Word Wenches

What We're Reading & a Some Favorite Things

by Mary Jo

At the end of every month, we do a What We're Reading blog, but now and then, we mix it up.  Today is What We're Reading plus A Few of Our Favorite Things.

So these are a few of our Favorite Things!:

CARA/ANDREA: Today Mary Jo suggested we talk not only about favorite books we’ve recently read, but also other “favorites" that have caught our fancy. Now, I always have books to dish about, but last week I saw a wonderful art exhibit in NYC and wanted to share some thoughts it provoked. As a college undergrad, I was lucky enough to have studied drawing with William Bailey, and have loved his work from the very first time I saw his paintings. (In addition to being an amazing artist, he was the nicest, most encouraging, warm-spirited teacher one could ever wish for.) Viewing the current exhibition reminded me of how much he influenced my creative life. He’s a leading American Realist, and yet he paints from his imagination—he looks at the objects, but doesn’t set up an actual still life. He simply sees what he wants to do in his mind’s eye.

SPARKY READS

"A gripping tale!" exclaims Sparky Tabasco.

As you can see by the way Sparky is gripping the side of her perch, she is totally engrossed in Jo Beverley's A Shocking Delight, which will be officially released on Tuesday. We'd love to have you join us on Wednesday, April 2, when Wench Susan King interviews Jo on A Shocking Delight. Come and ask Jo questions and visit with each other!

So, Sparky, who are your favorite authors besides Jo Beverley?

My favorite authors? You're kidding, right? The Word Wenches, of course!

 

And in May, I get to read another Wench book! Mary Jo Putney's Not Quite a Wife! I can't wait!

 *CORRECTION: The hardback library edition of Not Quite a Wife comes out in May, and the mass market paperback edition comes out in September (actually, the very end of August).

Bye-bye for now. I'm off to do some more reading. See you next week.

 

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The Sparky Report #28

Two New Wench Books!

The Winter Bride: an interview with Anne Gracie

by Mary Jo

TWO Word Wenches releases are due on April 1st!  An abundance of good reading.  I waved my hand first to claim an ARC for Anne's The Winter Bride. This second book of her Chance Sisters Quartet is another delight.  (Abby's story, The Autumn Bride () was first in the series, and chosen by Library Journal as one of the Top Ten Romances of 2013.  AND has just been listed as an RWA RITA finalist!)

The Return of the Codpiece

Nicola here, wondering if there are any fashion items from centuries gone by that are so outrageous they could never make a come back. Last week I read a very interesting article about the hot new trend for feather hair extensions. Peacock feathers are especially popular and as the trend grows from simple feathers to grand pieces, I'm reminded of those extraordinary creations made with ostrich plumes that ladies wore in the 18th century. It might not be long before we see those again. 

But surely there are some things that could never come back into fashion. Take the codpiece, for example. A codpiece is defined as a pouch attached to a man's breeches or close-fitting hose to cover the genitals, worn in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here is a picture of Henry VIII wearing one of his; this is relatively modest. There are some truly frightening images out there.

Originally the codpiece was designed specifically to hide the genitals when a man was mounting his horse. It’s a pouch, richly embroidered and lavishly upholstered, its shape deliberately designed to suggest virility. The codpiece was not anatomically correct (!) but the large size was intended to intimidate other men rather than impress women. A huge codpiece suggested that here was a man who could stand up and sport a pair of well-filled hose. Not only that, but it had a practical use as well. A man could keep his keys or coins in it.

Inevitably, there are records of men childishly competing to see who could create the best codpiece shadow until this was banned after ladies complained of what a chronicler of the time called "a very long and lewd codpiece of a barbarous and very impolite shape.” The codpiece died out in the 16th century but I doubt it's ever going to be forgotten.

Heyer made me do it

Hi, Jo here. A few days ago I heard that English Heritage will be giving Georgette Heyer a blue plaque. These are put outside houses in London which are connected with notable people, so it's a great moment for Heyer and the historical romance genre. It will be placed on the house where she was born at 103 Woodside in Wimbledon.

This got writers talking about the influence Georgette Heyer had on them, and it was such a range of writers that I thought it would make a good blog, and I asked some of them to say a little about her influence and choose a favourite Heyer. As expected, many write Regency romance, but there's suspense, time travel, YA fantasy, and humorous contemporary here, too.

TWO NEW WENCH BOOKS!

A STORY IN PICTURES BY SPARKY TABASCO

Whoa! What's that I see? Is it possible? Could it be???

 

Omigosh, it is! Two new Wench novels!

 

Yes! Two new April novels: The Winter Bride by Anne Gracie, and A Shocking Delight by Jo Beverley

 

I can't wait to get my paws on them!

Obviously, Sparky is beyond excited that two new Wench books are coming out in a few weeks. To find out what Anne and Jo have to say about their books, please take note of the following dates.

 

On Friday, March 28, Mary Jo Putney interviews Anne Gracie regarding The Winter Bride.

On Tuesday, April 2, Susan King interviews Jo Beverley regarding A Shocking Delight.  

Mark your calendars, people! Come join us for the interviews and get an insider's view on the world of writing!

Alissa Baxter: A South African Novelist

by Mary Jo

The Word Wenches have always taken a global view of the romance community of readers, writers, and publishers. As I like to say, the sun never sets on the Wench empire since we have authors from the US, the UK, and Australia, and I like to count Jo Beverley twice because of her many years in Canada. <G>

But there are English speaking authors in other countries as well, and one is my friend Alissa Baxter, a South African. Alissa started her writing career with traditional Regencies, which are still available as e-books at RegencyReads.com.  I connected with Alissa and her mother, Tess Baxter, through our mutual love of Regencies, and we've been friends ever since.

Writers like to try new things, and Alissa became the first author to have a chicklit novel published by a South African publisher. I really enjoyed Send and Receive because it captured the essence of what it's like to be young, single--and South African. Young and single is universal--I liked the way every single guy the heroine meets is evaluated at least briefly as a potential mate before Angie finds The One. At the same time, I was intrigued by the South African setting and the cast of young people trying to find their place in the world.

Guest Author Teresa Grant on Regency Spies, Secrets and Shakespeare

Cara/Andrea here,
Today I'm delighted to welcome back my good friend Teresa Grant, who writes the wonderfully intriguing Regency-set spy/mystery series starring Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch. In her latest book, which comes out next week, the action moves to London, and fittingly enough a major plot twist involves Shakespeare! Teresa studied British history at Stanford, and her meticulous research on the details of the era weave seamlessly into her stories. So, how does Shakepeare figure into the skullduggery still going on between the English and French in 1817? For that I shall turn the pen over to Teresa herself . . .

Happy Paddy's Day!

Top o’ the mornin’ and a Happy Paddy’s Day to ya!

(My Mystic Isle is too tropical for Ireland, but for today, can we all agree there is something mystical about the Emerald Isle?)

My mother, whose parents came directly from the Ould Sod in the early 1900s, was stereotypical red-haired Irish, green eyes, hot temper and all. My cousin tells me she was determined to name her children Pat and Mike, for reasons I don’t fathom until this day. I know rafts of us were named Patricia in the 1950s because of movie actress Patricia Neal, and the Tracy/Hepburn movie Pat and Mike came along in 1952, but I don’t remember my mother ever going to the movies.  

So my theory is that she wanted us to be saints. I’m named after St Patrick and my brother after St Michael, making us Irish Catholic inside and out.

Since this is St Patrick’s Day, I claim it for my own, even if St Pat was actually English. Of course, he was English. Didn’t the English do their very best to turn Ireland into England? In Pat’s case, he might have had a point, since Irish raiders kidnapped the sixteen-year-old from his wealthy home and essentially forced him into servitude until he escaped six years later. And what does the man do but decide to go back and teach the heathens?

TWO GUESTS THIS COMING WEEK!

Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a big hand to this coming week's guests: Teresa/Tracy Grant and Alissa Baxter!

 
Sparky is thrilled (thrilled!) to announce that this coming week we will be interviewing two guests.

 

On Wednesday, March 19, Cara/Andrea interviews Teresa (Tracy) Grant, who studied British history at Stanford University and received the Firestone Award for Excellence in Research for her honors thesis on shifting conceptions of honor in late fifteenth century England. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her young daughter and three cats. In addition to writing, Tracy works for the Merola Opera Program, a professional training program for opera singers, pianists, and stage directors. Her real life heroine is her daughter Mélanie, who is very cooperative about Mummy’s writing. Tracy is currently at work on her next book chronicling the adventures of Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch.  

 

Then on Friday, March 21, Mary Jo interviews Alissa Baxter. Alissa was born in South Africa, and grew up with her nose in a book on a poultry farm in Mpumalanga. After school and university, where she majored in Political Science and French, she started writing her first Regency novel, The Dashing Debutante.  She has lived in Switzerland and London and held a variety of jobs, including flight attendant for Emirates Airline and publicist for a television station.  After returning to South Africa, she lived in Durban and Cape Town, where she wrote Lord Fenmore's Wager, then moved into contemporary romantic novels set in her native country.  Join us as we discuss a South African writer's journey!

Sparky is so excited about these two guests that she can hardly contain herself! (Hint:  there's more to come in the following week, too, when Mary Jo interviews Anne Gracie! More on that next Sunday.)

There are places we remember...

Jo here, pulling together Wenchly responses to the question, "Have you ever visited a place that's ended up in a book?"

Nicola

I love the way in which anything from a snippet of conversation to a piece of music can inspire an idea for a book, and certainly I find that many places spark off story ideas for me. The most unusual would probably be Spitsbergen, in the Norwegian Arctic, which featured in Whisper of Scandal. Another unusual book idea sprang from a visit to Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. I love Suffolk and the town of Woodbridge in particular, and I set my Bluestocking Brides series in that area.

A quiz with a difference

Anne here, posting another quiz for you, one with a small difference. Here I'm quizzing you on a book you haven't yet read — The Winter Bride, which comes out on April 1st. Perhaps a handful of people have read it — reviewers and people like that. So it's not testing knowledge as such — it's not testing anything. It's just for a bit of fun, guessing at the answers.

Don't worry, there are no spoilers here; the questions relate to minor occurrences, and are more about the characters, who some readers will have met in the previous book, The Autumn Bride. It's  intended to give you a little taste of the book to come, something a bit different from an excerpt or a blurb.

So here it is, a fun little quiz on a book you haven't read. Make a note of your answers, check them on the link at the bottom and come back and tell us how you went, and whether you enjoyed it or hated doing a quiz on something you can't know. I'll be giving a copy of The Winter Bride to someone who leaves a comment.

1) Max asks Freddy to keep an eye on Lady Beatrice and the three girls because:
        a) Freddy is a reliable chaperone
        b) Freddy wants to get closer to the girls   
        c) Max doesn't trust his aunt to behave herself
        d) Max thinks the girls are in danger

2) Lady Beatrice's favorite form of exercise is:
        a) riding in a carriage
        b) being read to   
        c) gossiping with friends
        d) all of the above

3) Lady Beatrice says:
        a) "A lady should never keep a man waiting."
        b) "Punctuality is a virtue."   
        c) "Punctuality is quite unnecessary."
        d) "It is good for men to be kept waiting."

4) Freddy attends Lady Beatrice's literary society because:
        a) Max made him promise to go
        b) there's nothing else interesting on   
        c) it's a good place to meet women
        d) he adores poetry and good literature

5) Damaris grew up in:
        a) Italy
        b) Venice   
        c) China
        d) Scotland

6) Freddy says muffins:
        a) are food for the lower classes
        b) make a delicious snack   
        c) are the perfect breakfast food
        d) follow him around and are a dratted nuisance

7) Damaris needs money. Freddy thinks it's because:
        a) she's a spendthrift
        b) she's got gambling debts   
        c) she's being blackmailed
        d) she buys too many hats

8) Freddy knows his valet is displeased with him when:
        a) he serves Freddy tea that is cold
        b) he sniffs meaningfully and often
        c) Freddy's shirts are presented with a crease in the wrong place
        d) he whistles loud and long

9) When Freddy and Flynn first meet
        a) Freddy is impressed with Flynn's sartorial elegance
        b) Freddy admires Flynn's earring   
        c) Flynn is impressed with Freddy's sartorial elegance
        d) None of the above

10) Freddy teaches Damaris to drive a carriage because:
        a)  he has entered her in a ladies' race.
        b)  he wants to get her alone.    
        c)  he plans to kidnap her. 
        d)  he thinks scaring her will make her feel better.

11) Lady Beatrice's beloved half sister Griselda is:
        a) living in Venice
        b) a terrible woman
        c) completely imaginary
        d) a very rich woman

12) Freddy claims the novel Pride and Prejudice is a horror story because
        a) it's all about girls catching a husband
        b) every single man in it ends up married
        c) it gives him nightmares
        d) all of the above

Now you have guessed the answers, click here and find out the results. Then come back and tell us how you went. Did you have fun with this, or was it annoying to be quizzed on a book you can't yet have read? (Be honest, I won't mind.) I'll be giving a copy of The Winter Bride to someone who leaves a comment.

In Search of Lost Kings

Nicola here! Today I’m thinking about lost kings, by which I mean those monarchs whose bodies have vanished and whose current whereabouts are unknown. This may seem an odd thing to be thinking about (but you know writers – we think about all kinds of weird stuff!) but two things have put it in my mind. First there’s the ongoing debate about where King Richard III is to be re-buried after the sensational discovery of his body last year beneath a car park in the city of Leicester. The other reason I’m musing on lost kings is that much to my surprise, whilst doing the research for my current manuscript I discovered I’m actually writing about one – Frederick of Bohemia, whose body disappeared in the 1630s. More on Frederick later.

The archaeological dig to find the burial site of King Richard III last year fascinated people in the UK and far beyond. Perhaps it was because Richard has always been one of the most controversial of English kings, bitterly dividing opinion over whether he was a good guy or not. Perhaps it was also the fact that his death in battle and subsequent fate was the stuff of rumour and legend. Whilst the discovery could not throw any light on the biggest mystery of all that surrounds Richard – that of the fate of his nephews, the Princes in the Tower – it did reveal a wealth of information about the king himself, his physical appearance and the way in which he died.

THE SPARKY REPORT #28

PERFECTING THE ART OF THE HEAD TILT

In the abvove photo, Sparky looks mature and even a little bit bored. It's a ruse. Beneath that gleaming coat and polished exterior lies the heart of a Master Manipulator. Have you ever seen a puppy cock his head one way, then the other, when you talk to him? Well, Miss Sparky Tabasco has been taking lessons on the art of head tilting from Shona, one of my dogs. Shona is a Boxer, so in typical Boxer fashion, she turns herself inside out with joy if you so much as glance her way, and if you should deign to talk to her, she goes into an ecstacy of head tilts. Sparky's been taking notes.

So how do you think Sparky is doing in the head tilt department? I think she's got it down pat. But it's possible her eyesight may be to blame. Or not. Hard to tell. But I do wonder if Sparky's crossed eyes may contribute to her head tilting, like maybe she's trying to focus. Regardless, it's just one more trait that makes Sparky one of the most entertaining cats I've ever had the fortune to own.

AMAZON: Adventures on the River Sea

by Mary Jo

These days when we talk about Amazon, we're probably referring to the mega-selling online site, but I'm just back from a visit to the real Amazon, and it certainly explains why Jeff Bezos chose to name his company after the mightiest river in the world. 

The longest river in the world can be disputed--just exactly where do the headwaters begin?--but everyone accepts that the Amazon River is the largest river in the world.

 Statistics abound: the water flow is greater than the next seven rivers combined.  The world's largest drainage basin by far.  The estuary at its mouth is 150 miles wide. The Amazon Basin includes parts of nine different nations. No wonder it's sometimes called the "River Sea." 

The Amazon is a distant place of jungle and danger, myth and mystery, and Sean Connery movies.  Naturally the Mayhem Consultant and I wanted to visit. <G>  For several years, I've been eyeing an Upper Amazon cruise offered by the partnership between Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society. 

 

Spain

About a month ago I was attending a romance conference in Madrid. How cool is that?

Quite, actually, as it had snowed the day before I arrived! Never mind. I didn't expect warm weather in Madrid in early February.

I was delighted to be invited to attend the conference, which was in, I believe, its fourth year and growing every year. There were nearly 200 attendees.

The weather might have been nippy but my welcome from the organizers and attendees was very warm. I knew I sold well in Spain because all my books except the traditional Regencies have been translated into Spanish, and I get fan mail, often in Spanish. Babelfish is my friend. :) However, there's nothing like meeting people who have all my books and love them. Writers all need a dose of that now and then.

Craft and Character

Cara/Andrea here, thinking about the craft of writing today . . .

In the normal scheme of publishing, a linked series—such as a trilogy or quartet of books that features a closeknit group of family or friends—usually comes out in a leisurely fashion, with perhaps 9 months or a year between the stories. In some ways that timing allows the secondary characters to take root in the minds of readers and rather organically “grow” into their starring roles.

My publisher decided to turn that trope on its ear and do a consecutive release—three books in three months, starting in January. (So yes, the final story is out this month—Passionately Yours goes live on March 5th! You can read an excerpt here.) In many ways, it’s very exciting. Readers don’t have to wait very long to find out the answers to such questions as, “Ooooh, what’s going to happen between Anna and the Devil Davenport!” or “Please tell me that McClellan is going to be Caro’s hero?” But it can also present intriguing challenges for a writer. At least, it did for me.  

The stories are the heart of the series, but the craft of creating the character arcs is elemental to having the books work together. Sometimes, that’s not so hard—in the past, I’ve often written about three friends, who have well-formed characters from the start. It’s simply a matter of how to slowly reveal their essence as they move from the perimeter of the ballroom out to the center of the polished parquet when its their turn to shine in the light of the glittering chandeliers.

But in my latest trilogy, I wrote about a trio of sisters, so it was a different sort of process. And with the books coming out so close together, I found myself far more aware of the nuances in character of Caro, the youngest sister and how to develop her over the first two books into someone with enough emotional depth and complexity to be an interesting heroine.

In the first book, she’s hovering on the cusp of womanhood, not quite out in Society, and longing for entree into the real world. She’s a budding poet, with an active imagination untempered by experience, so she tends to be dramatic, which amuses her older sisters.  They see her as the baby of the family, and thus so do readers. Which is all very well for her secondary role in Scandalously Yours, but she has to change in order to come into her own and be an appealing heroine.

Perhaps I’m wrong about this, but it seems to me that having, say, a 9 month interlude before the next book helps make readers feel that a character is “growing up.” It’s a subtle message to be sure, but time softens perception. Change seems more natural—after all, we all change over time! But with the second book coming out in the following month, it sharpened my sense that I had to be very attuned to how I moved her along in her growth arc.

It helped that in Sinfully Yours, Olivia, the oldest sister and heroine of Scandalously Yours, was away on her marriage trip, so the dynamics of the relationship between Anna and Caro were already cast in a different light. As Anna struggles with inner conflicts, she cautiously begins to confide in her “baby” sister—and in turn Caro is eager to prove she can be a thoughtful listener and offer some words of wisdom rather than merely react with schoolgirl theatrics. And the truth is, she has changed—having played a part, albeit a small one, in Olivia’s adventure, she’s seen that deadly serious consequences can result from impulsive decisions. It’s matured her, and given her some of the life experiences she had been yearning for.

Over the course of the story, I try to show her biting back her first impulsive reactions and taking a moment to ponder a problem.  That’s not to say I take the spark out of her. Caro remains Caro—the most romantic, emotional of the sisters, She‘ll always be fighting the battle between reacting with her head and with her heart. But that, I hope, is at the essence of her charm.

And now, in a few days, it’s her turn to step to the center of the stage and play the leading role her own story, Passionately Yours. Is she ready for the chandelier’s diamond-bright lights? After all, bright lights tend to magnify and accentuate every flaw. Well, she still has much to learn about herself . . . and about men. (Though we all know THAT subject takes two lifetimes to figure out!) However, I think she’s ready for the challenge . . .

So I’m curious—how do you feel about the quick release of a series? Do you like having all the stories come out over a short period of time? Or do you prefer the traditional release pattern of having 9 months or a year between books? And while I’m asking publishing questions, how do you feel about the e-book first release? How do you prefer to read your romance novels? One lucky winner will be selected at random from among those who leave comments here between now and Tuesday evening to win a digital copy of Passionately Yours.

THE SPARKY REPORT #27

WINDOW KITTY LOVES SUNSHINE

The above picture is one of my favorites. Despite my best efforts at preventing Sparky from turning my printer into a bed, she persists. I finally gave up, and to keep kitty hair out of the printer, I folded some soft blankets and placed them on top. Sparky likes that, and from her throne on high, she makes editorial comments and slaps at my hand or pats me on the head. Even when the mini-blinds are down, Sparky haunts the windowsill, willing to settle for slashes of sunlight sifting through the blinds.

But once I open the blinds, Sparky settles down for a sunny power nap. When she starts snoring, I know she's down for the count.

Occasionally I'll bump the desk or clatter my coffee cup and Sparky will wake up and give me one of her cross-eyed looks. With that one white toe on her right foot, it looks like she's giving me "the finger" for disturbing her sleep. 

In no time at all, Sparky is back to napping and snoring. Except when she's had catnip. The picture below shows the after-effects of catnip on the brain of a slightly demented cat. Yes, it's the one and only Sparky Tabasco, bug-eyed and full of silliness after indulging in catnip. As you can tell by her eyes, she's still high, and there will be no power naps for a long time to come. The eyes just crack me up.

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