I wanted to set the dates here and the ages. I hope I have all these right.
Leesee ...
Doyle and Maggie's Story takes place in July, 1794
The Spymaster's Lady -- 1802
My Lord and Spymaster -- 1811
Her Ladyship's Companion -- 1818
Birthdates. Doyle in 1764. Maggie in 1770. Grey in 1775. Sebastian in 1784 Adrian and Anneka in 1782, Jess in 1790.
Adrian and Anneka are the same age? How did I miss that? Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI am fully expecting My Lord and Spymaster to be waiting on the doorstep for me tonight. It better be! Grrrrr....
Hi Betty ...
ReplyDeleteThey're within a few months of each other. He's just slightly older, I think.
Wow these dates are surprising. I just assumed MLAS took place at roughly the same time as SML. I still haven't gotten my copy yet. *is sad*
ReplyDeleteThank you for that. I was having a hard time working out how old Adrian would have been in Russia.
ReplyDelete(Just finished MLAS. *love*)
I haven't gotten my copy of MLAS yet (very sad--had to order a copy as B and N lost their 5 copies)
ReplyDeleteSo I don't know whether Adrian is still single in it--do you know what time, roughly, his book would end up being?
Joanna,
ReplyDeleteI just finished My Lord and Spymaster and I loved it. I feel like I know Sebastian better than I did Grey, and I don't know why that is. I like them both, but I adore Adrian, and hope you find a good woman for him, an extraordinary woman who loves him.
I have a few questions -- does Jess know that Hawk the Hand is Adrian? Since Sebastian is not really a spy, who does the title refer to?
Thanks,
Martha
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteJust finished MLAS. Lovely read. I am somewhat bereft that it's over. You know that after-a-good-book let down? Yeah. It's like that. {sigh}
Jess is a marvelous creation -- so straightforward, and cunning at the same time. So very at home in, and yet unsullied by, the seedy underworld of her past. Don't know how you pulled that off without it seeming contrived, but you did, masterfully. I bow to your talent. {s}
Sebastian is ... delicious. Not a dish I'd turn down. {coff} 'Nuff said.
Doyle -- what fun to see him again. A teddy bear you can trust to turn grizzly if you need him to. Can't wait to read his story.
And, of course, my Adrian. Alas, I fear I'm still smitten. He can play with the steak knives in my cutlery drawer anytime he likes. ;-)
Thanks for being a writer, Jo. And for sharing.
Linda
Hi Anon --
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine how B&N lost their copies of My Lord and Spymaster. So careless of them ...
Adrian's story comes in 1818. Way kinda in the back of my mind I'm figuring out how to work it.
I know who his woman is, which is a good start
Hi Sleary --
ReplyDeleteI am so very glad you liked My Lord and Spymaster.
Thanks for coming by to tell me.
Hi Anon (2) --
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for liking My Lord and Spymaster. Oh yes. Thank you.
I'm glad you feel you know Sebastian reasonably well. I'm working on adding more depth to my heroes, (Can one 'add' depth? Wouldn't you have to subtract it?)
and making them more accessible.
Leesee ... No, Jess doesn't connect the spy Adrian with Hawker the Hand at all. She never ran into Adrian in that incarnation.
And that brings us to
The Title.
Ah. The title.
The wise and canny folks in marketing actually came up with the title before I wrote the manuscript. It doesn't just precisely and closely relate to events in the story.
Hi Linda
ReplyDelete**He can play with the steak knives in my cutlery drawer anytime he likes. ;-)**
Oh snurgle.
I love that. It is so like him.
Adored Spymaster's Lady to point of pathology and nothing can ever compete with it, but My Lord and Spymaster comes close. I am now fascinated by/in love with Lazarus. Was pleased when Fluffy came back in the end and even more pleased when you didn't explain it. Very satisfying, somehow. BTW, thought reviewer at AAR was OUT OF HER MIND when she quibbled with your sentence writing. Please don't change a thing.
ReplyDeleteCouple of questions: Is Jess the "package" Adrian & Co rescue in Spymaster's Lady? And how did Adrian (love Adrian, just like everyone else) get Grey's job? And, most importantly, where are Grey & Anneka in 1811? Not totally out of the game, I hope.
Thanks for your books and your blog. Love the snapshots. Any chance your oop book(s) might be re-issued?
Just call me Hungry for More...
Hi Emlyn --
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you liked Spymaster's Lady.
My goal right now is to make "Maggie's story" better than Spymaster's Lady.
*g*
>>> Lazarus.<<<
I'm very proud of Lazarus. He's an evil bastard ... who's played the part of an evil bastard so long, he can't be quite serious about it any more.
>>>> Is Jess the "package" Adrian & Co rescue in Spymaster's Lady?<<<
Yes indeed.
Wow. Good catch.
>> where are Grey & Anneka in 1811? Not totally out of the game, I hope.<<<<
They're in the field, in France, living under deep cover.
>>>>Any chance your oop book(s) might be re-issued? <<<
I shouldn't think it'd be worth it.
It's deeply ... so so.
Thanks for the news on Grey & Anneka & all the rest. I'll bet "deeply so-so" means deeply flawed but also quite interesting and worth a read. I suppose I'll have to wait on Maggie's story. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThought of something else-- any chance you might write a short story or novella featuring the further adventures of grey & anneka? Would so love it.
ReplyDeleteHi Emlyn --
ReplyDeleteY'know, short story and novel are different art forms. I'm not altogether sure I COULD plot and write a short story. *g*
I'll admit I would like to see them again.
grey & anneka story-seed planted. my work is done. *g*
ReplyDeleteFirst off- I LOVED My Lord and Spymaster. The one scene I keep coming back to is when Jess is lying in the grass. The whole bit about clover and horehair and Sebastian making love to her eyebrows... I've tried to pick apart what is so powerful about it, all the layers and language, what it makes me feel and how. Did it take you a while to write that scene? Did it just come out as magic?
ReplyDeleteHow long does it take you to plot and write a book? When will Maggie's story be done?
Thanks for all your posts on writing instruction etc. I appreciate it! The method to the madness.
Is there an interview with you anywhere? I missed your month at Julia Quinn and Eloisa James' BB.
Have you ever thought about hosting an online workshop?
OK- enough with the questions ;-)