Category: Anything but writing

A Frivolous Competition

Updated on August 27, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Maybe it is because I’ve lost too many Words With Friends games lately, or maybe it is because I watched part of the Sonoma Grand Prix today, but I’m feeling competitive, so I’ve devised a Risky competition. A dumb one.

Game on! What Risky Book Commands The Highest Price On Ebay?

I even devised rules for the game.

1. Book must be a paperback
2. It must be Historical (leaving out some Jewel and Mullany books)
3. No novellas or double books
4. No special releases (leaving out a bunch of McCabe and Gaston books)
5. Written under our “Risky” names (No Diane Perkins books – Amanda sneaks in with her Laurel McKee because it is on the Risky site)
6. Book must mail from the US, because the UK and AU books (McCabe, Mullany, Gaston) are more costly by virtue of being far away.
7. Book must not sell directly from Barnes and Noble on ebay as Janet’s and Carolyn’s books do. That’s just wrong.

Here are the results in no special order except the winner comes last.

Susanna Fraser

Poor Susanna did not make it to the gate, but, in her case, this is a good thing. Because her books are ebook only, if they appeared on ebay they’d likely be pirated versions, so we are glad she is not running this race. We will, however, put up the cover of her latest book, A Dream Defiant, out now!!

Gail Eastwood

Gail has a very respectable offering in An Unlikely Hero (1996) which has a Buy It Now price of $7.99

Myretta Robens

Myretta lags a bit behind Gail. Her Just Say Yes (2005), the book that finalled for the 2006 RITA Award for Best Regency Romance, is going for $5.98.

Laurel McKee

Laurel is pretty far ahead with Duchess of Sin (2011) at $9.75. Can anybody beat her?

Megan Frampton

Megan’s 2005 Regency, A Singular Lady, slips back in the pack with a $5.98 price tag, but if you don’t have this delightful book, you might want to snap it up. This is the only copy for sale on ebay.

Elena Greene

Elena’s 2005 Regency (2005 was a GREAT year for Regencies), Lady Dearing’s Masquerade , sprinted past Laurel with a cost of $10.62. She’s the girl to beat.

Amanda McCabe

Amanda just squeaked past Megan with A Notorious Woman (2007), one of her early Harlequin Historicals, set in romantic Venice, for sale at $6.99, not enough to catch up to Gail and way behind herself/Laurel and Elena.

Diane Gaston

A surprising surge for my Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Lady (2011), passing Elena and Megan at $7.86. Why this book? Why not one of the older, harder to find ones? I am so close to Gail, by the way, I could just reach over and knock her off her…..never mind!!!

Carolyn Jewel

Wait a minute!! Carolyn just streaked past me with Not Wicked Enough (2012) at $9.75. She’s pumping her legs hard to catch up to Elena. The race is getting exciting!

Elena’a struggling, too, though, to catch up to the leader. One of us is way ahead!

Janet Mullany

The first place winner is Janet! Her Jane and the Damned (2010) is crossing the finish line at a speed–I mean–cost of $13.88. That passes even the Laurels in this group.

Personally, I think vampires should be excluded (well, I think that now. In fact, I just thought of it this second)

Which reminds me, I never thought of a prize….I think the prize should be the satisfaction of a race well-run. What do you think? What should the prize of this competition be?????

Posted in Anything but writing, Risky Book Talk | Tagged eBay, game, Regency | 11 Replies

Room with a view

Updated on May 2, 2013 by Janet Mullany

Here’s the view from my office window, showing the white oak that has always been a source of pleasure to me. (And yes, I’m afraid that window does need cleaning rather badly.)

But its days are numbered. It’s a big tree, probably between 80 and 100 years old, but it is dying. Most of the greenery in the picture is produced from the trees on the other side of the street and the majority of it, including branches near the roof, have no leaves. We think it became infected with oak bores, which do what they sound like (poor conversationalists who drill into trees). So I’ve spent the last couple of days talking to tree companies about removing it and bracing myself to move the hostas growing around it which are getting bigger every day. I moved some peonies today. Very scary roots.

Here’s the tree in the last real snowstorm we had, several years ago.

And here’s a really old tree, a 1,000-year old yew tree growing outside the church in Steventon, where Jane Austen’s father, and then her brother, held the living:

So today I’m mostly filthy and bits of compost are falling off me as I walk around the house. In addition to the peony, I have planted about 18 black-eyed susans and a volunteer columbine that appeared in a plant pot (well, hello!), and have so much more to do.

What do you think I should plant in the oak’s place? I’m in Maryland, so a natural choice might be a dogwood (at risk because of a virus–I’ve already lost one) or a redbud. Or I could plant a flowering cherry, which isn’t a native but is an honored adoptee.

If you’re a gardener, or would like to be, tell me what you’re planting this year or admiring in other’s yards.

Posted in Anything but writing | 4 Replies