Historical Romance and Historical Fantasy

Yesterday I put a post up on Facebook about historical accuracy, and the lack of it. I had read a book description that described a book set in the 1860s as Regency.
Is it too much to ask that Amazon, authors and publishers at least try to get historical periods right?
In the replies, one author pointed out that she never used a specific time and place. That I didn’t understand at all. How can you call a book historical; when you don’t know when it’s set?
It isn’t just a picturesque setting and pretty clothes that makes a historical romance so fascinating. It’s the way people thought at the time, the way important events affected them, and what they thought about it.
It’s also details like character names and titles. Title errors are particularly annoying because they occur through the whole book. Like calling Sir Sydney Smith “Sir Smith,” or addressing a duke as “my lord.” I can’t read a book that does that. Besides, if the writer didn’t do that much research, how reliable is the rest of the book?
There is, I believe, a whole subgenre of “historical” romance, that I would call “fantasy historical.” This is a world where girls run about London on their own, and don’t get kidnapped for their fortunes or forced to marry someone. It’s a world where whores can marry dukes and become the centre of society, a world where a lady can pose as an actress with no ill effects on her social position. And the women all wear party dresses, but they dream of independence and turn down offers of marriage on a whim. Where a wife demands a divorce from her husband, and lives to fall in love with another member of the nobility.
Now let me say there is nothing wrong with these stories. They’re lighthearted, amusing and wile away a few hours. Since I research my period quite heavily, they’re not for me. I find them too superficial. They skim the surface but never explore issues, even their own, with any depth.
I would love a way of differentiating them from the historical romances that I love. Why not call them “fantasy historicals”? I write paranormal romance, where vampires and dragons live in our world. Fantasy. So why not fantasy historicals, too? A genre that could stand separate from historical romance. There are distinct markets for both, but they rarely coincide. Readers of Dorothy Dunnett aren’t going to migrate to Julie Garwood’s books, for instance, although both have their place.
I’m not talking about covers here. Cover art is often imposed on an author, who may have little or no control over it. And there is precious little historical stock art out there that has any degree of accuracy. The adage not to judge a book by its cover is never more true than it is today.
So let those of us who love history have our historical romances, and the people who enjoy vague history set in a vague periods have theirs, too.

The Girl in the Title

It started with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I think. Then there was Gone, Girl, the Girl on the Train and many, many other girls in various situations, places and circumstances, mostly with a hint of danger about them. Yes, the prevalence of the word “girl” in book titles has been apparent to us all and shows no sign of waning. And it’s not just girls. At the RNA Conference last summer Matt Bates, buyer for WH Smith Travel commented that over 60% of their best selling titles that year had a female noun in them whether it was girl, wife, mother, sister or something similar.

Choosing a title for a book is a difficult business so it’s always interesting to analyse what makes a particular theme popular. I hadn’t thought that “girl titles” were particularly applicable to historical fiction until I looked at the book charts and then I realised I was quite wrong. The Girl with No Name by Diney Costelloe is at the top of Amazon’s historical fiction charts. It has a nice, mysterious ring to it. There are others - and I've used a couple of covers to illustrate.

When will the popularity of girl titles end and what will be next? I wish I knew so I could get in first and start a trend rather than follow one.  In the meantime I'm

setting a challenge. Can we get the "girl craze" to work for Regency romance? I don’t really think the Girl and the Duke has the right nuance and if I re-titled my latest book The Girl in the House of Shadows it sounds like too much of a mouthful. Yet I feel sure we could make the “girl” trend work. So I am offering a copy of House of Shadows (without the girl) to any commenter who comes up with a good historical title featuring the word “girl” or even better re-writes a classic title in that way. When I threw down the gauntlet to my husband on this he came up with “The Girl on the Moor” which I thought was inspired. Over to you!

Getting to Know You - Christina Courtenay

I’ve never really found anywhere I truly belong – I grew up in Sweden with a Swedish mother and an English father, which meant I was a bit of a ‘mixed-up kid’.  But one place (if you can call it that) I’ve always felt an affinity with is the past.  I still remember my very first history lesson, learning about the Stone Age, and being taken on an outing to see a Stone Age boat carved out of a tree trunk.  I was amazed and fascinated and completely hooked on history from then on.  While others in my class groaned about having to learn the names of kings and queens, and the dates of battles and other important events, I lapped it all up – I couldn’t get enough!

Like most other authors, I was a voracious reader as a child and quickly outgrew the children’s section at the local library.  My dad had noticed my love of history and pointed me in the direction of books like The Odyssey and the Norse Sagas, as well as factual books about Tutankhamun and so on.  When he told me to read The Three Musketeers, however, I had found my favourite genre – historical romance.

It has to be said that there isn’t an awful lot of romance in that book (and what there is doesn’t end very happily, which frustrated me enormously!), but it showed me that such books existed and made me go looking for more.  I discovered writers like Victoria Holt and Madeleine Brent, but in my high school library I finally found the best thing ever – Georgette Heyer.  As a teenager I had a one hour long journey to school by train, when I was supposed to be revising or studying, but I’m afraid to say a lot of those journeys were spent in Regency England instead!  If you ask me, it was time well spent though as I learned a lot about the Regency period and my English (both grammar, vocabulary and spelling) improved no end.

These days I’m lucky enough to both read and write historical romance as much as I like!  I also spend time doing genealogy, a very addictive hobby which feeds my love of all things past.  There’s nothing more exciting than discovering an ancestor who has been eluding you for years.  I once found one after looking for him for ten years - talk about a Eureka moment!  And I almost missed him because the person entering his name in the baptismal register had smeared the J at the beginning of his name so it read <inkblob>oseph.  Thankfully the smudge couldn’t be any other letter so I knew I’d found ‘my’ Joseph.

So far my genealogy research hasn’t given me any ideas for a novel, but I’m hoping that one day soon I’ll come across the perfect hero or heroine among my ancestors.  Until then, I’ll just make them up!

Christina x

The Jade Lioness – historical romance and adventure set in 17^th century Japan, published by Choc Lit, out now as an ebook, coming in paperback October 2015

Loving the history-loving the romance

Welcome to the first of a new series about why we adore historical romance. Today, Lynne Connolly tells us about her passion for the genre.

I’ve always read history books. When I was little, one of our babysitters was a curator at the local museum in Leicester. My mother would take us there, and the curator, who was a family friend, would look after us while she did a bit of shopping. I grew up playing with old Victorian toys, and learning to be careful with them.

Was that the reason?

I read a lot. As a child I was ill a lot. I caught everything, so I spent a lot of time in bed or at home, in quarantine from some illness or other. When I’d done the school work sent to me, I read. Lots. From the Famous Five to Sherlock Holmes and The Saint. I read Dickens before I knew it was supposed to be difficult. And somewhere, I caught the bug for the past, and I started reading text books as well.

When I was thirteen I started reading Georgette Heyer’s books. She was my introduction to historical romance. I devoured these books. With their historical accuracy and the sweet romances, the witty banter followed at a kiss right at the end, they were the best introduction possible to the historical romance. I discovered others. Barbara Cartland I read and discarded. Her heroines were too waif-like for me, too needy, and after a few reads they all blended together into one. When I started reading books I’d read before, but not recognising it until I was halfway through, I realised I was done with that particular author.

Over the years I ventured forth. Katherine Winsor, Anya Seton, Nora Lofts, Sergeanne Golon, Juliette Benzoni – I read them all. for a while I lost the urge to read romance, although I continued to read history books and learn as much as I could. I went to university and learned how to do proper, methodical research and I loved it, loved squirreling out details about the periods I was most interested in.

Then, in the late eighties and early nineties, I discovered the American historical romance. I read Laura Kinsale and marvelled, then I read Catherine Coulter and marvelled for an entirely different reason. Some of the books I read had barely any connection with what I understood as real history. I couldn’t recognise the world I’d grown to love in the plethora of inaccuracies and “okay”s. I started making lists. Books I loved, books that didn’t suit me, and I found my comfortable spot. George Macdonald Fraser’s Flashman could never be described as a romance, but I eagerly awaited the release of every book. For wit and detail he’s rarely surpassed.

And Dorothy Dunnett. How to classify Dunnett? The answer is that you can’t. It’s impossible. Dunnett stands in a class of her own, with rich, heartbreaking romances, a plethora of characters that would do Dickens proud, and research so deep it takes my breath away every time I read it. Dunnett delved into the little-known places, instead of accepting the norms. She invented characters that shouldn’t work, that had their life and being in the mores of the time, but also speak to us. True, the first book takes a bit of effort, but after that, you’re flying.



I want a historical novel that reflects a true picture of its time. Where people move in the spaces allotted to them by history. To be honest, I don’t care if they have fleas and don’t bathe, something naysayers often produce as an excuse not to put proper history in their books. I want that love story, rich and fulfilling, reflecting the characters in the books. I want to be taken to another time, another place, but part of the thrill for me is knowing that the times, if not the characters, existed, that if a time machine existed, I would recognise the time from the books. Stepping into those pages with someone I can respect and enjoy.

Now I try to write them, and that's proved as addictive as reading them.

That’s not much to ask, is it?

Lynne Connolly

Lynne's latest book is Danger Wears White. You can find it from all Amazons including UK   US   

Titanic Affair

It’s over a hundred years since the sinking of Titanic, but the disaster still resonates with us today. The ship struck the iceberg on the night of April 14th, 2012 at 11.40 pm and sank in the early hours of April 15th at 2.20 am. I’m going to be blogging about my historical romance set on board the ill-fated ship.

 I believe it’s important to keep the story of Titanic alive because, to quote Edmund Burke, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it”.

Writing Titanic Affair was a new experience for me. Although I’d written a lot of historical romances by the time I wrote Titanic Affair, they were not based around any specific event, so the research process was very different. It was very important to me that the book was factually accurate and so I turned to survivors’ accounts and newspaper reports from the time, as well as the findings of the official investigation. I knew that my book would cover the entire voyage and so I didn’t just research the disaster, I also researched accounts of life on board before disaster struck.

My heroine, Emilia, is leaving England to live with her godmother in Ireland. She is poor, but her godmother has given her a first-class ticket and so she is able to enjoy everything the first-class passengers have at their disposal. One of her friends on board uses the gym, with its cycling and rowing machines as well as its more exotic pieces of apparatus such as an electric horse and an electric camel. She visits the Turkish Baths, with their lavish Moorish-style decorations, but stops short at using the swimming pool. She eats in many of the cafés and restaurants including the Café Parisien, with its beautiful trellis work and wicker furniture. She also dines in the dining saloon as well as the à la carte restaurant, which was run by Monsieur Gatti, who had previously managed the restaurant of the Ritz.

But her plan to stay with her godmother is destroyed when she runs into an old adversary. By the time she escapes, Ireland has been left behind and she is forced to remain on board as the ship heads out to America. Which brings her into an increasingly close relationship with  the wealthy Carl Latimer . . .

You will find a lot more about life on board, as well as the love story between Emilia and Carl, in Titanic Affair. It’s in a special promotion at the moment on the Kindle. You can buy the book at Amazon UK
Amazon US

A celebration.

I'm celebrating because at last, finally, all the books in my Company of Rogues Regency series are available for e-readers! They've lagged behind because of rights confusion, but now people can read the whole series without difficulty.

This definitely hasn't always been the case, because the first book came out in 1990, in the bad old days when we sometimes couldn't find books in a series, or not without paying horrible prices. Isn't progress wonderful? Now, with people already reading through the 15 books at a fast clip, they're enjoying an interesting experience, because the books cover only three years, 1814 to 1817. However, they're catching some of my continuity errors. I do try to keep track of everything, but 15 books, over 23 publishing years, and 36 writing years, as I wrote the first in 1977....

I've made a video to celebrate. You can see it here. video

Many of the books have won awards, and Unwilling Bride winning a RITA helped me become a member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame for Regency.  Some of my poor Rogues have been shot, stabbed,addicted to opium and made into sexual playthings, but by the end of the series story arc, they can all gather to celebrate triumph in the end.

Do you remember series where you had a terrible time to find all the books?

Which was the most frustrating? Are you finding all your favourites available for e-book now?

Cheers,

Jo

A Georgian romance set in North Yorkshire

Hi, this is Jo Beverley, bestselling historical romance author whose books are rarely seen on shelves here in the UK, even in charity shops. I tell you, that is a weird thing. As if I've shifted over into another dimension.

However, you can buy them on line from all the usual places.

My new book for 2011 is An Unlikely Countess, which is set in North Yorkshire, which is where we were living when I wrote it. That's a picture of old Northallerton up there. A photograph, which is hardly Georgian, but the best I could do to capture the old town.

Inspired by the Oscars*G* I created a video over the weekend, mostly as a way to show some of locations such as that from An Unlikely Countess, or used as inspiration, though giving them context turned it into a bit of a book trailer.


Anyway, it was fun. If all you want to produce a sort of video from still images, I recommend Photo Story. It's an old programme, but it's a free download it from Microsoft, and once you learn its fairly simple ways, it's easy to use.

If you like the video (it's just a few minutes long), I'd be delighted if you passed it on via Facebook, Twitter, and the usual places. Here's the link.

The pub date for An Unlikely Countess is tomorrow, March 1st, but for some reason the UK sellers have a release date in May! I have urgent messages in to New York about this, but if you have any feedback, please let me know. It's available in print and e-book, of course.

I'm promoting it with: "A Prudence who isn't prudent, and a Cate who isn't at all effeminate. Add an impetuous marriage, and we have a most unlikely countess."

It's received lovely reviews -- which you'll see on the video if you give it a try.

Cheers,

Jo

Emily and the Dark Angel

When I wrote Emily and the Dark Angel back in the early nineties, I had no concerns about the Melton Mowbray setting, or about including fox hunting. It was such a central part of life for many upper class Regency men. I didn't get any negative feedback then, either, but this time around a few people have said they feel uncomfortable with it.

Writing historical fiction can involve interesting choices, can't it? It's usually possible to simply ignore or write around some things, like dentistry, for example, but to me hunting in the Shires is so central it's part of it all.

It's also fascinating, and full of great stories. For example, there was an inclusiveness to hunting then, for the men at least. If a man had a horse, he could hunt. There were local tradesmen hunting, and even a chimney sweep, complete with his brush. In the book I refer to the time a hot air balloon came down in the middle of a hunt, and that's true.

This image comes from 1st Art Gallery, where you can buy the print. No, I don't get a cut. I'm just giving fair credit.

Unless I've forgotten an instance, Jane Austen didn't mention fox hunting, but her books are all about the difficulties of finding a husband in her time, and fox hunting could have played a part in that.

The Regency period was truly a difficult one for women seeking husbands, and that informed Jane Austen's novels. The Napoleonic Wars had reduced the number of available gentlemen, and there were interesting demographic changes that added to the problems. Essentially, life expectancy was increasing in the upper classes, squeezing the income of gentry families by increased family size and long-lived widows, with their assured jointures. Younger sons couldn't afford to marry; daughters had reduced portions; even oldest sons who inherited decided not to marry so as not to bring another potential widow into the family.

But also, a lot of the men spent the winter and early spring in the Shires.

I have wondered if this is part of the reason that the Season moved to later spring in the Regency, when it previously began in January.

This has little to do with Emily Grantwich's predicament, as she lives in the Melton area. She finds the influx of hunting men makes her life difficult, and it's difficult enough already. Her father has been crippled in a foolish duel and her brother is missing in action in the war. She's trying to hold the family estates together, and now the neighboring estate has been inherited by a Mr. Piers Verderan. All her friends and neighbours hurry to warn her to have nothing to do with such a notorious rake. No wonder he's called the Dark Angel -- he's even killed men in duels, and he threatens to shoot someone before her very eyes, and means it.

But even if Emily had wanted to avoid him, it proves impossible, and then she's not sure she wants to anyway. At times, he seems the only sane person around, and he's wakening a part of her she'd never known existed.

Emily and the Dark Angel won a RITA award when it was first published, and the Best Regency Romance award from Romantic Times, which also declared it a classic of the genre.

The handsome trade paperback publication will be out soon, and there's an excerpt here.

The book should soon be on shelves in North America. If you have trouble finding it in the UK, I suggest buying it from the Book Depository.

All my other Regency Romances are now available in new editions. You can find out about them here.

Best wishes,

Jo
For more information about my books, you can visit my website.

Pleasure in many forms

Jo Beverley here.

I'm currently in that early part of a book that requires regular spot research on this and that. Traveling times, Portugal in the Seven Years War, less well known mercantile activity for some minor characters... And from there, plus a visit to the delightful Whitby Museum, alum mining. Of course the result is writing time that disappears into books and internet, but that's part of the joys of the work, especially when one stumbles over something.

When looking into places for some middle class people to frolic in London, I found Cuper's Pleasure Gardens. Unfortunately, they'd shut before the time period of my Malloren books, which opened in 1763, so it perhaps wasn't surprising that I'd missed them, but it's a reminder that there's always a lot more to London life than the familiar territory.

They were made by a man called Cuper and many called them Cupid's Gardens, which was doubtless good for business! As were the winding paths allowing flirtation, and perhaps more. You can follow the above link to read about them on the excellent
Story of London site.

It's a shame that some people see the medieval period as bleak and dingy, because it could be anything but. Just look at that gorgeous illuminated B I'm delighted to have a medieval novella in the collection A Chalice of Roses, in which all the stories weave around the mythology of the Holy Grail. It is available in the UK from The Book Depository.

You can read an excerpt here.

In February, The Stanforth Secrets will be reissued, also available from the Book Depository. This is one of my early classic regencies, and set in my home area of Morecambe Bay. It was a finalist for the RITA award.

And next month will see my second UK publication, Tempting Fortune, which follows on from Lady Notorious, the RITA winning first book of the Malloren series.

Best wishes,

Jo
My web site.

Tantalizing Secrets

The third book in the Secrets series is out on the 24th February from Samhain. It's set in my home town of Leicester, and my heroine, Arabella, lives in a reimagined version of Belgrave Hall, a pretty manor house now in the city, but originally built a mile or two outside. Originally, this was conceived as a trilogy, but I've received so many requests for stories for some of the characters featured in the series, that I'm thinking of extending it.
Oh, and isn't the cover pretty? Ann Cain rocks!

Arabella Mason is too busy investigating her brother-in-law’s “accidental” death to entertain thoughts of love. She’ll go to any lengths to ease her sister’s grief, even accept the help of the distressingly attractive Viscount Bredon, Peter Worsley. Instead of answers, the trail of clues only leads to more questions. Who was her brother-in-law, really…and why does Peter, who poses as her brother in public, make mincemeat of her resistance in private?

A successful politician and confirmed bachelor, Peter has bedded the loveliest women in society. He never imagined he’d wind up in a Leicester backwater, helping a pretty widow investigate his brother’s untimely death. As his suspicions of foul play grow stronger, the danger rises—and so does his desire for Arabella. One kiss, and she snatches away all his resolve, leaving him wondering which he wants more…

To find his brother’s killer? Or keep Arabella safe—and make her his?#

Excerpt:
The coach lurched to a halt and they were flung forward. Peter flung out a hand to stop Arabella hurting herself, and was rewarded by a handful of fabric and a brief contact with one soft breast. He took her arm and hauled Arabella back on to the seat as the carriage pulled to a halt.
Breathlessly she stared at him and they both heard a gruff voice. “Stand and deliver!”
“Good Lord!” The gleam of battle sparked in him. Cautiously he settled the pistol in his pocket so it came easily to hand.
The door of the carriage was wrenched open. A heavily muffled figure stood outside. “Out,” the man commanded.
Peter descended and held his hand out to help Arabella. To his surprise, she wasn’t looking in the least shocked. If he didn’t know her better, he would have thought she was angry.
Lounging against the open door of the carriage, Peter stared at the highwayman. Their assailant was so muffled up it was difficult to make out much about him, but Peter noted the man was no taller than he was, and wasn’t grossly overweight. He’d pulled a cocked hat low down on his forehead and a muffler up over the lower half of his face.
Peter thrust his hands in his pockets, touching the rounded end of the pistol. In the other pocket, he had a knife, usually carried for more mundane purposes but it might come in useful too, given the chance. He kept Arabella in view, prepared to push her to the ground. Some highwaymen wanted more than jewelry and cash; he wasn’t about to allow that.
Arabella lifted her chin and glared at the man. There was no doubt about it now—fire flashed from her dark eyes. She was angry. Peter hoped she wouldn’t do anything foolish. He wished he could see the coachman but that was impossible without turning.
Their aggressor swore, fluently and, much to Peter’s surprise dropped the hand holding the pistol to his side. “Jewelry. Money.”
Then Arabella did something that took Peter completely aback. She put her hands on her hips and thrust her face forward in the age-old position of the fishwife. It said a lot for Peter’s newfound attraction that he found her pose delightful. “And who do you think you are threatening? Get in the carriage this instant!”

Linkie - http://lynneconnolly.com/TantalizingSecrets.html