So, did you hear there was a big RWA conference last week? 🙂 I’ve been doing laundry, sending emails, downloading pics, slowly unpacking all the princess swag I acquired, and I’m still smiling. I’ve been to a lot of RWAs and I have to say I think I enjoyed this one the most. There was a great, laid-back feeling to the conference, I got to meet up with lots of friends (and make new ones), and I finally got to see Disney World. I was ridiculously excited to ride the rides and meet the princesses!

A quick look at some of the festivities:

At the Beau Monde Soiree with Janet (in my new Countess of Scandal gown!)

With Keira Soleore and her adorable bonnet

In the stocks at Disney World with Michelle Willingham (we were bad authors that day!)

With Michelle and the Harlequin Mills & Boon editors (Joanne Grant, Linda Fildew, Kim Young, and Jenny Hutton), waiting to run through the Magic Kingdom gates as soon as they opened…

Lunch at Cinderella’s Castle!

At the awards ceremony with Michelle and Joanne!

Megan and Carolyn at the ceremony
After the ceremony!

Princess Swag

Abigail, my own little Snow White

See you next year in New York City! Were you at RWA? What did you enjoy the most???

So today the weather finally dipped below 100 degrees here! In fact–it is actually in the 80s, and raining! I can go outside again! Hooray! It also appears my reading and post-RWA writing slumps are done (for now, anyway). I’ve passed the halfway mark on the WIP and am also fiddling around with the 1920s project, and have read not one but TWO wonderful books: the historical mystery The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (a terrific early 1950s British setting and a smart-mouthed “detective” combined with seriously witty writing) and the Restoration romance Libertine’s Kiss by Judith James. (When I finished it, I immediately ran to the email and lured Judith James to the blog–she’ll be here next Tuesday, the 31st, to tell you all more about this fabulous, fabulous book).

And until I got a box of author copies yesterday I forgot I have a September release! Improper Ladies is another re-issue of two of my Signet Regencies, The Golden Feather (a Bookseller’s Best Award winner) and The Rules of Love (a RITA nominee!). Isn’t the cover girl’s hair gorgeous?? (I’m giving away a copy over at my own blog–tell me about your favorite Regency story for a chance to win…)

I also read that on this day in 1847, Charlotte Bronte finished writing Jane Eyre. Like many history junkies, this is one of my all-time favorite books ever, and one I never tire of re-reading. I vividly remember my first encounter with Jane. I was about 9 or 10, and had been long hooked on stuff like The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and the Betsy-Tacy books, so was always looking for stories with similar settings. (I had also just read my very first Austen, Emma, and was ripe for more 19th century literature). I found a battered paperback copy of Jane Eyre in a box at a garage sale, thought “Yes, I’ve heard of this!” and dragged it home to start reading. I stayed up all night (yes, with a flashlight, hiding under the bed) reading, and was shocked (shocked!!) by Bertha in the attic. I was totally addicted.

My mother then aided and abetted this obsession by finding a VHS tape of the Timothy Dalton Jane Eyre series, which I watched over and over, and I used my allowance to buy as many Victorian novels as I could find at the bookstore. (I tried Wuthering Heights next, but was still too young for it–I didn’t come to appreciate it until much later. But I did like Bleak House and Mill on the Floss, strangely).

There are many, many (many, many, many) versions of Jane Eyre to be found out there. In movies, there’s a silent version from 1915 called The Castle of Thornfield and a 1926 German film called Orphan of Lowood (I haven’t seen it, but have these wonderful visions of JE as Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), a 1963 Mexican feature called El Secreto and a 1972 Indian movie Shanti Nilyam. Here are a few a little closer to home:

1983–Timothy Dalton as Rochester and Zelah Clarke as Jane (still my favorite version, since I saw it first! I love how so much of the dialogue from the book is in place and how true it is to the spirit of the story…)

1997–Ciaran Hinds (Captain Wentworth!) and Samantha Morton (I like this one, but not as much as I thought I would when I first starting watching it)

1996–A Franco Zeffirelli-directed version starring William Hurt and French icon Charlotte Gainsbourg (it’s been so long since I’ve seen this I remember very little about it)

1944–Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine (and a very young Elizabeth Taylor)

2006–Toby Stephens as “Mr. Rochester as hottie” and Ruth Wilson

And one coming soon in 2011, starring Mia Wasikowska (from Alice in Wonderland) as Jane

Plus there are sequels, continuations, inspired-by books, Jane as paranormal hero, muscials, operas, etc etc….

When did you first read Jane Eyre? What’s your favorite of the adaptations? And what good books have you read lately???

First of all–new covers!!! Regency Christmas Proposals–isn’t it pretty? Doesn’t it look wonderfully Christmas-y? (even though Christmas seems years away…). I’m very excited about my story Snowbound and Seduced (a Diamonds of Welbourne Manor spin-off! We met Mary Derrington and her girlhood sweetheart Dominic, Viscount Amesby, in Charlotte and the Wicked Lord. Now they have to reunite to chase after her sister and his cousin as they attempt to elope in the midst of bad weather and right at Christmas), and the thought that someday it will be cool outside again (after weeks of 100+ weather here). It’s out in November, along with my new “Undone” story, To Court, Capture, and Conquer (I also just found out I’ll be doing an “Undone” story with a 1920s story–stay tuned!). November will be fun!

Until then, my yard is withering from lack of rain, my cats won’t come out from the cool shade under the bed, and I watch way too much summer TV. True Blood, Mad Men, Vampire Diaries re-runs, History Detectives, Pawn Stars, Project Runway, On the Road With Austin and Santino…you see what a useless summer I’m having. But I also take breaks from being a TV lump on the couch to work on my WIP (working title–Elizabethan Theater Story) and doing some research. One great book on the period is Charles Nicholl’s The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe, and I was struck by one little piece of info I found there:

“Peter Shakerley was one of those self-publicizing Elizabethan oddballs who found their way into the popular imagination. There were others: an absurdly dressy Italian called Monarcho, the loquacious barber Tom Tooley, old Mother Livers of Stoke Newington, and so on. They were a bit crazy, and people laughed at them and talked about them, and their names remain like curious fossils in the pamphlets and ballads of the day”

Maybe it’s my summer TV time, but it occurred to me–these were Elizabethan reality stars! Crazy, laughable, well-known for doing–well, nothing really, except being odd and good at publicizing their oddness. They’re like the Kardashians of the 16th century. Today they would appear on Go Fug Yourself (especially that Monarcho guy–I’d love to see his outfits) and on the cover of US Weekly with Bachelors and Bristol Palin. If only there was a Big Brother where groups of them would be locked up in Hampton Court, or maybe a Victorian Project Runway where Charles Frederick Worth could be the Tim Gunn figure (only meaner). A Regency Work of Art, only with whiny, back-stabbing poets! A Georgian Top Chef where they have to prepare a 30-course dinner at the Brighton Pavilion–in only two hours!

That would be TV gold, and I’ve spent too much time this morning dreaming up new schemes. Who Wants to Marry Henry VIII? Lady Caro Lamb is the New Bachelorette–Be Careful, She’ll Stab You With That Rose If You Reject Her?

So you tell me! What historical reality shows would you like to see???

The winners of copies of The Smuggler and the Society Bride are—–Maureen and Kim Colby! Please send us your snail mail info at Riskies AT yahoo.com

The Riskies welcome back Harlequin Historicals author Julia Justiss as our guest blogger today! Julia is giving away not one but two copies of The Smuggler and the Society Bride to 2 lucky commenters….

When The Road To Adventure Is Aboard Ship: The Smuggling Lugger Versus The Royal Navy Cutter by Julia Justiss

My hero, Gabe Hawksworth, grew up on the Irish coast, sailing his passion from the time he was strong enough to grasp a tiller. So when the good army friend who saved his life asks him to take over a smuggling lugger until its injured captain recovers, Gabe cannot refuse. Not to mention, after kicking his heels at home under the scrutiny of his insufferable elder brother while he recovered from wounds suffered at the battle of Orthes, he’s ripe for a new adventure. Pitting his wits against the sea and the revenue agents sounds like just the thing.

During the heyday of smuggling in the 18th and 19th centuries, the small fishing vessels that had always toiled on the Cornish coast were adapted into swift vessels that could be up to 75 feet in length, stepped with 3 masts whose massive sails allowed the fastest to journey the one hundred miles from Cornwall to Brittany in eight hours. The luggers were worked by a crew of 30 and might be armed with 12 to 16 cannon, plus swivel guns loaded with grapeshot to ferociously resist any government vessels that attempted to capture the ship and its valuable cargo.

Given that hanging or transportation was the punishment for anyone convicted of smuggling, their fierce resistance is understandable. However, considering that a crewman would earn ten pounds for a successful run to Guernsey or Roscoff–more than a fisherman earned in 3 months–one can understand why captains had no difficulty manning their ships. It didn’t hurt either that the smugglers’ neighbors were usually more sympathetic to the men who braved the sea and the revenue patrols to bring them desirable goods than to the king’s men, and a Cornish journey would almost never bring a guilty verdict against anyone on trial for smuggling.

Ranged against the smuggling lugger in this contest was the Royal Navy or revenue service cutter. Built after a design adapted from the smuggling luggers of Folkestone, this craft averaged about 70 feet long and carried a crew of 40. Built for speed, the ships could deploy fore, aft, and square sails on their single mast and carried an armament of up to 10 18-pounder guns. However, since they had a deeper draft than the smugglers’ vessels they couldn’t operate close in to shore and so depended on finding their prey at sea, in transit between the supplier in France and the base in England.

A battle of wits and sailing skill would result, with the variables of wind, sea, and storm to make things interesting. The worst fate for the smuggling lugger was to be becalmed, sitting helpless on the windless sea, unable to escape while the revenue cutter lowered small boats to row over and search his vessel. Then a battle not of wits but of cutlasses and muskets would likely result. Just the kind of ruckus a hot-blooded soldier like my hero Gabe enjoyed!

What’s your transportation of choice when you want to set off on the road to adventure? So you drive to the shore or mountains? Fly to some exotic destination? Cruise to Bermuda or the Caribbean? Or are you an “armchair traveler” transported to adventure in the pages of your favorite book?