Deborah, you have been randomly chosen to win a copy of Carolyn Jewel’s book Scandal. Just email your info to riskies@yahoo.com to claim your prize!

Today, of course, is February 14, Valentine’s Day! The Big V-Day. The day of pink and red, of flowers and chocolates. The day of over-priced “special menus” in restaurants, served by surly waiters who definitely don’t want to be there helping you make the day Very Special. But the flowers and chocolates (and champagne!) make that okay…

Speaking of flowers, I have a very cute old book that belonged to my grandmother about the “language of flowers.” Floriography (a means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages) was especially popular with the Victorians, who loved all things sentimental. But this idea goes back to antiquity, and was well-known in Medieval and Renaissance art (all those saints with their symbolic blossoms). So, I took out this book and tried to put together bouquets for various romantic couples. Here’s what I came up with…

Emma and Mr. Knightley Arbor vitae (everlasting friendship); Daffodil (chivalry, respect, uncertainty); Gorse (love in all seasons); Heliotrope (devotion); Honeysuckle (devoted affection); Lavender-colored roses (love at first sight–literally in their case); Lavender (devotion)

Elizabeth B. and Mr. Darcy Buttercup (riches); Mint (suspicion); Oats (music); Blue poppies (mystery, attaining the impossible); Red tulips (declaration of love); Light pink roses (desire, passion, joy of life); Wheat (wealth and prosperity)

Cathy and Heathcliff Amaranth (immortal love); Bird’s foot trefoil (revenge); Lobelia (malevolence); Mallow (consumed by love); Marigold (pain and grief); Love lies bleeding (hopelessness); Black poppy (death, hatred, farewell); anemone (forsaken, sickness). Wow, they sound like they’d be fun on Valentine’s Day…

Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester Acacia (secret, chaste love); Purple carnations (my heart aches for you); Oak leaf (strength), Oxeye daisy (patience); White poppy (consolation); Eglantine rose (a wound to heal); Elderflower (compassion); Snowdrop (consolation or hope); Blue and white violets (faithfulness/modesty)

Catherine Morland and Mr. Tilney Purple and white lilacs (first love/youthful innocence); Mullein (good nature); Cherry blossom (a good education); Forget-me-not (true love); Red and yellow mixed roses (joy, happiness, excitement)

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Any favorite romantic couples you’d like to send flowers to? And hey, what are your own favorite flowers? (I love pink roses and gardenias…)

I thought I’d try to write some Regency limericks…and so here goes!

Scientific discussions at White’s,
All too frequently ended in fights.
Until one gloomy day
When Beau Brummell did say:
“Far better invent brighter lights!”

Tom Belcher yelled “Miserable brat!
He’s splattered mud on my cravat!”
But Brummell looked glad,
And said “Don’t hit the lad,
You’ll be famous for looking like that.”

This world lit by candle and lamp,
Which all bears the Regency stamp,
Seems quite free and easy
In flicks from the BBC,
But the real thing was cold and too damp.

Anyone else want to give it a try? Or revise my limericks?

Cara
Cara King, who is hoping Bertie will write one in a comment…

Happy Saturday, everyone! First, a few tidbits: As Megan said yesterday, she and I are on Twitter (thanks to Keira’s urging, and my own never-ending quest to find ways to waste time online). Come and “follow” us, though most of my updates consist of “drinking tea and looking at stuff on Etsy while meant to be working.”

For the last, er, year or more, I have done no updates to my own blog, but am going to start doing at least a few, if only to keep myself up-to-date on what’s going on in my book world! Book releases, vacations, maybe what I’m reading that day. Visit me here!

MAC cosmetics is coming out with a genius new line of Hello Kitty goodies! I have a pink lipgloss called “Nice Kitty” on order…

And, most important, I have a new alter ego! Her name is Laurel McKee (Laurel being my middle name, McKee a random Irish name I liked), and she will be writing my “Daughters of Ireland” series with Grand Central Publishing! She’s hoping to have her new website unveiled St. Patrick’s Day, with the first book out February 2010. It’s going to be fun having a split personality!

And author Ann Radcliffe died on this date in 1823. She could be called “Queen of the Gothic novel,” as many of the standard elements of her plots can still be found in novels today, such as innocent heroines, dark, mysterious heroes, dramatic settings, and wicked villains. (And she was the most popular writer of her own day, influencing Keats and Scott among others, and forming the centerpiece of Catherine Morland’s literary obsessions in Northanger Abbey).

She was born in London in 1764, the only child of William and Anna Ward, and married William Radcliffe at age 22. (Radcliffe was a lawyer, and later editor and owner of The English Chronicle). Ann was said to be shy and reclusive, so not much was known about her private life, which gave rise to many rumors. (She had gone mad as a result of her terrible imagination and been sent to an asylum! She had been captured as a spy in Paris! She ate rare pork chops before bed to stimulate nightmares for her novels!)

J.M.S. Tompkins writes that in all Radcliffe’s novels “a beautiful and solitary girl is persecuted in picturesque surroundings, and, after many fluctuations of fortune, during which she seems again and again on the point of reaching safety, only to be thrust back again into the midst of perils, is restored to her friends and marries the man of her choice.” Sounds like the Victoria Holt stories I was addicted to as a teenager!

Her best known works include A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Italian (1796), and of course The Mysteries of Udolpho. She also wrote a travelogue, A Journey Through Holland and the Western Frontier of Germany (1795) and various poems, which were published by her husband after her death along with the historical romance Gaston de Blondville.

More information can be found (mostly on the books, since the details of her life are still obscure–though I doubt the pork thing) in Deborah Rogers’ Ann Radcliffe: A Biography-Bibliography (1996).Have you ever read any of Radcliffe’s works? Have any favorite modern Gothic authors?? I’m thinking a Mysteries of Udolpho-theme Halloween party would be lots of fun…

Have you ever read any of Radcliffe’s books? Have any favorite modern Gothic authors? And what might you wear to my Halloween party???

I’m over at the History Hoydens today, talking about sewing boxes and embroidery–or at least I think I will be, since I have notes but nothing written yet.

I woke up today thinking that I really should send out my allegedly quarterly newsletter. It really depends what you mean by quarterly. Sometimes my quarters are only about two months long, and sometimes, as now, they span the seasons. Because I’m a great believer in only sending out a newsletter when I have something to say, and for long chunks of time I don’t.
I can’t produce giggly writerly stuff about what my family and/or cat is doing (mostly asleep) and my fabulous writerly life (because I don’t seem to have that sort of life), and exciting places I’ve visited (because generally I don’t go anywhere). And, oh, yeah, sign up here.

And at the moment I do have something to say, which is that I’m getting a new website from designer Haven Rich, who gave us this beauteous new Riskies blog–we’ve just started work and I’m very excited about it. When it goes live on May 1 I’ll have a contest. And there’s more, like a book coming out in August, and sneak peeks and so on.

Now the Riskies newsletter always has something to say–that’s how you get advance warning on guests, contests, and special topics for the month–and I squeeze it out every month from yahoo (which really don’t like you to send great chunks of mail). What, you’re not signed up for the Riskies newsletter? Good heavens. Sign up now, please. Send an email to riskies @ yahoo.com (without the spaces) and put newsletter in the subject line. (We’re still getting lots of mail from people who want bank account information and/or prayers or something else I’m not likely to release, and I don’t want to miss you.)

There are a couple of newsletters I find really informative and which I’d like to share with you:

The Jane Austen Center. This is a fabulous resource with both scholarly and fun articles about Austen, Bath, and her times and, if you browse around the site, you can spend large amounts of money (still, even now the dollar is stronger) in the gift shop which does indeed ship worldwide.

Book Marketing Experts–written by a team who are the leaders in book marketing online and who really understand the Internet and how web sites and newfangled things like Twitter work.

And nothing to do with the Regency or writing, but just incredibly entertaining, Cartalk’s Time Kill Weekly, which always includes a lame joke and, they, like me, have a rather fluid sense of time.

What do you think makes a good newsletter, and which ones do you enjoy?