Monthly Archives: August 2008

Happy Birthday To Us!

Updated on August 20, 2008 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Hello, everyone! Amanda here, sitting in for Elena, who is off traveling the world. She’ll be with you on Saturday to wrap up our anniversary/new blog look week. In the meantime, I am finishing up the WIP, thinking of new projects, and coming up with all the ways I love the Riskies. (I am also going to borrow from Cara, and list some favorite posts of the past year!). So, what I like the most:

1) The friends, of course! Building a cozy little place here has introduced me to so many far-flung new friends, who share not only my love of history (some would say geek-dom of history, but they just don’t understand…) but let me ramble on about fashion, perfume, English real estate, and Orlando/James/Matthew. It’s great to come here every day, even if work is dreary or the book is stalled, and know something fun will be going on and there will be people to “talk” to.

And speaking of history geek-dom, I really enjoyed putting together this “Dating Life: 2008 vs 1543” post because I got to talk about Katherine Parr. I was astonished to hear that everyone doesn’t have a favorite wife of Henry VIII! 🙂

I also really liked doing this “Women in Politics” post, centered around the Duchess of Devonshire and her political campaigning. I am going to the Democratic National Convention next week, so things like this have been much in my mind lately. We have certainly progressed, though maybe not as quickly as women like Georgiana would have liked!

2) Interviews! I love doing interviews with authors, either ones who are already friends or ones whose work I’ve admired but have never been able to meet them in person. The last thing I need is more books on that TBR pile, but when I hear about the great ones coming out I can’t help myself! Yes, I am Amanda and I am a bookaholic. I really enjoyed this Nicola Cornick interview from July, though now that she has been recruited to be my tour guide to Hever Castle next month she might be sorry she came here!

3) Theme weeks. Once we get them together (I believe Janet mentioned something about herding cats…) they are great fun. This year we had Waterloo Week and a whole week of celebrating Jane Austen’s birthday

I also love discussions of historical movies (the rest of the year should be full of this, with releases like The Duchess and Young Victoria), writing tips, travel advice, etc. Too many things to list here!

So, what are your favorite things about Risky Regencies? What sort of posts do you enjoy the most? What would you like to see more of in the future?

I will give away copies of both my Renaissance books, A Notorious Woman and A Sinful Alliance (or, if you have already won these, a copy of one of my out-of-print Signet Regencies!), plus a silver Brighton bookmark!

Cara’s Risky Year in Review

Updated on August 19, 2008 by Elena Greene

Welcome to Day Two of the Risky Regencies THIRD ANNIVERSARY celebration!

For our last anniversary, we talked about which posts of the previous year we were proudest of or had the most fun with…and I had such a good time that I’m going to do it again.

So to be eligible for my prize (which is detailed below), just tell me which of the following posts you like best (or least!)

Northanger Abbey

(Part of our “Jane Austen Week” discussion…)

Austen Trek: Borg and Prejudice

(Another installment in my “If Jane Austen Wrote Star Trek” series…)

Pace vs. Depth

(Cara wrestling with writing issues…)

Austen Idol

(“Austen Trek” goes off the deep end…and we see What If Jane Austen Wrote American Idol…)

How Captain Stanton Came to Be

(As part of our Waterloo Week, I analyze the decisions that went into my military hero…)

And if there’s something you want to see more of here (e.g. posts about Heyer or Austen or covers or craft or Gerard Butler), please share!

Ah, yes — the prize! I always like to give a choice, so the winner can choose ONE of the following three prizes:

(1) three Signet Regencies: THE ABDUCTED BRIDE by Dorothy Mack; TWIN PERIL by Susannah Carleton; and MY LADY GAMESTER (signed, natch) by Cara King.

(2) a Region One (i.e. US & Canada) DVD of the 1985 miniseries of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.

(3) Guidebook to the Museum of Costume & Assembly Rooms in Bath (with lots of full color pictures.)

All answers welcome!

Cara
Cara King, author of MY LADY GAMESTER and many silly posts

Surprise!

Updated on August 18, 2008 by Diane Gaston

We have a new look!

What better way to kick off our anniversary week than to launch our newly designed blog? Our new design is by the lovely and talented Haven Rich, with considerable input from the Riskies and even some polling of our readers.

This is the result.

The image in our logo is from Pierce Egan’s Life in London: “Tom, Jerry and Logic Making the Most of an Evening at Vauxhall” by Robert and George Cruikshank. If you received a Risky Regengy button at RWA, you’ll notice the two dancing figures are from that image. Clever were we not?

So…..What do you think?

Change is hard, even welcome changes. As a result, I’m not entirely certain how I feel about the new design, but only because I miss what is familiar. We human beings tend to stick to the familiar, the secure, but we also sometimes gain the courage to change.

That’s what each of us Riskies did when we first decided to write a book. We mustered up the courage to do something different than we’d ever done before, to change from a person who didn’t write a book into a person who does write a book. I’m glad I did, because it has given me this happy life where I can spend my days in Regency England or hang out with my fellow Riskies and all our friends.

In honor of change and growth–and our anniversary–I’m going to give away a copy of The Vanishing Viscountess, the special Mills & Boon Centenary edition, which includes a bonus story, The Mysterious Miss M–and a Risky Regency Button!

There will be more prizes announced each day this week. All our winners will be randomly selected at the end of the week from all the comments this Anniversary Week. So comment often to increase your chances to win.

And, today, tell us what you think of our new look!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Cruikshank | 35 Replies

Eccentric Glamour, Etc

Updated on August 16, 2008 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

This week, I am still suffering from Post Conference Brain Freeze, plus Near Deadline Dementia, so I have not much left over for blogging. No research tidbits. No writing tips. No new lipsticks or perfumes to recommend. Naught. Zilch.

So, I will turn for help to a very amusing book I recently read, Simon Doonan’s Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You. Not only will it give you a laugh, it just might also help in constructing the perfect Eccentrically Fabulous (hereafter referred to as EG) heroine!

Mr. Doonan, like many of us, deplores the new trend for “fake hair extensions, fake nails, fake spray tans, fake lips, and fake boobs.” He implores women everywhere to “seek out eccentrically glamorous alternatives to the ubiquitous cheapness and tackiness that currently pass for personal style. Banish the badonkadonkdonk! Say no to porno chic! Say no to ho! And yes to Eccentric Glamour.” He gives us profiles of various modern EG women like Dita Von Teese, Tilda Swinton, and Lucy Liu, and tells us the best way to find our own EG style. It’s easier than you might think, as there are really only 3 routes to EG (with a few sub-genres. Sort of like “historical romantic suspense,” or “urban fantasy Harlequin Presents” if you will). They are:

1) The Gypsy

This is for those who are “a hazy, lazy, rustic, poetic, ethereal free spirit,” or have always wanted to be. “There is much to recommend the Gypsy lifestyle. First, it’s incredibly romantic. You can be wild. You can be tempestuous. You can be Carmen.”

There is the Euro-glam Gypsy. The Isadora Gypsy (I like this one! Doonan says “She wears panne velvet and vintage lace and medieval-ish robes and turbans a la Edith Sitwell. She adores massive rings, beading, and devoree velvet.” She also spends a lot of time “contemplating the translucency of an Art Nouveau vase on the Portobello Road.”) And there is the Green Gypsy (think Natalie Portman), and the Hollywood Gypsy (who claim Ali McGraw as their patron saint).

2) The Socialite

“Of all the three styles, the Socialite has the least amount of eccentricity. Her style has a classic panache. She herself is not particularly creative. She leaves that to the Valentinos, Lagerfelds, and Puccis of the world,” but “she has a wicked wit.” Jackie Kennedy, Babe Paley, and CZ Guest “are the primordial ooze from which all subsequent Socialites emerged.”

3) The Existentialist

“This is the edgy, belligerent, provocative, creative face of eccentric glamour,” Doonan tells us. “There are no A-list celeb Existentialists: Jennifer Connelly and Charlotte Gainsbourg are about as close as it gets. The Existentialist is an angry rebel who eschews the superficiality of contemporary culture.”

Their variables include: The Existentialist Gamine (think Audrey Hepburn at the beginning of Funny Face. “There’s nothing quite like a black turtleneck to suggest an inner life, even where there may be none”). There is also the Rive Gauche Existentialist (“The elder sister of the Gamine”); the Existentialist Garconne (think Garbo and Dietrich!); and the Existentialist Ghoul. But be careful when trying the Ghoul–“Adopting this kind of scary look limits your social interaction to those who are dressed exactly as you and is therefore recommended only for the very young.”

Once we have found our EG niche, Doonan urges us to “Go forth and shop!” That, I can do. I haven’t quite figured out exactly where I fit on the EG continuum. I think I am a bit of an Isadora Gypsy/Existentialist Gamine, but that changes every day. The heroine of my WIP, Thalia Chase (the third of the “Muses of Mayfair”) is definitely a Gypsy. Her sisters Calliope and Clio, the heroines of Books One and Two, were respectively a Socialite and an Existentialist. They have definitely banished the badonkadonkdonk! (Or whatever the Regency equivalent would be…)

Now, it’s your turn. What kind of EG are you? What about favorite heroines (either from your own writing or for favorite books)? For instance, it’s pretty clear Jane Eyre is an Existentialist, but what is Elizabeth Bennet??? Discuss! (and be sure and join us next week as we celebrate our 3rd birthday! Lots of prizes and fun)

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 15 Replies

Friday On My Mind

Updated on August 15, 2008 by megan

“Friday On My Mind” by the Easybeats:

Tonight….I spend my bread,
Tonight…I lose my head,
Tonight…I got to get tonight
Monday I have Friday on my mind.

This week was my first full week after National and Family-Visiting. And an eventful one! My new agent sent pitches out on That Subtle Knot, my Regency-set historical. I’ve been writing “Fortune’s Lady,” my super-sexy novella, and a writing friend (known as The Delightful Phone Friend at my blog) just told me my writing’s getting better and better (good thing, too, or else this post would have been a lot more dour. Now I am happy.)

Question to more-published authors: What is a reasonable waiting period before I start deluging my agent with anxious emails?

The whole family has been getting Olympics fever, so much so that the could-not-sleep Spouse ended up watching women’s gymnastics last night. Bet I’ll never be able to say that last clause ever again in my entire life. My son, an enthusiastic swimmer, has taken to calling Michael Phelps “Phelpy” which is so cute I can not stand it. And track and field is still to come!

By the way, I have long been a fan of director Zhang Yimou, who has got to be the most amazing visionary in terms of color and scenery ever. He is the Chief Creative Director of the opening and closing Olympics ceremony, and my goodness, he did not disappoint. For more of his work, check out Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Curse of the Golden Flower.

Next week is my 44th birthday, which I like ’cause 4 is one of my two favorite numbers (19 is the other one; guess what day my birthday is on?). I am looking forward to sushi and gelato that evening, having lunch with a girlfriend sans Son that day.

And then the whole family goes to the Jersey Shore for a week. Yay! The VERY Hard-Working Spouse needs a break.

And then? AND THEN? School starts September 2!

The bad news is that my shift key is being a PITA. But that is minor, right?

I am not accustomed to being optimistic and forward-looking. My brain is frantically trying to find stuff to worry about, and it is succeeding. But still. Things are good.

Are you happy about anything? What are you doing for the last few weeks of summer? Are you watching the Olympics? Which is your favorite event thus far? Which athlete are you crushing on (mine is Ryan Lochte)?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Megan | 15 Replies