see what the rest of the world is up to.
One glance at the newspaper’s front page (history in the making!) and then I’m going to fish around in our question stack. Cheryl Castings has given us a tasty selection, and I really like that one about books where the hero and heroine exchange insults, but it requires work, and I’m taking a quick sabbatical before testing my brain again. So, since the book I’ve just drafted includes a multitude of children, I’m starting with this question from Cheryl: Another topic could be favorite books that feature children. We could include discussion of the lifestyles of children during a particular time period. Cheryl, I owe you a book of your choice. Check out www.patriciarice.com and take your pick, although stand forewarned, most of the really old books were stolen and my only copies come from used bookstores.
My premise today is one I’ve stated in the past, just reworded—children will always be children.
Human nature is what it is, and civilization can only check it so much. We can put the boys in dresses until they’re six and put corsets on tiny little girls, and they’re still going to romp and get dirty and kick each other if given an opportunity. If they’re a farmer or working man’s children without nannies and maids to hover around them, they may be more apt to run fields, milk cows, and wash in cold creeks than the coddled tykes of the manor house. The coddled tykes—if given proper instruction—will be able to bow and curtsy as soon as they walk. They’ll be taught how to use an array of silverware, speak politely when
spoken to, and might learn Latin at a ridiculously early age. And they’re still going to race for the muddy pond and pick their noses if left off their leashes.
For some wonderful artwork featuring children in the Georgian/Regency era: http://tinyurl.com/558dfl
For some nice tidbits of information on Regency children, try Janet Mullany’s blog from Risky Regencies: http://riskyregencies.blogspot.com/2008/02/regency-children.html
Or this excellent piece of history with links to toys and games and other fun bits:
http://www.zimbio.com/Regency+novels/articles/5/Two+Worlds+Children+During+Regency+Period
a page on games: http://tinyurl.com/6g8ecb
Since I’ve been writing in the Georgian and Regency eras, that’s been my interest for some years now. I’m sure children in medieval Europe or western United States in the late 1800s had their own style of dress and games. But to me, it’s always the characters that hold my interest, not the clothes they’re dressed in. In the book I just completed, I tried to emphasize that the oldest boy felt
responsible for the younger ones, and the oldest girl did her best to take care of the toddlers. And the child brought up without a nanny was a wild hooligan who imitates the crude elders around her but settles down when given the love and attention she needs so badly. They could be children of any era.
But I write romance, so my main characters will always be the hero and heroine. The children walk on as needed for plot, and their characters have to hit the page in a few brief words so their actions and those of the adults around them are understood by the reader. I understand the nurturing readers among us want to see more of the little darlings, and the historians want to see an accurate picture of children's lives, and those who read romance for the sex probably don’t want to be reminded of the result. ;) I often wish I could write a book three different ways to satisfy all my facets as well as that of readers. Unfortunately, life’s too short!
So where do you fall on the spectrum? Does a book with children rampaging through it turn you off? Do you want to see more of the detail of their lives? And if so, what details would interest you? Keeping in mind that this book is still in draft form…. It may be possible to add some tidbits mentioned here. And if I do (and my lamentable memory keeps this in mind through various stages of editing and revising and outright chopping), I’ll add an acknowledgment to any reader who contributes a tidbit I can use!
(I already owe our whipmistress Sherrie an acknowledgment for her LOL epithets on my personal blog. Check out http://patriciarice.blogspot.com/ under "epithets/epitaphs." Sherrie's list is hilarious!)
by Mary Jo (Please excuse large white space--Typepad is being eccentric tonight, and we still seem to be in the Land of Giant Images.)
Every place has history, and we tend to take it for granted. Here in Maryland, Defenders Day is a state holiday that commemorates the 1814 Battle of North Point. Toward the end of the War of 1812, it was one of the battles in which the Maryland militia fought off the British who had just burned Washington and were looking to capture Baltimore, a strategically valuable port and home to a “nest of privateers.” (True. It was a nest of privateers.)
The Brits were defeated at North Point, and that fight segued into the Battle of Baltimore—the bombardment of Fort McHenry that inspired the writing of The Star Spangled Banner. (The bombardment is cheerfully reenacted every September with a Coast Guard cutter shooting blanks, plus lots of fireworks being set off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baltimore )
This history is well known to most school kids, but still, there are lots of local people who have never visited Fort McHenry, now a national shrine and really quite a cool place to wander around in. Just like tons of New Yorkers have never been to the Statue of Liberty and not all Texans have visited the Alamo, etc. Some history is just too familiar to be exciting. We take it for granted.
For me, the Lewis and Clark expedition was in that category: boring fourth grade history. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought the rights to a huge chunk of North America from the French who weren’t doing much with the territory since Napoleon was busy trying to conquer Europe. Yawn. Jefferson got the rights for a bargain price, thereby keeping the French from building an empire at the U. S.’s back door. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase Many Americans thought the whole thing was a bad idea.
Wanting to check out just what the nation had bought (even the French weren’t exactly sure what they were selling), Jefferson organized the Lewis and Clark Expedition to cross the continent and see what was there. They wanted to find the legendary “Northwest Passage,” a water route to the Pacific, but didn’t because there isn’t one unless you go up to the Arctic, where the ice tends to get in the way. But even if L&C didn’t find a Northwest Passage, they made it to the Oregon coast and back. Yawn.
Except that fourth grade history doesn’t begin to do justice to what was really an amazing feat. The Mayhem Consultant (MC for short <g>) saw a National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions catalog listing a cruise called “In the Wake of Lewis and Clark” and thought it would be fun. I’d’ve preferred a cruise to the Greek Isles and Dalmatian coast, but I’m easy, and I love water and the Pacific Northwest. In particular, I wanted to see the desert interiors of Washington and Oregon.
So we booked tickets on the cruise, which would start in Portland, Oregon, head north on the Willamette River to the Columbia River, east on the Columbia and Snake Rivers as far as Idaho, then working back down the Columbia to the mouth before ending back in Portland. The staff would include historians and naturalists—people who really know stuff.
We prepared for the trip by watching the Ken Burns Lewis and Clark documentary. (http://tinyurl.com/6jwrkl ) Done in typically fine Ken Burns fashion, it was a great overview of the reasons for the expedition, the people, the route, and the hauntingly lovely scenery the Corps of Discovery saw along the way. I began to develop consider respect for the expedition and its people.
Our boat, the Sea Lion, was small and could carry only about 60 passengers, a far cry from the big ocean cruisers. And did I mention that it was SMALL?! We had one of the four largest cabins, meaning there was a queen sized bed, but it was still so small that we had to take turns using the floor.
The bathroom was roughly the size of a phone booth, with a toilet and shower sharing the space so closely that if you took a shower, you needed to remove the toilet paper so it wouldn't get saturated. <g> I was amazed at the size of the small cabins! There was major culture shock since we’d spent the night before the cruise at a gorgeous, spacious, and very Pacific Northwestern hotel overlooking the Willamette. I think the bathroom there would have held our whole Sea Lion cabin. <g>
But the Spartan conditions are part of traveling on a boat small enough to go interesting places, and that we did. The high point was the zodiac rides on the Palouse River, gliding through huge stone canyons on mirror-like water, admiring the birds and bighorn sheep and whispering cattails. Lovely. Noisier but equally fun was the jet boat ride up Hell's Canyon on the Snake River. <g>
The tour included groups from both the Smithsonian and Johns Hopkins University, and the educational level of the group was through the ROOF! I'd say half the people on the boat had PhDs or MDs, if not both. I was downright uneducated by contrast.
It was a pretty mature crowd, and a very well traveled one. People were comparing their trips to Antarctica, for example. There was one retired professor of 83, and while she needed a cane for balance, she was sharp as a blade mentally and interested in everything. I've never been on any kind of trip where there were as many really interesting, enjoyable people.
For me, the cruise could have been called “More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Lewis and Clark,” <g> but I still learned lots of good stuff even though my interest was only moderate and I didn’t go to all the lectures.
For example, the expedition is considered a rare successful example of shared leadership. Meriwether Lewis, well-educated, moody, introverted and scientifically inclined, was the official leader (he was an aide to Jefferson when he was chosen for the expedition, but he always treated William Clark as an equal even though Clark was technically of a lower rank. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meriwether_Lewis )
The men had very complimentary skills, with Clark, Lewis’s one time commanding officer, being calm, extroverted and pragmatic. Not much at spelling, but a great co-leader. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Clark_(explorer)
As the MC likes to point out, the Corps of Discovery crossed two thousand miles of unknown territory by dead reckoning and arrived within 4 miles of their target destination. The party consisted of 33 individuals. Amazingly, only one died and that was apparently of appendicitis and not related to the expedition.
The members were mostly young males with an adventurous spirit and military experience, but also included the young Shoshone woman, Sacagawea, Clark’s slave, York, and a dog. Everybody got geographical features named after them. Including the dog.
While Sacagawea was sometimes useful as a guide and translator, she was even more valuable because of her gender, and the baby son she had not long after she and her French trapper husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, joined the expedition. War parties never traveled with women and children, so her presence reassured the Native American tribes they encountered.
The Corps'r second winter was spent in the cold, wet, hastily built Fort Clatsop in what is now Astoria, Oregon. Since they had run out of “ardent spirits,” they had to subsist on elk and water. They were not happy campers. In honor of their situation, the MC bought a packet of elk jerky along to distribute to our fellow passengers. It tastes about as you’d expect. <g>
The Corps of Discovery returned to their starting place in Missouri in September 1806, having spent about two and a half years on the road. Besides making maps of the territory, they had accumulated all kinds of scientific information on flora and fauna, and had even sent specimens back during the journey. One such specimen that was delivered to Jefferson was a live prairie dog in a box. <g>
I suppose one reason I used to take this particular piece of history for granted was because the Corps did such a great, efficient job. The Alamo is memorable because so many people died. Quiet competence and survival are less dramatic.
Have you had times when history you dismissed turned out to be fascinating? Are there incidents or places you’re yearning to explore? Or ones you have explored and been enchanted by? Once in Colchester, England, the MC and I stayed in a B&B, and we mentioned to the proprietor that we wanted to see the old Roman wall from the days when Colchester was founded as legionnaire camp. He said, “There’s a bit in the back garden.” So we went out and looked, and sure enough, there was a nice sized chunk of Roman wall in his back garden.
He might have taken it for granted. But we didn’t!
Mary Jo, who thinks history it's great to visit real history
Word Wenches is a blog featuring seven authors, plotting in the present, writing about the past. . . and improvising the rest. Authors include Mary Jo Putney, Patricia Rice, Anne Gracie, Susan King aka Susan Fraser King, Nicola Cornick, Andrea Penrose, & Christina Courtenay.
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