Risky Regencies

Regency, Manga-style!

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

Two years ago, I opened a package of books delivered to me and discovered that my 2007 book, Innocence and Impropriety had been released as a Japanese Manga!

What a thrill. I blogged about it here. I loved the illustrations, but the text was in Japanese, so I couldn’t read it.

Imagine my delight when I accidentally discovered that the Manga version had been translated into English! First it was available only in the UK and only in ebook version, but last week I found the English ebook version on Amazon! It comes in two volumes: Volume 1 and Volume 2

I immediately purchased copies for myself! The first surprise for me was to see that this English version, called a Comic not a Manga, still read from right to left, just as Japanese books do.

It was such a hoot to see how Hiroko Miura translated the story. I imagine this manga artist first translated the story into Japanese, then, for the Harlequin Comics (English) version, the Japanese was translated into English.

This makes for some amusing changes, such as Madame Bisou in my original becoming Madame Biz. Regency language (or how I imagine Regency language) was pretty consistent, though, as was the setting detail. Notice the drawing of Vauxhall Gardens.

Here’s the meeting between the hero and heroine:

Here’s an exciting moment!

And the happily ever after:

The emotion and danger and even the humor in the story were shown, as well. I loved reading it. Sometimes I laughed with delight at how Hiroko Miura showed the story.
But what really touched me was this note at the end of the second volume. What a wonderful compliment from Hiroko Miura.

These are the moments that make the author life worth it!

Do you read Manga? Turns out there are lots of Harlequin Comics to choose from! What fun!!

True Pretenses Winner!

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

Congratulations to Karenmc! You are the winner of Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses!

Karenmc, look for an email from Rose!

Thanks to everyone who made Rose feel welcome!

Posted in Diane Gaston, Winner announcement | Tagged Diane Gaston | 2 Replies

Australia Day

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

Today is Australia Day! Or, if you are in Australia, then perhaps yesterday was Australia Day. This national holiday is marked by community festivities, family get-togethers, and citizenship ceremonies welcoming new citizens. Like our Fourth of July.

Australia, of course, had a much different beginning.

In the 1700s Great Britain had been using the American colonies as penal colonies, but the War of Independence put a stop to that. In need of a new land to which they might send convicts, Great Britain decided on what was then called New South Wales, one of the lands Captain Cook had explored. Cook recommended it for colonization.

The First Fleet left England on May 13, 1787. It consisted of 11 ships, including two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. More than 1,000 convicts were transported, but on board all those ships were also over 400 others: ships crews, marines, officials and passengers, and wives and children of all of them.

The voyage was harrowing, marred by extreme heat, rain, water rationing, and an astonishing number of vermin infestations. The voyage took over 250 days to complete. Remarkably, only 48 people died.

The fleet first attempted landing in Botany Bay, but it was found to be more unsuitable than Captain Cook had led them to believe. Captain Arthur Phillip, the man commissioned to found the penal colony, explored the coast and discovered a better harbor and a better place to anchor, which he named Sydney Cove. On January 26, 1788, Phillip weighed anchor at Sydney Cove, marking the official beginning of the colony.

The first years of the settlement were difficult ones. The soil was poor, the climate unfamiliar and the many of the convicts knew nothing of farming. The marines were poorly led and less than competent, but Phillip eventually appointed convicts to oversee matters. Eventually, the penal colony prospered.

1808 was the first recorded celebration marking the anniversary of the First Fleet landing. The colonists began to feel a sense of pride and patriotism and marked the anniversary with “drinking and merriment” according to Historian Manning Clarke.

1818 marked the first official celebration of the anniversary. That puts it right in “our” time period!

Have you read any Regencies that involved the Australian penal colonies? I remember one where the heroine’s brother and father were transported and, in the end, the hero becomes the colony’s governor so she can search for them. Can’t remember the title, though. Anyone remember that one?

Posted in Diane Gaston, History | Tagged Australia, Diane Gaston, Penal Colony | 3 Replies

The New Risky Regencies

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change
–Charles Darwin, English biologist (1809 – 1882)

We may not be the blog with the strongest following. We may not even be the most intelligent (given our lapses into the ridiculous from time to time), but The Risky Regencies know when it is time for a change.

Megan and Myretta leaving was the impetus for us to take a good look at ourselves. How should we proceed? we asked ourselves. We also asked you, our readers and the feedback you gave us was very helpful. One thing was very clear, we didn’t want to end the blog.

Another thing that was clear was, we needed change. For us “old” Riskies it was getting more and more difficult to post every week and each of us began to miss days, especially when life became too hectic. Keira, one of our readers, commented that sometimes it seemed like we were simply “phoning posts in.” She was right, at least pertaining to me. I did phone it in a few times. Sometimes I was at a loss as to what to post. Sometimes I was just swamped by other demands on my time.

One more thing was clear. Our “new” Riskies, Gail, Sandra, and Susanna, have rejuvenated the blog. Their posts have been intelligent, informative, and enjoyable. It stood to reason, then, that one change we should make should be to add new Riskies.

We have three new Riskies!

Isobel Carr, who has been a Risky Regencies guest several times, is an expert in historical fashions as well as a terrific author of Georgian romance (close enough to Regency!) Her League of Second Sons series received wonderful reviews.

Rose Lerner was our guest very recently and has been a guest twice before and is the author of one of Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2014, which was also one of Susanna’s favorites. Amanda listed Rose’s In For A Penny as a favorite in 2010.

Mary Blayney is our third new Risky. Mary has recently re-released her traditional Regency Braedon Family series, a series I loved. And there is always her Pennistan series, longer books written with the same heart. Mary also is one of the authors included in the annual J.D. Robb anthology, writing the sole historical novella in each (and always with a magic coin). Mary is a dear friend of mine and I’m so happy to have her join the Risky Regencies.

Isobel, Rose, and Mary will do us very proud.

There are more changes, too. We’re adopting a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule and we are each going to be blogging once a month.

We are confident these changes will infuse new energy into the blog! What do you think? Tell us what you’d like to see from us, too. The changes start today!

(P.S. I forgot to mention that we are going to have at least one guest per month, on the fourth Wednesday of each month and another guest on those months that have 5th days.)

Posted in Diane Gaston, Risky Regencies | Tagged Diane Gaston | 13 Replies

How To Avoid Hanging

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

Last night I finished the Work-in-Progress, Book 2 in the Scandalous Summerfields series, sent it off and now will await my editor’s feedback on it. Color me relieved!

When writing my books, I always need to stop and research period detail. Sometimes the research plays a big part in the books. Other times it is just a small piece that I want to get right.

Like, what happens when a minor character is unjustly sent to prison? How might his friends get him out?

This character was unjustly convicted of theft and the punishment, I’d learned, was hanging. During the Regency, there were as many as 200 offenses punishable by hanging, even what we would consider minor ones, like shoplifting.

That did not mean every criminal offender was hanged. In reality only about 40% were.

One of the ways the offenders avoided hanging was to plead “benefit of clergy,” a once in a lifetime plea, which basically could be done by anyone who could read. They would, then, be incarcerated for a year. Other means to avoid hanging were convictions to lesser crimes, nullification of the offense, or “pious perjury,” meaning devaluing goods stolen to a value covered by a non-capital punishment.

Another much used way of avoiding hanging was transportation. During the Regency, this meant transportation to Australia and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). I wrote about the First Fleet a little while ago.

Several avoided hanging by the use of pardons, which were accomplished by letters petitioning the court. In pardons, the guilt or innocence of the convicted person was rarely the issue. The pardon was based on character evidence provided by the petitioner about the offender. Ironically, it mattered less how closely the petitioner knew the offender or even if he knew the offender at all. What mattered more was how influential the petitioner was. Officials liked knowing that men of influence and prestige were beholding to them. This option fit right in with my story.

What interesting research tidbit have you come across lately?

Book 1 of the Scandalous Summerfields series, Bound By Duty, will appear in bookstores March 17!

Read an excerpt. Enter my contest!