New Short Story Site ~ And a new short story by yours truly!

There's a new short story site out there in web-world and everyone can submit stories. It's called Clever Fiction, run by the talented Pat Sipperly, and there's a new prompt every week. 

I participated in this week's story prompt (a key, noon, falling leaves) and my short story Unwilling Protector is up for your reading enjoyment. It's part of Sable's story. (You'll know who that is if you've read my short story Assassin's Keeper in the anthology UNLOCKED. If you haven't, pop by the UNLOCKED website and download the anthology for free.)

There are other stories there as well, in a variety of genres by a variety of authors. You can leave comments on each story, if you are inclined to do so. Go, read, enjoy!

~Regency Wednesday~ Regency

This post is more for those who are quite unfamiliar with the Regency era of British history. It was known as the Regency simply because the king, George III, was mentally unstable, making him unfit to rule. His son, the Prince of Wales, was named as a proxy ruler (Regent) to make the decisions the king was unable to. The Regency took effect in 1811 and, technically, lasted until George III's death in 1820.

The era is more aptly described by the characteristic trends in fashion, architecture, literature, politics, and culture. It is commonly held that these trends began some years before 1800 and continued on until Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837. Before that is referred to as Georgian and after as Victorian.

Detailed posts I've done for my other Regency blogs:

1. A Regency Betrayal : What is the Regency?
2. All the Gossip of Spellbound : The Genre: Regency Romance

*Recommended nonfiction reading for this time period: The Regency Underworld by Donald A Low, Prisons and Punishments of London by Richard Byrne, What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool, British Regency at Wikipedia and the ever informative blog, Jane Austen's World

**Pictures are in the public domain. Click them for more info. First pic: George IV as Prince Regent by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Second pic: "On the Threshold (of a Proposal)" by Edmund Blair Leighton. Third pic: Lord Byron.

Regency Wednesday: Almack's Assembly Rooms

I have decided I will do themed blog posts on Wednesdays and Fridays. Today is Regency Wednesday, in honor of the fact that Almack's assemblies were held on Wednesday nights during the British Regency.

I am not going to do a long post full of details. More along the lines of a simple explanation for those who may not know very much about the time period.

I will start with the place that inspired me to use Wednesday as my "Regency" themed day.

Almack's Assembly Rooms

Almack's was a social club attended only by the crème de la crème of Regency Society. Located in King Street, St James, London, it was ruled by six or seven patronesses at any given time during the Regency. In 1814, they were Mrs Drummond Burrell, Lady Esterházy (who was Princess Esterházy after 1833), Lady Jersey, Lady Cowper, Lady Castlereagh, Lady Sefton, and Lady Lieven (who was Princess Lieven after 1826).

To attend, one had to apply for vouchers at a cost of ten guineas. Eager attendees were allowed in only if they had one of these coveted vouchers. Being denied vouchers for any reason could ruin the social aspirations of the seeker. If one received vouchers only to lose them later, one may as well pack one's bags and leave London.

The outer appearance of Almack's was nothing special but neither was the interior. The patronesses wanted the focus to be on the Society within, the people and manners, not the amenities. It was a social club to the core, a place to see and be seen.

Dancing was the premiere entertainment at Almack's with gossip running a close second. Reputations were made and broken with shocking regularity.

Almack's was an important part of Regency history. The famed novelist Georgette Heyer often mentioned it in her Regency romances. At times, she is even credited with having invented Almack's. It was a real place, however.

If anyone has something about Almack's they'd like to share, please leave a comment. Even if all you want to do is point out where I've erred.

*Dates were taken from the Wikipedia article Almack's.

Winner of the Jaimey Grant Drawing at JDP News

Joyce drew a name from her little hat yesterday, declaring Cindi Hoppes of Illinois the fortunate winner of an autographed copy of one of my Regency romance novels. Cindi gets her choice of Betrayal, Spellbound, Heartless or Redemption, or my yet-to-be-released Regency, Deception.

Congratulations, Cindi!!

Thank you to everyone who participated and those who became followers of my blog. I really appreciated all the lovely comments on Joyce's post, too. And thank you to Joyce for hosting the event. :o)

Happy reading, writing and blogging, everyone!!

My Mind : What a Twisted Place to Live

I always wanted to write stories that made the reader laugh 'til they cried. So much for that. Instead I write stories that tend to make the reader cry 'til they sigh. Go figure.

The first romance I wrote from beginning to end--there were many that were started and never finished--was steeped in inner turmoil, angst, and drama. It was titled Lord Fenton's Ward and involved amnesia, suicide, murder, and intrigue. That manuscript was put in the "vault" and I haven't looked at it since.

I tried again.

The next story, actually connected to the first, was titled Lord Stafford's Love. It still wasn't funny, by any means. The hero was a little more amusing. He was not a tortured hero and had an interesting sense of humor. That was the only thing that saved it from being completely boring and a little morbid. It, too, was "vaulted."

I gave up on that series and took several months off to reflect. I reasoned that if inner turmoil was what I needed to explore, that was what I would write.

I then wrote a Regency that involved, again, murder and a hero, tortured by guilt, dubbed the Devil. The heroine was just as tortured and wanted desperately to kill the hero. There was also a smattering of insanity and attempted murder--of more than one person by more than one person. I didn't actually "vault" this story but I did decide to rewrite it recently. It started out too boring with too much explanation of the heroine's roots. I also noticed the shocking resemblance between this heroine and Raven in Spellbound. Oops. Oh, the title: The Devil's Destiny. Yup, her name is Destiny.

Next attempt: Sweet Serenity. This one may actually end up published eventually. I need some more opinions on it first. Meanwhile, it involves a quirky heroine, the daughter of a country vicar. She has the deplorable habit of trying to "fix" everyone. The hero is tortured, believed to have raped a young woman about a decade before the story opens. Of course, our quirky heroine must try to mend the rift between him and his dying father. She is levelheaded but stubborn and fully believes that she knows what is best. He is typically male.

I then read a book that made me so angry that I came up with Angel, my yet-to-be-released Regency about an emotionally disturbed young woman with horrible secrets. There I go into the dark and morbid again. This book needed a bit of a rewrite; it was suggested that I gave too much of the story away at the beginning.

From there, I wrote 

1. Betrayal--currently available for purchase (murder, rape, insanity, bitterness, betrayal)
   
2. Deception--almost ready to publish (murder, kidnapping, illegitimacy, deception)
   
3. Heartless--available (murder, marriage...anti-hero)
   
4. Spellbound--available (guilt, self-doubt, rape, attempted murder, insanity)
   
5. Misunderstood--underwent a name change and became Retribution which is now being rewritten (the hero is an ex-con, the heroine is a prostitute, and that's all I'm saying)
   
6. Redemption--available (guilt and general human error)
   
7. Intrigue--being edited (murder, treason, intrigue)
   
8. Fascination--awaiting a satisfying conclusion (murder, betrayal, insanity)
   

Why do I focus on so much negativity? 

There is always a silver lining. Some are just harder to find than others.

New Release

I am hoping to get my newest Regency, Deception, on the virtual bookshelves by the end of this week. It is connected to my currently published novels.

Briefly: 

Determined to find love, Aurora Glendenning hides her wealth and status, all too aware that money will often blind a man. When she meets Levi, Lord Greville, she thinks her prayers have been answered. There's just one problem: he needs wealth to prevent his swift relocation to debtor's prison. When an improper meeting results in a rushed wedding, Aurora's lies begin to unravel. Her past arrives in the form of an old love, revealing far more than she'd ever intended. Levi's love is tested, Aurora's life is threatened, and through it all, a little girl is the catalyst.