In for a Penny is listed on Amazon!!!! I had been checking it obsessively for a while to no avail and had finally given up, figuring it wouldn't be up until a couple of months before publication. Then last week my friend Paul Pollack (who, by the way, just published a lovely number theory textbook, "Not Always Buried Deep") IMed to say "Hey, your book's on Amazon!" There may have been chair-dancing.
Look! It's my book! Available for pre-order!
I have arrived.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
My trip to the UK!
It's been almost a month since I got back from the UK, and it's taken me this long to organize and upload all my pictures. But my trip was AMAZING. We started out in Newcastle, where we spent most of our time on our friend's couch giggling and watching TV--"Black Books" is my new favorite thing!--but also managed to take in a castle and gardens, some art museums, and lovely architecture. One of my favorite things about the UK is how old stuff lives right alongside new stuff: in Newcastle I saw Tudor wattle-and-daub buildings jostling Georgian Neoclassical stone, Victorian townhouses, and modern glass-and-steel.
Then we took a train, bus, and ferry up to Orkney. I was horribly seasick on the ferry, which I didn't expect because I've never had a problem with boats before. You know those scenes when characters are crossing the Channel and someone's seasick and they're lying there shaking and moaning, "I'm dying, I know it"? I always thought those were an exaggeration but no, it is exactly like that.
Orkney is, hands down, the most beautiful place I've ever been, and its history is fascinating too. I was lucky enough to be staying with a friend who works for Historic Scotland so she had all kinds of great information and recommended a couple books as well. I'll be setting a book there sooner rather than later, I think. I was also pathetically amazed by the sight of cows and sheep grazing right at the edge of the sea. As an American, I'm just not used to the lack of beaches!
Then we drove down to Edinburgh and spent a few days there before flying home. My friend took us on the scenic route through the Highlands, and wow. I get what the big deal is now. (There were sheep on the highway, too, in case you were wondering.)
We also discovered that the most popular brand of oatmeal in Scotland has this picture on the box:
I think it's the shotput that makes it.
I've uploaded all my best pictures to flickr. You can see them here. To whet your appetite, here are some of my favorites (I apologize for the sides being cut off, I can't figure out how to make it not do that):
The Poison Gardens at Alnwick. Our guide was a truly macabre elderly woman in a sweater set, who kept making pronouncements like, "Two berries from this plant will kill a small child in ten hours. If you grind the berries into powder and sprinkle them on the ground, you will become invisible."
I told you Orkney was beautiful:
These are naturally occuring steps in the rocks by the sea. What a great place for a kissing scene!
This chapel was built out by Italian POWs during World War II so that they would have a place to hold Catholic services. They used two Nissen huts, some plaster, and leftover concrete from the causeways they were building. Here's the Wikipedia article--it's a fascinating story and the chapel is beautiful.
And now for something completely different! This stuff was everywhere in Edinburgh.
Then we took a train, bus, and ferry up to Orkney. I was horribly seasick on the ferry, which I didn't expect because I've never had a problem with boats before. You know those scenes when characters are crossing the Channel and someone's seasick and they're lying there shaking and moaning, "I'm dying, I know it"? I always thought those were an exaggeration but no, it is exactly like that.
Orkney is, hands down, the most beautiful place I've ever been, and its history is fascinating too. I was lucky enough to be staying with a friend who works for Historic Scotland so she had all kinds of great information and recommended a couple books as well. I'll be setting a book there sooner rather than later, I think. I was also pathetically amazed by the sight of cows and sheep grazing right at the edge of the sea. As an American, I'm just not used to the lack of beaches!
Then we drove down to Edinburgh and spent a few days there before flying home. My friend took us on the scenic route through the Highlands, and wow. I get what the big deal is now. (There were sheep on the highway, too, in case you were wondering.)
We also discovered that the most popular brand of oatmeal in Scotland has this picture on the box:
I think it's the shotput that makes it.
I've uploaded all my best pictures to flickr. You can see them here. To whet your appetite, here are some of my favorites (I apologize for the sides being cut off, I can't figure out how to make it not do that):
The Poison Gardens at Alnwick. Our guide was a truly macabre elderly woman in a sweater set, who kept making pronouncements like, "Two berries from this plant will kill a small child in ten hours. If you grind the berries into powder and sprinkle them on the ground, you will become invisible."
I told you Orkney was beautiful:
These are naturally occuring steps in the rocks by the sea. What a great place for a kissing scene!
This chapel was built out by Italian POWs during World War II so that they would have a place to hold Catholic services. They used two Nissen huts, some plaster, and leftover concrete from the causeways they were building. Here's the Wikipedia article--it's a fascinating story and the chapel is beautiful.
And now for something completely different! This stuff was everywhere in Edinburgh.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
An embarrassment of riches
Last week I was very, very good and finished all my writing goals for the week! I even cleaned my bathroom (and boy, did it need it). So I promised myself I could buy as much as I wanted at the Friends of the Seattle Public Library book sale this weekend. Here's what I ended up with:
Research:
1. The Making of Victorian Values: Decency and Dissent in Britain 1789-1837, by Ben Wilson.
2. Slave Women in Caribbean Society 1650-1838, by Barbara Bush. (A different Barbara Bush.)
3. Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East, by Juan Cole.
4. Holy Madness: Romantics, Patriots, and Revolutionaries, 1776-1871 by Adam Zamoyski. I'm not sure how much of this will be Regency, nor does he appear to talk much about women. However, I've been wanting to read more about the Romantic movement for a long time and the book looks interesting, so we'll see.
5. London Life in the Eighteenth Century by M. Dorothy George. She seems to mean the long eighteenth century (which can start as early as the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and end as late as the Great Reform Bill of 1832, although in this case it means 1700-1815), which is nice for me. It mostly focuses on the details of working class life, with a whole section on "London Immigrants and Emigrants," one of my current research topics!
6. The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy, by Nicholas Blake and Richard Lawrence.
Romance:
1. Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy. I remember this got a great review on Smart Bitches when it first came out.
2. Seduction of a Proper Gentleman, by Victoria Alexander.
3. The Boys Next Door, by Jennifer Echols. (YA. I loved her debut about the marching band, Major Crush.)
4. All-American Girl by Meg Cabot. Possibly her last YA series I haven't read any of.
5. Love Letters from a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle.
6. The Admiral's Bride by Suzanne Brockmann. Someone recced this to me YEARS ago.
7. Aaaaand, an extra copy of Lord of Scoundrels. Because you never know.
Cookbooks:
I don't cook at home as much as I used to now that I cook for a living, but I still love it and I always look in the cookbooks section. In past years I've found such gems as Barbara Cartland's The Romance of Food, The First Ladies Cook Book (featuring the favorite recipe of each First Lady of the US), and last year a book of excitingly-shaped cakes (dinosaurs, volcanos, &c.). This year I ended up with:
1. Romantic Italian Cookery by Mary Cadogan.
2. The Joy of Liberace: Retro Recipes from America's Kitschiest Kitchen. I never even knew Liberace was a cook! The book is full of amazing photos of him cooking, and also food with rhinestones on it.
Not a bad haul! If you're looking for me in the next month or so, I'll probably be diving into my books like Scrooge McDuck into his Money Bin.
Does your town have a library book sale? What's the best find you ever bought there?
Research:
1. The Making of Victorian Values: Decency and Dissent in Britain 1789-1837, by Ben Wilson.
2. Slave Women in Caribbean Society 1650-1838, by Barbara Bush. (A different Barbara Bush.)
3. Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East, by Juan Cole.
4. Holy Madness: Romantics, Patriots, and Revolutionaries, 1776-1871 by Adam Zamoyski. I'm not sure how much of this will be Regency, nor does he appear to talk much about women. However, I've been wanting to read more about the Romantic movement for a long time and the book looks interesting, so we'll see.
5. London Life in the Eighteenth Century by M. Dorothy George. She seems to mean the long eighteenth century (which can start as early as the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and end as late as the Great Reform Bill of 1832, although in this case it means 1700-1815), which is nice for me. It mostly focuses on the details of working class life, with a whole section on "London Immigrants and Emigrants," one of my current research topics!
6. The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy, by Nicholas Blake and Richard Lawrence.
Romance:
1. Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy. I remember this got a great review on Smart Bitches when it first came out.
2. Seduction of a Proper Gentleman, by Victoria Alexander.
3. The Boys Next Door, by Jennifer Echols. (YA. I loved her debut about the marching band, Major Crush.)
4. All-American Girl by Meg Cabot. Possibly her last YA series I haven't read any of.
5. Love Letters from a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle.
6. The Admiral's Bride by Suzanne Brockmann. Someone recced this to me YEARS ago.
7. Aaaaand, an extra copy of Lord of Scoundrels. Because you never know.
Cookbooks:
I don't cook at home as much as I used to now that I cook for a living, but I still love it and I always look in the cookbooks section. In past years I've found such gems as Barbara Cartland's The Romance of Food, The First Ladies Cook Book (featuring the favorite recipe of each First Lady of the US), and last year a book of excitingly-shaped cakes (dinosaurs, volcanos, &c.). This year I ended up with:
1. Romantic Italian Cookery by Mary Cadogan.
2. The Joy of Liberace: Retro Recipes from America's Kitschiest Kitchen. I never even knew Liberace was a cook! The book is full of amazing photos of him cooking, and also food with rhinestones on it.
Not a bad haul! If you're looking for me in the next month or so, I'll probably be diving into my books like Scrooge McDuck into his Money Bin.
Does your town have a library book sale? What's the best find you ever bought there?
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The House of Commons opera hat
I've been doing some research on the British Parliament for my next book, and wow. I forget how much OLDER the UK is sometimes, and how much more time they've had to accumulate customs.
On one page of my book (The Great Palace by Christopher Jones) I see:
"The Mace, the symbol of Royal authority, must always be present when the House is sitting. Without it, the House is totally powerless."
(More on the Mace from Wikipedia. And here's a picture.)
On the next page:
"The Serjeant-at-Arms[...]is the only person in the Chamber allowed to wear a sword."
Two pages later:
"The House of Commons snuffbox. It is kept by the Principal Doorkeeper. Any Member may ask for a pinch of snuff before going into the Chamber."
How awesome is that? According to Wikipedia, "A floral-scented snuff called 'English Rose' is provided for members of the British House of Commons at public expense due to smoking in the House being banned since 1693. A famous silver communal snuff box kept at the entrance of the House was destroyed in an air raid during World War II with a replacement being subsequently presented to the House by Winston Churchill." (The new box was made from the timber recovered from the damaged Chamber.) Nicholas Fairbairn, an MP until 1995, was known during his tenure for being the only person to actually use the snuff.
What is even more awesome is that I cannot possibly feel the least bit superior, because it turns out the US Senate has ceremonial snuffboxes too!
But my very, very favorite is this:
"The House of Commons opera hat. The collapsible top hat which Members must wear if they want to raise a point of order during a division [their word for a vote]."
And there's a little picture of an old top hat sitting on a bench.
I was desperately sad to discover that this custom had been discontinued following a recommendation of the Select Committee on the Modernization of the House of Commons:
"64. At present, if a Member seeks to raise a point of order during a division, he or she must speak 'seated and covered'. In practice this means that an opera hat which is kept at each end of the Chamber has to be produced and passed to the Member concerned. This inevitably takes some time, during which the Member frequently seeks to use some other form of covering such as an Order Paper. This particular practice has almost certainly brought the House into greater ridicule than almost any other, particularly since the advent of television. We do not believe that it can be allowed to continue."
Another beautiful image was provided by Hansard's record of the discussion on the issue:
"We recommend a new procedure for raising points of order during a Division. At present, we have the opera hat, and, although some Members may feel that they look particularly fetching in it, it makes the House of Commons look ridiculous when someone wearing the hat is trying to raise a point of order from a seated position while everyone else is milling around and going to vote."
(Sidenote: If anyone writing historical romance with a political dimension doesn't already know about the online Hansard's, here it is! It is saving my life with things like dates of parliamentary recesses, when bills were proposed, &c.)
Can anyone find a picture of the opera hat? Preferably being worn. My Google-fu is failing me.
On one page of my book (The Great Palace by Christopher Jones) I see:
"The Mace, the symbol of Royal authority, must always be present when the House is sitting. Without it, the House is totally powerless."
(More on the Mace from Wikipedia. And here's a picture.)
On the next page:
"The Serjeant-at-Arms[...]is the only person in the Chamber allowed to wear a sword."
Two pages later:
"The House of Commons snuffbox. It is kept by the Principal Doorkeeper. Any Member may ask for a pinch of snuff before going into the Chamber."
How awesome is that? According to Wikipedia, "A floral-scented snuff called 'English Rose' is provided for members of the British House of Commons at public expense due to smoking in the House being banned since 1693. A famous silver communal snuff box kept at the entrance of the House was destroyed in an air raid during World War II with a replacement being subsequently presented to the House by Winston Churchill." (The new box was made from the timber recovered from the damaged Chamber.) Nicholas Fairbairn, an MP until 1995, was known during his tenure for being the only person to actually use the snuff.
What is even more awesome is that I cannot possibly feel the least bit superior, because it turns out the US Senate has ceremonial snuffboxes too!
But my very, very favorite is this:
"The House of Commons opera hat. The collapsible top hat which Members must wear if they want to raise a point of order during a division [their word for a vote]."
And there's a little picture of an old top hat sitting on a bench.
I was desperately sad to discover that this custom had been discontinued following a recommendation of the Select Committee on the Modernization of the House of Commons:
"64. At present, if a Member seeks to raise a point of order during a division, he or she must speak 'seated and covered'. In practice this means that an opera hat which is kept at each end of the Chamber has to be produced and passed to the Member concerned. This inevitably takes some time, during which the Member frequently seeks to use some other form of covering such as an Order Paper. This particular practice has almost certainly brought the House into greater ridicule than almost any other, particularly since the advent of television. We do not believe that it can be allowed to continue."
Another beautiful image was provided by Hansard's record of the discussion on the issue:
"We recommend a new procedure for raising points of order during a Division. At present, we have the opera hat, and, although some Members may feel that they look particularly fetching in it, it makes the House of Commons look ridiculous when someone wearing the hat is trying to raise a point of order from a seated position while everyone else is milling around and going to vote."
(Sidenote: If anyone writing historical romance with a political dimension doesn't already know about the online Hansard's, here it is! It is saving my life with things like dates of parliamentary recesses, when bills were proposed, &c.)
Can anyone find a picture of the opera hat? Preferably being worn. My Google-fu is failing me.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
EEEE!
Very exciting news! My editor e-mailed me my cover yesterday!! Look:
(There's a larger version here if you'd like to see more detail on the painting, which is beautiful.)
Also note the incredibly flattering cover quote by Lauren Willig. I am the luckiest girl in the world.
I am so, so happy with this cover. I have heard a lot of horror stories about covers so I was a bit nervous about what mine would look like, but clearly the Dorchester art department is ACE. While in one small respect the cover doesn't fit the book (the book takes place in the middle of summer), I think it captures the mood of the book perfectly. I LOVE the way the warm sunset colors contrast with the snow. Plus red and gold has been my favorite color combination since I was about ten years old.
The cover also fits the book in another way that I think must be a coincidence (although I don't know for certain) but that means a lot to me personally. There's a scene early in the book where my impoverished hero is having dinner with Penelope and her nouveau riche parents, trying to win them over so they'll give their consent to the marriage.
It was as though he had the Midas touch. He went straight to her mother’s wall of sentimental engravings and old book illustrations in gilt frames, and pointed to a garishly-colored old engraving of Venice that her mother loved. "It's the Bridge of Sighs! Have you been to Venice, Miss Brown?"
"No," Penelope said. "I have never been out of England."
Mrs. Brown smiled. "Oh, those old pictures are all mine. Penny is much too elegant for such trifles! I hope very much to go to Venice with Mr. Brown someday."
Penelope, poor girl, is very concerned with appearing to have "elegant taste" at all times, since her parents sent her to boarding school with a lot of gently-bred girls and they all made fun of her for being a vulgar parvenue. I'm not entirely sure what type of wall-hangings she would prefer, but I'm guessing distantly-spaced original works in sober colors and plain frames, maybe contemporary landscapes or portraits. Gilt would NOT be involved. (Don't worry, she mostly gets over herself by the end of the book!)
I, on the other hand, think Mrs. Brown's wall sounds pretty, and it's an exaggerated version of something from my own life. On the wall by my parents' bed, there was a few feet between the window and the dresser where my mom had hung six or seven small romantic prints--a Hudson River School painting of the Amazon, a Bouguereau mother and child she got as a gift when I was born, a commemorative print my grandmother bought at the 1939 New York World's Fair, a sheet music cover my father bought her as a gift, and so on.
My mom died a few months after I wrote that scene (and long before I finished the book), but she was the audience I imagined while I was writing anyway. She read Pride and Prejudice aloud to me when I was nine, introduced me to Regency romances when I was twelve, and read my first manuscript when I was seventeen and told me it was good (in retrospect, it might have been more accurate to say it had potential).
The framed picture on the cover of In for a Penny would have fit right in on her wall, and that makes me very happy.
(There's a larger version here if you'd like to see more detail on the painting, which is beautiful.)
Also note the incredibly flattering cover quote by Lauren Willig. I am the luckiest girl in the world.
I am so, so happy with this cover. I have heard a lot of horror stories about covers so I was a bit nervous about what mine would look like, but clearly the Dorchester art department is ACE. While in one small respect the cover doesn't fit the book (the book takes place in the middle of summer), I think it captures the mood of the book perfectly. I LOVE the way the warm sunset colors contrast with the snow. Plus red and gold has been my favorite color combination since I was about ten years old.
The cover also fits the book in another way that I think must be a coincidence (although I don't know for certain) but that means a lot to me personally. There's a scene early in the book where my impoverished hero is having dinner with Penelope and her nouveau riche parents, trying to win them over so they'll give their consent to the marriage.
It was as though he had the Midas touch. He went straight to her mother’s wall of sentimental engravings and old book illustrations in gilt frames, and pointed to a garishly-colored old engraving of Venice that her mother loved. "It's the Bridge of Sighs! Have you been to Venice, Miss Brown?"
"No," Penelope said. "I have never been out of England."
Mrs. Brown smiled. "Oh, those old pictures are all mine. Penny is much too elegant for such trifles! I hope very much to go to Venice with Mr. Brown someday."
Penelope, poor girl, is very concerned with appearing to have "elegant taste" at all times, since her parents sent her to boarding school with a lot of gently-bred girls and they all made fun of her for being a vulgar parvenue. I'm not entirely sure what type of wall-hangings she would prefer, but I'm guessing distantly-spaced original works in sober colors and plain frames, maybe contemporary landscapes or portraits. Gilt would NOT be involved. (Don't worry, she mostly gets over herself by the end of the book!)
I, on the other hand, think Mrs. Brown's wall sounds pretty, and it's an exaggerated version of something from my own life. On the wall by my parents' bed, there was a few feet between the window and the dresser where my mom had hung six or seven small romantic prints--a Hudson River School painting of the Amazon, a Bouguereau mother and child she got as a gift when I was born, a commemorative print my grandmother bought at the 1939 New York World's Fair, a sheet music cover my father bought her as a gift, and so on.
My mom died a few months after I wrote that scene (and long before I finished the book), but she was the audience I imagined while I was writing anyway. She read Pride and Prejudice aloud to me when I was nine, introduced me to Regency romances when I was twelve, and read my first manuscript when I was seventeen and told me it was good (in retrospect, it might have been more accurate to say it had potential).
The framed picture on the cover of In for a Penny would have fit right in on her wall, and that makes me very happy.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
lab-tested and guaranteed NOT a citrine
While looking for the perfect ring for the hero of my next book to give the heroine, I fell utterly and completely in love with this one. I yearn for it. If only I had an extra $1,495 lying around!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye!
Great news--plans are finalized and at the end of this month a friend and I are going to the UK for two weeks!
We'll be visiting friends in Newcastle and Orkney, and then spending a few days in Edinburgh.
I've been to the UK twice before. My mom took me to London, Bath, and Brighton as a college graduation present (so five years ago--yes, I'm young), and the year before that I studied abroad in Paris and spent some time in the summer travelling around Europe. In England, I visited the same three cities plus Canterbury and Oxford.
It was wonderful and I loved all those cities (especially Bath--sorry, Jane Austen, I know you weren't a fan!), but I'm excited to see a bit further north. Less and less of my book ideas seem to want to be set in London these days, so I want to collect other interesting settings. Newcastle is one of the northern industrial cities that come up so often when researching Regency politics and labor/class relations, and Orkney is...
Okay, my main association with Orkney is still Lot and Morgause from the Arthurian legends. But it's at the very northernmost part of Scotland, and my friend and I are taking a six-hour ferry ride there from Aberdeen. I LOVE ferries. It is going to be beautiful! (And there is a BAR on the ferry. I've never been on a ferry with a bar before.) Also, my friend lives in a cottage. She doesn't even have a street address, just "--- Cottage."
I promise I will post loads of pictures!
Does anyone have any tips to share for international travel (I haven't been out of the country in years), or suggestions for things we really ought to see? Regency-era stuff especially welcome...
We'll be visiting friends in Newcastle and Orkney, and then spending a few days in Edinburgh.
I've been to the UK twice before. My mom took me to London, Bath, and Brighton as a college graduation present (so five years ago--yes, I'm young), and the year before that I studied abroad in Paris and spent some time in the summer travelling around Europe. In England, I visited the same three cities plus Canterbury and Oxford.
It was wonderful and I loved all those cities (especially Bath--sorry, Jane Austen, I know you weren't a fan!), but I'm excited to see a bit further north. Less and less of my book ideas seem to want to be set in London these days, so I want to collect other interesting settings. Newcastle is one of the northern industrial cities that come up so often when researching Regency politics and labor/class relations, and Orkney is...
Okay, my main association with Orkney is still Lot and Morgause from the Arthurian legends. But it's at the very northernmost part of Scotland, and my friend and I are taking a six-hour ferry ride there from Aberdeen. I LOVE ferries. It is going to be beautiful! (And there is a BAR on the ferry. I've never been on a ferry with a bar before.) Also, my friend lives in a cottage. She doesn't even have a street address, just "--- Cottage."
I promise I will post loads of pictures!
Does anyone have any tips to share for international travel (I haven't been out of the country in years), or suggestions for things we really ought to see? Regency-era stuff especially welcome...
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