~Photo Friday~ Crystal

Here in mid-Michigan, this was the world we woke up to Wednesday morning. Above are the ice-crystal coated treetops and to the right is a close-up of the crystals on a tall, feathery weed. It was a truly stunning sight. 

Cover Contest Winner!

I've drawn a winner for my recent cover contest, Vote for Honor's Cover. And the winner is ...

... (drumroll, please) ... 

RACHEL ROSSANO!!! 

Congratulations, Rachel. You should be receiving an email soon about your prize. Thank you for playing. :o)

Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to vote. Just in case you're curious, the cover pictured here is the one that received the most votes, nearly 50%. It is very likely that this will be the cover of Honor, with a few slight changes.

As always, happy reading, writing, and blogging!!

*Winner was selected using Random.org.

~Regency Wednesday~ Fashions for April 1820

One of the many novels I'm writing takes place during the Season of 1820. Here is a glimpse into the fashion for that year. 

Fashions for April, 1820. 

Explanation of the prints of fashion. 

No. 1--Evening Dress. 

Round dress of black crape, over a black satin slip; the dress made with a demi-train, and ornamented round the border with three fluted flounces of crape, each flounce headed by a superb embroidery of small jet beads and bugles. Corsage à Louis Quatorze, ornamented with jet bugles to correspond. Tucker of white crape in folds, fastened in puff divisions by bows of white love. The head adorned with the regal coronet turban.*

*La Belle Assemblée, April 1820, page 132.

~Regency Wednesday~ Bodysnatchers

During the late 1700s the medical field was expanding. The government gave the doctors all the bodies of the executed criminals in order to teach medical students anatomy and to advance their surgical skills. However, the demand far outweighed the supply.

To that end, resurrectionists, or bodysnatchers, were "hired" to steal bodies from the graveyards. It got so bad that iron coffins were advertised, as a way to prevent loved ones from ending up under a medical student's knife.

Astley Cooper, pictured here, was one of the most famous surgeons of the Regency period. He was reputed to have worked in his dissecting room every morning before breakfast and was known for his willingness to dissect anything. His favorite subject for dissection was human remains and he saw no harm in hiring someone to steal corpses for him.

*To add to this morbid subject, or maybe just enhance your knowledge of a small portion of medicine's history, check out Donald A Low's The Regency Underworld (1982/2005), pages 80-104; The Life of Sir Astley Cooper by Bransby Blake Cooper (1843); or the Wikipedia article Astley Cooper (plenty of references but no inline citations).