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Monthly Archives: August 2009

August 16 was the anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre. On that date in 1819, 60,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Field to listen to radical orator Henry Hunt and to protest against the Corn Laws and to seek Parliamentary reform. The local magistrates, frightened by the sheer numbers of protesters, ordered the yeomanry to disperse the crowds and arrest the demonstation’s leaders. The yeomanry (who were well-to-do tradesmen opposed to reforms) did a poor job of it and the 15th Hussars were ordered to charge the crowd and rescue the yeomanry. Eleven people were killed and 500 injured and the resulting outrage of the government’s support of the incident helped fuel the reform movement.

There are conflicting accounts as to what happened at “Peterloo,” the name, taken from Waterloo. Certainly the most famous of the protests of the time, it was not the first. The book I just turned in (Yay, it is done!) in part takes place after the Spa Fields riots (believed to be incited by provacateurs in the government’s employ) and the March of the Blanketeers, which was dispersed before reaching London. Before these events there were the Luddites, who did become violent, smashing the machinery of the mill owners.

The Tory government cracked down with harsh laws, the Gag Acts after the Blanketeers march and the Six Acts after Peterloo. These basically made it illegal to protest against the government.

It is easy to see these as extreme and unfair measures depriving citizenry of free speech, but one also must remember that the men passing the laws were doing so in the shadow of the French Revolution. The Reign of Terror, during which 17,000 were executed, must have made a deep impression upon the aristocracy. I think this made a deeper impression than the fact that a whole country was lost to the American Revolution, which, of course, was founded on the right to free speech!

I realize this blog leaves nothing for you to comment on! So my challenge is, post the question I should have asked at the end of this blog!

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Today the Riskies welcome Angela James, the very recently-appointed editor for Quartet Press. Quartet is brand new to the epublishing world, but its founders are well-versed in the digital age. Join us in welcoming Angela to the Risky Regencies!

A random commenter will be chosen to win a prize pack from Angela. Yay!

What is your position at Quartet Press?

I’m the editorial director for Quartet Press. Which is a fancy way of saying I’ll be helping Quartet build their editorial department from the ground up including staff, style guide, authors and schedule. No pressure, right?

What is Quartet Press’s editorial focus?

Right now, my two priorities for Quartet are acquiring quality submissions and quality staff (editors and copyeditors). Overall, editorial focus is going to be on joining the ranks of other digital publishers that readers and authors list as the publishers to shop at and submit to.

What is your background prior to joining Quartet?

For the past four years I helped start and build Samhain Publishing, first as an editor and then as executive editor. Prior to that, I started in publishing as a proofreader for Ellora’s Cave. I’ve been in publishing about six years. My first career was as an occupational therapist in mental health settings (both home health and a state psychiatric hospital). I’ve been lucky to do two careers that I really love, in a seemingly short period of time.

What is the one thing you wish people knew about digital publishing?

This is probably the toughest question you asked. I have filled a two-hour presentation with all the things I wish people knew about digital publishing. But if I had to pick just one, I’d say that despite the years digital publishing has been around, I think we all need to remember it’s still in its toddler stages, there’s going to continue to be changes, hopefully positive, and there’s definitely still room for a lot more growth. It’s an exciting time to be in publishing, and in digital publishing in particular because of that immense room for growth.

What is your own preferred e-reader? Why?

Right now I use the Sony 700, though I switch off with the Sony 505 sometimes. And I also read on my iPhone occasionally. I do have a Kindle 2, but I don’t use that. I used to be a dedicated fan of the Ebookwise! Currently, I prefer the Sonys over the Kindle because the Sony gives me more options for shopping at other online bookstores and also has superior file management over the Kindle. On the Sony, I can sort my books by whatever category I assign to them. As an example, by series name, genre, submissions, or maybe if I have an ARC. That was something I just couldn’t adapt to with the Kindle. I also like the ability to be able to put all of my books on a memory card and pop that card out when I want to show people my Sony, so I can keep my reading semi-private.

I do also read on the iPhone, though not regularly. But that’s where I read the free downloads that Kindle offers. I don’t buy books via Kindle normally, but I do like to take advantage of the free offerings!

I’m looking forward to seeing the new Sony Readers releasing soon, to see how they’ll compare to my current experience. And Sony is supposed to be announcing something on Tuesday. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a wireless reader, as I do think wireless is a nice feature, though I choose superior file management over wireless in my use of the Sony over the Kindle.

What’s the last book you bought?

Pitch Black by Leslie Kelly. Though I have to admit it was a small accident. I was trying out the new Books on Board mobile-friendly website on my iPhone and had no idea when I went through the process of adding the book to my cart that I’d somehow bought it. But since I was looking at it, I was definitely interested and I will read it! Now, if you’d asked me this question next week, I would have had a list of books to share. Tuesday looks to be an awesome release day.

The last book I read was One Scream Away by Kate Brady. Fabulous romantic suspense and I highly recommend it.

What’s funny is, the last book I read and the last book I bought make it look as though romantic suspense is my preferred genre, but it’s actually the genre I read least. But it does go to show that I like to read across genres, when I’m reading even a genre that’s not my favorite!

What are you looking to acquire?

Amazing books from authors who are interested in working with a professional publisher and building a career with them. Ha, the answer every author hates, no? Currently, I’m looking to acquire for the Quench imprint across the romance genres, from inspirational to erotic, contemporary to historical to paranormal, interracial to GLBT. And all of them in between.

We will consider both women’s fiction and YA, though I wouldn’t expect to see a plethora of them being released at Quartet.

We’re going to be doing two special sub-imprints of the Quench romance line: one for digital reprints of previously printed books and one for something I’ve long held a special spot for: fantasy/science fiction/urban fantasy with romantic elements. We’ll be targeting some extra marketing efforts at these sub-imprints as we get going because I think there’s a place for both in the digital world.

Who are your own personal favorite authors?

JD Robb, Julie Garwood, Patricia Briggs, David Eddings, CL Wilson, Jo Beverly, Ilona Andrews, and John Sanford are a good representative of my crazy reading habits and of authors I love.

Anything else you want to share with us?

I’m currently acquiring for both our launch day and our launch month releases, and response times are going to be fairly short turnaround as we look to get our frontlist built. I’m definitely interested in acquiring historicals for these slots. I’m excited about what we’re going to do with Quartet Press, and the sheer amount of knowledge and intelligence in the people who own the company is both awesome and intimidating. I’m looking forward to acquiring authors to help us build a strong digital publisher.

Also, I’m always open to questions about both digital publishing and Quartet Press, so anyone can email me now or in the future if there’s something you want to know. angelajameseditor@gmail.com I’m going to keep dragging people to the digital dark side one reader (and author) at a time.

Thanks for joining us, Angela!


Hi everyone!

As usual, I have very little on my mind besides coffee, Clive Owen/Richard Armitage and napping.

But this week, I have startled myself with my productivity, and have realized, yet again, that many of my books share one underlying theme: The Freedom Of Choice (not Devo, damn your earworm!).

My heroines always have to decide for themselves what they want, not be guided by anyone, even if it’s the super-hawt hero. And they usually decide to take a risk, to stretch beyond their own comfort zones, to get what they secretly desire (hint: It’s the super-hawt hero).

I wrote this earlier this week:

“What would you like me to do first, Christian?” she asked, leaning in to whisper in his ear. He held himself rigidly pressed against the back of the divan, hard and unyielding.

“This is your challenge, Violet,” he replied in a low voice. “You decide.”
She pondered for a minute. What did she wish him to do to her? That would work as a starting point, wouldn’t it?

It had to. Because sitting this way, without moving, was making her legs cramp, and leg cramping was not conducive to seduction, at least as far as she knew.


So–what issues push your buttons? If you’re a writer, have you identified your themes? If you’re a reader, what themes pique your interest the most?

Megan

PS: Yeah, random hawt-guy pix. What about it?

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I don’t write that often about how I write because for some time I’ve had a superstitious fear that if I attempt to analyze what I do I’ll somehow destroy it. It’s not broke, so I don’t try to fix it.

But I’ve been thinking about this following conversations with other writers with whom I agreed that venturing into the unknown is part of the process. To write well, and above all, to write consistently and regularly (not to mention adverbly) requires a letting go, a surrender to something that just feels weird. So a bear enters the story (as it did in A Most Lamentable Comedy, on sale here with free shipping–was that good for you too?); a quirky character arrives and you don’t know quite what they’re doing but you feel they have to stay so you leave the scene in, just in case, and later they prove to be a major player in resolving the plot; and so on.

It’s hard and frightening to let the process, the unknown, take over which I think is why so many of us dither around with deadlines looming. The procrastination factor means that eventually you have to dive in and let the angels or demons of the creative process take over. And there’s always the fear that, yeah, I love this character, but what if they never do anything significant to forward the plot? Or what if my editor wants me to take him or her out?

The irony of course is that once you’ve got beyond the fear and doubt and procrastination, it’s great. It feels wonderful once you’re in the Zone and the story starts writing itself. And there are also the practical considerations like making the daily wordcount and meeting deadlines. So why all the avoidance?

I think fear is a necessary part of the process. We don’t know exactly how the creative works (even if it can be explained in terms of hormones or electrical impulses) and we should treat it with respect. At the same time we have to learn to trust our instincts and accept that we can make the story work, fill in the (in my case, gaping) plot holes and find solutions.

I suspect it’s pretty much the same for other creative endeavors and also for athletes. What do you think?

Over at agent Lucienne Diver’s blog today talking about bad girl heroines, HEAs, and offering a copy of A Most Lamentable Comedy as a prize!

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I am the absolute worst at memes which strike me as

  1. No different from chain mail
  2. Fun

So, at the same time I think wow, that would be fun to list [Insert Meme here] I also think all six of my friends will HATE me for dumping this time suck on them. So I end up never doing them because of the requirement of forcing innocents to participate and also never having the required number of vict… er…. friends.

But I got to thinking that lists are kind of fun. So, herewith, my highly personalized list of Historical Novels I Liked A Lot. You’ll probably notice that some of my choices were not historical when they were written. It’s my list so I can do that. Also, because it’s my list, I get to include books that maybe aren’t considered literature.

  • Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
  • Villette, Charlotte Bronte
  • Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
  • Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole
  • Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
  • The Makioka Sisters, Junichero Tanizaki
  • Connigsby, Benjamin Disraeli
  • The King Must Die, Mary Renault
  • Fire From Heaven, Mary Renault
  • The Last Days of Pompeii, Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • The Silver Chalice, Thomas Costain
  • The Marble Faun, Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • The Black Tulip, Alexandre Dumas
  • Beowolf (but not until long after I was done reading it.)
  • Captain Blood, Rafael Sabatini
  • Robin Hood

I know there’s more, but that’s my beginning list.

And since I said you can play too, what are yours? Do your own blog post or opine in the comments or both.

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