Due to a mixup we actually have announced two winners for HER WARRIOR KING by Michelle Willingham.
Tracey and Santa, you lucky ducks, please email us at riskies@yahoo.com to claim your prizes.
And we thank Michelle for being so gracious about our little snafu!
I thought I’d try something a bit different today — an offbeat introduction to a new Regency author, shorter and sillier than our formal interviews (er, I mean the introduction, not the author!) and hopefully fun.
Many of you have probably seen Georgie Lee’s comments on our blog — well, her first Regency, Lady’s Wager, has just been published by Cerridwen Cotillion, and you all know how I love any sort of Regency gambling! (In this particular wager, if the heroine loses, she has to get married — and that’s always great fun.) So let’s get to know Georgie Lee a little better!
So, Georgie, how did you feel when you sold your first book?
Excited, and somewhat terrified. I’ve heard many authors describe their first sale experience but until I went through it, the contract, the edits, the nail biting countdown to release day, I had no idea the trials awaiting me. However, the feelings of accomplishment and pride that came with selling Lady’s Wager made all the other stresses and headaches worth it and I can’t wait to do it again.
What’s one big difference between writing for Hollywood, and writing novels?
Well, so far neither has made me rich but there is still time (haa-haa). It was an adjustment moving from screenwriting to novels and it took a while to make the switch. In screenwriting, a writer provides the director with a dialogue blueprint and the end result is someone else’s vision. Writing a novel made me responsible for everything and it took a while to get the hang of scene descriptions and sensory details. My first draft of Lady’s Wager was difficult to read because I hadn’t learned how to move characters through a scene without constantly using the word “and”. However, after a couple of drafts I got the hang of it and my writing greatly improved.
Why do you like writing in the Regency period?
I’ve always loved the manners and the elegance of the Regency. I know those manners covered up what could be a very harsh society but the delight of romances is the ability to enjoy a time period without the ugly reality. Also, writing in the Regency is like being a screenwriter during the golden age of Hollywood. Back then, characters couldn’t always say everything they wanted to say, especially if it was racy. As a result, writers came up with very clever dialogue and scenes to suggest what the characters were forbidden to express.
What’s your favorite Jane Austen novel?
Persuasion. Unlike many of Austen’s other characters, such as Emma and Elizabeth, who are self-confident, Anne lacks self-confidence at the beginning and must learn to believe in herself and her opinion. I think we all feel a lack of self-confidence at times and so we can easily identify with Anne. Also, it’s touching to watch her change and grow and to see her growth rewarded with a second chance at love.
Non-Jane Austen Regency Romance?
His Lordship’s Swan by Martha Kirkland. It was one of the first Regencies I read and I love the heroine’s spunk and the way her defiance of convention catches the hero’s attention. I enjoy strong female characters who don’t conform to social expectations and this non-conformist attitude is one of the defining features of Charlotte, the heroine of Lady’s Wager.
What’s your favorite period movie?
Where do I begin? I love so many period movies, from Dangerous Beauty to An Ideal Husband, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility to Elizabeth. However, my all time favorite is Gone with the Wind. I first saw it in junior high, and Scarlett O’Hara’s determination to succeed combined with her devil may care attitude and her belief in the promise of tomorrow really spoke to me. About ten years ago I was finally able to see it in a theatre and it was like seeing it for the first time.
If you had to marry one Jane Austen hero, which would it 
be?
Mr. Darcy. In a lot of ways he reminds me of my husband. Both of them are reserved and somewhat shy, which can sometime be mistaken for pride, and both are devoted to those they love.
Thanks for joining us, Georgie! (Okay, you’re married to Mr. Darcy…does that mean I have to hate you?) 🙂
And if anyone wants to know more about Lady’s Wager or about Cotillion Regencies, just go to Cotillion’s Georgie Lee page.
And remember to stop by Risky Regencies next Tuesday to discuss the new adaptation of Persuasion! (When any of the new Austens air on PBS, we’ll discuss them here the following Tuesday.)
Cara
Cara King, author of her own little gambling book
Janegeorge!!!
Just send your contact details to riskies@yahoo.com and your prize will soon be on its way…
I recently read that about 50% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions but only about 15% of those manage to keep them. I’m not surprised. Each year in January our local YMCA gets crowded but by February the swim lanes free up and there’s room in the exercise classes again.
Anyway, I’m not much into New Year’s resolutions but this year I’m making one that’s humble and painless. I’m going to trim my other responsibilities just a little and make more time to read. I’m going to make a real dent in my TBR list, which I actually put on paper yesterday. Here are some of the books–I may not get to them all, of course, but I hope to at least read a few in each category.
Firstly I want to catch up on my fellow Riskies’ books. I also will treat myself to another Laura Kinsale. There are just 2 of her backlist I haven’t read yet. I’m savoring them in the hopes that by the time I’m done she’ll have a new one out. I also want to read more of Judith Ivory’s backlist. She’s another who writes beautiful and different romance. I also want to try something by Anne Stuart–maybe titles mentioned by Janet and Megan in our Best Reads of 2007 Week.
Through my book group, I’ve read more mainstream and literary fiction than I used to but of course reading begets more reading. So now I have a number of solid book group recommendations including titles like The English Patient, The Secret Life of Bees, Far Pavilions.
This year I’d like to start repairing a great gap in my education as a historical romance author. I’m well-read in Austen, the Brontes and Sir Walter Scott but want to delve more into period fiction. That section of my TBR list includes boooks like Pamela and Evelina and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters.
It’s been too long since I’ve read any fantasy besides Harry Potter. Based on everyone’s recommendations, I know I’d love the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. My oldest child raved about Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart books; I must try those too. I’m also curious to read The Golden Compass. The controversy about its treatment of religion intrigues me as much as everything else. Maybe I can get to this by the time the movie is making its second rounds.
I want to continue Cornwell’s Sharpe series. If I have time, I’d also like to delve into Horatio Hornblower and the Patrick O’Brian books.
I’m sure I’ll keep reading research books. High on my list are Amanda Foreman’sGeorgiana: Duchess of Devonshire and Ian Kelly’s Beau Brummell.
I like to try at least one new book on the craft of writing each year. I recently finished Stephen King’s On Writing (another blog on that) so the next on my list is Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a 
Thousand Faces. Critics of Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey claim Vogler just ripped off Campbell. I like The Writer’s Journey a lot and suspect Vogler added to Campbell’s ideas and made them easier to work with. Still, I expect the original to yield up some new treasures.
And just for fun, I want to read something about crop circles, just because I find them interesting.
So these are my New Year’s Reading Resolutions. What do you think? Are there any books I should add, remove, replace?
Do you have any New Year’s Reading Resolutions? What are they?
And how can anyone ever complain that there’s nothing interesting to read????
Elena
www.elenagreene.com
Merry Christmas, to those of you who celebrate Christmas! And happy 25th of December to everyone else!
For quite a few years now, I have included a satirical “faux holiday letter” in my holiday cards — and as this year I have the honor of writing the Risky Regencies Christmas post, I thought that instead of sharing a lovely informative bit on Christmas in the Regency, or anything useful like that, I would post my silly letter instead. So here it is! Proof of just how weird I am…
CARA’S ANNUAL HOLIDAY LETTER IN WHICH SHE EXTOLS THE SUPERIORITY OF HER STUFFED CAT AND TELLS YOU ALL ABOUT PEOPLE YOU’VE NEVER MET BUT WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY WAY COOLER AND WAY SPIFFIER THAN ANYONE ON EARTH EXCEPT MAYBE CARA’S STUFFED CAT
Hello, O Fortunate Recipient of this yearly literary gem! Here is an abstract of all the clever things I did this year; the actual paper has been submitted to Phys Rev Letters and will be peer-reviewed as soon as they locate someone who will admit to being my peer.
JANUARY: I attend the annual Jane Austen Ball. The pleated hem of my Regency gown is so brilliant that it finds a solution to global warming. Unfortunately, someone steps on my hem while dancing Mr Beveridge’s Maggot, and the solution hits a snag.
FEBRUARY: I appear as Paulina in Caltech’s production of THE WINTER’S TALE. My wig is massive enough to nearly start a nuclear implosion. Todd’s wig, however, actually does implode, creating a quantum black hole. This quantum black hole travels back through time, turning things that should be benign into hugely destructive forces (e.g. squirrels, computer solitaire, and SUV drivers who tailgate while talking on cell phones and eating pastrami.)
MARCH: As the hottest new trend involves combining two different
popular genres (e.g. the recent television hits “CSI: Shakespeare” and
“Superman vs. the Sopranos”), I write several installments of “Austen Trek: or, if Jane Austen Wrote Star Trek” for my blog. My blogmates all pretend to enjoy these (their ecstatic compliments range from “that’s really just…bizarre” to “who’s Yeoman Rand?”), but Jane Austen threatens to sue.
APRIL: I pretend to work on my new young adult novel.
MAY: Having lived in our condo for almost five years, Todd and I decide to finally put our posters up. Exhausted by our bout of decision-making, we put off the actual putting-up for another five years.
JUNE: Todd and I visit Nice, but not before 2,306,973 people tell me that they hear it’s very nice there.
JULY: The new Harry Potter book is released, making Britain the world’s second-greatest economic power, right behind Walmart.
AUGUST: Todd becomes Associate Chair of his department. This takes up huge amounts of his time which might otherwise be used for important things like watching DVDs from Netflix and writing witty comments on my blog.
SEPTEMBER: We receive our millionth charity solicitation and billionth offer to refinance; we have now papier-mâchéd an additional room onto our condo, which would look perfect except that it really needs some posters on the walls.
OCTOBER: I attend what may be the last ever Genesis concert at the 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl, which is followed by an exodus of incredible numbers of people trying to trample the Kings (and Rubins and a Brun), which leads to a few lamentations on our part. Crowd control at the Bowl must be an incredible job, but whoever judges that it’s okay for us to get mobbed like that is pretty ruthless, if you ask me.
NOVEMBER: Todd and I see Ian McKellen play King Lear. My favorite part is when Lear disinherits his annoying youngest child, Pippin, in favor of Frodo and Merry, but Todd’s favorite part is when Edgar pretends to be a mad creature named Gollum who wears nothing but a loincloth and a lot of dirt.
DECEMBER: Someone informs me that just because WGA writers are on strike doesn’t mean that there’s any reason for me to not write. My explanation of how my brain refuses to cross the picket line having failed, I am now procrastinating by doing important things like writing my holiday letter and talking to my stuffed cat.
There you have it! Until next year, I remain…Cara King.
And it’s absolutely true. I do remain Cara King. (Though come to think of it, I’m not really sure why; it probably has something to do with metaphysics…or maybe kilophysics…)
And don’t forget! Next Tuesday, we’re discussing the 1986 version of NORTHANGER ABBEY!!! So it’ll be a Northanger New Year’s Day!
Cara
