And the winners are…..
Calisa! You are the winner of Michelle’s Surrender To An Irish Warrior.
Jeannene! You are the winner of Diane’s Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress.
Congratulations, ladies! Email us at riskies@yahoo.com with your mailing addresses.
So today the weather finally dipped below 100 degrees here! In fact–it is actually in the 80s, and raining! I can go outside again! Hooray! It also appears my reading and post-RWA writing slumps are done (for now, anyway). I’ve passed the halfway mark on the WIP and am also fiddling around with the 1920s project, and have read not one but TWO wonderful books: the historical mystery The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (a terrific early 1950s British setting and a smart-mouthed “detective” combined with seriously witty writing) and the Restoration romance Libertine’s Kiss by Judith James. (When I finished it, I immediately ran to the email and lured Judith James to the blog–she’ll be here next Tuesday, the 31st, to tell you all more about this fabulous, fabulous book).
And until I got a box of author copies yesterday I forgot I have a September release! Improper Ladies is another re-issue of two of my Signet Regencies, The Golden Feather (a Bookseller’s Best Award winner) and The Rules of Love (a RITA nominee!). Isn’t the cover girl’s hair gorgeous?? (I’m giving away a copy over at my own blog–tell me about your favorite Regency story for a chance to win…)
I also read that on this day in 1847, Charlotte Bronte finished writing Jane Eyre. Like many history junkies, this is one of my all-time favorite books ever, and one I never tire of re-reading. I vividly remember my first encounter with Jane. I was about 9 or 10, and had been long hooked on stuff like The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and the Betsy-Tacy books, so was always looking for stories with similar settings. (I had also just read my very first Austen, Emma, and was ripe for more 19th century literature). I found a battered paperback copy of Jane Eyre in a box at a garage sale, thought “Yes, I’ve heard of this!” and dragged it home to start reading. I stayed up all night (yes, with a flashlight, hiding under the bed) reading, and was shocked (shocked!!) by Bertha in the attic. I was totally addicted.
My mother then aided and abetted this obsession by finding a VHS tape of the Timothy Dalton Jane Eyre series, which I watched over and over, and I used my allowance to buy as many Victorian novels as I could find at the bookstore. (I tried Wuthering Heights next, but was still too young for it–I didn’t come to appreciate it until much later. But I did like Bleak House and Mill on the Floss, strangely).
There are many, many (many, many, many) versions of Jane Eyre to be found out there. In movies, there’s a silent version from 1915 called The Castle of Thornfield and a 1926 German film called Orphan of Lowood (I haven’t seen it, but have these wonderful visions of JE as Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), a 1963 Mexican feature called El Secreto and a 1972 Indian movie Shanti Nilyam. Here are a few a little closer to home:
1983–Timothy Dalton as Rochester and Zelah Clarke as Jane (still my favorite version, since I saw it first! I love how so much of the dialogue from the book is in place and how true it is to the spirit of the story…)
1997–Ciaran Hinds (Captain Wentworth!) and Samantha Morton (I like this one, but not as much as I thought I would when I first starting watching it)
1996–A Franco Zeffirelli-directed version starring William Hurt and French icon Charlotte Gainsbourg (it’s been so long since I’ve seen this I remember very little about it)
1944–Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine (and a very young Elizabeth Taylor)
2006–Toby Stephens as “Mr. Rochester as hottie” and Ruth Wilson
And one coming soon in 2011, starring Mia Wasikowska (from Alice in Wonderland) as Jane
Plus there are sequels, continuations, inspired-by books, Jane as paranormal hero, muscials, operas, etc etc….
When did you first read Jane Eyre? What’s your favorite of the adaptations? And what good books have you read lately???
When Nora Roberts gives a speech or a workshop and entertains questions at the end, one of her friends always pipes up, “Where do you get your ideas?” She groans and nods her head in that way she does, and gives some witty response.
Because this is the unanswerable question, isn’t it? We writers have no idea where our story ideas come from.
Last Monday I turned in Book 3 of the Soldiers Series and so this is idea time for me. I may have said this before, but I don’t have lots of story ideas like some writers. Mine come one book at a time and never easily. I need to come up with a story idea for the next book, though, the book connected to The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor, Leo’s story. Leo is the youngest son of the Fitzmanning miscellany and all I knew of him from the anthology was that he loved horses. I’d always kinda figured I’d make him own a horse farm.
But Deb’s Diamonds hero also is involved with horses, so my editor thought one book with horses was enough. Now what do I do?
If he has to lose his horse farm, I’ll make him lose it in some horrible, dramatic way at the beginning of the story (glimmer of an idea…..)
Some time ago, I watched the old, Depression era movie My Man Godfrey which is about a down-and-out vagrant who becomes a wealthy family’s butler, but he really was once a wealthy society man himself. Great movie. Maybe a Regency version of the movie could become Leo’s story!
No. Not with his loving siblings, but maybe I could make Leo down-and-out, a dissipated rake, tortured after the loss of his farm. (Leo’s starting to come to life, but I don’t have a heroine…)
Then the other night I after watching my current favorite TV show, Say Yes To The Dress, a new show came on. Left At The Altar. This show tells the real life stories of men and women who were literally left at the altar, their spouse to be runs out at the last moment.
How devastating!
How perfect!
I’ll make Leo leave his bride at the altar. (But I still don’t know who she is….)
Of course, I need a “hook.” I talked about hooks in last week’s Diane’s Blog, those classic romance plots we see over and over again. Leo’s story certainly is shaping up to be Reunion Story, but I’m toying with making it a Woman In Jeopardy story, too. Leo has to save the bride he once jilted….
Problem is…I still don’t know who the heroine is or why she was jilted.
But I’m getting there! The idea is taking shape. And the answer to the question, “Where do you get your ideas?” is here, there, and everywhere! (and way too many from TV)
Sooooo, do you have any ideas for who my heroine should be???
Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress may appear on your bookstore shelves this week. I wonder who will have the first sighting?
Join me on Thursday at Diane’s Blog when I’ll take you to a Tank Museum! And stop by Pink Heart Society today for Male on Monday with Michelle Willingham and me.
Diane here.
Michelle Willingham and I both have Harlequin Historicals arriving in bookstores by Sept 1, if not a few days before (check your favorite store!). We’re each giving away one copy of the September books, so be sure to leave a comment!
Michelle’s September release is Surrender to an Irish Warrior.
Praise for Michelle’s RITA nominated, Taming Her Irish Warrior:
“Kudos to Michelle Willingham….Always true to her characters, Michelle Willingham writes an ending that will steal the heart with its imagery, emotion and romance”–Medieval Book Reviews
My September release is Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress.
Praise for Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress:
“Engaging characters,
action/adventure and sweet love add to the depth of these stories, which
demonstrate how war changes people — and the world.”–RT
Bookreviews
Michelle, it is so good to have you back with the Riskies! Tell us about Surrender to an Irish Warrior.
Michelle: Surrender to an Irish Warrior is the last book in my MacEgan Brothers series. It’s about an Irish warrior, Trahern MacEgan, who wants to avenge the death of his betrothed wife. Along the way, he rescues Morren O’Reilly, a woman who was attacked by the same Viking raiders. In Morren, he finds healing and redemption.
Diane: Oh, I love a rescue story. In Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress, Book 2 of my Three Soldiers Series, Allan Landon and Marian Pallant meet when he rescues her on the battlefield of Waterloo and takes her to Hougoumont for safety, only to have to rescue her again when the French set fire to the Hougoumont chateau. But, after that Allan and Marian take turns rescuing each other.
We always ask this. Was there anything risky about your book?
Michelle: Definitely! This was one of the most frightening books I’ve ever written, because I tried to keep it true to the time period. Vikings were known to attack women, and Morren was one of their victims. It’s the first time I wrote about a rape survivor, and although the opening is dark, it left me the chance to give them both of them an incredibly happy ending. It also gave me the chance to do a “family reunion” of all the MacEgan Brothers at the end.
Diane: Each of my Soldiers Series starts out with an almost-rape at the pillaging of Badajoz; I suppose it was risky that the perpetrator goes unpunished (Allan hates that) in this book. Instead he just causes more trouble for everyone. What I felt risky about, though, was making up a fictitious protest demonstration that Marian organized and Allan must prevent. Did I make it credible? I guess the readers will tell me.
What interesting research did you come across while writing this book (maybe we can contrast the different time periods here)?
Michelle: The Viking system of justice was fascinating. I learned that men convicted of a serious offense, like murder, were made into outlaws and could be killed by any member of their tribe with no consequences.
Diane: I learned a lot about the British system of justice during that post-Napoleonic war period. In its way it was also brutal. Habeas Corpus was suspended and anyone could arrested with no reason given. Any protest against the government was seen as a treasonous act. In a way, government could do what it wanted with protesters and have no consequences for it.
What’s next for you?
Michelle: I am starting a Scottish medieval series, set around the Braveheart era (Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, etc.). The first book, Claimed by the Highlander will be released in the spring of 2011.
Diane: Oh, I so admire you for taking on the challenge of yet another historical era. I’m sticking with the Regency, though. What’s next for me is the last book in the Three Soldiers Series, Gabriel’s story, as yet untitled and unscheduled, but probably due out in the spring of 2011. Maybe both our books will be released the same month then, too!
Now, a question from both of us. If you could be rescued by any sort of hero, what kind of man would it be? Medieval warrior? Handsome English soldier? Ruthless billionaire? (Or ask us whatever you want!) Post a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of Surrender to an Irish Warrior or Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress.
Michelle and I are together again for Male On Monday at the Pink Heart Society, tomorrow, Aug 23, when, I, of course will be back here at Risky Regencies. Thursday, I’m at Diane’s Blog!
As we do every summer, my son and I are in Minnesota for two weeks visiting relatives and he’s doing sailing school (I almost wrote ‘saline’ school, which would be quite a different thing entirely, wouldn’t it?).