Congratulations to Karenmc! You are the winner of Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses!
Karenmc, look for an email from Rose!
Thanks to everyone who made Rose feel welcome!
Congratulations to Karenmc! You are the winner of Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses!
Karenmc, look for an email from Rose!
Thanks to everyone who made Rose feel welcome!
Two years ago, I opened a package of books delivered to me and discovered that my 2007 book, Innocence and Impropriety had been released as a Japanese Manga!
What a thrill. I blogged about it here. I loved the illustrations, but the text was in Japanese, so I couldn’t read it.
Imagine my delight when I accidentally discovered that the Manga version had been translated into English! First it was available only in the UK and only in ebook version, but last week I found the English ebook version on Amazon! It comes in two volumes: Volume 1 and Volume 2
I immediately purchased copies for myself! The first surprise for me was to see that this English version, called a Comic not a Manga, still read from right to left, just as Japanese books do.
It was such a hoot to see how Hiroko Miura translated the story. I imagine this manga artist first translated the story into Japanese, then, for the Harlequin Comics (English) version, the Japanese was translated into English.
This makes for some amusing changes, such as Madame Bisou in my original becoming Madame Biz. Regency language (or how I imagine Regency language) was pretty consistent, though, as was the setting detail. Notice the drawing of Vauxhall Gardens.
Here’s the meeting between the hero and heroine:
Here’s an exciting moment!
And the happily ever after:
The emotion and danger and even the humor in the story were shown, as well. I loved reading it. Sometimes I laughed with delight at how Hiroko Miura showed the story.
But what really touched me was this note at the end of the second volume. What a wonderful compliment from Hiroko Miura.
These are the moments that make the author life worth it!
Do you read Manga? Turns out there are lots of Harlequin Comics to choose from! What fun!!
1815. A momentous year and one with which any reader of Regency romance should be familiar. It was, after all, the year of Waterloo, the battle that defeated Napoleon once and for all.
We are all looking forward to the two hundredth anniversary of Waterloo this year. In fact, our Susanna Fraser is planning to attend! As is my Australian friend, Lisa Chaplin, whose first historical fiction book, The Tide Watchers, is going to be making a big splash when it is released in June, the month of Waterloo!
1815 is famous for another battle, too, though.
As Susanna told us last week, January 1815 was the 200th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, another battle that ended a war, although in this one, the British lost to the Americans. (Don’t forget! Susanna’s new book, Freedom To Love, that takes place after the battle is out now!)
Did you know there was another war that ended in 1815? It began in 1815, too. March 15, 1815, Joachim Murat, King of Naples, declared war on Austria, starting the Neapolitan War. Murat was Napoleon’s brother-in-law, married to Napoleon’s sister, Caroline, and had been a charismatic and daring cavalry officer. Napoleon appointed him King of Naples and Sicily, but when Napoleon was defeated at 
Leipzig, Murat switched sides and reached an agreement with Austria to save his throne. At the Congress of Vienna, though, he realized he had little support, especially from the British who wanted to restore King Ferdinand IV to the throne. When Murat heard of Napoleon’s escape from Elba, he switched sides again and declared war on Austria. The war ended in May after a decisive Austrian victory at the Battle of Tolentino. Ferdinand IV became King of Naples and Sicily and Murat was eventually executed.
1815 is famous for other things, too
The Corn Laws were enacted by Parliament. The Corn Laws were steep tariffs on imported grain designed to keep Great Britain’s grain prices high. Food prices were steep and the laws were opposed by Whigs and workers.
Jones, Watts, and Doulton started a stoneware pottery in South London that eventually becomes the Royal Doulton Company.
Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies erupted killing almost 100,ooo people and sending sulfide gas compounds into the upper atmosphere. It is thought that the gases blocked sunlight and led to 1816 being called the Year Without A Summer. Temperatures dropped, crops failed, famine was widespread in New England, Canada, and Europe.
William Smith published the first national geological map of England, Scotland and Wales.
Jane Austen’s Emma was published, as were Sir Walter Scott’s Guy Mannering and Lord Byron’s Hebrew Melodies, a collection of poems including “She Walks In Beauty.”
Speaking of Byron, 1815 is the year he married Anna Milbanke. And is also the year his daughter Augusta Ada is born. Augusta became an early computer pioneer, and is often considered the first computer programmer.
Sir Humphry Davy invented the Davy lamp, a coal mining safety lamp.
Anthony Troloppe was born in 1815.
Emma, Lady Hamilton, Lord Nelson’s mistress died in 1815. So did James Gillray, the famous caricaturist.
What other momentous events took place in 1815?
Diane Health Update: My back is much better. It still hurts some, though. Luckily, the dh’s pneumonia is all gone so he can do the heavy lifting!
So sorry to have missed blogging Monday! I injured my back lifting up the cutest grandson EVER one too many times (but who could resist?). I’ve spent two days sleeping off the Flexaril.
Here is my new bookcover! Bound by Duty hits bookstore shelves on March 17 and will be available as an ebook on April 1
I should be back to new by next week!
Well, not ALL is well, because Risky Regencies is bidding a fond adieu to Megan and Myretta, who both are needing to put their energies elsewhere in their busy lives. We will miss them terribly. It is not really a goodbye, though, because we can find them on Twitter and Facebook and their own websites. Who knows? We might even be able to entice them back for some guest posts. We wish them all the best!
But one good thing is that my dh, who spent Christmas in the hospital, came home the day after and is feeling pretty good. He had a horrible Christmas, but the rest of us made the best of a bad situation and managed to have some nice moments, like watching my 18 month old grandson open presents.
Amazingly now at home the dh is up and around, so I don’t have to reenact this scene:
I’m so glad I only live in Regency times in my imagination! In reality, during Regency times, there was no knowledge of bacteria, no penicillin or other antibiotics. My husband would have been tended at home and the treatment would have been bleeding, warm baths and purgatives (laxatives – ick!). In all likelihood he would not have survived.
He probably won’t be well enough for us to go out celebrating on New Year’s Eve, but, then, we never go out on New Year’s Eve. We stay at home and treat it like a regular night. This year, though, I’ll be saying a grateful prayer that the dh is home and well. I’d even be willing to read to him, if he could stand it!
Has illness ever spoiled a holiday for you?