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Monthly Archives: June 2012

What I’m Reading Now

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So last week I mentioned I was reading Amor Towles’s Rules of Civility, and there were some comments about how beautiful the cover of this book is.  I decided I had to share it here since a) The cover really is totally gorgeous (and was what grabbed my attention in the first place) and b) The book itself was so amazingly good.  I read it in a couple of days and wanted it to go on longer.

It’s set in 1937, and has a very Fitzgerald-y feeling to the prose (one reviewer called it a “throwback” novel, which it is in the best sense of the word–very atmospheric, full of characters doing glamorous things with a dark underpinning and having witty conversations).  It opens in 1937, among the upper society of New York City, and is narrated by Katy Kontent, a young woman working in publishing and pulling herself up from a lower-class Russian Brighton Beach upbringing.  She and her friend Eve, out carousing in jazz clubs on New Year’s Eve, meet a handsome young banker named Tinker Gray, you think the story is heading one way, then–well, it doesn’t.  It’s almost Regency-esque in its complicated and detailed view of a very specific world.  I loved it.

I am always looking for books set in the 1920s and 1930s, such a rich setting that isn’t seen much in romance (though I think it definitely should be!).  I did one Undone short story set in the ’20s,The Girl in the Beaded Mask, and I would love to do more…

Right now I’ve started reading Sadie Jones’s The Uninvited Guests, since I’m still in a 1930s mood.  What have you been reading lately?  Do you like books set in this time period??

Posted in Former Riskies, Reading | Tagged , , , | 5 Replies

Museum Tuesday!

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First of all, to start off my week I got a brand new cover!  This book is coming out in October, a sort of sequel to The Winter Queen set at the court of Mary Queen of Scots (I loved doing the research for this one!).  She has a lot of hair, but just like with my last Harlequin cover I wanna steal her dress…

And when I was searching around for something  for today’s blog, I found out that June 26 marks the anniversary of the opening of the V&A museum in its current location!  The Victorian Albert is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, with 4.5 million objects over 145 galleries covering 12.5 acres.  Their collections cover design objects from all over world and in every medium imaginable.

The origins of the museum were in the Great Exhibition of 1851, objects from which formed the nucleus of the first collection.  (Prince Albert was always very keen to promote English arts and design).  It was called the Museum of Manufactures and opened in May 1852 at Marlborough House.  The cornerstone of the current Aston Webb-designed building was laid in May 1899, the last official public appearance of Queen Victoria.  It was officially opened to the public by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on June 26, 1909 and has undergone numerous extensions since then (including right now).

Just a few of their objects are the Great Bed of Ware (mentioned in Shakespeare plays, see pic below); Henry VIII’s writing desk; the complete Music Room from Norfolk House, 1756; a costume collection of 14,000 objects from 1600 to the present; jewels such as Marie Antoinette’s bracelets and the Beauharnais emerald necklace, given by Napoleon to his stepdaughter; the 13th century Sicilian Tristan quilt; and so, so, so much more.  Plus great shops.

Recently the Oklahoma City Museum of Art hosted a great traveling exhibit of objects from the V&A, including clothes, George III’s walking stick, silver and porcelain, furniture, and a writing table belonging to Marie Antoinette.  It was a small but beautifully selected exhibit, and I visited it several times!  (One of my favorite things they had was this portrait of Madame de Pompadour):

To see explore the museum a bit yourself, visit them here!

Have you been to the V&A?  What was your favorite thing there?  And what do you think of the cover??

Posted in Former Riskies, Research | Tagged , | 6 Replies

Amanda/Laurel Talks About “One Naughty Night”!

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(Amanda is putting on her Laurel McKee hat—which is probably a black fascinator with a red rose and some feathers—to launch her new book One Naughty Night, book one in the Scandalous St. Claires series! Comment for a chance to win a signed copy…but if you don’t win, it’s available in ebook for the promo price of 2.99 from June 4 to July 2!!)
Under the cover of night…nothing is forbidden…
Lily St. Claire will do anything for the family that saved her from the streets.  With their support, the young widow has become the hostess of The Devil’s Fancy, London’s most exclusive gaming den.  She’s determined to restore the St. Claire family fortune, lost a century before to the despised Huntington clan.  But a ghost from her past may be her ultimate undoing…
The son a a duke, Lord Aidan Huntington is handsome and wealthy, with a taste for adventure and a reputation for wickedness.  A gambler and a rake, Aidan can’t resist a seductive woman with secrets–but one naughty night with Lily leaves him wanting more.  As Lily is drawn into London’s dark underworld by an old enemy, Aidan will risk everything to save the woman who has awakened his deepest desires…
After I finished writing about Georgian Ireland in my “Daughters of Erin” trilogy, I wanted to do something very different for my next project. So I turned to my very earliest historical love—Victorian England!
In this intriguing first St. Claire romance, McKee introduces a delightfully down-to-earth heroine…readers will cheer Lily in her quest for happiness and look forward to the sequels –Publishers Weekly
It all started when I was about ten years old and I came across a battered copy of Jane Eyre on my parents’ bookshelf. I think they used it for a college class or something, but after reading the first page I was totally hooked into Jane’s world. (Though I was deeply shocked—spoiler alert!–Bertha in the attic. I had to go back and read the whole book again just to be sure). After reading it three times, I ran out and and found a pile of other Victorian novels, like Dickens and Gaskell (though I admit I was too young at the time for Wuthering Heights. I hated it then, but I have a deep appreciation for its uniqueness now), I also read non-fiction about Queen Victoria and her world. But then I moved on to other historical loves, like the Regency and Tudor England, and never tried a Victorian-set novel of my own.
Until a couple of years ago, when I watched the movie Young Victoria and fell in love with the costumes. I confess—it was clothes, and the fact that I’ve always loved a “family feud” story, that led me to this story, and to Lily and Aidan and their families, the ducal Huntingtons and the underworld St. Claires.
I am completely in love with the St. Claire and Huntington families. Not only did this first book in a new series by Laurel McKee have me thoroughly enjoying the story between Lily and Aidan, I was just as drawn into both their families and the supporting characters who were involved just enough to add interest to their own stories that will be coming up in the series. But, this was Lily and Aidan’s story and I enjoyed everything about it, from the suspense coming from a man from Lily’s past to her and Aidan’s naughtiness in the bedroom.  –Happily Ever After Reviews
When I was younger I had a fantasy vision of what Victorian life was like, but for this book I wanted to delve deeper and give a more realistic picture (especially of Lily’s Dickensian childhood before she was adopted by the St. Claires). The sixty years of Victoria’s reign marked an enormous shift in society and the way the world worked. The way people traveled, shopped, dealt with illness, childbirth, and death, even the way they dressed and read, were very different from what came before. There was gaslight and then electricity, railroads, factories, the world of the arts (the theater was booming, as were the visual and decorative arts, and novels by authors like the Brontes and Dickens were sensations), the rise of the middle classes, and the expansion of the British Empire into every corner of the globe. All led by a woman who was the very image of domestic responsibility, unlike her uncles.
But it was also a time of vast social differences, a new emphasis on the appearance of respectability, and a whole hidden underworld of dark activities like drug use, prostitution, and pornography. The contrast between what really was and what things appeared to be was wider than ever before. I loved incorporating all these aspects of Victorian life into Lily and Aidan’s story!
For and excerpt and more info, visit my website! And if you would like to read more about the period yourself, here are just a few sources I found helpful…
Donald Thomas, The Victorian Underworld(1998)
Jennifer Hall-Witt, Fashionable Acts: Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780-1880 (2007) (It was Elena who recommended this book, which is fascinating!)
Michael Mason, The Making of Victorian Sexuality(1994)
Suzanne Fagence Cooper, The Victorian Woman(2001)
JJ Tobias, Crime and Police in England, 1700-1900(1979)
Sally Mitchell, Daily Life in Victorian England(2009)
FML Thompson, The Rise of Respectable Society, 1800-1900(1988)
What do you love about Victorian England?? Comment for a chance to win a copy!
Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Interviews, Risky Book Talk | Tagged , | 14 Replies

Catching Up Tuesday

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Is it Tuesday already???  Wow.  I have been working on two projects lately, plus planning a new one, plus trying to have some summer fun, so the week has really crept up on me.  So…what else have I been thinking about lately?

1) Winners!  The winner from my post last week launching One Naughty Night is…Lisa Wolff!  Email me at amccabe7551 AT yahoo.com with your mailing info and I will get a signed copy mailed out to you ASAP

2) Blogs and reviews.  Both good (yay!) and not-so-good (sad!).  It seems like the first week or so when a book is out brings several of them to my inbox every day.  Yesterday I was at the Grand Central Forever blog talking about how being a theater geek led me to the St. Claire family…

3) Watching “Call Me Maybe” takeoffs on YouTube

4) Which led me to “irrational celebrity hate lists” (not sure how).  We all have at least one, right?  Mine happens to be Kristin Stewart.  Ugh.  She just seems to stomp around looking profoundly angry that designers have thrown free clothes at her…

5) Maybe that means we also have irrational hate lists for character types?  The dotty old dowager?  The ditzy best friend?  Hmm.

6) Reading, of course.  I just finished Amor Towles’s amazing Rules of Civility, and now I can’t decide what to read next.  Any suggestions??

Who is on your irrational celebrity hate list??

 

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Reading, Risky Book Talk | Tagged | 9 Replies

Alter Egos

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Hi! Risky Kelly here!

I know Carolyn usually blogs on Wednesdays, but something came up on my regular day and she agreed to swap days with me, because, well, Carolyn is awesome that way.

Don’t worry, everyone goes back to their regular blogging schedule next week, and I’ll be my pretty great self on my usual day. Only better.

I wanted to share with you just how great the Riskies are, all of us. Diane, Amanda, Carolyn, Janet, Elena, Megan, and me, Kelly. As you know, of all the Riskies, I’ve been blogging here the longest. 15 years ago seems like only yesterday! And now, at last, I’ve been recognized for all my hard work.

Late last week I got this email. I’ve removed certain information as I don’t want this site to be flooded with so many requests for their services that they can’t get the Risky program in place.

Here it is:

Hello Kelly,

My name is Mxxxxxxx Txxxxxxxxxxxxx, social media manager at xxxxxxxxx.com. We’ve been following your blog at http://riskyregencies.blogspot.com for a while now and your writing style is pretty great! I’m willing to bet PR agencies and Brands might find it appealing as well.

So we selected your site to offer you a revenue share partnership. Let me know if you’d be interested in this opportunity and I’ll follow-up with more details!

Best regards,

Mxxxxxxx Txxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mxxxxxxx @  xxxxxxxxx.com

www. xxxxxxxxx.com

The Real Story

Risky Carolyn here for a sec. Believe it or not, the email is genuine. I can’t tell you how excited I was when Kelly contacted me about her lengthy time blogging for the Riskies and what an amazing job she’s been doing for us all this time.

I really love her post about that thing. It’s my favorite post of hers. Do you remember? So insightful. But, then, she’s insightful for us every week. I know she and Diane are besties, so don’t be surprised if Diane shares some favorite recollections, too. One time Kelly gave Megan a framed picture of Clive Owen so, yeah. I think we all teared up when that happened. One time she saved Amanda from a runaway train, and most of you probably remember when she built that rumpus room for Elena a few years back. Most imaginative use of egg cartons EVER! And who can forget the time she performed an emergency appendectomy on Janet? I know!

We all love Kelly and are so grateful that she’s been blogging with us for so many years. And now this. Gosh. Bringing us the opportunity for additional revenue streams.

The Real Kelly

Wow. I didn’t realize I had even more alter egos! Let me tell you, it’s hard enough with the one alter ego I’ve got. Why even have an alter ego? There are many reasons out there. In my specific case, I’ve got two sisters-in-law who share my first name and took our family name. They both work in schools. I write erotic fiction. I think you can do the math.

However, in the last year or so, the line between my two identities has been blurring. In my day life, I work as a librarian. I’ve started becoming known as one of the “go to” people in the field who can be considered a reasonable expert in erotic fiction. Part of that is because people are finding out I’m also a writer of the stuff.

Even with my routinely being “outed”, I still do my best to separate my names. I never deny what I write, and give this name when asked. But, I still don’t want to link my two names. Again, it’s because of my sisters-in-law. To me, this is a basic courtesy to them. I’m not afraid to be known for what I do, but with the Internet these days, I don’t want anyone to make trouble for them due to an incomplete investigation as to which of us this alter ego belongs.

The next question that I’m usually asked is how I handle the two identities online. Frankly? I suck at it. I’m your classic example of how not to manage your identity or brand as an author. Seriously. Use me as a case study. My blog is dead. I can’t even remember if I put up an “On Indefinite Hiatus” post. I have a Twitter account that I periodically post to, and when I do, it’s because I forgot to check which account I was posting from and it had defaulted to this ID. I have a Facebook page, but I hate that no matter which identity I’m using. I’m in the process of revamping my website, so that should hopefully be updated soon! Why, if I know this is all poor web management, do I not do better? Well, I’m usually busy posting in these places as my real life identity. I’ve been on Twitter as myself for over five years, and have built up a following of nearly 4000 people. Darn keeping these identities separate! If I were to tell you my real name/web ID, you’d probably all go “I know who she is!!” Wish I could tell you. I really wish I do. However, to give you a few clues:

1. remember what I said my day profession is,
2. I’ve been at the profession for nearly ten years, but chronologically I’m still well below the average age,
3. my first initial for both of my names is the same,
4. I frequently refer to my “alter ego” (Kelly) when talking about writing under my real name. If you figure out who my day identity is, please don’t post it in the comments!

A final bit of trivia about me. I’ve been asked how I came up with my name since neither Kelly nor Maher are in my legal name. My undergrad degree is in anthropology partially because I’ve been a fan of Indiana Jones almost my whole life. Like Indy, I’m named after the dog. Seriously! We had Kelly for fourteen years, and during that time, I got very used to my mom calling me Kelly, and answering to it!, because our names sounded so similar. Maher is a family name, specifically my one great-grandmother’s maiden name. The stories my grandma would tell me of her mom showed me what a strong and progressive woman my great-grandma was. I’ve told my grandma that I’ve taken her mother’s maiden name for my writing name, and she was very proud. I even told her what I write. However, Grandma’s on the elderly side of things (even if she calls ladies 10-15 years her junior “those old ladies”), and is a wee bit forgetful. Mom and I figured she wouldn’t be too shocked for long 😀

So that’s my story of alter egos! You can find me on Twitter as @kmmaher (I was a bit slow on signing up over there) and you can do a search for me on Facebook as Kelly Maher. [NB: Probably NSFW – Not Safe For Work due to slightly racy images.) My real face is on the page! Look for reddish hair and a purple swath of fabric. Oh! I should probably mention that I’ve got a new release this fall, shouldn’t I? See, case study for bad marketer! I’m very pleased to share that my story “Homecoming” will be in the upcoming “Duty and Desire: Military Erotic Romance” anthology from Cleis Press. Kristina Wright is the collection editor and there is a great group of authors in the anthology!

Thanks so much for having me, Carolyn and the fellow Riskies! I hope I’ve kept up my great tradition of posts here.

More about Kelly

Carolyn here again. Thank you, Kelly, for sharing that email and for agreeing to post here!

You can find Kelly on the web at kellymaher.com

here’s a list of her 10 plus titles for Ellora’s Cave, Black Lace Books and other publishers.

Feel free to share your favorite Kelly moments in the comments!

Posted in Former Riskies, Frivolity, Writing | Tagged , , , | 8 Replies