This is going to be a short Saturday post! I’m writing it at an Internet cafe in snowbound Santa Fe, where I’ve come for a too-short birthday trip (it’s on the 15th, and Barnes and Noble giftcards make GREAT presents. I’m just sayin’…). So, I’m going to follow Megan’s example from a few weeks ago and let YOU be the post. Tell us what you’re currently reading, what’s in your TBR pile, or what upcoming books you’re looking forward to.

I decided not to bring many research books with me this weekend. I’ve been buried in my three ongoing projects (Regency with elements of ancient Greece, Tudor England, pre-Revolutionary France), and I’m afraid if I don’t take a break I’ll have Henry VIII dancing at Almacks with Marie Antoinette. Instead, I’m treating myself to some fiction–Colleen Gleason’s The Rest Falls Away (couldn’t resist after her interview here!), Claire Thornton’s The Abducted Heiress (a rare Restoration setting, something I would love to see more of), and a mystery by Sarah Stewart Taylor, Still As Death.

That’s my weekend reading! What’s yours?

Confession: I subscribe to way too many fashion/beauty magazines. I’m addicted to them–my bedroom is full of copies of Vogue, Elle, In Style, Allure. It’s like lipgloss porn. And with a new Sephora open near my house, I have a place to go for a prime “fix.” (The funny thing is, I read about all these new products, make lists, pore over the makeup counters, sometimes even buy stuff. But I always go back to the same things in the end–Clinique eyeshadow, Chanel lipstick, Maybelline Great Lash).

In the January Allure there’s an article called “Beauty Secrets” about some of the extreme lengths women go to in order to look beautiful. Waxing, plucking, Botoxing, etc. One woman slathers herself all over with olive oil and wraps up in a sheet, mummy-like, before going to bed. But her ex-boyfriend was “appalled. I thought we were past this gotta-be-a-goddess stage. But no.”

Of course, suffering for beauty is nothing new. We’ve been doing it since Egyptian women stuck perfumed cones of wax on their heads and let them melt. Maybe cavewomen even set up day spas in open rock formations. One of my favorite “cosmetic history” sources isn’t Regency but Elizabethan, a 16th century pamphlet called “A dialogue of the faire perfectioning of ladies.” I have a modern reprint of this interesting early version of Allure, written as a dialogue between two kinswomen, Raffaella and Margaret, as Raffaella guides Maragret through the intricacies of glamour. She recommends such things as a lotion of “Malmsey wine, white vinegar, honey, lily flowers, fresh beans, verdigris, right silver, rock salt, sandiver, rock alum, and sugar alum.” At least this isn’t quite as toxic as some of the other preparations, like white lead paint for the face and bosom! Or like this one:

“…One takes pure silver and quicksilver and, when they are ground in the mortar, one adds ceruse and burnt rock alum, and then for a day they are ground together again and afterwards moistened with mastic until all is liquid; then all is boiled in rainwater and, the boiling down done, one casts some sublimate upon the mortar; this is done three times and the water cast on the fourth time is kept together with the body of the lye.”

Would you try this sort of thing in order to be fashionable? What about in your modern life? Any favorite beauty products, whether or not it involves olive oil? (because I’m always looking for new things to try!). Or do you have any beauty resolutions for the new year? Mine is to remember to reapply my lipstick, instead of just slapping it on in the morning and forgetting about it…

Hilarious Romantic Times
Sophisticated, sexy, surprising J R Ward
Enthusiastic…intriguing and addicting Publishers Weekly

Meet Colleen Gleason whose first book, already with some great reviews and a lot of online buzz, comes out this week. From today’s (relevant) comments and questions, one winner will receive a copy of The Rest Falls Away, so come join in the fun!

Colleen, congratulations and welcome to the Riskies. Tell us about your book.
The Rest Falls Away is the first in a series about Victoria Gardella Grantworth, a young lady who lives in Regency-era London. She’s just about to make her debut into Society when she learns that she comes from a family of vampire hunters, and that she’s been chosen to take up the task.
Victoria has to learn how to fight (all those body appendages she isn’t supposed to know about actually come in handy!), she has to figure out how to sneak out of the house at night to stalk vampires, and, most pressing of all…she has to figure out where on earth she can hide her stake. Her reticule just isn’t big enough, and she certainly can’t go to Almack’s with a stake in hand.
Oh, and she has to catch a husband. Of course.
Victoria’s mother doesn’t know her daughter is a vampire hunter, and nor does the rest of Society know that the vampire queen Lilith has come back to London, minions in tow, in search of a book of enchantments.
I’d like to let your readers who don’t generally like paranormals in on a little secret: I don’t read vampire novels, nor do I particularly like paranormals. Therefore, my book isn’t a gory, horror novel. There aren’t any brooding vampires who turn out to be the heroes. The story is mostly about Victoria, a woman who has the chance to be something more than just another Regency miss. A woman who has choices to make, a duty to respond to, and a freedom that other women of that time would not only have dreamed of–but might even have been frightened of. She’s a superheroine trying to live a balanced life in a time where Society women aren’t supposed to do much other than wed, bed, and breed.
One more thing: since this is the first book in a series, a true series, about Victoria Gardella Grantworth, there isn’t a traditional happily ever after ending. Yet.

Where did the idea for the Gardellas come from? And why did you choose the Regency period for the setting?
I became addicted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer a few years ago. I loved the dual sides of her life, I loved the unexpected–that she didn’t look or act like a superhero, yet she had all of these extra powers and a duty that she had to bear. In Buffy, we’re told that “once in every generation” a woman is chosen to be The Slayer, and that got me to thinking about Buffy’s predecessors. What had it been like for them–as it was so difficult for her, here in the 20th century? And then of course, I know that the Regency is a very popular time period for books, so I merged the two together and voila! The idea was born.
But I didn’t feel that I could fully tell Victoria’s story in one book, so I decided to make it a series. And while in Buffy, she’s the only Slayer, that’s not the case in my series. The mythology and the alternate world is quite different than that of Buffy; so anyone who’s expecting a sort of fan fiction would be disappointed.

What research did you have to do for the books?
I watched a lot of Buffy! (Just kidding. Seriously, I’ve only watched the first three and a half seasons.)
I actually did a lot of research about vampire mythology, because, as I mentioned, I don’t really read vampire books. I was trying to find a mythology that worked for me, but at the same time, I wanted it to be comfortable to a non-paranormal reader. We all know vampires die from a stake to the heart, that they can’t go out in sunshine, that they’re frightened of silver, etc. So I didn’t mess with that part of the legend.
And of course, some of that legend comes from the Regency’s own Byron and Polidori (who, by the way, both make appearances in the second Gardella book Rises the Night.)
I also of course had to make sure I researched the Regency period. I did that by reading a lot of Risky Regency author books :-), along with Jane Austen, and using other non-fiction resources. Oh, and I think I might have watched the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice a few times. Purely for research purposes, of course.

What are the challenges of writing a series about the same set of characters and how do you keep track of all the details?
The biggest challenge is making sure I think ahead about the series, so that I don’t write something that boxes me into a corner for future books. So far, that hasn’t happened, but I’ve had to catch myself a few times from falling into that trap. I keep a binder notebook–a three-incher–with all of my notes and research and character stuff tabbed in the notebook. I keep actual text from the manuscripts in there, from each book, especially in regards to character description and even dialogue. That’s the only way I can keep myself organized! I probably need charts and family trees, but I’m not there yet.
One thing I love about writing a series with the same characters in it is the fact that I have multiple books in which I can spread and develop their story. I’m in no hurry to tell their tales, resolve their happy endings, etc. While the main plot of the book is resolved each time by The End, the character development and arcs are not. They simply can’t be, for they’re too complex.

What’s coming up next for you?
I’m currently writing the third Gardella book, which is due to be released in early 2008. Rises the Night, the second Gardella, will be out in June.

And the Risky question: Is there anything you would have liked to include in The Rest Falls Away that you left out because you or your editor felt it was too risky?
Not in this book. I was a little worried about the ending because it’s not a traditional HEA, but my editor loved it, so I wouldn’t consider that a risky proposition. However, ask me the same question about Rises the Night, and I’ll have a different answer!

Thanks so much, Riskies, for having me! I feel very lucky to be included with such a great, talented group of ladies, several of whom I know personally.

Meet Colleen Gleason, the author of The Rest Falls Away, the first book in the Gardella series, this Thursday, January 4, 2007. She’ll talk about the inspiration for her Regency-set vampire hunter series and you’ll have the chance to win a copy of her book!

A promising, enthusiastic beginning to a new paranormal historical series … Gleason quickly establishes an alluring world all her own. Publishers Weekly

With its vampire lore and Regency graces, this book grabs you and holds you tight to the very last page! R J Ward

Hope you all had a great holiday! I got my very own chocolate fountain (just what I need after all the holiday eating I’ve been doing!), plus several Barnes and Noble giftcards, which are already spent, and two new Little Thinker dolls from the Unemployed Philosophers Guild catalog to add to my collection (I now have Shakespeare and Elizabeth I to add to Jane Austen, Monet, Emily Dickinson, Frida Kahlo, and Van Gogh–who comes complete with removable ear). I also got DVDs and the Marie Antoinette soundtrack, and that doesn’t count sundry little Hello Kitty items. A great holiday all around!

When it comes to “end of the year reading” lists, I always wish I had kept a log of all the books read. I forget, and probably leave out some stories I really enjoyed. But here are a few that have stuck in my mind:

The Flamenco Academy by Sarah Bird: What I loved about this one was the vivid descriptions of Albuquerque and northern New Mexico (where I grew up), plus the evocation of flamenco culture and artistry. The story centers around Cyndi Rae, a shy girl from a, shall we say, unusual family, her intense high school friendship with fame-seeking Didi, and the man who comes between them–intense, sexy, but (of course) highly unreliable flamenco guitarist Tomas. The story is puntucated by the story of Tomas’s aunt Dona Carlotta during the Spanish Civil War (this part really could have been its own book). Obsession, romance, finding oneself–it’s all there. (One quibble I had–I’ve been taking flamenco lessons for a couple of years, and started ballet when I was 3. I don’t believe that a girl could take an intro to flamenco class her freshman year of college and become a professional before she graduates. No matter how obsessed).

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl: I tend to be a bit wary of highly hyped books. Sometimes they are great; oftren they are disappointing. But this was one of the great hyped ones. Our heroine Blue Van Meer has spent her young life traveling around the country with her professor father, and lands at the St. Gallway School for her senior year. There she gets involved with a mysterious, charismatic teacher and a group of odd students called The Bluebloods. Coming of age and suspense built around an imaginary syllabus of a Great Works of Literature class. Big, rambling, wonderfully geeky. The New York Times said it is “flashily erudite”, and that seems like a good description to me.

The Bronte Project: A Novel of Passion, Desire, and Good PR by Jennifer Vandever: Serious scholar Sarah Frost is looking for lost letters of Charlotte Bronte; glamorous, flamboyant Claire Vigee easily upstages her with her “Diana Studies” (as in Princess). This books hilariously skewers academic pretension and the silliness of pop culture, while introducing us to a plethora of eccentric secondary characters–two New Yorkers who pretend to live in the 19th century, a Hollywood producer who falls for Sarah and also wants to change Charlotte’s story into the latest “feel good” romantic comedy.

Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber: I’ve been doing a lot of reading about 18th century France for research lately, and this was one of my favorites. History as fashion, yay! Each phase of Marie Antoinette’s life is detailed by what she chose to wear and how her use of stunning, extreme, unique costumes to project an image of power and influence backfired. Beautiful descriptions.

Invisible Lives by Anjali Banerjee: a sort of “Bollywood chick lit.” Lakshmi helps run her mother’s Seattle sari shop, and has the magical gift of seeing others’ secret dreams and fulfilling them through the right sari. But what are her own dreams–an arranged marriage to the “perfect” man, or American Nick? A fun read, and more fashion!

A few of my “honorable mentions”–Elisabeth de Feydeau’s Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette’s Perfumer; Ian Kelly’s Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style; Michelle Styles’ Gladiator’s Honor (a romance set in ancient Rome, which wonderfully evokes the era).

Happy New year! Here’s to many good reads in 2007. 🙂