Category: Regency

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

Stealing the Classics: Cyrano de Bergerac

Updated on August 25, 2015 by Janet Mullany

Welcome Miranda Neville to the Riskies! She’s giving away two copies of her novella P.S. I Love You. See below on how to enter.

Borrowing from history, myth, fairy tale, or other authors’ works is a time-honored tradition. The Greeks and Romans did it. Shakespeare did. And I have done it.

Cyrano de Bergerac was a seventeenth century French soldier and writer. Judging by the portrait shown here he did, indeed, have a big nose. He is best known through the 1897 drama by Edmond Rostand. The love story in the play is invented, though based on real people.

In case you need reminding, Cyrano loves Roxane but believes he his so ugly she can never love him. She confides that she loves Christian. Christian, his handsome BFF, is bit of a boob and quite inarticulate. Expected to woo his lady by letters, he had Cyrano write them for him. Roxane falls in love with the letters and marries Christian, though she has found his conversation a little disappointing in the flesh. When the latter is killed in battle Cyrano doesn’t tell the truth but preserves the memory of his friend in Roxane’s heart. Only on his deathbed does her reveal that he was the author of the letters and thus the man she loves.

The play has been translated, revived, and filmed numerous times. Roxanne (with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah) and The Truth About Cats and Dogs are movies based on the plot. According to Wikipedia the story has been adapted as an Indian musical, a porn movie, and numerous other iterations.

I therefore make no apology for appropriating Cyrano for my novella P.S. I Love You, part of a quartet of connected stories in At the Duke’s Wedding with Caroline Linden, Maya Rodale, and Katharine Ashe.

The thing that always annoyed me about the original story is that Cyrano and Christian are so bound up in their bromance it never occurs to them that Roxane deserves to know the truth and make up her own mind which man she prefers. (Mind you, Rostand’s heroine is a bit drippy. Sign of the times, perhaps.)

In my Regency version the protagonist is the badly scarred Christian, Earl of Bruton (Cyrano not being a likely name for an English aristocrat), Christian became Frank (secondary character name), and Roxane was Anglicized to Rosanne.

Handsome, dumb Frank fell for Rosanne at a hunting party and received permission from her father to write to her. Panic-stricken, he has his cynical cousin Christian dictate the letters. Rosanne and Christian fall in love through correspondence and they all meet at a ducal house party where complications ensue. Where I depart from the original is the way Rosanne, smart girl, figures out the deception and takes control.

What are your favorite romances that steal from the classics? Do you know of another romance version of Cyrano de Bergerac? I feel sure mine was not the first.

You may read an excerpt from P.S. I Love You here. The novella is currently 99ç at Amazon, Nook, iBooks and Kobo. The full anthology At the Duke’s Wedding (which I highly recommend: the other stories are great) is at the same retailers. (Amazon, Nook, iBooks and Kobo)

Miranda Neville is the author of nine Regency historical romances and several novellas. Her next book is Christmas in Duke Street with Grace Burrowes, Carolyn Jewel, and Shana Galen, coming in October. Website • Facebook • Twitter
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Posted in Giveaways, Guest, Regency | Tagged At the Duke's Wedding, Contest, Miranda Neville, novella, PS I Love You | 4 Replies

What a Character!

Updated on August 17, 2015 by Mary Blayney

As I begin the series that has been the subject of the occasional post here on Risky Regencies, I’ve been thinking about my hero and heroine, John and Mimi, and what makes them the unique and intriguing people they are. I’ve got it now but I won’t spoil the fun by talking about it when you can read about them before too long.

In the process of working it out I gave some thought to my past characters and what they have in common.

Anyone who knows me can guess that the key element they all share is “honor at the core of their being.” Though I could argue that Mia in COURTESAN’S KISS was right on the edge of honorable. She was just a bit too manipulative and selfish. Hopefully her loving relationship with her half-sister and her difficult youth made her behavior understandable and acceptable. And, in the end, of course, love conquers all.

At the other extreme of honor at the core has to be Michael Garret, the continuing character (not the hero) in the series I am writing now and the hero of LOVER’S KISS. Michael abandoned his religious training and joined the army rather than accept a living that would have made him a puppet. Even as a spy (see TRAITOR’S KISS) he knew the cost of his work and helped his colleagues whenever the need arose, even when it threatened his own safety. He is settled now, responding fully to his call as a vicar (though an unconventional one) and finds great joy in the world around him. (And yes, Michael looks a lot like Liam Neeson.)

But there is one other element that my characters share and it’s what makes them unique in their world. Almost all of them defy the social norm in some way. Michael as an unconventional vicar. Mia, in her extreme, way insisting that she would become a courtesan.

Then there is Lady Olivia, the daughter of a duke, who loves the kitchen, especially baking. Her brother, Lord David, decides to go into business despite the fact that gentlemen did not. The list goes on and includes either the hero or heroine and sometimes both in my “Kiss series” (Check out my website for titles and details: MaryBlayney.com)

So now what I am wondering is what element your favorite characters share whether you be reader or writer? I bet I know what Diane Gaston will say.

Posted in Regency, Writing | 5 Replies

Snuff

Updated on July 17, 2015 by Sandra Schwab

As I’m preparing my first two novels for re-release, I’m reminded of all the research I did while I was writing those first books for Dorchester and exploring the Regency period at the same time. In Bewitched, I had my hero and heroine buy presents for the hero’s family, and for some reason, I thought it would be an excellent idea if they bought snuff for his brother. And so I happily dived into all things to do with snuff…

By the Regency era, snuff had become the preferred choice of tobacco in the fashionable world and had largely replaced pipes and cigars. In this, the beau monde followed the example of dandy extraordinaire Beau Brummell, and what’s more, he also dictated how snuff was to be taken: According to Brummell, only one hand should be used to open one’s snuff box and transfer the snuff to the nose. To take a pinch of snuff in an offhand manner—even better: in the middle of a conversation!—without glancing at either snuff or snuff box and, most importantly, without grimacing, was considered the highest art. If you were clumsy or if you took too large a dose, you ran into danger of dribbling the snuff down your neckcloth or, even worse!, to stain your nose. (And now let’s all imagine a romance hero with… On second thought, let’s not.) (Ugh!)

Snuff-taking was an expensive habit—not only did the prices for snuff ran high, but the substance also had to be carried around in a suitable container: the snuff-boxes of the rich were pieces of intricate workmanship. The lids were often decorated with miniatures—some of them innocent, some of them… err… less so. (The latter were sometimes hidden on the inside lid or behind a sliding cover.)

The collecting of snuff boxes became a rich man’s hobby, and again, Beau Brummell was leading the fashion. According to his biographer William Jesse, among the boxes Brummell owned was one particularly intricate container: “His passion for snuff-boxes was extreme: he had one which he only could open, and some friend of his, while he was at Belvoir, tried it with his pen knife, with the intention, no doubt, of purloining his snuff, which was always excellent. Hearing of the outrage, Brummell said, ‘Confound the fellow; he takes my snuff box for an oyster.'” (from The Life of George Brummell, Esq.) (There are also slightly different versions of this particular anecdote.)

Indeed, you didn’t just share your snuff with anybody. Sharing snuff acted as a marker of favor and a sign of friendship: “If you knew a man intimately,” Gronow writes in Recollections and Anecdotes: A Second Series of Reminiscences (1863), “he would offer you a pinch out of his own box; but if others, not so well acquainted, wishes for a pinch, it was actually refused. In those days of snuff-taking, at the tables of great people, and the messes of regiments, snuff-boxes of large proportions followed the bottle, and everybody was at liberty to help himself.”

Snuff was provided in dry or moist versions, many of which were scented as well, with jasmine, orange flowers, musk roses, or bergamot. It came in different colours, ranging from yellow to brown, black or even purple. Detailed descriptions of different kinds of snuff can be found in Arnold James Cooley’s Cyclopaedia of Six Thousand Practical Receipts (1851):

“Among some of the most esteemed French snuffs are the following:—Tabac de cedrat, bergamotte, and neroli, are made by adding the essences to the snuff.—Tabac perfumée aux fleurs, by putting orange flowers, jasmins, tube-roses, musk-roses, or common roses, to the snuff in a close chest or jar, sifting them out after 24 hours, and repeating the infusion with fresh flowers as necessary. Another way is to lay paper pricked all over with a large pin between the flowers and the snuff.—Tabac musquée. Any scented snuff 1lb.; musk (grown to a powder with white sugar and moistened with ammonia water) 20 grs.; mix.”

(My hero & heroine eventually bought tabac de neroli.)

PS: Oh gosh, I’ve just discovered that back in 2006, there was a film about Beau Brummell based on Ian Kelly’s biography. With James Purefoy as Brummell and Matthew Rhys as Lord Byron. *swoons*

*swoons again*

Posted in Regency, Research | 3 Replies

For a Good Time Read a Regency

Updated on June 29, 2015 by Mary Blayney

Our guest blogger today is Deb Barnhart, a long time friend and fellow romance reader. I asked her to tell us why she reads Regencies and her answer follows. But I also encourage you to check out her Pinterest site to see some of the lovely Regency images she has collected. Thanks Deb for the kind words and your thoughtful response

Regency historicals touch my romantic soul at its deepest level. Whenever I enter that time period through the imagination of favorite writers, like Mary Blayney, Loretta Chase, Cathy Maxwell and Lorraine Heath, there is a level of intimacy present that I don’t find in contemporaries or other historicals.
For me, that early 19th century time frame offers so much more freedom in character and story where it runs the gamut of dark to light, sweet to sexy, drama to comedy. I love that kind of variety when I’m looking for a good read and Regency authors always provide it.

Of course, Jane Austen is still a favorite of mine and Georgette Heyer is always good company, but I have read every one of Mary Blayney’s Pennistan series and the Braedons with the same level of joy and pleasure. Loretta Chase’s LORD OF SCROUNDRELS could not be sexier or more fun to read, unless I’m reading Janet Mullaney. I recently reread THE RAKE by Mary Jo Putney and found it as fresh as when I first read it.

I am such a Regency fan girl. The authors I mentioned, and the many I have not, have seen me through good times and bad. Regencies have allowed me to experience the Peninsular War, weekends in English country houses and evenings in infamous gaming hells. But from my very first Regency, what I love most about them is the romance. I adore stories about Dukes who find love for the first time and ladies who want nothing to do with it.

I love happy endings and Regencies do that best of all. They sweep me away from whatever crisis I am experiencing and into a past where pelisses are all the rage, women are feisty, love is always new and happy is ever after.

Since you read this blog you read Regencies. So tell me was it Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer or Regency history generally that inspired you to write or read that genre?

Is there a Regency that you have read that has a special memory for you personally as a reader or a author?

Posted in Guest, Reading, Regency, Risky Regencies | 18 Replies