Risky Regencies

Finished! (Almost)

Updated on January 3, 2012 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Happy 2012, everyone! I have a feeling this is going to be a good, healthy, happy year. I am starting off today getting ready to turn in the WIP (just doing a final smoothing-out, taking care of little details look before it goes winging off through cyberspace to London). Wish me luck!

This has been a very different project for me, as it’s the last of 8 books in a new continuity series coming out from Harlequin Historicals later this year. (Carole Mortimer kicks off the series and I end it). It doesn’t have a name yet, but when they asked me to take part in the project they said they envisioned it as “Downton Abbey in the Regency” (a grand house, an old family mired in scandal and financial difficulties, lots of crazy things going on behind a beautiful facade, etc). How could I resist this??? I adore Downton Abbey, and can’t wait for season two to start on PBS this weekend (I’ve been trying to avoid any spoilers, but it hasn’t been easy). This project has been a very interesting one, and a good way to change things up a bit (as well as get to know some other authors), but it has also been a challenge for a pantser writer like me. Often I have no idea what is going to happen in a story until I am writing it, but I had to be far more organized with this story, following plots that were already set up and trying to be true to other writers’ characters.

I hope it has all turned out okay (fingers crossed!). Then it is on to the next project…

In the meantime, as I frantically get on with editing, let’s look at some pretty. I confess, one of the big reasons I love Downton Abbey (besides the fact that I would sit and watch Maggie Smith be a sarcastic Dowager Lady Whatever for days) is the costumes. The Edwardian period is one of the very prettiest for fashions (IMO) and they’ve done a fabulous job. So here are a few favorites, plus a Vogue pic of the 3 sisters (which shows that Edith is not really so plain after all…)

Have you been watching DA? What do you think of it? And do you like to read continuity series in romance???

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Continuity series, deadlines, Downton Abbey | 15 Replies

War Horse

Updated on January 2, 2012 by Diane Gaston

When I first saw the trailer for War Horse, I immediately said, “I want to see that movie!”

I knew I’d love a movie about a boy and his horse, separated by World War I. I’d heard that it would tug on one’s heartstrings and that it would have you on the edge of your seat, wondering if it would end like Old Yeller. But as a child I loved National Velvet and Black Beauty and the Black Stallion. I even loved The Incredible Journey, about a cat and two dogs who have to find their way back home.

This weekend I did see the movie and I loved it.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, except to say it was an emotional movie, but it won’t leave you devastated at the end.

The horse–or horses, because there were several who played the title role–were spectacular. You always knew what the horse was thinking and feeling, although the animal was never anthropomorphized. All the acting was suburb. Jeremy Irvine, the new actor who plays Albert, the horse’s owner, is absolutely appealing. He’s a young man with a great future, I predict.

I’m a sucker for battle scenes and this movie has a wonderful cavalry sequence that will certainly inspire my writing.

Another thing that I considered important for my writing was that the characters in the movie were complex. There were no outright villains, and even the tough German sergeant warned his soldier never to name the horses–because they were basically worked to death. There were also breaks in the action, relief in the emotionality of the movie. The temporary truce between the British soldiers and the Germans was a great scene.

But the best scene was when the horse finally runs from the war, runs over a tank, and through the fighting. You see bits of this scene in the Trailer.

Have you seen War Horse? What did you think of the movie?
What other movies have you seen lately?

Our guest next Sunday, Jan 8, is the incomparable Anne Gracie, who will be talking about her January release, Bride By Mistake.

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 17 Replies

Happy 2012!

Updated on December 31, 2011 by Elena Greene

Since I’ve been working hard on finishing my balloonist story and can’t read romance while trying to write it, I’ve been catching up on books in other genres, especially those recommended by friends. Of these, my favorites were The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks. To me, there’s something moving and deeply satisfying about each of these.

I’ve also read some outstanding YA novels with my daughter. These had me totally engrossed: the first two books in Mary Jo Putney’s Dark Mirror series and Jane George’s The Mumbo Jumbo Circus. Although settings and styles of these books are very different, both weave in great writing, intriguing characters and magic.

Although it’s not a book or movie, another exciting discovery was hearing up-and-coming pianist Shai Wosner play Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto with the Binghamton Philharmonic. Although he has immense technical talent, he plays with loving attention to every note and phrase, allowing the music to speak, never just showing off. I’ve added a clip of him playing Schumann’s “Carnaval”.

Continuing in the spirit of trying new things, my family and I will once again cook together on New Year’s Eve, trying recipes we’ve never made before. One year we tried making individual Baked Alaskas—a science experiment that sort of blew up but the debris was rather tasty! This year should be easier. The menu is herb stuffed mushrooms to start, bacon wrapped scallops as the main course and for dessert, lemon poppy-seed cake with glaze.

What were your discoveries of 2011? Are you planning anything special for New Year’s Eve? Whatever it is, I hope you have fun and that 2012 brings you much joy!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anita Diamant, Dark Mirror, Geraldine Brooks, Jane George, MJ Putney, New Year's Day, Shai Wosner, The Mumbo Jumbo Circus, The Red Tent, The Year of Wonders | 8 Replies

Resolving

Updated on December 30, 2011 by megan

So the start of each year (and often the start of each month, actually!) I make resolutions. They are usually along the lines of more sleep, more fun, more exercise.

And each year, I don’t achieve those resolutions with quite as much resolve as I’d like.

But still, hope springs eternal, so my resolutions remain the same for this year, adding in ‘more writing,’ including ‘more and better blogging.’

What are your resolutions as we head into 2012? Do you make them? Do you track your progress?

And Happy New Year!

Megan

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 8 Replies

Best of 2011

Updated on December 29, 2011 by Janet Mullany

Like Carolyn I too am on deadline with a Jan 1 deadline, but it’s a rewrite. Piece of cake. I hope. So, fab things I have read and seen this year.

I saw three movies this year but they were all winners. One was the Jane Eyre and I blogged about that here. The other was Bridesmaids, which had so wisdom and insight on female friendships. The other, which I caught last week, was Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a documentary about some amazing cave art in Chauvet, France. It was made in 3D which I imagine is spectacular although I saw it on normal format. The paintings are the oldest ever found–35,000 years old–in a beautiful “crystal cathedral” (to quote director Werner Herzog) of limestone. There is no public access and scientists visit only for four hour stretches. There is one part of the cave that has so much CO2 from tree roots that it’s dangerous to stay in too long and access throughout is limited to boardwalks created to protect the environment. The movie is available on Netflix where I found it.

And on to books. I acquired a kindle this year and, gawd, I have never read, or started to read, so many bad books in my life, but I won’t talk about those. I do find the lure of the free, $1.99, and kindle daily deal irresistible. For the first time in my life I have a TBR (digital) pile.

One book I didn’t buy for the kindle–some books just won’t work, particularly books with pix–was Adam Hochschild’s brilliant To End All Wars, about World War I. For me, it gave some entirely different perspectives on the war, particularly what was happening at home in England, where the authorities were terrified of revolution.

I said I wouldn’t talk about books I didn’t like (I have some discretion) but the much-vaunted and revered Death Comes To Pemberley by P.D. James sucks a major one, as we literary critics say. This article in the Guardian says it all–warning, contains spoilers, but the book is so poorly written you know who’s done it almost immediately. I would however recommend The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen by Lindsay Ashford who I met very briefly at the JASNA conference last October. It’s moving, sexy, and beautifully written. At the moment it’s really only available on kindle or from the ever-faithful bookdepository.com. Another writer I met at the conference was the lovely Syrie James (you should have seen her outfits!) whose non-Austen book Nocturne I also recommend–nothing to do with Austen, but one of the best vampire love stories I’ve read, and one which is smart enough to tackle the outcome of a mortal/immortal’s future together.

I also loved this collection of short stories by Laura Lippmann, Hardly Knew Her, a kindle bargain. Most of them are set in Baltimore or Washington, and several are about a high class hooker who maintains the identity of an upperclass suburban mom. Fascinating stuff.

At the moment I’m reading Laura Miller’s The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia, which has some wonderful things to say about reading (and by extension about writing). It’s a book that absolutely resonates with me as I too loved the Narnia books (apart from The Last Battle) as a kid, and have returned to them at different stages of my life.

But what about romance? Okay, okay. Miranda Neville’s funny, sexy, smart The Amorous Adventures of Celia Seaton. (Refers to kindle.) Cafe du Hour by Lilian Darcy, Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald, Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (not technically a romance but I’ve always loved the Lawrence/Temeraire dynamic), and I finally got around to reading Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase which to my surprise I liked.