Word Wenches

Punches and Pugilists—Random Fcts on Regency Boxing

Andrea here, offering yet another down-the-rabbit-hole research discovery today. I love research, as part of the fun is discovering things you didn’t know you wanted to know! Now, I am not a bellicose person, so I’m not at all interested in an actual boxing match. But as I needed to know a few specifics about ‘pugilism’ for a WIP scene, I had to research a few basic things.

And voila! Down the rabbit hole! Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I find the history of just about anything fascinating on an intellectual level, and as I happen to like sports (the other Wenches have dubbed me the ‘Wench Jock’) I actually found myself very interested in the resources I found. One of the most intriguing is “Fighting Words," an online exhibit from the Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame, from which I have cheerful poached some of the following information.

Cats and Christmas Trees!

Cats and Christmas trees

By Mary Jo

Cats have been around since time immemorial and Christmas trees became popular in the mid-19th century, when Victoria and Albert introduced the German custom of decorating trees into the British royal palaces and from there to most of the English speaking world. (In other words, they went viral. <G>)

And if Victoria had a cat, it probably climbed her tree.  But cameras, especially easy to use cell phone cameras, have really helped cats in Christmas trees become a true internet meme. (The image of the black and fallen tree is from Facebook and I think of it as "My work here is done. <G>)

At least a couple of times when I was a kid in our farmhouse, cats brought down our tree  and very messy it was. That hasn't happened in many years because tree stands are much more stable now.

I've had a few cats who were Christmas tree climbers, and many of them enthusiastically bat at low hanging ornaments.  ("Look, they hung all these nice play toys just for me!")

The cat below, right, is the Mayhem Consultant's cat, Reggie the Rascal.  Don't believe that innocent look.  He has climbed trees and he loves scooting up tree decorating ladders, then prowling the valances.

But mostly my cats are content to lounge underneath and possibly check the tags to see who gets what.  (That's PandaMax on the left, doing exactly that.)

 

The number of jokes about cats climbing trees and sometimes pulling trees them over got me to thinking about pets in Christmas trees in general.  Cats are small and agile and have claws designed for climbing.

Probably a ferret would also be a climber, but they aren't that common as pets. Parakeets and other pet birds can fly across a room and land on a branch and perhaps cause some damage if they're larger types like macaws. 

Dogs aren't built for climbing, but a friend of mine assures me that the enthusiastic wagging tail of a Labrador retriever can reap a serious harvest of ornaments!

Thus, the number one rule for pet owners who put up trees it to PUT UNBREAKABLE ORNAMENTS ON THE LOWER BRANCHES.

We have a nice collection of lightweight, hard to break plastic apples that look pretty and have a  high tolerance for being knocked across a room.  (They make a distinctive rattling sound as they roll merrily across a hardwood floor at 2:00 am.

So the bottom line is that with decorating care it's possible to have both pets and trees which is good for those of us who love both.

Do you have experiences with pets and Christmas trees?  Tell us about them!

Mary Jo

Nicola on the Grand Tour!

Nicola here. Back in the 18^th century it was considered part of a gentleman’s education to take the “Grand Tour,” a trip through Europe with Italy as the main destination. The young, upper-class man of means and rank would set out, accompanied by a long-suffering tutor or family member, on this educational rite of passage and would return home supposedly with a greater understanding of classical culture and often with some works of art tucked under their arm.  The phrase “bear-leader” that you come across in Georgette Heyer originated with the poor tutor/chaperon/guardian who had to try to keep the youth out of trouble and instill some knowledge in him!

With the advent of mass tourism in the nineteenth century, these itineraries were opened up to the rest of us; women, families and those without a title (!) who would take a guide book along rather than a tutor. So, when we (my husband and I, to quote the late Queen) planned a holiday to Italy to see the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, we decided to take in at least a few other elements of the Grand Tour on our way - a journey through the Alps, some shopping in Milan and a stopover in Paris!

Support Your Local Drug Dealer

I’m pretty sure I’ve started writing a Regency soap opera. I’m not at all sure if this is a marketable direction, but my Muse is temperamental. After the pandemic isolation, she became a ghost of herself—which may be why I ended up writing about ghosts. But I wanted to go back and try my hand at writing straight Regency historicals again—and soap opera is what happened. I’m calling it a mystery, but that was only after I went back in and added clues and eventually came up with a dead body.

On Darkness

Anne here, pondering darkness. But first, a little story from my past. As a teacher, I took many kids away on camp. Many schools these days site their "camps" in warm, comfortable buildings, but some of the schools I worked at couldn't afford that, so we pitched a motley array of borrowed tents on the ground, under the sky. (The photo below was taken by my friend Fiona McArthur.)

Many of those kids had never been out in "the bush" as we call it here, generally meaning untamed country, the wilderness, often national parks, and early on, I discovered something that quite shocked me.

Having grown up in cities, and often on high-rise housing estates, the concept of the dark of night was completely unknown to the students. Wherever they went at home, there were security lights, and even where there weren't any (or they were broken), the general light pollution of the city ensured that they could still see, more or less.

Far from the city, camping out in "the bush" they were away from street lights, there was no light pollution and, if the moon was hidden by cloud, it was dark — completely, utterly dark. And for some of them, that was unexpected and quite frightening.

Atmosphere and Memory

Nicola here, pulling up a Wench classic blog from a few years ago as I’m travelling at the moment, far from my laptop!

Today I’m musing about the atmosphere of particular places. I’m taking us back a long way in English history, beyond the Regency, beyond those ubiquitous Tudors, to a time before the Norman Conquest when England was split into the Anglo Saxon seven kingdoms. The village where I live has a recorded history that goes back to this distant time – there are actual documents from the era relating to events that happened in this very place over a thousand years ago and I find that mind-blowing. As I walk along the footpaths and over the hills I frequently imagine how it might have looked in that time and try to see all the way back through the mists of history to think myself back there.  I can be pretty successful at this; when it’s quiet and I’m standing on the Ravens’ Fort and all I can hear are the birds singing and I feel the breeze on my face I can persuade myself, for a split second anyway, that I have travelled in time. Then an aeroplane flies over and I think perhaps not after all.

Certain places have a very strong sense of atmosphere. I’ve been to battlefields such as Flodden and Culloden where the whole landscape feels as though it is steeped in the bloodshed and suffering of the men who died there. I’ve visited historic houses that feel imbued with the personalities of the people who lived there, and I’ve wandered happily through gardens that feel peaceful or visited buildings that have a joyous atmosphere. How much of this is down to the emotional memory of the place and how much is down to my imagination, I cannot say. As writers and readers of historical fiction I think we all step into that other world. One of my books looks at “stone tape theory” which was an idea popular in the 19^th century and later in the 1970s that places retain emotional memories in their very fabric. This is one theory said to account for ghostly sightings. It’s an intriguing idea around which to build a timeslip novel.

Dolls' houses

Anne here. A few weeks ago, Christina blogged about Tiny Things, which I also enjoy. Recently I've been watching one of those "reality" TV shows where people compete to be the best at something — you know, like those cooking shows. In general I don't like that kind of show — putting people under time stress to make stuff and every week someone is a loser until finally only one "winner" is left. But despite my misgivings, I watched this one because it was all about miniatures and dolls' houses. It was a UK show called The Great Big Tiny Design Challenge and you can see a bit of it here.

I had to admit, I found it fascinating — I've loved miniatures and dolls houses since I was a little girl. But in the end, I found the show frustrating. I would have liked less frantic competitive making, and a slower program that really showed you what each person was doing — perhaps sharing and explaining some techniques. But I suppose that would only appeal to people interested in making miniatures themselves, whereas a competition with winners and losers is no doubt more appealing to a wider audience.

As far as I know, dolls' houses have only been around since the 17th century and then, in Europe, they were originally made not as play objects, but as teaching tools, intended for mothers to instruct their young daughters in how to run households. It was also to show off wealth, as the girls learning these lessons were practicing to be the lady of the house — not the cook or one of the servants.

In the 19th century, the concept of childhood changed (at least for the children of the rich) where play came to be regarded as natural and desirable for children. (The children of the poor kept working for a living, just like children in poor countries today.) The 19th century, particularly the Victorian era, is when dolls' houses came into their own. As well, industrialization meant that they became more affordable for more people. This period is still one of the most popular for miniature makers and dolls' house creators.

East Meets West

Andrea here. As you may have noticed, some of the Wenches have recently been gallivanting around the globe, as the world begins to open up to exploration. I’m adding to the exotic travelogue, as I’ve just returned from an amazing journey through the ancient treasures of the Mediterranean, starting in Istanbul and ending in Athens.

Istanbul has always been at the top of of my To-Do List, as its exotic allure of East meets West, and its place as  such a special crossroads of history have always fascinated me. So I’m going to talk a little bit about the city, and my whirlwind impressions, though that won’t begin to do justice to the rich tapestry of its past and present.

One of the pleasures about taking a cruise on a Viking ship (the modern-day cruise line, NOT the longboat of one of Pia's fabulous heroes!) are the resident historians, who give evening talks on each destination. One of the basic points our professor made was that the city’s has three distinct “personalities,” reflected in its three different names throughout history. Though the site has been inhabited since Neolithic times, the first great city was said to be founded by by a Greek king named Byzas around 660 BC and became known as Byzantium. (Its acropolis was on the site of today’s Topkapi Palace. (Left: Hagia Sophia; Right: Islamic astrolabe from the Museum of Islamic Arts.)

 

Islands in the Sun

By Mary Jo

A week ago, I told you about the first part of our recent cruise vacation, which described London and the shipboard experience.  Today I want to talk about our three ports of call while we were still in European waters. 

Originally we were scheduled to stop in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, then Madeira, then Bermuda when the ship was most of the way across the Atlantic.  But Bermuda's landing requirements were so complicated and difficult that the cruise line canceled Bermuda and added in Lisbon as the first stop out of Britain.

Lisbon

Great idea!  We visited Lisbon once before on our way to cruising the Douro River in Northern Portugal, the cruise that inspired my book Once a Soldier.  I remember it as a hilly city of broad boulevards, which were a result of a devastating earthquake in 1755.  The destruction was vast, and much of the city was rebuilt according to more modern principles.

 

A History of Stripes

Nicola here. A couple of weeks ago I visited the Whitchurch Silk Mill. Built in 1813, on land owned by Winchester Cathedral, it was built by the Hayter family and then developed by William Maddick. Through the 19^th and early 20^th century it produced silk, providing work for the local populace and going through some hard times and some good like many small businesses. From 1911 the mill wove silk for Burberry, producing 22 different colours of silk lining for their famous raincoats. In the 1980s after falling into disrepair it was restored as a working museum using traditional machinery and methods.

Visiting the museum was completely fascinating. Weaving silk is a very complicated business but it was so much easier to understand when you could follow the different steps in the process and even have a go on the silk looms yourself. It was also a real insight to see what working conditions were like in the Victorian age – some of the child workers started at nine years old!

The Whitchurch mill has always specialised in stripes and there was a very interesting exhibition on show about striped designs and their history. Stripes in
nature have long been an inspiration for designers. Stripes can be used as both camouflage and as warning. Both prey – zebras, for example – and predators such as tigers, have stripes that allow them to blend in. Snakes, various insects and even badgers have them to scare the predators away.

London Calling!

London calling!

by Mary Jo

Did you know that cruise ships migrate like birds?  In summer they flock to Europe, cruising from Nordic regions to the Mediterranean and more.  In autumn, they turn and head to the Western hemisphere, particularly the Caribbean.  They do this because tourists follow the sun, and so do the cruise ships.

This means that ships do repositioning cruises twice a year, spending days crossing the Atlantic with very few ports of call.  This is great if you like lots of lazy days at sea and the Mayhem Consultant and I do.  Hence we cruised from Southampton in England to Miami, with three stops in Europe and seven glorious sea days. 

 

Saddle up!

Andrea here, My current work-in-progress—a fictional biography of Lady Hester Stanhope—has called for me to think about riding a horse—or more specifically, about how ladies of the Regency era rode a horse. Lady Hester was a “neck and leather” rider, which in Regency cant means she was a superb horsewoman who loved galloping at a devil-may-care pace across the countryside.

And that was no easy feat, considering that it was considered scandalous for a lady to ride astride. Lady Hester, who broke  most every rule in the book regarding feminine deportment, didn’t pay much attention to that limitation. And the fact that she had a special skill for breaking ornery horses to saddle made the neighboring gentlemen very willing to turn a blind eye on her wearing breeches and boots because she helped them with their difficult mounts.

But most ladies of the era didn’t possess such skills, or such practical neighbors, and so were consigned to perching themselves on a side-saddle. So I thought I would do a quick dive down the research rabbit hole to look at the history of this contraption.

Interview on The Winter Garden!

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot …”

Christina here and tomorrow is Guy Fawkes’ Day here in the UK so what better time to interview Wench Nicola about her new book THE WINTER GARDEN? It was published last week and is based on the infamous Gunpowder Plot that Mr Fawkes was involved with in 1605. He was part of a group of Catholics who had decided to kill the King by blowing up Parliament, but they were betrayed and ultimately their plot failed. I was lucky enough to read an ARC of this story and it is absolutely fabulous! I seriously couldn’t put it down – if you’d like to read my review you can find it here, but I’d recommend you read it for yourself!

Here’s a short summary:-

1605: Anne Catesby fears for her family. Her son, the charismatic Robert, is secretly plotting to kill the king, placing his family in grave danger. Anne must make a terrible choice: betray her only child or risk her family’s future.

Present Day: When her dreams of becoming a musician are shattered, Lucy Brown takes refuge in her family’s ancestral home in Oxfordshire, once home to Robert Catesby, the gunpowder plotter. There she starts to have strange visions of a woman in Tudor dress, a woman whose story runs parallel to and then converges with her own. Lucy is determined to find out more about this apparition and in doing so uncovers a chain of secrets that have been hidden for centuries…

Regency Speak

I have spent the last couple of years writing contemporary mysteries and before that, Victorian romances. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve attempted Regency cant. I have an entire thesaurus of words, but my head simply isn't picking up the speech patterns that allow boxing cant or catty insults the way it used to do. Worse yet, the hero is American, and now I have to wonder how much of Regency-speak an American might use. Or a spinster who spends more time in books than society. Oh, and then there are the Frenchmen and the country folk. . .

History—and Heroes!

Andrea here. As I’ve mentioned here before, along with my Wrexford & Sloane historical mystery series, I’m working on a new book project in a new-to-me genre within historical fiction— a biography “reimagining” the life of Lady Hester Stanhope, an extraordinary real-life woman from the Regency era.

I n other words, it’s a book that meant to stay accurate to her real life and personality, but requires an author’s imagination to create the story and dialogue that will make her come alive for readers. It’s been a fascinating challenge. I’ve done a lot of research, which I love, and am lucky that Lady Hester was a member of a very prominent family, so many of her letters have been saved, which give special window into her thoughts and feelings.

But I’m digressing from the main topic of this blog, which is how these deep-dive research forays, where one reads as much as possible about a person’s life can become “personal” in very unexpected ways. I have a confession to make! In looking at the three men who were Lady Hester’s love interests, I have come to have a “crush” on one of them— Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore

Indoor Plants

Anne here, and today I'm talking about growing plants inside, in pots. Even though I've always had an outdoor garden, I've still loved growing pot plants indoors. And every winter, the cheerful splash of color from indoor flowering plants makes me smile. The color here is from a cyclamen, and each year I buy one or two that are about to start flowering, and their vivid blooms keep me feeling cheerful all through the gloom of winter. (This photo was taken last winter.)

For centuries people from all sorts of cultures have valued scented and flowering plants —Hanging Gardens of Babylon, anyone?— and bringing them indoors so that their fragrance and blooms could be enjoyed, perhaps also masking unpleasant smells.

From the 15th century, European explorers and colonizers brought home all kinds of "treasure" from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania — including botanical specimens — though few of these survived except under special conditions.

But as technology advanced to the point where whole buildings could be made of glass and steel, plants unsuited to cold Northern European climates — plants such as oranges, lemons, pineapples, and other delicate fruits — could be grown under glass.

By the 17th century, citrus trees were a status symbol among the wealthiest in society, and greenhouses and orangeries were built to protect these highly coveted specimens during winter. They might be called conservatories, orangeries, succession houses, or ferneries, depending on what they were growing.  (The photo on the left is a gorgeous modern version of the Victorian style conservatory, from this site.)

Flowering spring bulbs, such as narcissi, hyacinths and tulips, grown in pots, could easily be brought indoors when in flower. By the end of the 17th century, these were being ‘forced’ to flower early in winter by starting off the bulbs in the warmth of indoors. Hyacinths, with their heady fragrance were particularly popular.

An Artist's Eye for Detail

Andrea here, musing today about art. Yes, I do that a lot, as it’s something near and dear to my heart. In case, my thoughts have to do with research and how art can be an unexpected source of wonderful details for an author of historical novels.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a special exhibition JMW Turner watercolors in the Study Room of the Yale British Art Center. They have an amazing collection in their archives, and many are rarely shown in public. What made the experience truly amazing what that they up the painting on display tables and placed a magnifying glass by each one. We were all allowed to get “up close and personal” with the art!

A Distant Magic

by Mary Jo

October 6th is the release date for A Distant Magic, the final book in my Georgian paranormal historical trilogy. 

The Trilogy

In Book 1, A Kiss of Fate, Duncan Macrae is the most powerful weather mage in Britain.

In Book 2, Stolen Magic, Simon, Lord Falconer, is the Guardian enforcer.

In A Distant Magic, Nikolai Gregorio is a crusader, and his life and soul are dedicated to ending slavery. 

 

The Daring Lady Di

Nicola here. A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk and a tour at Lydiard House on the subject of Lady Diana Beauclerk, an 18^th century aristocrat who was very unusual in her time for working as a professional artist. Born Lady Diana Spencer in 1734, the daughter of the 3^rd Duke of Marlborough, she was for a while Lady St John, mistress of Lydiard House and wife to Frederick, 2^nd Viscount Bolingbroke. Lady Diana’s life story is extraordinary both personally and professionally but the bit I wanted to focus on was her undoubted talents as a painter and the way in which these had been downplayed because she was a woman and a scandalous one at that. It was a particular pleasure to be giving the talk at Lydiard House, where we could follow in her footsteps in the house and garden and see the influence that her life there had on her art. In the “Diana Room” at Lydiard we also have the largest collection of her work in the UK.

Lady Diana Spencer was the eldest daughter of the 3^rd Duke of Marlborough. She was born in 1734 and spent some of her childhood at Blenheim Palace. There was a great deal of fine art there to inspire her; one of her earliest childhood drawings was a pastel of a baby based on a Rubens painting that hung there and chubby Rubenesque cherubs remained a motif of her drawing all of her life. This was how she initially learned to draw and paint, through seeing artistic images and creating her own versions of them.

IMPRESSIONS OF EGYPT

I admire avid travelers who can recount events, name famous places, and give a coherent travelogue on the spur of the moment. I am not one of them. Since I have never had a reliable memory, I experience travel. I might close my eyes and recall the scent of saffron and cinnamon, the lights on the mosque, the tune of a street musician—and inevitably, the cry of “One dollar, only one dollar, miss!” as a vendor shoves an armful of bracelets at me. I will not be able to tell you the name of the market or the mosque. Although the one I’m recalling at the moment is in Cairo—and I didn’t take a single photo because I was living it, not recording it. Fortunately, my husband was not so lax!

Christine Wells and One Woman's War

Anne here, and today I'm interviewing Christine Wells, whose latest book, One Woman's War: A Novel of the Real Miss Moneypenny, is coming out next week. You can preorder it here.

Christine's books featuring strong, fascinating women have gained some wonderful reviews. “One Woman's War is a thrilling and suspenseful ride, perfect for fans of Kate Quinn, Beatriz Williams and Natasha Lester. Inspired by historic events, this story will have readers on the edge of their seats. Christine Wells’ masterful characterisation and meticulous research have made for one of the best books of the year.” (Kelly Rimmer New York Times Bestselling Author of The German Wife)
Booklist: “An exciting story, well told.”

Anne: Christine, welcome back to the Word Wenches, it's lovely to see you here. (For those who haven't met Christine before, she's been interviewed by Nicola, Andrea, and now me. You can see our earlier interviews with her by clicking on those links.

Christine, after a very successful career writing Regency-era historical romance (as Christina Brooke) you've switched in recent years to writing historical novels, set around WW2. Apart from One Woman's War, there is Sisters of the Resistance: A Novel of Catherine Dior's Paris Spy Network, inspired by the real-life bravery of Catherine Dior, sister of the fashion designer and a heroine of World War II France. The Juliet Code is about a British agent and wireless operator in occupied Paris who was caught by the Germans.

Cruising the Duoro River

By Mary Jo:

I'm well down the road to insanity as I try to finish a book by mid-October, so I'm invoking Wenchly privilege to rerun an older blog with some editing where appropriate.  What I chose is this long ago 2006 blog describing a riverboat cruise along the Douro River into Spain.

I first read about riverboat cruising in a magazine several years ago, and promptly decided I wanted to give it a try.  I’ve done several ocean cruises, especially in the Caribbean, but rivers in Europe sounded different and fascinating.  The boats are much smaller, holding maybe 130 or so people, and the venues are fabulous. 

Much of European civilization developed along rivers, and traveling them would be a wonderful way of seeing Europe without a lot of packing and unpacking.  The boats park in the center of towns and cities, and one can seen a great deal of the countryside in peace and comfort.  The quintessential riverboat cruises follow the great rivers of northern and eastern Europe: the Rhine, the Elbe, the Danube, etc. 

Pass the Gingernuts

Polly put the kettle on . . . as the old nursery rhyme goes.

Anne here, and today I'm talking about biscuits — not those baked items called scones in the UK and biscuits in the USA. I'm talking about those sweet treats that are called cookies in the USA and biscuits in the UK, Australia and other places. Just to make it more confusing, we also have cookies, but they are more the softer, slightly mounded treat that is half way between a crispy biscuit and a cake. Biscuits tend to be crisper and flatter — though they can also be softish. And just to add to the confusion, cookies to me are like rock cakes (see pic below). But let's not argue pointlessly about definitions — when I'm talking about biscuits, if you're American, just think cookies.

Over the years I've had a number of emails from readers asking about the gingernuts I often have my heroes crunch into. Are they the same as American ginger snaps? And do they have nuts? Never having tasted a US ginger snap, I can't answer the first question, though I think they're probably very similar. The answer to the second is, no, there are no nuts in a gingernut. And why is it called a gingernut? No idea. The web has various theories.

There was some interest from readers when I blogged about gingernuts recently on my personal blog, so I thought it might be fun to blog here about some of the other biscuits and treats my characters eat, usually with a cup of tea or coffee. The gingernuts my heroes often crunch into are crisp, sweetish, ginger biscuits, sometimes flavored also with cinnamon, cloves and other spices, and usually made with golden syrup. They can be baked crisp or soft.

Triggering An Idea for a Mystery!

Andrea here, musing today about the little ah-ha moments that trigger the ideas for my books. "Trigger" is the key word here, for my upcoming release, MURDER AT THE SERPENTINE BRIDGE, (which hits the shelves on September 27th) revolves around the missing prototype and technical drawings for a revolutionary new pistol that would give the country who possesses it an overwhelming military advantage. Now, I'm often asked where I get the inspirations for my mysteries. The answer is—from real-life history!

I'm a total history nerd and love exploring esoteric museums, exhibits, libraries, etc for those sudden inspirations which ignite a plot concept. The seed of of my new book was planted several years ago when I saw an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum on the leading gunmakers of Regency London. Joseph Manton, Robert Wogdon—and Durs Egg (you have to love that name!) were the leaders and made a number of striking innovations in designing their firearms.

Islands in the North

Christina here and I have once again been travelling in search of inspiration for my stories – this time to the Orkney Islands! These are situated in the far north of the UK, in between the Scottish mainland and Shetland, and the journey involved a 12-hour road trip by car with another hour and a half by ferry. It was worth every second!

As always, I was on the trail of the Vikings and they settled in the Orkney Islands during the 8^th and 9^th centuries (possibly before that). If you sail in a straight westerly direction from the southern part of Norway you end up either in Orkney or Shetland, and it was an easy journey in a Viking longship, only a couple of days’ sailing. Therefore, it made sense that it was one of the first places the Vikings went to when they set off on their adventures.

Stolen Magic!

by Mary Jo

Stolen Magic,Book 2 of my long out of print Guardian paranormal historical trilogy, will be released tomorrow (September 8th) in ebook and print.  (The audio is already available.) As with all my stories with fantasy elements, I use the name M. J. Putney to differentiate them from straight historical romances.

The Characters and Story:

Duncan Macrae, the hero of book 1, A Kiss of Fate, is dark and Scottish and literally a force of nature, a weather mage who could call the winds and change the course of battles.  His lady, Gwynne Owens, is English and a Guardian who thinks she has little magic. Until passion unlocks her powers, which are great enough make her Duncan's match, and his nemesis.

Simon, Lord Falconer, the hero of Stolen Magic, is English, blond, and very different from his close friend, Duncan Macrae. As the chief enforcer of the Guardians, he is known for his immense power combined with rigorous control and integrity.  This makes Simon respected, feared, and sometimes hated.   He believes he is doomed to be forever alone until a mission to punish the rogue Guardian Lord Drayton goes horribly wrong and he is transformed into a unicorn.

Simon escapes with the aid of Meg, another of Drayton's victims.  She's a mysterious sprite with wild magic unlike anything Simon has ever seen before, and she can temporarily restore him to his human form.  They pledge to do whatever is necessary to bring down Drayton. The need for each other’s magic binds them together–and releases the more ancient magic of passion. But even the combined powers of Simon and Meg may not be enough to stave off catastrophe for all Britain. Only a desperate act of love may win back the future–or destroy all they hold dear.

 

Regency Gas Lighting

West Point 1820

Pat here:

I am not all certain why I dove down the bunny hole of gas lighting (And no, I don’t mean gaslighting. My characters won’t be psychologically manipulating anyone! That’s just mean.)  other than that the hero of the next historical is most probably a US Army engineer. (Yes, West Point was already turning them out in the early 1800s, probably only two or three a year but we don’t want to get picky about back story, do we?) The point is, I needed to know what kind of lighting my isolated manor might have and if it could be updated. And the answer is yes, yes it can. . .

Turkish Delight!

Turkish Delight

By Mary Jo

In April and May of this year, we took a marvelous cruise from Italy to Istanbul.  I've written three blogs already:

The first was our time in Northern Italy, staying at a grand hotel on the legendary Lake Maggiore, and enjoying the all time best, warm-hearted wine tasting:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/italian-lakes.html    

Next was cruising down the Eastern Adriatic and visiting several amazingly beautiful and hospitable countries. (That's Kotor, Montenegro on the right.)

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/adriatic-shores.html 

Next was Greece, mother of so much Western European culture, where we saw several splendid islands as well as notable mainland sites:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/06/greek-highlights.html 

 

Scarecrows!

Nicola here. A couple of weeks ago I went to Herefordshire to visit a castle that is only open once a year. It’s a well-known site whose history is tied up with the English Civil War in the seventeenth century. It was also the home of very distant ancestors of mine which was why I was so keen to see it. However, there was a problem. The castle, Brampton Bryan, is open as part of a special village celebration called “Scarecrow Sunday” and I have a thing about scarecrows. I don’t like them. I find them creepy. When I was a child, I was terrified of the TV programme Worzel Gummidge even though it’s been voted one of the UK’s favourite children’s TV series of all time.

Phobias have, of course, existed long before modern studies by psychiatrists and psychologists defined the condition. The term phobia was first coined by
the Greeks. Social anxiety as a “phobia” was first described by Hippocrates as “shyness” in the early 4^th century BC. I wouldn’t go so far to say that I have a phobia about scarecrows although it’s almost that bad. I have the same reaction to clowns, puppets and mimes. (Dolls and puppets have their own phobias and metamfiezomaiophobia is the fear of mimes and people in disguise generally.) A terror of scarecrows – or of people dressed as scarecrows - is called formidophobia. Apparently formido derives from the Latin for “fear” or “scare.” And, of course, scarecrows are meant to be scary, but only to birds and not people. Meanwhile, a fear of clowns is called coulrophobia. Unsurprisingly, research shows that the portrayal of killer clowns in horror films has contributed directly towards an increase in people with an intense fear or phobia of clowns. Well, duh.

(You can imagine that the combination of clown/jack in the box/scarecrow was almost too much for me but in the photo I'm attempting to tackle several phobias in one go!)

The Grand Tour

Andrea here, thinking about the joys of traveling, and how much I have missed the heady experience of of being inspired by visiting new places—or cherished favorite spots that hold a place in my heart. As the world continues to open up, it feels like it’s possible to venture far from home, and I'm busy plotting where to go . . .

As you’ve probably noted, a number of the Wenches have been traveling hither and yon. Research beckons! (That’s always a good excuse for us to pack our bags!) But along with exploring specific sites for our books, it's also just  good to get the general creative juices flowing by being in a foreign place and seeing the world from a different perspective.

And human nature being human nature, this desire to experience the world beyond one’s own familiar turf is nothing new in history. In the Georgian and Regency era, the "Grand Tour" was a rite of passage for the beau monde.

All that glitters ...

… isn’t gold – but sometimes it IS!

Christina here. Next week my latest book will be released and the idea for this story was sparked by the Galloway Hoard, a magnificent treasure found in Scotland in 2014. As soon as I heard about it, I was fascinated. I could only imagine how amazing it must feel to discover something like that. Despite having bought myself a metal detector a few years ago, I’ve never found anything other than a few rusty nails and a piece of iron pipe, so I decided I would have to fulfil this dream in my imagination instead. Add to this the fact that the hoard was of Viking origin and it seemed like serendipity! That’s when Hidden in the Mists started to take shape in my mind.

The hoard was probably buried around 900 AD and consists of various gold and silver items, as well as other more ordinary things. It’s one of the most incredible treasures ever found in Scotland and the richest one from the Viking age. I read all the articles about it when it was first revealed and couldn’t wait for it to go on display. That took a while as obviously the items had to be conserved and assessed first. Eventually, I was fortunate enough to see it in person, and I was enthralled by the many precious objects. My absolute favourite was a little gold pin in the shape of a bird which I had already used in another story, Whispers of the Runes. The hero of that book is a silversmith/jeweller and I had him make a pin just like this. I saw it as a bird of prey or a raven judging by its curved beak, but archaeologists felt it more resembled a flamingo. Most probably it’s a fantasy bird but either way, I just love how intricate it is, despite being so small!