Monica Fairview's Blog, page 44

P&P The Untold Stories: Netherfield Park is Let at Last

Welcome to the very first vignette in our new Austen Variations group project, Pride & Prejudice: The Untold Stories. You can find an explanation of this project here. For now, cast yourself back in time to this date 212 years ago!

Mr. Bingley views Netherfield Park for the first time

September 18, 1811

Mr. Anderson reined in his horse at the top of a hill. “And there you have it, Mr. Bingley,” the solicitor said. “Netherfield Park!”

“So this is Netherfield!” Bingley shaded his eyes for a bett...

Down Memory Lane ~ a Vignette & a Giveaway

Today I’m going for a walk down memory lane, and I hope you’d like to come along with me. An old favourite has a new cover, and I thought I’d celebrate with a special offer and a giveaway.

So, what do you think of Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter now? Doesn’t she look like she’s thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, what have I done?’

When Colonel Fitzwilliam’s disclosures are interrupted by the bearer of distressing news from Longbourn, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is compelled to accept an offer she would have ot...

Sneak Peek: Traces of Magic, Book 3 of Mr. Darcy’s Magic

It’s almost here!

Almost means I’m still doing some edits and waiting impatiently for the book to come out on September 28th. It’s the third in the series (but not the last), and it goes in a slightly different direction from the first two. This is good news for those of you who’ve forgotten the first two books of Mr. Darcy’s Magic, because you don’t have to remember a lot of details before you can get back into it.

Of course, for those of you who didn’t read the first two, you’re missing a lot....

Mrs Bennet Makes a Match Cover Reveal & Excerpt

Hello!

Isn’t cover reveal day always so exciting? I think it is, if only because it means I can talk about my latest creation more than I have in the past. I did make a wee post about my new novella, Mrs Bennet Makes a Match, last month, but today I will share an excerpt as well as the cover.

Mrs Bennet Makes a Match came together based on the cover, rather than the cover following the story. More or less. I have had the basic plot on my list for a while now, but when I and some other authors we...

Announcing Pride & Prejudice: The Untold Stories!

Hear ye, hear ye! The Austen Variations team has a treat coming up for you! Over the next two years we’re going to be posting untold stories from Pride & Prejudice in real time. That means that next week, 212 years after Bingley first sees Netherfield, we’ll be posting a scene showing that event, and then each of the following events will be portrayed on the same day they happened in the novel. It’ll include scenes that never show up in the original book, plus changes of point of view.  Want to...

A New Book Is Coming!

As many of you know, I have been doing a series lately of Unusual Tales. It’s still regency England, and still Elizabeth and Darcy,  but someone has a special ability, their world holds unusual secrets, or Fate is overly involved. It has been fun to let my imagination run wild.

The story I’m wrapping up now has something else unusual besides the supernatural – a new narrator! Allow me to introduce Colonel Fitzwilliam in his new role as Storyteller. Don’t worry, he doesn’t steal the show entirely...

Lydia and Lady Catherine: A Battle in Venice

The Fashionable Mamma by James Gilray

In the sultry days of early September the Darcys were wanting to leave Venice, where the heat hung dome-like and heavy over the muddy canals. Lord Byron mentioned a country villa he and Shelley knew about, in Este, near Padua, a twenty-five mile carriage journey from Venice. It was on high grounds with beautiful gardens where the children might play, and the family find relief in the more open air. Their friend the English Consul Hoppner made the arrangement...

Part Eight of a Modern P&P Story

Happy September!

So, I have good news and bad news. Good news first, right? In a previous post, I lamented the lack of a title for this story. Together, Alexandra and Adelle devised a suggestion I love: Strokes of Inelegance! What do you think? Alexandra came up with “strokes” (thinking of swim strokes and the phrase strokes of genius), and Adelle turned that into “Strokes of Inelegance,” which I think fits poor Liz’s inelegant but dedicated approach to figuring out her feelings for Will!

Okay, ...

Bess and the Highwayman Launch and Giveaway (and Nicole asks for story advice)

I’ve been threatening this story for over two years now. Well, guess what? It finally launches today!

Bess and the Highwayman is–you guessed it–a story loosely based on that haunting poem by Alfred Noyes. Oh, I could sing Loreena McKennitt’s version right now! Show of hands? Yes?

But I always thought there was something wrong with it. Why write something that incredible and then have a sad ending? I know it wouldn’t be half as memorable with a happily-ever-after, but I couldn’t just leave it alo...

Cover Reveal for “Mr. Knightley in His Own Words”

It’s been quite a harrowing journey, but COVER REVEAL DAY IS FINALLY HERE!

Like Fitzwilliam Darcy’s and Colonel Brandon‘s books, for Mr. Knightley in His Own Words, I wanted to feature an artist’s interpretation of the title character as portrayed in one of the film adaptations. But which Mr. Knightley should I use? Whose face goes on the cover – Mark Strong? Jeremy Northam? Jonny Lee Miller? If you’ve been following along, you know there’s been a months-long, ongoing controversy about that – am...