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Interview with Katharine Ashe!

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Hello everyone, and hope you are having a terrific Sunday! I first ‘met’ Katharine when she commented on a post. I saw she was a debut author writing historicals, and knew she had to come pay us all a visit. Katharine’s Swept Away By A Kiss is in bookstores now, and Katharine will be giving away a copy to a random commenter. Here’s some more about Katharine:

Katharine Ashe lives in the wonderfully warm Southeast with her husband, son, two dogs, and a garden she likes to call romantic rather than unkempt. A professor of European history, she has made her home in California, Italy, France, and the northern US. RT Book Reviews awarded her debut historical romance, SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS, a “TOP PICK!” review, calling it “a page-turner and a keeper.” Please visit her at www.katharineashe.com.

So, yay! Let the interview begin!

Thanks for inviting me to visit the Riskies, Megan. I’m so happy to be here!

1. Tell us about your debut romance, Swept Away By A Kiss.

After two years of exile in Boston, scandalous Lady Valerie Monroe vows to mend her wicked ways once perfected to win the affection of her cold father, and rejoin London society. But when she meets her fellow passenger aboard ship it’s clear fate is punishing her. Breathtakingly handsome and intoxicatingly mysterious, the amber-eyed god turns her knees to jelly and her resolution to honey. But he appears to be engaged in some nefarious business on board. What’s more, he is a Frenchman, an enemy of England in the midst of war. Most damning of all—he is a priest.

If the road to the nether world is paved in good intentions, Valerie suspects she’s just hailed the fastest carriage there. Nothing could be worse than the delectable torture of her predicament. Except, perhaps…

Pirates.

Lord Steven Ashford, a black-sheep nobleman with a perilous mission, has never regretted his priestly disguise. Until now. Trapped in a cabin aboard a pirate ship with the beguiling Valerie, and bent upon defeating his enemy by any means, Steven cannot let down his guard. But Valerie is temptation incarnate, and both of their resistances are crumbling. A secret identity can be so inconvenient at times, and forbidden love so very alluring.

From swashbuckling ships to sparkling ballrooms, from summer upon the blue ocean to a wintery country house party, SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS is the story of two hearts daring everything for the perfect love.

2. We love debut authors. Tell us about your journey to publication and, especially about “The Call.”

As so many novelists, I’ve written stories my whole life. I couldn’t help myself. The stories came and the characters insisted I pay them homage. Nevertheless, fresh out of college I answered another muse—Clio, the Muse of history. Off I went to graduate school to become (cue History Channel music) a Professional Historian.

Soon enough I found that Clio’s companionship, while invigorating, did not wholly satisfy me. So I grasped the hands of Erato—the Muse of lyric poetry, the poetry of love—and Calliope—the Muse of epic poetry, the poetry of adventure—and invited them to join us.

Together the four of us romped about aimlessly for some time, as new friends will often do.

Eventually I discovered Romance Writers of America and learned about query letters and synopses, market trends and point-of-view. I sent out many letters and chapters. I received many rejections. I continued to write with all my heart, but with less hope of publication. Then, when I was just about ready to tell my Muse friends that we would be going it alone once more—still romping with great joy but no longer with serious aim—I got The Call.

It came in the form of an email message I read while standing up at the kitchen counter, briefcase still slung over my shoulder after walking through the door: “I am IN LOVE with this book. I can’t stop thinking about it!” It was, in truth, a dream. A month later my wonderful agent sold my trilogy at auction to Avon. It still feels like a dream, especially since Avon just bought a second series from me. I wish this dream to come true for every writer.

3. There is so much that is risky about Swept Away By A Kiss! Share some of what makes your book so unusual.

My hero pretends to be a priest! This makes for some— ah— challenging moments of swiftly slipping self-control for both Steven and Valerie. With her fiery will and tender vulnerability, the beauty beguiles Steven to his limits. But if he reveals his true identity, his mission—their very lives—will be forfeit. For her part, Valerie is determined to remain aloof, but her fellow prisoner shows absolutely no signs of a natural inclination toward celibacy. Later in England when Steven takes on the role of a brainless fop to throw off suspicion and keep Valerie safe, she’s no less confused yet still completely in love. Theirs is a tempestuous relationship, to be sure!

I adore secret identity stories, and Steven’s is particularly risky. He does it all to ruin an illegal slave trader. A hero who keeps secret the fact that he rescues people on a daily basis—even makes himself look like a fool to throw off suspicion—is positively, deliciously breathtaking to me. And always the longing, the wishing and yearning to reveal all to the woman he loves, and the steely honor that holds him back… Sigh!

4. Did you come across any interesting research when you were writing the book?

Haiti’s struggle for freedom—a slave society that had had enough and did something about it. It is a powerful, moving, and inspiring story. Imagine a dash of revolution, another of civil war, a greedy emperor with a huge army, a sun-soaked island, and a dream of liberty coming true. Amazing! Haiti plays a small but important part in Steven becoming a hero worthy of his own destiny and his lady’s heart. (I am donating a portion of proceeds from the sale of SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS to reconstruction efforts in Haiti.)

5. What’s next for you?

CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD, the second book in my debut trilogy! I love the good guys—the really good guys—even if they don’t quite realize they’re good! London society knows Lord Alex Savege as a devastatingly rakish earl. In his secret identity as the pirate captain Redstone, Alex seizes the yachts of spoiled nobles and donates the swag to charity. But years ago Alex began his double life with less than noble intentions. Now a lovely minx, Miss Serena Carlyle, is determined to halt a band of smugglers. When she begs Redstone for help, will Alex finally become the real hero she desires?

CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD will be in bookstores April 2011. Before then, I pray you dear readers, name my trilogy! In October I’ll post a contest to my website in search of a stunningly great series title, and I’ll keep it open until I find a winner. Readers who would like first crack at submitting entries can sign up for my newsletter now (via my website), and I’ll send them details a few weeks before the contest goes live online. I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Gearing up for that, to celebrate International Talk Like A Pirate Day on September 19, I’ll be unveiling on my website the gorgeously hunky cover of CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD (be still my beating heart!). Stop by to catch a peek

I’ll also be posting a free Regency ghost novel to my website beginning September 27. So much fun stuff!

Thanks for visiting, Katharine!

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Interview With Hope Tarr!

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Today, the Riskies are honored to welcome author Hope Tarr, a lovely person and a great writer. Hope lives in New York City, where she always looks fabulous (at least when I see her), is very involved in animal rescue projects and is one of the founders of Lady Jane’s Salon, a monthly romance novel gathering. Read the official deets at the bottom of the interview, and comment to win a signed copy of Hope’s Vanquished. Two commenters will be chosen for the prize!

Hope has two books out for your pleasure; the first is the Victorian-set The Tutor, which is out now, and the other is a reissue of her novel A Rogue’s Pleasure, out in just a few days.
What inspired you to write The Tutor?
When I concluded my “Men of Roxbury House” Victorian trilogy a few years ago, it occurred to me I’d left some loose ends dangling, two loose ends, to be exact. At the end of the final book in the series, UNTAMED, two secondary characters Lady Beatrice—Bea—Lindsey and former East London street rogue turned semi-respectable private secretary, Ralph Sylvester had begun falling for one another, landing squarely in the shadow land between lust and love. Only there hadn’t been time, or in my case, pages for me to devote to unfolding their story. And I thought that was rather a shame.

In THE TUTOR, Bea is all grown up and about to wed a decent but dull fellow whom she knows needs a map when it comes to taking a woman to bed. Determined to have decent sex if not love in her marriage, she turns to her secret crush, Ralph Sylvester for seven sexy nights of private lessons.


What intrigues you about the late Victorian period?

The short answer is: everything! If I had to focus on one aspect, I’d have to say the cultural contrasts, the glorious almost black-and-white differences between public morality and private behavior, the not always easy balance struck between innovation—the telegram, the typewriter, and even the telephone—and centuries’ old standards and conventions, and last but not least, the clothes!

We love risky writing; share some of what makes your book so unusual.
In life as well as fiction I’m a big fan of not only self-made men but also self-made people in general, so even though British set historical romance is my first love, I rarely write heroes who are members of the peerage or even middle class by birth. In THE TUTOR, Ralph has a checkered past, to say the least. He’s the son of a prostitute. After his mother abandons him, he joins a “flash house,” a thieving den for young boys, and earns his keep by picking pockets and running street scams. That he manages to better himself, to become not only respectable but self-sufficient in a society where class distinctions bordered on a caste system, isn’t just laudable to me. It’s damn sexy.
Did you come across any interesting research when you were writing the book?
Always. ☺ In this case, I had a lot of fun perusing The Kama Sutra, the original translated text by Sir Richard Burton (note: not the late actor). In THE TUTOR, Ralph uses the centuries’ old Indian sexual advice manual as a teaching…tool for his seven lessons with Bea. In keeping with that theme, I have each chapter start out by introducing the “lesson” along with a quote from Burton’s text.
You and a couple other authors founded the highly successful Lady Jane’s Salon; tell us about it, and what its purpose is.
Thank you for asking! I’m enormously proud of Lady Jane’s and so any opportunity to brag about m/our brain child is most welcome.

Launched in February 2009, Lady Jane’s Salon is New York City’s first and so far only monthly reading series for romance fiction and like most “firsts” it was born in response to a need. One night in November 2008, I was sitting in Hudson Bar and Books in the West Village with romance authors Leanna Renee Hieber and Maya Rodale and book blogger, Ron Hogan. We’d just returned from a “literary fiction” reading and were lamenting the lack of any literary forum in the city where romance writers and readers could come together and share the books we love. Amidst scotch and cigars, we mapped out the Salon, which in the sober light of the next day still seemed like a really good idea. ☺

Lady Jane’s meets on the first Monday of the month (unless otherwise noted) from 7-9 PM at Madame X (94 West Houston Street, Soho, New York). Admission is $5 or one gently-used paperback romance novel. Net proceeds support an end-of-the-year donation to a New York City women’s charity. With two articles in TIME OUT New York, a feature article in The New York Post, and author bookings through mid-2011, Lady Jane is going strong and ramping up for Her second birthday on Monday, February 7th. It promises to be quite a party.

Please check out our web site at www.LadyJaneSalon.com and chat with us on Twitter and Facebook.

What are you working on next?
My very first novella, Victorian-set, of course! “Tomorrow’s Destiny” is in A HARLEQUIN CHRISTMAS CAROL (November 10, 2010), a Christmas anthology based on the Dickens’ classic, with bestselling authors Betina Krahn and Jacquie D’Alessandro. It’s a very sweet trio of stories that I think readers of the genre as well as anyone who loves the winter holidays will both really enjoy.

Thanks so much for having me as a guest at the Riskies. What an honor! I hope visitors today will enjoy VANQUISHED and perhaps try out my two single-title historical romances out this summer: A ROGUE’S PLEASURE and MY LORD JACK, both originally published with Berkley and reissued as digital-first releases with Carina Press.

Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of thirteen historical and contemporary romance novels, one novella and numerous nonfiction articles on health and relationships, fashion, travel and leisure. Visit Hope online at www.HopeTarr.com where you can read her weekly blog and enter her regular and special contests. Photo by BizUrban.com.

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Guest Blog–Mistress of Riversdale

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I’m very excited to introduce Mrs. Rosalie Calvert, who in her twenty-first century existence is Katherine Spivey. Katherine has read everything I’ve read, and more (and Katherine, I still have one of your books. Sorry about that). This Saturday, Mrs. Calvert, dressed to the nines, will appear at Riversdale House Museum, MD, when we celebrate the Battle of Bladensburg, an inglorious defeat at the hands of the British that took place just a couple of miles from the mansion.

Mrs. Calvert is graciously receiving callers at her splendid house. Come on in and have a nice cup of tea and enjoy some sophisticated, witty conversation of the sort so rarely met with on these shores …

Thanks, Janet, for inviting me to be a guest blogger. I’m honored. Janet and I volunteer at Riversdale House Museum in Maryland, and we’ve co-presented on 18th- and 19th-century literature. At Riversdale, Janet’s a docent, and I’m a historical interpreter/reenactor/person who dresses up and pretends to be someone in history.

The person I interpret is Rosalie Stier Calvert, an emigre from Belgium who came to the United States in 1794. She married into the Calvert family, her parents built Riversdale, and then her family moved back to Europe. We’re enormously lucky to have as a source her treasurer trove of letters, which were discovered in Belgium around 30 years ago, translated, and published by Johns Hopkins University as Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert. Few letters have provided such a robust picture of American life from a foreign and female viewpoint. I’ve been playing her since 1995.

Since she wrote her letters to family and not with an eye to publication, she reveals many things: customs and manners in the fledgling United States (she dislikes most American women), the travails of raising a family (although a large family is delightful if the children are well-behaved), the effects of the embargo and the war (no one has any cash!), gardening and horticulture (“I am disgusted with all controversy except for politics”), politics (her low opinion of President “Tommy Jeff”), fashions, and the economy (she acted as business agent for her father and brother).

In one of her letters she describes the aftereffects of the burning of Washington in 1814. During the Battle of Bladensburg, she saw the “rockets’ red glare” from her bedroom windows. Her husband and son went to the battlefield to render aid and bury the dead. She stored the recovered rifles in her bedroom.

Before the British invaded, people had defined themselves by state, but after the burning of Washington the country united: “We are all Americans now.”

How did I get started reenacting? I met some people at a ball at Gadsby’s and started dancing. Then I started participating in civilian reenactments for the colonial period at places like Carlyle House in Alexandria and the State Department. Then I stepped in as Rosalie Calvert at one of the period dinners during Maryland’s tricentennial: three hours of being a character live. I couldn’t script the conversation; I just had to be Rosalie Calvert: say the sorts of things she might say, include topics she would introduce, betray the opinions she held. While I’m Mrs. Calvert, I don’t say favorable things about Presidents Jefferson and Madison, even though my other reenacting character is Mrs. Madison.

And what, pray tell, does reenacting have to do with romances? Specifically Regencies? I’d read Jane Austen’s ouevre by the end of middle school. I’d read all of Georgette Heyer’s by the time I finished high school. And I did graduate work at the University of Virginia on 18th- and early 19th-century British novels. I love the pace of the sentences, the graduated degrees of intimacy in conversation, the architecture of the works, and the undoubted moralism (well, Mrs. Heyer not so much).

Indeed, Mrs. Calvert’s life reads like a romance in high life–except that she had a due sense of humor and proportion, enjoyed being busy, and had an undoubted capacity for business. Included in all of this was a love of reading novels: “We have 11 novels in the house,” she says, though her mother reads them to improve her English.

The more I work with her, the more she’s begun to resonate with my own life. I’ve started gardening and getting my finances in order, and I’ve even learned to like anchovies. (Life imitates history, after all.) I may even learn to like hock. I just got back from a weekend at the beach; a reenacting event next weekend means I wore a large hat, went out only between 7-9 a.m. and 7-8 p.m., and slathered enough sunscreen to cover Almack’s. I enlisted my husband in my search for cameo brooches, period-authentic amethyst or opal rings, and long kid gloves that fit.

It’s important to remember that she loved her family dearly. She never saw any of them after they returned to Europe; Rosalie was either pregnant or prevented by war/embargo from going to Europe on a visit. She once went a year without getting a letter from her family. I’m convinced she would have been an early adopter (#federaleramomblogger) of social media and probably would have had a smartphone.

That being said, bring on the questions!

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Wednesday’s Child

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This post is about everything except today (tomorrow, actually, as of the time I write this).

For example, later on I will update this post to include the winner(s) of last week’s contest. Maybe even by the time you’re reading this. I’m starting to think there really should be a Jewel Prize.

ETA:  The winners of Last Wednesday’s contest are:

  • cissikat
  • Carol L
  • librarypat

Please email me at carolyn AT carolynjewel.com and we will arrange your prizes . . .

Next Wednesday, I will be interviewing Elizabth Hoyt and asking her all kinds of Risky questions. Are there any questions I should ask her? Let me know in the comments.

Stuff that Happened on Wednesdays

Forasmuch as cleanliness will contribute to the health, civilization and good manners of our children, the Society do strictly enjoin all the Masters and Mistresses of their several Schools and Nurseries, to cause the children under their care to wear constantly shoes and stockings; to allow them clean linen twice a week, viz. on Sundays and Wednesdays ; to keep their clothes in a proper state of repair, and to be careful that the children are in all respects accustomed to that neatness and cleanliness. . .
Report, 1809-1912 By Great Britain. Commissioners of the Board of Education in Ireland

On Wednesday, February 24,1796 Trial of Patrick Hart for Treason

Here’s some interesting legal matters from The European magazine, and London review, Volumes 77-78 By Philological Society (Great Britain) This strongly suggests how people found out when legal matters could be heard.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.

Mr. Justice Holroyd.—Mr. Justice Richardson.
Berkshire—Monday, February 28, at Reading.
Oxfordshire—Wednesday, March 1, at Oxford.
Worcestershire—Saturday, March 4, at Worcester. ‘
City of Worcester—The same day, at the City of Worcester.
Staffordshire—Thursday, March 9, at Stafford.
Shropshire—Wednesday, March 15, at Shrewsbury.
Herefordshire—Monday, March 20, at Hereford.
Monmouthshire—Saturday, March 25, at Monmouth.
Gloucestershire—Wednesday, March 29, at Gloucester.
City of Gloucester—The same day, at the, City of Gloucester.

For anyone interested in the debate about whether births and marriages were published in our period, from the same source above:

So there. They were.

Letters from Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, to Mrs. Montagu, between the …, Volume 3 By Elizabeth Carter, Mrs. Montagu (Elizabeth), Montagu Pennington

I saw Mr. Montagu on Wednesday at Mrs. Garrick’s, and he seemed as well as it is possible for a lover to be in his condition ; fretting most heartily, at the slowness and unfeelingness of lawyers. Lord Southampton is quite reconciled to his son’s marriage with Miss Keppel, and has behaved kindly and liberally to the young people, which I am glad of, for they were much attached.

Every body is preparing for the commemoration of the birth-day, after which the town will probably grow very empty. As neither commemoration nor drawing-room form any part of my system, I propose, in all quietness and simplicity, to set out for the sea-shore on Monday next.

I am just returned from our poor suffering friend; would to God it was all over. I thought before I closed my letter, I should inform you of the conclusion of poor Mr. Vesey’s twilight of mortal existence; but it is not yet total darkness, though very near it; he is quite insensible, and cannot swallow, yet she cannot be prevailed on to quit him. She desires her love to you, and has often expressed a deep sense of your kindness in the assistance you offered her, though she is determined not to accept any from any person whatever. I hope all will turn out well; but the will is in Ireland, and I have fearful doubts. Adieu, my dear friend; if either you or Mr. Montagu want a trust-worthy servant, the man who has gone through so much, with such fidelity and affectionate care with Mr. Vesey, will soon be at liberty. AH their servants are exemplary ; but our dear friend is the charm that moves them, it is impossible to resist not only her will but her wishes; and her conduct through this trying time has been most admirable. Once more adieu.

And then this:

Sporting anecdotes: original and selected; including numerous characteristic … By Pierce Egan

SINGULAR CRICKET MATCHES AND RACES BETWEEN ELEVEN MEN WITH ONE LEG AGAINST THE SAME NUMBER WITH ONE ARM, ALL OF THE MEN GREENWICH PENSIONERS.

From the novelty of an advertisement announcing a Cricket-Match to be played’ by eleven Greenwich Pensioners with one leg against eleven with one arm, for one thousand guineas, at the new Cricket-Ground, Montpelier-Gardens, Walworth, in 1790, an immense concourse of people assembled. About nine o’clock the men arrived in three Greenwich stages; about ten the wickets were pitched, and the match commenced. Those with but one leg had the first innings, and got ninety-three runs. About three o’clock, while those with but one arm were having their innings, a scene of riot and confusion took place, owing to the pressure of the populace to gain admittance to the ground: the gates were forced open, and several parts of the fencing were brake down, and a great number of persons having got upon the roof of a stable, the roof broke in, and several persons falling among the horses were taken out much bruised. About six o’clock the game was renewed, and those with one arm got but forty-two runs during their innings. The one legs commenced their second innings, and six were bowled out after they got sixty runs, so that they left off’ one hundred and eleven more than those with one arm.

The match was played again on the Wednesday following, and the men with one leg beat the one arms by one hundred and three runnings. After the match was finished, the eleven one-legged men ran one hundred yards for twenty guineas. The three first divided the money.

I’ll leave you to thoughts of Wednesdays.

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