So, this week we’ve chatted about holiday food, music, gifts, and traditions. Hopefully we’ve put you in the holiday spirit, and set the mood for reading Mistletoe Kisses. 🙂 I love hearing about everyone’s holiday memories and plans, and I hope to incorporate some of what I’ve learned into my own celebrations this year. (While hopefully managing to avoid the mall!)

Historical holidays may have seemed a bit more low-key and drab compared to modern ones. No lights (twinkling or otherwise!), little tinsel, no big-ticket items left by Santa. But they certainly had their own fun ways of celebrating, and one of those great traditions was Twelfth Night (or What You Will, to quote Mr. Shakespeare. Love that play…)

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel a bit let-down when January 2 comes around and life is supposed to go back to workday normal. (My birthday is also in January, which kept the excitement–and cake-eating–going when I was a kid, but now that I’m getting older it just makes me depressed!). Our ancestors may have had the right idea when they celebrated twelve day of Christmas, culminating in the fun of Twelfth Night.

It all evolved from the Roman Saturnalia festival marking the onset of the winter solstice, the time when the sun, having reached its lowest, darkest point, begins to rise again toward longer, warmer days (yay!!). It was a time of feasting, parties, and public festivals that the Church co-opted in the fourth century, using the winter solstice as the “official” day of Christ’s birth (Dec. 25). By the time of the Renaissance, Christmas Day opened an annual twelve day festival of celebration. (The word “Yuletide” actually means the period between December 25 and January 6). Large bonfires were set in village centers, and on Christmas Eve each family set a ceremonial Yule log in their own hearths. January 6, Twelfth Night itself, was a final frenzy of eating, drinking, and dancing before facing the rest of the long winter.

One of the traditions of Twelfth Night was a cake–an ornate confection into which a trinket, like a bean, a coin, or a little metal Baby Jesus, would be hidden. The guest who found the item would become king or queen of Twelfth Night. (One funny facotid I read said that by the 18th century slips of paper were often substituted for the trinket, so that inebriated guests wouldn’t choke on Baby Jesus). Martha Washington had a recipe for this cake that used 40 eggs, 4 pounds of sugar, and 5 pounds of dried fruit. I think it’s on the Mt. Vernon website if you’d like to give it a go. It would be great with Cara’s Christmas pie. 🙂 This was often washed down with wassail (an ale-based drink with spices and honey) or a drink called “Lambs Wool” (cider or ale, sugar, spices, and roasted apples). No wonder they choked on the hidden bean.

Twelfth Night also involved masked dancers (‘Mummers’) who cavorted through the streets and visited houses uninvited to wreal havoc and beg for drinks and treats. Other common Yuletide activities were horse racing, fox hunting, cock fighting, card playing, games like blindman’s bluff and nine-pins, and entertainments like mock sword fights (or maybe real, after dipping into all that Lambs Wool), jesters, acrobats, plays and singing. Twelfth Night was also the time to extinguish the Yule log, saving some of the charred remains to use for kindling next year’s log.

This sounded like fun to me! I’d like to use the cake, the Yule log, and the plays in my own holiday, while skipping the cock fights and fox hunting. And the choking.

We’ve talked about so many aspects of the holidays this week, it seems there isn’t much left to say! But since today is the last chance to win a opy of Mistletoe Kisses, tell us what your very favorute–and very least favorite–aspects of the holiday are. (My faves–music and food. Least–holday traffic. Why do people get so crazy on the road at this time of year? I coudl do without Tickle Me Elmos, too). Are there any historical traditions you’d like to use in your celebrations?

Have a great Thanksgiving next week! We will have a treat for you here starting Friday, an interview with bset-selling author Eloisa James. And thanks for stopping by our RR “salon” to help us get the holidays started.

This week, the Riskies have the pleasure of interviewing not one but three authors: Elizabeth Rolls, Deborah Hale and our own Diane, with her Gaston hat on. Together, these three ladies have brought us a new holiday-themed anthology from Harlequin Historicals, MISTLETOE KISSES.

To make it more fun, these ladies have offered to give away THREE autographed copies. Just comment on each or any of the blog posts this week for a chance to win. Click here for complete contest rules.

PRAISE FOR MISTLETOE KISSES

“A talented trio of authors brings together a triptych of heartwarming holiday stories perfect for the season. Though short stories, they are long on emotions and the true spirit of the season: redemption, forgiveness and love. When you need a pick-me-up from the holiday rush, grab one of these and you’ll be rejuvenated and ready to celebrate the joy of family and friends.” – Romantic Times, 4 Stars

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Elizabeth Rolls lives in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia in a valley full of apple, pear and cherry orchards. She sold her first Regency historical, THE UNEXPECTED BRIDE, to Mills & Boon Historicals in 1999 and has now written six full length Regencies for them, which have all been reissued in Harlequin Historicals. As well she collaborated on A REGENCY INVITATION with Nicola Cornick and Joanna Maitland. She has won the HOLT Medallion for Best Regency twice and the Laurel Wreath as well as being shortlisted for other awards. She’s still slightly shocked and very grateful. She enjoys writing novellas as a change of weight, pace and structure from full length historicals. Learn more about Elizabeth at www.elizabethrolls.com.

Since winning the Golden Heart in 1997, Deborah Hale has written over a dozen award-winning novels for Harlequin Historical with settings ranging from 12th century Wales to Whitehorn Montana and her native Atlantic Canada. Deborah has also written two fantasy novels for Luna Books. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and sold in over twenty countries around the world. Learn more about Deborah at www.deborahhale.com.

The third author is our own Diane Perkins/Gaston, winner of RWA’s RITA Award for Best Regency Romance for A REPUTABLE RAKE. If you haven’t already, go read our interview with Diane and visit her website at www.dianegaston.com.

INTERVIEW

Please tell us about your stories!

“A Soldier’s Tale” by Elizabeth Rolls

Dominic, Viscount Alderley returns from Waterloo scarred, only to find that he is expected to do his duty and wed the heiress who spurned him on the eve of battle. But Dominic is far more interested in his quiet, gentle cousin. Pippa alone seems to be able to see past the scars to the man beneath.

“Elizabeth Rolls delivers a seasonal winner. ‘A Soldier’s Tale’ is a lovely story filled with the warmth, the magic, and the happily-ever-afters every Christmas story needs. Truly, I must hunt down more from this author!” – MaryGrace Meloche, Historical Romance Writers/Romance Designs

“Rolls’ ‘A Soldier’s Tale’ is Beauty and the Beast with a twist. A scarred war hero finds the love and compassion he needs — not from the heiress his family wants him to marry, but from his poor cousin with a heart of pure gold. This story will make your heart sing with joy.” – Romantic Times

“A Winter Night’s Tale” by Deborah Hale

This year’s festivities for Christabel Wilton and her young son will be sparse and cold — or so she fears. When the man she once spurned offers them warmth, comfort and a true family Christmas, Christabel wonders if she was mistaken about Jonathan Frost. And is it too late to make amends?

“’A Winter’s Tale’ is very sweet and very romantic. The heroine’s regret was palpable, the hero’s forgiveness was acceptable, and the secondary characters were “capital.” Deborah Hale creates two very likeable characters in Jonathan and Christabel and this reader cheered for their continual happiness.” — MaryGrace Meloche, Historical Romance Writers/Romance Designs

“It is cold comfort for a young widow who sees only sadness in the holiday until a man she once loved comes back into her life and they are both given a second chance for happiness in Hale’s compassionate ‘A Winter’s Tale.’” – Romantic Times

‘A Twelfth Night Tale’ by Diane Perkins

One impulsive night of love changed Elizabeth’s life forever. Now, ten years later, Elizabeth and Zachary meet again in a stable to deliver the child of the disgraced young woman to whom Elizabeth had been governess and who is now totally dependent upon her. Zachary offers them security, but will his second Twelfth Night with Elizabeth see their happiness reborn?

“Her fantastic THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M placed me in Diana Gaston’s corner some time ago. In ‘A Twelfth Night Tale’ Ms. Gaston grants two lovers a second chance…” — MaryGrace Meloche, Historical Romance Writers/Romance Designs

“Second chances and a love reborn are what makes Gaston’s ‘A Twelfth Night Tale’ pure pleasure as she proves that even a decade of separation is not enough to destroy a love that flames alive after one night of great passion.” – Romantic Times

When researching historical holiday customs, did you come across anything interesting you’d like to share?

Elizabeth:
I discovered that people often used to put on amateur theatricals to amuse themselves. Indoor activities make sense when the days are short and cold. So I started wondering about which play to use. I’ve always loved the story of Beauty and the Beast, oddly enough for pretty much the reason Hermione gives for wanting to use it; it’s one of the few fairy tales where the hero and heroine spend enough time together to form a real relationship.

Deborah:
I learned that the traditional carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was sometimes
played as a memory game. Players took turns naming gifts for each day, then having to recall and recite all the others that had gone before. I used this game for a central scene in ‘A Winter Night’s Tale’. My working title for the story had been ‘My True Love Gave to Me’.

Diane:
I learned about the custom of the “Dark Man.” In Yorkshire, it was considered good luck for a dark-haired man to be the first person to cross the threshold in the new year. So in some communities a dark-haired man would be chosen to go from house to house where he, of course, would be given food and drink. I could just imagine this man getting more and more soused as he progressed through the village. In other parts of the UK the same superstition exists. In Scotland, however, this man would have had red hair and in other areas he would be fair.

There have been many Christmas anthologies. How did you make the Christmas theme fresh for your stories?

Elizabeth:
Only a couple of specialist Romance bookshops carry the Christmas anthologies here in Australia, so I haven’t read many. I just started with my characters and then once I had the idea of using Beauty and the Beast as the play, I built the whole story round that. I actually did rough out quite a bit of the play and I wrote the scene that is used in the story on Twelfth Night in detail – stage directions and all!

Deborah:
I love historical Christmas anthologies and had wanted to be part of one from the time I sold my first book. I didn’t set out to do anything fresh or different, then Jonathan Frost’s Aunt Fanny wandered into the story. She suffers from dementia and thinks she’s back in her childhood again. Not knowing what else to do, Frost does everything in his power to humor her. He enlists Christabel’s help to give his aunt a happy, family Christmas. I hope Aunt Fanny adds a touch of poignancy to the story without dimming its essential joy. Reader reaction so far has been very positive.

Diane:
I always buy the Regency Christmas anthologies and, before writing my novella, I reread a bunch of them to get an idea of the length and tone and structure of the stories. I didn’t worry about mine being fresh or new. In fact, I knew I wanted to start out with “no room at the inn” and a baby being born in a stable, hardly an original idea! What I like best about Christmas stories, though, is when they have parallels to the first Christmas, and I wanted my story to have that, too.

Did you have to collaborate in any way to make sure your stories weren’t too similar or didn’t clash in other ways?

Elizabeth:
I had no idea who the other authors were. As for the Mistletoe Kisses in the title – mine was a relatively late addition. I had a lightbulb moment during a working bee at my sons’ school one morning. My editor wanted to change my title, but I persuaded her not too. I heard afterwards that they contacted and persuaded Deborah to change her title to fit with Diane’s and my “Tales”. Sorry, Deborah!

Deborah:
Actually, I was asked to write my novella for a 2005 anthology with Nicola Cornick and Julia Justiss. We did some collaborating on a common theme and a variety of story plots and tones. Then all that went out the window! Due to changes in Harlequin’s historical program, it was decided to hold my story until this Christmas and publish Julia’s and Nicola’s with a Mary Balogh novella as an HQN anthology. I didn’t know for sure that Elizabeth and Diane would be the other authors in the 2006 anthology until after they had finished their stories. I assume the editors picked out the common thread of kisses under the mistletoe that gave our anthology its title and lovely cover. I think there is a very nice variety and balance among our three stories that I’m not sure we could have achieved even with extensive collaboration. Perhaps there was a little mistletoe magic at work.

Diane:
I was too new at this to even think of collaboration! I also didn’t know who the other authors were in the anthology until my story was all done. I love that our stories fit together anyway and it has been fun getting to know my novella mates after the fact.

Thanks to the three of you for talking to us about MISTLETOE KISSES!

And to our visitors, don’t forget to comment all this week for the chance to win an autographed copy!

The Riskies

This week, Risky Regencies are pleased to be able to give away THREE autographed copies of MISTLETOE KISSES, kindly provided by the authors: Elizabeth Rolls, Deborah Hale and our own Diane Gaston.

“A talented trio of authors brings together a triptych of heartwarming holiday stories perfect for the season. Though short stories, they are long on emotions and the true spirit of the season: redemption, forgiveness and love. When you need a pick-me-up from the holiday rush, grab one of these and you’ll be rejuvenated and ready to celebrate the joy of family and friends.” – Romantic Times, 4 Stars

To enter, all you have to do is comment on at least one of the Riskies’ posts this week. For each day this week (from Sunday through Saturday) that you comment on that day’s post, you will earn one chance to win — so if you comment on one post, you have one chance, and if you comment on all seven posts, you have seven chances, and so on.

Visit us early and often for your chance to win.

Winners will be announced on Sunday!

This week here at RR, we’re going to be kicking off the holiday season just a bit early! We’re holding a contest to celebrate the release of the Harlequin anthology Mistletoe Kisses, featuring stories by Elizabeth Rolls, Deborah Hale, and our own Diane Gaston. Starting Monday, comment on posts all week for the chance to win 1 of 3 autographed copies. Check here tomorrow for more details!

I’m so excited about this anthology! Every year at this time, I used to buy the annual Signet Regency Christmas anthology (sadly missing this year), and hoard it away for an emergency. The emergency usually consists of Holiday Bickering Relatives Overload (the dreaded HBRO), or acute psychosis on hearing “Jingle Bell Rock” one too many times. The only cure is a cup of hot cider, a fleece-y throw blanket, and a Regency Christmas novella where there is no “Jingle Bell Rock” (and won’t be for more than a hundred years. Lucky Regency people). I’m happy to have my emergency stash this year in the form of my own copy of Mistletoe Kisses.

When I was lucky enough to get to write a couple of Christmas novellas myself (“A Partridge in a Pear Tree” in Regency Christmas, see cover on this post, and “Upon a Midnight Clear” in Regency Christmas Magic), I was very excited, but didn’t realize the unique challenge it would pose. For one thing, I was researching holiday traditions in July, when it was 100 degrees outside. I was thinking about swimming pools and flip flops, not snow and holly and wassail bowls! Listening to the Chieftain’s Christmas CD over and over helped. For another, the shorter word count presents its own challenges in characterization and plot developement. The characters still have to be well-rounded, the plot fairly complex, plus all that darned Christmas Cheer in under 50,000 words. But I did enjoy it very much, particularly with Upon a Midnight Clear because it featured my own favorite heroine (of my own devising, that is!)–Antoinette Duvall. The Jamaican daughter of a freed slave, she appeared as the heroine’s friend in A Loving Spirit. I liked her so much, and wanted her to find her own happy ending. She nagged me for it through a few more books, before she finally found her dashing naval captain one snowy Christmas night. Helping Antoinette have a cheerful holiday made me hope for one of my own. Even in July.

Another reason I’m so excited about this anthology (Warning! This post now becomes All About Me!) is that I found out I’m going to be joining Diane in her Gaston guise as a Harlequin author! Last week they bought 3 of my historical romances, 2 Renaissance-set and 1 Regency. Look for the first one, A Kiss of Poison (Renaissance Venice during Carnival! Masks and poinson and intrigue–plus really great clothes!) in the summer of ’07 from Harlequin Historicals. I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot more about it from me before then. 🙂

Be sure and visit us all this week for the contest! And let us know what some of YOUR favorite Christmas novellas have been.

Well, after a great Halloween where I got to run around dressed as a pirate and eat far too many miniature Kit Kat bars (extra hours on the treadmill now, ugh!), I thought it’s time to Get Serious. I’ve been reading a great book called The Things that Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life by Edward Mendelson (a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia). It’s not a super-long book, only about 240 pages, but full of fascinating ideas.

For the record, the 7 books are Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, George Eliot’s Middlemarch, and three by Virginia Woolfe–Mrs. Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, Between the Acts. I’m not going to go over all of them–that would make this post waaaay too long! I just want to touch on a few points he makes about Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre that I found interesting, and also think apply well to our modern romance genre.

I love both these books, in totally different ways. As Mendelson points out, Emily and Charlotte Bronte grew up in the same family, the same environment, had almost identical educations, and yet “everything that Wuthering Heights says about childhood, growth, and adulthood is contradicted by Jane Eyre.” I read these books first when I was very young (about 9 or 10), and even I could discern something of this difference. I adored Jane Eye, and when I got to the end I just started it all over again! I didn’t love or understand Wuthering Heights–I was too young for it then. It was only later, when I re-read it and could see the complex narrative structure and the layers of the even more complex characterization, that I understood what a masterpiece it was. I still prefer Jane Eyre in some ways, but Wuthering Heights is also a favorite.

Emily Bronte was one of the great visionaries of the Romantic era (and a deeply, fascinatingly weird person!). She followed her own inner belief system built on nature and unity that is so very strong in Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Catherine are passionately in love, but it’s not the passion of mere sexual desire–in fact, they show no interest in the other’s sex lives at all. What they seek is Unity, to literally BE each other. Mendelson states that Wuthering Heights is about that Unity; Jane Eye is about Equality. Mendelson writes, “Equality, in contrast (to unity), is a difficult but plausible goal, with profound emotional and ethical meaning in both the private world and the public one.”

I think most of our modern romance novels share this goal and theme of Equality. The hero and heroine face challenges (much as Jane and Rochester did) that in the end put them on an equal footing as they begin their married lives, even if he’s the duke and she’s the vicar’s bluestocking daughter. Perhaps only in some paranormals is there more of that Wuthering Heights-ish theme of Unity. of true soulmates. It’s a fascinating idea.

My question (or questions) to you are: Which do you prefer–Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights? Do you agree with theses concepts of Unity vs. Equality? Can you think of any romances where these would apply (I’d love to hear more about this!)? Now, I’m off to re-read some Bronte…