Monthly Archives: February 2012

Guest Author Manda Collins and How To Dance With A Duke

Updated on February 22, 2013 by Diane Gaston

I’m delighted to introduce our guest today, debut author Manda Collins whose How To Dance With A Duke is getting some nice buzz!

When I first met Manda, she was a reader and a reviewer who was wonderful enough to say nice things about my books. Now I’m thrilled that she is here as our guest author and is receiving some of the same.

“Collins’ debut delivers a fast-paced, adventurous love story that will enthrall readers. Her dynamic characters, a murder and passion combine with the perfect amount of lively repartee.” RT Book Reviews

“With sparkling Regency wit, a dash of mystery, and just the right amount of steam, How to Dance with a Duke is an enchanting debut, sure to sweep readers off their feet!” —Tessa Dare

Manda is giving away a signed copy of How To Dance With A Duke to one lucky commenter chosen at random.

Welcome, Manda! Tell us about How To Dance With A Duke.

This is my debut novel, and it’s the first in a trilogy about three wallflower cousins who must do battle with a Regency mean girl, solve mysteries, and find true love–all in the space of a season. In this story, Miss Cecily Hurston, an Egyptologist, must join forces with the newly minted Duke of Winterson to find her father’s travel diaries and Winterson’s missing brother. Think Agatha Christie meets Jane Austen. Or old school Amanda Quick.

We love a debut author! Tell us a little about your journey to publication and what it was like to get “The Call.”

I’ve been writing since my teen years, but didn’t do so with a serious eye toward publication until 2007 or so. I wrote one novel, a Victorian set in country house, that landed me an agent, but alas, did not sell. So I regrouped, licked my wounds, and decided to return to my first love–Regency romance. Since I’ve been reading Regency in one form or other since I was a pre-teen, it was like going home. I wrote How to Dance with a Duke, my agent loved it, and it sold five months later.

I got the call one morning while I was brushing my teeth. But because I am suspicious and didn’t want to tempt fate, I hadn’t programmed my agent’s number into my phone, so I thought it was a wrong number and let it go to voicemail. On the way to work though something kept niggling me about that call. So as soon as I go to the office I checked my email, and sure enough there was a message from my agent, Holly Root, telling me to call her. And when I looked through the rest of my email, I saw that Holly Blanck, the editor at St. Martin’s who was reading my MS, had followed me on Twtitter. I knew then that the news was good. I called Agent Holly back, she told me that Holly Blanck had offered me a three book contract and I’ve been grinning like a crazy person ever since.

You’ve been active in the Romance Writing community for a long time. What was it like to move from reader and reviewer to author?

It’s been kind of strange at times. I have never had a shortage of opinions on various issues in the community, so there have been some moments since I made the transition from reader to author when I’ve had to forcibly remind myself to just keep quiet. It’s not that I don’t think authors should have a place at the table–I actually get twitchy when it feels like the blogosphere would rather we just shut up and write–but there are times when as an author it’s just common sense not to get involved. If someone doesn’t like my book and writes a review about it, there’s just no good way–with a few rare exceptions–for an author to join that conversation and have it end well. On the other hand, I feel like getting published has given me insider knowledge that I can use to help other writers who are just starting on the road to publication, so it’s not all a matter of biting my tongue. And I still review every now and then. I’ve always been one of those “only if I have something good to say about it” reviewers anyway so that hasn’t really changed. Though I don’t really have as much time for it as I used to.

Why did you decide to write a Regency Historical?

As I said earlier, I’ve been reading Regency, both trad and historicals, since I was in middle school, so I was Regency before it was the hottest thing going. Which I sometimes feel like I have to defend since there seems to be a backlash in some quarters against the period. But I adore it. The social customs, the witty banter, the sense that society is kicking up a dust before the coming strictures of the Victorian period. Plus, as some of you may know, I am a sucker for a dandy and sadly there were very few of them in the latter part of the century.

What is risky about the book?

Believe it or not, the mystery element. Again and again while I was on submission I got rejections from editors who loved the story but were unsure of how to sell it because it felt like neither fish nor fowl. Fortunately Editor Holly has a fondness for mystery mixed with romance so when it landed on her desk she snapped it up. Or that’s how I imagine it. She might very well have carefully lifted it.

What is next for you?

Next up is the next book in the trilogy, How to Romance a Rake, which comes out this summer in late July. And just last week I accepted another three book contract from St. Martin’s Press for a trilogy with the tagline I Know What You Did Last Season. So I have plenty to keep me occupied writing-wise for the next few years or so.

And now I have a question for you. Do you like a bit of mystery mixed with your romance? What are some of your favorite examples?

Comment for a chance to win a signed copy of How To Dance With A Duke.

Posted in Giveaways, Interviews | Tagged How to Dance with a Duke, Manda Collins | 34 Replies

Celebrity Byron

Updated on February 22, 2013 by Diane Gaston

I watched the Academy Awards last night even though I only saw one of the nominated movies–War Horse. That never stopped me from having favorites. I’m delighted that Christopher Plummer won for Best Supporting Actor and Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress. It was fun to see The Artist win so much, but I was disappointed that War Horse did not win anything.

The reason I enjoyed the Academy Awards, I think, is due to fascination with celebrities. To see what the women wore. To see the handsome men. To hear the speeches, which are almost always disappointing, and cringe at the presenters attempting to be funny.

I like to think of Lord Byron as one of the first celebrities in the modern sense of the word. I read an article that said that celebrity, as we think of it, began in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the industrialization of print meant that information could be widely distributed. Lord Byron’s poetry and gossip about his life was certainly available to many.

He was wildly popular when his poetry caught fire with the public. It is said that his wife termed the adulation surrounding him Bryomania. How modern sounding is that?

He was perfectly cast for such fame. His verse was emotional and sometimes shocking and he was the quintessential “bad boy” in need of taming. His early life was romantic-his deformity of foot, his tumultuous family including his great-uncle, “Mad Jack.” His early travels in the Mediterranean and his dramatic adopting of native dress, must have exciting to women of his time, especially young fanciful girls who still today idolize celebrities. I like to believe the 19th century drawing I own is one a lovestruck fan drew of Byron.

Like many celebrities, Byron fed the gossip mills. His affair with Caroline Lamb. His later affairs. His separation from his wife amid allegations of cruelty, infidelity and incest with a half-sister. And like many celebrities, Byron met an untimely death, albeit a romantic one, dying of fever while preparing to fight in the Greek war of independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Like other celebrities, especially those who met an early death, Byron lives on in his marvelous works, his letters, and in his legend that still fascinates us.

Not so different from the celebrities at the Oscars.
Who were your favorites at the Oscars? Will Amanda do a fashion critique tomorrow?

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged Byron, Lord Byron | 10 Replies

Awards!

Updated on February 22, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

So this weekend there was a little awards show called The Oscars (you might have heard of it??). And as usual I stayed up far too late, eating too much chocolate and drinking wine because I just can’t give up until I see what took Best Picture. This year was good because I actually really enjoyed several of the movies (I adored The Artist, loved Midnight in Paris, admired Tree of Life, and thought The Descendants was pretty good…), and Jean DuJardin is my new French boyfriend.

I also loved many of the gowns! It seemed like an especially good fashion year…

Some of my favorites:

Michelle Williams

Natalie Portman (I wanted to steal this immediately!)

Gwyneth Paltrow (liked it better without the cape, but you know, yay for red carpet capes!)

Rooney Mara (no-one else could have pulled this off, but I love her weird, chilly style)

Penelope Cruz

Jessica Chastain (she is so beautiful and yet so iffy on the rc–I’m glad she pulled it off when it counted most!)

And I didn’t especially like Emma Stone’s dress (I was convinced I had seen her in something just like this before, but it turned out it was Nicole Kidman…), but she was by far the most entertaining thing in a very long evening (except for the Christopher Guest faux “Wizard of Oz” test group), and I just love her…

There wasn’t anyone I totally hated, but I do think Berenice Bejo could have done a lot better…

And what was up with Angelina Jolie and her crazy leg?? The dress was nice, though she was swimming in it, but I could not figure out what was with the weird posing…

I also found out I got my own award–though I don’t get a couture gown with it! The Shy Duchess won Cataromance’s Best Harlequin Historical of 2011…(See the list of winners here…)