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Dragged kicking and screaming…
I used to be a software engineer by profession, but I have to confess even then I had this love/hate relationship with technology. Even though I learn pretty quickly, I resent the time it takes to...
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Early Women Writers
Megan and I are at the RWA New England Chapter Conference this weekend. We will be celebrating Romance Writers (mostly women) of the 21st century. We’ll also be hanging out with Romance Writers of...
View ArticleThink of the grownups
Time to let the inner curmudgeon out for some exercise. So first of all we had Young Adult. Okay. Inner curmudgeon: Couldn’t they read Wuthering Heights? Then New Adult. Okay. I think. Inner...
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Circulating Libraries and Beyond
Aren’t we lucky that books are so available to us? Today we have so many choices. Hardback books, paperback books, ebooks. We can buy books online, in mega-bookstores, small independent bookstores,...
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Welcome to the Self Publishing Rookery
(Only) historical note: The Rookeries were the notorious, filthy, crime-ridden slums of London, cleared by the Victorians, whose notorious, filthy, crime-ridden slums were cleared by the Blitz and...
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Mulling on Black Friday
Here’s the view off my back deck. So pretty! I have nothing very Regency for you today, except the thought that while Christmas is mentioned in many (all?) of Jane Austen’s novels, I can’t recall any...
View ArticleTired Tropes I Could Do Without
This year I received NINE books to judge in RWA’s RITA contest. It appears, from online discussions, that people who are open to judging a broad range of categories can get swamped, as I have. Unless...
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Oh What a Circus … er … um … or Not
When you’ve spent more than a decade reading books from the 19th century, reading books set in the 19th century, writing books set in the 19th century, and researching everyday life in the 19th...
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Yes, Mr Darcy’s Fortune Was Likely Tied to Slavery
Recently, an article about whether or not Mr. Darcy’s fortune was based on slavery set my Twitter feed alight. And I thought, well of course it was (in one form or another). This is the dark side of...
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Red, Charlie boy. *Red*!
As is often the case, today’s post is brought to you courtesy of Twitter. After the first episode of Wolf Hall aired, there was a raging debate about the colors used in the costumes. I think the main...
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About Those Dukes…
Duke of Wellington For a while now, dukes have been running rampant through the Regency fiction genres, especially in Historicals, but even in Trads. Do you love this? Hate this? Don’t care? The trend...
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Romance, Feminism, and Academia
I’ve been thinking a lot about Gail’s post last week “About Those Dukes”, and also about this this article in the Smithsonian Magazine, “Why Can’t Romance Novels Get Any Love?” The article talks about...
View ArticleChristmas Rant and Some Music
Long time visitors to the Riskies know I have a complicated relationship with Christmas. I detest the whole commercial aspect and I also despise the idea that the season magically fixes things....
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Helping Hands: Life with Servants
Do you ever catch yourself wishing you had a cook and a housekeeper? How about a lady’s maid to do your hair, or a footman you could send to the store? My schedule imploded this week thanks to a big...
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Some possibly unpopular thoughts
A few things have happened in the last month or so to put diversity in historical romance at the forefront of my mind. All of them came to a head when I was reading tweets discussing the recent post on...
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Celebrate London!
George VI spoke those words in a broadcast on September 23, 1940, during the London Blitz, but are they not as true today? I wish I were in London today to stand with Londoners, resolute and...
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Dieting in the Georgian Era
“A Voluptuary Under The Horrors of Digestion”: 1792 caricature by James Gillray Today I’m going to defend a fellow author’s honor. I don’t actually know who the author is, but she could be any one of...
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Oh What a Circus … er … um … or Not
When you’ve spent more than a decade reading books from the 19th century, reading books set in the 19th century, writing books set in the 19th century, and researching everyday life in the 19th...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Yes, Mr Darcy’s Fortune Was Likely Tied to Slavery
Recently, an article about whether or not Mr. Darcy’s fortune was based on slavery set my Twitter feed alight. And I thought, well of course it was (in one form or another). This is the dark side of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Red, Charlie boy. *Red*!
As is often the case, today’s post is brought to you courtesy of Twitter. After the first episode of Wolf Hall aired, there was a raging debate about the colors used in the costumes. I think the main...
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