Jennifer Bray-Weber's Blog, page 76
September 18, 2013
MuseTracks Guest – Susanne Matthews – The Importance of Authenticity in Historical Romance
MuseTracks welcomes back guest, Susanne Matthews! She’s here to talk about something I enjoy – research and imagination.
The Importance of Authenticity in Historical Romance
On August 27, my third novel, a historical romance, The Captain’s Promise, was released by Front Porch Romance. My prior novels, Fire Angel and In Plain Sight, both romance/suspense, released by Crimson Romance, were contemporary novels—one set in Northern Ontario, the other in Northern New York, in imaginary towns based on real locations with which I was familiar. The setting for The Captain’s Promise, on the other hand, was seventeenth century France near Brest, and aboard a three-masted sailing vessel—two locations with which I had no experience.
For a historical romance to meet the expectations of its audience, authenticity to the period and the historical data is essential, and believe it or not, a lot of the information you’d consider necessary to verify facts simply doesn’t exist. So, the question is how do you find the facts you need to fit your story? You watch movies, you read other books, and you scour the Internet for whatever information you can find. Like an archeologist, you dig through all the dirt, find the facts and then, extrapolate from them what you need to know. For example, it’s a fact that on his second voyage Columbus carried 34 horses aboard his ship. Now, try finding details as to where they were kept and who cleaned them! I used a little literary license and invented a character in the story, with a Da Vinci-like imagination, who designed certain amenities for the ship. He created a weather deck stable that could be kept clean with sea water and openings on the side of the stable walls to allow the filth to leave the ship. Without his modern ideas, the crossing would have been far too smelly to be romantic.
And that brings up the next point—when does authenticity have to give way to imagination? Over three hundred years ago, clothing was different, daily hygiene was different, and what we consider basic comforts didn’t exist. There was no head on the ship with running water, hot showers, and a flush toilet—no laundry to clean the clothing and bring them back to you fresh and clean. There were basins and ewers, slop buckets, and a beakhead, basically the ship’s latrine that emptied directly into the sea beneath, but someone, most likely the cabin boy, had to empty the grey and black water every day. Being aboard a hot, smelly, crowded, ship wasn’t romantic in the least, but the Black Pearl, from Pirates of the Caribbean didn’t seem that bad. When I visited Jamestown, I saw the replicas of the ships that carried the settlers to Chesapeake Bay, and at Plymouth I visited a mock-up of the Mayflower that brought the Pilgrims to Massachusetts. There was nothing romantic about either of them, but consider a converted warship—lots of space—it was possible. I saw the Vasa in Stockholm, and that’s where I got the idea for the recessed area that could serve as a veranda. Today, staterooms with personal decks are common aboard modern ships.
Romance flourishes quickly when danger is involved and, since I am a suspense writer, I needed a mystery to solve. The birth of the Merchant marine in that period is a reality as is the French West-Indies Company’s monopoly on trade with the colonies. When people lose vast sums of money, there is always an opportunity for subterfuge! Dueling was indeed illegal and punishable by death in France. I tried to relay the importance of a sextant and proper charts so that a reader would understand the danger a ship could face lost at sea. Finally, living in Canada as I do, I think the choice of settling on Martinique in spite of the dragons and serpents would appeal to me.
So, now you have a glimpse of some of the research that went into The Captain’s Promise. You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take the need to teach out of the teacher.
The Captain’s Promise is available at https://www.frontporchromance.com/
And other major e-book retailers
About the Book:
Etienne Blouin left Danielle de Cherbourg in tears, promising to return; he didn’t. Ten years later, Etienne learns she’s been widowed and left almost penniless. Now a wealthy ship’s captain, he offers to help her, but the only reply he gets is from her aunt telling him to leave Danielle alone. Convinced she’s in trouble, he determines to rescue her whether she likes it or not, even if it means losing her love.
Danielle is shocked to learn that her companion is going to the colonies, while she is to marry a cruel and powerful man as repayment of her husband’s gambling debts. Despondent, she sees no way out of the horrendous situation. When her carriage is waylaid and she’s kidnapped, she fears the worse.
Etienne has enemies who don’t want La Belle Rose to make port. Can he outfox them to save his ship and the woman he loves?
About the Author:
Susanne Matthews grew up as an avid reader of all types of books, but always with a penchant for happily ever after romances. In her imagination, she travelled to foreign lands, past and present, and soared into the future. Today, she has made her dreams come true. A retired educator, she now gets to spend her time writing, so she can share her adventures with her readers. She loves the ins and outs of romance, and the complex journey it takes to get from the first word to the last period of a novel. As she writes, her characters take on a life of their own, and she shares their fears and agonies on the road to self-discovery and love.
Susanne lives in Cornwall, Ontario with her husband. She has three adult children and five grandchildren. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys reading, chatting on the Internet with her writer friends, and hearing from her readers. You can learn more about Susanne and buy her e-books at http://www.mhsusannematthews.ca
September 17, 2013
Link of the Week – itsalmo.st
This handy dandy link is a countdown widget. Got a book release? How about a party? A birthday? Wedding? Gig? Big game? Apocalypse? Whatever event you’ve got coming up, you can have your very own rolling countdown. See it in action on my website as I countdown the official release of my latest book KITTY KITTY, BANG BANG this week. It’s super easy to use, too!
http://www.harlowewilde.com/books.html
September 11, 2013
Cover Reveal! Kitty Kitty, Bang, Bang
I am so terribly excited! I’m launching a new phase in my career, dipping my toes into a new genre. Well, maybe not dipping. More like diving.
Meet Harlowe Wilde, author of steamy, dangerous and erotic romance. She’s brand spanking new. Emphasis on spanking. And because I, er, Harlowe, can’t seem to behave and write a story without trouble or a gun, these stories will not only be hot with raw, honest passion, but full of risky adventures. Starting with KITTY KITTY, BANG BANG – Coming September 20th!
Blurb:
Reilly Shay has built a reputation as a highly successful cat burglar. Her current contract—to steal a one-of-a-kind diamond bracelet—puts her one step closer to freedom from her employer. But she suspects her days are numbered. She’s a target for cops and crooks, and no one has her back since her ex-partner, and ex-lover, Grant Aubrey turned on her.
Grant gladly takes the job to capture Reilly at her latest heist. He loved her and she betrayed him. Case closed. But as he waits in the shadows of a Greek villa and watches her crack the safe, old desires emerge. And, suddenly, taking her in isn’t nearly as enticing as just taking her.
Will one night of dangerous passion be the death of them both.
Please show Harlowe some love by visiting (and liking) her new Facebook page. And while you are at it, visit her website. http://www.harlowewilde.com
Looking forward to this new venture. Won’t you join me?
September 10, 2013
Link of the Week – Romance Cooks
Today’s link is for foodies and people who love to cook. Romance Cooks is “Your favorite Romance Author. Their Favorite Recipes.” Everything from appetizers, soups, main dishes to sides, breads, desserts and everything in between. Yours truly was featured September 7th with one of my favorite cake recipes – Pistachio Cake. Trust me, it’s deeeelish! Stop on by and check it out.
September 9, 2013
MuseTracks Guests – Kristal McKerrington and Joe E. Legend – On Wrestling Romance
MuseTracks is happy to host author Kristal McKerrington and wrestling great Joe E. Legend. They are here to talk about a new sports romance subgenre, wrestling romance. Take it away Kristal and Joe.
Hello All,
Its an honour to be here with you. I’m here with Joe E Legend to present a themed sports category which has been around for a while. Yet its only now starting to get a lot of attention. Its wrestling romance. A theme to which a few people scoff at. However with real wrestlers coming into publishing I’m seeing the genre flourish.
Together Joe and myself have successfully launched a imprint with Solstice where other celebrities, even other wrestlers are starting to take part in. Most recently signed there is Leaping Lanny Poffo. A wrestler who rose to his fame in the 80s-90s. He’s just one of the many talented authors which Solstice hosts within its rankings.
Joe and myself wanted to bring something different to the table other than Non-fiction, this is when we released books such as Waking Up His Wife. You’ll find an excerpt below and myself went on to write the current book on sale Fighting For Love, there is excerpt of this one below too. We hoped to use these books to bring this old Sports Entertainment to the romance industry successfully. So far its going well.
L. Anne Carrington first started to move wrestling and romance together when she released her first wrestling erotica. It became a best seller. Before too long I followed her and have worked with her to help to push wrestling erotica alongside her. My first own creation is Fighting For Love. Which is currently on sale in Print and Ebook on Amazon. Buy links will be at the end of this blog.
Taking men who live out of a suitcase, break down their own bodies for our personal entertainment and most of them have bodies which most women dream of. Sounds like the perfect males for a love story right? Well that is what I thought. Soon, I found myself picking the brain of the wrestling legend himself. Now we are running several series of books. He put up with my questions before joining me as a co-author.
Having strong men, women make for great books. I’m glad to share this new genre with authors. So the next time you watch WWE with your children or see a local wrestling show, you can think of all the wonderful stories they can give you.
Thank you for having me and Joe E Legend today, we are delighted to have had the chance to stop by. We hope you will enjoy the excerpts.
Fighting For Love Excerpt:
“I know what the others are like and the things they do to people like me, but you don’t do that though do you? You don’t screw women and leave them.” Those words were like ice being poured down his spine. He shivered and realised he stood out in a cooling Virginia night in his wrestling gear. With night, owls and crickets started to come to life, filling the air with their sounds.
His trunks and his boots were the only items of clothing to cover his body. They didn’t protect him against the cooling air. They made the air feel even cooler, for they were designed to allow his body to breathe.
“No-” Carl answered and when he went to take away her fears about him, she moved forward and did what he used to think as the unthinkable. She leaned her body against his and he instantly saw the ball round shape of the tops of her breasts, moving up and down in gasps. Her heaving breasts captured his brain and left him powerless. They weren’t huge, but were big enough to make him weak.
Wrapping her arms around his neck quickly, she captured his lips underneath hers in a feverish pitch of uncontrollable desire and lust. He almost fell backwards with the intense power behind her kiss. He felt heat explode through him and his skin burst out into an inferno of flames.
His arms remained wide around her and the more she kissed him, the more he started to kiss her back. No woman with her looks ever kissed him like this and he was completely trapped, locked in the centre of her spell. He didn’t know anyone could kiss with everything they held inside them and still leave the other person knowing there might be more to give.
The feel of her hot, electric tongue caressing his and the way her hand fitted at the bottom of his neck made his blood pool rushed down through his body. His cock grew hard and tense as it pushed against the tight fabric of his trunks. His legs became like jelly and he felt his own arms hold her against him. Not wanting this kiss to stop and not wanting to be swept away by this new found ecstasy.
Waking Up His Wife-Coming Soon
Excerpt:
The sudden movement of her burying into the thick duvets, pillows and sheets made pain explode through the front of her head. Pain lashed out at the backs of her eyes making tears form just behind her eyelids, they threatened to spill over. The heat of her tears clashed against the cool air of the room, leaving her eyes protesting against it. The hot burn of them was enough to send her cold hands flying to them, in desperate hope of cooling them.
The room started to spin and aches started to take over the rest of her body. Like a marching of soldiers, with a steady, determined pace. The aches came in a series of waves making her feel dizzy and sick. Almost as if she found herself in the grips of the rough, wild and explosive Irish Sea. With its venom for ships and those who tried to conquer it on a daily basis. She felt like death and it wasn’t a feeling she’d ever been to use to. It wasn’t a feeling she wanted to get use to or ever have to deal with again.
She barely ever drank; she was more use to being on ‘drunk patrol’ rather being drunk herself. Without opening her eyes, she knew she faced down a killer of a hangover. She knew this wasn’t going to be easily fixed by a simple aspirin and fry up. She searched blindly for shades and hoped none of her clients were going to be too loud today.
Her hand searched the bedside table and she found nothing. She tried to remember where she left them and felt sure they’d been there. She wasn’t going to open her eyes to see where they were. She wanted to stay in the darkness as long as possible.
“Aww.” She groaned and she replaced her head deeper into the embrace of her nest of pillows hoping relief might come out of more sleep. It offered her a welcoming embrace at the edges of her mind. She hoped it might take her over soon as another wave of sickness finished beating at her.
She’d never felt this sick on boats crossing some of the worst oceans or in planes which felt like they might fall out of the sky.
“How’s the hang over?” Came a voice which caused her head to jerk up and brought her eyes shooting open into the bright morning light of her hotel room. A series of chain reactions shot off around her body like a pin ball in a pin ball machine. Its reactions caused her to struggle to not whimper aloud against the pain that flooded her. She instantly regretted her sudden movements.
The entire room spun around her, her head screamed at her to lay it back down on the safety of the pillow. She felt last night’s aftermath of alcohol race up her throat into her mouth and she forced herself to swallowed back. The burn of it made her to cough against its alien presence within her throat. Her body shivered against the sudden cooler air it met. It made the hangover punish her even more with its tight grip.
Connect with Kristal and Joe E Legends:
Kristal’s Fan page: https://www.facebook.com/kristalsmckerringtonsfanpage
Kristal’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/K_McKerrington
Joe’s Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/JoeELegendAuthorPage
Joe’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheJoeELegend
L. Anne Carrington’s Book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Cruiserweight-L-Anne-Carrington/dp/1456465198/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377673569&sr=8-2&keywords=Cruiserweight
September 4, 2013
Hump Day Kick Start – Busted Edition
Song of day: Come Undone by Adrenaline Mob
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a visual treat.
So, who loves bad boys? *raises hand* If you do, you might enjoy this week’s prompt.
Looks like our boy is caught. Hand-cuffed. *giggles* Your job is to tell me how he got this way. What did he do that had him running from the law? Was he even running to begin with? Was he framed by the woman he loves? Or does he have absolutely no regrets for whatever crime he committed? Maybe he’s undercover and this was all a mistake. What do you think? (Bonus points to those who knows our hunk’s name.)
September 3, 2013
Link Of The Week- An Oldie But Goodie
For those of us who have been writing awhile, you might have come across this site. I have to be honest and say that I used it an awful lot during those beginning years of writing and then forgot about it once I got into my manuscript. What was I thinking? I’ve had the best time wandering around Charlotte’s playground and am amazed at all the good stuff I found.
If you’ve been here before, it’s time to get re-acquainted. If it’s new to you, ENJOY!
http://www.charlottedillon.com/WritersLinks.html
PS. She says it’s for romance writers, but there’s an extraordinary amount of information for all writers, no matter the genre.
“Success is NOT the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.”
~ Reggie Leach
September 2, 2013
Happy Labor Day
From all of us here at MuseTracks, Have a safe, relaxing, and wonderful holiday.
August 30, 2013
MuseTracks Guest – Massimo Marino – Dystopian Plots
Today, MuseTracks is pleased to host Italian scientist and award-winning sci-fi and horror author, Massimo Marino. What better person to discuss dystopian plots?
Dystopian, Utopian, and Cacotopyan
The word dystopian comes from the ancient greek with δυσ-, “bad”, and τόπος, “place.” Alternatively it can also be called cacotopia, or anti-utopia. The word dystopia represents a counterpart of utopia.
Many dystopias described in fictional works present a utopian society, where good-life seems to have been achieved, but suffering by at least one fatal issue. Whereas utopian societies are founded on aspiring to the general well-being, a dystopian society’s dreams of improvement are overshadowed by a repression of any sort and origin, at times even one benevolent repression.
These kind of society appear particularly in stories staged on a speculative and visionary future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian rules, ecological and environmental disasters—post-apocalypse scenery, like in my work “The Daimones Trilogy”—or other events associated with a cataclysmic decline in the society fabric.
A famous dystopian novel is Fahrenheit 451, where the state burns all books out of fear of what they may incite in the individuals, and the more recent The Hunger Games, where a government holds control of its people by maintaining a constant state of fear through annual fight to the death competitions, the Hunger Games, where two young members of the various districts the world is divided in—after a global war that brought the planet on the bring of annihilation—are selected as ‘tribute’.
Dystopias have taken the form of a multitude kind of speculations and create very compelling stories that touch on issues of our own society: corruption, poverty, violence, pollution, political repressions. They offer their writers lots of freedom and inventive. Even if placed in the future, technology may, or may not be more advanced than in the present. In some cases, humanity has been brought to face a total collapse of the world as we know it and the fights for survival set in.
Some dystopian fictions emphasize the pressure to conform to a flattened society, as a requirement not to excel. In these fictions, the society is ruthlessly egalitarian, in which ability and accomplishment, or even competence, are suppressed or stigmatized as forms of inequality. Again, in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the dystopia represses the intellectuals with a particular brutality and subverts pillars of our society like the concept of family, a clear case of dehumanization dystopian organizations.
Both the principles of utopian and dystopian societies can be idealistic, with the goal of attaining positive stability for its members, but on dystopian fictions the foundations have such defects that ultimately result in oppressive consequences for the inhabitants of the planet. The oppression and repression can be subtle and the perception of a utopian society lingers instead, at least for a certain duration of the story, until a Hero becomes aware of the flaws and decides, against all odds, to intervene. Some fine examples come from such films and stories as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Brazil.
In dystopia, characters are at the mercy of the controlled society even if, at epidemic level, they might have the impression to live the good life; people enjoy much higher material living-standards in exchange for the loss of other qualities in their lives, such as independent thought and emotional depth. Humanity lives in a glorious state of comfort, but has given up what gives life its meaning.
The fictional society construction often has a backstory of a disaster, a war, a critical global climatic change, or an encounter of the third type, introduced early in the narrative and that create the stage for the story evolution. The historic events triggered the shift from previous systems of society organization and social norms to a changed society and new, often disturbing, social norms.
Unlike other fictions where an improbable, outcast main character evolves through the typical Arc of the Hero, often dystopias feature a prominent personality of the new society as the protagonist who senses, sometimes intuitively, that something terribly wrong is going on, despite the ‘utopian’ outlook. The hero’s point of view clashes with the others’ perception, and reveals to the readers that concepts of utopia and dystopia are tied to each other and the only difference between them lies on a matter of opinion. The hero attempts to either change the system or bring it down.
The story is often—but not always—unresolved even if the hero manages to escape or destroy the dystopia. That is the individual who are unsatisfied, and rebel, ultimately fail to change anything. Dystopian works may convey a sense of hopelessness in contrasts with much fiction of the future, in which a hero succeeds in resolving conflicts or otherwise changes things for the better.
All we said about dystopian, and its duality with utopian fictions and visioned societies, can also be told about my work in progress, “The Daimones Trilogy”.
More on Daimones:
Book one, “Daimones”, is released in both ebook and paperback, and the volume 2, “Once Humans” will hit the virtual and real shelves by the end of May of this year.
The trilogy describes a post-apocalypse world whose dystopian roots are million years old. Ancient aliens, a galactic struggle, the control of unique resources, meld to dictate the fate of the humankind.
“Daimones” places a few survivors in a world having experienced a planetary culling of humankind, one with no immediate or apparent cause. The Apocalypse has arrived yet the ‘why’ and ‘how’ remain unknown in a frustrating and fearful reality for Dan Amenta and his family.
Dan and his family awake one day in a world where everyone is dead but no evidence points to a cause. Initial searches for survivors yield nothing and, in panic, the family turns their house into a stronghold. Eventually, they find Laura, a survivor who manages to win their hearts…and leads Dan to temptation. Laura reveals her panicking encounter with strange entities which Dan recognizes in his childhood hallucinations. He forces himself to find and confront them: An older power controls the fate of men.
The story, on purpose, starts with the confusing life–and manifest lack of information–of characters that, as with the vast majority of us, live their life focusing on a very little world around themselves. Then something happens, and the “heros” arch starts.
The novel describes what our world is: we focus on money, we are not looking at what happens around us, we already live in a spiritual apocalypse. Vol.2, “Once Humans” has been published on July 2013.
The trilogy will explore the apocalypse from the physical death of humankind, the rebirth of the society, dystopian or utopian, and a larger conflict tensions with the second and third volumes.
Our real life world though tells us we have a spiritual death apocalypse already in place.
About the Author:
I’m Italian, or should I say, Sicilian. Palermo is my home town and I left it in 1986. I now have lived more years abroad than in Italy. Needless to say, I have changed in many and different way than my old friends there.
I lived in Switzerland, France, and the United States. For work, I used to travel some 500,000 air miles a year. I am a scientist as a background, having spent over 17 years in fundamental research. Most of my writing are academic stuff. I worked for many years at CERN, near Geneva—an international lab for particle physics research—then in the US at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. In 1995 I moved to the private sector, worked with Apple Inc., and then for the World Economic Forum.
Some say I have acquired a multi-faceted personality.
Author’s website
http://www.facebook.com/massimo.marino.750546
August 28, 2013
Hump Day Kick Start – Jaded Edition
Song of day: In The End by Linkin Park
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a visual treat.
For some reason, I feel like the pressure is on me to provide a great picture this week. Problem is, I can’ t seem to find one that fits my mood, or lives up to the hype and still be ‘legal’. Maybe I’m just a little jaded like the guy in this prompt because I have loads of great pics in my secret cache of mega hotness that I can’t use.
Speaking of… What’s up with him? Why is he looking away from her? What is she saying to him? That she loves him, and now he’s freaking out? That her mafia husband can never find out about them? That he will do her bidding or else she will have her demons kill the one he really loves? Is he contemplating how to tell her he must break her heart and leave her because he’s dying? What about her? Maybe it is her who is trying desperately to make him understand she must leave him to protect him. But why? Maybe he just wishes she’d get off so he can watch the football game.
What’s your take? I’d love to hear from you.
