Hallo, all you risking populace!

It is I, Bertie the Beau, at your service.

And, being at your service, it is my sad duty to inform you that the Jane Austen Movie Discussion Thingumbob which was scheduled for this Tuesday, has been postponed until the first Tuesday of September.

Why?

Simply put, Mme Cara King has been burning the candle at both ends (is that actually possible? I once tried it, and burnt my middle finger, and dripped wax on my favourite coat — I do NOT recommend doing so.)

So the moving picture production announced for this week, the Commander and Master (or what ever it may be called) shall be discussed on Tuesday, the second of September…

And THIS Tuesday, you shall have the pleasure of a post from me. (As Mme King shall be flying in an airship to Denverton to attend the Science Fiction Convention of the Universe (or some such thing.))

You may now applaud.

yr obt svt,

Bertram St. James, Exquisite

If it’s Saturday, it must still be RWA! But we will be back on Monday to share all the Risky news and photos. In the meantime…

Enjoy your weekend. 🙂

Hello from SF and the 1st Annual Historical Writers’ Conference (put on by the Beau Monde and the Hearts Through History Chapters). I’m drowning in riches here–so many appealing workshops that I long for the Time Turner Hermione Granger uses in Harry Potter III!

The first workshop I attended was “Black Powder Weapons Through the Ages”, by Gordon Frye, who brought examples of all sorts of period pistols, muskets, rifles and also swords and demonstrated how they were carried, loaded etc… Very, very cool, and many of us fell in love with the small Regency era pistol, perfect for a heroine to tuck into her reticule.

It seemed only natural to segue to the workshop on “Trauma Surgery” by Scott Moore, where I learned, among other things, how gunshot wounds were treated, how arrows were extracted and how amputations were actually performed (Hollywood usually gets it sooooo wrong). This was particularly interesting to me since my mess-in-progress features an army brat hero and also many ex-soldiers among the secondary characters.

“Sex Through History” by Delilah Marvelle was also brilliant and chock-full of interesting tidbits, naughty language and naughtier pictures that prove there’s nothing new under the sun. I am quite dying to go explore some of the sources in her bibliography!

Next many of us enjoyed “Kickshaws: Regency and Victorian Refreshments” by Kalen Hughes. We sampled rout cakes, pound cakes, seed cakes, Banbury cakes and much more. Yum! I’m so glad the handouts include recipes.

After I finish this post: dinner, booksigning and the soiree. I’m sure we’ll be posting many pics soon. And it’s been great meeting Keira, Jane George, Doglady aka Pam aka Louisa and others–wish all our Risky friends could be here!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Today I’m flying to San Francisco.

Tomorrow I’m attending the conference put on by the Beau Monde (the Regency chapter of Romance Writers of America) and Hearts Through History (RWA’s historical romance chapter).

Then Thursday through Saturday is RWA’s annual conference!!!

Busy, busy, busy. And I can’t wait!

I’ll see friends I haven’t seen in years.

I’ll be a suave gamester, and teach piquet and cassino and loo at the Beau Monde’s soiree. (I’ll wear my Regency gown, and maybe I’ll even have time to dance, too!)

I’ll attend fantastic workshops, acquire fabulous novels and research books, and probably share friendly mutual gripes about the elevators or the air conditioning or some other hotel feature. (Griping about elevators is a great way to bond.)

I’ll try desperately to write more of my novel-in-progress.

And I will buy many, many books.

Now off to write madly…

Cara
Cara King, author of MY LADY GAMESTER, which contains huge tracts of piquet

I’m in San Francisco!
I flew in yesterday and my travel was about as problem-free as you could expect. Then my niece Leila, who lives here, came to take me on the town. We walked from the hotel to Pier 39 for dinner, stopping at a Craft Fair on the way and lots of little shops. Then we went on the Alcatraz night tour and received real VIP treatment, because Leila works there. We went on a special private tour of Alcatraz, including the hospital wing where the movie, The Rock, was filmed, and underground, where the foundation for the original Civil War era fort can still be seen.

While we were on the boat I heard, “Diane!” It was Lori Wilde, who writes for Blaze and Grand Central. She and her husband joined our little private tour of Alcatraz.

Some pics:
Entrance to Alcatraz

Diane and Leila

Lori Wilde and Bill

Lori and Diane in jail

Today Leila and I will explore the city and ride cable cars. And tomorrow Keira and I will do our own tour of San Francisco, meeting up with Amanda and later with Deb Marlowe, Michelle Willingham and a bunch of others to end our day at O’Neills Irish Pub.

I wish you were all here, but I’ll take comfort in knowing all the Riskies will be together and we’ll see many of our Risky friends at our ‘breakfast’ at the RWA conference. More about that next Monday…..