March kicks off a very exciting (and busy!) spring for me with the release of 2 stories! One is Scandalous Brides, a re-release of two of my Signet Regencies (my first two books, Scandal in Venice and The Spanish Bride), with a beautiful new cover! And the other is a Harlequin Historical Undone short story, To Bed a Libertine, which launches my “Muses of Mayfair” series in the US (To Catch a Rogue, April 2010; To Deceive a Duke, May; To Kiss a Count, June).

In celebration, I’ll give away a copy of Brides and a free download of Libertine to two commenters on today’s post!

As every writer knows, the Muses are 9 goddesses who inspire artistic creation (when they feel like it! They often seem quite fickle to me, even when I try to lock them up in my office and make them help me…). According to the Theogony of Hesiod (7th century BC) they’re the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory.

Although in some traditions there are only 3 or 4 Muses, in traditional stories of Hellenistic times there are 9. Calliope (chief of the Muses and in charge of epic poetry); Euterpe (lyric song); Clio (history); Erato (poetic poetry); Melpomene (tragedy); Polyhymnia (sacred song); Terpsichore (dance); Thalia (comedy/bucolic poetry); and Urania (astronomy). In ancient Greece they were usually evoked at the beginning of a poem or song, asking for their help or giving them credit. (Maybe I should try that sometime…) Even later poets utilized this tradition, such as Dante (“O Muses, o high genius, aid me now!”) and Shakespeare (“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention”).

In my “Muses of Mayfair” trilogy, the 3 Chase sisters (Calliope, Clio, and Thalia) are mortal women of the Regency era with the misfortune of having classical scholars for parents who saddle them with these names (though they each have elements of their namesakes!). In To Bed a Libertine we meet a real Muse, Erato, Muse of erotic poetry. She and her sisters have taken on the Chase heroines as a special project since their births, and when she checks in on them in her magic reflecting pool on Mount Olympus she sees Calliope is in danger of losing her true love Lord Westwood.

So Erato takes herself off to Regency London to help reverse this catastrophe–only to find herself falling passionately in love (for the first time in her very long life!) with Lord Tristan Carlyle, a handsome, rakish artist in need of her brand of inspiration…

I had so much fun writing To Bed a Libertine, and all the Muse books! (And I confess, I fell a little in love with Tristan myself! Plus I’m thinking of growing my hair long and dying it red after getting this cover). I got to combine 2 great loves, Regency England and ancient Greek myths, plus meet 4 hunky Regency heroes. It was also a blast to imagine what a Greek goddess might think of the London ton (naturally the first thing she does is go shopping for some fabulous clothes and a bright yellow phaeton!).

What would your own personal Muse look like? Do you use any good luck charms to get your creativity flowing? (on my desk I have a little jeweled elephant, a Hello Kitty figurine, a Jane Austen action figure, and a little Dorothy doll. They must all be in their correct places before I get started)

And be sure and check out my website, which has updates for all these upcoming stories, plus another contest! (enter to win all 3 Muse books, plus a Calliope pendant from Tartx)

As promised, we have three winners from Michelle’s visit!

An Accidental Seduction–Jane Austen!

Accidental Countess–Daphne!

Accidental Princess–Keira Soleore!

Please send your snail mail address to us at riskies@yahoo.com, and congrats!

In looking around for a blog topic for today (I was feeling especially lazy, having just finished revisions and spending waaaay too much time watching the Olympics!), I found out one of the preeminent Georgian portrait artists, Sir Joshua Reynolds, died on this day in 1792 at the age of 69. I love Reynolds’s work whenever I’m lucky enough to see one on a museum visit, and enjoyed taking a closer look at his life! (Also today marks the anniversary of the death of Keats–I have a small tribute to him on my own blog, and I did a post on his death here at the Riskies a couple of years ago)

Reynolds was born on July 16, 1723 in Devon, one of 11 children of a village schoolmaster and clergyman. He showed an interest in art early on, and was apprenticed in 1740 to fashionable portraitist Thomas Hudson, where he stayed for 3 years. From 1749 to 1752, he studied the Old Masters in Italy and had a grand time, but sadly also caught a bad cold that left him partially deaf (in his self-portraits, he’s often seen with his ubiquitous ear trumpet). For the rest of his life he lived in London, rarely even taking a holiday from his studio. But he was never lonely–he was a sociable man with a wide and intellectual circle of friends such as Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, David Garrick, Angelica Kauffmann, the Thrales, Edmund Burke, etc. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Royal Academy, an early member of the Royal Society of Arts, and a founder of the Society of Artists. He was knighted by George III in 1769. And yet he still had time to paint an estimated 3000 portraits (for which he could command between 80 and 100 guineas). He was well-known for his dynamic and life-like scenes.

Reynolds never married, though he had reputation as a nice and laid-back (though not very handsome!) man. His sister kept house for him and he seems to have been rather close to his family. There were rumors of liaisons with some of his artistic subjects, such as Nelly O’Brien and the actress Kitty Fisher, but nothing was ever proved. Boswell (who dedicated his Life of Samuel Johnson to Reynolds) stated, “He said the reason he would never marry was that every woman whom he liked had grown indifferent to him, and he had been glad he did not marry her.” He died in 1792 at his house in Leicester Fields in London and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral. A good resource about his life is Martin Postle’s Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity (2005) and numerous art history volumes. A good source for discussion on his art can be found here. Here are just a few of his many, many Society and demi-monde portraits:

Nelly O’Brien

Elizabeth Gunning

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and her daughter

George III

Sir Joseph Banks

The Waldegrave sisters

Mrs. Sarah Siddons

Samuel Johnson

Johnson’s friend Hester Thrale and her daughter

Mary Robinson

Kitty Fisher

What is your favorite Reynolds portrait, or favorite historical artist? I’ve often thought it would be fun to dress up and have my portrait painted like one of these–what would you wear for your own portrait???

“A keen sense of the era and delightful characters that keep readers coming back for more!” –RT Book Reviews on An Accidental Countess

The Riskies are happy to welcome back Michelle Willingham, to talk to us about her new direction–into the Victorian era! We’ll have three winners this weekend, as Michelle is giving away copies of The Accidental Countess, The Accidental Princess, and a free download of her Undone story An Accidental Seduction!

Riskies: Welcome back, Michelle! You have your Victorian hat on this time. Tell us about your new series…

Michelle: Every author has a “book of her heart,” and for me that was The Accidental Countess! I kept beating down publisher’s doors, trying to sell my first Irish medieval, and in the meantime I wrote a more traditional setting of Victorian England. So The Accidental Countess was technically the second book I ever wrote. I kept trying to sell it, but the heroine was a little too “snarky” for many folks. She was a joy to write, and how often do you get a heroine who considers poisoning the hero on the first page because he forgot he was married to her? I had far too much fun. I wrote it for myself and didn’t worry about the rules. I simply wanted to be entertained. I didn’t have a clue who the villain was until the last chapter, and I think that made the suspense plot believable. It took me selling another 4 books before I offered Countess to Harlequin, and even then my editor wanted to hold off on the release date. She asked me to write a connecting book which became The Accidental Princess. I knew the heroine of Countess had a sister, but she was off at finishing school and I didn’t know much about her. I decided to do a secret royalty story, along the lines of a Gothic romance. I wanted a true fairy tale with a possible prince and a woman who was trapped in the rigid life of a Victorian lady. Since neither heroine ever dreamed she would become a Princess or a Countess, that’s how the “Accidental” part was born!

Last, my editor wanted me to write a connected novella for the Harlequin Historical Undone line. I ended up writing a prequel, telling how the hero and heroine in Countess actually got married, and that was the story of An Accidental Seduction. The novella has its own happy ending, but then Countess starts about 3 months later, and their marriage is tested to the limit…

Riskies: What was the inspiration for these books?

Michelle: The Accidental Countess reminds me a bit of The Bourne Identity with a hero who doesn’t know what happened during 3 months of his life. Unfortunately, he happened to elope during that period, and he remembers nothing about his wife! The story is about falling in love all over again. The Accidental Princess was inspired by all the Victoria Holt fairytale romances I read as a teenager, and it’s a Cinderella reversal where the hero is a common soldier who may or may not be a prince. I was able to incorporate elements of Titanic with the developing romance continuing on board a steam ship bound for Germany. I loved researching the interiors of Victorian steam ships, and they were incredibly luxurious with chandeliers, ballrooms, and promenade decks.

Riskies: I love the recipes on your website! (especially the yummy-sounding sugar gingerbread). How does that fit into the story?

Michelle: The heroine of Countess is a Cinderella figure whose family suffered through poverty, and she had to cook for the family in order to survive. In the book, I wanted to include some of Emily’s recipes, so I consulted some historical cookbooks, made some of my own changes, and tested some of the recipes. It was fun, and I ended up finding a favorite gingerbread recipe for Christmas as a result! Technically the title is “Molasses Cookies” but there’s a tablespoon of ginger in the recipe, so that makes it a perfect gingerbread cookie dough. The recipes are here on my website!

Riskies: What other research did you have to do? Was it a challenge to change gears from the Medieval era to the Victorian?

Michelle: The etiquette and clothing of Victorian England are completely different from Medieval times! Also, I found the pacing of the romance was very different–more subtle, but it could definitely be scandalous in its own way! Out of all the research I really enjoyed learning about steam ships the most (used in The Accidental Princess). I visited the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia and asked for primary source photographs of ships from 1855. I used The Great Eastern ship as a model for my boat. Although my ship was only traveling from London to Bremerhaven, in my mind it could also make transatlantic voyages. Okay, so there was a little creative license there, but I wanted the more luxurious interiors!

Riskies: These covers are gorgeous! Do they reflect the stories?

Michelle: It’s a good thing I have nothing to do with covers because otherwise there would be stick people on the front! Princess is probably my favorite of the 3, because the heroine truly is a strong woman. I love the expression on her face, as though she’s already behaving like a princess. Countess had a bit of controversy surrounding the cover. Originally, the woman was lifting her skirt and baring her stocking. The art department ended up nixing the scandalous leg, and I’m glad. I like the gorgeous dresses! Overall, I would say they’re a good representation of the stories.

Riskies: What’s next for you?

Michelle: In September this year, my last book in the MacEgan Brothers miniseries will be published. Surrender to the Irish Warrior tells the story of Trahern MacEgan, and it was the most challenging book I’ve ever written. The heroine is the survivor of a brutal tragedy, and the two of them have to heal their broken lives and find love in each other. It took a lot of emotional energy out of me, but in the end I think it came out well.

Thanks so much for letting me visit again! I’d like to offer 3 prizes today–a free download of An Accidental Seduction, and signed copies of The Accidental Princess and The Accidental Countess. For a chance to win, just post a comment or a question and tell me what’s your favorite fairytale?

(Warning: this is going to be a post that depends a lot on you, because I am interested to see what everyone thinks!) Often when I’m wasting my time, er, doing valuable research online I love to read blogs about fashion, beauty products, opera and ballet, jazz, all sorts of things, and I especially love blogs about movies. (Even though this means my Netflix account is totally out of control because of it). One of my favorite movie blogs is the Self Styled Siren, a wonderfully witty and intelligent look at classic movies. She recently had a fascinating post called “Unearthing the Uncool”.

This post started with a statement the Siren made on Facebook: “It is much easier to proclaim dislike for a popular movie than to admit liking an uncool movie,” which sparked a fascinating stream of comments and proclamations of love for movies and actors that are generally deemed “uncool.” (For instance, the Siren defends the 1940 Pride and Prejudice, stuff like Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Stewart Granger, and, gasp!, even Kevin Costner). I myself have a deep and abiding love for movie musicals, like The Sound of Music, Brigadoon, and Camelot, that others often hoot at derisively. (you know who you are, haters!). I know this is also true in literary fiction, and that in mysteries some sub-genres are looked at as “cooler” than others, so I started to wonder if this could apply to romance novels. We definitely don’t seem to have that “cool”/”uncool” divide that movies do, though I suppose there are genres or authors that have a cooler reputation than others. Is it “cool” to admit to liking old-skool stuff like Whitney My Love? (I think I just came to reading historicals too late, when tastes had changed, to get into them. I had very different romantic fantasies). Is it “uncool” to admit we can’t really get into, say, urban fantasy, which seems very cool (as I mostly can’t, much as I want to!)?

Traditional Regencies certainly used to be “uncool,” considered by some to be dry books for stereotypical grannies (I had someone tell me once I couldn’t possibly write them, I looked too young! Which was flattering, of course, but kinda made me want to get all lecture-y on them about the intelligence and variety of trads. Ditto for a friend of my mine who ONE TIME read a Regency, didn’t like it–even though she couldn’t remember the title–and decided they were all like that one). But now that they’re obscure and out-of-print and all that, maybe they’re like some little indie band out of Austin. And on some book blogs there are often threads like “books you like that no one else has read” or “books everyone liked that you hated,” which I guess can be sort of like cool/uncool. Mostly, though, romance genres seem to be pretty much anything goes. If I don’t like something, someone else will, and vice versa, and I like it that way. The variety is what makes it fun.

So I am sending it to you! Do you think there is that “coolness” factor in romance fiction? If so, what would it be? And what movies do you love that others make fun of?

(p.s. I have not seen that movie The Enchanted Cottage, but I totally want to! I mean, look at that poster. People were whispering about them! The whole town!)