Nicola Cornick's Blog, page 15

The Stiff Upper Lip

Over on the Word Wench blog we are talking about those qualities of self-control and restraint associated with the “stiff upper lip.” Do you admire a hero – and heroine – who keeps their cool? Come and chat about what qualities you think our heroes and heroines should possess.

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

Movie Locations!

Over on the UK Regency Authors’ Blog today I am talking about the National Trust’s map of movie locations and the gorgeous properties that have been used in different films and costume dramas.  Visit us here to drool over some gorgeous historical properties and let us know your favourite movie locations!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

In the style of Downton Abbey!

Over on the Ashdown House blog today we are talking about one of the gorgeous houses featured in fabulous TV series Downton Abbey. Hall Barn in Beaconsfield is another stunning 17th century house very much in a similar style to Ashdown. Please drop into the Ashdown House blog here and tell us what you think! Would you like to live in Hall Barn or Ashdown House? Do you like this dolls house style of architecture or would you prefer a medieval castle or moated manor?

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

The Mischief and Mistletoe Anthology

It was back in 2010 that the idea was first mooted amongst the Word Wenches to write a short story anthology. As soon as we started discussing ideas I knew whose story I wanted to write. In 2009 my Brides of Fortune series had been published. It featured a secondary character called Lady Lydia Cole, who had been cruelly betrayed not once but twice by the villain of the series, Tom Fortune. It also featured a gorgeous rake, John Jerrold, who was in love with Lydia. At the end of the final book in the series, The Undoing of a Lady, it is left open as to whether Lydia and John would ever find happiness together. So what happened next?

The answer lies in The Mischief and Mistletoe anthology, in my story called On A Wicked Winter Night. It was a great pleasure to write Lydia’s story. I liked her a lot. She was someone who had made a big mistake – twice! – but she had the strength to rebuild her life and make a new future for herself. I also liked Johnny, despite the fact that he ran off with Lizzie in The Undoing of a Lady! Johnny also grows up, realises what it is he really wants and in On A Wicked Winter Night he goes out to get it.

All the stories in the anthology have a theme of wicked wenches and they are all lovely, heart-warming and deeply romantic tales!

Over on the Word Wenches blog today I am talking about the gorgeous Welsh setting for my story and we are giving away TWO copies of Mischief and Mistletoe. Click here to visit the blog and join in the chat!

Meanwhile here on my own blog I am continuing the theme of sequels and prequels with a giveaway of the very first book in the Brides of Fortune Series, The Secrets of a Courtesan. To enter, just tell me which secondary character from any book you would like to see get a story of their own!

And whilst we are on the subject of contests, don’t miss the last few days of this month’s website contest and the chance to win a luxury pampering hamper!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

The RNA Chapter visits Ashdown House!

It was a huge pleasure to show members of my local Bath/Wiltshire Romantic Novelists’ Association Chapter around Ashdown House on Saturday.  Twelve members of the group travelled from Bristol and beyond for a special guided tour with tea and cakes afterwards. Fortunately we had a beautiful sunny day for the visit which meant that the views from Ashdown’s newly-restored roof platform were stunning. I think everyone enjoyed the visit and it was super to have so many enthusiastic authors to show around! Thank you to Liz Fielding for the photo and to Rachel Brimble for getting us all organised for the visit!

One of our group, Jean Burnett, is signing copies of her new book Who Needs Mr Darcy at Topping and Co’s bookshop in Bath, 7.45pm on October 20th. If you are in the vicinity do drop in! And if you would like to visit Ashdown House we are open on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons until the end of October.

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

Two Anthologies!

I’m very excited, as this week I received copies of a very special anthology. For years I have been hoping that my short story The Secrets of a Courtesan would be published in print as well as in e-format. I’ve had so many requests for this from readers and I’ve passed these on to my editor and finally, after more than three years, I’m holding a copy of the print book in my hand! It’s such a beautiful looking book too and I am sharing it with two of my favourite authors, Stephanie Laurens and Kasey Michaels. It goes on sale on October 23rd under the anthology title of A Lady of Expectations.

The Secrets of a Courtesan is the prequel to my Fortune’s Folly trilogy and like the other books in the series is set in Yorkshire. I had terrific trouble writing the story. I was at a particularly difficult time in my life and rather than finding an escape in my writing, as sometimes happens, I found all the other stuff was interfering with my concentration. I wrote an entire version of the novella that I had to scrap because it simply didn’t work; and then I had to write a new version in a few days because I had run out of time on my deadline. Happily, with the help of my wonderful editor, the final version of the story was a book I have always loved and I hope that readers will enjoy it too.

And speaking of special anthologies I am very proud to be a part of the Word Wench anthology Mischief and Mistletoe which will be in the shops next week! It is a huge privilege to be part of an anthology with so many of my friends and favourite authors. We are all extremely excited about the book. If like me, you find the end of September too early to be thinking about Christmas reads then I urge you to treat yourself to the book as an advance Christmas gift to yourself (because you deserve it!) then put it aside until the festive season! We have been singing carols in my choir for three weeks now and it feels very strange to be doing that whilst the sun is still shining and the days are warm, but come the frost and snow I will be curling up in front of the wood burning stove with a good book. The Word Wenches are all blogging about the background to their particular stories over on the blog so do drop in to chat with us here if you would like to hear more about Mischief and Mistletoe!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

Quiz Answers!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the historical quiz. I hope you had fun with it! Congratulations to the winners, Jami S and Amy, who got all the answers correct! A book is winging its way to you both.  Here are the answers:

1. Dead as a Doornail derives from the solid stud against which the door knocker is struck.  This is a very old phrase, the first written example dating from 1350. There are also references to is in Shakespeare.  What isn’t clear is why a doornail should be dead.

2.  Beyond the Pale originally derived from the park pale, the fence made of stakes that encircled an estate or hunting ground. Within the pale was safe; beyond the pale was wild and barbarous. It has come to mean something that is unacceptable or beyond common standards of decency or morality, an interesting translation of physical safety into moral unacceptability.

3. Coming up to Scratch has its derivation in the boxing ring. In early boxing matches the boxers had to stand with one foot touching a line scratched in the ground before each round. If they failed to do so they lost the fight. This now has the implication of being both ready and also being able to deliver what you have promised.

4. Hoist by his own petard; This implies a certain pleasing irony that something has backfired on someone.  The petard is first mentioned in written sources in the 16th century as a form of explosive device. This developed into a siege weapon that used gunpowder. The phrase, like so many others, is first mentioned in Shakespeare.

5.  Passing the buck was the answer that everyone got right! Many card games made use of a marker, the buck, to show who had responsibility for dealing. To pass the buck was to pass on the responsibility to the next person.

6. The derivation of Nineteen to the Dozen refers to a steam powered pump capable of dispelling 19 000 gallons of water every 12 bushels of coal burned. It originates in the Cornish tin and copper mines of the 18th century where the pumps were used to control flooding of the mines.

7. There is dispute over the derivation of the phrase ” Son of a gun.” Some say it started as referring to the son of any military man. A more frequently accepted derivation is that the British Navy allowed women (wives and camp followers) to live on naval ships, often sharing with the men hammocks that were slung between the cannon.  Any child born on board who had uncertain paternity would be listed in the ship’s log as ‘son of a gun’.

8. Blood and Thunder: Times of Blood and Thunder were times of violence, feud or outright war. The phrase originally started out as an oath, first used in print by Tobias Smollett in 1751 and again by Lord Byron in the poem Don Juan.

So there we are! Thanks again for the entries!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

The Historical Pub Quiz!

Recently I took part in my local pub quiz. Actually it took place in the local village hall rather than the pub but we had drinks, a ploughman’s supper and a quiz. We also had a round ofquestions on historical derivations: Where certain phrases came from. I thought I’d do really well on this but to my shame only managed about half of the correct answers. So I thought I would share it with you all here and see if you could do any better than I did (not difficult!)

1. What is the origin of the phrase “dead as a doornail”? Is it: a) A reference to the nail used to fasten down the lid of a coffin, b) The solid stud against which a door knocker is struck? c) The “doornail” was the small viewing window in the door of a prison cell locking the prisoner dead away. d) This is a mis-quote of the phrase “dead as a dawn quail” a species that is now extinct like the dodo.

2. What is the origin of the phrase “Beyond the Pale”? Is it: a) A pale is a pointed stake used in a fence. Beyond the pale was deemed to be wild and barbarous. b) The pale is a bucket of water set ready for extinguishing fires. A fire beyond the range of the thrown pale of water was considered to be beyond the pale. c) The pale was the reinforced top edge of the drawbridge of a castle. Beyond the castle’s demesne was wild and uncivilised and beyond the pale.

3. What is the origin of the phrase “Coming up to scratch”? a) a crude and simple reference to the idle who would finally climb from bed (come up) and do something useful (scratch for fleas) b) In early boxing matches the boxers had to stand with one foot touching a line scratched in the ground before each round. If they failed to do so they lost the fight. c) A shoal of flying fish emerging from the water were said to be coming up to scratch ie in their prime.

4. What is the origin of the phrase “Hoist by his own petard?” a) A petard was a siege weapon that was liable to explode prematurely killing the setter of the charge. b)A criminal was forced to make his own noose or petard and then was hung, hoist by his own petard. c) A lord visiting another lord’s estate was allowed the honour of hoisting his own petard or standard atop his host’s property.

5. What is the origin of the phrase “passing the buck”? a) Many card games made use of a marker, the buck, to show who had responsibility for dealing. To pass the buck was to pass on the responsibility to the next person. b) Buckles was the name of the distance marker points along racetracks. The largest buckle was at the finish line and first past the post had passed the buck. c) A corruption of the phrase “pass the book” arising from Victorian Improving Societies where one would pass the book to one’s fellow members for their education. d) A buckler was the doorman at a munitions factory who would inspect employees to make sure that they neither wore nor carried anything that would ignite a fire. Everyone had to pass the buck before they were allowed in.

6. What is the origin of the phrase “Nineteen to the Dozen”? a) Press gangs requiring 12 men would abduct 19 potential seamen to make allowance for the fact that several would abscond and then they would not be paid their bounty b) This was the practise of placing effigies of soldiers among an army facing battle, thus giving the impression that the army was larger than it really was c) A steam powered pump capable of dispelling 19 000 gallons of water every 12 bushels of coal burned was going nineteen to the dozen d) A baker could be fined heavily for baking underweight loaves. He therefore ensured his loaves were baked on a 19:12 scale to avoid penalty.

7. What is the origin of the phrase “Son of a gun”? a) It was the name given to the single bullet in a revolver used in the game of Russian roulette b) It was the offspring of a shotgun wedding c) In early warships men would sling their hammocks between the the cannons on the gun decks. The name son of a gun was given to the child of any female “followers” who slept with the men on the gun decks. d) The sons of the gun were the cabin boys who acted as runners bringing munitions and gunpowder to the gun deck of the warships.

8. What is the origin of “blood and thunder”? a) it is a mixture of port and brandy with the port representing the blood and the effects of the brandy, the thunder. b) It refers to a time of violence, a feud or outright war. c) It was a boxing bout that only came to an end when the loser was rendered incapable through serious injury.

If you’d like to discuss the answers here on the blog that would be great. If you want to email them to me  at ncornick (at) madasafish.com that would also be great – 8 correct answers gets a prize!  I’ll post the answers up on Monday and then we can argue about whether they are right in true pub quiz tradition!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

The Lady’s Maid

Today on the Word Wench Blog I am celebrating my heroine Margery’s elevation from the Servants’ Hall to the Ton ballrooms by talking about the role of the lady’s maid in a Regency household!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.

Desired – On sale in the UK!

Today I am celebrating the UK release of Desired, book 5 in the Scandalous Women of the Ton series. I am so thrilled that the book is now available in the UK – and in its beautiful UK cover as well!  It’s no secret that I loved writing Desired.  I had a big author-crush on the hero, Owen Purchase, who had been a character in several of the other books in the series. I wanted Owen to have a story of his own because he was very special – loyal, funny, handsome, resourceful, and with so much integrity.  Owen and the heroine of Desired, Tess, are engaged in a cat and mouse game that is  sweet, sexy and dangerous, and it was huge fun to write their interactions.

Over on the UK Historical and Regency Authors’ Blog today I am celebrating the publication of Desired with a blog about the historical background to the book, the radical politics that Tess is involved with and the political caricatures she secretly draws.  Please drop by and join me – and check out all the other fabulous articles there are on the blog, from author Elizabeth Hawksley writing about what it was like to grow up in a big country house to Sarah Mallory talking about the music that inspires her books to Christina Courtenay blogging about ball gowns!

©2012 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

.