~Regency Wednesday~ Slug-A-Bed

Haven't done a slang definition in a while, huh? Here's a few I randomly selected from my handy 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Enjoy! ☺

SLUG-A-BED.

A drone, one that cannot rise in the morning. 

SLY BOOTS.

A cunning fellow, under the mask of simplicity.

SMABBLED, or SNABBLED.

Killed in battle.*

*Taken verbatim from the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Get your free kindle copy from Amazon HERE. 

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Staind ~ Epiphany

~Regency Wednesday~ Bookbinder

It's been so long since we've had a Regency Wednesday, and I thought it was time. I probably won't be able to do this regularly, but I'll aim for every few weeks or so to share just a tidbit of Regency trivia for your enjoyment. 

For this edition of Regency Wednesday, let's take a look at another Regency profession.

The bookbinder.

  "BOOK-BINDING is the art of sewing together the sheets of a book and securing them with a back and side boards. Binding is distinguished from stitching, which is merely sewing leaves, without bands or backs; and from half-binding, which consists in securing the back only with leather, the pasteboard sides being covered with blue or marbled paper; whereas, in binding, both back and sides are covered with leather."*

It goes on to talk about the history of bookbinding and how there's no way to be sure exactly when it started. Very interesting reading. ☺

*Taken verbatim from The Book of English Trades, 1818, p. 29. Get the Google e-book HERE.

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Staind ~ Epiphany

*SALE* Death Becomes Her

Something just kinda hit me and I decided to offer the digital edition of  Death Becomes Her for only $0.99 for a limited time. This is the slightly morbid (the heroine steals dead bodies for the anatomy schools) serial Regency romance I wrote for InD'tale Magazine over the course of a year.

But there's a bonus! This compilation includes a short story called The Devil She Knows that the magazine's readers didn't get to see. This is a story I wrote just for my readers and fans, a thank you just for being you. I hope you enjoy it! ♥

Get your copy from Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Amazon (CA), Amazon (AU), Smashwords, B&N, Apple (iTunes), or Kobo. 

This offer is only good until Jan 1, 2016 so tell your friends and grab your discounted copy while you can! Have a wonderful rest of 2015, my lovelies! 

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Imagine Dragons ~ It's Time

Taking a break...

It's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't dropped off the earth, or died, or anything equally dramatic. I'm taking a break. A really, really long one. From blogging, writing, cover design—basically, from everything except my family. I have written some since I disappeared, but the last few months have been virtually "written word" free. It's strange and I can't say that I like it. But things are settling down around here, so I hope to get back to writing again soon. The cover design, however, will remain on the backburner, with only a few exceptions. I am sorry about that, but something had to go.

That's all. I just wanted to let you know. I should have done so earlier than this, but I couldn't face things at first. This was a really tough decision. 

I might be making an online appearance November 10. My bestie's next book is coming out and that's the day of her book release party. I don't really want to miss that. She's so awesome! ♥ 

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Imagine Dragons ~ Demons

Death Becomes Her is FREE!

Death Becomes Her is free in the kindle store, Dec 21-25! 

Grab a copy and enjoy! ♥

The Amazon blurb:

Death Becomes Her originally appeared in InD'tale Magazine, written and published in eleven parts. It has been compiled here, with minimal changes from how each part originally appeared in that publication.

This compiled edition includes an exclusive bonus short story, The Devil She Knows.

Total word count: over 43,000 (novella + short story)

A Gothic tale of love...and body-snatching...

Melly lives in darkness, stealing bodies in the blackest night to support her sisters and herself. Coming face-to-face with a new doctor, one who doesn't view the resurrectionists with quite the same acceptance as his predecessor, she must decide what is best for her family—a family who desires to choose for themselves.

Available for free in the following Amazon stores: 

US | UK | DE | FR | ES | IT | NL | JP | IN | CA | BR | MX | AU

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Sick Puppies ~ Should've Known Better

~Snippet Saturday~ Deception

How about a little taste of Deception? This was my fifth book published, the first published by TreasureLine Publishing. It’s a favorite of mine for a variety of reasons, the main one being how delightfully horrible my Heartless Duke is in this particular story. ♥ 

---

Taken from the middle of chapter six...


A week later, Aurora still suffered the ill effects of the Duke of Derringer’s well-chosen and completely hateful words. Many shunned her despite her remarkable lineage and some gentlemen had been forward enough to offer her carte blanche. Ladies tended to avoid her company altogether.

Aurora didn’t care. She was more worried about the duke’s whispered words to her. It was nothing more than a man’s name, but that man’s connection to her would destroy her reputation as assuredly as Derringer had destroyed Miss Weatherby’s.

The gossip surrounding her name now would stop just as soon as someone provided the ton with something even better to talk about. If they discovered her secret, nothing short of a royal scandal could replace the gossip. And although the royals were quite willing to make a byword of themselves, lately they had been rather circumspect.

---

If this little snippet intrigued you, you can find more info, links to more excerpts, and purchasing links on my website HERE. Thanx for stopping by!

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Nickelback ~ Figured You Out

~Regency Wednesday~ The Jeweller

Time for another clipping from The Book of English Trades. This week let's take a look at a profession that is near and dear to my heart. ☺ 

The Jeweller.

"It appears from history that the profession of a Jeweller is of very ancient date: for we read in the Bible that Aaron had a breast-plate set with a variety of precious stones; and in succeeding ages, there is frequent mention of rings and other ornaments being made of gold and set with stones. Hence, the name Jeweller, one who sets jewels or precious stones, is properly derived.

  There is scarcely a nation in the world who has not employed Jewellers of some kind or another."

And, of course, this is an English publication so... 

  "Civilized countries have greatly improved the art of Jewellery. The French for lightness and elegance of design, have surpassed their neighbours; but the English Jewellers, for excellence of workmanship, have been, and still are superior to every other nation."

That made me chuckle.

It goes on to talk about a few of the most commonly used gems and various tools of the trade, as well as the amount of money jewelers generally could expect for their labor.

*Clipped from The Book of English Trades (1818), p. 210-216. Get the Google e-book HERE.

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Trapt ~ Headstrong

~Regency Wednesday~ Paper Maker

Time for another clipping from The Book of English Trades. For today's post, let's take a look at the...

PAPER MAKER.

"The art of making paper, as at present practised, is not of a very ancient date; paper made of linen rags appears to have been first used in Europe towards the beginning of the thirteenth century, but of its origin nothing can with certainty be affirmed." 

The chapter continues to describe various "papers" throughout history. They also talk about "current" paper making practices and materials. 

  "Another important alteration has been recently made in the art of paper-making, by the adoption of machinery for fabricating it from the pulp, and at one operation pressing it between the felts, and rendering it fit for the second pressure, by which an immense saving of labour is made, and the quality of the paper improved. Messrs. Fourdriniers have a patent for these machines, of which they have erected a great number in different parts of the kingdom.
  Paper has been occasionally made of straw, and other materials not commonly in use, and Mr. Koop, in 1802, obtained a patent for making straw-paper, but we have not heard that the use of this article is become common.
  Paper is subject to heavy excise duties, the particulars of which we have not room to enumerate; and the manufacturer of paper must also take out an annual license."

*Clipped from The Book of English Trades (1818), p. 284-292. Get the Google e-book HERE.

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus ~ Face Down

My Newest Release

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Death Becomes Her was available for pre-order on Amazon. Well, as of Oct 20, it's officially released and can be purchased for only 99¢! Woo-hoo! This is a special introductory price, so grab it cheap while you can! ;) 

This book is the compiled version of the serial Regency that appeared in InD'tale Magazine and includes an exclusive short story called The Devil She Knows.

A Gothic tale of love and...body-snatching. 

Melly lives in darkness, stealing bodies by moonlight to support her sisters and herself. Coming face-to-face with a new doctor, one who doesn't view the resurrectionists with quite the same acceptance as his predecessor, she must decide what is best for her family—a family who desires to choose for themselves.

Currently available only on Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, AU. Excerpts can be found on my website HERE.


♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Sixx: A.M. ~ Life is Beautiful

~Regency Wednesday~ The Apothecary

After a few weeks of not posting anything on this blog, I'm back. My apologies for disappearing. I have another clipping for you from The Book of English Trades. Enjoy! ♥ 

"The office of Apothecary is to attend on sick persons, and to prepare and to give them medicines, either on his own judgment, or according to the prescription of the Physician."

Pretty straightforward. It goes on to explain that an apothecary wasn't always someone who administered medications, but a simple shopkeeper, and how that changed and evolved over the years. 

Of particular note is the end paragraph of this section: 

"In China they have a singular mode of dispensing their medicines. In the public squares of their cities, there is a very high stone pillar, on which are engraven the names of all sorts of medicines, with the price of each; and when the poor stand in need of such assistance, they go to the treasury, where they receive the price each medicine is rated at."

I admit to very little knowledge of Chinese history. This is intriguing, though, and bears looking into. ☺

*Clipped from The Book of English Trades, pgs.1-5. Get the Google e-book HERE.

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

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♫♪ Skillet ~ The Last Night