Julia Bennet's Blog, page 3
August 19, 2019
Eminent Victorians: Kate and Maggie Fox
The heroine of my next book (The Ruin of Evangeline Jones, coming soon from Entangled Publishing) is a charlatan medium. To tell her story, I researched the Victorian spiritualist movement, which is how I found out about Kate and Maggie Fox. These two sisters are in large part responsible for starting the entire 19th century spiritualist craze.
It all began in the 1840s when they were still children. According to the PSI Encyclopedia, “Maggie and Kate Fox w...
August 12, 2019
A new figure for a healthier more attractive you? The S-bend Corset.
So, five minutes ago, I discovered that s-bend (also known as swan bill) corsets were a thing. Apparently, they were invented in the 1890s by Inès Gaches-Sarraute (a medical doctor) as a healthier alternative to regular v-shaped corsets (that is, corsets designed to give women the desirable v shape at the waist), the idea being that it didn’t put so much pressure on the abdomen. They were all the rage from about 1900 and into the early 1910s.
As for what the the corsets looked like…
[image error]S-bend...July 29, 2019
Eminent Victorians: Spring-heeled Jack
This here is Satan, we might say the devil, but that ain’t right, and gennelfolks don’t like such words. He is now commonly called ‘Spring-heeled Jack;’ or the ‘Rossian Bear,’ – that’s since the war.— Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor
The first sighting of the being known as Spring-heeled Jack occurred in London in 1837. A man jumped out and grabbed Mary Stevens, tore at her clothes, and touched her with claws that were “cold and clammy as...
June 4, 2019
What’s Happening?
I’m a bit snowed under at the moment, but here’s a progress report.
First, let me share this handy How Publishing Works infographic designed by Floris Books:
[image error]The Ruin of Evangeline Jones is at the QA and copy-editing stage. Meanwhile, book 3, tentatively entitled The Talented Mr. Ellis, is waaay back at the very beginning of the process. I’ve submitted a book proposal–first few chapters, blurb, and synopsis–so fingers crossed my editor likes it. While I wait to hear, I’m busily writing the r...
May 27, 2019
My Process: How I write fiction
Let’s be honest, there’s no one right way of doing this. We find what works for us and whatever it is becomes our process. We’re always refining it. But if you’re just starting out and/or struggling, it can be useful to hear what other writers do. Like finding a map when...
May 20, 2019
The Madness of Miss Grey: Inside Blackwell
I am buried in revisions for book 2, so for fun, here’s an aesthetic I did for Blackwell House, the insane asylum where my heroine Helen Grey is incarcerated.
[image error]All images via PinterestMay 16, 2019
Books I’m Excited About
I’ve been writing so much lately that I haven’t had nearly enough time to read, which is terrible because there are so many books I’m desperate to get my hands on. I thought I’d share some of them with you, so that you can get excited about them too. Some are new releases but some aren’t. The book covers are also links, so just click if you want to know more about any of them. The list includes romance (contemporary and historical) and non-fiction because that’s what I happen to be in the moo...
May 13, 2019
Eminent Victorians: Sarah Forbes Bonetta
People call her Queen Victoria’s black daughter, but Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s story is more complex than that. Was she, as Wikipedia would have it, a West African princess, Omoba Aina? And did Queen Victoria really adopt her?
Unfortunately, we may never know the truth about Forbes Bonetta’s origins. She was silent on that subject in her letters and never referred to any royal lineage. And, in the circles in which she sometimes moved, i...
May 10, 2019
Newsletter Contest – Win a $10 Amazon Gift Card
Subscribe to the Julia Bennet newsletter now for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card. To sign up, please go here.
[image error]The Julia Bennet newsletter is where I share behind the scenes info and updates. You’ll also be the first to hear about future giveaways. The emails are usually monthly but can be less frequent (when I’m on deadline) or more often (in the run-up to release day.)
All subscribers receive immediate and exclusive access to the first chapter of my forthcoming second book. The cont...
May 8, 2019
Julia vs the Facebook Advertising Policy II: Revenge of the Facebook Ad department.
Well, hello, Sister Michael. I didn’t expect to be seeing you again so soon. For anyone who needs catching up, I blogged about my previous problems with Facebook advertising here and here. For those of you who don’t care, you should visit those posts anyway because they have more Sister Michael GIFs.
So, after the poor performance of the “Cuddling Violation” ad, I thought I’d try something different. Mr. Bennet, who is handy with a computer,...
