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Author Archives: Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

About Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Writer (as Amanda McCabe, Laurel McKee, Amanda Carmack), history geek, yoga enthusiast, pet owner!

I always love Jane Austen week here!  (And not just because it reminds me that my mom’s birthday is also December 16 and I need to remember to get her a gift…)  It gives me a chance to revisit these books that mean so much to me, and maybe do a little re-reading and reminiscing.

My “first” was Emma.  I found an old, yellowed paperback copy at my grandmother’s house, it had a girl in a pretty dress on the cover so I decided to give it a try.  I had already read some Heyer and a few Barbara Cartlands, so I knew a little about the Regency period (enough to know I loved it and wanted to live in that world, though not at that point much “real” history).  I love, love, loved the story, and immediately ran to the library to find the rest of the Austen novels, plus a bio!  I was amazed to find out the author had been dead over 200 years and wasn’t a writer working right then, her characters seemed so real and vivid to me.  Some of their concerns were different from mine (marrying asap and to the right man, since there is no other choice!), some I could relate to (parents can be sooo annoying!), but the characters at their core seemed like people I knew and wanted to spend time with, and that has never changed.

Jane Austen puzzleLast night I went to a jazz concert, and listened to a 15-minute version of a song I love (“Take the A Train”), and heard things in it I never had before, and realized Austen has much in common with this other love of mine, jazz music.  There are always variations on a theme in Austen, things that keep popping up on re-reading that I never saw before, things that resonate with me at different ages, and that means her books always repay revisiting.  That’s her rare genius.  And since I’m getting ready to get married on Saturday (a core concern of all Austen characters!) I am thinking I need to re-read some Pride & Prejudice or Persuasion to make sure I’m ready…

All commenters on today’s blog get put in the drawing for our grand prize (a $50 Amazon giftcard!), but I am also giving away an adorable Jane Austen puzzle!  It would make a great holiday gift if you have an Austen fan in your life (or a great gift to yourself!).  How did you get hooked on Austen?  What was your “first”?  (You never forget your first!!)

So what am I doing this week?  Getting out the Christmas decorations, finishing revisions and starting the next book, and getting ready to head to Santa Fe to do last-minute wedding prep stuff!  (the big day is a week from Saturday–I can’t believe it’s coming up so soon).  But here at the Riskies we have some Big Changes coming up as well.  Next week we are switching over to a new design, with all sorts of new features and fun things, and to celebrate we’ll have prizes all week.  Be sure and join us for the party!!!

Last week, when i talked about my new book Two Sinful Secrets, Elena asked me about sources for this period.  Researching is one of the most fun aspects of writing historicals, and delving into a newer-to-me period is always a ton of fun (at least it is for a history nerd like me!).  In my first series as Laurel McKee, “The Daughters of Erin” trilogy, I used the history of late 18th/early 19th century Ireland as an integral part of the conflict and characters.  I didn’t do that with this new series, “The Scandalous St. Claires”–history is more a background, we don’t actually see Queen Victoria etc.  But it’s so, so important to me to get the background just right.  Every time period has its own “feeling,” its own atmosphere and attitudes (though human nature is, in so many things, eternal, so it’s always easy to recognize characters even if they’re products of their time).  I used the early Victorian period, mid to late 1840s (mostly because I love the “Young Victoria” style fashions), so the massive changes of the period hadn’t quite taken hold, but events were moving at a faster and faster pace.  Industry was overcoming the agrarian lifestyle, a strict morality (outwardly at least–inwardly the Victorians were some of the naughtiest people in history) was creeping in, and lots of good things were going on that could be mined for romance stories….

Here are a few of the sources I enjoyed while researching this era:
–Suzanne Fagence Cooper, The Victorian Woman (2001)
–Richard D. Altick, Victorian People and Ideas (1973) (this one had great info on the life of the slums and the lower classes, perfect when outlining the childhood of my first St. Claire heroine, Lily in One Naughty Night)
–Jennifer Hall-Witt, Fashionable Acts: Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780–1880 (2007) (I think Elena recommended this one way back when, and it was so valuable to me since the St. Claires are theater owners!  The theater was really booming in the Victorian era…)
–Martin Pugh, Britain Since 1789: A Concise History (1999)
–E. Evans, The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain (1996)
–P. Levine, Victorian Feminism (1987)
–J. Walvin, Leisure and Society 1830-1950 (1978) and Victorian Values (1987)
–Donald Thomas, The Victorian Underworld (1998)

For Two Sinful Secrets I also had to research Paris in the era, which of course I loved!  More info on that later (plus fun Victorian Christmas stuff–they really, really loved the holiday!)

Have you found any good historical sources lately?  Any Christmas traditions you think came from historical time periods that you use in your own celebrations??

Posted in Research | Tagged | 3 Replies

MaBlue

 

 

 

 

 

 

So from two days after my wedding on Dec. 15 to about, oh, two days ago, I have been down with a majorly fun case of strep/ear infection/general winter blahs.  I am finally feeling better and tackling the WIP (which just happens to be due at the end of the month!  Fun!).  But my Kindle has been a lifesaver, and I spent a whole afternoon trawling around on it looking for some obscure historical sources.  Here are a few I found:

–For people like me, who like to plan fantasy trips to England, Gravestones, Tombs, and Memorials by Trevor Yorke and London’s Blue Plaques in a Nutshell (last time I was in London, I drove my mom crazy because I stopped to read every blue plaque we saw–this one is a guide to many more obscure figures memorialised there, and I am def carrying it with me next time I’m in London!)

The Smart by Sarah Bakewell, a fascinating tale of an 18th century adventuress named Mrs. Rudd who managed to get herself into (and out of) a tremendous amount of trouble (including being imprisoned for forgery–she was acquitted, but her supposed allies the “unfortunate” Perreau brothers, hanged)

An English Lady in Paris by Michael Allen, another fascinating 18th century woman, Mrs. Crewe, friends with the Duchess of Devonshire, a society beauty and great traveler

The King’s Smuggler: Jane Whorwood, Secret Agent to Charles I by John Fox: the title says it all

Tunnels, Towers, and Temples: London’s 100 Strangest Places by David Long: another great travel source!

Beauty and Cosmetics: 1550-950 and The Ephemeral Nature of Perfume and Sense in Early Modern England

All the King’s Cooks: The Tudor Kitchens of Henry VIII at Hampton Court by Peter Brears

Wicked Women of Tudor England by Retha Warnicke (both because she’s an historian I admire, plus I can never resist any book with the words Wicked Women in the title)

In my quest to read more romance, I also downloaded the new Cecilia Grant (since Megan said it’s great!) and Courtney Milan’s The Duchess War.  Plus I got a pile of magazines featuring spring fashions because i cannot WAIT to get out my sundresses and sandals again…

 

What have you been doing lately?  What are some obscure/fun/great titles you’ve come across??

Posted in Reading | 6 Replies

Oh no!!  It’s Tuesday, isn’t it?  I was completely sidetracked this morning by a cat swallowing something he should not have (though happily now all is well–he’s just cranky because of the trip to the vet, which he HATES).  To make up for my mistake, let’s have a giveaway!

I just got my author copies of my October Harlequin Historical release, The Tarnished Rose of the Court, which is a sequel to The Winter Queen.  I loved writing this one, because I got to take a peek inside the court of Mary Queen of Scots….

A dangerous mission at Queen Elizabeth’s bidding is Celia Sutton’s chance to erase the taint of her brother’s treason. Her life is at risk if she’s discovered—and so is her heart when she learns her co-conspirator is also her onetime seducer: brooding and mysterious John Brandon!

John can’t believe the change in Celia—what’s happened to the carefree English rose she once was? Leaving Celia was the only thing to do, but now guilt tears at his soul.

He has to heal the sadness in her past, and he’s not above using anything—from expert seduction to royal favors—to achieve his goal.

(It can be pre-ordered here, too…)


So, I’ll give away a copy to one commenter here today!  Tell me what you think about the cover, the setting, get-well wishes to my cat, anything….

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