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Category: Jane Austen

Happy birthday to us!

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Happy birthday and may we live long and prosper.

Megan and I started this blog in August of 2005 because we both had books coming out that fall, from the now defunct Signet Regency line. Between us we managed to kill it off. Megan, splutter, had a hero with dirty boots and a sex scene that was a sex scene without gallons of virginal blood, a misplaced hymen, or life-threatening trauma for the heroine. Mine was Dedication, my first attempt to crack the romance code, and between us we thought we’d better storm the internet.

So in six years, what has changed in romance?

1. It’s no longer absolutely necessary to bend over backward (so to speak) to preserve your heroine’s virginity even if she has been married several times and/or captaining a pirate ship since adolescence.

2. The hero no longer has to get the cherry.

3. The heroine is allowed to enjoy sex with partners other than the hero.

4. The heroine no longer has to think herself plain or undergo a miraculous makeover.

5. There are at least three 30-something hot single Dukes now available for every female with heroine pretensions in Regency London and 80% of those women are expensive courtesans.

And what hasn’t changed much?

1. Sadly there are still marriages made with one, other, or both insisting that it’s “in name only.” (p.s. it never works).

2. Characters still spend a lot of time leaning on mantelpieces*, drinking tea*, wearing riding hats with jaunty feathers (female), wearing underwear (female), eating historically incorrect scones, drinking historically incorrect whiskey, and using Edwardian slang because it sounds English.
* I own the copyright to these two activities, particularly if they are done concurrently. Please contact me for terms if you wish to use them in your book.

3. Sex for recreational purposes only is still tricky. Here is a quick checklist to make sure your characters are having sex for the right reason:

  • Traumatized by Waterloo (male)
  • Traumatized by Waterloo (female)
  • I am a hot 30-something Duke and I can do whatever I want to, so there
  • Traumatized by previous consummated marriages
  • Traumatized by previous unconsummated marriages
  • To improve morale on the pirate ship

And now, the big news. At least I think it’s the big news because I have a feeling I’ve announced it somewhere already. LooseId will be bringing out a new edition of Dedication sometime in 2012–I don’t have a release date yet. It will have all the sex I really wanted to put in the first time around but which was just inferred–and may even include flashback sex!

So to celebrate I am giving away one of my precious copies of the Signet Regency Dedication and we also have two $20 Amazon gift certificates to spread around. I’ll give one away today and the other to anyone who comments during our birthday week. So please check out our other birthday posts if you haven’t already.

What do you think has changed in romance over the last six years?

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged , , | 31 Replies

Undones!

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Happy Anniversary to us! I can’t believe we’ve been here 6 years–time flies when we’re having fun, I guess. It’s been wonderful to be a part of this blog and find so many new friends and great reads. To celebrate, I am giving away a free download of my August “Harlequin Historical Undone!” story, Unlacing the Lady in Waiting, set at the court of Mary Queen of Scots (a fascinating woman! Next week I will share some of the research I did for this tale…)

Scotland, 1561

Lady Helen Frasier thought Highlanders were barbaric—until she shared an intimate encounter with her betrothed, James McKerrigan. Though their families were enemies, the Highland lord roused a surprising passion in Helen. Then she was chosen to become a lady in waiting to the queen, and their engagement was broken.

Now, Helen has returned to Scotland and her jilted lover, who has vowed to take revenge and claim his promised bride….

(It can be ordered here at Eharlequin or at Amazon…)

And as a bonus, Barbara Monajem, whose The Wanton Governess is also out this month, is giving away a copy! So we will have not one but two stories today….


Sussex, 1801

Governess Pompeia Grant thinks pretending to be Sir James Carling’s wife as a favor to his sister will be harmless. She is haunted by his rejection of her youthful advances, but she’s desperate for a place to stay after losing her last post.

When James unexpectedly returns home from America, she assumes the game is up—until James encourages her to stay, and enjoy the pleasurable consequences of their charade.

Do you like reading short stories? (I love them for these super-hot summer days…). What have been some of your favorites?

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged , , , , | 15 Replies

Happy Birthday to Us!

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This week marks the 6th anniversary of Risky Regencies, the original, riskiest, and forever the friskiest Regency Romance Blog. (Actually, our first blog was August 11, 2005, but we reserve the right – like the Queen – to celebrate our birthday whenever we wish)

All this week we’ll be celebrating…..Us! And we’ll be giving away prizes! Today I’m giving away a signed copy of Regency Improprieties, a UK rerelease of Innocence and Impropriety and The Vanishing Viscountess. Comment for a chance to win.
Throughout Risky Regencies, we haven’t always remained the same. Things have changed and evolved over the years. When Risky Regencies began all the Riskies were writing traditional regencies. Now look at us! That love of Regency remains, but our lives have all evolved into many other areas.
I joined the Riskies April 12, 2006, (You can read that first interview here) and lots has changed for me, certainly!
In 2006, I was introduced as Diane Perkins, who also wrote as Diane Gaston for Harlequin Historical. I had just become a Rita finalist (as Diane Gaston) for A Reputable Rake, the book with my favorite cover ever. My first blog posting was April 17, 2006, called My First Time, about why I love the Regency. I’ve revisited this topic many times over the years, in various ways.
At the time I had also written two books for Warner Forever (as Diane Perkins), The Improper Wife and The Marriage Bargain, and was working on a third. Shortly after that, my Warner life ended and Diane Perkins retired.
Diane Gaston is still going strong, though, with 9 books, 2 novellas, and one short story. Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy will be released at the end of the month and is available right now from eHarlequin.
Last week I challenged everyone to come up with five things that makes them happy. Five things that make me happy about Risky Regencies are:
1. My fellow Riskies. I think our Riskies are brilliant, clever, witty, impassioned, and completely individualistic.
2. Our Risky community. I love our frequent commenters who feel like friends to me. And I love it when someone new finds us.
3. Our Risky guests. We have had an incredible array of guests, from a cover model to an author of gay historical fiction. But our emphasis on new authors especially makes me happy.
4. Our diversity. I love that each of us has our own style, our own particular interests, and our own particular bent on the Regency.
5. The information! I learn so many things at Risky Regencies. All about fashion from Amanda, for instance, and the definition of “Steampunk” from Megan (I’d never heard of it before). Not to mention all the information about the Regency that I learn here.
What about Risky Regencies makes YOU happy?
Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win a signed copy of Regency Improprieties!
Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged , | 30 Replies

Camping!

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This weekend I’m taking the kids to Salt Springs State Park for a church group camping weekend. Hopefully we will have good weather, but if it’s hot we can always wallow in the creek.

My family used to go camping every summer, usually in Canada, so we have a lot of camping anecdotes. My favorite is when my brother and I went out to play and brought a pair of baby black bear cubs back to camp. We were very young at the time, as were the cubs. They returned to their mother when she showed up and the family just left. Black bears aren’t typically dangerous but we were still fortunate that this mother didn’t become aggressive.

I’ve never read of anybody camping in the Regency for fun. The Regency characters we read about that might have camped are our Napoleonic War veterans. Here’s a picture from The Wheatley Diary. The caption says “two blankets thrown over a stick was our house.”
At some point they had better tents, but they still weren’t nearly as good as the ones we use today.

Here’s an account of the conditions from “Adventures in the Rifle Brigade” by John Kincaid.

“Encamped on the face of La Rhune, we remained a whole month idle spectators of their (the enemy’s) preparations, and dearly longing for the day that should afford us an opportunity of penetrating into the more hospitable-looking low country beyond them; for the weather had become excessively cold, and our camp stood exposed to the utmost fury of the almost nightly tempest. Oft have I, in the middle of the night, awoke from a sound sleep, and found my tent on the point of disappearing into the air, like a balloon, and, leaving my warm blankets, been obliged to snatch the mallet, and rush out in the midst of a hail-storm, to peg it down. I think that I now see myself looking like one of those gay creatures of the elements who dwell (as Shakespeare has it) among the rainbows!

By way of contributing to the warmth of my tent, I dug a hole inside, which I arranged as a fireplace, carrying the smoke underneath the walls, and building a turf chimney outside. I was not long in proving the experiment, and, finding that it went exceedingly wekk, I was not a little vain of the invention. However, it came on to rain very hard while I was dining at a neighboring tent, and on my return to my own, I found the fire not only extinguished, but a fountain playing from the same place, up to the roof, watering my bed and baggage, and all sides of it, most refreshingly.”

Hopefully we will have a more comfortable time of it this weekend.

Do you enjoy camping? What is your most interesting camping anecdote?

Elena

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged , , , , | 9 Replies
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