Join the Risky Regencies today as Amanda and Deb Marlowe chat about their March UK releases, The Improper Aristocrat and To Catch a Rogue! Comment on the post to win a copy of each, or if you can’t wait you can buy them at Amazon.uk! Besides being a fellow Harlequin author and fun friend, Deb is another Project Runway fanatic…

Amanda: So, Deb, tell me all about your new book!

Deb: The Improper Aristocrat is my adventure book! A deathbed pledge brings Niall Stafford, Earl of Treyford, out of Egypt and back to England. He’s promised to deliver an ancient artifact to a colleague’s sister, but Chione Lattimer is not what he expects. Instead of an aging spinster, Chione is a lovely, half-Egyptian girl caught up in chaos. Though all he wants to do is get back to his adventures and antiquities, Trey finds himself in the role of protector, and smack dab in the midst of a villainous plot to recover a Pharaoh’s lost treasure.

A: Oooh, I love adventures and lost treasure! What’s your favorite part of the book?

D: Now that is a hard question. I love so much about this book! Chione was a joy to write. She’s had a hard life, and really has to find her own strength. And she has to pound a few hard lessons into Trey’s head along the way! I had a great time coming up with the clues that lead these two on their path to adventure, too.

A: Any good research tidbits you found?

D: The research was the best part! I really enjoyed exploring the Valley of the Kings, the Devon coast, and Belzoni’s Exhibition in London.

A: Tell us about Belzoni!

D: You mean my historical figure crush? Hee hee! I love this guy. One of 13 children of a Padua barber, he was a giant of a man, reportedly 6 feet 6 inches. Run from home by Napoleon’s forces, he traveled England as a strong man and magician before traveling to Egypt to uncover some of her greatest treasures, including Seti I’s tomb, the entrance to the second pyramid of Giza, and the lost city of Berenice. He procured a huge collection of antiquities for the British Museum before he died trying to reach the mysterious city of Timbuktu.

A: And what is the treasure in your story? Or is that a secret??

D: It’s a mystery! The legend of the Pharaoh’s Lost Jewel is thousands of years old. It came back to Europe with Nelson’s army and team of surveyors and architects. Chione’s family has chased the legend for years, but it will take the adventuresome Earl to help her discover the truth.

A: It’s kind of funny, my book also involves ancient treasure! Though Greek, not Egyptian. There must be something archeological in the air this month…

D: Oh, Greek! Where did the idea for your story come from?

A: From a terrific book I read, Peter Watson’s The Medici Conspiracy, about the terrible problem of illegal antiquities. His tale involves modern-day looting and illegal objects in museums, but of course this is not a new problem at all. It was also inspired by a trip to the British Museum to see the Elgin Marbles!

D: Was that on the Splendors of the Regency tour???

A: Yes!! Everyone here will be sick of me saying “On the Regency tour…”, but it really was the most inspiring thing I could have done for my writing. We learned lots about carpets and doorknobs there, didn’t we, Deb?

D: Yes, we did, although we have to thank Diane for that! Riskies, Diane became famous for grilling all the guides on the make and origins of the carpets everywhere we went. Everyone teased her unmercifully!

A: LOL! We learned a lot about paint colors, too…

Anyway, To Catch a Rogue is the first of the “Muses of Mayfair” series, stories of the 3 Chase sisters (Calliope, Clio, and Thalia) whose father is a famous scholar of ancient Greek art and myth. So, naturally the daughters are into ancient Greece, too–though their interest always seems to lead them into trouble. And romance with some unlikely heroes!

D: It feels like I’ve been waiting so long to read about your “Muses”! I can’t wait! But how are their heroes unlikely?

A: Calliope, the heroine of TCAR, thinks that Cameron de Vere, the Earl of Westwood, is the infamous Lily Thief! The Lily Thief has been plaguing London collectors for months, stealing artifacts from their collections and leaving a lily bouquet in their place. Cal thinks Cameron is the thief, and is determined to catch him in the act of stealing the Alabaster Goddess (a beautiful statue of Artemis that has started a craze for hairstyles and sandals in London fashion!). But Cameron isn’t what he appears, either. He decides to turn the tables on Cal…

D: Sounds like another fun mystery! And what about Clio and Thalia?

A: They get their stories, too, of course! In To Deceive a Duke, Clio meets up again with the mysterious Duke of Averton in sunny Sicily (which, of course, is plagued with tomb raiders!). I call Averton my “rock star” duke, because everyone follows him around and gossips about him! And in To Kiss a Count, Thalia finds love with a dangerous Italian count–in Bath! Passion in the Pump Room (also seen on the Regency tour. The Pump Room, that is. Not the passion).

Oh, one quick note! Next year you can buy these 3 stories in consecutive months in the US. But just in case you can’t wait…

Tell us what’s next for you, Deb?

D: The Improper Aristocrat come to the US late in 2008. In October I have another UK release, Her Cinderella Season. In that one, Jack Alden, brother to the hero of my first book Scandalous Lord, Rebellious Miss, locks horns with a girl who has been raised in the Reformer and Evangelical circles of Regency England.

A: Can’t wait!

BTW, gentle readers, take a look at the two covers in the header. We believe somehow Mr. Brad Pitt snuck onto Deb’s, highlights and all. And my cover is also the inside image of Diane’s Innocence and Impropriety! Who knew people so resembled each other in Regency England???

Let us know any comments, questions, whatever! Early next week we’ll announce a winner for copies of both books.

I know last week I said I would continue with my “romantic and not-so-romantic couples of the Regency” thread, but I discovered that today is the anniversary of the death of John Keats, in 1821. So I decided to talk about that instead. Stay tuned next week for more romantic high-jinks! (Or maybe some hot guys, if I can find one Megan missed…)

Of all the romantic poets, Keats is my favorite based solely on the poetry. His life is not as wild as Shelley and Byron (for one thing he lived for such a short time, to to the age of 26, narrowly beating Shelley for “youngest death”), but his poetry has a beauty and sophistication, a sensual imagery, that is hard to beat.

He was born in Moorgate, London in 1795, the son of a hostler (his father’s pub still stands, and is now called “Keats the Grove”). But his childhood had an early end with the death of his father seven years later. Keats grew up with his mother, grandmother, and 3 siblings, until his mother died of tuberculosis in 1810. John soon found himself entrusted with the care of his younger brother, Tom, who also suffered from tuberculosis. He managed to travel in Scotland and Ireland, where he composed his epic poem Endymion. But this poem, as so many after them, was the focus of much abuse from critics. In 1818, Tom died and John found he, too, suffered from the disease.

He then moved to Hampstead, where he lived next door to Fanny Brawne, his one love. But the relationship was cut short when Keats was forced to leave damp London in 1820 and go to Italy. (Fanny’s comment in her diary in his departure–“Mr. Keats has left Hampstead.” Scandalous!!!).

Italy didn’t help. Keats died in 1821, and was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Rome. He asked that his tombstone read only “Here lies one whose name was writ in water,” but his friends took the liberty of adding “This grave contains all that was mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET, who on his deathbed, in the bitterness of his heart, at the malicious power of his enemies, desired these words to be engraven on his tomb stone” (one in the eye for those nasty reviewers!).

Shelley blamed Keats’ death on an article in the Quarterly Review; Byron wrote a poem in his honor using the words “snuffed out by an article.” Wallace Stevens describes him as the “Secretary for Porcelain” in his poem Extracts from Addresses to the Academy of Fine Ideas:

When I was a kid, I loved fairy tales! I liked the fluffy, Disney-fied ones (great clothes! I mean, who doesn’t like Cinderella’s blue dress?), but my favorites were from a book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales my grandmother gave me. The ones where the stepsisters chopped off bits of their feet to fit into Cinderella’s slipper, stuff like that. Dark and fantastical, with lots of tangled forests and crumbling castles. And curses, of course. I love curses. I also liked stories from the ballet, where the heroine was usually a ghost or a part-time bird, and there were curses galore, as well as dark wizards and sacrificing for love. They had great clothes, too. But I always liked the dangerous romance of all that more than the bland princes and singing mice of the Disney version. Yeah, I was a weird kid. Probably a weird adult, too, since I still eat up all that stuff with a spoon!

As I get older and read more and more bios of real-life historic couples, I find few (if any) Disney HEAs. If there was an HE at all, it was usually twisting and halting, full of surprises and compromise. Like life itself, I guess, with fewer talking animals and dark omens than in fairy tales. But I often find the darker, more complex the “romance” the greater the story.

There are so many interesting Regency-era couples, but I chose only two to talk about. No Disney wedding endings here, of course! We’re going to look at Lady Caroline Lamb and Lord Byron (a Mess if there ever was one, but I find that whole “Crazy Love” thing fascinating, not having felt anything at all like it since high school. Thankfully). And Charles James Fox and Elizabeth Armistead, because theirs was a twisted path indeed, ending in a deep devotion.

Lady Caroline Ponsonby Lamb was the wife of William Lamb (the younger son of Byron’s friend Lady Melbourne, another fascinating character), the daughter of Harriet Bessborough (Georgiana’s sister–huh, whaddya know, more fascinating characters!), and full of all the creativity and instability (to say the least) her genes would suggest. When she met Byron in 1812, she was 27, with a few wild affairs to her name already. Byron was 24, famous as the melancholy, handsome author of Childe Harold. She read the poem before meeting him, and wrote him an anonymous fan letter, saying “You deserve to be and you shall be happy…” A few days later she set out to meet him at a party at Lady Westmoreland’s, but ran off when she saw him surrounded by other adoring women.

This, of course was the best thing she could have done to get his attention. He was pasionately in love with his lovers–until he was sure of their love, of course. Then not so much. By avoiding the introduction, she made Byron determined to meet her. She didn’t resemble his concept of Ideal Feminine Beauty, being tall, very thin, with short, curling blond hair and hazel eyes. After their first meeting, Byron said “The lady had scarcely any personal attractions to recommend her.” But Caro said “That beautiful pale face is my fate.”

But she also possessed a disregard of opinion that Byron seemed to covet (for all his posturing, it seems like he worried about “what people think” too much to be a true free spirit, at least not until later in his life). She was also exuberantly emotional, intelligent, creative, and well-read. They would read together, discuss poetry–and argue fiercely. Their affair shocked and dazzled London through April and May of 1812. They quarreled in public; when she wasn’t invited to a party he was at, she would wait outside on the street. When she refused to say she loved him more than her husband, he wrote “My God, you shall pay for this, I’ll wring that obstinate little heart.” But the ton hadn’t seen nothing yet. The real drama started when the affair ended.

In summer 1812, Byron was persuaded to leave London–without Caro, who had gotten out of control in her passion. She bombarded him with letters at his home at Newstead; when they were both in London, she snuck into his house disguised as page, ran after him, threatened to stab herself, etc. Finally, her family took her off to the country to recuperate. She held a dramatic bonfire, with village girls dressed in white dancing around the flames while Caroline threw letters and books into the fire. (I might have done this when I was 17, if my parents didn’t have strict rules about open flames in the back yard…)

Anyhoo, now I’ve gone on soooo long here, I think we’ll have to talk about the Foxes next week! In the meantime, as we wrap our Risky Valentine’s week special, who are some of your favorite couples?

Or maybe this:
Crossed with this:

When I was hoping for something sorta in the style of this:
Not that Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes look like these particular characters. I just like the romantic, Renaissance-y feel of it.

Or this, if we cut out Scarlett Johansen, would work (the clothes are right, anyway):

Congratulations, Maureen! You’ve won an autographed copy of Scandalous Lord, Rebellious Miss. Please send your snail mail address to riskies@yahoo.com.