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Virgin Territory

Updated on September 6, 2008 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

So, last week was the season premier of Gossip Girl, IMO the second greatest show on TV right now (behind only the sublime Mad Men. When Pushing Daisies comes back on, it may drop to third. We’ll see). The premier was great. Hamptons summer fabulosity, complete with beaches, tea on the lawn, croquet, and a big snooty party! Serena and Dan back together! Nate having a torrid affair with an older married woman! Lots of Blair and Chuck bickering (my favorite)!

Best of all, Blair’s new flame is a British lord. Oh, at first he tried to pretend to be a “normal American guy” from Princeton (or Georgetown), until Chuck’s PI (of course he has a PI on speed dial–he’s Chuck Bass) put an end to that deception. I am really looking forward to seeing where this storyline goes, though the preview of next week’s episode doesn’t give me confidence in their proper title usage.

There are, of course, no virgins on GG (not since Blair lost hers to Chuck in that limo). None on Mad Men, either, now that I think about it. But I did run across this article on the Guardian’s book blog about Top Ten Literary Virgins. Yes, authors who did not squander their energies in the back of limos or on futons under fake snowstorms. No, they used them for Art. Or whatever.

The list includes: Jane Austen (natch), Emily Dickinson (double natch), Queen Elizabeth I (who wrote poetry as well as, y’know, running England), Henry James (I did not know that; interesting), Gerard Manley Hopkins, Yeats, Shaw, Christina Rosetti, and Anne Widdicombe (MP and novelist).

The article says about Austen, “Despite the ‘quite a bit of sex’ smeared on her life and work by the biopic Becoming Jane and virtually all the recent screen adaptations (notably the obnoxious Mansfield Park), the author of Pride and Prejudice…died intacta. All 6 of her major heroines are as virginal on the last page as they were on the first. Does the fact that Austen ‘never had it’ make her a greater, or lesser, writer? Is chastity the enemy of genius?”

Huh. I dunno. Not in the case of Austen, for sure. What do you think?

Who are some of your favorite ‘literary virgins’? And what TV shows are you looking forward to this Fall?

Be sure and join us tomorrow when we welcome back Christine Wells! She will dish about her latest book, The Dangerous Duke, and give away TWO copies to lucky commenters…

The Weekend After

Updated on August 30, 2008 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

So, I used to think RWA was the loudest, the most crowded, the most emotional group experience there was. But that was before I saw 80,000 people screaming as fireworks went off, confetti flew, and history got made. It was truly amazing. I don’t want to bore everyone here by prattling on about politics. I can only say I see now what drove women like the Duchess of Devonshire and the Countess of Bessborough (and Abigail Adams and Elizabeth Cady Stanton) to get out there and work so very hard. The idea that it’s within our power to affect real change in our lives is wonderful stuff, especially since within the space of just two generations we have come so very far (when my grandmother was born in early 1920, women still had four months to go before they got the right to vote). No matter what happens in November, I saw great things happen this week, and I will always be grateful for that.

And now, I am exhausted and hoarse, running on little sleep and lots of strong tea! But I want to say happy 211th birthday to another extraordinary women, Mary Godwin Shelley. Mary Shelley was born August 30, 1797 to the philosophers and radicals Mary Wollstonecraft (who died in childbirth) and William Godwin. In 1814, she fell in love with one of her father’s political acolytes, Percy Bysshe Shelley (who was married), and eloped with him to the Continent (along with her wild stepsister, Claire Clairmont). She didn’t marry Shelley until 1816, after the suicide of his first wife Harriet and the death of their first baby.

In 1817, she spent a famous summer with Shelley, Claire, Byron, and John William Polidori in Switzerland, where she came up with the idea for her most famous work, Frankenstein. They went to Italy in 1818, where they had 3 more children (only one, Percy Florence, survived childhood). In 1822, Shelley drowned when his sailboat sank during a storm in the Bay of La Spezia. A year later, Mary returned to England, devoting the rest of her life to the memory of her husband, the upbringing of her surviving son, and literary endeavors. She died in 1851 at the age of 53.

She is mostly (only?) known now for Frankenstein, but she also wrote historical novels such as Valperga and Perkin Warbeck, and the apocalyptic novel The Last Man, as well as travelogues such as Rambles in Germany and Italy.

A couple of sources on Mary Shelley I really like are Miranda Seymour’s biography Mary Shelley and Janet Todd’s Death and the Maidens. (When I was a teenager, there was a terribly cheesy movie I rented once. I think it was called Haunted Summer, and it was fun, though I don’t know if it’s still out there! Young Frankenstein is also fantastic, though maybe not strictly in the tone of Shelley’s book…)

Happy Birthday, Mary Shelley! And happy Long Nap Weekend to me! What is your favorite Mary Shelley work?

Cara at the World Science Fiction Convention

Updated on August 26, 2008 by Elena Greene

The first week in August, as soon as I returned from the Romance Writers of America conference in San Francisco, I flew off to Denver to attend the World Science Fiction Convention, a gathering of authors, artists, fans, agents, editors, costumers, musicians, and more, all to celebrate science fiction and fantasy. Whee!

The Guest of Honor this year was Lois McMaster Bujold, who’s won award after award for her science fiction and fantasy novels (and who’s one of my favorite authors ever.)

First, I read through the program to see which panels and events I didn’t want to miss.

On the first day I attended a reception held in Bujold’s honor, called Summerfair on Barrayar.

(In Bujold’s science fiction books, Barrayar is a planet recovering from centuries of a semi-medieval existence (complete with lords, duels, horses, and arranged marriages), and joining a much more sophisticated, modern galaxy in which — gasp! — starship pilots are often women, and sometimes hermaphrodites or clones.)

Some of us came in costume — and there was dancing. (Both are shown in this photo taken by the official Worldcon photographer, Keith McClune. Todd is the ghem lord in the makeup, and I’m the Vor lady on the left.)

The next day was Bujold’s Guest of Honor speech — and she made lots of interesting points about science fiction, fantasy, and romance.

Bujold also was on plenty of panels, and had two signings and two readings. (More on those later!)

One of her panels that I found particularly interesting was a discussion between her, SF author Lillian Stewart Carl, and fantasy writer Patricia Wrede (Regency fans may know her as the author of the Regency-set MAIRELON THE MAGICIAN books or as the co-author of the SORCERY AND CECELIA series.)

Pictured here (photo also by Keith McClune) with moderator Peggy Rae Sapienza, they talked about how they had come together as a critique group back when only one of them was published, and how they’ve stayed friends through all the ups and downs of their three very different careers.

By the way, Bujold herself has a Regency link — her A CIVIL CAMPAIGN is dedicated to Georgette Heyer, among others, and is a romantic comedy in the true Regency style (with science fictional twists, of course!)

When I wasn’t worshipping at the altar of Bujold, or buying way too many books and pieces of elvish pottery, I could often be found attending the panels of a bright young fellow named Todd Brun.

Here are two more Keith McClune photos:

(1) photo of Todd explaining quantum computers…

and

(2) photo of the rapt audience.

(Rapt.)

(Completely.)

(Some in cool costumes.)

(Or with other accoutrements.)

(Don’t you wish you’d been there?)

Todd was on several panels…

including one in which he explained how to build a time machine in your basement.

(See how serious he looks?)

(Because time machines are serious things.)

(You wouldn’t want to mess up and accidentally delete the human race or something.)

Todd, of course, is hard to equal…

But I must say the high point of the convention for me was when Lois McMaster Bujold read the first several chapters of the next Vorkosigan book!!!!!!!!

Even her editor hadn’t yet laid eyes on it.

And it won’t be published for something like two years.

And we got to hear it!!!!!

Here she is…

reading from her manuscript…

Ah.

What more could a fangirl ask?

So…that was me at Worldcon.

How about you? Have you ever been to a SFF convention, a fan convention, or similar? Have you ever read any Bujold (or Wrede or Carl)? Ever bought any elvish pottery? (I LOVE this stuff. The artist, Peri Charlifu, does AMAZING work.)

All answers welcome!

And be sure to visit us next Tuesday, when we’ll be discussing the film MASTER AND COMMANDER as part of our Jane Austen Movie Club!

Cara
Cara King, author of My Lady Gamester and fangirl extraordinaire

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 23 Replies

Winners!

Updated on August 24, 2008 by Diane Gaston

Here are our Birthday Week Winners!

All Winners please email us your contact information at riskies@yahoo.com

Diane’s Winner……Santa!

Santa wins the special Mills & Boon Centenary edition of The Vanishing Viscountess, the one that includes the bonus story of The Mysterious Miss M AND a Risky Regency button.

Cara’s Winner……Maya Rodale!

Maya wins ONE of the following three prizes:
(1) three Signet Regencies: THE ABDUCTED BRIDE by Dorothy Mack; TWIN PERIL by Susannah Carleton; and MY LADY GAMESTER (signed, natch) by Cara King.
(2) a Region One (i.e. US & Canada) DVD of the 1985 miniseries of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.
(3) Guidebook to the Museum of Costume & Assembly Rooms in Bath (with lots of full color pictures.)

Elena’s Winner……Caffey!

Caffey wins – a copy of LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE; – plus her choice of one of Elena’s earliest releases, either LORD LANGDON’S KISS or HIS BLUSHING BRIDE (an anthology with Regina Scott and Alice Holden).

Janet’s Winner…….Susan Wilbanks!

Susan wins a signed copy of each of Janet’s books, Dedication, The Rules of Gentility, and Forbidden Shores (the last written as Jane Lockwood) or a critique.

Megan’s Winner……Lois!
Lois wins a copy of Megan’s book, A Singular Lady, as well as a copy of the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Amanda’s Winner……Kammie!

Kammie wins copies of both Amanda’s Renaissance books, A Notorious Woman and A Sinful Alliance (or, if you have already won these, a copy of one of Amanda’s out-of-print Signet Regencies!), plus a silver Brighton bookmark!

Ladies, email us at riskies@yahoo.com with your addresses and, if you need to make a choice, what choice you’ve made.

And thank you all for being a part of Risky Regencies!

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 10 Replies

Happy Birthday To Us!

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

Hello, everyone! Amanda here, sitting in for Elena, who is off traveling the world. She’ll be with you on Saturday to wrap up our anniversary/new blog look week. In the meantime, I am finishing up the WIP, thinking of new projects, and coming up with all the ways I love the Riskies. (I am also going to borrow from Cara, and list some favorite posts of the past year!). So, what I like the most:

1) The friends, of course! Building a cozy little place here has introduced me to so many far-flung new friends, who share not only my love of history (some would say geek-dom of history, but they just don’t understand…) but let me ramble on about fashion, perfume, English real estate, and Orlando/James/Matthew. It’s great to come here every day, even if work is dreary or the book is stalled, and know something fun will be going on and there will be people to “talk” to.

And speaking of history geek-dom, I really enjoyed putting together this “Dating Life: 2008 vs 1543” post because I got to talk about Katherine Parr. I was astonished to hear that everyone doesn’t have a favorite wife of Henry VIII! 🙂

I also really liked doing this “Women in Politics” post, centered around the Duchess of Devonshire and her political campaigning. I am going to the Democratic National Convention next week, so things like this have been much in my mind lately. We have certainly progressed, though maybe not as quickly as women like Georgiana would have liked!

2) Interviews! I love doing interviews with authors, either ones who are already friends or ones whose work I’ve admired but have never been able to meet them in person. The last thing I need is more books on that TBR pile, but when I hear about the great ones coming out I can’t help myself! Yes, I am Amanda and I am a bookaholic. I really enjoyed this Nicola Cornick interview from July, though now that she has been recruited to be my tour guide to Hever Castle next month she might be sorry she came here!

3) Theme weeks. Once we get them together (I believe Janet mentioned something about herding cats…) they are great fun. This year we had Waterloo Week and a whole week of celebrating Jane Austen’s birthday

I also love discussions of historical movies (the rest of the year should be full of this, with releases like The Duchess and Young Victoria), writing tips, travel advice, etc. Too many things to list here!

So, what are your favorite things about Risky Regencies? What sort of posts do you enjoy the most? What would you like to see more of in the future?

I will give away copies of both my Renaissance books, A Notorious Woman and A Sinful Alliance (or, if you have already won these, a copy of one of my out-of-print Signet Regencies!), plus a silver Brighton bookmark!

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 26 Replies