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Author Archives: Diane Gaston

About Diane Gaston

Diane Gaston is the RITA award-winning author of Historical Romance for Harlequin Historical and Mills and Boon, with books that feature the darker side of the Regency. Formerly a mental health social worker, she is happiest now when deep in the psyches of soldiers, rakes and women who don’t always act like ladies.

Happy Birthday to Us

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My birthday present to you! My bookcover for Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady coming Dec 2009 from Harlequin Historical. I LOVE this cover

My real Risky Regencies birthday is April 17, because I joined this lovely group on April 17, 2006, but, the Queen doesn’t celebrate her birthday on the anniversary of her birth, so why should I? I choose to celebrate with my other Riskies.

I was so creative. I called my first blog “My First Time by Diane Gaston Perkins” (I was still writing for Warner Forever as Diane Perkins at the time). I talked about why I think the Regency is so popular as a Romance genre. And I sounded reasonably intelligent! Who knew?

Risky Regencies came about when there were still Signet and Zebra Traditional Regencies, but we all knew they would not last. Janet, Amanda, Elena, and Cara were innovating, trying to give the subgenre new life. It was a risk, but that was the reason to name the blog Risky Regencies.

I decided to see what these Riskies chose to write about for their first times.

Janet’s first blog was, as you might expect, extremely witty with creative surprises, telling what was risky about her first book, Dedication.

Megan talks about her risky Regency, A Singular Lady, in the sassy slightly self-depreciating style we’ve come to love, admitting she made mistakes with titles.

Cara’s first blog was about cards! She talks about the idea that became My Lady Gamester. (I still miss Cara, so I’m including her here!)

Amanda’s first real blog (after a brief one about covers, citing both a movie and fashion, natch) was a cute Jane Austen quiz. We’ve had lots of quizzes since.

Elena does another thing we’ve repeated often–talking about other books and authors we admire. Elena will be blogging on Sept 26. Yay!!!

And finally our newest Risky, Carolyn, who started her time here with a quirky introduction in Regency-speak and her first real blog about The Regency Ottoman Empire. What could be more Risky than that???

Like the Regency genre, we’re still evolving. I love the community we’ve become, and that includes our commenters!

Do you have any Risky Regency blogs you remember? What ones have stuck in your memory?

My prize, awarded at the end of the month, like Janet’s, is a DVD: 1815 The Battle Of Waterloo. It is a documentary released by Kultur.com that I used in writing my Three Soldiers Series (and ordered twice because I forgot I already owned it). If you don’t win you can order your own from Amazon.

My website is updated! And there is a new contest there.
And I’m now on Twitter as well as Facebook.

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Two Great Men

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When I was watching Senator Ted Kennedy‘s funeral procession proceed across Memorial Bridge, I was reminded of another funeral procession, one I first learned of when visiting the coach house at Stratfield Saye where the funeral car of the Duke of Wellington is displayed and a recording is played of the titles and honors of this man, the same words recited during his funeral march. The recording goes on and on, complete with the sound of horses’ hooves, a sound that echoes in my mind from President Kennedy’s funeral procession and the ones I’ve attended at Arlington Cemetery.

Do you realize there were similarities between the Duke of Wellington and Ted Kennedy?

1. Both were Irish. Wellington was descended from an Anglo-Irish family going back to 1180s; Kennedy’s ancesors were Irish American, his great grandparents came over during the Irish Famine.
2. Both were fourth sons.
3. Both came from wealthy families, although Wellington’s family fortunes waned a bit after his father died.
4. Neither were stellar students.
5. Both loved music. Wellington once played the violin; Kennedy loved to sing.
5. Both served in the Army (although Wellington’s career was a bit longer and much more distinguished!!)
6. Both had unhappy marriages (although Kennedy’s second marriage was very happy).
7. And, of course, both had long political careers. Wellington was Prime Minister for 2 years but active in politics both before and after. Kennedy’s bid for the presidency failed but he was a powerful member of the Senate for 46 years. And, a huge difference–Kennedy was perhaps our most famous liberal senator and the Duke of Wellington was always a conservative Tory.

Wellington died at Walmer Castle. His body was taken by train to London and he was given a state funeral, an honor he shared with Admiral Lord Nelson and Sir Winston Churchill. His funeral was packed and a grateful citizenry lined the streets of London as his funeral procession passed. To honor him Tennyson wrote “Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington“

And 250 years later, as I stood in the Duke’s coach house, I felt that same need to honor him, a great man.

Are any of you Wellington Groupies, like me? What do you think of the Iron Duke?

There will be new stuff on my website tomorrow. Take a peek now at my new bookcover.

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Peterloo

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August 16 was the anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre. On that date in 1819, 60,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Field to listen to radical orator Henry Hunt and to protest against the Corn Laws and to seek Parliamentary reform. The local magistrates, frightened by the sheer numbers of protesters, ordered the yeomanry to disperse the crowds and arrest the demonstation’s leaders. The yeomanry (who were well-to-do tradesmen opposed to reforms) did a poor job of it and the 15th Hussars were ordered to charge the crowd and rescue the yeomanry. Eleven people were killed and 500 injured and the resulting outrage of the government’s support of the incident helped fuel the reform movement.

There are conflicting accounts as to what happened at “Peterloo,” the name, taken from Waterloo. Certainly the most famous of the protests of the time, it was not the first. The book I just turned in (Yay, it is done!) in part takes place after the Spa Fields riots (believed to be incited by provacateurs in the government’s employ) and the March of the Blanketeers, which was dispersed before reaching London. Before these events there were the Luddites, who did become violent, smashing the machinery of the mill owners.

The Tory government cracked down with harsh laws, the Gag Acts after the Blanketeers march and the Six Acts after Peterloo. These basically made it illegal to protest against the government.

It is easy to see these as extreme and unfair measures depriving citizenry of free speech, but one also must remember that the men passing the laws were doing so in the shadow of the French Revolution. The Reign of Terror, during which 17,000 were executed, must have made a deep impression upon the aristocracy. I think this made a deeper impression than the fact that a whole country was lost to the American Revolution, which, of course, was founded on the right to free speech!

I realize this blog leaves nothing for you to comment on! So my challenge is, post the question I should have asked at the end of this blog!

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Debut Author Kit Donner!

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We Riskies love to showcase debut Regency authors. Today we welcome Kit Donner! Kit is one of Kensington’s Debs, a program that offers readers the chance to read new authors at the special price of $4.99 per book. For one lucky commenter, though, Kit will give away a signed copy of The Notorious Bridegroom. So, Everyone, give a big hello to Kit Donner!

1. Kit, tell us about your debut book, The Notorious Bridegroom.

The Notorious Bridegroom takes place in 1803 when Napoleon was planning an invasion of southeast England. I’ve always been intrigued by spies, so I came up with a plot where my sweet but naive heroine, Miss Patience Mandeley, believes my good but disillusioned hero, Lord Bryce Londringham, is a French spy and has accused her brother of treason. In order to prove her brother innocent, she’ll spy on the earl, and collect evidence to show the local magistrate. It’s a good plan in theory. She disguises herself as a maid in Londringham’s estate and sets her plan in motion. Only, she hasn’t a clue what she’s doing, so before long, Bryce has uncovered her disguise but not her real name. To trust or not to trust? Bryce finds himself falling in love with a woman named Patience who acts suspicious and ke eps secrets he longs to discover about her. Patience is falling in love with the enemy. How can she love a French spy? But is he? Together, they’ll have to learn to trust each other if they plan to capture the French spies and save England from an invasion, and have their own happy ending.

This is a well written historical romance with wonderful and eccentric characters set in a turbulent time in British history. The author makes good use of this throughout the story and has an excellent grasp of the time period and the customs of Regency society–Coffee Time Romance, 4 Cups

2. We love to hear about a new author’s journey to publication. Tell us about yours and include your “The Call” story!
I wrote The Notorious Bridegroom in the early nineties (which began life as When a Heart Surrenders and To Catch a Spy) After three years of writing and research, I put it to bed, determined to get on with my life. You know, find a career, a husband, a home, live a little. Flash forward to 2007 where I’ve achieved many of my goals, and I pull the old disks out of a box, and download to a newer model computer and put the manuscript back together again with LOTS of changes and revisions. It was still a good story, but I had grown as a writer, and improved the new manuscript considerably. I gave the manuscript to my sister-in-law, who enjoyed reading it, and a few other people as well. It eventually ended up in the hands of my Kensington editor. She called me on a very hot day last August to offer me a 2-book contract. (I was sitting in my car with the windows rolled down.) On the way home, I called friends and family and gave them the good news.

3. What do you think is the greatest creative risk you’ve taken in this book? How do you feel about it?
Probably writing many secondary characters who are memorable and not just “dressing.” I make sure they don’t take anything away from my primary characters and their story and romance, but I try to give them a life of their own.

4. Tell us something about your other research for the book.
The main research was about Napoleon’s plans for an invasion and how England prepared the country for the possible attack. Sea fencibles were created (the first line of defense) along the southeast coast. These were mostly volunteers and militia who had little weaponry but they could man the lighthouses and alert anyone in the vicinity if they saw the flotillas being launched from across the Channel.

5. What is it about the Regency era that draws you to it?
More than anything is the language. Whether it’s a Jane Austen character or a Wordsworth poem, Frankenstein, or Keats’ Ode to an Urn, the words are like music to my ears.

6. What’s next for you?
My second book, The Vengeful Bridegroom is scheduled for release next fall, and I just finished my third manuscript, The Wrong Bridegroom.

7. Anything else you want to tell our readers about you or your book? Where else can readers find you?
I really hope everyone will take a look at the book trailer my sister created for me. It’s not what you normally would expect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNn0LBj966g

My website is www.kitdonner.com and I’m on Twitter and Facebook under my name.

Kit, thanks so much for being our Riskies guest. Readers, don’t forget to comment. Tell Kit what you think of her book, of her sister’s booktrailer, or ask her a question. Remember, one of you will be selected at random to win a signed copy of The Notorious Bridegroom.

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Writing “The End”

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No, I’m not finished the book, the one that was overdue and the one I was going to finish before RWA. I gave it a good try but finally had to email my editor at midnight the day before going to RWA that I wasn’t going to make it. I also realized during the conference that I’d made a misstep in the plot so I had to go back and fix that. Then I received the copy edits for Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady (Dec 2009)…So I’m just now back to writing the last 50 pages of the book. With luck, I will turn it in on Friday.

I’ve been thinking about what makes for a satisfying ending of a book. In Romance, of course, it is the Happily-Ever-After. I guarantee that will be a part of my ending. I see the ending of the book as starting with the “Black Moment,” the moment in the plot when it seems like the hero and heroine will never wind up together. The end, of course, is when the hero and heroine are together and nothing can tear them apart again.

Besides this happy ending, what else is important?

1. The ending should tie up loose ends. Subplots need resolving. Story questions need to be answered. This doesn’t mean that everything works out fine. In real life not everything works our perfectly so I like to leave some things imperfect. I think that makes the ending more memorable.

2. The hero and heroine should bring about their own happy ending. This is not the time for the friend to solve their problems for them. The hero and heroine have to figure it out and take action.

3. The ending should not be rushed. It has to be developed at a pace consistent with the rest of the book. I think this is hard to do. At this point in the writing process, most of us just want it to be over.

4. The ending should be logical and foreshadowed. This is not the time for a Deus Ex Machina to show up, the person or event created by the author to pop up and solve the ending, even though there was no inkling of this at the beginning of the book. The reader should be able to look back and realize the elements for the happy ending were in the plot all along.

5. Not an essential, but something I like to strive for is a parallel to the beginning of the book. I like to try to recreate that first scene in the ending.

What do you think is essential for a good story ending? What mistakes have you seen made?

I have absolutely nothing new on my website, but there is still time to enter the new contest.

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