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Author Archives: Elena Greene

About Elena Greene

Elena Greene grew up reading anything she could lay her hands on, including her mother's Georgette Heyer novels. She also enjoyed writing but decided to pursue a more practical career in software engineering. Fate intervened when she was sent on a three year international assignment to England, where she was inspired to start writing romances set in the Regency. Her books have won the National Readers' Choice Award, the Desert Rose Golden Quill and the Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence. Her Super Regency, LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, won RT Book Club's award for Best Regency Romance of 2005 and made the Kindle Top 100 list in 2011. When not writing, Elena enjoys swimming, cooking, meditation, playing the piano, volunteer work and craft projects. She lives in upstate New York with her two daughters and more yarn, wire and beads than she would like to admit.

The Keeper Shelf

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Last week I blogged about books I don’t finish; this week I’d like to talk about the opposite.

I have a problem that’s probably pretty common to the Riskies and our guests. Too many books, not enough bookshelves, despite the fact that there’s book storage in every room of our house except for the bathrooms (hmm… no, maybe not a good idea.) Since it’s unthinkable to stop the incoming flow, some books must go. I recently forced myself to go through this annual decluttering exercise.

To the donation pile:

  • Books I didn’t enjoy.
  • Books I got at a conference over three years ago, still haven’t gotten to, and aren’t somehow calling me to hold onto them.
  • Duplicates–too many of them!

Keeper shelf items:

  • Books I love so much I can’t part with them.
  • Classics and useful reference books.
  • Personally autographed copies.
  • Books by favorite authors or recommended by friends, or with truly intriguing blurbs, that I will get to someday.
  • Books by favorite authors that I didn’t love, but merely enjoyed. Somehow I feel disloyal parting with them. Or is that I like to keep a collection together?

The keeper shelves are still pretty full. My TBR list is enormous and growing daily. It made me wonder. Why keep a book if I may never reread it?

But the answers came. I do get to TBR books. Eventually. With books I’ve already read, I do often share them with friends, and I may share them with my children when they’re older. Very good reasons to hold onto these treasures.

So how about you? What makes a book a keeper? Do you clean out now and then?

And oh, yes, any suggestions for the best places to donate a boxfull of books of mixed genres, largely romance?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, Romantic Times Best Regency of 2005!
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Reading | Tagged , | 14 Replies

When does time run out for a book?

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I used to finish every book I started. I think it was partly due to a strong desire for closure, but the other thing that motivated me was artistic sympathy. Even if I really didn’t like the beginning of the book, I kept reading, thinking it might get better.

I still feel that artistic sympathy on opening a new book; I always hope I am going to enjoy it. But things have changed since I became a mother and a writer (just about simultaneously). I have accumulated an enormous TBR list, full of good bets from favorite authors and kindred spirits met at writers’ conferences and the like.
I’ve finally decided that it’s just not worth the time to finish a book I’m not enjoying, when it’s so easy to find something more to my taste. Sometimes I’ll give up after a few chapters, or even a few pages.

Now I feel like I’m striking doom into the hearts of any published or aspiring writers reading this. Because we all want readers to keep going and get to the “good parts”. (Though we try to make them all “good parts”.)

But let me clarify. I’m not really that hard a sell. I do finish and enjoy most books I start.

Things I am NOT picky about:

  • Slow beginnings. If the characters are interesting, I’ll read on and I’ve never been disappointed. Good characters eventually get the plot moving.
  • Very action-oriented beginnings that may be confusing or weak on characterization (too much going on, too many characters). Early chapters are a bear to write, and I’m sympathetic about that. It usually settles out as I read on.

Where I draw the line:

  • Simplistic or unpleasant hero or heroine. Tortured and flawed are great; petty and small or disgustingly perfect are not.
  • Seriously purple prose (a little flowery is OK).
  • Confusing point of view usage. I like books that make me think, but not ones that have me rereading just to figure out who is talking.
  • Extreme historical errors that indicate the author had no clue and didn’t care. Ex., a prologue I read that implied the British were fighting the Portuguese during the Peninsular War.

I do wonder how long other people give a book. Do you always finish? How far do you read before you give up? What makes you give up on a book? What will keep you going even if you’re not quite sold?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee
www.elenagreene.com

P.S. The 18th century watch in the picture is available at www.anthonygreen.com.

Posted in Reading | Tagged | 11 Replies

Raptors

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Yes, I’m at it again with the birds. It’s one of my many favorite nature subjects and—for me—a Mother’s Day thing. Our local nature center, the Waterman Center, often has a birds of prey demonstration on or near Mother’s Day.

Yesterday, we went to see a show presented by Jonathan Wood of the Raptor Project. Wood rehabilitates injured raptors and has a traveling show featuring an amazing collection of eagles, hawks, falcons and owls.

Some of the birds are in his “employment of the handicapped” program, having permanent injuries that prevent their release into the wild. But even with injuries, they can generate quite a bit of excitement during his shows. Yesterday, we were buzzed by a golden eagle (pictured above with Wood), a peregrine falcon and a snowy owl, among others. We also got to ooh and ah over a gawky/cute three-week-old falcon chick.

Here are some of the breeds Wood has shown that might appear in a European-set historical romance.

The Eurasian Eagle Owl is the largest owl in the world. Having seen it, I can believe the rumors that it can carry off small house pets. Check out the amazing orange eyes!



The Peregrine falcon has been used in falconry for many centuries, and is the fastest bird on record, capable of almost 70 mph in horizontal flight and a stunning 200+ mph in a dive. This picture is by Cal Sandfort at the Peregrine Fund.

One bird that I didn’t see yesterday, but Wood has brought in the past, is the arctic gyrfalcon. When I saw it, I almost squealed in delight, for this bird, the largest true falcon, is the mascot animal in Laura Kinsale’s FOR MY LADY’S HEART. Gyrfalcons continue to be rare and valuable; according to Wood, they have sold for up to six figures!

Someday I want to learn more about the sport of falconry. Although not the most popular sport during the Regency, it was practiced, and it would be fun to include one of these beautiful birds in a story. FOR MY LADY’S HEART (set in the 14th century) is the only romance in which I can remember reading about falconry. There are probably more than that. Does anyone know of others?

In any case, be sure to check out a Raptor Project show if it ever comes your way. And happy Mother’s Day!

Elena, who does write mostly about human characters, honestly! 🙂
www.elenagreene.com
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee

Posted in Research | Tagged , , , | 2 Replies

A rake’s health regimen?

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My brother recently informed me of a study that seemed to explain something I’d wondered about.

But first, let me tell you my husband’s reaction when I first showed him the cover for Saving Lord Verwood, and commented on the fact that the gentleman on the cover actually looked a lot like I’d described him. And my husband’s reaction was something like, “Wha, there’s a man on the cover?” His next, more coherent observation was “Nice cleavage.” Then I realized that Verwood wasn’t looking at the ducks.

And I have doubts that the hero of Rules of Love (below) is actually reading the book the heroine is showing him. From the heroine’s amused expression, she’s got his number, too.

So what’s up with these handsome ne’er-do-wells ogling their heroines’ “necks” (the discreet term used during the Regency to describe everything above the décolletage)?

According to the article my brother showed me, the art departments aren’t just trying to portray gentlemen smitten with their ladies’ “charms”. They are showing that these heroes are health-conscious, well ahead of their time.

To quote:

“A new German study of 200 men over a five-year period revealed that staring at a woman’s bosom is good for a man’s health. Dr. Karen Weatherby, who carried out the study wrote in the Journal: “Just 10 minutes staring at the charms of a well endowed female each day is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobic workout. There is no question, gazing at a woman’s breasts makes men healthier! It cuts the risk of heart attack and by doing so the average man can live up to five years longer.”

Alas for modern would-be rakes, this has been outed at www.snopes.com. Sorry guys! We have your number.

Elena 🙂
www.elenagreene.com
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee

Posted in Frivolity | Tagged | 6 Replies

For the birds

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Now that it’s finally warmed up in upstate N.Y., I’m enjoying birdsong outside my window again. It reminds me of the first spring after my husband and I were sent on assignment to the U.K., when I realized that the birdsongs there were quite different. Later that spring, I heard a real live nightingale for the first time. Nothing like it.

Anyway, I thought I’d share some of my favorite British birds.

European Goldfinch (above) live in the wild but have also been domesticated for a long time, as evidenced in the painting of Madonna of the Goldfinch by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) (right). According to a Myra, a helpful lady with a website on finches, The Finch Niche, the Euro Goldfinch is one of the tamer and more interactive species. It is possible to train them to sit on peoples’ fingers or heads (unlike most finches, which are more, um, flighty) and when whistled to they will whistle back. So I thought they’d make a nice pet for the children in LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE.

Click here to hear a recording of a goldfinch’s song.

Another fave is the nightingale (left). A most romantic bird—just imagine it serenading your moonlit liaison with a dashing Regency hero in a secluded bower. It’s not much to look at, actually, but check out this recording of its song. (Just try to imagine it without the street noises.)

For more birdsongs, check out Northamptonshire Wildlife’s Sound Gallery. They’ve got just about everything including the Common Chiffchaff to the Great Tit (I’m not making these up, honest!)

The images of the goldfinch and nightingale are prints (c.1870) available at www.printspast.com. More great bird images from Morris’s British Birds 1891 at www.birdcheck.co.uk.

Any favorite birds, British or otherwise? Do you enjoy descriptions of nature in a romance, or do they leave you cold?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award finalist

Posted in Research | Tagged | 6 Replies
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