Wheeee! A Sale!

Quick post this week because sometimes Life just piles up on you...

These last months have been spent getting ready for Evergreen’s release on November 5, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about my other children books. . .more specifically, about Between Silk and Sand. I’m delighted to announce that it is a finalist in the Young Adult category of Orange County RWA’s 2019 Book Buyer’s Best contest, which is both exciting and a great honor.

Partly in celebration of that, and partly as a pre-party for Evergreen’s release, I decided to have a sale on Between Silk and Sand. For the next two weeks, the e-book version will be on sale for 99¢ (regularly $4.99), available from all your favorite ebook vendors. So grab a copy now. . .and meanwhile, I’ll go deal with those big piles of Life (and no, not the breakfast cereal) I’ve got going here...

Happy shopping!

Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Amazon
Apple Books
Googleplay

Morning or Evening?

Here’s a rather curious fashion plate from the February 1812 edition of the delightful La Belle Assemblée, showing fashions for March...except this one had me very confused for a bit. Let me explain...

It’s a fun print...but I was confused by the attention paid to the props (the desk and its contents) rather than to the evening dress the should be the focus of the plate. “That’s an odd presentation for an evening dress,” I thought. “Who is going to be doing watercolor painting in an evening dress?”

As it happens, no one. I looked the print up in an on-line edition scan of La Belle Assemblée, and was bemused to see that it was a Morning Dress in the scan. Make much more sense to be painting watercolors in a morning dress...but the mystery remains as to why the print in my possession is has the title “Evening Dress.” Maybe it’s an out-take... ☺

So let’s look at the dress itself:

"Morning, or Home Costume  
A white cambric frock, with a demi train; short sleeves fastened up in front with cordon and tassels; a necklace formed of two rows of opal; the hair dressed in full curls, and confined by a demi turban of very fine muslin tied on the right side with a small bow; silk stockings with lace clocks, richly brocaded, and plain black kid slippers.”

Funny how the description has more to say about the stockings (which aren’t visible in the illustration) than about the dress itself! The lack of adornment makes the sleeve decoration more noticeable; if one were to wear an apron while painting, perhaps, this would make sense. This dress feels authentic because of the very lack of ornamentation; what practical miss would waste lace and other expensive trimmings on a dress that no one would see and which might get paint-stained?

Let's also take a closer look at the table. I see a palette and brush at the far right, a box of colors at the top partly hidden by the papers on the easel, an album under the easel and a lot of pieces of paper fluttering from the drawer and stacked in the easel. Note also the green baize top to the table; I wonder if it could be replaced with a clean piece when necessary?

I love this print; what do you think?

(And speaking of love...I am thrilled to report that Between Silk and Sand won first place in the Young Adult Category of the Wisconsin RWA’s Write Touch Award!)

Some Book Good News...and a Request for Your Help

I am delighted to announce that Between Silk and Sand has been chosen as a finalist in two more contests...but for these, YOU and other readers help decide the outcome, by voting for your favorites.

I’m especially excited that Between Silk and Sand is a finalist in InD’tale Magazine’s 2019 RONE Awards, Best Young Adult category. Finalists are those 2018 books that have received a 4.5 or higher star rating/Crowned Heart of Excellence from InD’tale Magazine; the top four books in the category will go on to be judged by industry professionals to name the winner. But to chose those final four, readers must vote!

If you have a few minutes, please go to https://www.indtale.com/how-subscribe to get signed in to vote; it’s a two-step process (you’ll register, then receive a verification code to click on). Then you’ll be free to vote—this week, for the YA and Suspense/Thriller categories—but also for the other categories coming up in the next few weeks. A complete list of finalists is here—check it out!

The second contest is a little closer to home for me. The 2019 Maine Romance Writers’ annual Strut Your Stuff Award judges the best romance novel packaging—the cover and back cover blurb—for books published in 2018. It’s a little more nuanced than most cover contests: you rate the covers and blurbs separately, on their own merits—so the winners will truly have the best “stuff” to strut! The finalist lists and links to vote are here...go have a read and a look, and rate the covers and blurbs.

Publishing is a tough business, and the toughest part of it for authors isn’t the writing (nope—that’s the fun part) but the visibility part—getting the world to even know you have a book for it to read. That’s why I’ve entered Between Silk and Sand in these contests...and your votes will help me get the word out about it. If you can take the time to vote in either of these contests, I thank you—it is most truly appreciated!

The Day After April Fool’s

I’m not much of an April Fool’s Day prankster, but I did catch one April Fool joke yesterdaythat amused the heck out of me: down-filled swimwear from outdoor clothing specialist Eddie Bauer!

 
Well done, EB—you certainly made me smile!

But clothing humor is not a modern phenomenon, as we’ve already seen on NineteenTeen: 19th century folks liked to dress up in silly costumes as much as anyone, especially when there was a ball in the offing. Witness this charming couple at a costumed ball from the pages of The Court and Lady’s Magazine, probably ca. 1838, trying to look like their grandparents did sixty years before (though the cut of the man's coat just screams late 1830s!)

 



In the same vein, notice the figures behind the main pair—it looks like the gentleman in the pink trousers raided his parents’ attic for that ca. 1805 coat and hat and exaggerated cravat! I'm not sure what his fair companion is supposed to be—a bank robber, maybe? Behind them I see a...a shepherd? And heaven knows what that other gentleman is supposed to be. ☺

 


And even more wonderful are these costumes from Petit Courrier des Dames, Journal des Modes from December 1833 with a distinctive international flair—and very short skirts!! I suppose if one is disguised as a Scottish (love the plaid ribbons lacing up her dancing slippers), Swiss (I think the braids, a la "Swiss Miss", are supposed to be the clincher), or German (okay, why this costume is supposed to be distinctively German somehow eludes me...) lady, it’s possible to get way with displaying one’s ankles and calves in such a fashion...though I'm not sure the ladies of Scotland, Switzerland, or Germany would have agreed that these were very representative.

Now, here’s some nice news that isn’t at all an April Fool joke: Between Silk and Sand is a finalist in the young adult categories in both the Reader’s ChoiceAward contest of the New England Chapter of RWA and in the Write Touch Contest of Wisconsin RWA. Even if it isn't a joke, it has certainly made me smile!

Some Good News, and a Thank You

Sometimes, good things happen when you least expect them.

I’ve been completely preoccupied with family issues this fall—preoccupied to the point that I haven’t written anything new since the summer or even thought much about writing. Life is finally calming down to the point that I was starting to think that maybe one of these days I could get back to writing again...but I’ve been afraid that I won’t be able to—that I’ve lost the knack of putting words on paper and telling stories...or worse, that I won’t have any stories to tell because they’ve dried up while I’ve been busy elsewhere. I know that sounds irrational...but writers are funny creatures. Look up “imposter syndrome” when you have a moment. 😟

Then, a week or so ago, I received some unexpected good news: “Alea Iacta Est”, my story in the Book View Café Anthology Nevertheless, She Persisted, won second place in the Short Historical Fiction category of the International Digital Awards, which I’d completely forgotten I had entered last summer. It was a nice piece of news...as was the email that arrived a couple of hours later, informing me that Between Silk and Sand had won the Young Adult Novel category in the same contest. But more importantly, it reminded me that yes, I really am a writer...and while I’ve been temporarily unable to write anything new due to circumstances beyond my control, nothing can prevent me from getting back to work when time and mental space permits. 

And the “thank you” part? That’s simply because I’m grateful to all of you who visit NineteenTeen and who’ve read my work, bought my work, borrowed it from the library, lent it to friends...without you, this whole writing thing would be a lot less fun.  As a further thank you, I’ve posted a brand new short story, not available anywhere else, on my website for newsletter subscribers. It’s a romantic contemporary fantasy short titled “A Perfect Night for a Trip on the Lake”—to access it, go to http://eepurl.com/bVDwlf
 
Here’s to more words shared. Soon.

Prints in Prints?

I’ve been rather puzzled by something over the last several months as I’ve posted the fabric samples advertisements that appeared in  Ackermann's Repository: if patterned fabrics, be they prints or jacquards, were so popular (after all, we've seen a lot of them in the samples), why do we almost never see dresses in Ackermann’s Repository made from them?*

A recent acquisition, however, has finally addressed that issue. I already own and, indeed, had blogged about this plate from the February 1809 issue, depicting a buxom lady in a Half Dress (and no, that's not half a dress—"half dress" meant garb in a slighter more casual, less formal vein, perhaps for attending a smaller private party--as opposed to "full dress.") It is described as an Egyptian head-dress of silver and pearls, one point falling on the left shoulder, finished with a tassel; the hair in loose ringlets; pearl ear-rings, bracelets, and necklace; a train dress of brocaded sarsnet, trimmed with silver and vandyked; [I rather suspect this semi-colon should not be here] lace round the neck in form of a tucker, long sleeves of Mecklin or Brussels lace; white gloves and fan; shoes the same as the dress, of brocaded silk, with silver bows.

But looking at this print, it's not easy to see that the fabric is supposed to be a brocade. Which is why I was delighted recently to run across another copy of this print, which was colorized very differently as you can see at left. The sparing touches of red make it much easier to see that the original engraving was doing its best to depict a patterned fabric.

For whatever reason, as you can see in this close-up, the colorist handled adding the color to it very differently...and it's plain to see that this dress was indeed made of a patterned fabric, perhaps like some of the sarsnets we've already seen.

And now I feel a little bit less puzzled. ☺

And speaking of prints...I'm very happy to report that Between Silk and Sand is a finalist in the young adult category of the I Heart Indie Contest, sponsored by the Las Vegas Romance Writers of America, which judges the cover presentation of indie and small press books. Category winners and the Best of the Best will be announced later this fall--keep your fingers crossed!

*I'm sure this question has kept you all awake at night as well. Right? 

Between Silk and Sand is Here...an Excerpt.

I'm still dancing round the room (well, metaphorically anyway) over the release of Between Silk and Sand, just released on Tuesday from Book View Cafe. 

While I've posted a first chapter sneak-peek sample of Between Silk and Sand on my website, I thought it would be fun to give our dear NineteenTeen readers a further sneak-peek into the story...one that occurs at a pivotal point in the story. Enjoy!

* * * 

Talnith slunk in, carrying their saddlebags. “This is an inn?” she sniffed, dropping into a chair. “Don’t see no kitchen. Do the Day-hans cook their food?”

Saraid looked around the room. The walls appeared to be of baked mud, smoothed and polished and red in the lantern light. Hangings made of dyed string knotted into elaborate patterns decorated the walls, and carved beams supported the high, rounded roof. It was foreign but attractive in a spare, simple way. “Things are done differently in different places, Talnith. I expect the kitchen is elsewhere so that it doesn’t get too hot in here during the day.”

“A clever observation,” said a voice, “which happens to be correct.”

Saraid managed not to visibly jump—probably because she was too tired to do so—and turned. A man dressed in Adaihan robes, his hood drawn partly across his face, leaned against the door the innkeeper’s wife had vanished through, though far back enough that she couldn’t get a good look at him. “It seemed to make sense,” she replied.

The man inclined his head, then stepped into the room from the shadowed doorway. He was tall, much taller than the innkeeper. “And yes, the Adaihans do cook,” he said to Talnith. “This inn is known for its good food.”

Talnith looked at him appraisingly. “How would you be knowin’ that, then? Are you the cook here? And what do the Day-hans eat, anyway? Sand and rocks?”

He laughed. “No, I’m not the cook. And they don’t eat sand. Adaihan cooking makes use of plants and animals that can survive in the desert. Sheep and goats can live here, so expect to see them on your plates.”

His accent was different, crisper, though with a trace of the Adaihan vowels she’d heard in the speech of the innkeeper and his wife. Was he the traveler occupying the other room? Whoever he was, chatting with a stranger hardly seemed proper. “I am sure whatever we’re served will be quite edible, Talnith. Thank you,” she said to the man, trying to sound pleasantly dismissive.

He turned toward her. Saraid got an uncomfortable feeling that he found her amusing. She’d mentally scolded Captain Zamas for nearly calling her “Your Highness” a few minutes ago, and now here she was, acting like one. She took a deep breath and said, “Pardon me if I was ungracious, but it has been a long ride. Won’t you sit with us?”

“My thanks.” The man sat in the chair across from her, putting back his hood as he did.

Oh. Whatever she had expected him to look like, it hadn’t included bright gold hair worn long and a little shaggy, curling around his ears, and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. His skin was dark, the weathered tan of someone who had spent years in the bright, hot sun. Not that he seemed very old. Somewhere in his twenties, a few years older than she. His brows and eyelashes were the same gold as his hair, and his smile was open and sunny despite the lines around his eyes and forehead that somehow seemed older than the rest of him.

Next to her Talnith sat up straighter. “So tell me more about this Day-han food,” she said, pouting her lips in a way that probably was supposed to be enticing. “How good is it?”

“Very good indeed, though it can vary depending on local customs.” Saraid caught a twinkle in the young man’s eyes as he looked at them. “I’ve heard that some Adaihan women down south by the Nolorish border make soup by putting a live hainsh-fowl and several hatsuan peppers in a kettle of water and setting it out in the sun at midday, so that by nightfall it’s nicely simmered.”

Saraid tried to match his solemn tone. “It gets that hot down there, does it?”

He glanced at her sideways, and the twinkle deepened. “It does. Though if your fowl is large, you’re best putting it out earlier, right after you rise in the morning.”

“Ah.” Saraid nodded. “Of course. I should have guessed as much.”

Talnith shot her a suspicious look, then turned back to the young man. “That’s just plain nasty. What about the feathers and all?”

“Oh, the feathers dissolve into the broth, thanks to the peppers. They give it a distinctive flavor, so it’s said,” the young man replied. “And the feet stew up nicely, so that they’re quite tender. The mothers save them for their teething babies to chew on.”

Saraid just managed not to giggle. Talnith looked queasy. “That ain’t true…is it?”

The innkeeper’s wife came back into the room, carrying a large pitcher and cups of glazed red clay. She paused when she saw the man, then set her tray on the table and bowed, looking anxious. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to wake you—”

“Water! I thought I’d never see it again!” Talnith nearly lunged across the table for the pitcher. She poured herself a cup and gulped it down, then another.

“Cold palm-mint tea, actually.” The man took the pitcher from her, poured a cup, and handed it to Saraid, glancing quizzically at Talnith as he did. “Thirsty, were you?”

“We was dyin’ of it,” Talnith said dramatically, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. “Old Captain Stick-up-the-Pants got us lost when we was hiding from those Day—” She broke off into a grunt as Saraid kicked her foot.

“We were somewhat delayed and running low on water,” Saraid said blandly. “Talnith, when you’ve drunk your fill, could you bring our packs to our room?” Where later on maybe Captain Zamas could fit her with a muzzle. Pox it, she’d warned Talnith about watching what she said! The fewer details anyone learned about them, the better. And double poxes on her for ruining the silly conversation they’d been having with him. She hadn’t had such fun in weeks.

Talnith glowered but didn’t dare argue. “Yes’m,” she said, and chugged down a last cup of the tea, then followed the innkeeper’s wife through the door.

Saraid glanced at the young man. His liveliness seemed to have left the room with Talnith; now he was pouring himself some tea, staring at the cup with a concentration that the simple act didn’t seem to require. Was he thinking about what Talnith had just said?

She leaned back against her chair and closed her eyes as she sipped her tea. Maybe if she drank it slowly, instead of slurping it down the way she really wanted to, the man would think that Talnith had been exaggerating. What had he said it was? Palm-mint? Whatever it was, it was delicious—cool and fresh, like the essence of green. If the Adaihans had created this, they probably did know a thing or two about food.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the young man was gazing at her with a thoughtful frown on his face. His eyes really were an amazing shade of blue, weren’t they? Or was their intensity just due to the contrast with his tanned skin? Maybe—but they looked as though they were used to looking into far distances and had absorbed the hue of a wide cloudless sky.

Then she realized that they were staring at each other.

“I should go see that Talnith is all right.” She scrambled to her feet, suddenly afraid. By Keranieth, she’d been ready to drown in those eyes, and he’d been ready to let her. “We’ve been riding all night, and she’s, um, a little…”

He stood up as well. “I think I know what you mean,” he said, making a wry face, and she felt absurdly pleased. And then wanted to slap herself. They were anonymous travelers in a tiny, out-of-the-way oasis in the Adaiha. He’d more than likely be gone by nightfall, and she’d never see him again.

“Good ni—or, er, good morning, I suppose.” The inversion of night and day was starting to get to her.

He smiled. “Sleep well and peacefully.”

She hurried through the door and ran full tilt into the innkeeper’s wife, who listened to her stammered apologies with a bemused expression on her gentle face and showed her to her room. Talnith was already stretched out on a pallet on the floor. Saraid wasn’t at all troubled by her sudden, ostentatious snores as she tiptoed past. The last thing she wanted now was conversation with Talnith.

A bowl of gently steaming water, strewn with fragrant herbs, had been set on a small table. Saraid gratefully washed her face and hands and collapsed onto the bed, not even bothering to unbraid her hair. As she slid into sleep, she could still see in her mind’s eye blue eyes gazing into hers.

* * *

Between Silk and Sand is available from Book View Cafe,  Kobo, Barnes and Noble, ibooks, 

Amazon, Smashwords, and GooglePlay and can easily be ordered in print from your favorite local bookstore.

Thank you for celebrating with me!

Between Silk and Sand is Here!

It’s release day for my new YA fantasy, Between Silk and Sand!

You’ve seen the bee-yoo-ti-ful cover...

You’ve read the back cover blurb...and the excerpt on my website...

You’ve seen the video...

Now you can finally read it! Between Silk and Sand is now available directly from Book View Café in both MOBI and EPUB formats and also from Kobo, ibooks, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, GooglePlay, and Smashwords. Or you can order it in print from your local bookstore (or buy it online too, for that matter.) It’s receiving some lovely reviews on Goodreads and was rated 4 ½stars with a Crowned Heart of Excellence by InD’tale Magazine, which called it “a fantasy lover’s treasure!

I'm so happy this book is finally out in the world; it's one that's close to my heart--I love these characters dearly! I hope you'll check it out and give it a try--and let me know what you think if you do! 

Between Silk and Sand...the Movie?

Well, a girl can dream, can't she? ☺

It may not be a movie, but I do have a book teaser video for my upcoming YA fantasy, Between Silk and Sand, that I'd love to share.



What do you think? This was enormous fun to make--looking for just the right image of my hero was the best part (and isn't he adorable?) Looking for other images to communicate the story and mood was a challenge at time, but also a lot of fun...and listening to dozens and dozens of music clips was as well. I hope it will inspire you to pick the book up when it comes out on July 31 (and it's available for pre-order now on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and GooglePlay, if you don't want to forget.)

Enjoy! And feel free to share!

Cover Reveal: Introducing Between Silk and Sand!

I am delighted, excited, and generally over the moon to unveil the cover of my upcoming young adult fantasy novel, due out on July 31, 2018 from Book View Café. May I please present...

The best-laid plans, even of princesses, can go awry...very, very awry.

Seventeen-year-old Saraid of Thekla is on her way to marry the ruler of far-off Mauburni. But she’s not sobbing into her silk-curtained litter at the thought of leaving home, because she has plans—and The Book. She’s studied this ancient treatise on the art of kingship for months to make herself the ideal queen for her adopted country. Once her new husband sees that, he’ll fall madly in love with her. It will all be perfect. She knows it.

But The Book is silent on what to do when one’s journey across a cursed desert wasteland is halted by a mysterious young warlord. Cadel has plans of his own—plans that don’t include her going to Mauburni. As she begins to unravel his secrets, Saraid will have to put aside The Book and trust her own wisdom—and her heart—to navigate the treacherous shoals of politics and power and become the queen she yearns to be.  

Between Silk and Sand (stop by my website for more info and a sneak peek at the first chapter! ) is my first young adult novel in...well, a long time. It’s been a long time coming, too—I wrote the first incarnation of this story as my very first book back in 2003. It’s almost unrecognizable as that book I wrote so long ago (which is a good thing, believe me—that first effort was terrible!), but it’s a story I had to tell...and now, here it is. Regina wrote a few weeks back about how important a writer’s friends can be. Without the friends who read parts or all of Between Silk and Sand and gave me their honest, thoughtful opinions and then pushed me to not give up, this book would never have happened...and to all those friends, this book is dedicated.

And isn’t the cover gorgeous? I cannot thank Book View Café’s Dave Smeds enough for his beautiful work on it—it truly sings.

Between Silk and Sand will be available at all the major on-line retailers—Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, and GooglePlay (all of where it can be pre-ordered--link for Amazon coming shortly)--as well as, of course, Book View Café’s own online store (which you really need to check out if you haven’t already because there’s a wealth of good reading there) and in print from your favorite bookstores. You can also add it to your want-to-read list on Goodreads here.

I'm so excited! I hope you'll check out my pretty new book!