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Monthly Archives: March 2007

Good News Monday

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Yesterday the RITA and Golden Heart finalists were notified so it was a day of joy for many who received “the call” themselves or whose friends excitedly made their announcements.

The RITA and Golden Heart are Romance Writers of America’s highest awards for excellence in the romance genre. The RITA is for books published in 2006 and the Golden Heart is for unpublished manuscripts from aspiring romance writers. The winners of the awards are announced in July at a glitzy ceremony at the annual Romance Writers of America annual conference. I am so lucky to have experienced this excitement at its absolute fullest – winning the Golden Heart in 2003 and the RITA in 2006, so I know exactly how wonderful this recognition can be.

There was no RITA category for Best Regency this year, but Regency era romance did very well anyway! In the Long and Short Historical categories, I am figuring all but two were set in the Regency era, and one of those was set in 1750, pretty close.

Very special congratulations to Pam Rosenthal, one of our frequent visitors to Risky Regencies. Pam’s The Slightest Provocation is a RITA finalist for Best Long Historical. Hooray, Pam!!!


Another pal of mine, Tracy Anne Warren is a Long Historical finalist, as well, for The Husband Trap. The Husband Trap is also up for a RITA for Best First Book. What a thrill for Tracy!

Mary Jo Putney is also a finalist for Best Long Historical for The Marriage Spell. Mary Jo was one of the first published authors I met when I started writing and she has always been very encouraging and helpful to me.


Julia Quinn is there in Long Historical, too, for On the Way to the Wedding. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Julia at an RWA booksigning. She has hoards of very loyal fans, let me tell you!


Eloisa James’ Taming the Duke is a finalist in the Best Short Historical category. Eloisa is another author who has always been friendly and nice to me, ever since I met her years ago at the RWA conference when her first book created such a splash.

Here are the Historical finalists for the RITA:
Long Historical
Surrender by Pamela Clare
Lady of Sin by Madeline Hunter
The Marriage Spell by Mary Jo Putney
On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn
The Slightest Provocation by Pam Rosenthal
The Husband Trap by Tracy Anne Warren

Short Historical
The Barefoot Princess by Christina Dodd
She’s No Princess by Laura Lee Guhrke
A Duke of Her Own by Lorraine Heath
The Taming of the Duke by Eloisa James
Devil In Winter by Lisa Kleypas
Scandal In Spring by Lisa Kleypas
The Book of True Desires by Betina Krahn
The Devil’s Waltz by Anne Stuart

You can’t receive a higher romance award than the RITAs, in my opinion, but the Golden Heart contest is special in its own right. When you are trying so hard to break into publishing, there are few high spots. Mostly you endure a series of rejections until that magic moment when “the Call” comes that an editor wants to buy your book. Finaling in the Golden Heart is a huge boost. It doesn’t always lead to a sale, like it did for me, but it helps you get closer and it lets you know you do write excellent stories!

In 2003 when I was a Golden Heart finalist a yahoo loop was started for all the finalists as it is every year. But in 2003, the group just bonded in a special way and remain a strong support for each other even now, four years later. We named ourselves The Wet Noodle Posse. The Wet Noodle Posse made a great showing in the announcements yesterday!

Terry McLaughlin’s Make Believe Cowboy is a RITA finalist for Best Long Contemporary.
Stephanie Rowe’s Date Me Baby One More Time is a RITA finalist in Best Paranormal.
Mary Fechter’s Beneath the Surface is a Golden Heart finalist for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance.
Ramona Thompson’s Accidental Truth is a Golden Heart finalist for Best Inspirational.
Theresa Ragan’s Return of the Rose is a Golden Heart finalist for Best Paranormal
Trish Milburn’s Coven and her The Wishing Tree are Golden Heart finalists for Best Young Adult Romance.

What a happy happy day!! Congratulations to all the finalists and may you enjoy well-deserved recognition of fine work!

Diane won the 2003 Golden Heart for the manuscript that became The Mysterious Miss M and the 2006 RITA for Best Regency for A Reputable Rake.

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Risky Saturday

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This week, I (Amanda) am out of town. It was an unexpected trip, so I didn’t have time to prepare a proper post. But I was thinking how much I enjoy having Risky Regencies as a place to visit every day, where there are always people who share a love of history, books, and hunky movie stars! So, I decided to share my appreciation of you, our Risky Readers, by having a little giveaway.
A couple of weeks ago, I was at our local Friends of the Library booksale and found a copy of a book I blogged about last month, Antonia Fraser’s Love Letters: An Illustrated Anthology (as well as about 60 other books to pile around my living room, but we won’t talk about that…) This is a gorgeous book, full of beautiful paintings and impassioned words! I already have a copy, so am giving away this new one.
Remember, this is an ex-library copy, so it has some stamps and a plastic cover, but it’s in great shape! If you’d like me to send YOU this book, just leave a comment about what you like about Risky Regencies, why you enjoy visiting, maybe some topics you’d like to see us cover in the future or Regency factoids you’d lke to know. On Sunday afternoon, when I get home, I’ll pick a comment at random to be the winner.
Thanks for reading! And stay Risky!
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Panic in New England

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Next Friday, I head to The Homeland (i.e. Massachusetts) to attend the NEC-RWA’s Annual Conference. During that time, I will get to a) ride a bus with my friend Kwana, who is insisting on teaching me knitting (our other friend, Elizabeth, cannot stand buses, so she’s training it there) b) not see Anne Stuart, who had to cancel as keynote speaker c) hang out with my friend Myretta Robens (known on my own blog as the Delightful Phone Friend), and d) look like even more of a ninny; see below.

See, during the Conference there is a party, a party where–wait, here’s the description:

‘Bring Your Fiction to Life’ Costume Party!
Fun Is Mandatory…Costumes Are Optional

Choose any character from fiction past or present…whether from a favorite book, movie, or even your own manuscript.
Someone was inspired to create this fictional character. Come and show us why!

Oh, my lord (and my panic has nothing to do with the quality of the idea–the idea is fine; unfortunately, so is my panic). So who do I pick? One of my favorite characters is MTV’s Daria (and I think I look a smidge like her, too), but–dressing up like a cartoon character for a party? A CANCELLED cartoon character? Might as well just wear the big ‘L’ on my forehead.

Hm. Who else could I be? Last Halloween, I went to a costume party dressed as Miss Havisham, which meant I donned my aunt’s old wedding dress and put some tattered cheesecloth around my shoulders. Equally lame as the Daria thing. Plus Miss Havisham isn’t really a favorite character.

Jane Eyre? Sorta plain garb, mud-soaked boots from tromping around searching her soul? I could do that, but it’s hardly going to feel like I’m at a party. Unless it was an orphan party or something.

I know you’re all wondering why I don’t mention Elizabeth Bennet, but geez, I’m not 18, don’t have Empire waist gowns lying around in my Brooklyn apartment, and I’m even less than tolerable. Back to the literary drawing board.

Godot? Harriet The Spy (I love tomato sandwiches!)? Lew Archer? Ack!

Who’s your favorite literary character? Who would you like to dress up as?

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Men and Brothers

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This is a follow-up to Cara’s post the other day about the movie Amazing Grace. Why, you may ask, did the movie industry glom onto what is still (and unjustly) a rather obscure bit of history? Because this year is the two-hundredth anniversary of the Slave Trade Act that came into law on March 25, 1807 (and we’re nearly there and it’s my turn to blog). This, by the way is Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of William Wilberforce.

I first became interested in this topic by reading Adam Hochschild’s wonderful book Bury The Chains, which made me aware of what a burning issue abolition was for late Georgian society (and inspired me to write my October 2007 release, Forbidden Shores). Hochschild points out that it was possibly the first time that people cared passionately enough about a cause–something that would benefit strangers thousands of miles away who they would never meet–to make sacrifices themselves. Ropemakers in Bristol, one of the cities that thrived on the trade, petitioned to end the slave trade, knowing full well that their own livelihood would be threatened.

It was also a movement that cut through divisions of class and gender; ordinary housewives boycotted sugar. Wedgwood produced this plaque (it reads Am I not a man and a brother?) that appeared on many artefacts.

The abolitionists introduced the tactics of the modern political campaign–slogans, investigative journalism, slogans, and powerful visuals like this depiction of a slave ship.

Of course, the major question is why did this happen? What made ordinary–and not so ordinary people–care so passionately about this cause? Hochschild’s answer is rather interesting, and one that made me think entirely differently about the Gerogian and Regency periods. Georgian England was seen, and saw itself, surprisingly, as a fairminded and democratic sort of place–the monarchy was mostly benign, and the concept of Magna Carta operated as a sort of unofficial constitution. Few could vote, but ordinary men had the power of the petition. The country had a great infrastructure, because of the Royal Mail, a high level of literacy, and dozens of newspapers. The dealbreaker of the 1807 act was a new petition bearing several thousand signatures, collected in the north of England and delivered to Westminster in a matter of hours. Hochschild suggests, too, that people in England felt an affinity with the Africans whose communities were devastated by slaver raids, because something similar happened in their own ports–the press gang, which enforced men to serve in the Navy.

As I said, Hochschild’s book made me rethink the Regency, and I’m wondering if you have come across something, a book or movie, that revealed an unusual facet or layer to your understanding of the period.

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