Off to Orlando!

This week’s posts on Nineteen-Teen are going to be abbreviated, because as you read this both Regina and I are on our ways to Orlando, Florida for the Romance Writers of America annual National Conference...and our annual girls’ sleepover. I mean, we live on opposite sides of the country, so this is our chance to communicate by non-electronic means (which means we're going to talk and talk and talk.) We promise to post all the deets next week...but this week, we’re busy. Not that we might not post the odd photo or two...

However, before I catch my plane I just wanted to announce that Book View Café’s short story anthology Nevertheless, She Persisted which features stories of women who overcome challenges—from society, from beloved family and friends, and even from their own fears (and which includes my YA historical story titled "Alea Iacta Est")—is now up for pre-order with a release date of August 8! You can find it at Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo...and a print version will be available in August as well. We’re pretty excited about this anthology--I hope you'll check it out!

Costuming the Author, and the Reader

Fall is in the air, and Halloween is coming!  Already I'm seeing advertisements for masquerades and costume contests.  Marissa has posted in the past about the types of costumes our nineteenth century lads and lasses might have worn.  They enjoyed playing dress up.  Today’s author of nineteenth century romance is not immune, and, I'm betting, neither is her readers.  So, to get you thinking about how you might design your own outfit, here are some examples from my sister romance authors.

You can, of course, pay a seamstress to design you a costume.  I am so envious of these amazing gowns worn by the talented Collette Cameron and the wonderful Ella Quinn.  Looking good, ladies!

Or, you might be handy with a sewing machine yourself.  Several patterns are available these days.  Immediately below is acclaimed Regency author April Kihlstrom in a fetching red gown. And farther down is Golden Heart Award winner Kristi Ann Hunter in one she and her mother made together.

Then again, you might find a costume awaiting you in your favorite thrift store.  Doesn’t the delightful Georgie Lee look festive in her frugal find? 

Finally, some fashions from earlier years can be readily adapted to “faux Regency.”  When I wear this one with the flocked orange roses next to Marissa in her seamstress’s creation, I always say I must be the poor relation.  J

But then again, I have another costume I much prefer.  That's Sir Reginald with the regal Marjorie Allen.  

What do you think?  Any of these approaches appeal to you?

Many thanks to my models, most of whom are members of my beloved Beau Monde Chapter of Romance Writers of America.^TM

Sir Saffron Goes A-wooing: Happy at Last

When we left our handsome friend Sir Saffron back in March, he was hoping to find a new companion to lighten his existence (insofar as a spoiled rotten bunny’s existence needs lightening!) He met with some very handsome young ladies, as we saw in part one; though each of them was charming, none was quite right. It was time to go forth and meet some more damsels.

So Sir Saffron decided to hold an afternoon reception and invite all the fairest young bunny maidens to attend…well, really, foster bunny mom Terry from the House Rabbit Network actually brought three young ladies to meet Saffron at our house. With two of them, it was clear that a relationship would not work. But with the third…

Well, it was quite a different story. Sir Saffron and Miss Beans were clearly interested from the start. Picture Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle eyeing each other across the Meryton Assembly Rooms in Pride and Prejudice and you’ll get the idea. There was a great deal of sniffing and a lot of Saffron following the lovely girl bunny with amazing ears (she can let them flop down, or hold them almost upright) around the room as she explored…and then it started: the binkying. For those of you who do not speak Rabbit, I’ll explain: when a rabbit is very happy, it dances, leaps vertically up and does mid-air twists, shakes its head, and otherwise gambols about. This is called binkying…and when both Saffron and Beans started doing little jetés as they lolloped about the room, we knew this was it.

Miss Beans, who now goes by the name Beatrice (though we can’t help sometimes calling her the Beanie Baby!) moved in a few days later. According to her foster mom she was very, very grumpy during the interval, and Saffron himself seemed a little off. When we brought her in and set her in the temporary pen in the living room that she would stay in till she got used to the house (and until we were sure she and Saffron would be friends), she sniffed about nervously at first…until Saffron came into the room. For the next hour and a half he ran in circles around her pen, binkying…and when we let her out to interact with him, this happened: That's Beatrice presenting to Saffron...basically saying, "Take me, I'm yours!" And that's Saffron grooming the top of her head, basically saying, "Oh! Okay."

In a couple of days, we had this: So I think it's safe to say that for this little story, there is a very definite ending: and they lived happily (and hoppily) ever after.

Once Again, it’s Time to Play Name that Book!

We're pretty lucky, Regina and I, to have such fabulous readers. You've done such a good job helping us come up with lists of possible names for our upcoming books (even if most recently Regina's editor ending up moving in a different direction for hers) that I'm back for your help again…because I’m darned if I can think of a good title for my upcoming YA book, due out in early 2012.

Are you ready?

Book 3 is a companion to Bewitching Season and Betraying Season but set years earlier, in 1815, at the very end of the Napoleonic Wars. Readers of my first books might notice that one of the main characters is Lady Parthenope Hardcastle, whom they have already met as the mother of Persy and Pen Leland…but who is a teen herself in this book. It's about magic and political intrigue and love, but it’s also about a handicapped person coming to terms with how the world sees her and how she sees herself, in a time and place much less accepting than ours. Here’s a brief “jacket copy” type description of the story:

Two years ago, illness left Lady Sophie Rosier unable to walk except with a cane…and also took both her mother and her magical powers. Now it’s 1815 and time for her first London season, and a girl who once loved to dance is forced to watch while others waltz on strong, untwisted legs and flirt with boys who don't even seem to see her.

On the night of her first party Sophie’s father is nearly crushed by a falling statue, and only she knows that a magic spell was behind the “accident”. When other members of government suffer similar magical attacks, Sophie and her new best friend Parthenope decide to investigate. It’s not an easy task when she can’t rely on her slowly-returning magic to help—or keep her thoughts off Parthenope’s handsome cousin, the Earl of Woodbridge…except that the safety of England may very well be at stake.

In the glittering ballrooms of Regency London and Brussels on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo you’ll meet a sketchy fortune hunter, a magic-sensing parakeet, a long-lost love, a plant-obsessed aunt, and the Duke of Wellington…and a courageous young girl trying to find her balance in a difficult world.

Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind: my editor thinks that the title should focus on the magical and romantic elements of the story; it won’t be necessary to include anything historical since the cover illustration will make that obvious. And no, “season” should not be part of the title since it more or less stands alone. I’ve used "The Waterloo Plot" and "Magic in Season" as working titles, but neither of those is quite right.

And so, Dear Readers…let’s brainstorm some titles! As Regina did, I’m happy to offer an advanced reading copy (not available till late next summer, probably) if one of you comes up with the title that gets chosen by my publisher…but in the meanwhile, just for fun, I’ll also have a drawing for a copy of either Bewitching Season or Betraying Season (your choice) from among anyone who comments with a possible title.

Questions or clarifications? Ask away…and thank you!!

Keeping Track of the Little Things

First Little Thing: I'm back from the Teen Book Festival in Rochester, NY...and it was truly an amazing event. Picture 2500 or so book-crazy teens...yeah! I gave three workshops with Alisa Libby (that's us at right) on historical fiction for teens...and we didn't get a single repeat question. Those were some seriously smart kids, and it was an honor to meet them. As well as fun!

Love the cake they served us at dinner!

Second Little Thing: Don't forget that on June 8 we'll be opening our discussion of Georgette Heyer's Cotillion. Have you found a copy and plunged into Kitty's and Freddy's London escapades yet? I'm very much looking forward to this Young Bluestockings meeting!

Third Little Thing: Regina and I have been tossing around the idea of having a future Young Bluestockings meeting center on a film instead of a book, particularly one of the recent releases set in the 19th century like Bright Star or The Young Victoria. Any thoughts? Is this something you might enjoy?


Fourth Little Thing: Having to keep track of little things is not a modern phenomenon. The young (and not so young) ladies of the 19th century, who didn't always have pockets in their dresses, had a delightfully practical and decorative way of keeping at hand all the little things one might need over the course of the day, like a notepad and pencil, or scissors, or needles, or stamps, or penknife, or pillbox, or smelling salts, or buttonhook, or thimble-case, or keys, or...well, you get my drift. It was called a chatelaine.

The section at top contained either a pin or a clip so that the chatelaine could be pinned to a dress or clipped onto a belt, and then whatever little tools were preferred could be suspended from the multiple chains. Chatelaines could be workmanlike--a pair of scissors and a needlecase hung from a ribbon--or works of jeweler's art
like these.

Fifth Little Thing: Well, it isn't at all little...in fact, it's pretty big...but you'll have to wait until Regina tells you about it later this week because (a) I'm a dreadful tease and (b) I'm very happy about it.

How do you keep track of the little things in your life?

A Quick Note--TBF LIVE!

Any Nineteenteen readers in the Rochester/western New York area? I'm going to be one of two dozen authors talking books at the 5th Annual Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival on Saturday, May 15 from 9-5 at Nazareth College in Rochester, and would love to see you! Check out the link to their site for a full list of the day's events and the authors presenting there. I'll be talking about historical fiction along with YA author Alisa Libby, whose history geekiness tends toward the Tudors (check out her most recent book, The King's Rose, about the beautiful and tragic Catherine Howard).

I'll post pics on Tuesday. Hope to see you!

It's Here!

Marissa’s book is out! Bewitching Season is hitting stores everywhere, including one near you.

One of the top reviewers for libraries, Booklist, gave it a starred review, saying, "This wonderfully crafted debut novel braids several very different story lines into an utterly satisfying whole." Kirkus, another industry giant, calls it a "page turner." And the Historical Novel Society awarded it an Editor's Choice Pick for the summer of 2008.

You can join the celebration on the Class of 2k8 blog this week or right here at Nineteen Teen next week. We’ll have fun facts, quizzes, and more.

Happy reading!