Risky Regencies

Debut Author Alix Rickloff Talks About Lost in You

Updated on September 21, 2008 by Diane Gaston

The Riskies welcome debut author Alix Rickloff whose first book came out this August. I’ve known Alix for several years, beginning when she joined Washington Romance Writers. It has been a great delight to see her travel the path to publication. Ah, Alix, I knew you when….

Alix will give away one signed copy of Lost in You to a lucky commenter who will be chosen at random, so be sure to leave a comment. The winner will be chosen by noon Monday Sept 22 and announced here on the blog.

1. First of all, Alix, tell us about your debut novel, Lost in You. I know it has “something other” than your typical Regency Historical.

Definitely not your typical Regency Historical! With Lost In You—released at the beginning of August—I introduce you to the world of Other, humans bearing the blood of the Fey and Mortal worlds. Living among the Regency bucks and Society dames of Regency England, these men and women have to try and fit into the human everyday world they inhabit while dealing with the shadowy realm of the Fey who tend to make their cunning and sometimes dangerous presence known all too often.
In this book, Conor Bligh is a soldier belonging to a brotherhood bound together to guard and protect the divide between the Faery and Mortal worlds. When a demon is released from the reliquary that serves as his eternal prison, the task of capturing him falls to Conor.
Ellery Reskeen is an army brat who’s just found out she’s the only one with the power to imprison the demon. What she doesn’t realize is that doing it will cost her life. And that the man she thinks is charged with her protection is actually the one sent to sacrifice her.
It’s got magic and action and messy family relationships and even a crazy aunt in the attic. A little “something other” for everyone!
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

From Publishers Weekly: I like paranormal historical romance, and Lost in You kept me involved to the end. It has strong characters, warm family relationships, and just the right touch of elusive fae magic.– Joysann

2. Tell us how you came up with the idea for Lost in You.

I’d been writing straight Regency Historicals and had completed four manuscripts, the last with a hint of a paranormal twist. But for whatever reason, none had sold. I decided I wanted to try something completely different. Something that would combine the best of the regencies and the paranormals I loved to read. With Lost In You, I created an alternate universe of men and women who bear the blood of two worlds. I called them my Regency super-heroes. And they were such a blast to write, I knew I’d stumbled onto a good thing. I also decided I wanted an inner conflict for my hero that seemed insurmountable. What’s more insurmountable than knowing you either have to kill the woman you’re falling in love with or see the world destroyed? Talk about a tough decision!

From Romantic Times: Rickloff’s debut sweeps readers into a dark, dangerous and sensual realm where legend and passion mix to perfection to create a compelling, original love story.

3. This is your debut book! Tell us about your writing journey and about getting “The Call.”

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. My mother still has stories I wrote and illustrated in the fourth grade. And I read voraciously. Mysteries. Sci-fi. Fantasy. Historical fiction. Romance. But the stories I loved best all had that happy ending and the hero and heroine together at the end. It took until after college for me to realize the stories I wrote tended to fall into that same romance genre. And even then, I fought it. It took joining RWA for the light bulb to go off, and I understood that I couldn’t write any other kind of story. That’s when I finally embraced my inner romantic.
By the time I got the “Call” I’d written four Regency manuscripts, the last finalling in the 2007 Golden Heart contest, although sadly not picked up by any editor. Luckily, while I’d been waiting to hear back, I’d finished up the manuscript that would eventually become Lost In You.
Now I’m a complete mess when it comes to explaining a plot so that it makes sense, so when I initially pitched the idea for Lost In You to my agent, she sounded less than convinced. But once we talked it over and she read the story, she was as excited as I was to find it a home. Last September she called to say that Kensington had made an offer to buy the manuscript for their debut author program. Having pitched to Kate Duffy and heard her speak many times, I was thrilled to get an opportunity to be a part of the K family. It’s been a crazy, fun-filled, anxiety-ridden ride since, but I wouldn’t change it for the world!

4. What were the research challenges for Lost in You? Did you research faeries or did you make up that world?

It’s funny, but I think I worry more over getting the Regency-era details correct than anything else, and I spend countless hours at the editing stage, trying to double-check those facts. The fantasy aspect of the book is my own soup of Celtic legend and fairy lore. I pull from all kinds of sources and as long as I get the basics right, I feel free to spin out in infinite directions and really create my own magical universe. The trick now that I’m three books into the series is keeping it consistent, so in that regard, I’ve begun trying to catalogue what I’ve done in the past so I don’t contradict myself and pull the reader out of the story with a “huh?” moment.

5. What do you think was risky about your book?

When I sat down to start Lost In You, I pondered the question: what can I do to shake it up? To make this book something completely different? And aside from adding such a wild new element to a genre as cherished as the Regency, my largest concern became the way I interpret that genre.
I’m a get-in and get-out kind of historical writer. I paint my period with broad brushstrokes, giving the reader what he or she needs to know to embrace the time period, but I’m not going to bog down on the lace of her gown or the intricacies of cravat folding. You’ll just have to assume her lace is lacy and he knows exactly how to tie a Mathematical that would make Beau Brummel proud.
I also tend to flex the language of the time period. Etymology is correct, and I edit as best I can for any anachronisms, but I let my characters speak in a more modern tongue that might cause some readers to cringe. I tried fighting this urge, but as the words flowed onto the page, the story began to take a shape of its own making, and I finally gave up trying to shove my characters back into their 19th century-speak and let them have free rein.
Hopefully this doesn’t turn off readers of traditional regencies, but actually lets them see that the genre can be pulled in a lot of different directions without losing what we all love about it.

6. What is next from you?

I continue the series begun in Lost In You with a second book coming out in July 09. Until I Found You centers on Morgan Bligh, Conor’s cousin whom we first met in Lost In You, but who gets a story of her own when she’s paired with ex-assassin and ex-lover Cam Sinclair. And finally this week, I typed “The End” on my latest manuscript. I’m now in the editing process while mulling over ideas for where I want to go from here.
If things work out, there are two characters from Until I Found You that I’d love to showcase in their own book. But I also have some ideas for a new series that would introduce some fresh faces.
So many of them are clamoring for their own stories that—fingers crossed—I hope I’m able to stick with them for a good long while yet.

Thank you so much for inviting me to chat with you all. This has been wonderful!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Come and say hi to Alix and ask her more. Remember, you could win a signed copy of Lost in You

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alix Rickloff, Kensington Books, Lost in You | 22 Replies

Eloise, er, Amanda in Paris

Updated on September 20, 2008 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

As you read this, hopefully I am just stepping off the plane in Paris! I’ll be gone for the next two weeks, but will be dropping in at Internet cafes to check in on Risky events.

So, what will I be up to this week?

Touristy fun things, like the Eiffel Tower

Shopping for pastries, chocolates, perfume, and cute little soft t-shirts at Petite Bateau (which I may not be able to fit into after the pastries…)

Looking at art at the Louvre, the Orsay, and the Marmottan

Researching new writing projects at Versailles, the Carnavalet, and the Conciergerie

And probably some wandering around in parks eating Nutella crepes.

Au revoir for now, mes amis!

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 7 Replies

The Ridiculous Teenager

Updated on September 19, 2008 by megan

From Barbara Cartland‘s The Prince And the Pekingese:

You have come!” the Prince exclaimed.
“Yes,” said Angelina softly. “I have come.” The Prince paused for a moment looking at the beautiful young woman in a way that made her tremble. “You are so lovely and yet … ” There was a throb of pain in his voice that made Angelina long to comfort him. Whatever we feel for each other, “she whispered, “I realize your country must … come … first.” The Prince looked up sharply. “We feel for each other?” he repeated. “Tell me … what you feel for me.” Angelina shyly lowered her eyes, but his tone was rough and insistent. “Tell me,” the Prince said again. And suddenly, as if it came from the very depths of her being, Angelina’s clear young voice miraculously cried out: “I … love you. I love you. I love you!”

Oh. My. God.

I cannot believe I devoured this stuff when I was young. Granted, I was young, but still–

Along those lines, I was thinking lately about how I’m not comfortable writing heroines who are under 20 years old; when I was 18, in age similar to Cartland’s ellipsis-talking ladies, I did many foolish things. For example, when my first real boyfriend broke up with me, I wore gray eyeshadow so it’d look like I had been losing sleep and walked around with a copy of Vladimir Nabokov‘s Despair so he’d know how I was suffering.

And, of course, that’s not even mentioning the poor fashion choices I made, or how I cut class to go with my best friend Anthony to watch him play video games (he was good enough to spend a quarter for about an hour’s worth of play).

So now that I’m older, and theoretically wiser, I want to read heroines who I believe would make good choices. I don’t want to read about high school age girls who are way wise beyond their years, or who behave like real high schoolers do. Either one is unappealing. I like the current trend towards more mature heroines, although that means us authors have to devise new ways of still making them available (poor family, governess, widow) and somewhat inexperienced (spinster, widow whose husband had some potency issues). It makes it harder and sometimes anachronistic, to write and read heroines who fit the high, yet realistic, standards us romance readers demand.

Have you noticed the trend towards older heroines? What type of heroine did you cut your first romance teeth on? Do you still read those books? And what’s one of the foolishest thing you did in high school?

Megan

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged heroines, Megan | 24 Replies

Samuel Johnson, man of letters and cats

Updated on September 18, 2008 by Janet Mullany

It’s the 299th birthday of the great Samuel Johnson (1709-1774) who created the first English dictionary, and although I originally intended to write something very erudite (or as erudite as I can get) I became sidetracked, so I’m going to throw out a few oddities I found when I was scrambling around online for images and information on Johnson.

First, if you happen to find yourself near Lichfield, Staffs. this weekend, you can drop by the museum that is Johnson’s birthplace. Yes, there will be cake. Lichfield is a mostly harmless city in the Midlands with a cathedral and (many years ago) a great second-hand bookstore, and some rather nice buildings. Johnson, who retained a fondness for his home town all his life, said:

I lately took my friend Boswell and showed him genuine civilised life in an English provincial town. I turned him loose at Lichfield.

Johnson also requested that his heir, his servant
Francis Barber, settle in Lichfield, where his descendants farm nearby today. Barber, originally a slave from Jamaica, was freed by his owner in England, before entering Johnson’s service in 1752. He stayed on and off until the end of Johnson’s life, apart from brief stints as a pharmacist and as a sailor.

Now to the cats. Johnson liked animals, with his favorite cat in his London house being one Hodge. See, I said this was going to be diversionary. Here’s the monument to Hodge (wearing holiday garb), keeping watch over Johnson’s house and seated on a copy of the dictionary.

According to Boswell, Johnson was a bit of a sucker for Hodge:

I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson’s breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, “Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;” and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, “but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.”

As well as going out on oyster buying expeditions, Johnson also went out to buy valerian when Hodge was dying, to make his pet’s last moments more comfortable. Here’s Boswell, Johnson, and Hodge again:

This reminds me of the ludicrous account which he gave Mr. Langton, of the despicable state of a young Gentleman of good family. “Sir, when I heard of him last, he was running about town shooting cats.” And then in a sort of kindly reverie, he bethought himself of his own favourite cat, and said, “But Hodge shan’t be shot; no, no, Hodge shall not be shot.”

What I love about Boswell’s account of Johnson and Hodge is that you can visualize this scene so clearly: Boswell, grumpy and disapproving, rolling his streaming eyes as Johnson coos over his pet and adds cat hair to the fine covering of snuff he habitually wore. Despite his formidable intelligence and his strange tics and behavior (there’s a theory that he may have suffered from Tourette’s syndrome), Johnson was much beloved by his friends.

Any favorite Johnson sayings, cat stories (literary or otherwise)?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cats, Lichfield, Samuel Johnson | 5 Replies

Women and violins

Updated on September 17, 2008 by Elena Greene

My oldest daughter has grown so much over the summer that she needs a full-size violin and now my youngest says she wants to play too, itching to get her hands on the 3/4 size hand-me-down. Over Labor Day, my oldest tried several instruments in Cleveland and fell in love with one. So yesterday I drove 50 miles to get it from Fedex (long story), took it to my daughter’s teacher. She replaced the A-string that had broken in transit and then gave the instrument a proper workout, including excerpts from the Bruch violin concerto, before giving it the thumbs up. Whew!

It’s all worth it, even listening to all the fumbling and squawking and buzzing of beginner efforts (and I’m going to go through that all again this year). Because after a time, the hideous sounds give way to music and there are few experiences to beat watching your kid play in an all-county orchestra in a real concert hall (2nd chair, 2nd violin but who’s bragging?)

There are many instances, real and fictional, of Regency ladies playing the pianoforte or harp, but I’ve never read about one who played the violin. I vaguely recall once hearing that it was considered ungraceful. In contrast, playing the pianoforte could show off good posture and provide opportunities for flirtation (the helpful beaux turning the pages, singing along, etc…) and playing the harp would be a good way to show off pretty arms.

As I checked into this further, I found a review of several studies on the emergence of professional women musicians. I’d love to read the actual studies sometime, but the review itself listed some more interesting reasons for the unwritten ban on lady violinists:

As Gillett notes, the early nineteenth century public found female violin playing “inappropriate, improper, and aesthetically jarring.” Violins were compared to the feminine body, “most fittingly performed on by a worshipful ‘master’.” Moreover, male virtuoso violinists played with great expression and body movement, which was considered inappropriate for women. Further, violins had a long literary association with sin, death, and the devil, making them dangerous for the weaker sex.

Heavy stuff! But not surprising. I’d already learned that there was a similar prohibition against ladies playing Beethoven on the pianoforte. I deliberately had the rebellious heroine of The Incorrigible Lady Catherine play a Beethoven sonata…and got one of the highest compliments ever from a CP, who thought Catherine should have smoked a cigarette afterwards! 😉 Maybe sometime I’ll write a Regency heroine who plays the violin, but only if it it’s in character and important for her to do so.

While the tension between personal creativity and cultural restrictions can make for interesting stories, but I’m glad we’ve moved beyond that. Although I haven’t had much opportunity to hear women soloists recently, some of my favorite violin recordings were performed by women.

I love this collection of music by Vaughn Williams, featuring Iona Brown (1941-2004) who not only performed on the violin but also directed the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. If you click on the link, you can listen to excerpts including “The Lark Ascending” which I think is truly sublime.

Another favorite female violinist is Tasmin Little, whom I saw play the Sibelius violin concerto while I lived in England. I had to get my hands on the recording. The Brahms is good but the Sibelius is wonderful, intense and passionate. Unfortunately this recording is now hard to find but she has made many others. If you’re not familiar with her playing, listen to the free downloads in the “Naked Violin” section of her website.