Jo Talk

Blogging and bestselling

2011-03-19T10:56:00.000Z

I'm blogging today at Fresh Fiction. Is Prudence a snob, or is it all right to want more than White Rose Yard? Have your say. Fresh Fiction

I'm happy to say that An Unlikely Countess will be in tomorrow's New York Times at #17 on the bestseller list. And it'll go up to #13 next week. :)

Jo

Black Swans

2011-03-13T14:01:00.001Z

Black swans have some relevance to my books.

The black swans here in Dawlish are breeding and my husband took some pictures that cry out for captions, so here they are.

And yes, An Unlikely Countess is out.
"With her usual gift for crafting a captivating plot and creating complex, compelling characters, RITA Award-winning Beverley fashions another superbly satisfying addition to her Georgian-eraMalloren World series." - John Charles, Booklist.

I'm going to copy here posts I make on Facebook and other places, but there might be some others as well.

All best wishes,

Jo

video

2011-02-28T14:06:00.001Z

Inspired by the Oscars*G* I created a video over the weekend, mostly as a way to show some of the locations of An Unlikely Countess, though giving them context turned it into a bit of a book trailer.

Anyway, it was fun. If you want to do something with still images, I recommend Photo Story. It's an old programme, but it's a free download it from Microsoft, and once you learn its fairly simple ways, it's easy to use.

If you like it, I'd be delighted if you passed it on via Facebook, Twitter, and the usual places.
Here's the link.

As you'll gather, my new book, An Unlikely Countess, is out soon. Like... tomorrow!

There's an excerpt here.

Cheers,

Jo

Darlington

2010-06-18T09:35:00.000+01:00

I just visited Darlington, where I have a few scenes in An Unlikely Countess. In fact, that's where the weddings -- one and a half, or half and a one -- take place, in St Cuthbert's church. This turned out to be a fabulous old church. I love how in England one stumbles across these gems just anywhere. What's more, the action I had set in the book works with the structure, which is one of the things I needed to check. "St. Cuthbert's Collegiate Church, which, next to Durham Cathedral, is the most beautiful church in the county, is supposed to have been erected by Bishop Pudsey. In reference to this fine example of early architecture, it was said by the late Sir Gilbert Scott to be "on the whole one of the most uniform parish churches he knew anywhere, and one of the most beautiful." The church is a cruciform structure, with a tower and spire rising from the intersection of the nave and transepts." [From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan , London, 1894]" I'll have some pictures when I get home, but here's one oldish one I'm not sure when the spire went on, but it's not original. It was a square tower, and the spire almost wrecked the place. That end of the church has a shift from the weight. A lesson to all "improvers!" On to Northallerton today, where the book now opens. yes, if you've read the beginning in The Secret Duke it was Guisborough, or Gisborough. That's a lovely old town and I wanted to use it, but the travel logistics wouldn't work. Northallerton was an important place on the Great North Road. More later, Jo

Who is this?

2010-05-01T10:10:00.000+01:00

I get the weekly sampler from Dover Books, and this was one picture from a Victorian anniversary card. Just for fun, I couldn't help wondering if it would fit one of my Georgian couples, but which one? Not Rothgar and Diana, I feel! Nor Bella and Thorn from The Secret Duke.

Any suggestions?

Dover Books are absolutely wonderful. They do reprints of older books and collections of images of all kinds, all at great prices. I have many. And as I said, you can subscribe to receive sample images from their collections. Click on the link above to visit.

Best wishes,

Jo
Click here to refresh your memory on my Georgian titles.

Time of her own

2010-03-07T11:30:00.000Z

The Teach Me Tonight blog is where academics interested in the romance genre post, and it is always interesting, sometimes enlightening.

In this blog, (use the link above) Laura Vivanco discussed the classic text, Reading The Romance, by Janet Radway. This is decades old now. In fact, I remember attending a lecture by Radway at Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia, simply because even then I wanted to write romance and was looking for some insights into the genre.

I also read the book, which did have some interesting insights into romance reading but which I recognized even then as being seen through the lens of the female scholar of the time, and the beliefs they held because it didn't relate closely to my own experiences as a university educated, professional woman who also was an avid reader of romance novels.

Laura Vivanco gives her own, modern interpratation of Radway, which is interesting reading.

I was particularly struck by this piece below. The subject here is the perceived value of (women's) unpaid work in the home v paid work, inside or out. I put the brackets there because I think the weighting exists for either sex; it's just much less common for men to take on the unpaid home work.

The value of women's work is something I'm always aware of in my writing. In the past, men's and women's spheres were often much more distinct and separate, even to the actual management of the house (as illustrated in Amanda Vickery's excellent new book about the home in Georgian England, Behind Closed Doors.) I get annoyed by novels in which the heroine is seen as more interesting, more admirable, if she rejects traditional women's work in order to seek a more manly role. It's not the seeking, per se, because sometimes women had no choice, or had a genuine calling to a manly occupation, but the implication that by doing so they are stronger, better women, and that therefore anyone who managed a household and raised children is inferior.

It's particularly annoying in a historical context when women's work could be complex and challenging, especially in the upper echelons, where she might be managing one or more large buildings, a small army of servants, as well as supporting her husband's out-of-home activities on the social and political level.

Vivanco writes:
"Perhaps the Smithton romance readers, "women who saw themselves first as wives and mothers" (7) were taking a well-deserved break from their work in order to read books in a genre which recognised the value of that work? These were, after all, women who "referred constantly and voluntarily to the connection between their reading and their daily social situation as wives and mothers" (9), who "are angered by men who continue to make light of 'woman's work' as well as by 'women's libbers' whom they accuse of dismissing mothers and housewives as ignorant, inactive, and unimportant" (78) and, as Radway herself has written, "the romance readers of Smithton use their books to erect a barrier between themselves and their families in order to declare themselves temporarily off-limits to those who would mine them for emotional support and material care" (12).

Even workers who enjoy their jobs require some leisure time, but because the work in which these women were engaged is often not considered to be "work," and because it is carried out within the home, there may be no provision made for "clocking off" at the end of a long shift. If one looks at the Smithton readers through the lenses of feminist economic theory, one might suggest that they were finding in these books both a physical means of asserting their right to leisure time, and validation that their work as wives and mothers is indeed of crucial importance. This might explain why "their self-perception has been favorably transformed by their reading" (102)."

This is a great insight, and one that could be of use to us all. Women often confess to guilt about taking time for themselves, especially if it means things left undone. Alas, often women are attacked, directly or indirectly, by their family and others for doing so. But this suggests that creating that time slice for ourselves, especially if we are doing work that's not paid for, is crucial to our well being and self-worth. That it is something worth asserting and defending.

Jo

The Oddest Title contest

2010-02-05T13:04:00.000Z

More details here.

The "Very Longlist" in full:

100 Girls on Cheap Paper
A Tortilla is Like Life
Advances in Potato Chemistry and Technology
Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter
An Intellectual History of Cannibalism
Bacon: A Love Story
Baptist Autographs in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 1741-1845
Bondage for Beginners
Briefs for the Reading Room
Budgeting for Infertility
Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich
Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes
Curbside Consultation in Cornea and External Disease
Cute Yummy Time
Dental Management of Sleep Disorders
Father Christmas Needs a Wee
Fluffy Little Kitten in Fluffy's Brother
Food Digestion and Thermal Preference of Toad
Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots
How YOU Are Like Shampoo: For Job Seekers
I Stopped Sucking My Thumb…Why Can't You Stop Drinking?
I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears
Is the Rectum a Grave?
Jokes by the Not So Famous Redneck
Map-based Comparative Genomics in Legumes
Mickey Mouse, Hitler and Nazi Germany
My Hare Line Meets the Brown Rabbit
Obama Guilty of Being President While Black
Peek-a-poo: What's in Your Diaper?
Planet Asthma: Art and Acitivty Book
Plough Music
Plug-in Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington?
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Bean Conference
Schoolgirl Milky Crisis
Soft Drink & Fruit Juice Problems Solved
Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing
The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
The First Home-Built Aeroplanes
The Great Dog Bottom Swap
The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin
The Origin of Faeces
The Quotable Douchebag
The True History of Tea
The Wild World of Girly Men and Masculine Women - And Why Americans Suffer from So Many Other Idiotic Syndromes!
Venus Does Adonis While Apollo Shags a Tree
What Horses Do For Us
What Kind of Bean is this Chihuahua?

Got a pick?

I think The Origin of Faeces is rather witty, and Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes sounds fascinating.

Perhaps the award should distinguish between odd titles and unusual, but reasonable, subjects. After all, Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots sounds like something we all need to consider. Only think of Battlestar Galactica!

No wild robots in The Stanforth Secrets. The lethal behaviour is all very human, as is

the loving type. On sale now.

Centenarians of 1881

2010-01-16T11:02:00.000Z

On the Word Wenches

we're talking about the ages of characters in romance, (Dark Champion has my youngest heroine, 16 year old Imogen) and the subject of life expectancy turned up. It wasn't as short as some people say, and just for interest I went to the British 1881 census, freely available here
and put in the first name John and the date of birth 1781, looking for centinarians. I found 6, and remember, this is just one name -- John.

Then I put in Mary, and got 16 hits. So much for women dying off more than men. And you'll note these women are widows, sometimes living with children, so they didn't survive by avoiding childbirth. Just for interest I plugged in a few more popular first names and got Anne 8, Jane 4, Sarah7, and Elizabeth 4.

Here are the results

1. John BUTTERWORTH - 1881 British Census / Lancashire
Servant Gender: Male Birth: <1781> Shore, Lancashire, England

I think this might be an error as he's recorded as a servant, an ostler.

2. John GRANT - 1881 British Census / Lancashire
Boarder Gender: Male Birth: <1781> Ireland
Thomas KENNEDY Head M Male 31 Hull, York, England Beer Seller
Catherine KENNEDY Wife M Female 30 Ireland
John GRANT Boarder W Male 100 Ireland H...
Robert GREADY Boarder M Male 28 Ireland Cotton Weaver
Thomas GRANT Boarder U Male 46 Ireland Pedlar

3. John ANGUS - 1881 British Census / Northumberland

Thomas B. TALLANTYNE Head M Male 62 Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England Tailor (Employs 5 Men & 3 Boys)
Elizabeth B. TALLANTYNE Wife M Female 57 Newcastle On Tyne, Northumberland, England
Angus B. TALLANTYNE Son U Male 26 Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England Tailor
Snow B. TALLANTYNE Son U Male 23 Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England Tailor
Lizzie M. TALLANTYNE Daur U Female 15 Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England Scholar
John ANGUS Boarder W Male 100 Summersfield, Durham, England Retired Leather Merchant
Judith ARMSTRONG Serv U Female 21 Welton, Cumberland, England Domestic Serv

Boarder Gender: Male Birth: <1781> Summersfield, Durham, England
4. John POWELL - 1881 British Census / Worcester
Head Gender: Male Birth: <1781> Clenley, Worcester, England

He's living alone.

5. John MOORING - 1881 British Census / Norfolk
Patient Gender: Male Birth: <1781> London, Middlesex, England

He's in the Royal Naval Hospital as a pensioner. Great name for a sailor! And one wonders what action he saw. He might have been at Trafalgar in 1802.

6. John BOYDEN - 1881 British Census / Shropshire
Father Gender: Male Birth: <1781> Hinstock, Shropshire, England

Charles BOYDEN Head M Male 59 Hinstock, Shropshire, England Farm Labourer
Eliza BOYDEN Wife M Female 62 Market Drayton, Shropshire, England
John BOYDEN Father W Male 100 Hinstock, Shropshire, England

1. Mary HOWELLS - 1881 British Census / Glamorgan
Lodger Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Trecastle

Mary WILLIAMS Head W Female 66 Aberystwyth Housekeeper
Mary HOWELLS Lodger W Female 100 Trecastle

2. Mary BAILEY - 1881 British Census / Huntingdon
Head Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Somersham, Huntingdon, England
Mary BAILEY Head W Female 100 Somersham, Huntingdon, England No Occupation
Jane PEACOCK Dau W Female 68 Somersham, Huntingdon, England No Occupation

3. Marie CHEVALIER - 1881 British Census / Jersey
M In Law Gender: Female Birth: <1781> France
Francois DENIES Head M Male 49 Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands Seaman
Mary DENIES Wife M Female 52 St Martins, Jersey, Channel Islands Laundress
Marie CHEVALIER M In Law W Female 100 France Annuitant
Adelaide MICHEL Boarder W Female 81 France Annuitant

4. Mary GOLAKAR - 1881 British Census / Lincoln
Head Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Ireland
Mary GOLAKAR Head W Female 100 Ireland Parish Relief

5. Maria WOODS - 1881 British Census / Surrey
Inmate Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Bongay, Norfolk, England
In the workhouse. Widowed.

6. Mary GODSELL - 1881 British Census / Worcester
Head Gender: Female Birth: <1781> St Andrews, Worcester, England
Mary GODSELL Head W Female 100 St Andrews, Worcester, England
Eliza GODSELL Daur U Female 59 Gt Malvern, Worcester, England Laundress

7. Mary A. HOLDROYD - 1881 British Census / York
Head Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Rastrick, York, England
This is dubious, too, because of the dates of the son and daughter. The 1771 census shows her as 50.
Mary A. HOLDROYD Head W Female 100 Rastrick, York, England
Sigsworth HOLDROYD Son U Male 24 Mirfield, York, England Joiner Unemployed
Fanny A. HOLDROYD Daur U Female 22 Mirfield, York, England Woollen Weaver

8. Mary STEEL - 1881 British Census / Cumberland
Head Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Bewcastle, Cumberland, England

Mary STEEL Head W Female 100 Bewcastle, Cumberland, England Formerly Domestic Servant
Mary STEEL Daur U Female 68 Bewcastle, Cumberland, England Domestic Servant
John STEEL Son U Male 66 Bewcastle, Cumberland, England Domestic Servant
Ann STEEL Grand Daur U Female 38 Bewcastle, Cumberland, England Dressmaker
9. Mary ARNOLD - 1881 British Census / Warwick
Mother Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Henley In Arden, Warwick, England
Henry LEESON Head M Male 65 Tamworth, Warwick, England Domestic Gardener
Maria LEESON Wife M Female 58 Bickenhall, Warwick, England
Thomas LEESON Son U Male 22 Olton, Warwick, England Domestic Gardener
Mary ARNOLD Mother W Female 100 Henley In Arden, Warwick, England General Servant

10. Mary ROWE - 1881 British Census / Cornwall
Boarder Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Truro, Cornwall, England
Abraham HENDERSON Head M Male 38 London, London, Middlesex, England Fish Dealer
Elizabeth HENDERSON Wife M Female 38 Liskeard, Cornwall, England
George HENDERSON Son U Male 19 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Masons Apprentice
Kate HENDERSON Daur U Female 13 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Scholar
Abraham HENDERSON Son U Male 10 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Scholar
John HENDERSON Son U Male 8 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Scholar
Alfred HENDERSON Son U Male 5 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Scholar
Sarah HENDERSON Daur U Female 3 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Scholar
Mary HENDERSON Daur U Female 1 Bodmin, Cornwall, England
Sarah BRAY Mother W Female 64 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Dressmaker
Charlotte GOSS Boarder W Female 74 Bodmin, Cornwall, England Pay From Parish
Mary ROWE Boarder W Female 100 Truro, Cornwall, England Pay From Parish

11. Mary TRIMFULL - 1881 British Census / Middlesex
M In Law Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Enfield, Middlesex, England
Richard SHEARS Head M Male 56 Marylebone, Middlesex, England Tin Plate Wker
Eliza SHEARS Wife M Female 53 Marylebone, Middlesex, England
Henry SHEARS Son Male 27 Marylebone, Middlesex, England Carman
William SHEARS Other Male 17 Clkwell, Middlesex, England
Robert SHEARS Other Male 12 Clkwell, Middlesex, England
Charlie SHEARS Other Male 2 Clkwell, Middlesex, England
Louis SHEARS Dau Female 22 Ckwell, Middlesex, England Domestic Serv
Mary TRIMFULL M In Law W Female 100 Enfield, Middlesex, England

12. Mary WATERS - 1881 British Census / Monmouth
Mother Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Blakeney, Gloucester, England
James WATERS Head M Male 66 Mounton, Monmouth, England Gen.Ag.Lab.
Elizabeth WATERS Wife M Female 55 N.K., Shropshire, England
James WATERS Son M Male 32 Shirenewton, Monmouth, England Shoeing Smith (Black)
Mary WATERS Daur In Law M Female 24 Itton, Monmouth, England
John WATERS Son U Male 29 Mounton, Monmouth, England Gen.Ag.Lab.
Thomas WATERS Son U Male 23 Mounton, Monmouth, England Servant (Domestic)
Mary WATERS Mother W Female 100 Blakeney, Gloucester, England

13. Mary HALL - 1881 British Census / Northumberland
Lodger Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Down Co, Ireland
James SCOTT Head M Male 36 Tyrone, Ireland Iron Manufacture Blast Furnace Lab
Roshannah SCOTT Wife M Female 34 Tyrone, Ireland
Joseph SCOTT Son Male 11 Tyrone, Ireland
Mary SCOTT Dau Female 9 Tyrone, Ireland Scholar
Elizabeth SCOTT Dau Female 7 Tyrone, Ireland Scholar
Sarah SCOTT Dau Female 5 Walker, Northumberland, England
James L. SCOTT Son Male 3 Walker, Northumberland, England
Robert I. SCOTT Son Male 1 Walker, Northumberland, England
Mary HALL Lodger W Female 100 Down Co, Ireland
14. Mary COSTELLO - 1881 British Census / Stafford
Head Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Ireland
Mary COSTELLO Head W Female 100 Ireland Domestic
Chas. BLOOR Lodger U Male 68 ...Hire Labourer
George BLOOR Lodger W Male 59 Burslem, Stafford, England Potter
Samuel KINSTREY Lodger U Male 25 Burslem, Stafford, England Potter

15. Mary BIRKET - 1881 British Census / Westmorland
Mother Gender: Female Birth: <1781> Kendal, Westmorland, England
Doubtful. The only other mention, on the 1841, has her 10 years younger.

Sarah MEDCALF Head W Female 54 Kendal, Westmorland, England Woollen Wea
Mary BIRKET Mother W Female 100 Kendal, Westmorland, England W Of A Soldier
Mary E. HILLBECK Niece Female 14 Kendal, Westmorland, England Woollen Winder

Jo

Songs of Love and Death

2010-01-14T14:38:00.000Z

I just picked up on George RR Martin's blog that the collection Songs of Love and Death, edited by him and Gardner Dozois, is off to the publisher, Pocket Books.

This was a very interesting project for me, as I love cross genre work. I was asked to keep it a bit closer to my main writing form, historical romance, so it's an 18th century love story, but not connected to the Mallorens, and taking place a little earlier. The working title was Star Crossed Lovers, and the new one feels a bit ominous. Have no fear. The Marrying Maid has a happy, triumphant ending.

Believe it or not, the picture has some relevance to my Georgian story.

I'm in very interesting company.

Jim Butcher "Love Hurts"
Jo Beverly "The Marrying Maid"
Carrie Vaughn "Rooftops"
M.L.N. Hanover "Hurt Me"
Cecelia Holland "Demon Lover"
Melinda M. Snodgrass "The Wayfarer's Advice"
Robin Hobb "Blue Boots"
Neil Gaiman "The Thing About Cassandra"
Marjorie M. Liu "After the Blood"
Jacqueline Carey "You and You Alone"
Lisa Tuttle "His Wolf"
Linnea Sinclair "CourtingTrouble"
Mary Jo Putney "The Demon Dancer"
Tanith Lee "Under/Above the Water"
Peter S. Beagle "Kashkia"
Yasmine Galenorn "Man in the Mirror"
Diana Gabaldon "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows"

Not sure when it will be out, but sign up for my newslettter list on googlegroups and you'll always know the latest.

There's an easy sign-up box here.

Chalice of Roses is out now, and soon, the reissue of The Stanforth Secrets will be out.

Jo

Chalice of Roses is out

2010-01-06T12:17:00.000Z

Chalice of Roses is officially out today in the US. It's available for the Kindle, though I'm not sure about other electronic readers.

Readers outside of the US and Canada can easily get it through The Book Depository, which ships books free anywhere.

I've put up some pictures of Glastonbury that are connected to my story.

This collection was put together by the same four authors who brought you Faery Magic and Dragon Lovers -- me, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, and Karen Harbaugh, and all the stories riff off the Grail mythology. Romantic Times has made it a top pick, Publishers Weekly loves it, but I think this Library Journal review describes it beautifully.

"Based on legends surrounding the mystical Holy Grail, this quartet sweeps readers across time periods with emotionally compelling, often lyrically written tales of courage, sacrifice, love—and roses. A young woman of ancient lineage is destined to bring peace to 12th-century England when she finds her protector, and together they call forth the chalice in Beverley's "The Raven and the Rose"; a Guardian must use her powers to keep the Grail safe during World War II in Mary Jo Putney's "The White Rose of Scotland"; a debutante is charged with keeping the Grail out of Napoleon's grasp in Karen Harbaugh's charming "The English Rose: Miss Templar and the Holy Grail"; and an American grad student studying in England becomes involved in a strange fey tale involving the Grail in Barbara Samuel's "Eternal Rose." VERDICT: This beautifully crafted anthology by some of the genre's best is graced with flawless writing, touches of humor, and magical, creative plots."

My story is set against the Anarchy, when the long running struggle for the crown between Queen Matilda and King Stephen tore England apart. The Holy Grail is supposed to bring peace, so why has the Anarchy lasted so long? The answer to that is revealed when Sister Gladys of Rosewell nunnery near Glastonbury is summoned to her destiny -- to find the Grail and the man who will be her partner in summoning its powers.

If you haven't already done so, you can read the beginning here.

I hope these stories will be a lovely start to 2010

Jo

Space dust-bunnies!

2009-12-27T23:33:00.000Z

Fascinating article about the Voyager missions, which have kept on going now for 32 years! Let's hear it for old technology.

And they've found the dust bunnies of space! Well, not really, but when I read "Astronomers call the cloud we’re running into now the Local Interstellar Cloud or “Local Fluff” for short" it just came to mind.

They're out there. Surrounding us. Keeping us in. Or guarding us from something else?*G*

If you want to read the real stuff, it's here, and it's interesting. What I could understand of it.

And if you like the look of the bunny, you can buy one here.

Or is it a fanged rabbit of Hesse....

Jo :)

Best historical drama on TV

2009-12-18T10:23:00.000Z

My Word Wenches blog today is about good historical drama on TV, from any time. Possible last minute Christmas presents?

Come along and share your favourites.

I'm giving away a couple of copies of Chalice of Roses. I've just received my author copies, and it does look lovely.

For those of you in the UK, I hope the snow's not making life too difficult. I gather it's given a lot of school kids an early start to the Christmas hols.

And that the cold in the north east of N America isn't too miserable.

We just got an inch or so of snow, but that's probably because the gale force northerlies blew it up onto t'moors! Horizontal hail at one point. Interesting.

Jo :)

Finalists for the UK Romantic Novel of the Year

2009-12-14T12:53:00.000Z

The "long list" of finalists for the UK Romantic Novelists Association's Romantic Novel of the Year award is out. Congratulations to all!

Use the above link to visit the RNA site and learn more about everything it does.

If you're not from the UK and would like to read some of these books, the easiest way might be to order a copy from The Book Depository, which is a UK company that ships free around the world.

Jo

The Very Thought of You	Rosie Alison	Alma Books
Passion	Louise Bagshawe	Headline Review
Beachcombing	Maggie Dana	Pan Macmillan
Fairytale of New York	Miranda Dickinson	Avon (Harper Collins)
Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts	Lucy Dillon	Hodder & Stoughton
A Single to Rome	Sarah Duncan	Headline Review
A Mother's Hope	Katie Flynn	Arrow (Random Hse)
A Glimpse at Happiness	Jean Fullerton	Orion
10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love	Linda Green	Headline Review
Marriage and Other Games	Veronica Henry	Orion
The Glass Painter's Daughter	Rachel Hore	Simon & Schuster
It's the Little Things	Erica James	Orion
I Heart New York	Lindsey Kelk	Harper
The Heart of the Night	Judith Lennox	Headline Review
The Italian Matchmaker	Santa Montefiore	Hodder & Stoughton
The Summer House	Mary Nichols	Allison & Busby
One Thing Led to Another	Katy Regan	Harper
The Last Song	Nicholas Sparks	Little Brown (Sphere)
Last Christmas	Julia Williams	Avon (Harper Collins)
The Hidden Dance	Susan Wooldridge	Allison & Busby

The men of Leeds

2009-11-17T23:48:00.000Z

The final stop on the tour was the Yorkshire city of Leeds, which is a great shopping centre. Also busy and it's hard to find parking, but we made it to the Borders store there. There were two new men in regimentals there, and I think the one on the right here, Richard Massara, is my pick for a Jo Beverley hero of the darker type.

He has the lean look, but he was also doing a great job of acting the part. As you'll see from the link above, he is an actor.

The other soldier was a fine specimen, however, and suitable for some of my more trusty and stalwart heroes. Con Somerford, for example, from Dragon's Bride? I'd have uploaded more images if Blogger hadn't got in a twist.

I'll get a greater selection in my photo site soon.

I hope you've enjoyed these fine gentlemen.

Jo

More touring fun

2009-11-15T22:45:00.001Z

This is the charming Whitby Book Shop, in a very old building in the oldest part of Whitby.

Right next door is a very old inn. I do like inns. I also like inn names. This one is the White Horse and Griffin.

Of course I was in the Whitby Book Shop for a signing, complete with handsome heroes. One had also been along for Stockton and Newcastle, but another was new.

Apologies that I keep forgetting names! But they wanted some pictures against a period setting -- the old market hall. Excellent choice, gentlemen!

From Whitby, we went on to my home town of Morecambe, and did signings there and in Blackpool, where I went to school.

Then we went on to Leeds, where one of the men was my first choice for a Jo Beverley hero! I'll share his pic tomorrow. This pic is from Scarborough, where the Morrison's had a strange current of air near where I was signing. I think I'm about to take off! Good job I was wearing a heavy skirt, isn't it?

And yes, I did choose the red velvet jacket and brown top boots to go with the men's uniforms. :)

Best,

Jo

More men

2009-11-12T09:59:00.000Z

Just a quick blog to post a picture of the handsome gentlemen from Newcastle and Stockton. I get to hang out with the younger one, Lewis, in Whitby this afternoon!

Off to Scarborough now.

Jo

Wales

2009-11-09T20:46:00.000Z

My UK publisher, Everlyn Books, is based near Cardiff, so we shot over into Wales for a signing there. We didn't have time to explore the history of the place, but I did have Mr. Wales (blond) along to wear one of the uniforms, and a charming local lad (dark haired) as well.

The photographer had us trying for a kiss on each cheek, and we were breaking up, especially given the wind and occasional rain.

But here's a more straightforward picture inside.

.

And another of the lovely display in the store.

I wonder what handsome gentlemen will be recruited in the North East and the North West!

I hope no one's forgotten that my very first book, Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed is out again now. It's been very hard to find for a long time.

And if you've missed the recent rakes trilogy, set in my Malloren World, they're still available, and the last, The Secret Duke, will be out in April.

Jo

Winchester onward!

2009-11-08T21:32:00.000Z

We had a lot of traveling as well as events, so I've fallen behind here. I'm back home now, which at least means I have my desk top computer, which I prefer.

Here's the Wyckham Inn in Winchester, which is an old 18th century one, and has preserved a lot of the original features, such as the coaching yard, in this case approached by a narrow lane, and now used for modern coaches -- cars. The stables and coach houses are thus put to other uses, and prettied up, but you can still see the basics of the back of the inn.

We also had the opportunity to explore Winchester a little. It is a very historic town.

The next day we headed, like the characters in the book, for Maidenhead, via East Green. I think the village now called Bentley might once have been East Green. In any case, it has two period inns, though one is now offices.

We did find a place that just might be a stand-in for Rothgar Abbey -- if the Abbey had burned down in the 19th century and been rebuilt, as happened to Elvetham Hall. It is certainly grand and elegant with stunning grounds. One day we'll visit.

It's now a luxury hotel, and I took the image from their web site

Then we went on to Maidenhead. The Saracen's Head, where the characters stayed, has gone, but the Bear is mentioned, and here it is. You can see the old arch into the coaching yard on the right.

We had a delightful lunch there with some fans.

Next week we visit various places in the north -- Stockton, Newcastle, Scarborough, Whitby, Blackpool, Morecambe, and Leeds.

You can check out the itinerary and other details at my UK publisher's site.

Lady Notorious is now available at good bookstores throughout the UK. If they've sold out, they can order you a copy at no extra charge.

Cheers,

Jo

With dashing young men in Southampton

2009-11-05T23:11:00.000Z

Here I am with the two handsome heroes who were promoting my signing in Southampton.

Southampton is a large coastal city and port on the Southern coast. Lady Notorious doesn't specifically mention it, but the characters do swing south to avoid pursuit, which would have brought them close to Southampton. We certainly had a fun signing there at the Waterstones.

My publisher had the clever idea of running a hero contest and of the entrants picked two to dress in regimentals (military uniform) of the sort Cyn would wear when he put on his uniform. Passersby

were invited to vote for A or B, which brought customers into the store and many bought a book. It was all great fun.

There was also a lovely display put together by the publisher. I'll upload more pictures to this blog tomorrow because my connection's slow and I'm tired.

It didn't go quite so well in Winchester as it was quiet. We suspect Bonfire Night had something to do with it. People were eager to get home and join in the festivities.

Now we're at the lovely old inn the Wyckham Arms, and tomorrow it'll be Maidenhead, where the chase ends -- except that they then have to seek Rothgar's help at Rothgar Abbey, so we'll be off to the Farnham area, where we've found a pretty good candidate.

More tomorrow,

In Shaftesbury with Cyn and Chastity

2009-11-04T23:37:00.000Z

On Monday I traveled down to London on the train -- and I love being able to do that!

On Tuesday, I did a bunch of radio interviews for stations around the country. OVerall it was fun, and the interviewers were great, and anyway, I enjoy talking about my books.

Then we traveled down to Shaftesbury. (The above scene is over beautiful countryside from Shaftesbury.) We would have stayed at the Crown, mentioned in Lady Notorious, but it's closed. In any case the building there now is Victorian. Alas even in the past they tore down the old to put up the new, improved version. Perhaps I shouldn't say alas. Probably people appreciated higher ceilings, larger rooms, and safer staircases.

We stayed in a lovely places called La Fleur de Lys, which describes itself as "a restaurant with rooms." It's a n old house, and I was told it was once a small school., but I haven't researched the history.

Shaftesbury is a small town but it was a busy coaching town and many inns remain, some now shops or offices. The one shown on the left didn't seem to be used for much.

Cyn and Chastity visit Shaftesbury in Lady Notorious and buy various things, including women's clothing for Cyn to wear. Perhaps going down an alley like this one?

Then we drove the 15 miles or so to Salisbury, which still has wonderful old parts, but is much more a modern city. And it rained on us. Not Salisbury's fault, but we couldn't hunt down the bits most relevant to Lady Notorious.

However, we had a lovely reading and book launch at the Black Horse, where the travelers stayed. (It once was much larger, expanding three times as far to the right.) But only for a while, because they spot one of the villains and rushed onward, as we will do tomorrow, to Winchester.

This is the room where we help the intimate event. It is typically Georgian in being small. We were delighted that Mrs. Bobbie Chettleburgh, Madam Mayor of Salisbury attended and contributed her deep knowledge of Salisbury's history.

Tomorrow, Southampton and Winchester.

Having fun,

2009-10-29T09:53:00.000Z

I've just put some photos of Whitby on line. It can be very photogenic!
http://photosjo.shutterfly.com/

The UK book tour is coming up, so if you're in the UK, check out my itinerary.
http://www.jobev.com/appear.html

Cheers,

Jo

Quebec city and beyond

2009-08-26T02:31:00.000+01:00

It's been a while because we spent two weeks in Ottawa, not doing much that was picture or even comment worthy, then we moved on to friends in Montreal and finally set out on our travels proper again, heading to Quebec City.

This is a famously old Canadian city, and the heart of French Canadian culture. We stayed at the Loew's Hotel,
which is by the Plains of Abraham of battle fame (Montcalm and Wolfe. Wolfe (British) won.) It was a pleasant walk down through the gates and towers of the old defences to the old town.

There truly is a French French feel about this bit of Canada and we enjoyed a pleasant meal in the evening at an outdoor cafe beneath the trees. Here's a picture of it by daylight.

This morning, we came across a demolition of what I assume was a convent. Some of the women watching were crying and you can see traces of past glories, but it seemed as if it had stood empty a while.

They'd removed some parts for preservation, including this roof or cuppola. It looks a little like a strange UFO that's crash landed!

We left to drive toward the sea. Here's another road. They don't change much, do they?

Now we're in Grand Falls, New Brunswick in a motel by the river. Tomorrow we'll take the walk around the gorge. I love the energy of rapid water.

There'll be a blog up soon at Word Wenches in which I interview the wonderful historical novelist, Elizabeth Chadwick.

Onward!

Jo

World Con

2009-08-08T16:47:00.001+01:00

I've missed a few days, what with arriving, dealing with things, and shooting off to World Con, but it's proving a great change of pace. I've done a few panels, but mostly I've been going to them and connecting with old friends.

The above is one of the fantasy costumes on display.

Best,

Jo

end of first stage -- in Ottawa

2009-08-06T02:14:00.000+01:00

So we've pushed on and arrived in Ottawa. Later tomorrow we'll be off to World Con in Montreal.

Today was not dissimilar to previous days -- that's driving across Canada for you! -- but there's always Sudbury with its huge stacks.

And slag.

But a bit later we find scenic views

And pretty cottage towns.

As we got into the Ottawa valley things smoothed out and there were farms and such.

Jo :)

Sault Ste Marie

2009-08-05T02:56:00.000+01:00

Or the Soo,as it's called. (It's pronounced soo sainte marie)

We're in the Knight's Motel, which is basic, but cheap, and the only place I could find on the internet that's a true motel -- ie units with parking outside. I think places should be clear in the names and if all the rooms are internal, call them hotels. This place is fine, and very friendly. I like it. Took a short walk to restock on wine, cheese, and salad and all is well with the world. The walk was particularly welcome after a day sitting. :)

I didn't post yesterday because I was tired, and I didn't have great pics because it rained just about all the way. It was empty road like this, with rain splatters on the windscreen!

Today was a pretty drive down the shores of Lake Superior, so here are some scenic shots. Clouds. I like clouds. And trees. There are so very many, many, many trees.

Here's a roadside of trees. Multiply by about 500 kilometers.

A glipmse of lake.

A pretty river scene where we stopped for a quick lunch. Many mosquitoes. Bit of a problem that. Most of those trees are in or around swamp. Mosquitoes and blackfly.

Eastward!

Jo

Winnipeg

2009-08-03T02:06:00.000+01:00

We meant to make Kenora, but somehow here we are in Winnipeg with a long day's driving tomorrow. The picture above shows most of what we saw today. I didn't try very hard to take scenic pictures.

Today was pretty much more of that wide open spaces until we began to see trees in Manitoba.

The above picture is from yesterday. I missed a field full of oil thingies. (Are they rockers?) so had to content myself with a solitary one.

The Trans Can is a strange road, often empty, which is probably why there are so few amenities along it, but there did seem to be a lot of missed opportunities in small communities. There were plenty of places where we'd have stopped for a coffee, a snack, an ice cream or a meal, but... nothing.

Then there's the shortage of motel rooms. Last night we had trouble in Regina. Today we got the last room in a Travelodge on the eastern side of Winnipeg. i even asked in a Safeway where I bought some food. Everyone was very friendly, but they agreed that there were only two places nearby. The motels were on the west side. Or near the university. Where's the sense in that?

But here we are and all is well.

Heres me, working with a bit of wine to help.

And a still life, with fine cognac being drunk out of a plastic glass. Helas!

If the odd HTML turns up in this blog, put it down to the wine and brandy.

Jo :)

Strathmore to Regina

2009-08-02T03:47:00.000+01:00

Flatland is us! I could post many pictures of a similar nature. About 8 hours of it. Canada is huge, but a lot of it is "empty." I know there are people who call the open spaces home and farm them, too, but they are very flat and lacking interesting variety.

Mind you, coming across what seems to be a small ice field in the middle of Saskatchewan in August is a surprise. Turns out, it's salt. Check out Chaplin here.

I would note: "Chaplin consists of eight streets, two crescents, and four avenues (including the avenue on the 'other side of the (train) tracks'). At the 2001 census, it had a population of 292." This is a long way from anywhere else.

We we're sure what this desolation of Smaug was, but we think it was doing something to minerals for the road improvements, for which we were duly grateful.

This is the iconic picture of the prarie grain elevator.

And this is the moose in Moose Jaw. A little voice was telling me we should stay in Moose Jaw, and it felt like a nice place, but we couldn't see a motel by the highway. Mind you, we missed something called, I think, the Prairie Oasis because it wasn't obvious in the accomodation listings. I noticed later that it calls itself a resort.

Note to Prairie Oasis, please duplicate your listing under motel. We'd rather be there than in Regina, where we had to check a number of places before finding a room.

But here we are, with the traveling deities looking suitably zonked. Tomorrow, eastward to Kenora!

Jo :)

Reached Strathmore

2009-08-01T03:13:00.000+01:00

We're in a Super 8 motel in Strathmore Alberta, having failed to find a reasonable place to stay by the Trans Can in Calgary, which is a bit surprising.

Most of the day was spent going through the Columbia or Monashee Mountains and then the Rockies, which are magnificent, but to be honest it begins to be, oh, more humungous mountains. I'm a geographical philistine!

We passed over into Alberta before the Rockies, and eventually headed down into Calgary and more or less flatland. The plan was to stop on the far side of Calgary, but nothing suitable came to view. We want motel type places to stay because we have a lot of stuff in the car.So here we are in Strathmore, a small town of 11,000 people, where they're having their Horticultural and Creative Arts Show. I wish we could stay. They're having jousting and draft horse exhibitions tomorrow, and tonight, if we hadn't both drunk too much wine, we'd have gone to the pig races.Not to mention the ever-popular pasture bingo!

Eastward ho!

Jo

On the road

2009-07-31T05:46:00.000+01:00

After some hellish days of record temperatures and movers who'd overcommitted their time, we're finally on the road and things went well today. We were intending to catch the 11 am ferry off Vancouver Island, we woke up early and packed the car. Glanced at the clock and decided not to have breakfast and have a try at the 9 am. Raced up the highway and were one of the last on. :)

Went to the Pacific Buffet for breakfast and stayed there, looking at the passing seascape and, in my case, working at tidying up The Secret Duke. Headed out and made it to Kamloops without too much trouble, grateful to have air conditioning in the car! Now in a room at the Country View Motor Inn, which is very nice. Large room, good air conditioning (do we see a theme here?) fridge, microwave and free wi-fi. Friendly people, too. Recommended.

Stopped in Hope at the Blue Moose Cafe, which we discovered on our last trip this way. Also excellent.

Truly, though, it would have been nice not to have record heat wave right now.

Tomorrow, Calgary area.

I'm going to try to attach some photos, but I like to take my photos at high res and cut them down. This is easy with my regular photo edit program, the excellent XN View. However, I am on my Mac Air, and despite the Apple claim of user friendly, I cannot find an easy one-click way to reduce the pixel size of an image. Mind you, I can't find an easy way of deleting an image in IPhoto. If anyone knows these things, please e-mail jo@jobev.com.

Onward!

Jo :)

The move begins

2009-07-26T16:19:00.000+01:00

In the next while, I'm going to try to blog here about our return to England. It'll be slow because first we're driving across Canada in one last long hurrah, stopping off at various places, including Word Con in Montreal in early August. If anyone reading this is there, try to find me and say hello!

Some of our stuff is packed today, and it'll be finished on Monday, which means I lose the 486 for a few months! (My old DOS computer on which I write.) The biggest loss.

I think we get to take the Christmas tree, though. That's an old and really, really a beat up tree, and it's in a huge box, so we'd marked it "last on the van."

But for one thing, the packers thought we'd have no trouble getting everything in, but we realized we could put the branches in the two filing cabinets.Nice and light, but take up a lot of space.

Let's hear it for Christmas traditions!

I was thinking it'd be fun to print out pictures of the tree through the years -- the first has #1 son at almost one year reaching for something --and putting them up as a Christmas tradition.

As I haven't sold my Perfect Chair and they think it'll fit, they'll dismantle it and I'll take it. Funnily enough I clicked on an article about an English author and it showed his Perfect Chair saying they were the latest rage due to numerous articles about them. If I don't want it, perhaps I can sell it at a good price! They're $2000 and up.

And another Whitby endorsement. One of the packers is from nearby Middlesborough and her eyes lit up. Oh, Whitby! If I ever went back, I'd go to Whitby.

At the conference I met an American who went to school in Scarborough and raved about Whitby. I should start actually listing all these encounters. I truly can't remember much mention of Whitby until about 4 months ago when we said, "if not Devon, where?" Swept up in an elemental force here!

Did I point you to the Whitby webcam?
That's looking inland. The next is looking toward the sea with the 9th century monastery (ruins of) on the right. You can check back and watch the wharf through the day.

Like most of these old towns, it's along the river rather than the shore, for protection from rough weather. It is a working fishing port, which is probably why it's so famous for its fish and chips. Fish fresh off the boat,

Jo.

The big move

2009-07-24T15:29:00.000+01:00

It gets underway this weekend. We're packed on Saturday and Monday. Mind you, I think they've overestimated the packing time, but we'll see. Tuesday the stuff goes into the container and on the road. So I'm going to try to begin my journey blog here.

For now, check out our destination on this webcam of Whitby.

Check out the sunrise and sunset pictures, too. It's supposed to be a rare spot where you can see both. Here's one, but they have a whole sequence.

I'll try to post a snippet and pictures every day -- internet connections willing!

Jo

Ads and videos

2009-07-12T00:09:00.000+01:00

Check out my friend Mary Jo Putney's video for her current book, Loving a Lost Lord.

I'm not always that keen on such videos, but I think this one is just right.

Any opinion on promo videos?

I thought I'd tack on a print ad I did ages ago for my book An Unwilling Bride. I'm not sure if the text will be readable, but it's sort of cute.

Jo

Hilarious -- and scary -- vintage ads

2009-07-08T16:43:00.000+01:00

Click here.

Here's a nice ad to compensate.

Jo
PS, I tweet occasionally, if you're following things at Twitter.

Best/worst covers

2009-06-29T01:02:00.001+01:00

The Cover Cafe contest results are up. Always interesting to see what readers pick.

Jo

Flying into the Mist

2009-06-27T23:25:00.000+01:00

Pictures are here simply because I like them. This one's of Whitby, where we're probably going to live.

A while back I coined the term "flying into the mist" (at least, I think I did) for the style of writing where the author doesn't pre-plot the books. That's pretty well the only way I've been able to work. I came up with reasons why it works for me and gave a talk at the RWA conference, and it seems to have helped a lot of people because sometimes authors giving "how-to" talks talks will imply that not pre-plotting a book is lazy, inefficient, and even stupid,

Hey folks, there are no rules. No rules!

And there's no stupid way to work that ends up with a good book.

There are people who still write longhand. That has to be inefficient in one sense, but no one seems to berate them for laziness or stupidity.

But the purpose of this blog is to share a new insight into why I it works for me to write this way.

Strangely, I have a synopsis for The Secret Duke. When I sent in the first couple of chapters to my editor, I expected to include my usual excuse for a synopsis that paints the major goals and problems but is very thin on details, because I simple don't know. However, this time a storyline poured out.

It almost scared me because I'm definitely of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school, plus the one time I came up with a complete synopsis for a book, thinking it would make writing it easier, it strangled my creative flow. But perhaps my muse was being kind, knowing I have a lot in hand this year, what with moving country etc. (Moving day one month tomorrow. Ackkkk!)

(That's an 18th century dress, by the way, of the sack of saque style -- with the flowing panel down the back.)

And I've sort of followed it. Nuances have changed as have specific actions, but none of them have sent the book in a completely new direction. That's my problem. Usually, when one thing changes, everything changes.

However, Bella, my heroine has a particular, driving goal and I had no idea how she was going to achieve it. I skipped over that in the synopsis. I worried about it a bit. What if I got to that point and still couldn't come up with a way?

As I came to the brink of the moment, Thorn and Bella came up with a plan that IMO works brilliantly. And that was when I got the ah-ha moment.

If I'd come up with that at the beginning, it would have been my solution. By waiting until then, it was theirs. And that dynamic is true throughout the book. I need the characters to come up with their own actions and decisions, but especially about the major moments.

Happy summer!

Jo

Amazing marionettes.

2009-06-07T17:08:00.000+01:00

This is a video of one of the amazing huge marionettes created and operated by company Royal de Luxe. I love that people take the time to create something so splendid and that gives wonder and joy to so many.

Giant Marionettes

There are still photos of a new one here.

May you enjoy many wonders,

Jo :)

Need a laugh today?

2009-06-03T00:38:00.001+01:00

Truly funny You Tube video. Clever, too.

Enjoy,

Jo

Get out in the sun.

2009-06-01T20:47:00.000+01:00

Though perhaps not exposing quite this much!

"A study from the University of Warwick in England shows that more time in the sun can help older people avoid diabetes and heart attacks (Diabetes Care, July 2009). They evaluated 3,262 people aged 50-70 years old in Beijing and Shanghai, China, and found that 94 percent were low in vitamin D and 42 percent of those had metabolic syndrome: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL and high blood sugar levels. This is consistent with world- wide studies that show that as people age their skin atrophies, reducing their ability to make vitamin D from sunlight. Seniors also usually exercise less so they do not go outside as often. Since they are more susceptible to cold, they usually wear more clothing when they do go outside. Inadequate vitamin D increases risk for heart attacks, strokes, certain cancers, arthritis, auto-immune diseases and many other health problems."
Read the whole article here.

BTW, I'm blogging today and tomorrow at Word Wenches about kittens, and you have a chance to name a kitten in my book.

Jo

Gardening

2009-05-31T22:12:00.000+01:00

I'm in an apartment without much scope for gardening, but I'm doing what I can with pots.

Meanwhile, I'm working away at The Secret Duke. I'll be blogging about it a bit tomorrow and the next day at Word Wenches. That's June 1st and 2nd.

Jo :)

In case you're writing a spy novel....

2009-05-13T16:26:00.001+01:00

Interesting article or real life spy gadgets, for anyone writing such books.
Click here

Book on the left contains a reissue of my medieval novella, The Wise Virgin. A good one, if I do say so myself!

And if you've missed any of my Word Wenches blogs, they're collected there.

Jo

Romance symposium

2009-05-03T18:13:00.000+01:00

Great article about the Princeton symposium.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-rendell/heaving-bosoms-a-tonic-fo_b_194042.html

And TSW's selling brilliantly. Today's it's second week on the in-print NYT bestseller list! :)

Picture just for the heck of it. An old and solitary tree in Devon.

Cheers,

Jo

The Secret Wedding, #14 NYT!

2009-04-15T22:44:00.000+01:00

I just heard that The Secret Wedding made the NYT. #14. Same as the first appearance of A Lady's Secret.

Whoopeeeeeeee! And thanks to everyone who's bought it.

Jo :D

Stop goofing off and write the book!

2009-04-14T15:12:00.000+01:00

Interesting article about readers' demands of authors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/apr/09/novels-readers-writers

Now, no one out there would be like that to me, would they?

Should I feel guilty about my recent holiday? That's Dawlish in Devon.

There's more about my recent trip to England on a recent Word Wench's blog here.

And The Secret Wedding is flying off the shelves now.

Enjoy!

Jo :)

Inspiration

2009-02-14T04:09:00.000Z

A great talk for all creative people by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love.
Click here.

I call mine the muse, BTW, and sometimes she mugs me. Perhaps I should rephrase that to something less violent? Sometimes she sends me a glorious gift.

The picture's because beautiful nature is another kind of gift.

Jo :)

From Britain -- sexiest man

2009-02-06T16:38:00.001Z

This is a press release from the Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. I'm a member.

Romantic Novelists vote Richard Armitage Sexiest Thing On Two Legs

British actor Richard Armitage has leapt from last year’s 4th place to this year topping the ratings in the Romantic Novelists’ Association 2009 Valentine’s poll, to take the title of Sexiest Thing on Two Legs, beating top Hollywood stars to the number one spot.

Johnny Depp, who topped last year’s poll was pushed firmly into second place, with Hugh Jackman and George Clooney mere also-rans. “Richard Armitage took 20% of the vote, more than double the count of any other male on the list,” said the RNA pollster. “He was a clear winner from the off.”

The RNA is not alone in admiration of the actor, as numerous online Richard Armitage fan sites will testify. The ardency began with North and South, grew by leaps and bounds with the leather-clad baddie in Robin Hood, and shows no sign of diminishing as Spooks takes to the airwaves.

‘It’s a coup for Britain,’ said one starstruck writer, ‘not just for sexy Richard.’

According to romantic novelists, the sexiest male celebrities of 2009 are:
1 Richard Armitage
2 Johnny Depp
3 Hugh Jackman
4 George Clooney
5 Daniel Craig
6 Sean Bean
7 Alan Rickman
8 David Tennant
9 Pierce Brosnan
10 Gerard Butler

So if you're from North America, you may be wondering who is Richard Armitage. And why are we being deprived? You may have seen him if you watch some British TV. I think the only place I've seen him is in The Vicar of Dibley (excellent program) where he ended up as her man. Here's one picture of him from this site.

Now it seems to me that he's my hero type. Which hero, though? What hero of mine would you pick to be played by Richard Armitage? If you want to study the matter at length, there are many more pictures on the above site.

Jo

What I'm writing

2009-01-30T19:47:00.000Z

I just sent off the proposal for the next book, tentatively titled The Secret Duke. It's a bit of a nonsensical title in some ways, but I like it and I feel it captures the spirit of the book as Thorn is often in his persona as Captain Rose of the Black Swan. (You met the Duke of Ithorne in A Lady's Secret, and he appears again in The Secret Wedding.)

I even came up with a coherent synopsis, which I can't always do, and with luck it will carry the story through to Christmas 1764 and get people together at Rothgar Abbey when Bey and Diana's baby is due.

Yes, I know Bey said in Winter Fire that the next year they would Christmas in Yorkshire, but he can't be away from the south for long periods of time and they can't zoom around England in winter when she's in her ninth month.

I'll be putting up the beginning of The Secret Wedding soon on my website .

It's always strange and a bit disorienting to be writing one book as the previous one comes out. I get tangled as to which I'm talking about.

Now to write my Grail novella. BTW, the title of the collection will be A Chalice of Roses, and it's the Faery and Dragon four again. My story? A nun has to find a wed a mythical knight in order to reveal the Grail and bring peace to England.

Jo :)
The peach? Just a cheerful thought of summer.

New cover!

2009-01-22T18:41:00.001Z

I've just seen the cover for the new edition of my first book and I'm thrilled to bits. Here it is.

Compare it to the first paperback cover, 15 years or so ago. I call the hero "Igor"! Here's to progress!

Clearly we're sticking with the style of cover that proved so successful with the two-in-one edition that came out last year, Lovers and Ladies.

I hope you like the new cover as much as I do. The book will be out in October.

Jo :)
PS, sorry if my reloading causes any problems. Blogger's preview doesn't show what will really appear.

More snow

2008-12-22T17:53:00.000Z

Here's Charlie the Christmas Elf. He normally doesn't transform until Christmas Eve, but I thought perhaps with extra Christmas powers he might be able to moderate this awful weather we're having. It's merely inconveniencing us, but I fear many people are having a lot of trouble. Flights out of here seem to be chaotic, and connection in Toronto also. Driving is awful.

It is pretty, I grant. I took another picture after last night's snow.

But enough already!

I hope your Christmas plans are going smoothly,

Best wishes,

Jo

Winter Fire and presepe

2008-12-21T17:40:00.000Z

Talking of Christmas books, and Winter Fire in particular, here's a picture of an amazing nativity scene (as in the presepe in Winter Fire) made entirely of sand in Italy.

It's from this site.

There's also a video shot of it here

And here's the scene outside my window. Such snow isn't normal here in Victoria, nor is the deep cold we've had recently! At least it's milder outside today.

Happy Christmastide!
(Speaking of which, I'll be blogging about that on Christmas Eve at Word Wenches

Jo

Bouncing back and Christmas

2008-12-17T18:46:00.000Z

I came, I saw, I went. Simply the pressure of the next book, which with one thing or another lingered until now. But I've just sent back the copyedits and I think I'm free for a while! That's The Secret Wedding, BTW.

People are writing to say that some of my fiction is a traditional Christmas reread for them, so I thought I'd list them.

Novels.

Christmas Angel

Forbidden Magic

Winter Fire

A Most Unsuitable Man.

Novellas
Twelfth Night in A Christmas Delight and Five Golden Rings. Hard to find.
The Wise Virgin. That was in Christmas Brides but it's just been reissued in A Bride For Christmas along with stories by Candace Camp and Heather Graham.
isbn 978-0-373-77343-5
A Mummer's Play in one of Signet's Regency collections. Again, hard to find.

I think that's it, though the mass market paperback of Dragon Lovers is out now, too. There are more details on my web page

Happy holidays,

Jo :)

Back in circulation

2008-11-17T23:45:00.000Z

Life has been extremely hectic in the later part of this year, but I'm blinking and returning to the wider world after having completed the next book, The Secret Wedding. You'll see I've changed the picture to that cover. Isn't it great?

It's Christian's story, of course, and I'll be talking more about it in coming months here and in my e-newsletter. You can sign up for the latter on my web page.
I played with a picture of Christian Bale a little to take out details. I think he could be one of my heroes, though I'm not sure which. Bryght Malloren? Darien? Not my Christian, anyway, who's blond and a different type. This Christian looks a bit morose there, of course -- or even baleful! That wasn't my doing!

More later,

Jo

Sydney

2008-09-06T22:25:00.000+01:00

Sydney

Might as well start with the iconic picture, taken not far from our B&B

Because of the long delay leaving Uluru, we arrived in Sydney after dark, and as it happened, in the pouring rain. And it rained the next day. It seems they need the rain, but it didn't suit us, of course, especially not when it was cold with it. It is barely out of winter (apparently they declare the end of winter to be September 1st) but still, we've done so well with the weather in places like Melbourne and Tasmania that it was a downer. I suppose the other way of looking at it is that we've been really lucky with our weather everywhere else.

It has limited out explorations, however. (Though I wish I'd taken a pic of the harbour in the rain just to be different.)

We walked (slogged and splashed) around this part of Sydney, called The Rocks, which was the area of first European settlement here. It started as a tent city, but then became a warren of pubs, houses, and seafaring business. By the mid nineteenth century it was a disreputable slum and just into the 20th century it suffered an outbreak of bubonic plague. That finally got the authorities to clean it up a bit, demolishing many of the worst buildings. The B&B, however, is in one of the older remainders and was once a brothel. Perhaps that's why it feels a bit creepy and sad to me. I never thought I was sensitive to that sort of thing.

They're building a Youth Hostel next door and have exposed earlier foundations, so it looks more like an archeological site.

In fact, it is an archeological site, I discover. They've been "digging" there for about 20 years, and finding remains of some of Sydney's earliest buildings (that would be back to 1788) so the new hostel will be build on stilts above this site, and beneath will be a "world class archeological site" Very cool!
There's more about it here.

We went to the Musuem of Modern Art, which was pretty well what you'd expect. I have to confess to generally being unimpressed by the most modern of modern art such as installation art. There were a couple of cool items, though. One was a room slung with colourful hammocks and with loud pop music playing. The sign encouraged us to “interact with the hammocks” and I did find weaving in and out of them pleasant in some way.

Then there was a video montage called Revolution (2008.) This was snippets from movies put together into a loop that ran about 15 mins and depicting a violent revolution. It's hard to convey, but you'd see horrified faces -- something terrible is coming -- and charging mobs, and fleeing people then burning buildings and the aftermath. Virtually nothing bad happened on the screen -- it was mostly facial reactions -- but it was powerful.

This is the official description.
“Tracey Moffatt
Born 1960 in Brisbane, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney and Brisbane, Australia and New York City, USA

Gary Hillberg
Born 1982 in Perth, Australia
Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia

Working since the late 1980s as an experimental filmmaker and a producer of music videos, Tracey Moffatt has created photography, film and video that are concerned with power relations, hysteria, the media and forms of escape from stereotyped subjectivities. Moffatt has directed a series of filmic montages edited in collaboration with Gary Hillberg. For the Biennale, Moffatt and Hillberg present REVOLUTION (2008), a study of the stereotypes associated with revolution in movies. It explores constructions of those stereotypes, both by revelling in revolutions on the wide-screen and by portraying the presumed disastrous after-effects that cinema conveys. Excerpts from well-known films are juxtaposed with clips from B movies in a dynamic and highly crafted composition accompanied by a rhythmic and melodramatic soundtrack.
You can possibly view it here.

I then went off to try to find the Sydney Museum. Various people told me it was there and even marked it on a map, but I somehow managed not to find it. You'd think it'd be as unmissable as Uluru! There were very few people on the street in that area as it was mostly government office buildings and it was Saturday, but I asked a man involved in some sort of street work and he sent me one way. Then I asked in a convenience shop and they didn't know. Another person thought it was up another block.

Coming back, very wet, I popped into the tourist office. The woman there marked the same spot on the map. When I said I hadn't been able to find it she assured me huffily that it was indeed there. A big glass foyer with wooden poles. Ah well, it wasn't meant to be. I bought a bottle of wine and returned to the B&B. I sat in the common room, however, which didn't have the same dismal aura as our room.

Much of this area is old. I don't know the age of this terrace, but I think it'sl be early 19th century.

I was also intrigued by this roofline near the bridge, which incorporates a vaguely Spanish/Moorish tower, a northern European spire, and a front that reminds me of Holland and Belgium.

Home soon. It's been a grand adventure,

Jo

Uluru

2008-09-03T06:40:00.000+01:00

It might just be an odd sample, but I get the impression that non-Aboriginal Australians don't much like the term Uluru for Ayer's Rock. I've got that “let's not have any of that political correctness” look a number of times. Here the resort is “the Ayer's Rock Resort.”

In order to protect the national park, the resort is the only place to stay here. It's laid out around a circular road and includes 4 small hotels from 5 star down, a youth hostel and a campground -- all very expensive, as one would expect. We're in the hostel, but at the high end with a room and our own bathroom. The resort also includes a small shopping center with most things a person would need. It has to. It's a long way from here to anything. Alice Springs is an hour's flight away.

The Rock is a few kilometers away in a national park, and there's a $25 pass which lasts three days. If one has a car, one can drive out there, but otherwise, there are buses from basic to fully guided tours -- some including meals, helicopter rides, etc, and also camels. We've opted for a camel ride out into the dark desert to witness the sunrise. That meant an early start. The tour starts at 5:45. (I started writing this then, which is how it will read from here.)

Later we'll do a bus out to Kata Tjuta, (the Ogas), a collection of smaller rocks which many say are even more interesting.

Yesterday evening we went to the lookout in the center of the resort to see the sunset, but missed actually being up there in time. (Is there a pattern here?) The sky was spectacular, however, and of course apart from Uluru in one direction and Kata Tjuta in the other, there's nothing but fairly flat desert all around.

The camels awaiting us in the dark.

The camel trip to watch the sunrise was both unusual and delightful. Once I'd accepted that this wasn't a horse, and the only thing to do was sit there and sway, it was fine.

Our camel was Alice, and was the lead camel because of her calm nature. Sitting on top of her, I thought that a Very Good Thing. It's high up! I lucked out into the front seat on Alice, so had an uninterrupted view of the world in front of us as the rising sun lit the sky.

This is the basic scenery there.

Later, we took the bus to Uluru. Barbara decided to do the walk around the rock -- about 11 k. I was more cautious and decided to walk aways and turn back when I thought it a good idea. I can walk 11k, but I didn't fancy ending up on the far side of the rock feeling tired, because apart from emergency radio stations there's nothing there. I also chose to do the cultural center first because I was'nt sure if it was a 5 min. place or a 30 min one. I probably spent about 15 mins there.

Then I headed off on the Liru path, a c 1k walk to the rock. No big deal -- except I lost the path. I don't know how! I came to an open area with a shelter and seating (it gets extremely hot here in the summer) and I couldn't tell which open area on the other side was the path. It's desert dotted with scrubby plants and small trees. It all looked the same and no one else was around. So I headed toward the rock. It's not as if a person can truly get lost with a great, hulking rock the only landmark.

It soon became clear to me that I wasn't on any kind of official path, but it was still easy going with lots of flat, firm sand between the vegetation. I looked around for other humans and didn't see them, so I just kept going.

Scene of my solitary trek.

It was very peaceful, with no evidence of other people at all. I chose to see this as the rock's way. It had directed me to walk this way and approach it at its quiet side.

I realized this particularly when I finally arrived at the official starting point with the car park etc. That's also the place from which one can climb the rock up a steep path with a chain slung alongside. It's quite dangerous, and in fact was closed due to high winds. There are notices everywhere saying that the aboriginal people see it as disrespectful to climb the rock, but quite a lot of people turned up to do just that and were disappointed.

From the car park, most people walk left to a number of special features. I had joined the rock path about 2 kilometers to the right, however, and met only 3 other people as I walked left. Just me and the Rock.

Being weird again, I had the feeling that the Rock likes people to come to her. (Definitely her.) That she draws people to pick up their stories and hoard them, as a dragon hoards jewels and will share them if the time is right.

When I arrived at the car park I continued left and in shape and features it was more interesting, but there were more people and I didn't get the same feeling. On this side there are water pools and thus there's vegetation, which I hadn't expected. There were some pretty groves of trees which were full of birds. It had rained recently so the pools had water in them. I understand they were dry before.

Trees at Uluru.

Pool. This is hard to see because the reflection of the rock above is so pure.

With two trips we were both pretty tired, but I decided to do the trip to the Olgas (Kata Tjuta) which includes sunset on the Rock. KT was okay. Because it's a lot of smaller shapes, it's visually more interesting, but I didn't feel anything much special there.

Sunset, however, was marvelous. The Rock is red because of iron oxide and it catches the light in special, constantly changing ways, almost as if illuminated. Compare the picture at the top with this one I took a short while later.

By the time I got back, however, I was extremely tired. (5:45 start, remember) and by about 8:30 I'd crawled into bed for about 12 hours sleep.

Now we're waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to he airport for the flight to Cairns. It's been delayed 2 hours. (Later, flight delayed again, to 5pm and there's no way out of the resort until they match a shuttle bus with a flight. When I asked, the guy said, 'Well, if you have a car...."

But if I had a car, I wouldn't be taking a flight, would I????

Jo

Tasmania

2008-08-31T08:30:00.000+01:00

Tasmania is lovely. It's vaguely like a more fertile Scotland, perhaps, with rolling countryside, considerable forested hills and lots of farmland. It's also quite lightly populated, but people don't tend to immigrate here. It might be because it has a bit more winter, or because it has less commerce. Anyway, whatever the reason it feels quite harmonious and tranquil. I'm not surprised that it has a kind of “hippy” population, very obvious at the famoun Hobart Saturday market.

We visited a town called Richmond which really did feel idyllic. It also had a lot of small early 19th century buildings. I took this picture on the river there.

But on Friday we went to Port Arthur, which was the major penal colony here. It was mainly used for convicts from the mainland who had been difficult, because an island provided more security. Port Arthur itself is on an isthmus, and the neck was guarded by a line of ferocious dogs. Some tried to escape by sea, but few got far enough to truly escape.

We also visited a wildlife park where we saw the Tasmanian Devils.

They have a certain degree of cuteness, actually, but as they have ferocious jaws and suffer eating frenzy during which they will bite bits off each other, I wouldn't want to get close. Apparently the day before they'd eaten a pair of prescription glasses that had fallen into their pit.

Then we just wandered through a field of wallabies and kangaroos.

I also had some excellent battered fish. That's always iffy and I had a bad one in Melbourne made from shark. I asked the waiter what fish they used and when he said “flake” i thought he meant “minced” r something, but that's what they call shark here. It's not the greatest fish.

Hobart seems so much more of a fish place, however, with fishing boats in the harbour, and as we decided to eat at a restaurant there called Fish Frenzy, I thought I'd try again. They had something called trevally and, more expensive, blue eye trevally. I went for more expensive and it was splendid. Add perfect crisp batter and I was in heaven. Yay for blue eyed trevally.

Today, Saturday, we did museums while Barbara climbed a mountain. The Tasmanian Museum is excellent and has a fascinating special item of 3D photography. Someone has taken early 20th century stereoscopic slides and used modern technology to view them with sound so that it feels as if we're there, back in that world.

There's an attached art gallery and they are running an art contest. The absolute best in my opinion was a work by Lindsay Broughton which gave an extraordinary impression of real stone while creating something unreal. Hard to describe and there's nothing on line to illustrate it.

We're now in Melbourne, ready to fly to Uluru tomorrow. We've booked a tour to go out on camels to watch the sunrise.

In anticipation,

Jo

last days in Melbourne

2008-08-28T22:48:00.000+01:00

After packing and checking out of the Langham, we went off withStephanie Laurens to her house in the country about an hour outside of Melbourne. She and her husband have designed and built this home, which is elegant, beautiful and practical, and vaguely along the lines of a Roman villa. I gather it's going to be featured in a TV program, so you'll have to wait until then for more.

She took us around the countryside, which is quite English in appearance, but of course most of the trees are eucalypts -- and there are kangaroos. We came across a few in a field and stopped to snap pictures, then when we got back to the house for a cup of tea, Stephanie's mob -- that's the correct term for a group of 'roos, I gather -- were grazing not far from her living room window, including one with a joey.

Now we're in an apartment hotel in Melbourne for a few days.

The problem now? I think I've caught a cold. Rats!

Yes indeed, a cold. It made the event at Dymock's bookstore a bit embarrassing as I honked and snuffled my way through it. Still it was a great event with an enthusiastic group of readers and an interesting question and answer period.

One question, or comment really, was about how brave I'd been to have a hero addicted to opium (in To Rescue A Rogue, of course.) (Sorry that's s huge. I'm working on the fly here.) I pointed out that I'd caused all Dare's problems, first by killing him off at Waterloo in An Unwilling Bride. When I realized he wasn't really dead, I couldn't figure out why he'd been gone for so long. Only eventually did it come to me that he was addicted to opium and in the claws of the evil Therese from book one. A long and convoluted story, but I had to rescue him in the end.

The next day I went to the Immigration Museum, which was interesting, and wandered around the town a bit more, enjoying a lunch at one of the laneway cafes. One very attractive aspect of Melbourne is the many alleys between buildings that have been turned into laneways with shops, and especially cafes and restaurants with outside tables. It's very Continental and the food is usually excellent.

The coffee here is very good -- even at places like McDonald's -- but again, the Continental influence, it's all espresso based. There are times when I'd like a plain drip coffee with bit of cream.

We've now arrived in Tasmania and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon and evening in Hobart. The sun was surprisingly warm -- T-shirt weather -- but as soon as it went down we could feel the chill in the air. Our hotel is right on the harbour, and it's a working harbour not primarily recreational one. One of the local specialities seems to be “scallop pie.” That sounds a little strange, but I'll have to try it before we leave.

Cheers,

Jo

Melbourne

2008-08-25T12:36:00.000+01:00

I left off in HNL, waiting to board. Now I'm in Melbourne, enjoying the Romance Writers of Australia conference. The hotel is right by the river, and it seems to be a lovely, vibrant city with great architecture.

The ten hour flight from Honolulu to .Sydney was fine, in part because it was a daytime flight. Get up in the morning, go to airport, fly all day, take the short flight to Melbourne, go to bed. My mind can cope with that -- ignoring the shift in time and losing a day.

Ten hours isn't too bad and the special socks for air travel seem to have really helped. I normally do get restless legs and feet and had no trouble this time. I also had an aisle seat and could get up and move around whenever I wanted, service allowing. The food and drink was okay, and I watched two movies. I also worked, and the Mac Air held up throughout, so I probably got 4 plus hours from it, which is excellent. I'm finding the keyboard suits my fingers. My only complaint is the Mac system's refusal to go to full screen. Why is that?

I was particularly impressed with Qantas because on that on the fairly short flight from Sydney to Melbourne, they fed us, including wine! When was the last time that happened in North America? I'm also impressed that the conference tea break had cheese and biscuits instead of a sugar fix. Wonderful. Then there's the cafe we went to from breakfast this morning. Lovely eggs, toast made from real bread -- some sort of Italian, I think -- and wonderful coffee that I'd call cappuchino, but they didn't seem to. The names for coffee here are a bit confusing. Short white is espresso with milk, as with a latte. Short dark is straight espresso, but you can ask for milk, warm or cold. This is strong coffee!

The hotel room only has a kettle and tea, plus instant coffee, so I bought a cheap plastic Bodum and some ground coffee, which will be useful on our travels.

The conference has been great, and these people know how to have fun. They have a splendid costume party. Above is the lovely Barbara Samuel as one of her "girls in the basement" ie muses, and she seems to have captured Jack Sparrow!

Anyone remember the one year that RWA (American) invited people to wear costumes at the welcome reception? Lots of fun, but some people said it wasn't "professional." Hmmm, it seems to me that fun and creativity are the height of professionalism for fiction writers, especially genre writers.

Hope you're all having fun,

Jo

Hawaii 2

2008-08-22T12:52:00.000+01:00

Second part.

Reiki Ibuprofin, ice and heat etc has worked pretty well and had an unexpected benefit At the airport I decided to let a porter manhadle my suitcase, and was taken right through to the open besiness line, avaiding the economy checkin line. I've only used porters occasinally at arrival, so this was a nice surprise.

Here I am in Honolulu airport, waitng for the flight to Sydney. The airport seems quite new, clean etc -- and very lacking in facilities. I don't understand why airports skimp when they're full of bored people looking for ways to pass the time. Even power outlets are in short supply. I'm sitting in an odd area because I found one here. There are strange “recharge” points here and there with powerpoints above a waist-high shelf. Perhaps they're for phones, cameras and such, because they're certainly not much use to someone wanting to work on the computer for a while.

Anyway, my day in Hawaii was okay, though Waikiki isn't my thing. (Sigh. Backstory again. Bad, Jo, bad!)

One thing that puzzled me on this very short acquaintance was the shortage of seafood and fruit. Are the waters not teeming with fish? Is it not edible? Why are they selling salmon and lobster? Are they local? I thought they came from cooler waters? Does this climate not grow excellent fruit? I know it's low on water, but still, it seemed strange to me. Instead of steak, ribs, and pizza, I'd expect seafood and fruit stalls. Perhaps someone here can explain it to me. There must be reasons. Perhaps other parts of Hawaii are different in that respect?

In the afternoon I took a bus tour of the nearby areas. The driver of the bus tour spent a lot of time talking about expensive houses and pointing some out as we passed. It probably was of interest to some, but I'd rather have had more about the history of the area and the flora and fauna. We certainly saw lots of gorgeous scenery.

I didn't really get any bliss, however, until sunset. I actually missed the actual sunset, because I went back to the hotel room after the tour. By the time I hurried out the sun was actually down, but the sky was still a gorgeous flame. Even better, however, was that a lot of the beach activity had ceased. There were still some people in the water, enjoying the sunset from there, and some boats bobbing around. There were still people on the beach and many on the nearby street. But standing at the water's edge, looking out, I almost felt alone with the ocean at that magical place where it kisses the shore, and it was particularly mystical in the warm evening dark, with red rippling on black as the waves rolled it.

I had a mystical moment, and here it comes. People connect with nature in many ways, and we can even do it with a simple plant or a fountain in an otherwise unnatural setting. People certainly feel connected in countryside, on mountains, by rivers and in deserts. But to me, the quintissential natural place is where the sea dances with land.

The sea, despite all we do to it, is still nature at its most natural and powerful. It is deep and still mostly unknown to us, and probably the place where embryonic humans were nutured before we moved out to taste the good and evil land offered us. Sea water, salt water, is very harmonic with our chemistry, and thus healing. The sea is still key to our existence because we can't live without water, and the vast oceans are our reservoir, releasing moisture into the air and being replenished by rainfall and the flow of rivers.

Humans have claimed land. We haven't tamed it, no matter what we think, but still, it's hard for most of us to find a place untouched by humans. However, we can at that newborn place where the sea touches land, because every wave changes. With rock, it's slow, but with sand, it's instant and continuous. At the ocean's edge, the earth is always new, fresh and wild, even on the beach in Waikiki. So I stood there barefoot in the warm waves feeling the sand dance with the Sea beneath my feet.

I'll have a day in Honolulu on the way back and as my flight leaves late, I might be able to grab another magical moment where warm sea and sand play gently beneath a flame red sky.

2008-08-22T12:47:00.000+01:00

I'm going to upload a couple of blogs, as I haven't been able to get an internet connection until now. I thought it would be easy in the hotel.... But that's another story.

Day one -- not counting the 18th when I left for Hawaii, arriving here at 9:30 pm three hours behind -- so gone midnight my time. The flight wasn't bad as I did the online check in 24 hours early and got one of the seats just behind the exit row that has no seat in front of it. Sweet.

Of course that means the table is in the arm, but I don't mind that. It would also have been not so good for watching the onboard enterttainment in the back of the seat in front, but with Westjet that's satellite TV. I watched a bit of the women's gymnastics, which was fine at a distance, but the TV signal cut out once we were a couple of hours from shore. At that point passengers could pay something like $6 to watch one of a number of movies. When I went to the toilet, I didn't see anyone taking up this offer.

My readers will be pleased that I worked most of the way, and the Mac Air did okay. We're still not working as a perfect team, however. I think Apple needs to try out its help sections on non-Mac people, because no, it's not intuitive. I often don't know what to ask.

Help, I seem to have committed that heinous sin and started with backstory!

Onward. The big problem I'm having is that my neck's hurting. On Sunday night I collapsed to watch a bit of TV before going to bed, and when I stood up, the back of my neck spasmed. I've never had trouble there before. This made the journey to Hawaii less pleasant than I'd hoped, so I'm taking it easy on this day in Honolulu. I've wandered along Waikiki beach, which is terribly Blackpoolish, but I expected that, and now I'm sitting quietly before taking a bus tour after lunch. I might have been a bit more adventurish and even gone for a dip in the sea, but I reckon I'd better pamper the neck with Ibuprofin and heat rub in the hope of comfort on the 1 hour flight tomorrow.

Cheers,

Jo

The Happiness Book

2008-08-07T05:35:00.000+01:00

It's been a while, I know. And I can't promise better with big trips coming up. Australia in a few weeks. Yay!

But life is good and I'm trying to practice Appreciation. I came up with the idea of a special book where I could do pretty pages when I'm in the mood. Sort of appreciation collage. I thought it might appeal to some of you. Appreciation is recommended by many as a way of improving our outlook on life and thus the world around us.

And some of us just like playing with pretty paper, stickers, glitter et al. *G*

So I went to a couple of dollar stores. I don't know if all dollar stores have lots of Asian things or if it's a west coast thing, but I found some fun items. The main one is a spiral bound little diary/appointment book called Happiness Classic with pictures to match. It's Korean from a company called gomfancy.com but I couldn't find this one on the web site. It seems completely in tune, though, doesn't it, and it was only $2.50.

The theme phrase throughout is "Most beautiful is the World." Not sure if that's meant to mean me, the world, or whatever, but it's nice. There are calendar pages, but most of it is pages with windows looking out at blue sky, and two messages. "Walking together." and "From the world most one day when it is happy!"

Translated into zen, I think, but charming.

I also bought some packs of fancy paper of various sorts and I've cut them to fit the windows. Also a sheet of stickers which say Thank You in many styles. So I'll choose a paper that pleases me, and a sticker, and maybe add pictures from magazines etc if they seem to fit, and make a little collage and write on it what I'm appreciating that day.

Here's my first page, ready for my appreciations. I actually started on the last page before the windows start, I'm not sure why.

The odd thing is that the whole book is in English, but in the back there are subway maps marked in, I assume, Korean! I'm pretty sure this is London, so it's the tube, not the subway.

Do you like the idea of appreciation? Do you practice it? How?

Jo
PS, if you want to see my RWA conference pics, check out Word Wenches.

Seattle

2008-06-09T19:30:00.001+01:00

Short notice, I know -- sorry! -- but I am speaking in Seattle on
Tuesday evening. (10th June.)
JO BEVERLEY — Characters & Conflict
June 10th, 2008 7pm

NYT Best-selling author and Word Wench Jo Beverley dazzles the
Eastside chapter with advice on creating great characters and page-
turning conflict — in any era!

The details are here. Non-members can attend.

http://eastsiderwa.org/?page_id=49

Jo

Psi Them Till The Glow -- a free story

2008-05-14T03:23:00.000+01:00

I'm sorting out some of the old files on my disk, and there are some SF stories I'd forgotten. I used to belong to an SF&F writing group and so I'd write something now and then. I thought this one cute.

Jo :)

PSI THEM TILL THEY GLOW

The psi bomb nestles in my pocket. The plan sits in my mind. A lump of fear, guilt and desperation is a dead weight in my gut. I fear the people, but I fear more a mischance that will destroy not only me and my mission but Raldi as well. Psi bombs are notoriously unpredictable.

I speak to Raldi softly, as only a mother can speak to a joey, reminding the little one to cradle the bomb gently with her innocent mind. It is bitter that only an infant can do this task for I would rather have left Raldi with her father. This is the only way a psi bomb can be used, however, by mother and youngster working as one.
We bound along as part of the herd, hidden among the many.

"Are we there yet?" It is only a fragment of thought and trembles with all Raldi's excitement and nervousness. I feel her mouth settle on my nipple for reassuring milk and send warm comforting thoughts along with it.

Ahead I can see the camp the psi-scouts have picked as vulnerable. Three of their big wheeled houses and a number of cloth huts. A small herd of people eating from containers. Pale human joeys running around out of the pouch. Are the scouts right? This group looks no different from the others.

We've watched humans since time began but everything changed when the pale ones came. We studied them closely, for they conflict with us. We have had to make them as a target.

We have done this reluctantly, for there are risks involved, and doubts about the rightness of it, but the pale people leave us little choice. They will take even the last blade of grass unless we act.

For many moons the scouts have checked each group, each individual who has come close. They found none who would be sufficiently vulnerable to the bomb. Until this one.
This group, they say, is as good as we can hope for. Though the people's minds are chaotic their impulses would be vulnerable to a bomb if it were detonated in their midst.

Raldi and I are the logical choice. I am still young and particularly agile. Raldi is as old as a joey can be and still cradle a psi bomb.

***

The people in the camp have seen or heard us -- who can say how their senses work? -- and they stand to stare. Parents grab joeys but don't put them in a pouch. Some reach for guns. Are the psi scouts right that they are unlikely to use them?

The herd swings off. Raldi and I bound on towards the camp. I try to send reassurance to the joey but know she is sensing more clearly the pounding of my heart.
The people run aside, away from us. Let them not run too far or the bomb will never work.

We stop in the middle of the camp, close to their food. Most of them are too far away.

I am afraid.

They are afraid.

Two males stand pointing the long guns at us. The others stay close to mate and young. One woman holds tight to a joey in a pouch -- a cloth pouch tied on her body. No wonder people are so confused and destructive when they have to care for their young with these makeshift things.

Raldi catches my thought and peeks out. She giggles. I tell her to keep her mind on the bomb.

"But it looks so silly," she says. "Poor joey."

I tell her sternly to get back out of sight.

The herd is gone now and it is very quiet. The people begin to speak softly to one another. I cannot understand them but I know they are no longer so afraid. The males with the guns lower them towards the ground. The woman with the baby relaxes her tight hands.

Two men and a women approach very cautiously. I will the rest to come closer too but our thought power has little effect on people, especially the pale ones. I see the way they look at my pouch. I hate to expose her to them but I tell Raldi to come out a little.

She is only too eager, naughty one, and her ears flicker with excitement as she takes in all the strange sights.

Immediate warmth from the humans. They all begin to drift closer. Some take out their little black boxes and click them. We don't know what these boxes do but they do no harm.

I stay still, so as not to alarm them, but my fur raises at the thought of the ones behind me. I don't think now that they will shoot me, but people have sharp things which bring sleep. Sometimes they steal the sleeping ones and they are never seen again.

The closest woman puts her hand on my side. I flinch, expecting pain but I sense reassurance and turn to look in her eyes. The psi-scouts were right. The bomb will get her for sure. The excitement of coming victory unsettles my nerves and I move. The people scuttle back. Raldi jiggles about, her mind dangerously frenetic. We have to act now, before it is too late. I still again and they come back, smiling, laughing. Most are in range.

"Now," I say.

Raldi lets the bomb go. I see it hit. I bound free and race after the herd.

***

Jessica Baines watched the kangaroo grow small amid the dust. She felt dazed. That had been amazing. She had actually got to touch it...

"Son of gun," said her husband Tom reverently.

Their son, Matt, pulled their hands. "Did you see that joey? It was so cute! What did they do that for, dad?"

"I don't know. I suppose they just got cut off from the herd for a moment.... Sense of direction or something. They were probably frozen with fright being here."

"That was awesome, though. Wait till I tell Tyler. We got to look after the last of the roos, dad," added Matt seriously. "It's important."

Jessica and Tom shared a look. This from their son whose only interest in wildlife up to now had been Ninja Turtles? He'd been grouching about this `boring' trip all week.

But he wasn't the only one. Paul Fielding, who'd preached scientifically about the need to cull the herds, put down his gun and began talking about a conservation area. Senator Brenda Mahany, whose political creed was practical materialism was heard to say something vague about the value of wild animals in their habitat. Even Sammy, their guide, who'd made no secret of the fact that he thought roos vermin, grudgingly admitted that Australia wouldn't be much without them.

Jessica and Tom shared a look. Amazing what seeing a mother and baby up close could do.

(I took the picture from an article here ironically about culling kangaroos. However, I have no particular opinion on the culling of animals other than that I doubt any species thinks it's a good idea for them.)

Best wishes,

Jo

medieval stripping.

2008-05-12T17:39:00.001+01:00

Someone asked me about the practice of stripping the bride and groom before the bedding in the middle ages. I thought the answer might interest some.

In the middle ages they had different attitudes to many things, and one was the naked body. It was no big deal. (Think of the portrayals of Adam and Eve, Saint Sebastian and many others. It's unlikely someone would be allowed to create such nakedness in modern America and hang it in a church, or even a general public place.)The Wenches blogged about nakedness, and you can read part of it
here.

Nor was privacy important, if it came to that. Most people had none. Even appearance wasn't very important because in a society without mirrors, it's less so. Blazing beauty or serious ugliness would be noted, but still wouldn't necessarily matter when it came to marriages. That other thing called charm or charisma always does, but it's separate to looks.

Good health, however, was important, because everyone wanted a hale and hearty spouse. Women wanted men likely to create healthy children, and men wanted women likely to carry and birth them well.

In this wedding situation, however, the issue was concealed flaws, which could be used as reason to annul a marriage, so before it was consummated, witnesses should see that neither was significantly blemished. I'm sure plenty of people thought it was a jolly bit of fun as well.*G*

Jo :)

Slightly political

2008-04-27T17:46:00.001+01:00

I stumbled across this article while checking my NYT listing for next Sunday. (List here.)

"Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, then shipped back to Norway for sale. Argentine lemons fill supermarket shelves on the Citrus Coast of Spain, as local lemons rot on the ground. Half of Europe’s peas are grown and packaged in Kenya.

...
But the movable feast comes at a cost: pollution — especially carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas — from transporting the food.

Under longstanding trade agreements, fuel for international freight carried by sea and air is not taxed."

I think that's a ridiculous situations. What about you?

Full article here.

Jo

Borders article about A Lady's Secret

2008-04-26T23:54:00.000+01:00

(Tacked on a picture of some of my foreign editions.)
I was asked to write an article for the newsletter that goes out to Borders and Waldenbooks customers, and I've just realized that it's on line.
You can read it here.

Jo

Times Three :)

2008-04-24T15:06:00.000+01:00

I did hope I could stay on the printed list for a third week now that it goes to 20, but I'm giddily happy to report that not only will be in the list on May 4th, but it'll be up! #10.

Thank you to all who've bought it, praised it to their friends, and generally added fuel to the engine.

Keep on talking about it in comments to the previous blog below. (This picture is a photo taken at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London of an 18th century dress such as Petra or one of the other characters might wear. You'll note that the lace at the elbows, which can be glimpsed in a bit of a picture behind, is not part of the gown but part of the shift underneath. It was still usually unpicked and laundered separately and gently, because lace was valuable, but that was simpler than unpicking it from the gown. Yes, they did wash their underwear regularly.)

Plus: I'm guest blogging today at the Wet Noodle Posse (You'll have to visit to get the explanation.)
This is mostly a writer blog about conflict in our novels, but reader input is always useful.

This evening -- 9pm eastern -- I'll be at an NAL author chat, just chatting! Come by and say hi,

Writerspace Chat Rooms

Jo :)

NYT part deux!

2008-04-21T06:11:00.000+01:00

Thanks for all the congratulations about A Lady's Secret. (That's the stepback, if you don't recognize it.) To add an extra layer of icing, A Lady's Secret will hang in there at #14 for another week! I hurried out to a bookstore today to get a copy of the paper -- not easy up here in Canada, but possible -- so I could admire the first appearance in print. So pretty. LOL!

In fact, here it is.

If you want to help keep the boat afloat, buy more copies! No, no, I'm joking, but if you see a store that's out and you felt like pointing out that it's on the NYT bestsellers, it might help

Best,

Jo

Open discussion of A Lady's Secret and Lovers and Ladies.

2008-04-06T18:34:00.001+01:00

I know people on my chat list are being careful to avoid spoilers, in particular for A Lady's Secret, so I thought I'd open a free discussion spot here. Feel free to discuss any elements of the books, and don't worry -- though I want every single person to love my books to death, I know that just isn't going to happen. No hard feelings or suicidal tendencies, I promise!

This is a picture of my path in full bloom. Always pretty at this time of year.

Jo

The truth about sex?

2008-03-21T02:03:00.000Z

A very funny video. Some of our romance heroes could probably sing this song!
View it here.

Jo :)
Only 11 days to the launch of A Lady's Secret!

Popular culture

2008-03-19T15:13:00.000Z

Over on Teach Me Tonight (a great blog on the academic side of romance novels) there's a post about the Popular Fiction conference in San Francisco. Read it and drool.
Teach Me Tonight

For you RWA members reading here, wouldn't it be great if we had a track of panels at our conference where we discussed topics like that, instead of duplicating sessions on how to write dialogue or a sex scene?

And there's a phrase there. "Recontructing the bodice." That's my motto for historical romance in the new millennium. I'm going to figure out a way to use it well.

Oh, and I've put up my covers because -- gulp! -- the books are out in a couple of weeks and it's taking me by surprise. For one thing, we're moving house. You all know what that's like!

You can read excerpts off this web page. Just click on the covers. (And yes, my web site needs a brush up too!)

Jo :)

Fun in advertizing

2008-03-06T05:45:00.000Z

I don't suppose I'll be in a position to buy anything from this Dutch company, but if I could, I would! Watch it here.

Jo

Clueless Woollies!

2008-02-04T14:37:00.000Z

From the London Times via Shelf Awareness, a bookselling newsletter.
http://news.shelf-awareness.com/ct.jsp?uz3609618Biz6156323,
Woolworths "has withdrawn bedroom furniture for young girls bearing the
sexually charged name Lolita after a campaign waged by a mothers' online
chat room."

(I always called this completely wrong image on my first book Lolita.)

A product called the Lolita Midsleeper Combi--and general ignorance on
the part of the retailer--caused the controversy. "Whereas many mothers
were familiar with Vladimir Nabokov and his famous novel, it seems that
the Woolworths staff were not. At first they were baffled by the fuss. A
spokesman for the company told the Times: 'What seems to have happened
is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be
honest no one else here had either. We had to look it up on Wikipedia.
But we certainly know who she is now.'"

Jo

gross but fascinating.

2008-01-30T20:58:00.000Z

From a 1990 edition of Scientific America.

"Today ravens are making a return to New England as the woods fill in and road-kills and garbage dumps multiply. They live on any meat that they can tear, and so they do hunt insects and lizards and mousy creatures and smaller birds, but they specialize in the big bonanzas of carrion opened and left haphazardly behind by more powerful predators. (A raven Heinrich reared managed to eat a whole dead gray squirrel even though the bird could not penetrate the skin. It removed the flesh through the animal’s mouth; the skin was discarded quite clean, with the fur on the inside.)

The mind boggles!

Jo :)

Etiquette.

2008-01-10T21:06:00.000Z

Do you know your etiquette? Take this quiz from the BBC.

Click here.

Jo :)

Home

2008-01-06T21:03:00.001Z

I just posted this at the tail end of my blog stint at Word Wenches. That was about beginnings, prologues etc, but it morphed into endings as well. I thought it was of general interest, so here it is, expanded a bit.

Marissa had commented on the way the beginning and end of The Devil's Heiress deal with home, and how the hero's attitude to home changes through the book.

I said: I forgot that one. Yes, that was very consciously bookended with the home. That whole series -- The Demon's Mistress, The Dragon's Bride, and The Devil's Heiress -- was about home. But home is also a continuing theme in my books. It's very important to me that at the end the characters have a rooted home. (The whole series is available in an omnibus edition called Three Heroes. I don't know if it's still available new.) Both The Demon's Mistress and The Dragon's Bride were RITA finalists.

That's even true in the SF novella, The Trouble With Heroes. In that, the perfect new home planet, Gaia, turns out to have Hostile Amorphous Native Entities, HANES, commonly called Blighters by those of English extraction. These insubstantial terrors simply rise up to render people dust, so that home is threatened in a very true sense.

Also, however, on Gaia some people have what can be seen as magical abilities. They're called Fixers because they fix things, or make all right. It turns out they can fix HANEs, too, but at a terrible price. Isn't that generally the case with war? And too often, after a war, those who've made themselves able to do terrible things is order to safeguard home and not welcome in the home they've suffered to secure.

So it's all about home, and that resonates in the last line. "The trouble with heroes is that they want to come home. But home is also their just reward."

That story is in the 2004 collection, Irresistible Forces, which will be reissued later this year.

BTW, The Trouble With Heroes... won the Sapphire Award for best SF Romance, short form, of 2004.

Jo

The Christmas Blog

2007-12-23T07:18:00.000Z

I've just put up my Christmas newsletter on my web page and I'm opening this up to any and all comments.

Go here for the newsletter.

There are links to places of interest, plus two pieces of new fiction. One is an unpublished prologue to Lady Beware. Was I right not to include it? The other is a bit from a book I wrote at 16. That's pretty well what you'd expect.*G*

Happy Christmas,

Jo

Blogs about romance fiction

2007-12-20T17:35:00.000Z

Teach Me Tonight

Do go check the recent activity on an academic's reaction to romance novels. It's hitting the spot that always irritates me, too -- that these "authoritative women" are always telling other women what they should do and what's good for them. One person makes the excellent point that while railing against patriarchy, they are imposing matriarchy with them mommy and us the kidlets.

Also, check out
http://www.romancingtheblog.com

So much good stuff about romance fiction these days in the blogoshere.

BTW, the picture is of a nasturtium I trained up through a climbing rose that has a lot of bare stem at the bottom. It kept on flowering like this until very recently.

Jo :)

Cross dressing

2007-12-16T16:34:00.001Z

Somehow the cover artist didn't grasp that this guy could believably pass as a woman

For more about My Lady Notorious, click here.

There's an interesting discussion on one of the rom reader lists about cross dressing. There are lots of current pictures of men dressing as women and some are really good at it. Not so many women seem to want to pass as men for much of the time. What does that say about the sexes, I wonder.

But I found this page about some women doing it which is very interesting.Click here.

Of course cross dressing was easier at some historical periods than at others. One of the most famous cross dressers, the Chevalier d'Eon.

Jo

Lovely Libraries

2007-12-12T21:04:00.000Z

Shelves of books with chains, because books used to be so valuable that they were chained to the wall or a heavy table so they couldn't be stolen. Let's celebrate the ease with which we can acquire and enjoy books today!

Give books as presents this Christmas. :)

Sometimes these days we take books for granted, however. This great page has pictures of libraries that remind us of their magic and value. Enjoy!

And which is your favorite?

Lovely libraries.

The Brazilian one is stunning, but perhaps just a bit much? I like the Vanderbilt one
because it's on a human scale. I'd love a library like that in my home. It's probably as big as my home, though. LOL!

There's something about the Bibliotheque Alencon, Normandy, France, that appeals to me.

Jo

Blood Ties

2007-12-11T06:30:00.000Z

I've blogged before about this fabulous TV show. Believe me, I'm very hard to please with TV stuff, so for me, that's amazing praise, and anyway, Henry Fitzroy is so very like Robin Fitzvitry, my hero in A Lady's Secret.

But it's in danger of being cancelled in the States, which presumably will mean no new episodes made, even though it's Canadian. Mind you, here in Canada it's been show at 7pm on a Sunday. What sort of slot is that, for heaven's sake?!?

But if, like me, you're enjoying the show and want to stir things up a bit, there are various ways to protest here.

Jo :)

Plots

2007-12-01T17:54:00.001Z

From a list of detective stories agent Donald Maass wants to see. Donald Maass's site.
Obviously it's a bit tongue in cheek, but it also shows that ideas really are two-a-penny. It also shows that putting inbuilt conflict in a character gets you off to a flying start. And talking of inbuilt conflicts, what do you make of this image?!?

* A pacifist detective who can’t seem to stop killing people.
* A serendipitous detective—one who investigates by random chance.
* A chess grand-master who solves crimes by means of analogy to chess strategies.
* A distrustful detective whose conviction is that everyone, except his comatose mother, is living a lie—and who is correct.
* A detective who investigates only murder-suicides, certain that such crimes have hidden reasons.
* A horologist detective—one obsessed with time and time pieces.
* A detective with synaesthesia—one who sees clues as (say) colors.
* A police attorney who defends cops in controversial shootings, racial episodes, etc.
* A teen detective whose dad is a criminal.

And speaking of dragons, don't forget Dragon Lovers! It'd make a handsome gift for many readers, and I could send you a signed bookplate. E-mail me at mjobev@gmail.com for more.

Cheers, Jo

blogs and news

2007-11-26T17:21:00.000Z

I'm blogging today at Word Wenches about whether we can have ordinary people as heroes and heroines of a romance and on why readers are sometimes drawn to historical heroines who break all the rules.

Go have your say here.

I've also put up a newsletter on my web site. You can read that here. And enjoy another of my husband's photographs.

Jo :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T18:42:00.001Z

Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US.

Up here, I'm in an ordinary working day. Starting a new book, which means bouncing around in 18th century research trying to get the basics rock steady before I build too high.

Jo

For Remembrance Day

2007-11-11T18:26:00.000Z

Let us remember that most wars are caused by the old and most casualties are young, and that's nothing new.

From my novel, An Unwilling Bride.

To all the fallen, may they be young forever in heaven.
To all the wounded, may they have strength and heal.
To all the bereaved, may they find joy again.
And please God...may there one day be an end to war.

Jo

Tofino

2007-11-09T06:10:00.000Z

I visited Tofino a few years back and wasn't mightily impressed. The town itself is pleasant but not awe-inspiring, and we visited Long Beach, which is a lovely beach, but... And it was summer.

A couple of weeks ago we went back and we stayed outside of Tofino at the Pacific Sands Resort, and it was a fantastic experience. The resort has suites with balconies looking toward the water, fully equipped kitchens, gas fires etc, so that was very cozy, but it was the outside, Cox Bay, that blew me away. It was just big enough and not too big, and the Pacific was rolling in creating fantastic air.

As you can see from my happily windblown state!

I'll add some other blissful scenic pictures because, why not?

And some sea life.

Lovely place!

Jo

2007-11-05T14:54:00.000Z

I presume you've heard about the unusual comet?

Here's an article about it. The fairy picture is just because. :)

We took Ken's new binoculars outside last night because the sky was clear and could see the fuzzy circle of it. It was amazing how good binoculars can be to look at the night sky.

The comet is astonishing everyone by its rapid increase in visibility. "Comet Holmes, however, exploded in size and luminosity within hours because of some still-unexplained event that caused it to belch out a huge cloud of material."

Of course they're coming up with all sorts of scientific explanations, but I'm thinking "it's an alien spacecraft that exploded" or "it's sending spores to colonize the nearby planets."

Jo :)

The Two Johns on investments.

2007-11-04T20:24:00.001Z

I said this blog might be about anything. I think this video funny, especially the name bit, (they didn't even point out that Bear Stearns is itself a great selling name -- Bear = rugged, strong; Stearns = disciplined, moral, severe.) Alas, the content is too, too, true.

Two British comedians on the investment markets. The best bit starts at about -6.00

The Two Johns This ad seems in the right spirit. Why advertise fruit with heavy machinery?

BTW, is it true that if you don't have a Google account you can't comment here? E-mail me if you've wanted to comment and couldn't. jo@jobev.com

Jo

Still busy

2007-10-27T15:35:00.000+01:00

Definitely AWL (AWOL with permission. There has to be a benefit or two to being self-employed!)I'm doing my deep-immersion final run through of A Lady's Secret, and managed a run to Tofino and area now we have some good weather. Beautiful, beautiful. More later.

In the meantime, check out this You Tube video called Spiders on Drugs.It's pretty funny. It starts out like the standard Canadian Government snippets on wildlife that run on CBC TV among the ads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc

Jo :)

Great song

2007-10-07T13:42:00.000+01:00

Don't know this artist, though he is from my part of the world, but I heard this song on the radio and just smiled at how appropriate it is for romance novels and especially historicals. I think you can listen to it on My Space without belonging to My Space.

The Old Fashioned Way, James Kasper.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=67835810

Let me know what you think,

Jo :)
PS The picture is from the original cover of An Arranged Marriage.

In Praise of Younger Men

2007-09-29T03:58:00.000+01:00

This is up on my web site, but when I read it I reckoned it was worth repeating elsewhere.

Jo

In Praise Of Younger Men

(Published in Romantic Times, March 1996)
On the way home from the movie BRAVEHEART, my eighteen-year-old son and I chatted about the real history behind it, about the Scottish/English struggles, and about fighting against oppression.

That was when I realized how much better the movie could have been, how much more thought-provoking, if Mel Gibson had stayed in the director's chair and cast a younger man as William Wallace. A much younger man.

(Here's one of my favorite young men of the moment, Kyle Schmit, who plays Henry Fitzroy on the TV series Blood Ties. He's closer to the right age, at 24 I think,and in fact would be almost perfect for the hero of the book I'm just finishing, A Lady's Secret. Robin Fitzvitry, Earl of Huntersdown is 26. As Henry Fitzroy he has a nice touch of aristocratic dash.)

Wallace moved onto the historical stage at just past twenty. At the time of that last, disastrous battle, he was only about twenty-six. Robert the Bruce was even younger. On the screen, however, they were being portrayed by men of nearly forty. When we see youth fired by injustice and willing to suffer and die for it, we witness a different truth.

And it is a truth that has run through history.

Someone mentioned to me watching a movie about World War II pilots and feeling uncomfortable at the youth of the actors playing the part. But then she realized that these actors were older than the men who had really flown those planes.

Today, in a world dominated by baby boomers, we're in danger of stealing youth from the young, of denying them the qualities that make them great. Consider another movie, FIRST KNIGHT. Of course it's based on myth, but aren't we supposed to see it as the dashing young knight and the older, wiser man? Why then, was Lancelot played by a man of nearly fifty, well old enough to play Arthur himself?

Does this magical ability to translate middle-age into youth apply to women? Oh no. The heroines are appropriately dewy-skinned young women in their twenties. Tom Hanks once played against Sally Fields as his love interest. In FOREST GUMP, she plays his mother? If there was any honesty to the business at all, Meryl Streep should have played the French princess in BRAVEHEART and Cher should have played Guinevere!

So we have two assaults here.One is on women, who are by implication incapable of being romantic heroines when over thirty. Thank heavens today's romance genre is firmly on the side of truth and justice on that issue. But the other is against young men, who are so rarely portrayed as heroic.

Here, the romance genre is not entirely innocent. The heroes are getting older because this appeals to many readers, again that baby-boomer bulge. There's nothing wrong with this, but we shouldn't forget that when it comes to fighting for dreams against impossible odds, it's young people who have historically led the way and spilled their blood.

Myths, as we all know, are important. Mythic heroes shape our dreams. What sort of dreams do our sons have if all the derring-do is apparently being done by men with wrinkles and graying hair? As the mother of sons, this disturbs me.

Marco Polo went to China at seventeen. What's the betting if Hollywood were to make a movie of his story, he would be played by some guy in his thirties or older?

Yuri Gagarin circled the earth at twenty-seven.

William of Normandy seized control of his duchy and defeated France when just over twenty. He was only twenty-six when he married Matilda, a story worthy of a romance. But not with Kevin Costner in the lead, please!

Nor does this only apply to active heroes.

William Wilberforce finally got his anti-slavery bill through the English parliament when he was thirty. The mathematician, Pascal, proved Pascal's theorem when he was seventeen. Newton came up with the binomial theorem when twenty-two. And we all know about Mozart.

Life certainly doesn't end at thirty, but to imply that it begins there is both unwise and unfair.

Regency men's clothing

2007-09-26T23:38:00.000+01:00

If you have any interest in men's clothes in the Regency, you need to read our guest blog today at Word Wenches. Very detailed, and great pictures.
To Word Wenches

Jo

My university in Monopoly!

2007-09-25T22:43:00.000+01:00

I always knew Keele University was the in-place to be. :)(That's me, way back when, with some mock-abstract art I added to a wall.)

MONOPOLY MASTERY

Fleet Street - once the haunt (allegedly) of liquor-sodden but
stupendously erudite journalists of yore - has been replaced by our very
own university village in the new UK-wide version of Monopoly. No
connection there, then!

Cities and towns across Britain take the place of London street names on
the world's most popular board game after a vote by more than one
million people. Leeds and Liverpool replace the cheap streets,
Whitechapel and Old Kent Road, while posh Park Lane becomes Exeter. A
city's position on the board was set by the number of votes it received.

Keele, at one time dubbed the "Kremlin on the Hill", can now enjoy its
very own Red Square!

(You wouldn't know it to look at it, would you? The campus was built around a stately home.)

While several cities and regions have got their own editions of the
popular board game in recent years, the Here and Now UK edition, is the
only nationwide version.

Residents of Keele with its permanent population of about 4,000 raced up
the rankings and thrashed cities a hundred times larger thanks to a
campaign by Keele University students. See
BBC article here.

Jo :)

video correction

2007-09-19T21:04:00.000+01:00

I got Kasey Michael's link wrong, which is doubtless why I couldn't see it. It's a nice example of a series promo.

http://youtube.com/kaseymichaels

I think we need different terminology here. Some are clearly book trailers, like movie trailers. The ones without live action rarely are. They're a different sort of promo and I think they can be very useful in other ways.

Just thinking about things as I prepare to participate at a Women's Show this weekend (at a romance fiction table) and go to Birmingham, AL, for the management meeting of Books a Million in a few weeks. Oh, and finish my book, having just realized I need to make a moderately severe plot change toward the end.

That's what I get for flying into the mist. Flap, flap, flap... oh, shit!

What's the flap equivalent of back-pedaling?

For no particular reason, that's the interior of an 18th century coach.

Jo :)

What I'm doing

2007-09-15T15:34:00.000+01:00

I'm in that submerged stage of A Lady's Secret -- mostly written, reading through print out, manhandling plot. Just realized, for example, that the mayhem in Folkestone should be caused by the villains not passing smugglers. That's writing 101, but for some reason I don't notice goofs like that until late in the game.

It's been moved up from June next year to April, BTW, which I'm sure will please you all. I'm okay with it because it doesn't change my deadline (Nov 1st) Getting it in earlier would be impossible anyway. Just too much to do still.

To any writers here, how do you do that final edit/overhaul?

Jo

Book Trailers

2007-09-12T20:50:00.000+01:00

My blog today at Word Wenches is about book trailers for historicals. There are examples to check out, and I'd love to hear comments there or here.

Visit Word Wenches

Above is a different sort of ad. :)

Jo

Monkey baby

2007-09-10T00:11:00.001+01:00

I probably risk offending people who think this is cute, but this offering from a catalogue seems so very weird to me. What do you say? Do you want one? Or, can you think of someone you'd like to send one to?

Jo

Authors, dead and alive

2007-09-08T18:27:00.001+01:00

Alas, Madeleine L'Engle is dead.
http://www.madeleinelengle.com/news/

But Phyllis Whitney is still alive at the amazing age of 104 on Sunday. You can
send her a birthday greeting here.

Do take a moment to contact your favorite authors to tell them how much you enjoy their books. It'll make someone's day. Truly.

Jo (putting an old cover there as I'm writing the next book in the Malloren World.)

PS I do have trouble arranging elements in this blog. One day I'll have time to figure it out.

Article to check out

2007-09-07T22:20:00.000+01:00

On Writing as a Fantasist by Dave Wolverton (A dragon picture seems appropriate.)
Thursday, 04 August 2005 (This article was written for Tangent #18, Spring 1997 and is reprinted with permission.)

Read more about Dave here

There's a page there for me, too. Click here.

Web site

It's about why literary fiction is a genre as much as romance, SF, mystery etc, and somewhat about why it seems so often to have as its genre rules, be formless, pointless, and have a downer ending. Here's a taste.

"In the 1800s, Oscar Wilde looked at the fiction that Howells had published and derided it as boring drivel. He called the tales "Teacup Tragedies," for it seemed that all the stories dealt with families who had to deal with the tragedy of a broken heirloom teacup as it dashed into pieces on the floor.

The mainstream short fiction of the 1980s was no better. Authors tried to incorporate disparate literary standards into a sellable fiction, and so backed themselves into a corner.

By insisting that we write elitist fiction with powerful images, opacity, and a distinctive poetic voice; by insisting that the tales lack form; by limiting the types of characters, conflicts and settings; by favoring political correctness over other types of honest questioning or exploration of themes; and by insisting that tales lean toward existentialism rather than some more affirmative world view; a very restrictive genre emerged.

Unable to explore setting, conflict, characters or themes in their fiction, the main streamers wrote more and more eloquently about nothing at all."

There is some great lit fic, of course, but so often it fits the "formula" of one of the pop fic genres.

Opinions?

Jo

Simply writing

2007-09-06T06:57:00.000+01:00

I'm steeped in the MIP at the moment -- A Lady's Secret, in the Malloren World, due out next June. So unless anything nifty flies right by me, I may not have much to say here.

Always have pictures of something, though. That's a typical old coaching inn with the entrance for the coach to get into the coach yard behind. The rooms were generally reached back there by a staircase to a gallery with doors into the rooms, rather like a modern motel. That's in a town called Buntingford, which was a busy place on the Great North Road, but is now quiet.

I set a scene there in my novel Hazard,

Jo

Autism in Jane Austen

2007-09-03T06:49:00.000+01:00

And now for something completely different, as they used to say in Monty Python. I just heard about a book called So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in 'Pride and Prejudice' by Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer

I haven't read this, though I will, but it's intriguing. I quote from the Publisher's Site

"So Odd a Mixture looks at eight seemingly diverse characters in Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, who display autistic traits. These characters - five in the Bennet family and three in the extended family of the Fitzwilliams - have fundamental difficulties with communication, empathy and theory of mind. Perhaps it is high-functioning autism or Asperger's Syndrome that provides an explanation for some characters' awkward behaviour at crowded balls, their frequent silences or their tendency to lapse into monologues rather than truly converse with others."

Off the top of my head, I'd want to compare P&P with the other Austen novels and others by her contemporaries, for this might have simply been a style of the times. But I also had another thought.

IMO, Jane was not autistic or Asperger's, but I wonder if Cassandra was. I hadn't thought about it before, but we have many letters from Jane telling Cassandra about the balls and parties she attends, but Cassandra seems to rarely go to such events. That would be typical of someone who found it difficult to communicate easily with or even understand others.

Interesting to think about , eh what?

Jo

In the local paper

2007-08-28T22:29:00.001+01:00

There was a pretty good article about me in my local paper, the Victoria Times Colonist. (That's a picture from a nearby beach here in Victoria.)

You can read it here.
Click for article.

Jo :)