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Monthly Archives: February 2012

Novellas, Covers and Giveaway!

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Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I’m kind of lukewarm about the covers put on the old Regency anthologies.

Here’s one for an anthology in which a friend, Patricia Bray, had a story. The kittens on the cover are adorable, but they don’t say “romance” to me and the stories inside focused more on the paranormal than the cuteness.

I have mixed feelings about the Christmas anthology covers that seem to imply that the season itself somehow guarantees a happy ending. But a lot of Christmas novellas don’t actually use the holiday as a gimmick. In fact, the title of this one, with Risky Amanda as one of the contributors, actually refers to paranormal elements in this anthology. Much more fun.

I’ve only participated in one anthology myself, HIS BLUSHING BRIDE, with Alice Holden and our good friend and occasional Risky guest, Regina Scott. When I first saw the cover, I knew that though the Valentine-y treatment wasn’t my thing, it would appeal to a lot of readers. (The book sold pretty well.) Still, I went for a different look for the cover for the reissue of my story from that anthology, The Wedding Wager.

What do you think? Do you go for anthologies or novellas with the cute covers, or are there other types of covers you prefer?

I’ll be giving away 5 Kindle or Nook copies of The Wedding Wager to commenters chosen at random. If you win, you can also nominate a friend to receive a free copy. Void where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Post your comment by midnight EST on February 24th. I will post an announcement on Saturday, February 25, so please check back to see if you have won.

Elena

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A chocolate experience

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I went to a historical program this week, but it was much better than Diane’s and also appropriate to Amanda’s on Valentine’s Day (and Carolyn, sigh. Carolyn, do try and get your mind out of the gutter). I’ve finished my chocolate–I ate half of them at five minutes after midnight and the other half that evening of the 14th and here’s the evidence.

But I digress. I went to a chocolate program at Riversdale House Museum and although I was volunteering I didn’t spill anything on anyone and I managed to eat a fair amount too. There were some awesome chocolate fans there who ate their way through four centuries of chocolate and probably would have been good for more.

You can find the recipes at Cooking Up the Past, the FB page that Riversdale’s Food Historian runs, and which has some great stuff on it.

So, chocolate. First it starts off as a tree with a fruit, with seeds (pods), from which you extract the nibs (the things that look as if a mouse has visited). It’s a very labor intensive product and you can see a video made by the foodways historian at Williamsburg on a site devoted to the history of chocolate in North America, American Heritage Chocolate. There are some more recipes and also products if you wish to try some authentic cookery.

Chocolate is NOT sweet. You have to add sugar and I found that the historic recipes had a bitter kick to them rather like coffee–cacoa does have a high caffeine content. This is why chocolate was a popular breakfast drink–we used a latte machine to froth up spiced and (slightly) sweetened chocolate in hot water and added in milk to taste just as you would with coffee. This 1731 chocolate pie, one of the delicacies served at the chocolate event was deliciously bitter.

Into the nineteenth century, things got sweeter. Here’s a whole plateful of chocolatey thrills, including ice cream, a layer cake with chocolate icing, chocolate pudding, a heart-shaped cocoa biscuit, a cake with chocolate icing and some chocolate candy.

We went into the twentieth century with tollhouse cookies, and into the twenty-first with white chocolate and chocolate flavored with chili. Yum. Then we kitchen staff did the dishes. If you’re anywhere near the Washington, DC area, check out the schedule of events at Riversdale: there’s a complete weekend of women’s activities on May 5-6, The 1812 Woman, one of the many events commemorating the war of 1812.

So let’s talk about chocolate!

And go visit The Bookish Dame who’s given Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion a great review today and is giving away a copy!

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Valentine’s Day!

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In case you’ve missed it, today is Valentine’s Day! The day when stores look like they’ve exploded with a red and pink bomb, there are jewelry ads every 5 minutes on TV, and local papers and magazines want to interview romance authors. It’s a cheesy, silly, goofy holiday full of chocolate…so of course I love it!!

This Valentine’s Day is also special because Signet is re-launching its Regency line as ebooks, and my very first Regency, Scandal in Venice, is the first title in the series! I am very excited about that (and hope it means new Regencies out there!), and I also love the new cover. To celebrate, I’m running a contest on my website to win a Venetian glass heart pendant on my Amanda site. You also have until tonight to enter a contest on my Laurel site…

And since I am feeling contest crazy today, I am having one here at the Riskies! I have two brand-new shinny ARCs of my next Laurel McKee book (One Naughty Night, not out until June!). I will give away one copy to a commenter on today’s post!

Here are a few fun history-geek facts I found out about Valentine’s Day…

–Historians trace the origin of Valentine’s Day to the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a holiday on February 14th to honor the goddess Juno (among other things the patron of women and marriage, though maybe Venus might have been a better Valentine’s Day choice!). On the following day, February 15th began the fertility festival called ‘Feast of Lupercalia,’ which often turned into a big, wild party.

An interesting custom of the Feast of Lupercalia was to bring together young men and women who otherwise were strictly separated. On the eve of the festival names of young Roman girls were written on a slip of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew out a girl’s name from the jar and was paired with the girl for the duration of Lupercalia. Sometime this pairing lasted until the next year’s celebration, and sometimes the couple would fall in love with each other and marry.

–But it was actually due to the Christian priest and martyr St Valentine that today’s holiday got its name. The story goes that during the reign of Emperor Claudius, Rome was involved in several bloody and unpopular wars. Recruting new soliers was hard because a lot of men didn’t want to leave their wives and families to take part in such hopeless campaigning, so Claudius canceled all engagements in Rome. Saint Valentine defied Claudius’s orders. and performed secret marriages. When his defiance was discovered, Valentine was brutally beaten and put to death on February 14, about 270 AD and later became a saint.

Around 498 AD, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St. Valentine’s Day to honor the martyr Valentinus and to end the pagan celebration. By the Middle Ages, Valentine became a heroic and romantic figure in England and France, perfect for the cult of chivalry. Valentine’s Day Cards are even said to have originated in medieval France. Charles, Duke of Orleans is said to have written the first Valentine’s Day card. He was captured at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and wrote a poem or ‘Valentine’ to his wife while locked in the Tower of London. This letter is still in the collection of the British Library in London, England.

–There was a popular belief in Great Britain and France during 14th and 15th century that birds begin to mate on February 14, halfway through the month of February. In the Paston Letters, Dame Elizabeth Brews writes thus about a match she hopes to make for her daughter (spelling modernize), addressing the favored suitor:

And, cousin mine, upon Monday is Saint Valentine’s Day and every bird chooses himself a mate, and if it like you to come on Thursday night, and make provision that you may abide till then, I trust to God that ye shall speak to my husband and I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion.

–Unmarried girls in Britain and Italy used to wake up before sunrise on Valentine’s Day. They believed that the first man they glimpsed on Valentine’s Day (or someone who looked like him!) would marry them within a year. Girls would wake up early to stand by their window and wait for the right man to pass by. Shakespeare mentions this tradition in Hamlet (1603). Ophelia sings:
Good morrow! ‘Tis St. Valentine’s Day
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your valentine!

What are your plans for the holiday?? What are some of your favorite romantic reads for the day?

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Done!

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I finished the Marquess and Governess story on time (Yay, me!) , after a marathon of writing,  and I’ve now caught up on my Downton Abbey. 

While I was in my flurry of writing, I distracted myself by thinking of what I’d do to reward myself. I have several plans. Like get my hair cut (finally!!). Buy some new make-up. Go to Old Town Alexandria to this terrific little tea shop there.

I turned the book in on Friday and on Saturday I did have a little reward. I attended an all day seminar at the Smithsonian called Regency England’s Pleasures and Paradoxes presented by Lorella Brocklesby, an adjunct professor at New York University.

She took a look at the architecture of Regency England, the development of Regent Street, Regent’s Park, the Pavilion, and Carlton House, as well as a few other places. She talked a little about artists Turner and Benjamin West, and caricaturists like Gillray. She touched on some of the paradoxes, such as child labor.

The session was sold out, a couple hundred people, maybe. The speaker was charming and the audience seemed to enjoy the whole thing, but for a Regency Romance author, it just didn’t work for me.

For one thing, she defined the Regency in very broad terms, from 1750 to 1838. That would be okay, but she skipped around a lot in those dates, so, if you didn’t know beforehand, you would know exactly what happened when.

She also was imprecise in her facts. For example, she spoke about Harriette Wilson, mentioning her book,   but neglected to say she was a famous courtesan. She also talked about Jane Austen, but got her facts wrong. She said Austen never dedicated a book to the Prince Regent, but, of course, she did.

Austen’s dedication to the Prince Regent in Emma was brilliant:

To His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, this work is, by His Royal Highness’s permission, most respectfully dedicated, by His Royal Highness’s dutiful and obedient humble servant, the author.

Those are just a few of the examples.

Most Historical authors like to deal with precision–What exactly would they have eaten? What exactly happened in May of 1816?–so this seminar was frustrating in its imprecision.

Still, there were good parts. I went with my friend Mary Blayney, and we met my friend Virginia there. We had great conversation at lunch at the Natural History museum, so the day was not a total flop.

So, what do you reward yourself with after a period of hard work? And what was the most disappointing thing you’ve attended?

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