Santa, if you sent your email to collect your Jane Austen Evening prize, it was eaten by the monsters of cyberspace, because we never received it. Please resend it to riskies@yahoo.com by Monday night, or we’ll have to give the prize to another worthy commenter!

The Riskies

When I was a kid, my parents had a beautiful coffee table book about Great Archaeological Sites of the World. I was totally fascinated by it, spent hours poring over photos of the Valley of the Kings, the Parthenon, Newgrange, Scandinavian bog bodies, etc. Somehow I became convinced there was Viking treasure in our backyard (because the Vikings could have sailed a longship into the desert of Albuquerque, right?), and set up my own dig in our backyard. My parents weren’t too happy I tore up our precious patch of grass, but our dogs were able assistants in the digging process. They even unearthed some bones, though they sadly proved to be old Nylabones they themselves buried and not the remains of Viking warriors.

I’ve never quite lost that fascination with archaeology and the ancient world. So, I was very happy to meet the heroines of my new Regency series, “The Muses of Mayfair.” The Chase sisters are the daughters of a renowned scholar and antiquarian, who named his children after the Greek Muses. Calliope, Clio, and Thalia aren’t content with just inspiring people, though–they’re passionate scholars in their own right. And their romances take place against the backdrop of antiquities and archeological skullduggery.

In Book One, To Catch a Rogue, we met the eldest Muse Calliope, who suspected Cameron de Vere, Earl of Westwood, of being London’s infamous Lily Thief and determined to catch him out. A bit of a nuisance when she fell in love with him, then…

Book Two, To Deceive a Duke, is Clio’s story, and is out in the UK this month! Clio is the most fiery and independent of the Chase Muses, and her love for the mysterious Duke of Averton is just as unpredictable. They parted on, shall we say, less than amiable terms in To Catch a Rogue. Now they meet again on an archaeological dig in sun-blasted Sicily, where Clio is set on saving a fabulous collection of Hellenistic silver (based on the famous Morgantina Hoard). Is the duke on her side, allied with her against a host of dangerous villains? Or is he, too, out to steal the silver–and destroy her in the process?

Book Three, Thalia’s story To Kiss a Count (set in Bath) will be out later this year. And all 3 will be released in the US, in consecutive months, in 2010! I am so excited about that.

To win a copy of To Decieve a Duke, go to Nicola Cornick’s website and check out our joint contest! TDAD can also be ordered from Amazon.uk and Harlequin Mills and Boon.

What were some of your favorite childhood passions? Have any favorite archeological sites? And what color satin dress do you think Thalia will show up in on her cover? (I also call this series “The Bridesmaid Muses,” since they appear to have escaped from a pastel-hued wedding party! I vote for pale blue…)

Hello everyone! First of all, I know everyone joins me in sending our love to Elena and her family, along with best wishes for her husband’s speedy recovery. I’ve big shoes to fill, but I’m honored the Riskies have invited me to guest blog today. It’s always such fun to be part of the lively exchange of ideas here!

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about not just the written word but the spoken word. I wasn’t one of those kids who went out for school plays, so when my editor at Grand Central Publishing asked me to do a podcast on why I love the Regency era, I was more than a little nervous. And then, on top of that, I was asked to be part of a romance reading in New York City next week. Gulp. Speak aloud? Read from my books? The sweat was already trickling down my spine.

Writing the podcast was easy–then I started to practice saying it aloud. The first attempt came out as a croak. The second herky-jerky stumbling. Finally, I was able to get through it without too many hitches. But now, that reading awaits, and I’ve started another round of practice. For those who haven’t tried it, reading aloud isn’t easy! Oh, mumbling the words doesn’t take much effort, but to capture the mood and nuances of the story, to make the characters come alive, is a daunting challenge. It made me realize how, with CDs, DVDs, TV, I-pods, and the Internet to keep ourselves amused, reading aloud is pretty much a lost art.

Of course, that wasn’t so in the Regency. Just look at the novels of Jane Austen to see countless examples of how the practice was woven into the fabric of everyday life. Fanny Price, like so many poor relations and paid companions, was expected to keep her aunt’s boredom at bay by reading to her. The Bennet sisters had to sit through Mr. Collins’s pompous readings of religious texts.

We’re also constantly reminded of how one of the main sources of evening entertainment for a family was reading a novel together after dinner, with each family member taking a turn. Poetry was also popular–though I imagine not many parents allowed their daughters to recite Byron’s Don Juan aloud!

The more I thought about it, the more I realized the oral tradition of storytelling has been part of the human experience since the dawn of civilization. Starting with the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, which dates from around 2000 BC, where we see the archetypal theme of “hero and quest”–ha, you see, romance was at the root of our imagination even then! This continues with Beowulf and epic Greek poems like The Illiad and The Odyssey.

The Middle Ages saw the rise of the troubadour tradition, which combined epic poetry and song. The French courts developed the idea of Courtly Love, and Eleanor of Aquitaine brought this tradition to England when she married Henry II. During this time we also see the rise of the Arthurian legends. Love, honor, jealousy, sex, betrayal–the romance is heating up!

Dante, Milton…I could go on and on, but fast-forward to today, where the idea of going and listenting to someone reading aloud seems something of an oddity, a quaint, old-fashioned throwback to the past. I suppose that audio books are the closest thing we have to the oral tradition.

But back to my own experience. After practicing until I’m blue in the face, I have come to two realizations. One–I made a wise career choice in steering away from the performing arts. Two–much as I want to like listenting to stories, I still prefer to read them. I’m one of those people who just doesn’t follow a narrative well by listening. It seems to go in one ear and out the other. My mind wanders–I forget what I heard–a particular voice isn’t my idea of the character. I need to see the words on the page (yes, I still prefer books to e-readers!) to go at my own pace, to hear my own voices for the characters.

What about you? Do you enjoy both? Can you absorb both?

What are some favorite stories for hearing aloud?

Andrea will be reading, along with Hope Tarr, at 7:00 pm on February 2, at Madame X, 94 West Houston Street! More details here

Did you do Mad Libs as a kid? I certainly did. I loved how the random words we all submitted turned into wacky stories.

I didn’t know until recently that they were still published, but they are! So I was happily able to buy my nephew some Star Wars Mad Libs recently…

Now, just for the heck of it, I’m going to try to do one myself: a Jane Austen Mad Lib.

So: please suggest words that fit the following categories, and then later today I’ll post the finished version!

ABSTRACT IDEA:
ADVERB:
KIND OF PERSON:
POSSESSION:
MEMBER OF FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD:
DEGREE/EXTENT:
PLURAL NOUN:
ANOTHER PLURAL NOUN:
PLACE:
GROUP OF HUMANS:
ANOTHER MEMBER OF FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD:

So just suggest as many as you like, and I will take a random assortment of suggestions, and we’ll see what we get!

And don’t forget: next Tuesday, we’ll be discussing the Leslie Howard version of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL!

Cara
Cara King, who owns many plural nouns

Last Tuesday, of course, was finally the inauguration of President Obama! I watched TV all day, and besides the speeches and music and oaths, I wanted to see who wore what. (Shallow of me, I know, but it seems I was not alone–when I googled “Michelle Obama inauguration clothes” I found millions of hits!). I thought she looked great, both in the Isabel Toledo lemony-yellow dress and coat and the floaty white goddess gown by young New York designer Jason Wu. Elegant and appropriate, without being stuffy or dowdy (though I did not care for those green shoes!). Malia and Sasha Obama were adorable–I must get an orange scarf to go with my pink coat, immediately.

I have to say, though, my favorite outfits of the day belonged to Jill Biden. The red coat and groovy boots, the red chiffon Reem Acra gown–gorgeous. I love the way these women are making it not only fine, but fashionable, to be both smart and serious and have fun with clothes!

It made me wonder–what did some of the great ladies of history wear for their coronations? What I found: lots of white satin, gold embroidery, purple velvet, and ermine! I saw none of that on Tuesday…

Elizabeth I (January 15, 1559)

Marie Antoinette (I could not actually find a portrait; it was described as white satin, embroidered with gold thread, pearls, and sapphires. The date was June 11, 1775)

Queen Charlotte (September 22, 1761–she had just been married on September 8)

Empress Josephine (December 2, 1804)

Queen Victoria (June 28, 1838)

Tsarina Alexandra (May 14, 1896)

Elizabeth II (June 2, 1953–gown by Norman Hartnell, who also did her wedding dress in 1947. The embroidery is emblems of the British Empire)

If you were going to a coronation or an inauguration, what would you wear???