Biography of a Cover

with Anna Campbell

Hiya Love Cats!

And a specially big hello to Sharon Archer who invited me to be your guest today to talk about my latest release, the novella HER CHRISTMAS EARL, which is currently available as an ebook for the princely sum of 99 cents! 

Picture 1

 



This is my third Christmas novella (following THE WINTER WIFE in 2012 and “His Christmas Cinderella” in the free anthology A GROSVENOR SQUARE CHRISTMAS in 2013). I love having something out to fit the season – makes me feel like the Regency Romance Santa Claus. 

Picture 2

I’m particularly proud of the cover for HER CHRISTMAS EARL because for the first time, it’s an image based on a photograph I took. So I thought I might give Love Cats and visitors a whole new love story – Anna Campbell and her new cover, a happy ending for all! 

 

Picture 3

On 30th August, I attended the annual Picnic at Pemberley at the Abbey Museum at Caboolture north of Brisbane. One of my friends Michelle Skidmore was dressed in a gorgeous red Regency ballgown that would have made Mr. Darcy drool. As I was snapping some pics of Michelle, the other friend I was with, Lisa Barry, said, “Wow, that would make a wonderful romance novel cover.” I don’t know if the Abbey has bells but one started to ring in my mind. I asked Michelle if she’d mind a new career as a cover model and she was most excited to set up as Fabio’s rival. 



Of all the shots I took, there were three I particularly liked (the first three pictures in the blog). I emailed Kim Killion, the designer I’d chosen, and asked her if any would be suitable. To my delight, she picked number three, the one of Michelle standing in the doorway to the church at the Abbey. The others were apparently a little bit dark. 



So then I waited in suspense to see what she came up with - and the answer was the lovely cover with my image of Michelle superimposed against that pretty arch so that it looked like my heroine Philippa was standing on a Regency garden terrace. I love all the red – it looks like Christmas to me. I wasn’t however so crazy on the white writing which appeared a little bland to my eyes. 


 

However, I’d been caught before with choosing covers that look great on my desktop computer and then fade to nothing in a thumbnail (the world of apps is completely unknown to me, but I’ve been told that’s the case with earlier indie books of mine). I asked Kim to change the writing to gold which had a more festive look. But checking with my more tech-savvy friends confirmed that the gold was very insipid in the smaller image. 






A plea to Kim to come up with something that popped in a thumbnail resulted in the final version of the cover, this very pretty red one with the filigree decoration around the title. And I have to say I love it! It’s romantic and Christmassy – and Michelle really does look fabulous in her red dress! 

 
So that’s the biography of the cover of HER CHRISTMAS EARL: A REGENCY NOVELLA. 


Here’s the blurb for the story inside the covers:
 
No good deed goes unpunished…

To save her hen-witted sister from scandal, Philippa Sanders ventures into a rake’s bedroom – and into his power. Now her reputation hangs by a thread and only a hurried marriage can rescue her. Is the Earl of Erskine the heartless libertine the world believes? Or will Philippa discover unexpected honor in a man notorious for his wild ways?

Blair Hume, the dissolute Earl of Erskine, has had his eye on the intriguing Miss Sanders since he arrived at this deadly dull house party. Now a reckless act delivers this beguiling woman into his hands as a delightful Christmas gift. Is fate offering him a fleeting Yuletide diversion? Or will this Christmas Eve encounter spark a passion that lasts a lifetime?

You can read an excerpt on my website: Click here

HER CHRISTMAS EARL is available at the bargain price of 99 cents from:

Amazon:
 
Smashwords:
 
So what do you like to see on a cover? Clinches? Girls in pretty dresses? Something symbolic like a locket or a shoe? A bare-chested hunk? Do covers influence your book purchases? 

I’ve got a download of HER CHRISTMAS EARL: A REGENCY NOVELLA for someone who comments today (international). Good luck!

A Christmas Special with Anna Campbell

I'm thrilled to have lovely Anna Campbell here today to talk about her Christmas novella, THE WINTER WIFE, and to share some Christmas history.  So without further ado, I'm handing over to Anna...


Hiya Love Cats! 

This is just the purr-fect place for me to be today! I think you’re all the cat’s whiskers! OK, enough of the feline revelry, let’s get into some Regency revelry.

But first, a word from our sponsor – and no, it’s not Whiskas!

On 1st December, I published an e-novella with a Christmas theme, THE WINTER WIFE. It’s an extended version of my first reunion romance, written a couple of years ago for THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF REGENCY ROMANCE. I’d always wanted to go back and give the Earl of Kinvarra and his estranged countess a bit more room to breathe so this year, I thought why not? 

Here’s the blurb:

Will a chance meeting on Christmas Eve…

Alicia Sinclair, Countess of Kinvarra, cannot believe that fate has been so cruel as to strand her on the snowy Yorkshire moors with her estranged husband as her only hope of rescue. During their rare encounters, the arrogant earl and his countess act like hostile strangers. Now that Alicia has fallen into Kinvarra’s power, will he seek revenge for her desertion? Or does the dark, passionate man she once adored have entirely different plans for his headstrong wife?

...deliver a second chance at love?

Sebastian Sinclair, Earl of Kinvarra, has spent ten wretched years regretting the mistakes he made with his young bride, but after long separation, the barriers between them are insurmountable. Until an unexpected encounter one stormy night makes him wonder if the barriers of mistrust and thwarted desire are so insurmountable after all. When winter weather traps Sebastian and his proud, lovely wife in an isolated inn, could the earl and his headstrong countess have a Christmas miracle in store?

You can buy THE WINTER WIFE: A CHRISTMAS NOVELLA from Amazon - click here!

 





Given THE WINTER WIFE’S Christmassy atmosphere and the time of year, I thought I’d talk a little bit about Christmas in the Regency.

You might be slightly surprised to hear that Christmas as we celebrate it is mainly a Victorian invention. In fact, in the Regency there were people like Leigh Hunt the writer actively working to revive interest in Christmas which was fading from the public mind as a general celebration.

Can you believe that? The Sheriff of Nottingham nearly got his way! They almost cancelled Christmas! A large part of the revival of interest in Christmas can be put down to Charles Dickens and his A CHRISTMAS CAROL which was published in 1843, well past the Regency age.

So what would you do at a Regency Christmas? Well, you’d go to church. It was primarily a religious occasion. You’d do something charitable. If you were lucky, you might have a nice dinner with friends and family. Gift giving, especially among adults, doesn’t seem to have been widespread.

All the tinsel and stuff is a later tradition although “Deck the Halls” got it right – one of the oldest traditions was bringing winter greenery inside. You can see a trace of that in the picture with the holly in the chandelier. Kissing under the mistletoe was also a game people played – lots of romantic possibilities there! 

George III - portrait by Zoffany

A couple of unexpected facts. It’s generally accepted that the Christmas tree came to England with Prince Albert when he married Victoria. That actually isn’t so – George III married a German princess Sophie Caroline Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (long name to put on a Christmas card! Another Victorian tradition. First commercially available in 1843, clearly a BIG year for Christmas!). It seems she brought the tradition of having a tree in the house for Christmas with her, although the practice didn’t spread much beyond the royal family until after Victoria married Albert in 1840. Another surprise is that Christmas puddings (which originally included as much meat as sweet stuff) weren’t a widespread part of the season until the 1840s either.

So a Regency Christmas was a much quieter, less commercial affair than the day we enjoy in 2012. However you spend the 25th December, I hope it’s happy and full of love and laughter.

Do you have a favourite Christmas romance? One of my favourites is LoveCat Michelle Douglas’s CHRISTMAS AT CANDLEBARK FARM, a beautiful story. I love to read Christmas books at this time of year so I look forward to hearing your recommendations. 

Thanks, Anna!  I always enjoy your fascinating historical snippets!  

Anna is giving away a download of THE WINTER WIFE: A CHRISTMAS NOVELLA to one lucky commenter!  This contest is open internationally!  Good luck, everyone!   

Punch, Anyone?

by Emily May

Imagine the year is 1816 and you're at the Worthington's masquerade ball...

There's something about a masquerade—a freedom, an edge of the risqué.  The music has an edge to it, a slight wildness not found at more formal balls. The waltz is no staid Almack’s dance, but something far more exhilarating and fast-paced.The musicians’ exuberance is infectious. Your partner whirls you around the dance floor until you're breathless and laughing. 

The music stops. A winged fairy flits past, giggling behind her mask, pursued by a horned satyr.

‘Would you like some punch?’ your partner asks, as he escorts you off the dance floor.
 
Recklessly you nod.

~

People drank a lot of alcohol in the Regency. It wasn't uncommon for men to have ale at breakfast, or to drink several bottles of wine with their dinner. So at the Worthington's masquerade ball there is alcohol aplenty. Deep red clarets, light Rhone whites, sparkling flutes of champagne -- and the famous Worthington punch.

There were a number of different types of punch during the Regency. Rum Punch had rum (obviously), lemon, arrack (a coarse spirit), and sugar. Negus consisted of port, lemon, sugar, and spices. Regent's Punch was a potent mix of rum, brandy, hock (a white wine), curacao (an orange-flavoured liqueur), champagne, and various fruits.

~

It's a variation of Regent's Punch that the Worthingtons serve, with slices of strawberry and orange floating in it. You sip it, as the music swirls around you. Eyes glitter behind masks, laughter is loud, and the guests blatantly flirt with one another as they dance.

And maybe you drink a little too much punch and steal an illicit kiss with another guest...

~

That particular tale, with the masquerade ball and the punch, is Lady Isabella's, the heroine of Beauty and the Scarred Hero, which is out this month in the UK. I've never been to a proper masquerade ball, but  I've been to a number of fancy dress parties, and they've been loads of fun! I can only imagine what a proper masquerade ball would be like, with everyone masked. I think it would be a heady experience--especially if Regent's Punch was served!

Here's me as a cancan girl at a Wild West fancy dress party
(with two cowgirls called  Ali and Paula)

Have you ever been to a fancy dress party? What's your favourite costume?!

Glasses and music image courtesty of WPClipart.

Back from the Dead...

by Emily May


So, it's winter in Regency London, the Thames has frozen over, and you've gone ice-skating. Horror! You fall through the ice and are dragged out apparently dead. How do you think you would be revived?


Well, let's start by saying that Regency methods of reviving drowning victims were very different from modern methods! Tobacco smoke would probably have been involved. If you were lucky it would have been puffed into your lungs; if you were unlucky it would have been puffed into your...er...rectum.

That's right. One method for reviving drowning victims was a tobacco smoke enema. Here is a picture of one of the devices designed for this purpose.



Enough to put you off ice-skating, isn't it?!

Back in the Regency, 'apparent death' was treated by warmth and stimulation, and tobacco smoke, being a 'stimulating vapour', was a popular cure for drowning. (Tobacco was also used to cure many other ailments, including headaches, stomach cramps, intestinal worms, gout, and -- ironically -- cancer.)

In 1774, two London physicians founded the Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned, later renamed the Royal Humane Society. (I much prefer the earlier name!) The society provided a number of tobacco smoke resuscitation kits in strategic locations along the River Thames, for the revival of drowning victims.




So, knowing that if you fell through the ice and drowned, you'd be resuscitated by having tobacco smoke puffed into a place tobacco smoke should never be puffed, do you think you'd have gone ice-skating on the Thames ... or not?




Personally, the tobacco smoke enema is something I would have wanted to avoid -- but the skating looks so much more fun than merely watching from the shore! Would you have risked it, or not?

Slumming it...

by Emily May


What I'm reading: Tempting the Negotiator by Zana Bell

Listening to: Salmonella Dub

Watching: Outback Wildlife Rescue

Making me smile: the snowball tree is flowering!


This month my third Regency romance, The Unmasking of a Lady, is out in the UK and North America. This is what I call my 'slum' book. Yes, there are glittering ballrooms, but my hero and heroine also venture into London's slums on several occasions.

To research the slums, I turned to Charles Dickens. He's a little after my time period, but he had personal experience of the slums. I thought I'd share some of his truly flavoursome descriptions, ones you can taste on your tongue!

From Bleak House:

...a black, dilapidated street, avoided by all decent people ... these tumbling tenements contain, by night, a swarm of misery. As on the ruined human wretch, vermin parasites appear, so, these ruined shelters have bred a crowd of foul existence that crawls in and out of gaps in walls and boards; and coils itself to sleep, in maggot numbers, where the rain drips in; and comes and goes, fetching and carrying fever...

Also from Bleak House:

...Mr Snagsby passes along the middle of a villainous street, undrained, unventilated, deep in black mud and corrupt water--though the roads are dry elsewhere--and reeking of such smells and sights that he, who has lived in London all his life, can scarce believe his senses. Branching from this street and its heaps of ruins, are other streets and courts so infamous that Mr Snagsby sickens in body and mind, and feels as if he were going, every moment deeper down, into the infernal gulf.

And from Oliver Twist:

The kennel was stagnant and filthy. The very rats, which here and there lay putrfying in its rottenness, were hideous with famine.

Can't you just smell that rat? Fabulous stuff! I had a lot of fun writing the slums scenes. Thank you, Dickens, for painting such vivid word-pictures!

Any Dickens fans out there? Or not? I have to confess that I find him rather wordy and a bit over the top at times, but he's great for dipping into for descriptions like those above. And there have been some marvellous BBC adaptations of his books!