Join us here at the Riskies for a 3-day Diamonds of Welbourne Manor launch extravaganza! Starting Sunday, May 3, Deb Marlowe will be here to kick off the festivities, with Diane and Amanda wrapping things up on Monday and Tuesday. Each day means a new chance to win an autographed copy….

Welcome to the wrap-up of our “Diamonds” celebration! Remember, there are 3, count ’em, 3 chances to win a copy! We’ll pick a winner from each day’s comments…

What was it like to write these connected stories with friends?

Much easier than I thought it would be, LOL! I’m pretty much a ‘pantser’ writer–my stories sometimes tend to change directions when the characters want to go down another pathway (though deadlines have forced me into plotting more than I used to!). In fact, the plot of Charlotte and the Wicked Lord did change once, but early on, before I even really got started. I wasn’t sure how that would work in collaboration. My previous novellas were both in themed anthologies (‘Christmas’ being the theme), with no connection between the stories at all. I didn’t even know who the other authors were until I saw a book cover! This was a much different experience.

But it all did go much smoother than I feared! Maybe because we already knew each other, were familiar with each other’s work, and shared a deep interest in the time period and in family dynamics. We were able to coordinate very easily. And the Fitzmannings felt so “real” to us! That made it lots of fun, too.

Tell us about Charlotte and the Wicked Lord!

Charlotte and the Wicked Lord is the last of the 3 stories, which I think made my job a bit easier than Diane’s or Deb’s! Everyone else was happily married by the time this story rolls around.

Charlotte is the youngest, and sort of the ‘wild child’ of the family (no easy task, that!). She’s a writer, and loves to be free, out in nature with her dogs (Oliver and Octavia, inspired by my own Pug dog, Victoria) and her imagination. But now she’s 18 years old, a bit at loose ends with her sisters married, and realizes she has always been in love with the handsome, charming Drew Bassington, a friend of her brothers. (Drew, as a reader pointed out to me, was not really ‘wicked’–more of a reformed rake!). He’s taken on a new responsibility in his life after the death of his older brother, and is looking for a proper, respectable bride.

‘Proper and respectable’ are two things Charlotte has never been, but she is sure she can show Drew how right they are for each other. If only her family can refrain from their disastrous ‘helping’!

I’ve actually been buried in writing some darker stories lately, so Charlotte and Drew and their antics were a welcome, more humorous change!!!

What was ‘risky’ about this story?

I think the whole anthology was a bit ‘risky’! First, could we pull off such interconnected stories and characters in a seamless way? Could we make it work, make the Fitzmannings seem real? And the wild, scandalous family themselves are a risk! Who could believe their antics? And yet history (especially English history!) is full of families even more eccentric than then Fitzmannings!

What’s next for you?

Oh, gosh, where to start?! In November 2009, watch for The Winter Queen, an Elizabethan tale of dangerous plots and even more dangerous romance in the Christmas of 1564 (which was so cold, the Thames froze through enough for a frost fair!). Also in November, I will have an as-yet-unnamed novella in an as-yet-unnamed Christmas anthology, which has a connection to the Fitzmannings. Drew Bassington’s sister-in-law, Mary, and her old flame Dominic, Viscount Amesby, have to join forces to save her younger sister from making the same mistakes Mary once did! It should be a fun, Sense and Sensibility style holiday story. (I also have a book in the pipeline about the Duke, Nicholas, and Lady Emily, who is not quite the icicle everyone thinks…)

In September, Signet is reissuing two of my old Regencies in a two-for-one volume called Spirited Brides (One Touch of Magic and a Loving Spirit, just in time for Halloween!)

And 2010 is going to be super-busy. My “Muses of Mayfair” Regency trilogy from Harlequin will be making its US debut in April, May, and June! (I am so excited about this). And in February, watch for the debut of my alter-ego Laurel McKee, with Countess of Scandal from Grand Central Publishing.

So, now it’s your turn! Do you like to follow interconnected stories/series? Do you think your own family could star in an anthology?? Any friends you’d like to work with?

A few weekends ago, I went to an old college friend’s bachelorette party at a fun local dance club. And what do a bunch of sophisticated 30-somethings with jobs, mortgages, boyfriends/fiances/husbands/kids/pets, talk about when they have too many pomegranate martinis? You guessed it–they talk about the Twilight books! It is my shame in life that, deep down inside, I am a Twilight-loving, Gossip Girl-watching 14-year-old. (Speaking of GG, did you see the news that Ed Westwick is going to star as Heathcliff in a new Wuthering Heights movie opposite Gemma Arterton???)

My friends and I, it turns out, are united in many opinions re: Twilight. We share a deep dislike of Bella (weird, since the story is in 1st person and thus all about Bella). We sometimes get mired in details that have no explanation (how do vampires have sex if they have no blood? How did the Volturri get from Italy to Forks anyway? They’re not exactly inconspicuous, and they probably don’t have passports). We would love to see a book all about Alice and Jasper (because Alice is never a passive dishrag like Bella, and Jasper seems like a total bad-ass). But we do not all agree on one very important point–who is the real hero, Edward or Jacob?

The bride-to-be finally announced (loudly), “Come on, Manda! You know as well as I do, Jacob is the guy you marry. Edward is just the guy you ****.” (Because she’s now the arbiter of things marital! And it’s not a party without a few f-bombs, of course). And there you have it. Literature, and life, in a nutshell. There are guys you marry, and guys you ****. In romance novels, he is one and the same, because we want a HEA we can believe in. When we’re young, it’s not always so clear which is which; not always when we’re grown-up, either.

But it made me think. What I like about Twilight is not the whole vampire/werewolf thing (the world-building here is flimsy at best). It’s the fact that it’s really just a framework for a good old-fashioned Forbidden Young Love story. It could just as easily be a Regency tale of the gorgeous young heir to a dukedom who falls for a vicar’s shy daughter. She knows she should marry the nice young shopkeeper’s son who is courting her, but she just can’t stay away from the duke…

I don’t often see this whole Crazy, Unstoppable, Force of Nature Love in romance fiction, and sometimes I do crave a Romeo and Juliet, Cathy and Heathcliff kind of story. I know that it’s not especially realistic, and I definitely do not want to go back to being 16 myself, and live again through my first breakup (whimpering in my dark room as I clutched a dried-out corsage from a dance we went to, and my parents thinking I had gone completely insane). But I do like reading about it at times. Do you? What are some of your favorite “crazy love” books? (And if you know some good romances that fit, let me know!!).

(For the record, I would not want to marry Jacob or Edward. Talk about baggage. You either get the whole unpredictable phasing into a werewolf thing, or you get in-laws in your business for eternity).

And now I have to finish packing and decide what to read on the plane! Tomorrow I’m off to meet Diane and trek to New York for BookExpo America, Lady Jane’s Salon, and all kinds of fun things. If you’re in the area, let us know!

“To us she appears inconsistent–religious yet aggressive, calculating yet emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet the strong grip of a politician–but is this what she was, or merely what we strain to see through the opacity of the evidence? What does come to us across the centuries is the impression of a person who is strangely appealing to the early 21st century. A woman in her own right–taken on her own terms in a man’s world; a woman who mobilized her education, her style and her presence to outweigh the disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good looks, but taking a court and a king by storm. Perhaps in the end it is Thomas Cromwell’s assessment that comes nearest: intelligence, spirit, and courage.” –Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

Today, May 19, marks the 473rd grim anniversary of the death of Anne Boleyn (1501 or ’07–1536). History geeks like me tend to have a list of “historical heroes and heroines,” people we would like to invite to our dream dinner parties, sit them down, serve them some drinks, and ask “So–what were you thinking there anyway?” Anne Boleyn is definitely one of mine. I’ve been fascinated by her since I was a kid and watched Anne of the Thousand Days on the TV at my grandmother’s house. I read everything I could find about her, and yet she still seems elusive. As Ives says, a woman of her own time but also so strangely modern, a woman of intelligence and ambition, pride and immense courage. Ives also calls her “the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had.”

I could write a post days long about her life and activities, but I’ll concentrate here on the end. After a crazed pursuit of 7 long years, Anne agreed to marry Henry on January 25, 1533–even though the Church and the Pope stubbornly persisted in insisting he was married to his wife of 20+ years Katherine of Aragon (who stubbornly insisted the same! For a man so set on his own way, Henry did marry so many proud and strong women…). On May 23, Thomas Cranmer, the new Archbishop of Canterbury (who was once the Boleyn family chaplain, the Boleyns being staunch Protestants) declared the marriage of Henry and Katherine void and the marriage of Henry and Anne valid. They were all thereafter excommunicated. But Anne was crowned queen in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey on June 1, and gave birth to a princess, Elizabeth, on September 7. Elizabeth, of course, was destined to be her mother’s daughter in every way, even though she never knew her.

But the good times weren’t to last long. After many miscarriages, Henry got tired of her outspoken stubbornness, and in April and May of 1536 brought her to trial for high treason, via adultery and incest (and rumors of witchcraft). It was an utter travesty of a trial on charges everyone knew were trumped up, but Anne and her accused lovers (including her brother George) were declared guilty and sentenced to death. George was executed on Tower Green on May 17, as Anne waited for her fate in the confines of the Tower, where only 3 years before she had come in glory to wait for her coronation.

Anthony Kingston, the Constable of the Tower, wrote “This morning she sent for me…and at my coming she said ‘Mr. Kingston, I hear I shall not die afore noon, and I am very sorry therefore, for I thought to be dead by this time and past my pain.’ I told her it should be no pain, it was so little. And then she said, ‘I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck,’ and then she put her hands about it laughing. I have seen many men and also women executed, and they have been in great sorrow, and to my knowledge this lady has much joy in death.”

Around noon on May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn died on a scaffold erected on the north side of the White Tower, in front of what is now called Waterloo Barracks. She wore a red petticoat under a black damask gown trimmed in fur and a mantle of ermine. With her ladies-in-waiting, she walked from the Queen’s House (which is still there), climbed the steps, and made a short speech to the gathered crowd as the French headsman waited.

“Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you. And if any person will meddle in my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord Have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.”

She then knelt upright in the French style of executions, said once more, “To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesus receive my soul.” Her ladies took away her headdress and jewelry, tied a blindfold over her eyes–and it was over in one sword-stroke. Cranmer said “She who has been the Queen of England on earth will today become a Queen in heaven.” Anne was buried under the floor of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula behind the scaffold site, near her brother, where her grave can be seen today, and a few days later Henry married Jane Seymour. Following the ascension of her daughter as Queen Elizabeth, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the Protestant Reformation, and she’s an object of fascination (and movies and novels!) to this day.

There are lots of great sources on Anne Boleyn and her tumultuous times, but a few I like are: Antonia Fraser’s The Wives of Henry VIII; Eric Ives’s The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn; Joanna Denny’s Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England’s Tragic Queen; Retha Warnicke’s The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn–Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII; and Karen Lindsey’s Divorced Beheaded Survived–A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII.

See, I told you I could write about Anne Boleyn for days!!! When I visited the Tower last year, I actually started crying while standing at the scaffold site and reading the words engraved on the new memorial fountain there (at least it was early and not crowded yet! No one to see the crazy lady crying over stuff that happened 473 years ago). Who are some of your heroes? Have you visited sites that had significance for them? What did you think? Who are your “fantasy dinner party” guests??

(Oh, and 2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the accession of Henry VIII to the throne! For info on some of the planned events check out this article. I really wish I could be there, especially for the Tudor water pageant on the Thames and the Christmas celebration at Hampton Court…)

When I did my post on Venice back in March, Janet and Amanda kindly said that they might have me back to talk about obscure 18th century English music. Amanda then contacted me and if I could write it for today. I wonder if I dare mention that I am currently interested in the Prometheans, in particular John Martin and his circle. Amongst other things John Martin was Princess Charlotte’s drawing master around the time she became engaged to Prince Leopold. Prince Leopold then became godfather to John Martin’s son! (Amanda’s note: Possible future guest blog???)

Anyway, yes, 18th century composers and musicians. The advent of the Georges meant a huge influx of Germans into the English music scene. These included Haydn, Handel, and William Herschel. Herschel is perhaps now better known for his work with early telescopes. He discovered the planet Uranus and his sister Caroline was instrumental in observing comets. Herschel was active in Bath being employed by the Pump Room band and eventually becoming the director after James Linley moved to London. Linley’s daughter Elizabeth, or ‘Angel,’ became a star at Drury Lane and eventually married Sheridan. Handel, of course, unlike most of his contemporaries remained popular after his death. The famous Three Choir concerts which were given around England in the early 19th century mainly consisted of Handel’s music.

The greatest composer of concertos in the period was Charles Avison. Born in Newcastle in 1709, he went to London around 1725 to study with the great Italian violinist Geminani whom Avison later championed as being greater than Handel. Hailed by the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians as the most important English composer of the 18th century, Avison is now largely unknown. His recent revival in the North East and elsewhere was down to Gordon Dixon’s chance discovery of music hidden away in a broom cupboard. The Avison Ensemble was formed and many of his works recorded for the first time. Another composer, John Garth (1721-1810) was only rediscovered in about 2006 when a student at Durham University embarked on a Ph.D and came across the scores in the Literary and Philosophical Society’s Music library. John Garth mainly composed for the violincello.

Avison’s most famous pupil was William Shield (1748-1829). The orphaned son of a master musician, Shield became apprenticed to a boat builder in South Shields after his father died. Luckily his employer loved music and allowed Shield to continue with his studies with Avison. In 1722, he secured a place at Covent Garden. In 1817 he became Master of King’s Musick, a position he held until his death. He left his viola to George IV, who insisted on paying Shield’s common law wife the full value of the instrument. Shield was one of the originators of the modern musical as he used English, spoken dialogue, folk and popular melodies as well as comic elements in his works. His most famous work, Rosina, borrowed many songs from the Northumberland area. He is credited with the melody for Auld Lang Syne. This accreditation is slightly controversial as Shield was English, and it is possible that it was an old Scottish melody, but it is there in the overture to Rosina and the controversy has raged on and off throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Shield’s music was highly popular in America, and Sigmund Speath in his A History of Popular Music in America mentions how much Shield’s compositions contributed to early American music.

If you want to know more about music in the North East during this period, Joseph W. Pegg’s An Introduction to Newcastle’s Musical Heritage is an excellent place to start.

Michelle Style’s latest Regency Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife was published in the UK in April 2009. She is currently hard at work on the second of her early Victorian duo! Visit her website for more info…