Back to Top

Category: Giveaways

Posts in which we or our guests offer a giveaway.

Lady Miller and Batheaston Poetics

Updated on by

When I was searching for a blog topic I found this on  Hillman’s Hyperlinked and Searchable Chambers Book of Days for today. It is Georgian, so one must imagine the parents of our Regency heroes and heroines telling about what they did in their youth on a visit to Bath.

After a Grand Tour of Italy, Lady Miller of Batheaston, an amateur literary figure,  brought back an elegant antique vase which she prominently displayed on an altar in their home and formally dedicated to Apollo. Assigning herself the role of high priestess, she invited her guests to assemble twice a week to play homage to Apollo. These salons were popular and, because of the proximity to Bath, any number of important people partook of the ceremonies and refreshment after.
Here’s how it went:

“The worship of Apollo was conducted by each candidate for fame dropping a votive offering, in the form of a short piece of poetry, into the urn, as the whole assemblage marched round it in solemn procession. A lady was deputed to take the pieces one by one out of the urn, and hand them to a gentleman, who read them aloud. The merits of the poems were then considered, and the prizes adjudged, the blushing authors of the four best compositions being presented to the high-priestess, Lady Miller, and by her crowned with myrtles, amidst the plaudits of the company.”

Just picture that….adults in Georgian dress, powdered hair and brocades, marching around in a solemn procession….

I guess it is no worse than playing Pictionary…..

And then:

“The meetings lasted for several years, till at length they were put an end to by a most unwarrantable breach of good manners and hospitable confidence. Some unknown person disgracefully and maliciously contaminated the sacred urn with licentious and satirical compositions, to the great annoyance of the ladies present, and the chagrin of the host and hostess. The urn was thenceforth closed, and the meetings were discontinued for ever.”

One of the poems was included in this account:

Addressed to Lady Miller, on the Urn at Batheaston.
‘Miller, the Urn in ancient time, ’tis said,
Held the collected ashes of the dead:
So thine, the wonder of these modern days,
Stands open night and day for lifeless lays.
Leave not unfinished, then, the well-formed plan,
Complete the work thy classic taste began;
And oh, in future, ere thou dost unurn them,
Remember first to raise a pile, and burn them.’

When my friend Helen has a Halloween party, each of the costumed guests are expected to perform. Some do a reading; some play music. I read from one of my books once. But that is as silly as it gets for any party I’ve attended lately.
What is the silliest thing you’ve done at an adult party? (Refrain from any risque sharing, if you please!)
And……

This is the last week for the Harlequin Historical Author Beach Bag Giveaway. Click HERE for instructions on how to enter for the daily prizes and many chances to win the Grand Prize of a Kindle Fire!

My part of the contest is open now. My official day is this Thursday. I’ll choose my daily winner of a $25 Amazon gift certificate and a copy of A Not So Respectable Gentleman? on June 29, the last day of the whole contest! Click HERE on how to enter.

Posted in Giveaways, Research | Tagged | 4 Replies

A Not So Respectable Gentleman? Release Day (Almost)

Updated on by

Tomorrow is the Release Day for A Not So Respectable Gentleman?
It should appear in bookstores and can be ordered online. (ebook versions is out Aug 1, and the Mills & Boon version is out Aug 3)

I’m both excited and a little sad that the book is finally here (almost). A Not So Respectable Gentleman? is the last book in the series that began with the anthology, The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor.

In 2007 the adventure began when Harlequin Mills & Boon editor Maddie Rowe invited Deb Marlowe, fellow Risky Amanda McCabe, and me out to dinner during the Romance Writers of America conference in Dallas, Texas. We thought she was just being nice. The Mills & Boon editors always do nice things like that for their authors during the conference. Turns out she offered us a Regency anthology and each a book connected to the anthology.

Deb, Amanda and I were already friends. We’d become especially close on the Regency tour of England in 2003. So this was a fantastic treat. Our only instructions were to set the anthology in the Regency.

When we later met in Williamsburg, Virginia, to plan the anthology, we decided to create connected stories about a scandalous family created by the love affair between a duke and a lady who left her husband, an earl, to live with him. Their children – his, hers, and theirs – became known as the Fitzmanning Miscellany.

The anthology was about the three daughters. Deb’s and Amanda’s books were about the Duke’s legitimate sons, and A Not So Respectable Gentleman? is about the illegitimate son.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Since Leo Fitzmanning returned to London, he’s kept his seat at the card table warm, his pockets full of winnings and his mind off a certain raven-haired heiress.
Until whispers at the gaming hell reveal that Miss Mariel Covendale is being forced into marriage with an unscrupulous fortune hunter!
Leo must re-enter the society he detests to help her before returning to his clandestine existence. But he hasn’t counted on Mariel having grown even more achingly beautiful than he remembered. Soon Leo realizes that there’s nothing respectable about his reasons for stopping Mariel’s marriage.

Here’s what the reviews are saying:

a lovely romance with a bit of suspense and the power and strength of a family….Gaston’s talents for evoking the era hold true to form….–Kathe Robin, RTBook Reviews

What made this book such an enjoyable read was the quick pace of the story, with characters that were allowed to be intelligent and practical people, while also being flawed…the romance that Leo and Mariel find again in one another kept my attention from beginning to end, and I closed the book with a smile for their future together.–Sara Anne Elliot, Rakehell

It was great fun revisiting the family we created together. Because this was the last book, I made it a point to bring all the Fitzmanning Miscellany back. They play important roles in Leo’s story. In fact, what Leo must learn in this story is that he can rely on his family when all else fails.

In celebration of the A Not So Respectable Gentleman?’s release, I’m giving away one signed copy of The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor and one signed copy of A Not So Respectable Gentleman? to one lucky commenter, chosen at random. I’ll announce the winner on July 25.

A question for you. If a book is part of a series, do you have to read all the earlier books first? Or do you not mind if you don’t know all the details that came before?

Posted in Giveaways, Risky Book Talk | Tagged , , | 16 Replies

Contests and Top Ten Recyclables of History

Updated on by

I’ll tell you about the contests at the end of this post, so keep reading.

I’ve decided to rewrite something that was set vaguely in the late 18th century (a period I find much more interesting than the Regency proper with all it froufy dresses. Is froufy a word? I guess it is now) and set it in an imaginary world. I want to keep some of the elements of the imaginary world we have already created in the Regency, so here is my Top Ten Recyclables of History:

1. Non froufy dresses. Pretty dresses, yes. Here’s one at left. It’s slightly froufy but not overly so.

2. Battling superpowers because this makes for good conflict if Country A is about to declare war on Country B at any moment for the flimsiest of reasons.

3. Men have the power but women get the last laugh.

4. Great cities with universities and cathedrals.

5. A huge emphasis on manners and propriety beneath which buzzes wild passions and politics.

6. A changing social order where you can slip and slide from wealth to poverty and back again.

7. The beginnings of change with the use of steam and scientific enquiry.

9. Servants, because I’m interested in them.

10. Tight pants for guys. I’m sure this is something you don’t need a pic for because it’s already imprinted on your brain but I’m giving you one anyway. This is Napoleon, looking less short and fat than usual, and heavens, could that boy fill out a pair of pants, in the artist’s imagination at least. Maybe he was keeping a spare handkerchief, or battalion, or something there. (This is what happens when you do a search on google images for regency tight pants. Go on. Try it.)

So now it seems the question is what else do I need to make this a convincing world that is like Europe and the Near East in the late eighteenth century but different? Nope, no dragons or other paranormal elements. What would convince you? Or what have I missed out that you’d like to see?

And now, trumpet fanfares, CONTESTS!

I’m thrilled to offer an eARC of Julie Anne Long‘s next release A NOTORIOUS COUNTESS CONFESSES which comes out at the end of October. It sounds fabulous. So help me build my imaginary neo-Georgian world, or just stop by and say hello or whatever,  and your comment or question will enter you into a drawing. The usual restrictions apply. Contest ends tonight at midnight, EST.

And you can also hop on over to Goodreads to enter to win a signed copy (recycled tree product) of HIDDEN PARADISE which is being released in about a month’s time.

Posted in Giveaways, Reading, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 43 Replies