Risky Regencies

New Book Out!!!

Updated on January 10, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Between all the holiday madness/eating/parade watching/deadlines/revisions/last-minute wedding plans, I realized I have a book out now!!! It was available November 20, and, if I do say so myself, it would make a great holiday present for any romance reader. 🙂

The Scandalous St. Claires series is one to follow. In a genre best known for it’s fairly rigid underpinnings it is refreshing to find an author who so skillfully colors outside the lines.
—Fresh Fiction review

Two Sinful Secrets is the second in my “Scandalous St. Claires” series by my slightly naughtier other half Laurel McKee. I’ve loved working on this series–it gives me the chance to delve into the Victorian period, both the glitzy side of wealth and fashion and the seamier side of theaters, brothels, and gambling clubs, thanks to the feud between the ducal Huntingtons and the theater owning St. Claires. In the first book, One Naughty Night, I used the quietest member of the St. Claire family, Lily, as my heroine–now I use the most outgoing, flamboyant, charming sibling, Dominic (who has a much darker side). I loved seeing him gobsmacked by love with the beautiful, independent Sophia Huntington! She really took me by surprise in so many ways….

Laurel McKee is a truly talented author, bringing to life her characters in this awesome tale.
—Under the Covers review

Ms McKee writes a very Shakespeareanesq novel.. it is hard to describe how her characters face life in ways that only Shakespeare could really understand. She has dark and sinister villains, complex heroes, feuding families and yes great romance. I liked how she intertwined these themes with the fact that her characters were a family of actors..

This was a wonderful story and many times I had tears in my eyes.. I wanted so much for Sophia, I wanted her to have it all.. and it was wonderful to watch her work for it.
–Bodice Rippers, Femme Fatales, and Fantasy

I have to say, I think this cover is one of my most favorite ever. And I got to set the first half of the book in Paris!! What could be more romantic than Victorian Paris? 🙂

So I’m giving away a signed copy today to one lucky commenter! Do you like family feud romances? Heroes from the wrong side of the (Victorian) tracks? Independent heroines?? What do you look for in a holiday read?

Amazon
B&N
My site

Posted in Giveaways, Risky Book Talk | Tagged Laurel McKee, Two Sinful Secrets | 15 Replies

Team Lewis or Team Alcott?

Updated on January 10, 2013 by Janet Mullany

Good morning everyone and apologies for this short but sweet and almost totally promotional post. I’m thrilled to announce that Dedication for kindle is now .99 cents this week only as is my other ebook, The Malorie Phoenix. It’s part of a promotion done by me and my buddies of the Wet Noodle Posse, the 2003 Golden Heart finalists who are still friends and slapping each other with wet pasta products as called for–our own Diane Gaston is also a Noodler. We have a lot of great books priced at .99 and you can read about them, and see other Noodler books here at the Cyber Book Sale. (And I don’t know about you but a lot of my cyber week shopping has not been for gifts as such. Gifts for me, yes. My kindle is bursting at its seams.)

Today is the birthday of both C.S. Lewis and Louisa May Alcott and I’m wondering whether you’re a Lewis or an Alcott fan and whether it’s possible to be both. Me, I’m a Lewis girl all the way, even though I find his sexism, his heavy handed religious propaganda, and his careless worldbuilding (if it was winter all the time, how did people eat?) just plain annoying. As for Alcott, I think she’s pretty preachy too, and I can never, never forgive her for marrying wonderful, vibrant Jo off to a German caricature, although I guess his sausage worked well enough to propel her into the final subjugation of motherhood in Little Men (has anyone read that? Don’t, please). But I never got Alcott the way I did C. S. Lewis and Narnia. She never fired my imagination or (occasionally) blew me away with her writing

How about you? Lewis or Alcott? Why?

Posted in Reading | Tagged CS Lewis, Dedication, Louisa May Alcott, The Malorie Phoenix | 9 Replies

Georgette Heyer on film?

Updated on January 10, 2013 by Elena Greene

I was looking through a list of period dramas for DVDs to put on my holiday wish list and discovered that there is a film version of Georgette Heyer’s The Reluctant Widow. I wondered how I could have missed this, as I can’t remember discussing it here or with any other group of Regency fans.

Anyway, I did a little digging. The film came out in 1950 and starred Jean Kent and Guy Rolfe. Currently, it’s only available on Youtube although it appears to have been on sale at some point at www.lovingtheclassics.com. According to IMDB, it was renamed The Inheritance at some point. The Georgette Heyer fan site (www.georgette-heyer.com) calls it a spoof, but after viewing the first ten minutes, I think it was an earnest attempt at making the story into a gothic romance. They’ve missed the humor in Elinor and Carlyon’s first meeting and it seems they were already deviating from the original plot.

Here is Part I. Watch it if you dare! And then someone please explain to me why Carlyon is wearing a military uniform.

One of the comments on this clip says that Georgette Heyer was so disappointed with this film that she made provisions never to have her books made into film again. However, back at www.georgette-heyer.com/movies.html it says that there are two production companies in the UK and the US that have the rights to her stories.

I found this in a 2009 post at http://www.wordcandy.net/3-25-2009-georgette-heyers-film-adaptations

“After some e-mail hunting, I received a response from the literary agent who handles Ms. Heyer’s work in the U.K. According to his letter, his agency has been trying to interest production companies in dramatizations of Heyer’s mysteries for a long time, with no success. He said production companies “mumble about the cost of period drama, and whether there is an audience for old-fashioned crime”! Thankfully, he assured me that they plan to persevere until someone sees the light….”

And this from a Feb 2011 post by Madame Guillotine at http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2011/02/01/i-love-georgette-heyer-do-you/.

If you get a group of Heyer fans together then talk with inevitably turn to television and film adaptations or, more precisely, the lack of them. There is a film version of The Reluctant Widow, which came out in Heyer’s lifetime but apparently it appalled her so much that she refused to allow any more.

However, it now transpires that she badly wanted her books made into films and there’s even recently been a Cranford style version planned with three of her books given an intertwined storyline – I’m guessing it would be Regency Buck, Devil’s Cub and An Infamous Army maybe as they are already linked by common characters.

Intriguing, but why haven’t we heard more about this?

I also found a Dec 2011 campaign to encourage ITV or BBC to do this at heyercampaign.wordpress.com/. This site includes a poll as to which stories people would most like to see on film: 1st place—The Grand Sophy, 2nd place—Arabella, 3rd place—These Old Shades or Sylvester.

And there’s a more recent petition, begun in September of this year with 215 signatures so far at http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/georgetteheyerfilm.

I haven’t had time to follow up any of these leads, but I’m tempted. Much as I enjoy Jane Austen adaptations, there are so many good ones already! It would be so much fun to watch a sympathetic Heyer adaptation. I like the choices from the Heyer Campaign poll, but I’d also love to see Frederica, with its balloon ascension and the scene with the famous Baluchistan Hound.

So, am I the only one who didn’t know about the 1950 version of The Reluctant Widow? Does anyone have any more recent news on Georgette Heyer films? Which book would you most like to see on film?

Elena

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P.S. www.georgette-heyer.com/movies.html also indicates that there was a German version of Arabella—however, they apparently made a few changes as this promo poster suggests!