Virginia and JC, you have won signed copies of Tempt the Devil! Contact Anna at anna@annacampbell.info

It seems to me that most dedicated readers are passionate not only about books, but about books — so let’s talk books!!!

So…how do you prefer yours?

Do you prefer the way hardcovers stay open in your lap?

Do you like the lightweight portability of mass-market paperbacks?

Do trade paperbacks (that is, the larger paperbacks) seem to you the perfect compromise?

Do you ever smell the paper of your books?

Pet the covers?

Line up all the books on your shelf perfectly evenly?

And while we’re on the subject, how do you read?

Do you break the spine of your paperbacks, to make them stay open? Or do you prefer a near-pristine book?

If you’re in the pristine book category, have you ever read a library copy of a book you already own, so you could keep your own copy undamaged? 😉 (I confess that I have!)

And do you like to eat while you read?

Drink tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?

Lie in a hammock? Relax by the fire? Sit on a sunny park bench?

All answers welcome!

Cara
Cara, who has smelled many a book in her time…

We’re happy to welcome back today Anna Campbell! Comment for a chance to win a copy of Tempt the Devil…

Risky Regencies: It’s been a while since we’ve “seen” you here at RR, Anna! What have you been up to?

Anna Campbell: Hiya, Riskies! Thank you so much for having me back to visit. I love it over here, as you know! But where is Bertie? You know I hang around here mainly to flirt with that a la mode paragon. Don’t tell me he has found another ballroom to grace! I shall weep into my Mechelin lace handkerchief! Although I won’t blow my nose in it. Euch!

2008 did not feature a new Anna Campbell book on the shelves in America, but I’ve definitely been busy in the interim. I wrote my next book, which as yet is without an official title. I’m currently calling it the “Manderley book” because the hero has a lovely old house on the Cornish cliffs. It’s out in November, and features a runaway heiress and a PTSD knight in shining armor here. Standard angst-ridden Anna Campbell fare!

I had my first 2 short stories publisjed in a really big magazine here in Australia. That felt like a huge achievement for someone who didn’t think she could EVER write a short story. You can find them both here–just go to the bottom of the page and click on either title.

I shall control my blushes and say my biggest moment for 2008 was the double-RITA final. That was one of my writing dreams that came true! It was such fun visiting San Francisco and wearing those green ribbons at conference. Actually, it was just fun to visit San Francisco. What a great city! Another special moment was when Claiming the Courtesan was nominated for Romantic Book of the Year here in Australia.

RR: You call Tempt the Devil a “Regency noir Affair to Remember.” Sounds intriguing! Tell us more about that. How did you come up with this idea?

AC: I suspect I’m the only person who will see the connection! An Affair to Remember was my late mother’s favorite film so I watched it a lot! One day I was thinking about those characters in a Regency setting and realized that Terry is a kept woman, i.e. courtesan, and Nicky is a rake, if not a gigolo! For these sophisticated, jaded characters, falling in love is a disaster. They’ve got life pretty well sorted out. Then wham! Love takes them over and they’re stuck doing all sorts of things they wouldn’t have dreamed of doing. I also loved the way both Nicky and Terry used wit as a defense against the world. That part of An Affair to Remember definitely translated to Tempt the Devil.

RR: What are the famous historical women you used as inspiration for Olivia?

AC: Olivia was very much her own person, but I did steal a few details form actual women to round out her character. Some of the research I did for TTD was just too good to be ignored!

In appearance, she looks very much like a young Lauren Bacall. I wanted someone who wasn’t a conventional beauty but could still stop traffic. Some of her behavior is borrowed from George Sand, the French novelist, who was such a scandalous and charismatic character in 1830s Paris. My book is set in 1826 so it didn’t seem too much of a leap. Sand was an amazing character–althought I’m not sure I would have liked her very much. These days she’s mainly famous as Chopin’s lover, but she was a strong, dynamic, self-willed woman of genius who supported herself with her pen when that was almost unheard of. She regularly wore men’s clothing and smoked in public, and led an extremely torrid love life!

I borrowed a few minor details from a famous courtesan in the Victorian era called Skittles (apparently because as a child prostitute she plied her trade outside a skittles alley). Her real name was Catherine Walters and she became the mistress of Edward VII as well as a number of the best and brightest of the time. She never kissed and told, and all reports indicated she was a sparkling, joyful, compassionate companion. I think I would have liked her! She was also a famous horsewoman and used to have herself sewn into her riding habit for rides in Hyde Park so her superb figure was shown to best advantage.

RR: And what’s next for you?

AC: I just started my 5th book for Avon. I always like the early stages of a book–anything seems possible! It’s set in London and will have a similar atmosphere to Tempt the Devil. Or at least that’s the idea so far. I find out the stories change drastically from conception to actual writing!

RR: This week we’ve been talking about some of our favorite reads for 2008. What are some of yours?

AC: I actually had a great reading year! Some new authors I discovered are C.S. Harris who writes Regency romantic mysteries featuring a charismatic hero, Viscount St. Cyr. On the complete opposite of the spectrum I discovered a wonderful Harlequin author called Kathleen O’Reilly who writes amazingly textured books full of emotion and sensuality. I’d recommend her stuff to anyone. I discovered the Inspector Lynley mysteries by Elizabeth George late in the year and have since read 7! I read my first J.D. Robb and disovered what all the fuss is about. One of my Bandita friends, Jeanne Adams, wrote a great romantic suspense as her debut book, Dark and Dangerous. I really enjoyed Deanna Rayburn’s Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary. As far as old favorites go, I really enjoyed books by Christine Wells, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Madeline Hunter, Annie West, Tawny Weber–too many to mention, really!

You can read more about Anna Campbell and her books at her website!

Over the holiday (no day job for two weeks!) I spent a lot of time watching DVDs (not just Mamma Mia, I swear!). As you may have noticed, I really love movies, and I’m often very inspired by them to find stories of my own. I watched some that were new-to-me and re-watched some favorites. Among the re-watches–Cranford (I would love to do a sort of village-panorama story, if there was a market for such things), Our Mutual Friend, Anna Karenina (with Helen McCrory), and Topsy Turvy (one of my very favorite movies, though this one was an archaic VHS because for some unfathomable reason it is not on DVD). One of the new-to-me DVDs was The Way We Live Now, from the Trollope novel. Matthew McFadyen as a dim-witted cad, pursued by a wild Shirley Henderson! Miranda Otto pretending to be Scarlett O’Hara, threatening to get out her pistols and whips if a jilting Cillian Murphy doesn’t marry her! David Suchet as the ultimate vulgar arriviste! I really liked it, and am not sure how I missed it this long.

I also watched a couple more of those Shakespeare Re-told movies (a few months ago, I saw their genius version of Taming of the Shrew, also with Shirley Henderson and a cross-dressing Rufus Sewall). This time I watched James McAvoy and Keeley Hawes as a celebrity chef and pushy wife version of Macbeth.

Oh, and I also watched Part One of that new version of Tess of the D’urbervilles on PBS. I have never much liked Tess (maybe Hardy is just too fateful and painful for me?), so I’m not much of a judge of how good an adaptation this might be. It sure looks pretty, with all those green rolling hills and picturesque cows, with Gemma Arterton’s pretty hair and Eddie Redmayne’s pretty lips. I do wonder why Hans Matheson seems to think he is playing Chuck Bass, just as he did as a (very whiny and in need of a bath) Essex in that Elizabeth I series with Anne Marie Duff. He was okay in that new Doctor Zhivago, though.

And speaking of Chuck Bass, I’ve also been watching a few season 1 episodes of Gossip Girl and have to say–season 2 has been much stronger. Now if they would just forget the totally wishy-washy Serena and Dan and make it “The All Chuck and Blair All The Time” show, I will be entirely happy.

Oh, but this is a book blog, yes? Okay, here is what my 2008 reading life looked like (from what I can remember):

I am far behind on romance reading. For one thing, much like Elena I can only hold one couple in my mind at the same time, and I have been on a constant deadline this year. I also don’t like to feel inadequate when trying to finish writing a book, which a really, really good read can easily do. So I buy them and save them as vacation and “finish the book” treats! I think I read 4, and one was Diane’s Scandalizing the Ton. I also totally recommend Nicola Cornick’s Unmasked (dark and dramatic, with complex characters and great writing).

In fiction, I really enjoyed With Violets by Elizabeth Robards, a story of the Impressionist artist Bertha Morisot (this was especially good after my France trip and a visit to the Musee d’Orsay). And What Happened to Anna K by Irina Reyn, a re-telling of Anna Karenina in modern-day New York.

I read a lot more non-fiction. One I loved was Read My Heart: A Love Story in England’s Age of Revolution by Jane Dunn, the tale of Sir William Temple and Dorothy Osborne. The couple fell deeply in love on first meeting, but faced strenuous family objections (the Osbornes were committed Royalists and the Temples sorta Parliamentarians, but the main objection was that neither had money). They wrote passionate letters for 7 years before marrying, and then had a long and loving marriage, despite money challenges, a complex Court career, and the loss of their children. A terrific and inspiring story. (Dunn also wrote some other good non-fiction in years past, like Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens and Moon in Eclipse: A Life of Mary Shelley)

There was Champlain’s Dream by David Hackett Fisher, about the French explorer, soldier, spy, mariner, etc. I actually did not know much about him except his name when I picked up this book, but as I wrote about last week I’m fascinated by 16th century exploration. Champlain fought for King Henri IV, and over 30 years traveled over 6 Canadian provinces and 5 states, founding and administering French settlements in North America. He also faced intrigue and warfare among native tribes and (worse!) court intrigue in Paris.

I received several books about France for Christmas, like the beautiful Marie Antoinette and the Last Garden at Versailles and A Revolution in Taste: The Rise of French Cuisine. I loved Tony Spawforth’s Versailles: The Biography of a Palace, though it was not long enough! I wanted to know more, he had such a great style and way of making life at Versailles (the good, the bad, the ugly) come vividly to life.

So, happy 2009! May it bring us many good reads…

Now it’s my turn to be embarrassed. I just checked to see how I did on my Reading Resolutions for 2008 and see that I reached less than half my goals. Well, that leaves me some goals for this year, at least. 🙂

I didn’t end up reading as much romance as I wished. The problem is that when I’m writing or reading romance, I want to identify with the heroine and fall in love with the hero, but I can’t be in more than one imaginary couple at once! So I read during breaks in between drafts and on vacation, but my mess-in-progress has given me so much trouble I have not taken many breaks!

I did get to Laura Kinsale’s DREAM HUNTER and talked about it in my post on Lady Hester Stanhope. Now I have only one Laura Kinsale (SEIZE THE FIRE) left unread. Her website has a temporary image as a placeholder. It’s an exquisite image, but I’d love to see news of a new release!

As far as general fiction goes, I continued with my book discussion group. However, since many members were having trouble keeping up, our selections this year were selected based on brevity. Though I don’t think a book needs to be long to be gripping, somehow none of the selections excited me. And very few members read them anyway, which wasn’t the case when I first joined the group. Maybe it was me??? Anyway, I’ve decided life’s too short and I’m going to just read on my own now.

Another resolution I fell down on was to read more period fiction. I did, however, read a few more biographies, including GEORGIANA, which I talked about in an earlier post. Her life was certainly as exciting as any novel.

Another resolution was to read more fantasy. I’ve now read the first two books in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series and look forward to more. They are brilliant and I adore the characters.

I also made great inroads on the Cornwell’s Sharpe series. I recently finished SHARPE’S FURY, following Sharpe through the Battle of Barrosa in 1811, so I’m about half way through the series.

In the areas of creativity and inspiration, I didn’t get to Joseph Campbell’s HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES (a new goal for this year) but I did enjoy WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. There’s lots of gold there, though it’s a bit wordy. A friend raves about the audiobook, which is a bit condensed, so that might be a good option for any of you who are curious.

And I still have not read anything about crop circles. Maybe this year…

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Have you made any reading resolutions for 2009?

Anyone else singlehandedly take down a book discussion group? 🙂

Elena
www.elenagreene.com