Some Some Summertime Summer Reads

  The thermometer tells us it's 100 degrees today, (thank you, Mercury, god of thermometers).

The cat is conked out on her back in the shade, too tired to harass the birds.  I'm listening to my heatstroke playlist. That's the one that starts with the Beachboy's Kokomo, ("Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya to ...") and shimmies on to the Lovin' Spoonful's Summer in the City, ("Doesn't seem to be a shadow  in the City").
Summer is upon us.

So let me ask, "What books would you take to the beach this summer?  Old friends?  New discoveries?"

There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs. 
                                 Henry Ward Beecher


Here in the South we know all about the heat index creeping stealthily up toward the triple digits.  We've raised 'doing nothing' to a graceful art form.  It's an art practiced by the swimming pool or a big 'ole lake,  or at least in company with a hose spraying around the backyard.  Bonus points for the lifestyle include barbecued ribs and cold Mountain Dew.  And beer.   

For me, any day of the simmering summer is incomplete without a book in the bag.  Or a couple books, since you never know exactly how the spirit will move you.  Summer reading needs the background noise of kids running around barefoot and yelling about nothing at all.  It needs a shady porch or umbrella and maybe a dragonfly hovering just off the port side of the hammock.    

I'll tuck an old friend in the straw bag -- Kai-Lung's Golden Hours by Ernest Bramah.  There's a funny, clever, dreamy, irrationality to it that suits hot weather and lying by the pool.  I own it in paperback, but it's free on e-readers, being out of copyright an' all. 

(Go ahead and click on any of these book names for more information 'bout the book.)

Jennifer Crusie always picks me up.  Funny, funny woman.  I haven't had a chance to read, Tell Me Lies yet, and I'm looking forward to it.  Susan Elizabeth Phillips has a new book out in July — The Great Escape: A Novel.  I might top those two off with rum and coke and Grace Burrowes' most recent book, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal.


Drop by Word Wenches for the rest of the 24 recommendations for summer reads.  Here.

A New Slant on Writing

In the Matthew Macfadyen / Keira Knightley 2005 production of Pride and Prejudice, there's a scene where Mr. Darcy is writing a letter, despite Miss Bingley's determination he shall pay attention to her instead.

 It reads, in part:

Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion. The perpetual commendations of the lady either on his hand-writing, or on the evenness of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern with which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue, and was exactly in unison with her opinion of each.
"How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter!"
He made no answer.
"You write uncommonly fast."
"You are mistaken. I write rather slowly."
"How many letters you must have occasion to write in the course of the year! Letters of business too! How odious I should think them!"
"It is fortunate, then, that they fall to my lot instead of to yours."




In that scene, we see Mr. Darcy writing his letter using a "writing slope''.  Go ahead.  Rent the film and see.


This 'writing slope' is a wood box with an angled surface, elevated a couple inches above the desk or table, slanted and padded with felt or leather.  See the folks at the left using these.  The man in the wig is Samuel Johnson.

This writing slope might be a heavy object, made for use in the comfort of the library or study.  It might stay at home, perfectly content, and never go adventuring.  Or the writing slant might lead a very exciting life indeed ...







Toward the end of the Eighteenth Century, the writing slope shrank in size, sprouted handles, and transformed itself into a sort of traveling desk. 


It was now both a a writing surface and a sturdy wood box for transporting and storing the impedimenta.  Like the stay-at-home writing slopes, these traveling desks or 'lap desks' were angled to provide that optimal slanted writing experience.

That writing desk on the far right, by the way, is said to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson. 

The post continues at Word Wenches.  Here

Forbidden Rose is Out In Italian (and some other covers)

Forbidden Rose is coming to Italy.  Here.  I think maybe today.  I am so happy.

If you have an Italian grandmother, this will doubtless make a good present for her.

Okay.  Okay.  I know this is not of great general interest to anyone reading an English-language blog.  But my very first foreign translation, many years ago, was into Italian and I am just delighted and a half to see Forbidden Rose travel to that far country.


ETA:

Alert Reader Laura points out My Lord and Spymaster is available in -- I think that's Chinese.  The book is here and seems to be for sale, so if you happen to be learning to read Chinese it is available for a side-to-side. 

Following the MLAS tradition, established by the original, puzzling, this-is-not-related-to-the-story title, the Chinese cover has nothing whatsoever to do with the adventures of our Sebastian and Jess who, you will remember, only step foot on a ship while it is safely docked in London. 

I hope folks don't pick this one up looking for a hearty tale of adventure at sea.  And shipwreck.  I am uneasy about the fate of this ship on the cover. I mean, look at those rocks.  Ouch.

As long as I have you here looking at MLAS covers ... would you like to see the stunningly beautiful cover the German publisher has give me for My Lord and Spymaster?  Eine Riskante Affare.

Yes.  Of course you would.  Click on the picture and you'll get a close-up.

Isn't it lovely?


(It's up for pre-order here if you're studying German and want a good comparison read.  The first book, Die Geliebte des Meistrerspions, here, is a great translation.) 

Spymaster's Lady in audible German Woot! Woot!

It looks like The Spymaster's Lady (Die Geliebte des Meisterspions)
is coming out as an audible book in German next month. Here.  So wonderful!  Wow.

Der britische Meisterspion Robert Grey reist nach Frankreich, um die berüchtigte Spionin Annique Villiers aufzuspüren. Durch einen Zufall landen beide in derselben Gefängniszelle und müssen zusammenarbeiten, um sich zu befreien. Robert glaubt, dass Annique wertvolle Informationen über Napoleons geplanten Angriff auf England besitzt. Er will sie deshalb nach London bringen. Doch Annique gelingt es ein ums andere Mal, sich ihm zu entziehen. Und Robert muss schon bald feststellen, dass die schöne Französin tiefere Gefühle in ihm weckt.

Here's the printed version in German, btw.  I'm told the translation is wonderful.

Auction Stuff of Beauty and Coolness

Every year, Brenda Novak holds an online auction in aid of diabetes research.  Have a look at it here.

Some wonderful items on offer.

Steampunk flash drive

Steampunk flash drive.   Turquoise stained glass box by author Chloe Jacobs.  Replica Regency-style rings.  Art deco necklace.

Chloe Jacobs' stained glass box

Name a character in an upcoming book by Carly Phillips, Shiloh Walker, or Amanda Brice.

Tiny lizard pot for seeds

14" X 16" hand woven Thunderbird mat for your computer area or a tiny lizard pot.


Then there's YOUR favorite book covers made into a 3' X 3' quilt.  What could be cooler than that?

Then there's a really weird teapot. Or this pretty Edwardian pin.

An Edwardian pin.  1910.

See Mercedes Lackey's autographed books and matching necklace and another one.

Mercedes Lackey necklace

Books.  Books.  Books.

Two ARCs from Sherry Thomas who won the Historical Romance RITA last year.  

The remarkable Grace Burrowes offers an autographed book and a color NOOK!

Get FOUR of Loretta Chase's Traditional Regencies.  Signed by the author. I suspect these are difficult to come by.

Small Thunderbird weaving

I am just going to mention that four of the folks competing for the Historical Romance RITA have signed books available.  Loretta Chase, Elizabeth Hoyt, Kaki Warner and me.  Eileen Dreyer, another Finalist in that category, is doing a critique.  This is probably deeply significant.

Finally, we have author critiques.  You could not possibly do better than this.  I'm only going to list a few -- Kristan Higgins, Madeline Hunter, Candice Hern, Anna Campbell, Eileen Dreyer, Vanessa Kelly,  Delilah Marvelle, Karen Harper, and Lauren Willig.

Buy Me at the Brenda Novak Auction

The Classic cover

I have two offerings at Brenda Novak's auction.The first is all five of my books, including the hard copy of that first Sweet Romance from 1983.  I'll dedicate them any way you want.

This is the 1983 book

The auction doesn't say that I'm going to throw in about 10 pages of my draft of The Spymaster's Lady along with this.  The actual sheets with notes and writing on them.  It's the scene just AFTER Grey and Annique make love in the bathtub where Doyle and Grey and Adrian are in the office talking.   I found the pages stuffed into some old papers and I figger whoever buys the books might as well enjoy them.

The five books (and draft pages) are here.

The other offering is a 20-page critique of your manuscript.  I will try to be kindly and useful.  That's found here.

Romance covers ... what's wrong with them

This is what I hate about Romance covers ... even covers that are well done.

Look at this:

I picked these up at random from four genres.  First thing we notice is these covers are, like, different from one another.  The covers have something to do with what's inside the book.

Look at the titles --

The Gunslinger
The Shoemaker's Wife
Clockwork angel
Mockingjay
Iron Daughter
In Sunlight and in Shadow
Tigers in Red Weather
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Outlaw Album

The titles relate to what's in the book.  They're different from one another, and memorable.
There's no sense that the reader has to be hand-led to these books by having the covers and titles shout across the store -- "Generic YA!" or "Generic Mystery!"  

These distinct and memorable covers are picked from a couple of 'best of' lists: Here are six historical fiction covers.  Here's a round dozen YA covers.  Now we got a whole hundred of SF&;F covers. And here's a pack of ten mystery / suspense books.  

EDITED TO ADD:

Some of those covers above are, admittedly, best seller types.  Are bestsellers the only books to get good, distinctive covers?

Not so much.  Look at what they do with covers in a very small, very specific genre.  Cozy mystery shows us that a small genre doesn't have to mean cookie cutter titles and covers.  Here.  Cozy mystery are midlist books with individual, story-directed covers.   Publishers can afford to do this.

 

All three covers are recognizably cozy mysteries.  All show different aspects of the cozy mystery genre.  You aren't going to mistake one cover for the other or one title for the other. 

How about another niche genre where the books are midlist books, not national bestsellers.  Wanna see some Inspirational Romance covers?

I won't argue these are great art.  I won't say these are thrillingly original.  But see how the covers are talking to the reader?  They're saying there's an individual story inside this book and it matters.

 Now let us look at Historical Romance, 32 romance books, shall we? These are all well-regarded popular books.  Picking out some random covers.

And we have a passel of women with their clothes falling off. Sometimes, men with their clothes falling off. Sometimes both.
Forgettable covers. Essentially these are the same cover decked out in different colors.

Don't get me started on the trite, interchangeable, forgettable titles.

To Desire a Wicked Duke
After Dark with a Scoundrel
One Night is Never Enough
To Tempt a Rake
The Perfect Mistress
Seducing the Governess
Unveiled
Scandal of the Year
The Countess

Eight out of nine, perfectly forgettable titles.

What does this say to the world about Historical Romance?
It says, "One Romance book is like another."  It says, "No story inside this book, Ma'm. Just pick one at random."

This is so much lack of respect.
I hate this.

Print Publication or Self Publication

A Flask of Regency Liquor

No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men: but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.
Samuel Johnson

Today I'm over at Word Wenches, talking about Regency tipples.  The hard-drinking Regency or Georgian gentleman is such a stock figure in Romance, it's worth stopping a minute to wonder what sort of liquor he was likely to be imbibing. 

There was ale and beer, of course, and their cousin, porter.  Ale and beer weren't precisely a gentleman's drink, but it's likely your hero lifted a mug of ale before the hunt and he may well have drunk beer with his breakfast, especially if he lived in the deep country.
Beer and ale were drinks native to England, universal, and cheap.  The drink of the people, as it were.  Even small children drank a low-alcohol sort of beer called 'small beer' made from the second or third re-fermentation of the mash during brewing and containing just enough alcohol to preserve the drink.

By the Regency, the distinction between ale and beer lay not so much in the ingredients that made them up, as in the proportions.

Ale differs from beer in having fewer hops, which, giving less bitterness, leaves more of the soft smooth sweetness of the malt. It is usual, too, to brew it with pale malt, so that it is not so brown as beer. 
Scenes of British Wealth, Isaac Taylor, 1825.

Porter―later this was also called 'stout'―was a style of strong, dark, well-aged beer dating back to the Eighteenth Century, much favored by the working class of London.  Thus 'porter', because porters drank it.  Not a stylish beverage.  If you're wondering what it was like; Guinness is stout.

Why so much beer drinking?

See the rest of the article at Word Wenches.  Here  There's also a chance to win Black Hawk (or Forbidden Rose if you'd prefer that.)

I came across this list. It's from American Library Association at Booklist, Book Group Buzz.

I'm putting this list up -- well, it has me on it which is a non-inconsiderable part of why somebody sent me the URL -- because this is just a wonderful lineup of great 2011 Romance and Romance-related Books.   It includes a number of folks who do not compete for the RITA, so it draws from a wider pool than the RITA does.  

I do not know where I have seen a better round up of wonderful books.

Joanna Bourne The Black Hawk

Thea Harrison Dragon Bound

Loretta Chase Silk Is for Seduction

Eloisa James When Beauty Tamed the Beast

Nalini Singh Archangel’s Blade

Susan Elizabeth Phillips Call Me Irresistible

Julie Ann Long What I Did for the Duke

Pamela Clare Breaking Point

Darynda Jones First Grave on the Right

Nalini Singh Kiss of Snow

Meredith Duran A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal

J. R. Ward Lover Unleashed

J. D. Robb New York to Dallas