Elizabeth Reeve's Blog, page 3

Research!

I'm writing an erotic romance short right now that's set in approximately-Regency England. It has a fantasy slant to it – an incubus, to be precise – but it's definitely outside my usual range. Which means… All-new research!

"Yaaay," she typed weakly.

Actually, I love doing research, most of the time. There are a few exceptions. I've been working on a space opera for ages, and while I love the characters and the plot and so much of the setting, I loathe doing the chemistry and physics legwork. Ugh, lasers!

But even when there's math (my ancient foe!) involved, I do love learning new things. Over the years I've been writing, I've learned about age of sail warfare, blacksmithing, codes and code-breaking, and more ways to grievously wound a hero and have him survive than you can shake a stick at. I've also brushed up on my knowledge of founder effects and other biological oddities, improved my Latin, and spent some time working out how a professional researcher would do her work (kind of meta, isn't it?).

Somehow, I've avoided using dictionaries as research aides in any serious way until now, though. But since I'm writing a story that takes place in an actual historical setting (as opposed to a second world fantasy setting, for example), I have to be more careful with my word use than I usually am. The Oxford English Dictionary has come to the rescue more than once, giving me dates of usage for various meanings of various words. But what's even more fun than that, I'm learning, is looking at dictionaries that are roughly contemporary to the time period I'm writing.

I found one at Project Gutenberg that is fascinating, informative, and hilarious: the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue .

One of the gentleman who contributed apparently went by the name of "Hell-Fire Dick," which gives an idea right at the outset of what the text will be like. It's been fun to see some of the language that didn't make it into many of the novels that form part of our literary canon from that period. And while a fair number of the entries seem a little too over-the-top to have been in common usage (if they were really in usage at all), they're certainly entertaining. I think my favorite has to be the definition for "Carvel's Ring":

The private parts of a woman. Ham Carvel, a jealous old doctor, being in bed with his wife, dreamed that the Devil gave him a ring, which, so long as he had it on his finger, would prevent his being made a cuckold: waking he found he had got his finger the Lord knows where.

Though I was also deeply impressed by the entry for "sh-t sack" (the bowdlerizing is the author's, not mine):

A dastardly fellow: also a non-conformist. This appellation is said to have originated from the following story:—After the restoration, the laws against the non-conformists were extremely severe. They sometimes met in very obscure places: and there is a tradition that one of their congregations were assembled in a barn, the rendezvous of beggars and other vagrants, where the preacher, for want of a ladder or tub, was suspended in a sack fixed to the beam. His discourse that day being on the last judgment, he particularly attempted to describe the terrors of the wicked at the sounding of the trumpet, on which a trumpeter to a puppet-show, who had taken refuge in that barn, and lay hid under the straw, sounded a charge. The congregation, struck with the utmost consternation, fled in an instant from the place, leaving their affrighted teacher to shift for himself. The effects of his terror are said to have appeared at the bottom of the sack, and to have occasioned that opprobrious appellation by which the non-conformists were vulgarly distinguished.

Isn't research fun?

A Winner Could Be You!

Authors Vivian Arend and Moira Rogers are holding a gigantic series of give-away drawings for ebooks right now, and as part of that they're giving bloggers the opportunity to give away one of their books – Arend's Wolf Signs – on their own sites. Awesome!

From the Fall Frenzy site:

Win a copy of A Wolf Signs by Vivian Arend!

Robyn Maxwell doesn't care that her brother has to cancel out on their backcountry ski trip. She can do it alone. The fact she's deaf doesn't make her survival skills any weaker. The chance to get away from it all and relax in the Yukon wilderness is just what she's been craving.

Meeting wilderness guide Keil at the cabin starts cravings of another kind. Keil's one hot hunk of ripped, tasty male. Now she has to deal with raging hormones as well as strange questions about wolves and mates and challenges to the death.

Keil was trying for a nice reflective retreat before challenging for the Alpha position of his Alaskan pack. He wasn't planning on meeting the woman destined to be his mate, or finding out she's not aware she has the genes of a wolf.

Between dealing with his accident-prone younger brother, a deaf mate with an attitude and an impending duel to the death, his week—and his bed—is suddenly full.

Far from the relaxing getaway any of them had in mind…

Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of Wolf Signs!*

This contest is a part of Moira Rogers' & Vivian Arend's Fall Frenzy Event. For your chance to win books, gift certificates, ereaders and more, visit http://www.moirarogers.com/contests/

Frequent readers here might remember that I had some mixed feelings about a few aspects of Wolf Signs, but overall I really enjoyed the book. It was a fun read, with a great female lead, and I'm thrilled to be able to offer a copy to someone else who'll enjoy it, too!

*So here's what you do for your chance to win it here: Comment on this post by October 28th with a recommendation for one of your favorite werewolf stories, romantic or otherwise, whether that's a novel, short story, or movie. Be sure to use an email address you actually check when you fill out the comment form! On the 29th, I'll choose a random winner from among the commenters. That's it!

Prophetic on Accident

Did I say last month that I didn't think I'd ever want to write a historical romance? Oh yes, I did.

So, naturally, Circlet Press has a new anthology coming up that will be a collection of Jane Austen-inspired stories, paranormal style. It seems that I spoke too soon, because reading the call for submissions got me going with all sorts of ideas.

I was joking with Marie that this is starting to become a pattern for me. I'd always said I wasn't interested in writing werewolf stories, and then ...

Read These: A Handful of Historicals

When I read a romance novel (or romantic novel, or erotic novel, or novella, or short story… You get the idea) that I like, I always set it aside with a happy sigh and the very best intentions of writing a review. And then I get busy doing something else – Writing of my own, if all goes well. Usually, it's dishes, alas – and never get around to it.

I recently burned through a short stack of Regency-or-thereabouts romances (a genre I really enjoy as a reader, though I doubt I'll ever want to ...

"Letting Him" at Every Night Erotica

I have a new piece of microfiction up at Every Night Erotica, a story called "Letting Him." I don't often write stories without a speculative fiction slant to them, so this was an interesting piece to work on. I hope my readers will enjoy it!

Read This: Wolf Signs, by Vivian Arend

I meant to link to and endorse a review my friend Marie Carlson wrote a couple of weeks ago, and then got super-busy (reading and writing, naturally. Oh, and doing dishes. Much less glamorous) and forgot. But now I have remembered!

The reason I'm linking to Marie's review instead of writing up my very own is pretty well summed up in her introduction:

I will start this mini-review with a bit of funny that happened. The other day I sat down to continue reading Wolf Signs, the awesome...

Read This: "Fall, Falling, Fallen," by Karalynn Lee

I downloaded "Fall, Falling, Fallen," by Karalynn Lee because it was offered as a freebie from Samhain Publishers, knowing absolutely nothing about the it. I've been stocking my new e-reader with as many free short stories and novellas as I can get my hands on, the bulk of which have failed to move me. "Fall, Falling, Fallen," however, caught my attention right from the beginning and held it firmly straight through to the end of the story.

The heroine is Melea, one of the daughters of the l...

Get a Taste of "Lunacy" at Scribd

Wow, it has been way too long since my last post! But I am happy to report that I was given an e-reader for my birthday by my extremely wonderful parents (who support my career even though I tell them they're not allowed to read my sexy stuff), and I've been busily loading it up with titles that will help inspire me and also give me some things to recommend in this space.

In the meantime, it turns out that if you're interested in "Lunacy," my short story in the Like an Animal anthology from C...

Follow Me on Twitter!

I'm right in the middle of a long writing project, and to give myself something fun to look forward to in breaks (and a place to vent, of course!), I've finally given in and signed up on Twitter. If you want to follow me, you can see my profile here: http://twitter.com/elizareeve

I've also put a widget in the sidebar that – if it works! – should show my latest several tweets here.

Even More Ways to Read "Lunacy"

The Like an Animal anthology from Circlet Press is now available at All Romance Ebooks and for the Kindle at Amazon.com.

Personally, I'm not super-comfortable about purchasing anything from Amazon after the recent "Amazonfail" stuff. (Wikipedia has a bit of information here, for those of you who missed it) But I'm interested in learning more about All Romance Ebooks. Sales from publishers and a free book for every ten purchased sound like awesome things to me!