Romantic Times had this to say about Amanda McCabe’s A Tangled Web:
McCabe does a terrific job with this simple story of love, rank and a bit of deceit in, quite possibly, the last of our traditional Regencies.
Congratulations, Amanda!
Romantic Times had this to say about Amanda McCabe’s A Tangled Web:
McCabe does a terrific job with this simple story of love, rank and a bit of deceit in, quite possibly, the last of our traditional Regencies.
Congratulations, Amanda!
But what Mrs. Bennett didn’t say is sometimes it feels like you could.
I’m so annoyed. The kids have just gone back to school and this was supposed to be my chance to reconnect with my writing. Instead, I’m battling a stuffy nose, the plugged ears, chest congestion, cough and interrupted sleep. Despite the vaporizer fogging our upstairs with eucalyptus steam and a full complement of medicines, traditional and herbal, I am just barely functional when I wanted to be blazing into the new story. It’s so not fair!
Anyway, I thought I’d check out one of my period sources on medicine. It’s DOMESTIC MEDICINE, by William Buchan, first published in 1769 with 18 subsequent editions. (Click here to access the etext for the 1785 edition.) Buchan was pretty forward-thinking about general health and prevention and many of his suggestions are far less kooky than those of his counterparts (though that’s not saying much!) I think of it as the sort of book my heroines might have owned and used to help keep their families healthy during the happily-ever-after.
Anyway, here are some suggestions:
“THE patient ought to lie longer than usual a-bed…”
Please, Dr. Buchan, tell that to my kids!
“A SYRUP made of equal parts of lemon-juice, honey, and sugar-candy, is likewise very proper in this kind of cough. A table-spoonful of it may be taken at pleasure.”
This sounds very nice.
“If the pulse therefore be hard and frequent, the skin hot and dry, and the patient complains of his head or breast, it will be necessary to bleed, and to give the cooling powders recommended in the scarlet fever, every three or four hours, till they give a stool.”
I checked some of the recommended medications, and they include “Peruvian bark” and “snake root”. Googling these exotic terms, I learned that Peruvian Bark is also called cinchona bark, and can still be used to treat fevers. Seneca Snake Root has expectorant properties. OK, so far, Dr. Buchan is not so dumb.
However, I don’t think my medicine cabinet contains any Peruvian Bark or Snake Root…
And the bleeding I could definitely do without!
Here’s another tidbit.
“MANY attempt to cure a cold by getting drunk. But this, to say no worse of it, is a very hazardous experiment.”
Aw, I’m willing to try it at this point. It couldn’t make me feel any worse, could it????
Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, nominee, RT Best Regency of 2005
www.elenagreene.com
Well, it’s sort of official…after much hearsay, speculation, whispers and the presence of a huge elephant in the drawing room, NAL editor Laura Cifelli makes this statement on the future of the Signet Regency line in the February edition of Romantic Times:
“The market was no longer sustaining two to three books a month. But we love the program and we believe in our authors, so we are planning on publishing Signet Regency special event titles and reissues in the future.”
Thoughts, reactions, anyone? And maybe this is a good time to talk about our future plans?
Janet
Greetings once again, O warm and welcoming Denizens of the Twenty-first Century! It is I, Bertram St. James…as you can tell by my (exquisite) portrait which accompanies this epistle.
I thought I would share with you my Impressions and Ruminations on my first months in your time period. (For those of you who may be new to this Risky Regency salon, please know that I was a happy and handsome inhabitant of the year 1812 until just a few months ago…when somehow, I came here….no, I mean, came now. No, that doesn’t sound quite right either, does it? Oh, bother it all. You know what I mean.)
ASPECTS OF THE YEAR 2005 THAT I QUITE LIKED:
1. I simply adore Showers. In fact, I adore all of the Plumbing I have so far encountered in the Twenty-first Century.
2. The astoundingly low price of Books. I now own a Complete Shakespeare.
3. The fact that when one sees Shakespeare performed, no one cuts out the indelicate bits. In fact, as far as I can tell, new indelicate bits are added in.
4. Twix, Snickers, Hershey, Ms&Ms, Godiva (thank you for suggesting the last, Madame McCabe.) Chocolate Candy. What an invention.
5. Messrs. Johnson and Johnson’s Dental Floss.
6. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. What beautiful people. I could stare at them all day (and sometimes do.) Jennifer Lopez is also an aesthetic pleasure.
7. Public Libraries.
8. Electricity-powered Clothes Irons. Now one’s man is much less likely to singe one’s Clothes. (Not that mine ever did. Except that one time.)
9. Electricity-powered Lights. They are ever so much brighter than even the best beeswax candles, or any oil lamp I have ever encountered. Moreover, they do not smoke, they do not need tending, and they do not set one’s house on fire when one’s man is careless. (Not that mine ever did. Except — oh, never mind.)
ASPECTS OF THE YEAR 2005 THAT I FELT WERE QUITE UNNECESSARY:
1. I feel quite sad whenever I notice Tea adulterated with such things as maple and mango (whatever they are). Why are 2005 people not happy with simple Tea? Do you modern folk find the flavour of Tea so repulsive that you must needs cover it up with such things? If you must drink Vanilla Mango Maple Chai Licorice concoctions, why put Tea in them at all??? And do not try to tell me it is for Tea’s Stimulative Properties. It did not take me long to learn what “De-Caffeinated” means. Why not drink “De-Alconated” Wine, for heaven’s sake?
2. While I’m on the subject, let me add that I don’t understand why modern folk do not drink more. And by “drink more,” I mean wine, beer, ale, brandy, sherry, port…even gin. Not water. Not milk. Not “Energy Drinks.” Wine strengthens the blood and knits the bones! Please, do try to drink your bottle a day. It does a body good.
3. Safety Razors. Shave with a proper razor, for Heaven’s sake. How otherwise can you have a truly smooth chin?
4. Men’s Clothing. (Shudder.) Why are men so ashamed of their legs? Are they all turned Puritan?
5. Freeways are ugly things. Do away with them all, and I assure you, you will all be much happier.
Let me take this Opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year! And may you all have the good fortune to grow half as elegant as I am in 2006.
Bertram St. James, Exquisite
I’ve been meaning to show my January Cover and it occurred to me this morning that time is flying. I’ve been a bit engrossed in what I will do from this time forward, and so I am apologizing to the Muse of this book, who is at this moment quite annoyed with me.
I especially love this cover, and am very thankful, for it is my last traditional Regency. I love both of the characters–the heroine with her atypical appearance (she is brunette to begin with), and the hero looks mature and very real. I am grateful to the artist for this lovely work.
Laurie
LORD RYBURN’S APPRENTICE
Signet, Jan. ’06