Risky Regencies

From Russia With Love

Updated on January 8, 2013 by Janet Mullany

Hi, Djenet Mallani here. I’m pleased to announce that my Little Black Dress titles have been published in Russian and I had lots of fun working out which was which–unsuccessfully, as it turns out. You can see all three of them here in their old school glory on amazon.

I can read the cyrillic alphabet but if you can’t, this is called Prekrasnaya vodova. What I can’t do is speak any Russian, other than hello, goodbye, thank you, cup of tea, please. All I need to know in any language, really. This, I believe, since one of the blurbs referred to ledi Elmherst and Nikolasa Kongrivansa has to be A Most Lamentable Comedy. The man and woman are pretty good other than floating in an odd almost heart-shaped bubble, but what is that item behind them? A rolltop desk? A primitive computer? A beehive? You tell me.

So that one was pretty straightforward. Now onto mystery book #1, Schastlivoe nedorazumenie. I believe this is Improper Relations since it has characters called Sharlotta Heiden and vikontom Shadderli. He looks like some sort of eurotrash lounge lizard, she looks like his aunty, and I can’t figure out where they are. They seem to be outside but they’re on the wrong side of what I assume to be a balcony railing. They’re teetering on the outer ledge. Possibly he’s threatening to push her off if she doesn’t tell him where the drugs are.

But it’s this one, Skandalnaia sviaz, which really confuses me. Since it stars the aforementioned Sharlotta Heiden and vikontom Shadderli it seems to be another version of Improper Relations. Why does he have a small woman emerging from his butt?–or is it a disembodied head impaled on the wrought iron thing he’s sitting on? It certainly seems to be floating her boat. Is that a lampshade to the left or are they in the fabled Amber Room of the Catharine Palace near St. Petersburg? Thoughts?

So naturally I did a search on the title and came up with this gem:

Eurovision Song Contest participant from Ukraine admitted to sexual relations with a soloist of the group VIA Gra.

Okay.

Also a link to google books and Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading.

I’m confused. Can anyone out there speak Russian? Help?

And I’m guest blogging at Lady Scribes today, talking about the new Dedication and giving away a free download, so please come on over and chat!

Posted in Giveaways | Tagged A Most Lamentable Comedy, Dedication, Improper Relations, Little Black Dress, Russian | 2 Replies

Book giveaway!

Updated on January 8, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Oh no!! It’s Tuesday, isn’t it? I was completely sidetracked this morning by a cat swallowing something he should not have (though happily now all is well–he’s just cranky because of the trip to the vet, which he HATES). To make up for my mistake, let’s have a giveaway!

I just got my author copies of my October Harlequin Historical release, The Tarnished Rose of the Court, which is a sequel to The Winter Queen. I loved writing this one, because I got to take a peek inside the court of Mary Queen of Scots….

A dangerous mission at Queen Elizabeth’s bidding is Celia Sutton’s chance to erase the taint of her brother’s treason. Her life is at risk if she’s discovered—and so is her heart when she learns her co-conspirator is also her onetime seducer: brooding and mysterious John Brandon!

John can’t believe the change in Celia—what’s happened to the carefree English rose she once was? Leaving Celia was the only thing to do, but now guilt tears at his soul.

He has to heal the sadness in her past, and he’s not above using anything—from expert seduction to royal favors—to achieve his goal.

(It can be pre-ordered here, too…)

So, I’ll give away a copy to one commenter here today! Tell me what you think about the cover, the setting, get-well wishes to my cat, anything….

Posted in Giveaways | Tagged Mary Queen of Scots, Tarnished Rose of the Court | 21 Replies

Jane Austen Winners!

Updated on January 8, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Thanks to everyone who made our Jane Austen week such fun. It has been a delight to welcome you all to our new, pretty home for this week long party.

I have the happy task of announcing our winners!

Monday.Diane’s prize is the British Library Writers Lives edition of Jane Austen by Deirdre Le Faye. And the winner is….Bess Gilmartin!

Tuesday. Amanda’ prize is a Jane Austen puzzle. The winner of the puzzle is….Susan D!

Wednesday. Carolyn’s prize is a hardback copy of Persuasion. And Carolyn’s winner is….Jeanne Miro.

Thursday. Janet’s prize is a couple of copies of Jane Austen Made Me Do It, a collection of short stories edited by Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose. Janet’s two winners are….Lesley A. and Crystal GB.

Friday. Elena, who gets all the credit for our new home, gives away an “Amiable Rancor” calendar from The Republic of Pemberley. Her winner is….Kathleen!

And our Grand Prize Winner of a $50 Amazon Gift Card is…………….Maureen!!

Ladies, look for emails from the Riskies. We’ll need your mailing addresses. If you don’t hear from us today, email us at riskies@yahoo.com

Posted in Giveaways, Jane Austen | 2 Replies

Mansfield Park Revisited

Updated on January 7, 2013 by Diane Gaston

This past weekend I joined several Washington Romance Writer (WRW) friends at the home of Kathleen Gilles Seidel to watch two film versions of Mansfield Park: The 1999 version with Frances O’Connor and Johnny Lee Miller; and the 2007 TV version with Billie Piper and Blake Ritson. Kathy had invited us to watch the movies with her, because she is scheduled to give a talk about Mansfield Park at WRW’s January meeting next Saturday. Also in preparation for Kathy’s talk, I am rereading Mansfield Park and am about halfway through.

Kathy Seidel’s annual Jane Austen-related talk is a WRW highlight for me. Kathy is an Austen scholar, having written her Ph.D. dissertation on Austen, but she is also hugely entertaining and her talks are always intelligent, stimulating and useful for writers. More on her Mansfield Park talk next week.

We’ve discussed the Mansfield Park movies here at Risky Regencies before, most recently after the 2007 TV version was released, and most of us have generally thought the movies pretty dreadful. The WRW group was no different. The 1999 version was particularly abysmal, having very little to do with the book and having almost none of Austen’s sensibilities included. The 2007 version did not change the story quite as drastically, but when it did, it changed it in incomprehensible ways that made no sense at all. In both versions, the main characters were changed very drastically–except for Mary and Henry Crawford, the worldly brother and sister who come for an extended visit. The Crawfords are often described as the most interesting characters in the book.

The Fanny and Edmund of the book are very unlike the heroine and hero we would expect in a book of romantic fiction today.

Fanny is timid, self-effacing, and long-suffering, but she is the moral compass of the book, the one character who consistently acts in a principled manner. In other words, she doesn’t change in the book. She stands firm, no matter what happens to her. This was obviously Austen’s vision for Fanny, but I think today’s reader wants heroines who strive actively to reach their goals, not ones who merely endure what happens to them.

Edmund shares Fanny’s view of morality, but he is very easily swayed by the manipulations and allure of Mary Crawford. That is not the sort of hero who interests me. I want my hero to be strong enough and wise enough to see through the clever manipulations of others, and I do not want him to be tempted to fall in love with a character who is not the heroine.

At the end of the book (or the movies) you are glad Fanny and Edmund wind up together, but it was hard to feel strongly enough about either of them to actually root for them to wind up together.

I was thinking that today’s romance novelist would probably choose Mary and Henry Crawford as more likely candidates to be hero or heroine. Now those are two characters who could do with a strong character arc. Do you know if anyone has written such a version?

What do you think are the most important elements in a hero or heroine?

I also watched the first episode of season three of Downton Abbey. It occurred to me that one of the reasons that the series is so successful is that all of the characters are interesting and all have ways they can change, ways we can root for them.

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged Jane Austen, Kathleen Gilles Seidel, Mansfield Park | 16 Replies

Regency references – moving through London

Updated on January 5, 2013 by Myretta

atoz One of the challenges of writing a Regency Romance is geography. I know. Not what you thought, is it? Well, it’s one of my challenges. I want my characters to be taking the correct streets, catching the mail coach at the right inn, taking a walk along the right path in the right park, running off the road into the right ditch.

It’s not always easy to make this happen and I’m never quite sure I’ve got it right but I have certain go-to books that help me get around the Regency without taking a totally wrong turn.

My current WIP takes place mostly in London. This at least puts some boundaries around my geographical exploration. When negotiating the byways of Regency London, I always start with The A to Z of Regency London. This fabulous book was published by the London Topographical Society in 1985 and is based on Richard Horwood’s map (third edition, 1813). But it is far more useful than Horwood’s huge map (which requires really good eyesight and a magnifying glass). The Horwood map is broken into 40 sections and enlarged. And each street, square, lane, almshouse, burial ground (and more) is indexed. If you want to know where anything is in Regency London and its relative position this is your resource. It will, without a doubt, help you get your heroine from Little Brooke Street to Gunter’s for ices with nary a wrong turn.

Perhaps, you crave a little more detail. I wanted to send my hero and heroine meandering through a park and needed more than a map to get the ambience right. London Green by Neville Braybooke has a pretty good overview of KensingtonGardens, Hyde Park, GreenPark, and St. James Park. You have to be a little careful with Neville, here, as it’s not quite as era-specific as one would want, but it has some great illustrations, history and enough detail to probably extract what you need for a romantic stroll.

period-house It’s not all geography, though. If you have a burning need to be able to talk, in detail, about the design of your hero’s townhouse, you might want to take a peek at Georgian London by John Summerson. This lovely book is probably going to give you more information that you’ll ever need and maybe should be reserved for the day when you really want a thorough background on the architecture of the city. For the basics, I really recommend The Period House: Style, Detail & Decoration 1774-1914, a good, general overview of several different types of townhouses complete with floorplans. This book will allow you to move your heroine from her room to the library (with a candle, in her nightclothes) without having her stray into the kitchen.

gentlemens-clubs Just a couple of more. Your hero, undoubtedly needs a place to escape from his meddling mama. You’ll need to send him to his club. Also, you’ll need to know what club to send him to. Try The Gentlemen’s Clubs of London. This is also not era-specific, but it has a brief history and description of each club and great photos. You’ll be able to find the right place for your boy to hide out and you’ll get a good picture of what it looks like. What more you do need?

How about a romantic evening? Vauxhall Gardens might be just the place. VauxhallGardens, A History has more information than you’ll ever need about this scene of many a seduction. Truly, it is more information than you’ll ever want unless you want your hero to build his own pleasure garden. Which, come to think of it, is an interesting idea.

life-georgian-city Let me leave you with one last, excellent, book for a general understanding of your era in London. Dan Cruickshank and Neil Burton’s Life in the Georgian City is both general and detailed. Dan Cruickshank makes the various parts of the Georgian city accessible to the reader. This book has chapters on street life, work and play, houses and their occupants, construction, interior design, gardens, and includes two case studies. This is something you might just want to read for pleasure.

I have lots more. More on London, more on the countryside, more on getting from one to the other and what to do when you get there. I look forward to sharing my library with you this year.

Do you have a favorite research book or web site? What’s your go-to resource when you’re thinking about Regency England?

Posted in Regency, Research | 5 Replies