Category: History

Guest Blogger Linda Carroll-Bradd!

Updated on October 15, 2022 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Amanda will be back with her regularly scheduled Tuesday post next week, because this week she is busy being on her honeymoon! Wedding pics will surely be shared then. This week, we’re visiting the Wild, Wild West with guest author Linda Carroll-Bradd. Comment for a chance to win a copy of her latest title….

Stagecoach Travel in Texas– Only The Hardy need Apply

In the mid-1800s, people needed determination and patience to travel from one side of Texas to the other. Early in the Civil War, the government banished the Butterfield Overland route that had been an established route from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco through the southern states. Subsequent to the war, shorter routes were established between population centers. Stagecoaches ran on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. A trip from St Louis to San Francisco involved about 25 days of travel. The coaches were drawn by six horses and stops were made every 12 miles for fresh teams. Depending on the terrain, coaches covered between 5 and 12 miles per day—running day and night. Passengers were grateful to get hot coffee, biscuits and jerky at these stops; on rare occasions, hot meals were available.

The suggested items to travel with would have filled a large satchel or three. In addition to their clothing, passengers were admonished to pack 6 pair of thick socks, woolen underdrawers, blankets—one in summer and two in winter, 3-4 towels, heavy overcoat, light coat, hat and their choice of pistol or knife for personal protection. A lady such as Jessamay Morgan from San Antonio reading that list and traveling in summer would probably not worry about the woolens or blankets.

Once Jessamay got inside the stagecoach, she would have had her choice of window or middle position (approximately 15” in width) on either a forward or backward-facing bench seat. She would not have wanted to be the last to board because that would leave her on the middle bench with no backrest. As she set out on her journey, she could read the rules about men forgoing swearing and smoking in a lady’s presence, but tobacco chewing was allowed, as long as the chewer spat downwind. I would hope so. Or if the person (presumed to be a male) couldn’t refrain from drinking alcohol, then he must pass the bottle around. Yum. Snoring loudly or using another passenger’s shoulder as a pillow was frowned upon. Improper advances toward a woman could get the male kicked off the stagecoach in the middle of nowhere. Nothing about a woman making a pass was mentioned. Forbidden topics of conversation were stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings. Sounds like a smart rule. Passengers were encouraged not to jump from the stage in case of runaway horses so as not to be left victim to the weather, hostile Indians or hungry coyotes. Ouch.

Jessamay had a purpose and she looked at all these strictures as part of her great adventure. She was done with the life at Miss Veronica’s Pleasure Palace and wanted to see mountains—at least until she set her gaze on a handsome stage passenger, Slade Thomas. But nothing every goes as planned. The “excitement” of her first trip is interrupted by a holdup, and she and Slade fight the clock to outwit the bandits.

Capturing The Marshal’s Heart is available only on Amazon. http://amzn.com/B00EKS4OHS

More information on Linda Carroll-Bradd and her other titles can be found at www.lindacarroll-bradd.com, http://blog.lindacarroll-bradd.com, Twitter https://twitter.com/lcarrollbradd, and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Linda-Carroll-Bradd-author/44081494263528

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Guest, History | 2 Replies

Beach Romance?

Updated on October 15, 2022 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

First of all–winners! The winner of my own Betrayed By His Kiss is…Laurel Hawkes. The winner of Linda Carroll-Bradd’s Capturing the Marshal’s Heart is…Louisa Cornell. And the winner of one of Alicia’s dean’s titles is…Janine Gallant! If you could all email me your info at amccabe7551 AT yahoo, I will get them sent to you asap….

I am finally starting to get back into the work-home routine, after all the excitement of getting (yay!) married and being on vacation. (And many, many thanks to everyone for the congrats and good wishes! It is so wonderful). First order of business–starting my next book for Harlequin Historicals, which I am actually loving–it’s a Regency set in Brazil! So there are tropical sunsets, beaches (though not too many–Rio was actually not very near a beach then, and it was very hard to reach), but with lovely muslin gowns and Neoclassical art. Fun!!!

This story was inspired when I happened to come across the book Empire Adrift: The Portugese Court in Rio de Janeiro, 1808-1821 by Patrick Wilcken, the story of the Braganzas, the royal family of Brazil, and a court of overv 15,000 people fleeing to Brazil ahead of invading Napoleonic forces. I knew very little about this aspect of the wars, but found it amazing in so many ways. A family that was the very definition of “dysfunctional” (the Prince Regent John VI ruled for his insane mother Queen Maria; as children, he had married his Spanish cousin Carlota, and they had many children together but hated each other, and Carlota spent her life plotting against him. Sound familiar??), plopping their aristocratic Iberian ways into the middle of a tropical colony, with political skullduggery swirling all around them. A great backdrop for an exciting story, I thought.

My characters are English–the hero is a Naval officer who is part of the convoy assigned to escort the Portugese to Brazil in November 1808 (they departed on November 29, in a scene of immense chaos, but didn’t arrive at their ultimate destination in Rio until March 7, 1809. They didn’t return to Portugal until 1821). My heroine is the daughter of an English diplomat, who has been serving as his hostess for many years. But our hero and heroine have a secret past together! Can they keep it hidden under the warm skies of Rio???

I’m sure I will be sharing many more historical tidbits and images as I make my way through this story, but this is just the beginning. What’s your favorite “unusual” setting for a story? Where would you like to see more titles set in the future???

Posted in Former Riskies, History, Winners announced | Leave a reply

Tuesday Things

Updated on October 15, 2022 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

So…what have I been doing while I was MIA from the Riskies for a couple of weeks??? Have been a bit under the weather (ugh!), and using up all my energies trying desperately to get caught up on the deadline for my “Regency in Brazil” story–and also in being jealous of Risky Diane and her England adventures! And being much too excited about the prospect of a new Royal Baby, of course. (I hope it’s a girl! Prince George would make a fantastic big brother, LOL)

But today in Regency history–in 1812, the great fire of Moscow broke out and raged for several days. According to the “In Your Pocket” city guide (which gives some good, concise info on the march to Moscow, and the bitter disappointment to Napoleon that those stubborn Russians were willing to burn the country down to keep it from him!):

On 15 September Napoleon arrived at the Kremlin and the very same day massive fires began in the Kitay Gorod area just to its east. Fanned by high winds and wooden housing, the inferno soon threatened the Kremlin itself and more fires were being spotted in other parts of the city. Moscow was soon ablaze in a terrifying firestorm. As a French diplomat in Moscow later noted in his memoirs, “the air was charged with fire; we breathed nothing but smoke, and the stoutest of lungs felt the strain after a time.” With fire raging across the city, on 16 September Napoleon was forced to leave the Kremlin, relocating to the safety of the Petrovsky Palace, an imperial residence on the road to St. Petersburg, while his troops gave up the fight against the fire and instead took to pillaging whatever treasures remained.

By 18 September the fire was brought under control and Napoleon returned to the Kremlin at the centre of a city of ashes – still awaiting the tsar’s final surrender. Yet the tsar refused to give up, while Kutuzov was based south of the city, out of reach of the French and busy mustering new troops and bolstering his army. To make matters worse, the great fire had destroyed yet more of the French army’s rapidly dwindling supplies, and Napoleon’s men were now beginning to starve. Finally after occupying Moscow for just five weeks the situation reached critical levels and Napoleon was left with no choice but to begin a long retreat west.

And, of course, these very dramatic events inspired a very dramatic piece of music–Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”!

I think it might be time for a re-read for War and Peace! (Don’t laugh–when I first read it, I took it on a beach vacation, and everyone laughed at me for choosing THAT as a beach read! But it was fascinating….)

Should we go set off some fireworks today in sympathy?? What have you all been doing this week????

Posted in Former Riskies, History | 1 Reply

New book Day!

Updated on October 15, 2022 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

It’s almost October—that means it’s new book day for me!!!! Betrayed By His Kiss is (almost) available now (see it on Amazon here or at my website for more info)–and you can win a signed copy by commenting on today’s post. Here’s a little sneak peek at the history behind the book….

I was first inspired to write Isabella and Orlando’s story when I had a yucky cold and spent the weekend lounging around on the couch, having an epic viewing of all three seasons of The Borgias! The sumptuous costumes, the luxurious palaces, the passion and murder and danger. (Not to mention Cesare’s eyes…). I’ve always loved the Italian Renaissance, the beauty and intrigue of it. And I loved finding the characters of Isabella and her Orlando among the palazzos and riverbanks of Florence.

The pinnacle of danger in the Renaissance came with the famous Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. It was an attempt by a few members of the ancient Pazzi family, along with some powerful allies (including the pope!) to displace Lorenzo de Medici as the de facto ruler of Florence. On April 26, 1478, they rose up in the midst of a crowd of 10,000 at Mass in the Duomo to assassinate Lorenzo and his handsome younger brother Giuliano. Lorenzo escaped; Giuliano did not.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

In league with the Pazzi were Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew Girolamo Riario, who resented Lorenzo de’ Medici’s efforts to thwart the consolidation of papal rule over the Romagna, a region in north-central Italy, and also the archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, whom Lorenzo had refused to recognize. An assassination attempt on the Medici brothers was made during mass at the Cathedral of Florence on April 26, 1478. Giuliano de’ Medici was killed by Francesco Pazzi, but Lorenzo was able to defend himself and escaped only slightly wounded. Meanwhile, other conspirators tried to gain control of the government. But the people of Florence rallied to the Medici; the conspirators were ruthlessly pursued and many (including the archbishop of Pisa) were killed on the spot.

The failure of the conspiracy led directly to a two-year war with the papacy that was almost disastrous for Florence. But the most important effect was to strengthen the power of Lorenzo, who not only was rid of his most dangerous enemies but also was shown to have the solid support of the people.

I always love incorporating real historical figures into my fictional stories. Botticelli is one of my favorite artists! Isabella’s cousins Matteo and Caterina are not real, though Giuliano de Medici certainly might have been in love with the beautiful, fragile Caterina, who is loosely based on his real love Simonetta Vespucci, who died young of tuberculosis and was the model for many of Botticelli’s paintings. . Fiencosole is also a fictional town, but based on some of the many walled, beautiful fiefdoms of Renaissance Italy.

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, History | Leave a reply

Guest Author Andrea Pickens!

Updated on October 15, 2022 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

(My friend Andrea Pickens, aka Cara Elliott, is joining us today to talk about some special new releases! She and I both wrote for the Signet Regency line, and now we are seeing some of those older titles come back into the world with brand new covers….comment for a chance to win a copy!)

Hi Everyone,

It’s always wonderful to be back at the Riskies, but today I’ve switched my Cara Elliott chapeau for my more traditional Andrea Pickens bonnet . . . but hey, we all know Regency bonnets could get quite creative and daring while still staying within the rules. And that’s the great fun of the traditional Regency genre. Yes, there are greater constraints that for a Regency historical. But for those of us who started out writing them—like many of my Risky pals here!—the absence of the “S” word and writing all the rumple-pumple let us add color and texture to our stories and characters by exploring things like offbeat setting and unusual occupations for our heroes and heroines.

Take for example, Diamond In The Rough (The above preamble is, as you may have guessed, a rather longwinded introduction to the fact that I have just released two trad Regencies as self-pubbed e-books, which are the first two in a trilogy) It first appeared in the Signet line, and features a story revolving around golf in Scotland. The heroine is a caddie in disguise and she’s a better player than most of the men. When a friend asks her to help an English lord learn the sport in order to win an match and save his ancestral home, the games begin, both on and off the links . . . I loved researching the esoteric elements about the clubs and courses of the times, and weaving them into the decidedly offbeat romance that ensues. It was a classic sporting wager trope, but with a twist. (The Riskies could all offer lots of examples of their books that featured really original plots and people—but for reasons of space I shall let them bang their own drum!)

The second book is a brand new original book, entitled Sweeter Than Sin. The hero likes to dabble in . . . chocolate. Now in doing research for a historical mystery series I wrote, I learned a lot about the history of chocolate, and how edible chocolate was known in the Regency era. (Marie Antoinette’s physician mixed her medicine in solid chocolate wafers flavored with fruits or nuts to disguise its bitter taste. He later opened a chocolate shop on the Left Bank of Paris in 1802.) So it was fun to create a plot where that element could “sweeten” the romance. Rafael is a half Spanish-half English war hero who has come to England to recover from a serious wound. To help draw himself out of his black moods, he decides to work on translating his Spanish grandmother’s diaries on the lore of chocolate and her recipes. His neighbor is the disgraced daughter of a duke, who is suffering from guilt. A chance meeting brings them together, and they slowly begin to discover the healing power of chocolate—and of course love. (There is also a dog they rescue from the stews named Hero who helps save the day!)

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love drawing room stories, “comedy of manners” plots and sexy romps too, but trads with offbeat elements have always had great appeal for me. How about you? Do you like regencies that stray off the beaten path. Have any favorites to name? I’ll be giving away a copy of one of my e-books (your choice!) to a winner chosen at random from those who leave a comment here.

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Guest, History, Regency | 7 Replies