The Sexual Evolution of the Alpha and Beta Male

by Lisbeth Eng

A romance novel hero is a writer’s perception of a sexually attractive male. Though true love involves nobler emotions, sexuality is largely governed by biology. Human beings are essentially animals, albeit ones with large brains and opposable thumbs. What drives us to mate is the primal instinct to procreate and pass on our DNA to the next generation. We are genetically programmed to seek out partners who will help us produce and raise healthy offspring.

In designing our hero, we should consider what traits our heroine would find appealing. If we look to science for clues, numerous studies confirm that hormone levels subconsciously drive attraction. For the female, her monthly cycle and the complex and conflicting needs of producing offspring trigger her choice of mate. During her most fertile period, a woman is attracted to a man she perceives as physically powerful and virile – the alpha male. His children will inherit genes for survival in a perilous world: the strength and dominance needed to combat danger, especially from competing males. Yet during her less fertile days, studies have shown that women are drawn to men with nurturing, “feminine” qualities – the dependable nice guy – the beta male. There is an evolutionary, biological basis for this, too. Unlike many of our more distant animal relatives, human babies are helpless for years after birth. Having two devoted parents increases their chances of survival. The mother benefits from having a long-term partner who will share in childcare responsibilities. A less aggressive male may be more likely to stick around and help, rather than to wander off and prowl for opportunities to pass on his genes to as many other females as he can.

So why do most heroes of romance novels fit the cliché of the alpha male? He is almost always muscular, tall (honestly, how many five and a half foot heroes have you read?) and of high social status (all those Regency marquises and contemporary tycoons). The proverbial strong, silent type. Is this because we romance writers assume that is the sort of hero our readers (most of whom are female) idealize as the perfect man? Do the hormone levels of the writer and what day it is in her cycle influence the temperament of her characters? Are female writers who are past their childbearing years more likely to write beta males? (Sorry, guys, but the vast majority of RWA members are women.) Perhaps a study could be done to correlate the hormonal cycles of female romance writers with their most “fertile” writing days!

A well-written hero must be flawed, so where does the alpha male most likely need improvement? Romance heroes often harbor a haunting secret or past misdeed. The dark, brooding alpha male needs the nurturing female to tame his wild side, to heal his wounded psyche, to humanize him and thus satisfy the heroine’s maternal impulse.

But what about the beta male? As discussed above, studies have proven the attractiveness of nurturing males. There are certainly women who find the warm, open, caring man an appealing partner, yet he seldom appears in romance novels. Must every hero be moody and aggressive?

I propose that we abandon the alpha and beta stereotypes and create the supreme hybrid: the gamma male. (If you’ve forgotten your Greek alphabet, that’s the letter after alpha and beta.) He would be physically powerful but sensitive and considerate. His strong hands could disable any foe, but give a soothing back rub, as well. A man to fulfill every desire – to stimulate a woman’s urges any day of the month.

To substantiate my hypothesis, I need your feedback in the polls at the right. Please select your candidate for the archetypal alpha, beta and gamma heroes. If these choices do not exemplify your ideal, feel free to comment with your own selection.

BIO:

Lisbeth Eng’s first novel, a World War II romance entitled In the Arms of the Enemy, is due to be released by The Wild Rose Press in 2010. An English major in college, Lisbeth has also studied Italian, German and French. Lisbeth is a native New Yorker and has worked as a registered representative in the finance industry for the past 25 years. Visit her at www.lisbetheng.com.

No NaNo Needed

By Ed Rand. No Na-No needed: The idea for my sixth novel came, I began writing August 4th, and in eleven weeks I'd crafted and edited a 74,000 word saga that I believe is my best yet. No applause: I'm more compulsive than most. The idea comes and the writing is no longer optional. It's also easier for me as I'm "retired" -- writing is what I do. Hats off to those in the sway of this demanding muse who must juggle careers and parenting. Becoming published had been a lifelong goal I could not address while paying the mortgage. I've had three books real-published (no slight intended to e-or-self-anything) and a fourth accepted for Spring 2010; I've completed a fifth in series and now this latest, my first non-series. The books have won four awards. So my insights might be useful to others. I'm a guy. After a year of reading mysteries like I was speed dating, in '04 I began to write my first novel, a murder mystery. And a love story pours out, and I discover I'm a falling in love junkie. The love quotient fills every novel I've written. Point being, I gotta write what I'm passionate about. Then it's not a chore but a joy. Creating a scene right from my head gives me a high that only my family can exceed. And it's the emotional content that gets me. I create an NSA agent fractured by guilt because his wife has been blown apart by a bomb meant for him; and a woman in the Big Apple for two weeks, fleeing from her Tennessee home -- she's had an ugly past and won't let men near her. Then I force them together, in mortal danger as the agency targets them both, so I can find out what happens. It's my universe until, in some weird dynamic I'll never understand, it becomes theirs; they let me in and guide me through their lives. I've come to trust the process. My initial goal in that scenario was to grip the reader from the first sentence: "If they were going to shoot Robert Milligan, he wanted to see it coming, so he asked for a chair and sat beside his wife's casket, facing the mourners." The only thing clear to me when I began writing was that those tormented people might find, together, the more that sustains us. When, after 374 pages he proposes to her, on a returning Statue of Liberty ferry, after more action than The Perils of Pauline, I had trouble seeing the screen. I've begun a second in the series: She'll be pregnant. That will add a dimension for the reader and a challenge for the author. Challenge is good. If a scene doesn't make the hair on my arms stand up or result in used tissues (yeah, guys too, but you knew that), it isn't ready. Point being: quality, craft, count more than volume in a "final" draft. I won't read to my groups, or turn over to my publisher, anything less than my best. Mind you, at times I get shredded, and with cause. Or they have "Aha!" moments with bits of plot logic I'd overlooked. It happens. I'm thankful. I try to learn from it. "Improvement" is my mantra. Dialog, setting, description, action, suspense, surprise -- I want the words to vanish as the reader flies along, and every scene to force the reader onward. The smoother it reads, the easier it would seem to write. We know otherwise. I love writing; I can do all the rest, but I love it less. During the post-partum-blues period following the birth of novel six, I contemplated what it is I want from this adventure. I don't much care about fame. I've won awards, had news articles written about me, spoken before groups, moderated panels, done well at bookstore gigs, and helped design beautiful covers. All that is part of the adventure and I'll continue swimming hard in the current. What's ahead, I hope, is getting a literary agent -- I still don't have one, and I've crafted solid novels, a body of work that I believe can attract a major publisher, and perhaps lead to movie or TV adaptation. Now is when I pull the needle from my arm, right? But not many real, empathetic characters are out there in media populated by the quirky, superhero, and supernatural trends. The movie producers can select the players and have the screenwriting done. All I'd like is a paid trip with my wife to say hello. Another adventure. If it doesn't happen, I still have my family, my writing, and credentials I'd only dreamed of. Someone asked what I was going to do when I had those unsold books in the basement. I thought about it and smiled.

Thankful

I am so thankful that NaNo is almost over, I do not know what to do with myself. One second--I just did my count and I have to say I am exhausted. I am tired of writing for a quota. I like the lazy way I write, which is not really that much; it's every day but it is not with this type of frantic drive. I lose a few hundred words in the count on my MacBook which I do not understand, but okay. On the train home, I was typing on my iPod touch, which is a little peaceful because I cannot do a word count there, but I can type and save the draft in my e-mail which I am using almost like Word. I have not written, I think, except the first few words of this story at home. Almost all of it was written on the road. But this week, I am going to have to change that. I have to write right after I finish this post. This week I am not allowed to read a novel, I cannot play BookWorm on my Touch, I cannot even use the Zen Meditation app on my Touch---everything has to be related to this story which I am not even sure what I am going to do with it because I do not believe in outlines, but the story keeps going in ways it writes itself and I am just going along for the ride and thankful, yes thankful...thankful for the craft that I knew I wanted to do since I was 7 years old, thankful for the craft that soothes me when I am sad, just by having a pen in my hand or keys under my fingers. The craft that reveals things to me, things about myself that I did not know were inside me. The craft that is my vision more than my eyes are. The craft that makes me do NaNoWriMo and know I am going to get to the finish line and I am going to push myself as much as I can. the craft that makes me have to finish this post because I got to a point where I really feel like writing the story now. No, the MacBook depicted is not mine, I have not even the newest one, but sometimes it feels like gold when I create on it..

A Troche Thanksgiving

By Mageela Troche. With Thanksgiving this Thursday, family and food must be on everyone’s mind, but for me only one F matters—football. I love it! The clash of helmets, the sacking of the quarterback, a Hail Mary pass, and the two-minute warning. Each Thanksgiving, the Dallas Cowboys — America’s team — plays a game. Since I was a little girl back in the 70s, I’ve been a football fan not because I understood the signals the refs made, or the game, but because of my older brother, Lucky [yes its his real name]. He’s my hero. I worshipped him so much, the stars in my eyes were so bright even I could see them. Five years younger than him, Lucky was everything cool and I knew this from the first year of my life. My first word was his name, though it sounded like a Swedish child saying “Ya” in rapid succession. I wanted to do everything he did. I learned to ride a skateboard. I went off with him on adventures where we encountered poisonous snakes [he yanked me to safety before a water moccasin struck me]. I rode roller coasters but didn’t scream because I couldn’t embarrass my brother. I played baseball because he did. And I watched football and became a Dallas Cowboy fan because Lucky is. When I was little, I didn’t really care about the game. I was with my brother and that’s all that mattered. I think I spent more time watching him than the game and if he cheered so did I. If he groaned, I glared at the TV, while yelling at the team to "get their game together". As Air Force Brats, we moved about every two years but I always had my brother. And through my life, he has always been there, defending, protecting, cheering me on, and being the best brother in the world, which is not an exaggeration. Lucky has taught me what makes a good man — a loving family man. One of the good guys. Through the years, he taught me the ins and outs of the game and I became a devoted fan. Together, we groan and cheer for our team. My dream is to take him to a Super Bowl and one day, I will. Until that day, I’ll be watching on television. Thankful, that I have my big brother in my life. * * * Mageela Troche has sold two stories to Dorchester’s True Love Magazine and is most likely banging her head against her desk as she figures out ways to make things worse for her hero and heroine.

Baubles, Bangles and Costume Jewelry

By Polly Guerin, Fashion Historian


Fashion has had an awakening, and the search is on for vintage jewelry pieces, imitators of fine jewelry, that covet high prices at retail counters and at antique dealers. After all the blitz and glitz on the runways, costume jewelry has come full circle with the luster of pearls, the gleam of crystals, diamond-like rhinestones and brilliant colored stones.


ALLURING QUALITY
       One of the most alluring aspects of collecting vintage costume jewelry is the thrill of acquiring pieces of incredible beauty and unprecedented workmanship. Early pieces from the 1930s to the 1950’s were made by craftsmen, high- end jewelers from the fine jewelry trade, who applied their handicraft to costume jewelry. Imitating fine jewelry, the handcrafted prong-set designs used faux pearls, colored enamels, simulated precious gemstones and Swarovski crystals in necklaces, brooches, earrings and bracelets that defied anyone calling them “fake.” So painstaking to detail was the work of the artists that the incised name of a designer or a manufacturer’s mark makes a significant difference in value. Signed pieces by Boucher, Ciner, Miriam Haskell, Panetta and Eisenberg command steep prices, as are pieces incised with a manufacturer’s marks such as Coro, Monet, Napier, Trifari and Vendome.

INVENTING COSTUME JEWELRY
        It is curious that along this glittering path was Coco Chanel, who invented ‘costume jewelry.’ She turned the jewelry rules upside down in the 1920s, making fabulous faux jewels a high fashion essential. Other couture houses followed her example, including Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior and Yes Saint Laurent. These high-end showstopper, costume jewelry pieces were designed to complement the designer’s haute couture and prêt a porter (ready-to-wear) runway fashion collections. However, many of the extravagant costume jewelry pieces attributed to haute couture designers actually were designed by legendary French fine jewelry designers, including Gripoix, Robert Goossens and Roger Jean-Pierre. The distinctive quality of vintage costume jewelry pieces from the 1930s also focuses on the work of Parisian designer, Marcel Boucher. He came to New York and worked for Cartier, but left in the 30s to set up his own firm, explains jewelry historian Joyce Jonas. “[Bocher’s] first collection of three-dimensional pins was made with colored rhinestones and unusual translucent enamels. Nothing like it had ever been done before. Each piece was beautifully crafted and prong-set. Originally priced from $40 to $60, in today’s market these same pins go for $800 and better, and at the high-end sell for $1,500 to $l, 600.”

THE PRICE IS RIGHT
       “Chanel was a visionary and the high quality of her costume jewelry was made and prong-set like fine jewelry,” says Pauline Ginnane-Gasbarro, a New York dealer who specializes in Chanel pieces that sell from $4000 and up. Chanel gave master jeweler Fulco Santostefano della Cerda, Duke of Verdura, his start as a costume jewelry designer, and he later created the house of VERDURA. He first introduced the combination of multi-colored stones and pearls in necklaces, cuff bracelets and brooches. Chanel was often photographed wearing her favorite Maltese cross cuff bracelets and other signature pieces by Verdura. Today Verdura has transformed itself into a high-end fine jewelry house using real precious stones in just the same Maltese cuff. For costume jewelry buffs look for Kenneth Jay Lane’s version. He revived this design in the 60s.

BAKELITE BAUBLES
       New plastic materials originating at the turn of the 20th century introduced Bakelite, a plastic material that was worked in vivid, bold colors, and often incised with hand-carved geometric or floral motifs. Bakelite was also fashioned into a type of whimsical costume jewelry that became popular in the 30s. Today Bakelite is having a renaissance, and most fashionable is the staking of bangle bracelets in multi colors, or wearing whimsical figurative brooches—bunnies, dogs, and clowns, some with moveable parts. Carmen Miranda’s Bakelite fruity jewelry was also popular. Bakelite pieces that may have sold for $50 in the 1930’s today might sell in the hundreds and thousands depending upon the rarity of the piece. “A French Bakelite design, signed by Auguste Bonaz would bring much more money than unsigned pieces,” says Ginny Redington Dawes, co-author with Corinne Davidov of the BAKELITE JEWELRY BOOK. One world of caution, I’ve heard that some fakes have penetrated the seller’s market, so be sure you know what you are purchasing when it comes to Bakelite.

HOW TO PURCHASE
        What to purchase can be perplexing. “Costume jewelry is getting hot,” says Harrice Simons Miller, a New York dealer and author of ‘THE OFFICIAL PRICE GUIDE TO COSTUME JEWELRY, “Now is a great time to collect Eisenberg enamels, Trifari, Panetta, Ciner, Chanel, Dior and YSL pieces.” Knowledge of buying and selling trends can best be acquired by keeping close tabs on vintage costume jewelry auctions and estate sales held at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Doyle in New York and Skinner’s in Boston. A mint condition Chanel sautoir and oblong pendant, circa 1935, in silver-plated metal set with rhinestones and imitation emeralds was auctioned at $1,500 at Doyle. In the 30’s the same sautoir may have sold for just two hundred dollars. Miller says, “As for the future of collectibles, you should consider purchasing contemporary jewelry by top designers now and put it away for 20 years to age its intrinsic value.” It is interesting to note that Providence, Rhode Island from the 1920s to the ‘50’s was the center of the American manufacturing of the handcrafted and prong-set costume jewelry, and much of the costume jewelry is still manufactured there, albeit mass produced and not with the same vintage characteristics. Costume jewelry reproductions are filtering the market from China so it is best to take a magnifying glass with you and examine the incised maker before making a purchase. Today some of the most collectible costume jewelry includes Kenneth Jay Lane’s oversized earrings, large necklaces, animal bracelets and bold pins. In 2005, a KJL tiger bracelet sold for $540. Today the price would be considerably higher.

Recently I attended the Antiques Show at the Pier with vendors of jewelry, both real and imitators; it was quite overwhelming. However, I found an adorable artistic bracelet watch under $50, so there are still ‘finds’ out there, but you have to look very carefully to authenticate a piece’s origin by examining the incised signature.

THIS JUST IN:  "The Vintage Woman: A Century of Costume Jewelry in America 1910-2010" exhibit is now open at the Forbes Galleries on 62 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street.♥



Bio: Polly Guerin's first job in journalism was as Accessories Editor at the fashion bible, the trade newspaper Women's Wear Daily where she honed writing about accessories and later as professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she lectured on Product Knowledge. Polly also wrote on this subject for Art & Antiques magazine. She is also a vice president of the Romance Writers of America/New York Chapter and on the board of the Art Deco Society of New York. Visit her at www.pollytalk.com with links to her Internet PollyTalk column and blog www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com.

Nine Reasons to Write Short Stories

By Jeanine McAdam


When Maria asked me to write for the RWA-NYC blog I knew I would blog about the short story market. Immediately I came up with a bunch of thoughts. The next step was to organize them into a meaningful entry. That’s where I got stuck. After mulling over different ideas I decided to create a top ten list of the reasons I write short stories. Sort of like David Letterman…. except that my list ended at nine. When I couldn’t come up with the tenth, I let myself off the hook and accepted the fact that I work in the short story market.



9) My stories are being bought.  There are numerous markets contracting romantic short stories. Dorchester Media’s four confession magazines publish 10-12 stories a month. Plus, New Love Stories Magazine and e-anthologies offer plenty of opportunities.

8) Ability to sell rejected stories. If one of my stories is rejected, I never delete it or bury it in an absurd folder on my computer. Two years ago, True Love rejected a story I wrote set on a rural college campus. A year later, I sold it to True Romance. Furthermore, when I was unable to sell a story to one editor at True Romance, after she left the company, I resubmitted the story to her predecessor and she bought it. (Note – I did tell the predecessor the story had already been rejected.)

7) A chance to practice the one line pitch. Every story I submit I write a short synopsis highlighting the characters and conflict. I’ve gained lots of confidence and increased my skills tremendously at targeting the heart of the narrative and narrowing it down to a few words.

6) Opportunity to learn how to write in different genres. Besides romance I’ve submitted stories to the children’s and horror markets. Currently, I am working on a gay love story. Each of these diverse genres give me the chance to hone my skills, sharpen my voice and learn their conventions.

5) Improve my skills at flushing out motivation and conflict using only 5,000 to 7,000 words. Every month I’m creating two new characters, defining their strengths and weaknesses and constructing a problem.

4) Work with an editor regularly. At Dorchester Media, I’ve worked with the same editor for over a year now. I’ve gotten to know her style, likes and dislikes; plus, learned more about the editorial process.

3) Ability to expand into new markets. My most recent story “Inhuman Resources,” appearing in the anthology HUNGRY FOR YOUR LOVE, is a zombie romance. It will be marketed to both horror and romance readers. I’m hoping to continue to work in the horror market and increase my readership.

2) Forced me to be a writer. When I started writing short stories I made an agreement with myself to submit a story every month. As I result of that commitment, I write through the ups and downs of my personal life. I write when I don’t have an idea, and I write when the words barely form a complete sentence. After I finish writing, I submit by the second week of every month.

1) Last but not least, the number one reason I write short stories is because I am participating in my chosen profession. My stories define me as a writer. When people ask what I do, I say proudly, “I am a short story writer.” Plus, it’s great to get paid for my work!♥

BIO: Jeanine McAdam has published over twenty two short stories with the Dorchester Media “true confession” line of magazines during the past two years. Working as a reference librarian for seven years, Jeanine always loved books and helping patrons find great fiction. In her profession as a technology trainer, she wrote instructional materials and contributed to technology newsletters. When she began inserting romance, intrigue and a touch horror into the manuals she knew it was time to start her career as a short story writer. Look for her short story, “InHuman Resources” in the HUNGRY FOR YOUR LOVE: An Anthology of Zombie Romance, from Ravenous Romance (www.ravenousromance.com). And look for her confession, "Snowboard Baby", in the December 2009 issue of True Romance.

My Furry Muses

by Lise Horton As a writer, you frequently see advice to be a “people watcher”. For character ideas, expressions, “voice”, dialogue. I do that religiously. But another area in which I find myself very inspired is nature. Specifically, animals. I spend a lot of time outdoors. Even on cold and blustery days, you can find me in my $12.99 Adirondack chair sitting under the trees (be they leafy or barren) and reading or writing. Often, however, I am distracted from my labors by the creatures all around me. I live in a busy section of Nassau County, on Long Island, but you’d be surprised at the number of creatures that cross my path every day. There are birds of all varieties. Squirrels. Raccoons, feral cats, and, of course, my dogs, rescued racing greyhounds Angus and Scout. Romance is all about emotion. And it doesn’t come much more straightforward than in the animal kingdom. Fear, terror, battling for supremacy, hunger, love, loyalty, and joy are all readily apparent among these creatures. I’ve watched pregnant feral cats eat ravenously to store up energy to protect their offspring. I’ve seen a mother cat, in an ice storm, carrying her kittens from one vulnerable location to another. I’ve watched male cats stalk a female in heat and the other males battle, and the female fight back, too, in the eternal mating dance. Recently I found one of the 3rd generation of feral kittens dead. She appeared to have been hit by a car because there were no marks of a fight and I live on a very bad street with speeding cars. Yet she had crawled away from the road and died under the protective, arching branches of my hydrangea – a place where she frequently hid and stalked her siblings before leaping out upon them. The mother of this young cat had been stand-offish with her first litter because she was pregnant with a second (and note that I had, in the past, taken feral cats in for neutering, but the veterinarians in my area no longer do it for free; I simply can’t afford to neuter all the cats that hang in my vicinity on my own and so I take care of them as best as I can – I don’t believe in having them removed because the Earth belongs to every creature.). But there must have been the smell of death or simply the absence of the smell of this one kitten, because for an entire day the mother cat searched all over the yard, crying plaintively for, I assume, that now gone kitten. Brother cats fight with one another. Mothers chase away older offspring. But uncle cats are frequently cavorting with their nieces and nephews, playing, touching noses and “hanging out”. And a young male cat is turning into the alpha – chasing away the former BMOC (Big Man of Cats) who ruled. One of the strangers that arouses the protective instinct of Mr. Daisy (said boy cat and I’m sorry, I didn’t notice the tell-tale signs before naming him) is the family of raccoons that also inhabits my area(there are 2 houses that are uninhabited on either side of mine and I think the quiet is appealing to these naughty, nocturnal creatures). Two large raccoons – one with a stub of a tail – and two young raccoons – come by every night to check for food (they eschew all but the dried cat food that they relish). Either adult raccoon will send the youngsters scrambling with high-pitched cries if there is the sound of a dog, or a car, or even people (other than myself) in the area. They’ll all clamber up the fence and hide in a nearby tree until the coast is clear. The two young raccoons will climb up that same tree and peer in my window at night. The birds are equally amazing. Cardinals, sparrows, blue jays, and finches abound. There is a murder of crows in the area and I adore watching these intelligent birds. I’ve even seen a hawk that is most impressive and, gazing into its eyes you can feel the intelligence there. If you’ve never watched birds, the familial connection is astounding. A young cardinal, as big as its mother, will sit squawking on a branch to be fed. And the parent obliges, sticking its beak down the wide-open throat of the young bird. Silly? Certainly, but the devotion is touching. Early this spring one of the cats caught a baby bird. It was a couple of months old, certainly, but the horrid cries drew the “family” of birds and the cacophony was horrific as the cats killed the bird and the other birds hovered in the branches, crying their horror at the death. Squirrels, too, are at the bottom of the food chain in my yard. But the parents, and the offspring, play with such abandon that it is wonderful to watch. That one or more of them will be dead by the end of the winter – from cars, cats, raccoons, or, sadly, my dogs (who most often can’t catch anything but every once in a while do get lucky) is a harsh fact of nature. But their voracious appetites, watching them bury peanuts in every one of my planters, their ability to circumvent any anti-squirrel devices to hang upside down to feed at bird-feeders and how I watched four baby squirrel siblings chowing down at a peanut butter and bird-seed pine cone the other day was truly amazing. My greyhounds are awesome creatures, too, despite the fact that they are far more sheltered than their wild counterparts. Scout, a battered and scarred veteran of the racetrack, is a tough girl. She’s been the “alpha dog” since she arrived, when I had another greyhound and a blind, diabetic Cairn terrier. She has the most haunted look in her eye, no matter that we love her to pieces and she’s been “safe and sound” for nearly six years now. You can only imagine the treatment she received to give her that look. She’s so courageous and I can still see her on the night we picked her up – legs shaking so hard I’m surprised she could stand, terrified at the mass of people, but when we brought her home her joy was almost palpable. “Is this mine now? Do I live here? Are you my friends?” Now she is alone with the big behemoth, Angus, who could not be a bigger wuss if he tried. He looks like a hound from hell, but he’s afraid of papers, aluminum pans, the rattle of a chair, and the banging of the kitchen door. A big lug, he’ll lie on the sofa like he’s dead, but will occasionally rouse himself to wander over and lay his head in my lap, groaning orgasmically when I rub his ears. They fight from time to time, but they huddle when the weather is cold and they each instigate running games around the back yard, leaping and gamboling like puppies. If Scout is not feeling well, or Angus is ailing, the other hovers around them, sniffing and being solicitous in a very doggy way. When my alarm clock goes off, the whining begins. And they each have a routine where they go in and wake up my Mother in the morning. Angus will try to rouse her with a poke of his long nose. If that doesn’t work he will deposit one of his nasty old dog toys right on the pillow by her bed. And that works quite well in getting her up and at ‘em. They have a pile of toys that they carry to their sofas, and they snuggle in their blankets, looking for all the world like furry, four-legged children. Come dinner time, the rattle of their bowls will set both dogs on a search for a squeaky toy, which they will then run around with, tear at, and shake in an effort to “kill” their dinner. If the food is not to their liking (cottage cheese, big yes, yogurt, so-so, boiled ground turkey with veggies and rice, oh, well) they chow down and rush back to demand to be let out. If I serve something they are not happy about, the look of disgust on their faces are purely human. Former singer that I am, I frequently break into song around the house and Scout was the first to throw back her head and start singing with me, howling with abandon. It took a while, but Angus has learned it and now they both thoroughly enjoy a good song-fest. If I even begin to hum, ears perk up and whines start to emanate from their throats in hope. (My neighbors? Not so much.) When we finish up, they come barreling over to me to get attention for their “good singing” (along with a treat) (the dogs, not the neighbors). In the evenings my Mother never fails to be astounded that, no matter when I come home, the dogs are whining at the door for me. I begin to open the door and two cold, wet snouts are poked right through at me. And when I come in, they poke me all over, sniff me, lick me and welcome me home. My upstairs cat, Hedwig, is quite the diva. When she hears me talking to the dogs at night after arriving home, she immediately begins an imperious “chatter” (she’s part Siamese and part Persian – one blue eye, one green). She’ll make herself quite clearly understood: “You’re home, get upstairs away from those beasts and come hug me!”. My second stop is upstairs to change my clothes and she flings herself onto the bed, rolling on her back, so I can brush and scratch her. If the weather is cold or inclement, or once I am inside, her favorite place is draped across the pillows behind my head, where she nestles her nose behind my neck, purring, safe, secure, content. It is perfectly understandable. I’m one of them. I’m part of the pack. Likewise, there are several of the feral cats (esp. Mr. Daisy) who wait for my arrival at night because I feed them. He sits in the middle of my sidewalk waiting for me. And the minute I get closer to the house, if I see one of the cats, I call to him or her, and at the sound of my voice, the others come running from wherever they are, all over the various yards. Eanie, Meanie and Mighty Mo. Momma Kitty, Daisy, Spike and Mr. Ugly. Simba will sneak in if he thinks I’m not looking though I have not seen Momma Kitty’s two kittens – she lives across the street at another house and they often catch the kittens and take them to shelters. But when dinner is done, Mr. Daisy will climb up into my lap and snuggle as long as I’ll allow it. Eanie and Spike – the best of friends – will sit at my feet, letting me pet them, but not suffering a snooze on my lap gladly. The squirrels stare at me as I hang their peanut butter cones and the birds flock around when I come out with birdseed. I talk to them and I swear they “get it”. The two young raccoons have both “introduced” themselves, sniffed my feet and leaned up on my leg to get a better look at me. One even tried to run off with my cell phone. Perhaps his minutes had expired? Every night the last thing I do is fill up the water bowls for the outside animals and say goodnight to Mr. Daisy. I go inside, lock up, and pet my dogs goodnight. Hedwig waits for me to climb into bed before snuggling up beneath my blankets to sleep. In the morning she’ll greet me with a paw to my cheek. When I go downstairs, the dogs give me a gleeful snuffle. The cats wait outside for their morning feeding and a quick scratching, and before I go to work I replenish the bird feeders, suet holders and squirrel feeders. Love? Loyalty? Devotion? Joy? I get it all from these creatures. They make me laugh, they amaze and intrigue me. Each one has a personality of his or her own. I can see joy in them, and sorrow. Fear and desperation. They may not be human, but the emotions are all there and I cannot help but be inspired to create characters who are as brave, and such wonderful companions. Characters who brave the odds, who have lovers, companions and families, and face hunger, cold, danger, life and death with equal fortitude.

Smashwords v. Carina

by Mari Miller-Lamb I will probably get in trouble for this post. Why, the intrepid and bewildered reader may ask? Because I am comparing a self-publisher with a "real" publisher." Most would say there's no comparison. Smashwords (is an on-line self-publishing venture that allows self-published (pardon me, "independent authors") to self-publish in multiple e-formats including Barnes and Noble and Sony. There is no cost to the author to do this. Carina Press is a Harlequin affiliated e-book publisher with a submissions process as well as editing, etc. They will only publish e-books. We all can now assume that Carina press is better than Smashwords because it is Harlequin affiliated and is more akin to a "real publisher." We're all sure about that right? Right??!!! Well, I am not so sure. I am not here to advocate, or necessarily put down self-publishing or Carina for that matter. But here's the thing. If I self-publish I know I will have to market the heck out of the book. If I publish with Carina I won't have to do this, because after all it is Harlequin and they have a marketing plan in place and will work hard for me, yes? You can go ahead and insert sounds of cricket chirping here. Actually, they don't have any such thing in place. In one of their FAQ's they state: "As author, you have more control of your own brand and can help the success of your book; we'll provide new authors with the tools to get started self-promoting in the digital space" Hmmmmmm. This sounds like what I hear from every published writer today. You are expected to do A LOT to promote your book. It's common knowledge that publicity departments have been cut and cut and cut. Even multi-published, best selling authors complain about all the work they have to do to get noticed. It's just part of the job. Other writers must have been concerned about this lack of marketing plans on the part of Carina as well, because in response to a question from a commenter about this very thing, Carina states: "We will be working together closely with authors on marketing efforts. We expect authors who want to participate in social media, etc. will most likely sell better. It's part of the nature of this space. But by no means do we mean the author will be doing all the heavy lifting! Heck, that's why we stress what an amazing digital marketing team we have." I guess we'll just have to wait and see what this amazing digital marketing team plans to do because so far I don't see the details. Also, even more problematic, they are not going to use the Harlequin Brand to sell their books. As a romance writer I have a big problem with this. It seems to me they are shooting themselves (as well as the romance author) in the foot from a marketing perspective. But I guess the advantage for a writer is that Carina will have more book placement opportunities than Smashwords, right?!! Your book will get out to more people right? Er, maybe not. They have no plans at this time to go to print. They are solely an e-publisher. So that means they will work with major e-stores such as Sony and Barnes and Nobles which sounds a little, like, uhm, Smashwords? Just sayin'. So. If you as the author are expected to play a major effort in marketing your book AND you will not necessarily be distributed any e-retailers that you couldn't get into as a self-published author, what, I ask you, is the advantage of Carina over Smashwords? I don't mean to pick on Carina at all, but I think as a writer shopping a new book, I have to right to ask questions and be skeptical of any publisher. Here's something else: Check out the royalty agreement over at Smashwords: (https://www.smashwords.com/about). Carina does not pay advances, only royalties, although they promise somewhere on the site that their royalities are higher because there is no advance. I suppose its all in the titles. Readers see a quality distinction between "self-published" and published. I admit I am one of them. So I guess you can say that with Carina you are getting professional editing which you will never get at Smashwords as they are at great pains to say that they don't think it is their place to judge the quality of the author's works. Fair enough. Ergo, that means that books sold through Carina will be a higher quality. Yes? What's that you say? You've read tons of published books that seem to lack editing, plot, characters, a coherent story line, etc.? Hmmmmmmm. Of course, we all hope that Carina is not one of them but we have all read bad published books. 'Nuff said. I know Carina is just starting out and I do want to be supportive of their efforts. I applaud any new legitimate publishing venture. But in this brave new world of e-publishing, I think it is fair for authors to ask hard questions of e-only publishers. 1) How many hours a month will you work promoting my book? (Compare that to how many hours a month you, as the author, will be promoting your book.) What specifically are you doing to promote the book that I won't have to do? 2) How long will you market the book for? In other words are you going to market the hell out of it for like, a week, and then ignore it the rest of the year? Do we even get a week? 3) What distributors, e-tailors, stores, etc, will you be getting my book into that I can't get into myself? The advantage of working with a traditional print book publisher is that they can get your book physically on the shelf in Barnes and Noble. Carina and Smashwords can't. 4) Can I please have specifics on royalty sharing agreements? According to their website, it sounds like Carina has already been swamped with submissions. I have to say I find this a little sad. Authors are so desperate to get their works published that they submit without any real understanding of what, if anything, a publisher will do for them. I imagine most of them are trusting in the Harlequin name. Well, I certainly wish Carina luck and I hope they repay the trust authors are putting in them. Mari Miller-Lamb is an unpublished writer, shopping around her first historical romance to publishers with no expectations of marketing on their part at all.

The Sponge

The sponge in my title is not referring to the infamous episode of Seinfeld, which I did not watch regularly, but I did see the episode about Elaine's struggle with determining who was "sponge worthy". I am not referring to the aquatic sponge depicted either--what I am referring to is if someone was doing tarot and a card existed call The Sponge, it would represent me now that I am in the throes of I absorb everything around me--everything can become a part of the novel! I did not do an outline, I am going by the seat of my pants as always. I am not so freewheeling as that really--I knew what I wanted to write about. I had the idea for an intense romance in my head, and I started right there, my protagonist in the throes of something not NaNo. Without an outline anything can become a part of the story. I might have, and have had, several conversations even with people that I am not so close to but when they hear I am writing a novel they tell me what they think I should do next and how to hold my audience's attention. There is a writer or a storyteller in everyone I believe, or at least a lot more people who do not believe that they are writers. People are even just telling me about their actual life and I am saying to them can I borrow just the idea?--I swear I will not do your entire story verbatim! There is a bit of "everything in the fridge" in my story. There's the what people tell me about, there are the things that I see, even before I started writing the story I would see things that I wanted to include in the story. The girl who was reading a novel across from me on the train who had an unsightly stain and unusual hosiery. I walked up to a woman who was smoking a pack of cigarettes that I did not recognize the brand and she offered me one--I do not smoke though. She told me that she had gotten them in Moscow. I am constantly being stimulated and absorbing what is going on around me and it all goes in the story. My story: I have won three times, the first two times I was writing like mad all of the time. Last year I wrote 35,000 words in the last week, I did not think I was going to do that one but I did. Maybe that is why it does not show up on my NaNo profile it was so unbelievable that I got it done! This year I am super mellow, by the time you read this I should be well over 10,000 and I feel happy. I did not write this past Friday, but all the days since this story has been coming together, I am on fire when I am writing sometimes with the surge of ideas. Friends and family believe in me, I believe in me but I can tell you I would not be able to do it if I was not constantly being inspired by people, places and things. This is why I do not believe in outlines or for that matter cooking with a recipe. There is such a freedom in knowing that there is inspiration around every corner. Yet even without structure the story structures itself, as I am writing this and trying to see what I can absorb from the process of blogging to put in my novel...

"Get Past the Notes to the Poetry"

By Elizabeth Palladino



Writing romance reminds me of practicing a musical instrument. There’s a lot of slogging and drudgery, and fatigue is always a big factor. Think of piano practice. Working on Bach’s Inventions, or even something fizzy like Mozart’s Fantasy in D Minor is more laborious than you’d think. I used to feel peppier after shoveling my horse field all morning.

Anyway, two weeks ago I listened to a free piano recital, given by a very youthful church music director. For forty minutes as he played Debussy, Mozart, Haydn, and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, I floated in a musical trance. It was like getting a massage: soothing and invigorating at the same time.

He said something that stayed with me long after the performance. When he introduced himself, he spoke of how difficult it was to “get past the notes to the poetry.”

He meant musical notes, of course, and writers work in a different context. Still, what he said was profound and wise. It applies very well to writing romance.

We “inkies,” as Georgette Heyer would have called us, try so hard to learn the basic techniques that will draw an agent or editor to our work, and make readers follow us in the street. We all strive to develop a product that stands out against the competition. We try to market it in a businesslike way. We’re forever strengthening our hooks and making sure we’re consistently in deep third. We’re poring over our commas, making sure we’re not sprinkling them around like oregano and that the CMS would approve. Sometimes I think the enjoyment of taking ourselves to Neverland (or Wonderland or La-la Land) in our story just shrivels up like an old, dry, split pea when the process kills the art.

It isn’t that I think we should neglect our craft. The spelling must be right, the plotting must be tight, and the dark moment must curl our straight hair and make us shiver under the covers--afraid to go to sleep in case we awaken bricked up behind the dungeon walls with the heroine.

Writing techniques can and should be studied. We all have to do that. Sometimes though, I think we all need to take a cleansing breath, shake the “shoulds” out of our hair, and remember why we write. For most of us, it probably started simply. Maybe we flopped on the living room floor with a school notebook and a ballpoint pen. We were probably relaxed, having fun, and losing ourselves in our stories. We weren’t thinking of mechanics or meetings, conferences, contests, tweets or blogs, book videos, or any other author-world minutiae. We were simply creating.

We need to recapture that ease and flow. We can make magic, word-music, fantasy, and rapt wonder for ourselves and those who read our books. Think of a canter across a moonlit field, piping and dancing in the castle hall, the soft touch of our hero’s hand as he removes his huge cabochon emerald ring and places it on our finger. Think of the candlelight that catches the sheen of our lover’s acorn-brown hair, and casts his cheekbones into high relief as he sets his sword down on the solar’s window seat and steps toward us. You can almost reach out and touch the love; it is so strong in that enchanted place.

We all know that romance isn’t always romantic. We have to come home from our day jobs, wash the supper dishes, put on our fleecy warm-ups and some regenerative cream, and try to stay awake at the computer. Hands up, all of you who’ve been so groggy from sleep deprivation that you fell off your chair sideways onto the floor. (I can’t be the only one.)

We have to remember somehow that it’s moonbeams and stardust—yes, poetry—that our exhausted, crabby, virus-ridden selves are creating. Get through the notes and reach for the poetry. Do it for yourselves, and do it as a gift for your readers.♥



Bio:    Elizabeth Palladino writes under her maiden name, Elizabeth Knowles. She lives in Kingston, New York. A full- length manuscript and a couple of partials are archived in a shoe-storage box under her bed. They are available by subpoena only. She is currently revising a 60,000-word medieval set in North Wales, 1068.

Ode to the Little Black Dress

By Polly Guerin, Fashion Historian

Since Coco Chanel introduced the “Little Black Dress” in 1926, it has become the epitome of chic and the one classic that every woman covets for her wardrobe. Intended by Chanel to be long-lasting, versatile, affordable and accessible to the widest market possible, the “Little Black Dress, which many refer to by the abbreviation LBD, has outlasted fashion frivolity as the essential wardrobe basic. Be it for daytime wear or cocktail occasions the simple but elegant black dress can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.  For example, worn with a jacket and Chanel pumps for daytime business attire, the LBD can reappear for evening without the jacket and accessorized with jewelry and stilettos, perhaps adding a little Minaudiere purse. Vogue called it “Chanel’s Ford,” and like the Model T, the little black dress would become “a sort of uniform for all women of taste.” Birth of the Little Black Dress As early as 1915, Coco Chanel envisioned the LBD as the new uniform for women for afternoon and evening wear. However, one may also surmise that Chanel’s early life educated by the nuns in a convent orphanage may well have influenced her affinity for the black uniform (the nun’s habit influence). She rejected the accusation that she was trying to impose the style of the working girl on haute couture by creating the “deluxe poor look.” Chanel’s silhouette, staying close to the uncorseted figure, began to make the skirts of Lanvin’s hobbled-skirt look old-fashioned and Poiret’s Orientalism too theatrical. Sadly, Poiret spent his final years in decline and debt. Chanel and Poiret had a chance encounter on a Paris street in 1928. Noticing that Chanel was wearing all black, Poiret inquired, “For whom, Madame, do you mourn?” To which Chanel replied, “For you, Monsieur.” Black, The Essential Color of Fashion Black as we know has traditionally been associated with mourning, but it has also had a sinister relationship with magic, wizardry, Halloween and dark, moody scenarios. However, painting played a major role in the rediscovery of black as an essential color of fashion. In 1881 the American painter John Singer Sargent met Madame Gautreau in Paris society. She agreed to sit for a portrait, which he titled “Madame X.” To his shock and consternation, the painting became an instant scandal, viewed as salacious because of the sexual suggestiveness of her pose and revealing nature of the black gown. Likewise, the LBD also partakes of a chameleon character changing as it does from day to night depending how it is accessorized and who wears it. Black, The Color of Stability While Coco Chanel’s “Little Black Dress,” became the archetype of black as the color of high fashion; we must give black much of the credit for the timeless quality of the LBD. Black has a certain dignity about it. It can be called aristocratic, sophisticated or chic. Its economy and elegance has brought it forward into the Twentieth Century unscathed, and always a reliable staple to pull us through any occasion. Many women aspire to own a simple, sleeveless black sheath similar to the one designed by Hubert de Givenchy and worn by Audrey Hepburn, as Holly Golightly in the film "Breakfast at Tiffany’s". But, sadly vintage styles like this are difficult to find, and when you do it is at an auction house. The LBD Audrey wore in the film was sold at auction for over $800,000. Other celebs include the “little black sparrow,” Edith Piaf, the French folk icon, who performed in a black sheath dress throughout her career. Alas, when all else fails and we have a wardrobe dilemma, the Little Black Dress can always pull us through most any occasion. ♥ Bio:   Polly Guerin is still searching for the ideal Little Black Dress. She is a vice president of RWA/NYC and recently spearheaded the Golden Apple Awards event. As a fashion historian and former professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology she produced the video “The Story of Color,” delving into the psychology of color, its influence on fashion, home furnishings, products and advertising. Her book, THE MESSAGE IS IN THE RAINBOW, is being peddled around to publishers by an agent.

Learning to Deal with Book Reviews (excerpt included)

by Lisa Dale


As some of you know, my new book, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, has just come out (which means the reviews have started coming in!). So I thought it might be helpful to share my—admittedly awkward—story of how I learned to deal with reviews. It was…and still is…no simple task!


For me, getting “the call” was a shock to my system. For my entire life, I’d kept my writing largely private. So when I got the first offer for SIMPLE WISHES, I realized that the story that I had cradled and nurtured in the privacy of my heart was about to go rushing naked out into the world. It was exciting, but scary too.

So here’s the very first review of SIMPLE WISHES I ever got—I’ll include it almost in its entirety. After you read it, I’ll tell you what my reaction to it was:

Publishers Weekly: The only flaw in Dale's haunting debut is its reliance on the old chestnut that small town life is superior to the big-city crush…Dale strongly communicates Adele's fears about the future and anger over the past through her relationships with vivid secondary characters such as the Loprestis' troubled teenage granddaughter, Kayleigh, as she puts the reader through a well-paced emotional wringer.

Here’s how I reacted: Oh no. How terrible! Flaw? The old chestnut of small town life? But I LOVE the city! This is awful! They’re calling my writing cliché!

I called all my friends and family so I could read it to them. What did they think of it? Everyone tried to assure me it was a good review. But for some reason I just couldn’t hear that. I was focused on that one single word: flaw. It’s such an ugly word. Slang for pimple. Or maybe a nice way of saying screw-up.

Then, I got glowing emails from my agent and my editor, both offering congratulations, and I thought…Really? That was a good review? Then what’s a bad one?

Clearly, something wasn’t right. I took some time to dig deep and figure out why my reading of the review was so different than theirs. In hindsight, I realize that my fear of getting a bad review actually made me focus on the negative. If I’d read the review from a different angle, I might have noticed that it said not that my book is badly flawed, but that it is nearly flawless.

The way I deal with reviews these days is by trying to a) stay focused on the positive, to let all that good energy fuel my vigor to write, and b) stay true to the goals of my writing (as opposed to people’s reactions to my goals).

I want to write modern, contemporary love stories that are solid and consistently good reads. I want to write characters whose motives aren’t always black and white—stories that will drive people to keep talking about them, to puzzle them out, long after the last page is turned.

So, on that note, I hope you won’t mind if I share my new review of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT with you, since I think it pertains. This is from Romantic Times:

Lisa Dale is adept at weaving beautiful, romantic, heart-wrenching stories. She pays attention to the finest details, and the effect knocks the wind out of you. Every single scene, character conflict and reaction is perfect. The only downside is that the story concludes, which means our time with these wonderful characters comes to an end. (RT, Nov 09)

Thankfully, not much to misinterpret there! ♥



BIO:    Lisa Dale worked briefly in publishing before going back to school to get an MFA in fiction at Fairleigh Dickinson University. A nominee for Best New American Voices and the Pushcart Prize, her writing appears in many literary magazines, such as Fourth Genre, Flyway, Fugue, Sou’wester, The Southeast Review, The MacGuffin, Many Mountains Moving, and more. She is the author of SIMPLE WISHES and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. To learn more about Lisa Dale or her novels, visit www.LisaDaleBooks.com


Below is an excerpt from IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT:


She drove as fast as the curves of the road would allow, her mind racing with the fact of what she’d just done. She’d kissed her best friend. She hadn’t kissed him back, she’d just plain kissed him.


There were reasons people didn’t fall for their friends. She had to remember that. She’d been around long enough to know that when fantasy collided with reality, the result was usually a breakdown. The high expectations of fantasy and the baser truths of real life simply couldn’t combine. That was part of the reason that she’d trained herself to compartmentalize her feelings about Eli, tucking away desire and bringing feelings of friendship out into the light of day.


But the place Eli occupied in her heart was too big, too expansive to be superficially labeled or contained. All this time she’d counted on him to be her reality, her welcome, dependable day-to-day. But now he was telling her that he was something different: he was also her fantasy, a secret promise of pleasure, passion, and sex. And she worried, How could he be both and be lasting? How could she make a life with him?


She taken such care to build the structure of their relationship; she’d spent years honing her own feelings toward him, dulling them when they became too hot and sharp, encouraging herself to feel distant and mild. For ten years, friendship had seen them through Eli’s many travels—the ups and downs created by his absence and presence. Friendship had protected Lana’s dreams of traveling on her own—as long as she kept herself at arm’s length from him, she would not be tempted for forfeit her dreams for his.


Her rules had served them both well.


But as the miles disappeared under her tires and she told herself, again and again, to be logical—to be realistic and smart—some part of her remained with him, in his living room, in his arms, demanding everything he had to give, and seeing the evening through to a different, more satisfying end.

In Praise of Victoria Holt / Jean Plaidy

by Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

I must have been about 11 or 12 when I first discovered Victoria Holt, and her alter-egos Jean Plaidy and Philippa Carr. A friend of mine loaned me THE MISTRESS OF MELLYN, and told me I had to read it (you can read a brief plot summary here http://us.macmillan.com/mistressofmellyn). Victoria Holt wrote Gothic novels back in the days when Gothic’s were still cool. There was always a heroine who was in danger, and the man who may or may not turn out to be the hero. They were mainly set in the 19th century, although there were a few that were contemporaries. Her books weren’t steamy, there were no graphic love scenes, but they were atmospheric, with exotic locales (to me Cornwall and Yorkshire were exotic!) and full of suspense. I loved that the heroines were strong, not weak little misses who waited for the hero to rescue them. In her NYT obituary, she is quoted as saying that she focused on "women of integrity and strong character" who were "struggling for liberation, fighting for their own survival.” I soon glommed through all the books that were available. My favorite Holt’s are THE MISTRESS OF MELLYN, BRIDE OF PENDORRIC, and MINE ENEMY, and THE QUEEN (about Elizabeth I’s cousin Lettice Knollys).

Imagine my glee when I found out that she wrote under two different pseudonyms. More books for me! As Philippa Carr, she wrote the ‘DAUGHTERS OF ENGLAND’ series, which chronicled one family from the Elizabethan era all the way to the 20th century (THE WITCH FROM THE SEA Sea is a personal favorite). But it was Jean Plaidy's novels that quickly became my favorites. I’m a history geek and her novels were filled with Scandalous Women. She wrote books that ran the gamut from novels about Lucrezia Borgia (presenting one of the first sympathetic portraits of Borgia), through Catherine de Medici, Isabella of Castile and Marie Antoinette.

She wrote about the entire British monarchy from William the Conqueror through Queen Victoria. I learned about women that I had never heard of before: Dorothy Jordan (THE GODDESS OF THE GREEN ROOM), Hannah Lightfoot (SWEET LASS OF RICHMOND HILL), and Mary Robinson (PERDITA'S PRINCE). But my favorites by far were the books that she wrote about Charles II told through the eyes of the women in his life, from his very first mistress Lucy Walters through Nell Gwynn and Louise de Keroualle. I am not ashamed to say that I learned a lot of my English history from her books. Every writer who writes historical fiction, owes a debt to her meticulously researched books. By the time of her death in 1993 while traveling on a cruise ship somewhere between Greece and Egypt, she had 100 million books in print. All told she wrote about 200 novels.

According to Wikipedia, she was born Eleanor Burford in 1906 (or maybe 1903, no one is quite sure) in the Royal Borough of Kensington in London. She inherited her love of reading from her father who was an odd-job man. She left school at 16, and got a job with a jeweler in Hatton Garden. In her early twenties, she married George Hibbert, a leather merchant who also shared her love of books. She started writing in the 1930’s but didn’t have her first book published until 1941. It was an editor at a newspaper who steered in her the direction of romance when she applied for a job as a writer. Her first novels were published under her maiden name. By the 1960’s, she had published 32 works of romantic fiction. She was very secretive about her life, and it was a carefully guarded secret in the publishing world that she was the woman behind all three pseudonyms.

Thanks to Crown and their Three Rivers Press imprint, many of her Jean Plaidy books are now coming back into print in handsome trade editions. No longer will those of us who love her books have to read our tattered old copies or take them out of the library. Now there are Victoria Holt books starting with THE MISTRESS OF MELLYN being reissued by St. Martin’s Press, bringing her novels to a new generation of readers. I am not the only one who loves Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt. The blog Plaidy’s Royal Intrigue (royalintrigue.blogspot.com) is devoted to the Queen of Historical Fiction’s royalty series.♥


BIO:   Elizabeth Kerri Mahon is a native New Yorker, professional actress, and a former President of RWA NYC. She's also the author of Scandalous Women --http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/-- chosen one of the 100 Most Awesome Blogs for History Junkies by Best Colleges.com. Elizabeth’s non-fiction book, based on her blog, SCANDALOUS WOMEN, was just bought by Penguin Putnam, with a publication date of 2011.