Silk & Shadows

by Mary Jo

I’m in crazy deadline madness, so I don’t have a lot of time for writing a deeply scintillating blog, but instead of pulling a classic, it occurred to me that I could do something fun: tell you about how I wrote one of books!  Is that great or what?  <G>

(I’m reminded of a cartoon I once saw, probably from The New Yorker, which showed a couple on a first date.  The guy, a pretentious literary looking sort, is saying, “But that’s enough about me.  Now let me tell you about my book.”  <G>)

At any rate, some people enjoy hearing the story behind the story, so here it is for Silk and Shadows, book 1 in my Silk trilogy.  (That's the new e-book version with its wonderful Kimberly Killion cover.)

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact genesis of most books, but as a kid, I used to study the maps on the rack on the classroom blackboards when I was bored.  I particularly liked the map of the world, which showed great, empty spaces in the center of Asia.  What was there?  What mysteries lurked in the vastness?  It’s not surprising that I’ve written several books with Asian settings.

In terms of plot, I was intrigued by the idea of revenge, and a man who has lived for a justified vengeance.  His fury kept him alive and shaped his life.  But ultimately, if he is to have any kind of future, he must relinquish his vengeance.  Yes, the hero of S&S was one of the long line of my tortured heroes. <G> 

By its nature, the story became my version of Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo.   A mysterious, enigmatic man from the east enters civilized society.  He is charming and charismatic and has wealth beyond imagining.  He is also ruthless, and nothing will stop him from accomplishing his secret agenda.

Nothing except, perhaps, love. 

Since I’m a great believer in laying everything out, the book has one of my favorite first lines:  “He called himself Peregrine, the wanderer, and he came to London for revenge.”

The story is set in 1839, the very early Victorian era, because the world was opening up.  Bold explorers were charting unknown lands and the Industrial Revolution was changing the nature of society.  Mikahl Kahnauri, known as Prince Peregrine of Kafiristan, has an entrée into London society because he saved the life of Lord Ross Carlisle, an aristocratic explorer and travel writer.  They had become friends—and Ross is now an unwitting tool of Peregrine’s revenge. 

I had a fabulous time researching this book.  While looking for a plausibly mysterious background for my hero, I came across the chronicles of real British explorers like Sir Alexander Burnes (left) who crossed the vast and empty tracts of Central Asia.  (Left)

A real rescue mission to Bokhara fascinated me so much it became the inspiration for Silk and Secrets, second in the trilogy, and the story of Lord Ross Carlisle.  I had to force myself to go back to my original story of Peregrine—and Lady Sara St. James. 

Lady Sara is Ross’s cousin, and the complete antithesis of Peregrine.  She is gentle and blond and kind, the fiancée of Peregrine’s enemy—and she has a core of pure steel.  Here’s an excerpt from when they first meet:

    As soon as Sara saw the tall, black-haired man, she knew that he was Ross’s newly arrived friend. Then she questioned her conclusion, wondering why she was so certain. His skin was dark, but no more than that of a weathered farmer, his craggy features were not noticeably foreign, and his superbly tailored black clothing was quintessentially British. Nonetheless, she was sure that he could only be Prince Peregrine of Kafiristan.
    It was the way he moved, she decided, fluid and feral as a predator, wholly unlike the way a European walked. She saw how women watched him covertly and was not surprised, for there was something about the Kafir that would make women spin foolish fantasies about sensuous savages who were really nature’s noblemen, untrammeled by civilization. Sara smiled at her own foolishness, then lost sight of the prince as she talked to one of her father’s elderly cousins.
    Quite suddenly the currents of the party brought her face-to-face with Prince Peregrine. Sara tilted her head up as she opened her mouth to welcome her guest, but her voice died unborn as his intense gaze caught and held hers. The prince’s eyes were a clear, startling green, a color unlike any other she had ever seen, a wild, exotic reminder that this was a man raised under different skies, by different rules. The unknowable green depths beckoned, promising…promising what?
It would be easy to drown in those eyes, to throw propriety and honor aside, and count the world well lost.... 
    Shocked and disoriented by her thoughts, Sara swallowed and forced her mind back to reality. Extending her hand, she said, “I am your hostess, Sara St. James. Surely you are Prince Peregrine?”
    His black slashing brows rose in mock despair. Taking her hand, he said in a deep resonant voice, “It is so obvious? And here I thought I was wearing correct native dress. Perhaps I should sell the tailor to the tin mines for failing me.” He had a faint, husky accent, and his pronunciation was slightly over-precise, but otherwise his English was flawless.
    Sara laughed. “It is not British custom to sell people to the mines, as I’m sure you know. Besides, your tailor is not at fault. There is an old proverb that clothes make the man, but that is only a partial truth. What really makes a man is his experiences, and your face was not formed by an English life.”
    “Very true.” The prince still clasped Sara’s hand. His own hand was well shaped and well groomed, but had the hardness that resulted from physical labor.
Sara remembered a demonstration of electricity she had once seen, for she felt as if a powerful current was flowing from him to her. It radiated from his warm clasp and those unnerving green eyes, and made her disturbingly aware of his sheer maleness. Perhaps an arduous mountain life had made the prince so lithe and strong, so attractive that she wanted to run her hands over his body, feel his muscles, draw him close....
    It took all of Sara’s training in graciousness not to snatch her hand back. The blasted man must be a mesmerist! Or perhaps the resemblance was to a cobra hypnotizing a rabbit. 
    She took a deep breath, telling herself not to be fanciful, the prince was merely different from what she was used to. Ross had once told her that Asiatics stood closer together than Europeans when they conversed. That was why she was so aware of the man’s nearness. 
    Disengaging her hand from his, she took a step back. “Local custom permits kissing a woman’s hand, or perhaps shaking it, but the rule is that the hand must be returned promptly.’’
    His mobile features fell into lines of profound regret. “A thousand apologies, Lady Sara. I knew that, but forgot. So many things to remember. You will forgive my occasional lapses?”
    “I can see that you are going to be a severe trial, Your Highness.” Sara hoped her voice sounded normal. Her hand still tingled where they had touched, and she felt abnormally sensitive, like a butterfly newly emerged from its cocoon. The flowers smelled sweeter, the music sounded brighter, the air itself pulsed with promise.

 I loved the darkness and passion of the hero, and the profound moral choice at the heart of the story.  I was also tickled when a writer friend told me that when she hit a particular point in the book, she thought she knew what was going to happen, and she was so upset that she put the book down and walked away.

Then she resumed rereading, and found I’d done something quite different.  Music to an author’s ears. <G>  

I love the stories and characters of the Silk Trilogy, and I’m really happy that the books are now available in e-editions. One of the pluses of e-booking was reading through the whole scanned manuscript, looking for errors and possible changes.  It gave me a plausible excuse to fall in love with my characters all over again. <G>

Not all readers like exotic settings and backgrounds, and I can understand why.  Reading them requires a greater investment of time and energy, resources which are often in short supply.  But people who like them tend to really like them. 

So what about you?  Do you like exotic settings?  If so, what books have particularly charmed you?  Are there any settings that you’d like to see? 

Mary Jo, warning that sooner or later she'll be talking about Silk and Secrets and Veils of Silk, the other books in the trilogy.

Comments

[Hannah Lee]

I loved this post, Mary Jo, and I, too, have a curiosity for other cultures, other worlds. I'd envied my friend's giant atlas kept in her dining room, on its own stand, until I, too, bought an atlas, and later, a globe.

This excerpt was an especially passionate one, and one that can go toe-to-toe against the best and literary of the alien-hero genres of vampires and werewolves.

Here's to more of the backstory to your stories!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Thanks so much for the kind words, Hannah! But beware--encouraging an author to talk about her backlist backstories is akin to asking grandparents about their grandchildren. *G*

[Sue Mccormick]

I do not have a preference for one type of preference over another. That said, I have loved the "Silk" trilogy ever since I first bought them, and I often reread them.

[Margot]

I do like to read non-British/US set books when I come across them. The main problem I have with them, though, is that I always wonder if the author's description of the places in the books is accurate. Do they have the customs correct? The language? The clothes? So a portion of the pleasure I'd otherwise get from the setting is taken away by the potential for inaccuracies.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Sue--

I'm glad you find the Silk books worthy of rereading. When I was proofing the scans for e-books, I was pleased to find that I still enjoyed them, and that they held up. It's an advantage of historicals that the books don't get dated easily.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Margot--

With any novel there's a risk of inaccuracies, particularly with historical novels, and even more with exotic settings.

That said, most of the historical novelists I know really enjoy research and do their best to be accurate. For my Silk books, I not only read as many relevant books I could find (Including photocopying every page of a rare out of print book on my itty bitty copier, then going through the copies with highlighter and post it notes to find relevant details), but I also enlisted (dragooned *g*) people from that part of the world to read the manuscript.

The results? A young Indian American woman said I knew more about India than she did when she read Veils of Silk. On Silk and Secrets, an Afgani man who'd helped with the research read the manuscript and asked his (American) wife, "How does she know these things??" His wife said, "Because you told her." *g*

The only comment he had after reading the ms. was that oranges would not be found beyond Jallalabad.

Does this mean that I didn't make errors? OF course not! But I do think that most authors make similar efforts to be as accurate as they can be.

[Melissa Tarun]

The Silk trilogy is probably my favorite series of your books! I generally reread them a couple times a year, my favorite being Silk and Secrets, and sometimes I'll finish that particular book and start reading it all over again the same day! I appreciate all of your careful research and the backstories; the details in these books are so rich and wonderful.

[Annrei]

I have fond memories of the Silk trilogy. My copy of Veils of Silk is battered and bruised. I'm open to exotic settings, as well as exotic characters. What better way to learn and travel than by reading it, right?

[Nicola Cornick]

Love the post, Mary Jo! I once overheard one author saying to another: "But that's enough about me - What did *you* think of my book?" True story!

I love reading - and writing - exotic settings (Does the Arctic count as exotic or does exotic imply only hot places?) I completely agree that we try to be as accurate as possible in our research and for me researching out of the ordinary settings is one of the great pleasures of being a historical author.

I'm looking forward to you talking about the other books in the Silk series. I love hearing about backstories!

[Mary Jo Putney]

I'm glad the Silk books hold up so well for you, Melissa! I rather miss the days when we could write longer books. All the Silk books are around 150K, with Veils of Silk the longest. This gave plenty of room for world building and rich subplots. Fun! Now historicals must be 100K or shorter, which means we're painting on a smaller canvas.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Annrei--

I once read that in the 19th century, traveler's tales (like those written by Lord Ross Carlise) were bestsellers because they opened up new worlds for readers. It's much easier to travel these days-but even so, how many of us will get to Bukhara? But we can go there in our imaginations...

[Mary Jo Putney]

**I once overheard one author saying to another: "But that's enough about me - What did *you* think of my book?" **

LOL, Nicola! I'd like to think that was a joke, but it could well be true. *g*

And yes, your tales of travel to icy blue north definitely count as exotic settings. I could feel the cold, see the ice....

Given the heat wave we've been having, I need to reread your ice stories!

[Susan]

I love exotic settings and seek them out. The Silk trilogy is one of my favorites of yours, along with the Bride books, which also take us out of England.

[Mary Jo Putney]

With my exotic settings, I just kept heading farther and farther east: Constantinople and Bokhara, Pakistan and India, CHina and finally Indonesia. And the farther east I went, the more complicated the research! I'm glad you like these settings as much as I do!

[eli yanti]

I love the new cover books, Jo :)

Yes, i love the exotic setting like as egypt because the different culture would be interesting and sometimes amazing things are overthere :)

[Karin]

Yes, I love exotic settings! This series somehow brings to mind "The Man Who Would Be King", a great old movie. I read the Silk books years ago, maybe it's time for a reread.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Eli, I'm glad you like the new covers. I try to find images that show the emotional moment rather than plain heavy breathing, which is less interesting.

A couple of Anne Gracie's books have exotic settings and you might want to check them out. Her most recent, BRIDE BY MISTAKE, takes place in Spain and is delightful.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Karin, I didn't see the movie THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING until several years after I wrote the Silk trilogy, and I was tickled to see the similarities. The undiscovered country that the two British soldiers of fortune wanted to rule was indeed Kafiristan. "Land of the Unbelievers," the same area of the Himalayas that my Peregrine emerged from.

The movie certainly benefits by the leads being played by Sean Connery and Michael Caine in their salad days!