Rose Lerner's Blog, page 40

Self-evident

So, tomorrow is July 4th. The anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress.

Here's the second paragraph:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and [...:]

Drinking strong beer with the freeholders

Doing some research about women in 18th-century elections, and came across two fabulous quotes. The first one is from a letter between two politicians during the 1754 parliamentary elections; the woman in question's husband is involved in two separate elections in different towns in Dorset and she's helping with his campaign:
"Mrs. Pitt tells me [...:]

My Wordpress spellcheck seems to be set to British English. Huh.

Anecdote cited in a footnote of Electoral Behavior in Unreformed England, concerning "treating," or the practice of patrons providing free food and drink for electors prior to a poll:
At the 1768 Northampton contest, the Earl of Halifax exhausted his store of mature port and turned in desperation to his choicest claret, whereupon the "rabble" deserted [...:]

In which I recommend one book, give two away, and…talk about dresses

1. My beloved critique partner Susanna Fraser recently sold her Regency-set historical, The Sergeant's Lady, to Carina Press. It's coming out towards the end of August, and it's a really great book. I'll be posting more about it when it's available for pre-order, and I'm hoping Susanna will come here on her [...:]

To prove the world was round? REALLY? Who writes this stuff?

1. There's a really interesting discussion going on about anachronisms in historical romance over at History Hoydens. As you can see from my looong comment, this is something I've given a lot of thought to yet totally failed to come up with a coherent policy. I evaluate anachronisms on a case-by-case basis! [...:]

She must have been assisted in the stile spelling and diction

A really interesting excerpt from Byromania and the Birth of Celebrity Culture by Ghislaine McDayter, on the early 20th-century published collection of some of Byron's fan letters ("To Lord Byron": Feminine Profiles Based on Unpublished Letters, 1807-1824…which makes me sad because it seems to be the ONLY published collection of Byron's fan letters and they've [...:]

New cover and new contest!

The cover for A Lily Among Thorns arrived in my inbox a couple of days ago! So, without further ado:

Isn't it lovely? While those people don't physically resemble my hero and heroine very much (the woman would if she didn't curl her hair and dressed differently, though), the vibe between them is perfect. [...:]

Just call me the Marlon-Brando-in-"The-Wild-Ones" of teen soap viewers

So I may have mentioned that I've been watching Gossip Girl. I'm halfway through Season 2, and while I've noticed a decline in quality in terms of plot coherence (also: understanding how to correctly use the term "slander"), I still love all the characters so I'm willing to overlook it.
There's something else the show [...:]

A man ain't nothing but a man

I have a pet peeve. And a blog. Match made in Heaven!
I know language evolves. I like that about it, actually. But the way the word "Luddite" has evolved seems disrespectful to me of the original Luddites, who I learned a lot about while researching In for a Penny.
Nowadays, people use [...:]

Mad, bad, and dangerous to know

Today I allowed myself one of the greatest geeky pleasures: a new library card. For a $100 contribution to the Friends of the University of Washington Libraries, I got a borrower's card! I checked out three books: Byromania and the Birth of Celebrity, Byron's Romantic Celebrity, and Romanticism and Celebrity Culture, 1750-1850. [...:]