Back to Top

Monthly Archives: November 2011

Risky Carolyn Interviews Joanna Bourne

Today, I have the wonderful RITA winning historical romance author Joanna Bourne here to talk about writing, cats stuck in trees and her new book, The Black Hawk.

She’s giving away a book, so yay! Make sure you leave a comment and/or question for Jo.

There’s also an excerpt, hard-hitting questions from yours truly and over-all interview awesomeness.

The Book

1.  Tell us about your book!

In the years they’ve known each other, Adrian Hawker — spy for England —and Justine DeCabrillac— spy for France —have been friends, allies, secret lovers and open enemies. Sometimes all at once. None of this, except the enemy part, is made easier by their countries slugging it out in Napoleon’s endless wars.

Now that the war is over, why are they still dodging knives and bullets? Who wants Justine dead, and Adrian blamed for it?

You can buy The Black Hawk at Amazon.

The Interview

I’m merciless, as you’ll see. Got more questions for Jo? Ask in the comments.

2. So, what made you decide to write about birds? That’s a very unusual theme for a Romance author. Are you an avid birder? We get Golden Eagles here when they’re migrating. One time one ate our neighbor’s rooster and came back the next day to finish. Has anything like that happened to you or a rooster of your acquaintance? Is something like that what sparked the idea for your Romance?

Do you know . . . I don’t understand titles. I just don’t.

I keep giving them titles for the books, and I think they are very good titles. Like, The Tycoon Spymaster’s Blackmailed House Guest. The publisher, however, doesn’t use any of my titles. They are polite about it, though.

(That’s a pretty awesome title. I wonder why they didn’t pick that one?)

So I was sitting on the computer typing in good suggestions like Harry Potter and the Deathly Spy, or Sense and Sensibility and Spies, or Where the Wild Things Are, Including Spies, or Spies and the Women Who Love Them, and the editor mails me.

“What about Black Hawk?” says she.
“You want to name it after a helicopter?”
“What helicopter?”
“The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter,” says I.

Turns out nobody in New York publishing, or at least nobody she can buttonhole in the hallways has ever heard of a black hawk helicopter.

(Huh. That is SO strange.) 

There’s a hockey team with this name. When I wonder why a Romance genre book is named Black Hawk, I also say . . . Why a hockey team? Are hawks found in the frigid wastes of the north?

Anyhow, I did not really think about birds while I was writing the book and I had to go back quick at the end and add a few references to ‘Black Hawk’ so folks would not be utterly bewildered by the title. I do not like to bewilder folks if I can help it.

We do not have golden eagles. We have turkey buzzards which are large and remarkably ugly. They’ve never made off with a chicken from me, because I do not actually have any chickens. Possibly I counted them before they were hatched at one time. The buzzards sit in a tree in great numbers and watch me as I pass. Waiting.

(One time a Red-Tailed hawk got IN our chicken coop. He was waiting for dinner to come to him, I guess. He flew out when my son came in, as he was, I suspect, more dinner than he wanted.) 

I worry that the turkey buzzards will get the cat. But they don’t.

(The buzzards will wait until your cat is, uh. Never mind.)

3.   What did spark the idea for your book? Do you have a favorite scene?

I had just barely set The Spymaster’s Lady on the shelves.

THEM: When is Adrian’s story coming out?
Me: He’s a minor character. Really, I wasn’t planning to write a story about him.
THEM: When is Adrian’s story coming out?
Me: He’s not suited to be a romantic hero. He has ethical issues.
THEM: When is Adrian’s story coming out?
Me: I have this timeline problem that means I can’t write his story when he’s young. It doesn’t work.
THEM: When is Adrian’s story coming out?
Me: November 1.

Here’s a bit of The Black Hawk:

She’d always been pale as the moon. Skin you could almost
see through. He used to lie beside her in the candlelight and
trace the line of a vein up her arm to the pulse in her throat, then
down to the mound of her breast. Or he’d follow one thin track
up her leg to the silky, soft nest he never got tired of playing in.
She was opaque now, as if the light in her had retreated to the
core of her. It was gathered up there, keeping the chill out,
keeping her life’s heat in.

Fate carries a sting in her tail. He’d wanted Justine back in
his bed. Now she was. But look at the price of it.

Doyle came up beside him. “Luke says she has a good
chance.”

“It’s his job to say that.”

“He’s too busy to lie.”

“Friends will always find time to lie to you. A heartwarming
thought in a cynical world.” He set his knuckles against her
cheek. Skin fluent as running water, sleek as air. He felt the
vibration inside from her blood pulsing.

Even after all these years, he’d still wake up in the middle of
the night, hard as a rock from dreaming about her. He’d never
stopped being hungry for this woman. “I wanted her back, and
here she is. Fate’s a perverse bitch.”

“Always.” Doyle slipped his hand inside the blanket, to Justine’s
shoulder, testing the temperature. “She’ll make it. She’s
hard to kill.”

“Many have tried.”

Her hair spread everywhere on the pillow. Light-brown hair,
honey hair, so golden and rich it looked edible. He knew how it
felt, wrapped around his fingers. Knew how her breasts fitted
into his hands. He knew the weight and shape and strength of
her legs when they drew him into her.

. . . The last time they’d exchanged words, she’d promised to kill
him.


4. I know that you and I share the trauma of a beloved cat being stuck in a tree. (Dear Riskies, my cat was 30 up a tree for 3 nights. Raul of Summit Tree Care rescued him for me. It was a terrible experience but then Raul was my hero. Jo was kind enough to send me consoling emails during the ordeal.) 

Your story doesn’t have Raul the Tree Climber, but maybe you could share a little about that. Cat pictures kindly accepted!  Will you ever write about a cat stuck in a tree?

There is a cat who lives at Number Seven, Meeks Street. A succession of cats, actually, over the years, all of them named by Adrian. I don’t know if the cat has ever appeared in a story, but it’s there.

Definitely, if I can ever manage to write that cat in, I will.

5. I love love LOVE the late Georgian era. Can you tell us a bit about why you write in that period?  Also, I love the way Georgian sensibilities linger in the Regency. Any observations about that?

I like to say I write between busks and bustles. That is, my heroines are in one of the periods of history women are not weighted down with thirty pounds of clothes and twenty minutes lacing themselves into and out thereof. Pretty clothes, comfortable clothes, and innately democratic clothes. Women right down the social scale could produce a reasonable facsimile of fashionable garments.

And it’s one of those times the basic assumptions of society changed. So interesting.

6. You write the most wonderful heroines. Can you tell us about the heroine of this book? If she had a cat, and it was stuck in a tree, what would she do?

Justine is a child of the French Revolution. Life is difficult. It’s made her tough. It’s made her a fighter. It’s made her do things she’s ashamed of. The only time she can let down her guard is with Adrian.

She’s loyal to everything that matters to her, because she knows it can all be swept away in a moment. She’s had that happen.

If Justine had a cat, she would be adamantly protective of that cat. She’d arrange for somebody to go up in the tree and get the cat down.

How?

Blackmail, probably. Threats. Cunning plans. Bribery.
I don’t know how she’d do it, but somebody would go up that tree and rescue the feline.

7. When I read your first book, The Spymaster’s Lady, I remember thinking (among many other things) that you had completely nailed a heroine whose first language was French. To this day I am in awe of your use of language (in all your books). I heard later that you speak fluent French. True? This linguistic otherness is true of your other heroines, too. Tell us a bit about your take on that aspect of your writing.


I wouldn’t say I’m fluent in French. It’s more a workaday grasp of it.

In Spymaster’s Lady it’s important the protagonist is utterly French. This is how she sees herself. It sets her up to have something to lose. It makes her ultimate choice just that much more difficult. When she speaks in a very ‘French’ way it emphasizes this ‘Frenchness’ which plays an important part of the story.

Where the mere fact of being French is not one of the points of the story, it’s easier to use a lighter hand with the character’s voice.

I’m all for using the least possible dialect or accent to make the point you need to make. A little word choice. A little idiom. To make life easier all round, you try to give your folks a reason to be eloquent and fluent in English.

8. What’s next for you?

I’m just beginning on Pax’s story. We’re in the same fictive world here. I’m just beginning it, so I don’t know quite where we’ll end up, but it looks like it’ll be set half in England and half in France.

Book Giveaway!

Jo will be giving away a copy of Black Hawk to some lucky person in the comments trail, so leave a comment!

Rules: Void where prohibited. No purchase necessary. Leave a comment by Midnight (Pacific Time) Thursday 11/3.

I want to start this post off with a major WOOT to Risky Elena for her title Lady Dearing’s Masquerade making the Kindle Top 100 Indie Bestsellers for October 2011 (via EBook Friendly), There she is at #72! Congratulations, Elena!

If you’ve not picked up this book, perhaps you should.

Not Wicked Enough ARCS

I came home today to find that I have ARCs for my February 2012 Berkley Historical, Not Wicked Enough. Just as that cover isn’t quite the final cover, the ARC is not quite the final book. For example, chapters 31 and 32 should be swapped. If you win one, feel free to read chapter 32 before chapter 31 (and mentally add in some missing transition) And yet, I am giving away THREE (3) ARCS right here on the Risky Regencies.

When Lily Wellstone heads to the Bitterward Estate to comfort her widowed friend Eugenia, she certainly does not have romance in mind. In fact, the playful but level-headed Lily is amused to no end when, en route, a Gypsy gifts her with a beautiful medallion, claiming it will ensnare the romantic desires of a stranger.

But fate has other plans in the form of Eugenia’s ruggedly handsome brother, the Duke of Mountjoy. One day at Bitterward and Lily can’t deny the sizzling attraction between her and the roguish duke. Nothing can come of it, of course. She’s not looking for entanglements and he’s practically engaged. But whether it’s her outgoing nature and the duke’s outlandish ways sparking off one another; or the mysterious gypsy medallion working “magic,”—hearts are stirring in the most unexpected and wicked ways. . .

How to Possibly Win one of Three ARCS

  1. If you are one of the winners, you must agree to write a review of the book. An honest review. Please post your review either at at least one of the following: your own blog, Facebook, Goodreads or one of the bookselling sites such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble. If you don’t have a blog etc, then you can send me your review and I will post it at my blog.
  2. Leave a comment to this post in which you make some mention of the number three.

The Rules

Void Where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Please post your comment by midnight Pacific November 11. Three winners will be chosen from the comments at random, probably not later than Sunday Nov 12. International is fine, unless there’s a law somewhere that it isn’t. I will post the winners to the Risky blog, so you’ll need to check back to see if you won.

I came across this in Stegman’s The Rule Of Taste:

[S]ince, however, Fonthill was not a cathedral but a house it was inevitable that it should be pronounced eccentric and looked on, if not with amazement certainly with suspicion, just as [George] Beckford must have appeared suspicious to his neighbors, a man who, inheriting a fine mansion, should pull down that mansion and build another and a greater, might be thought extravagant, but when he proceeded to pull that down in turn and replace it by yet another, and even larger, and with, moreover, a soaring tower, employing two armies of workmen laboring alternately by day and by night (the tower collapsed immediately it was completed, and was promptly put up again,)  then beyond doubt he must be thought eccentric; finally, for a man so wealthy and so evidently original to live alone in celibate aloofness was in the highest degree suspicious.

So, first, hella long sentence there, buddy!

Apparently, if Mr. Beckford had done all this but slept with the maids and local virgins and held parties, that would not have been suspicious at all.

I have a question for you guys at the end, so check it out.

Ah, to be Stinking Rich

Beckford, in case you don’t know, inherited 100,000 pounds. According to Stegman, he wrote Vathek (That’s a whole ‘nother post) in French in one sitting over the course of three days and two nights. (p84, fn 1) Also according to Stegman, he sold the house in 1822 for 330,000 pounds. The tower collapsed shortly after the sale because it had no foundations. The contractor was a cheat, it seems. The house was torn down shortly after the sale.

More Stuff

Google books is a goldmine, and I highly suggest a search for “Fonthill”, limiting your search to 1800-1825. There’s poetry and list of the books in the library. Here’s a link to the list of the contents being auctioned off in 1801. Ever wonder what kind of rooms these big old houses had? Here’s a few:

  • Dining Parlour
  • Turkish Room
  • Library
  • Grand Entrance Hall
  • Tapestry Room
  • Great Dining Room
  • State Dressing Room
  • State Bed Chamber
  • Great Saloon
  • Cabinet Anti Room
  • Picture Gallery
  • Small Anti Room
  • Right hand Attic
  • Left Hand Attic
  • West Corner Bedroom
  • East Corner Bedroom
  • Bedroom adjoining

Here’s a list of the contents of another of the bedrooms:

SOUTH CORNER BEDCHAMBER.

  • A blowing stove, shovel, tongs, poker, fender and hearth broom
  • A 5 foot 6 mahogany bedstead, with carved feet posts, double screwed, with quilted chintz furniture, lined with blue silk and fringed
  • A goose featherbed, bolster and 2 ticken pillows
  • A check mattress and 2 white ditto
  • Four white calico window curtains, 3 breadths, 10 feet long, with laths, lines and pins
  • Four white Holland spring blinds, with lines and tassels
  • A 3 feet 2 feet bedstead with white dimity furniture
  • A featherbed, bolster and 1 pillow filled with goose feathers
  • A white mattress, 3 blankets and a counterpane
  • A mahogany GUARDROBE, 8 feet wide and 8 feet 6 high, with sliding shelves and 4 drawers in the middle part, the two wings lined with green baize, 2 rods and 12 brass hooks to hang clothes on
  • A mahogany chamber table, a deal top for ditto and a pembroke table with 4 drawers
  • A mahogany chest night stool with brass corner plates
  • A neat inlaid French bedside table with cupboard, ornamented with ormolu
  • A ditto its companion
  • A mahogany chamber table with a drawer at the end, and a dressing glass with 3 drawers in a swing frame
  • A wainscot two-flap table, with 2 drawers, a dressing stool with cushion and case, a small glass in a mahogany swing frame and a mahogany stool
  • A pair of japanned and gilt fire screen stands, with Barre silk fan screens and 2 small mahogany chairs covered with striped hair cloth
  • Eight chairs neatly japanned with drapery backs and cane seats
  • A Kidderminster carpet to cover the room, 23 feet by 19 feet 6, exclusive of chimney
  • A pier glass in a rich carved and burnished gold frame, in two plates, bottom plate 43 by 37, top plate 37 by 26, and glass borders
  • A chimney glass in a white frame, 2 plates 31 by 16, and a dressing glass in a japanned frame
  • An inlaid pier table ornamented with ormolu
  • A neat inlaid work table en suite

Various KITCHEN And Other FURNITURE REMOVED FROM THE LOFTS.

  • Two copper kettles with covers and cocks and a still
  • A large pot and cover and a turbot kettle, plate and cover
  • An oval fish kettle, plate and cover, a stewpan and cover, 5 saucepans and 2 covers
  • Two large saucepans and covers and 3 stewpans and odd covers
  • Six French stewpans and covers and 2 cullenders
  • Four French stewpans and 2 covers, a frying pan and cover, 2 cullenders and sundry pieces of copper
  • An oval stewpan, a warming pan, a fish drainer, 2 brass skillets, 2 skimmers, 2 spoons, a bell metal mortar, pestle and a dredger
  • Two preserving pans, a bronze tea urn, a frying pan, 2 gridirons and 5 odd covers
  • Five pewter dishes, a fish drainer, 8 plates, 4 high iron candlesticks, a bronze tea urn, 2 tin stewpans and covers, a candlebox, a trumpet and a double gridiron
  • Eighteen stove trivets, part of the iron work of a copper, a large gridiron, a smaller ditto, 2 footmen, 3 beef forks, a pair of steak tongs, a cleaver and a charring dish
  • Two high charring dishes, 2 hand ditto, a pair of dogs, a round fender, a pigrron; a salamander, 3 jack chains and £ round stoves
  • Three tin fenders, and 3 iron ditto, large spits and sundry tin ware
  • Twenty tin steam kettles, a lark roaster, sundry tin paste and patty moulds and a quantity of tin ware
  • A German stove and pipe, 2 baking tins, 4 mahogany dish stands, a cheese ditto, 58 blanc-manger and pudding moulds
  • Two iron fenders, 2 steel ditto, 4 fire shovels, 3 pokers,2 pair of tongs, 2 high brass candlesticks, 10 pair of bellows and sundry lamp stands

TURKISH ROOM.

  • The BARRE SATTIN HANGINGS of the ROOM containing about 205 yards, fringed, with a rich silk fringe, with gold and silk Bullions
  • A superbe Ottoman Sofa with the return from the door to the chimney, 2 squabs, 9 back cushions, 3 seat ditto and 2 bolsters, filled with hair, in canvas, covered with Barre sattin, trimmed with silk fringe, a set of cotton and a set of dimity cases, compleat
  • A DITTO, en suite with the preceding, from the glass with the return to the chimney, and 2 sets of cases
  • Six Stools, gilt in burnished gold, covered with Barre sattin, finished with gold welt and silk fringe with white dimity cases
  • A pair of Superlatively Elegant TRIPODS, formed a la Turque, exquisitely carved and gilt in a superior and expensive stile, designed by Boilieu
  • A capital Axminster Carpet, maroon ground, with a coloured border, 20 ft. 3 by 19 ft. 9, exclusive of chimney and windows, and a piece for the door way
  • A brilliant French Plate of Glass between the windows Ninety-eight Inches By Forty-eight, in a blind frame
  • A ditto, facing the door, Eighty-seven Inches By Forty-five, and a carved and gilt frame round the sides and top
  • A ditto over the chimney, Seventy-three Inches By Fifty-nine, in a blind frame
  • Two white Holland spring blinds and a hearth rug
  • Two pair of sashes, glazed, with 16 squares of plate glass, 22 by 19, and 2 pair of window shutters, with the suffcit, richly carved, gilt and painted, by Feuglet
  • Four Paintings on the cielings [sic], (by Boileau) the architrave, mouldings, and all the carved and gilt wood ornaments on ditto

LIBRARY.

  • Three lilac sattin festoon window curtains, lined, 10 ft. 9 long, with laths, lines and pins, compleat
  • Three pair of door curtains to match the last lot, 7 ft. long with brass rods
  • Four stools, carved and gilt, in burnished gold, the tops, stuffed and covered with sattin, with white dimity cases
  • A Brussels Carpet to cover the room, 22 ft. 6 by 19 ft. 6, exclusive of fire place and windows
  • Two India and 3 china chimney ornaments
  • Two bookcase doors with wire work and mahogany tops in 2 windows
  • Three mahogany doors with wire work west side of the room
  • Three ditto and 2 pair facing windows
  • Six ditto fronting the chimney and 2 ditto on return of side room
  • A neat inlaid sattin wood oval Pembroke Table with a drawer on castors
  • Three white Holland spring blinds and a hearth rug
  • A marble bust of Homer, on an inlaid marble pedestal
  • A ditto of Virgil on ditto
  • A 45 inch Bath stove, shovel, tongs, poker and fender
  • An elegant sattin wood Library Table, inlaid and banded, the top covered with red Morocco leather
  • Two small tables, on rich carved and gilt frames, 20 by 12

Question for You

So, having perused this, tell me in the comments what you thought/imagined/desperately desired as you read the various lists.

Me, I say, PARTY IN THE TURKISH ROOM!

Follow
Get every new post delivered to your inbox
Join millions of other followers
Powered By WPFruits.com