Author Archives: Mary Blayney

About Mary Blayney

I have been writing both contemporary and regency romances since 1986, first with contemporary romances for Silhouette and later with historicals set in the Regency period. Family will always play a strong part in my books since, for me, family relationships are as fundamental as the love between a man and a woman.

Holidays Happy and Merry

Updated on December 21, 2015 by Mary Blayney

Holidays of the season are right behind us — Happy Hanukah — and just ahead — Merry Christmas. Please lets share with each other a gift of the season. Tell us your favorite holiday romance, historical, contemporary and/or Paranormal. I’ll give you one of each. The Regency is first.

Riskies own Diane Gaston’s ‘Twelfth Night’s Tale” in the anthology MISTLEOE KISSES. I love the story and from it I learned it’s easier to write a novella if you start in the “middle” of the relationship.

Contemporary has to be the novella ‘December Wedding’ Emelle Gamble’s final pages of the Molly Harper story. A wonderfully happy ending for two characters who worked had to get there. It’s a stand alone novella available in all formats including audio.

My paranormal choice is in the anthology IRRESISTIBLE FORCES, the novella ‘Winterfair Gifts’ by Lois McMaster Bujold. Not a Hannukah or Christmas story but Winterfair, on a far away planet, is cast in a similar holiday tradition. Like Gamble’s novella this one is a gift to readers ending a two book arc in typical Miles Vorkosigan style with chaos, mystery and humor.

Your turn! And a very Happy New year to all, Mary

Posted in Risky Regencies | 6 Replies

Treasures in Wood by Grinling Gibbons

Updated on November 16, 2015 by Mary Blayney

In the spring of 1986 I absorbed a museum exhibit that ranks as the best in my experience. The Treasure Houses of Britain was seen by almost one million people during its six months at Washington’s National Gallery of Art. Like most of the visitors I was amazed, impressed, “gobsmacked” not only by the sheer opulence of the treasures but also by their artistic merit. The memory of that exhibit is as fresh in my mind today as it was when I first wrote on the subject years ago.

According to the National Gallery of Art (DC) website more than “700 objects were gathered from more than 200 homes representing collecting and domestic arts from the 15th to the 20th century.”

Above is one of seventeen period rooms that were constructed to display the objects. It is obviously the most ambitious project ever undertaken by the NGA. Gervase Jackson-Stops chose the art work and the exhibit was structured to showcase each period of collecting by the great families of England.

It was at this exhibit that I first saw the work of master woodcarver Grinling Gibbons. The piece on display was a carving of fish and game, not my favorite subject matter, but the delicacy of the carving amazed me. The work was done in the days before dental drills and dermal tools made intricate carving more accessible. Gibbons work shows an attention to detail that defies the imagination of my contemporary “hurry up and get it done” approach to the craft projects I have undertaken.

Grinling Gibbons was born in Rotterdam in 1648. It’s possible his father was an Englishman who worked with Inigo Jones, who introduced Italianate Renaissance design to the English. Grinling Gibbons came to England in 1667 his talent obviously developed in the nineteen years before he arrived. He was discovered working “in a poor and solitary thatched hut in Kent” by diarist John Evelyn who introduced him to King Charles II through the intercession of Christopher Wren.

His work can be found in dozens of houses and public buildings throughout Britain, including Petworth, Blenheim, Kirtlington Park and also at Windsor, and many of Wren’s London churches. Gibbons and his “workshop” added immense detail and beauty to St Paul’s, London. Arguably the greatest example of his work is found at Petworth in the Carved Room, a small segment of which is shown above. Ignore the paintings (yes, I know that’s not easy) and look at the work in wood that fills the wall like we use wood paneling today.

Gibbons and his workshop worked in mediums besides wood, but wood best suited the detailed handiwork for which he, himself, is best known. To the right is a detail of his work in wood.

Last year when I visited Biltmore in Asheville North Carolina I noticed a fine wood carving over the mantle in one of the rooms. I’ve been meaning to call the curator and find out if it was by Gibbons. I might do that tomorrow and I will let you know what I find out.

Are you familiar with Gibbons? But, more important tell us about an exhibit that made you stop in your tracks in awe and appreciation.

Posted in Risky Regencies | 8 Replies

Democratization of Fashion

Updated on October 19, 2015 by Mary Blayney

Yes, that’s a pretentious title, a phrase I borrowed from the book COSTUME by Rachel Kemper for a blog I first wrote on the subject years ago. For Kemper fashion became available to the general populace, the masses, with the introduction of mail order catalogs. (Kemper’s book was first published in 1977 so Internet shopping had not yet become a factor in the retail world)

I don’t agree that fashion became available with the intro of catalogs. I think fashionable styles for everyone began with the invention of the sewing machine and, to some extent, before that with the use of machine produced cloth. Since the sewing machine did not come into common industrial usage until after 1850 be advised that this is a departure from my usual Regency based blogs.

Elias Howe patented his machine in 1846. Despite the difficulties of securing financial backing and suits for infringement of his patents, the sewing machine eventually became a significant element in the production of clothes. The sewing machine remains an easily recognized staple of fashion and craft work. I would not say “every home has one” but I think most who have easy access to the Internet would recognize one.

Shopping is my great escape (note: shopping, not buying). One of my favorite things to do is check out designer items at Saks and Neiman Marcus and then follow the styles down the economic scale to Kohls and Target. The phrase “knock off” is the current inelegant description of this process.

The dress with pink trim is by Missoni and cost more than $1,000. The Dress with the navy bodice is a “knock off” that costs $98. The difference, which is not apparent in the photos, is the quality of the product. The $98 dress will probably not last more than one season while the true Missoni can be worn for years, a veritable collector’s item.

Making that trend their own, designers like Vera Wang, of the fabulous (and expensive) wedding dresses, have designed clothes for Target, making stylish clothes available at an affordable price.

Here’s a look at this from a different perspective. The brilliant monologue on how a specific color made its way to the masses in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA delivered by Meryl Streep is one of my favorite illustrations of the “democratization of fashion.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL-KQij0I8I

Wearing clothes with a sense of style transcends economic status as the blogger www.Sartorialist.com illustrates. But the clothes have to be available. The sewing machine made that possible over one hundred years ago as has the mail order catalog and now the Internet.

After the printing press I think that the sewing machine was one of the great social equalizers of all time.

Your thoughts?

Posted in Clothing, History | 21 Replies

You Stupid Galatians

Updated on September 21, 2015 by Mary Blayney

There is no doubt that the outside world seeps into our stories — even in a Regency. You have only to look at Mary Balogh’s excellent Survivor series to see that. Her characters are all recovering from various injuries that are a result of the Peninsular wars, from blindness to classic PTSD trauma. She makes it work in her Regency world but every reader has to make the comparison with today’s veterans.

The impact on my writing is not quite as obvious. At least I don’t think it is. So I am going to share one with you. And want to know yours as a writer and a reader.

When I started writing Lovers Kiss in 2006 I was enjoying a Bible Study class led by one of the most amazing women I know, Marika Ullanowicz. She brought a fascinating, often unconventional perspective to whatever we studied and many of her thoughts and the resulting discussions made their way into Lover’s Kiss.

The most enduring is the phrase “You stupid Galatians.” The King James Bible as well as the New American Bible translates the phrase from the Greek as “You Senseless Galatians” (3:1) but Marika suggested that we look at the literal translation which is — ta da — Stupid. We all laughed at this and discussed how that was so much more Paul than the more temperate word “senseless.”

So the phrase “stupid Galatians” became the ultimate insult the resident and aging vicar used as he searched through the night for lost sheep, a sure sign of his age and the need for him to retire. Michael Garrett finds him out wandering one evening and as Michael escorts the vicar home they have the same discussion re the translation of the word and the vicar’s conviction that stupid is much more appropriate.

When they reach the vicar’s home Michael leaves the old man in the care of the housekeeper and as he departs Michael says to her “Do tell him I am sorry he found no lost sheep tonight.”

The housekeeper responds, “Oh, but he did. He found you.” And that is the first step on Michael’s road “home” and the current series I am working on where Michael Garret is now the Vicar of Pennsford and dealing with both stupid Galatians and lost sheep.

But I digress. In the current wip “Stupid Galatians” has become his family’s most forceful condemnation referring always to someone who is on the wrong path and totally unaware.

That’s a long story for a short phrase but a favorite of mine. Tell me, authors, what parts of your world have made their way into your historicals, or contemporaries? And as a reader tell us about a book that has connected most directly to something in your world?

Posted in Writing | 2 Replies

A Day Out of Time.

Updated on August 31, 2015 by Mary Blayney

Fun is the word whenever I welcome Lavinia Kent to the Riskies. Lavinia is a good friend of mine and though we write in the same genre we are miles apart in our approach to the period. I tend toward the traditional and Lavinia writes hot in about a hundred different shades. I love what she has to say here. Read on and see what you think.

Belly dancers. Pirates garbed in black. Fairies with flower wings. Woodland warriors with full wolf masks. Friars, satyrs and pixies. A steampunk gentleman.

What do any of these things have to do with the other?

A glorious afternoon spent at the Renaissance Festival answers that question. Do any of these things belong there? No – and Yes, Yes, Yes. I love the anachronism of the Festival. I love the joy people take in their costumes even when they make no sense. Few of the costumes are directly related to England under Henry the Eighth. Somehow it just doesn’t matter.

Some of the garb is timely to the basic period but still the differences can be great, the costumes differing by centuries.

As I sat and watched the people go by, I considered how to make them work for the period, what story to tell to make each piece fit. Why was that group wearing hats of fabulously colored ribbons? Was somebody throwing a masquerade and required that all the guests come dressed that way?

And why was a party of pirates walking down the center of the street and nobody reacting? Was a prodigal son returning and all his friends chose to dress in a similar fashion to make him feel at home?

And where did the belly dancers come from? Were they heading to some other foreign land and after a great storm came to shore on England’s coast in all their bells and scarves? Or did some crusader knight return with a retinue of fair dancers who didn’t know how to dress for the English winter?

And the steampunk gentleman? Clearly a time traveller lost by a century or two now doing his best to fit in.

For each passerby I could find a story and a reason.

And that made me think about my own writing. I’ve always acknowledged that I am research light. I love the characters and the story more than the facts. But, and it’s a BIG but, I work hard to not get anything wrong. I may skim over a detail, if I can’t find a ready source, but if I put a goldfish in the pond I do the work to be sure that goldfish or koi had already arrived from China. And I’ve spent countless hours looking up words to see when they came in to use and whether they were used the same way they are now.

So why do I love the anachronisms of the Festival? Because the inspiration I find in them. And the same is true in my writing. I love the challenge of explaining why my heroine’s viewpoints might not be traditional for the age, why she knows more (or less) than the other women around her. It’s fascinating to explain why an elderly woman clings to the corsets of fifty years before.

I don’t like it when history is wrong, but there is something wonderful when an author can add an oddity and make it work. I worked along the lines of this premise when creating Ruby, Madame Rouge in my Bound and Determined series. I wanted to create a multi-faceted woman who could run a successful brothel, go to church with her grandparents and put on the airs of any great lady plus she had to know about textiles and how to sum a patron up by the cloth of his trousers.

I am not going to give all the secrets of her past, but I will say that having a duke for a father and his well bred, but not quite well enough bred, mistress for a mother was an easy place to start.

And then came the fun of figuring out how to bring each heroine to Madame Rouge’s house. Surely no true lady would ever visit such a place – or would she?

What would make each individual make the choice to do something so out character?Answering those questions is what makes the writing such fun and hopefully the reading as well. I’ve had a different answer in each of books, Mastering the Marquess and Bound by Bliss and in my September novella, Sarah’s Surrender, I work to find one more, to explain why a gentleman would ever bring his love of years before to such a scandalous establishment as Madame Rouges.

What sparks your imagination? As a reader are you curious about what inspiration lurks behind the title?

Finally, thank you for having me. I always love the chance to stop by Risky Regencies.

Thank you , Lavinia. We all enjoy having you with us!

Posted in Regency, Research, Writing | 7 Replies