Jennifer Malin's Blog, page 3

That’s the Spirit!

As I mentioned in my last post, the ghost in my contemporary paranormal romance Eternally Yours, isn’t all that scary — especially not in his mind. Geoffrey Vereker, late poet and a womanizer in his day, still thinks of himself as a ladies’ man. The...



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You Have a Haunted Look About You

My mom has always liked ghost stories (though my dad can’t suspend his disbelief), so as a kid I saw my share of scary movies. One old black-and-white one gave me recurring nightmares, though for years afterward I had no idea what film it was. In the...



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The Dots Between Regency and Roman

Two obsessions have fueled most of my stories: the English Regency and Roman archaeology. They seem to be unrelated subjects, so it surprised me to stumble on the image shown here. This caricature by James Gillray, dated to 1801 (technically, a little...



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Pretty — And Not So Pretty — Manners

Part of the romance of the English Regency lies in the elegant manners. People of the era seem more civil than we do today — at first glance, anyway. But in Jane Austen’s books you find aristocratic characters flinging insults at their...



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Art and Austen

How important was fine art to Jane Austen? And how does it influence her books? We know that Jane sketched, and so did other members of her family. A couple of her heroines draw, too — but it’s not portrayed as their calling in life. It’s more of a...



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… And Some Ordinary Household Shrines

In my archaeological mystery/romance The Five-Day-Dig, the team excavates an ancient Roman temple complex — but temples weren’t the only place where the ancients worshiped the gods. The household shine or lararium was a central feature in a Roman...



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Seventh Sanctuary FREE on Kindle Through July 4th!

If you have a Kindle or read Kindle books another device (like your phone or ‘puter), hop over to Amazon for a FREE download of my steamy ancient-Sumerian romance novella Seventh Sanctuary. The promo runs through midnight on Wednesday, July 4th....



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Some Things Never Change

I love coming across unexpectedly modern (seeming) things that the Romans had or did. That’s why I included details about ancient central heating in my Regency romance Lord St Leger’s Find and about 2,000-year-old flush toilets in my contemporary, The...



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A Different Kind of Purgatory

At one point in my archaeological mystery/romance, The Five-Day-Dig, Chaz speculates that the building he and Winnie are excavating is an ancient purgatorium, like the one (shown below) that visitors to Pompeii can see on the grounds of the Temple of...



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Holiday Weekend Giveaway on Kindle!

If you have a Kindle or read Kindle books on other devices, hop on over to Amazon now through Monday to get a free copy of my Regency romance novella A Perfect Duet. Here’s the blurb: Meek Miranda Granville only comes alive at the pianoforte, but...



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