Joyce DiPastena's Blog, page 47

Winner: "Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence"

Congratulations to Regan Brianne Guerra! Regan has won a copy of the sweet Regency romance, Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence , by D.W. Wilkin.


Thanks to all who read our interview and entered the giveaway!

Summary Sunday

About this time of year (i.e., "the holidays"), my writing time starts to seriously dry up for awhile. So I'm taking a break from Acelet's neverending story to try working on a shorter project. I'm hoping this will turn out to be a short story, or maybe a novella, but we'll see what the characters decide to do with the story once I let them loose. For now, I'm simply calling this Emilie's story. It's set around 1170 in Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's court in the palace of Poitiers. Here are a few sentences (one from each day) from the work I did on it this week.


Thursday: Had she not tucked her hands up tightly beneath her bosom, her yawning sleeves would have trailed in the rushes.


Friday: Emilie had never been a man's wife, but had had sense enough to bury her own dreams by twenty.


Saturday: Her voice came out on a little choke, as if he had knocked the breath from her stomach, rather than merely jolting her shoulder.

November Giveaway Hop: Winner!

If you're looking for Sweet Saturday Samples, please click here.
Congratulations to April, winner of the November Giveaway Hop on JDP NEWS!
Didn't win this time? The swing by again between November 17-27 when I'll be offering up another great holiday package for the Gratitude Giveaways Blog Hop!

Sweet Saturday Samples

Actually, I'm not sharing a sample from one of my romances today. I published a little medieval Christmas short story on Smashwords this week. Just for fun and it's completely free from now through Christmas! Here are a few lines from An Epiphany Gift for Robin :


"What foolish thing have you done?" Marriot demanded of her husband. "Whatever this is, we can't afford it. I'm sure that we can't!"


The food was long gone now, along with the merry games played by the villagers to keep warm in the winter snows. The ivy and holly so gleefully gathered and hung by the children to brighten their tiny thatched cottage, had grown dry and crisp, crackling off their garlands and crushed by shoes to form a fine, fragrant dust on the earth beaten floor. Today, Epiphany, the day the Magi had presented their gifts to the Christ Child, was the last day of respite her family would have from the backbreaking work in the baron's fields.


Gifts were only given to small children on Epiphany, especially among the poor.


Her husband's dark eyes danced with that mischievous gleam that had won her heart ten years ago. "Sometimes a bit of foolishness is just what a man needs to bestow on the woman he loves."


She heard a trio of high-pitched giggles from the children.


Did I mention that my story is free on Smashwords? Click here if you would like to check it out!


And click here to read some more Sweet Saturday Samples!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day to my mom and all our other Veterans on 11/11/11!
Thank you and God bless you all!

A little Christmas gift for you!

In an attempt to enter the digital age, I've published a short medieval Christmas story on Smashwords, titled An Epiphany Gift for Robin . Some of you may have read it before in the Christmas anthology, Stolen Christmas , but it's been spiffed up a bit, fluffed out to its original length (I had to snip it a little for the Stolen Christmas guidelines), and thanks to the artistic talents of Miss Mae, it now has it's very own cover.



And the best news is, it's completely free at Smashwords! A little Christmas gift from me to you. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/103342

November Giveaway Hop

I'm so thankful for my blessings this year, that I'm participating in not one, but TWO November Giveaway Hops! This is the first one, sponsored by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Tristi Pinkston. And thanks to the generosity of Designs by Lisa Messegee, have I got an exciting prize package for you! Here's what you can win here at JDP NEWS:
A gently used copy of Hand of Fate (hardback), by Lis Wiehl, with April Henry. Those of you who watch the Fox News Channel will recognize Lis Wiehl as a former federal prosecutor and frequent Fox News commentator.





A Christmas card sampler from Designs by Lisa Messegee


A Designs by Lisa Messegee ornament and Christmas mug

Wow! How can you win this bounty? Just leave a comment telling me what your favorite thing is to eat at Thanksgiving. (Or if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, what's your favorite fall/autumn food?) You MUST include your email address to be included in the giveaway. 
For extra entries you may do one or both of the following. (Each counts as a separate extra entry.)
+1 Follow my JDP NEWS blog via Google Friend Connect in the left hand sidebar+1 Like Designs by Lisa Messegee on Facebook
Deadline for entries is midnight PST, November 11th. The winner will be selected by Random.org on November 12th.
All entered? Then hop along to the next link on the blog hop list below!

Interview and Giveaway with Regency Romance Author, David William Wilkin

Today I have an author interview and giveaway with David William (D.W.) Wilkin, who among many other things, writes Regency romances. David has graciously agreed to give away one of his books at the end of this interview, Colonel Fiztwilliam's Correspondence, a Regency romance based on some characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Read on to learn more about David and find out how you can enter to win a copy of this book! (E-book open to International and US entries, print copy US only)
JDP: Thank you for joining us today, David. How did you become interested in writing about the Regency period?
David: That is a tale, and bear with me, I shall lead you to the end of the trail. I liked history enough from High School to make it my major in college. I specialized in Pre-Modern Asian history while getting my degree which is pretty far from the study of Regency England. But History, I have always found, is stories. I like stories and even before college I wrote some, but after, I started my quest to be a novelist. I also became an Historical Re-enactor.
I joined groups where we made the costumes of the era we were Re-enacting. I learned the dances from those times, and then actually taught well over 1000 people how to do them. Running regular dance practices. My early main focus was Medieval and Renaissance, but one day a friend said, 'Have I got a girl for you to meet,' and dragged me to a Regency Dance. Well, not that girl, but several years later, I met my wife, Cheryl at a Regency Ball.
To woo her (she was very far away), I wrote her a regency romance, a few pages a day, that turned into a novel. When taking a class to further enhance my writing, I resurrected the story and worked on it more. Then over the last ten years, found that a good third of my output was Regency Romances.

JDP: Wow, that's an amazing (and wonderfully romantic) story! What do you find most fascinating about the Regency era?
David: We of course stylize the era. How many of us portray London or Town, other than full of beauty and elegant living? When of course you step outside those stately homes, and there is filth in the streets. The lower classes are everywhere, and the middle classes are struggling. But in our Regencies, we set aside that and in is light and glitters. That is something I love. It is actually a fantasy world we create each time. 
Even in movies, or especially in movies, the clothes our heroines and heroes wear are never smudged with dirt, or tattered. I find it hard to imagine that everything would look so clean back in the day. So on my Planet, where I recreate the Regency, I can enter the world of the Aristocracy and Nobility, and share those titles, and those riches. I think of it as a great escape.
JDP: Ah, yes, I relate to your cleaned up fantasy world. Only my characters live on Planet Medieval, rather than Planet Regency. I'm always interested in how authors research their historical novels. Could you tell us a little about how you researched the historical background for Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence?
David: Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence is of course a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. So first, I reread Austen's classic. My book also focuses on Darcy's cousin, who does not get a lot of play in a novel set during the Napoleonic Wars. It was still a time where a very rich man could purchase their rank, and one can imagine that the Earl of M----K, as Austen calls Fitzwilliam's father, having done so for his son.             As a history major, I have delved into military history, and have learned a thing or two about the Napoleonic Wars. Philip Haythornwaite's Wellington's Military Machine, Sir Charles Oman's History of the Peninsular War, David Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon and David Gates The Spanish Ulcer all have places on my bookshelf along with dozens of others about the battles and period of the war. In addition to many books about the Regency. Knowing about the war and thinking about the Colonel, I knew that he had to be a participant in it.
I knew that by bringing the two together, I could craft a story with a little steel in our hero. (I hope I've conveyed that.) And that during the period, many, many men were affected truly by the war.
JDP: Can you share with us your top three favorite research books or other resources?
David: For the Regency era, my all time favorite is What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool. Very similar but with enough extra is Kristine Hughes Everyday Life in Regency England. Last, since I have been influenced by Georgette Heyer in creating my view of the Regency since a friend told me at one of those Regency Dances I just had to read Frederica, is Jennifer Kloester's Georgette Heyer's Regency World.
JDP: Ahhh, I love Frederica, by Georgette Heyer! (And Friday's Child and These Old Shades and The Convenient Marriage and The Talisman Ring… Oops! Better stop and get on with the interview!) Are there any historical figures from the Regency era who particularly intrigue you?
David: We often forget that that across the channel a whole slew of characters, who were very much effecting what happened in London, were alive and influencing all of Europe. I think the most exciting is Ney. If your readers hear of his defense of the Grande Armee as it retreated from Russia and crossed the bridge at Kovno. Heroic stuff. 
In England and our Regency, I love the many fictional Age of Sail officers. Hornblower shall always be a favorite, followed by Ramage, Bolitho, Drinkwater (isn't that a great name that Richard Woodman gave us for a Naval Hero?) Nelson then is fascinating to me as are some of the other great British seamen, Hornblower's Pellew was a real historical figure. Militarily Wellington and his generals are also fascinating. Henry Paget, a great cavalry commander that returns from the Peninsula and promptly runs-off with Wellington's sister-in law. Wellington thus cannot have him serve on his staff, at least not until Waterloo years later and there his leg had to be amputated. He lived almost 40 years after that. Stapleton Cotton (What a great name), a Cavalry officer who lived to the age of 91 after the war.
What of Sir Harry Smith, who Heyer immortalizes in The Spanish Bride. Later to become a Lt. General and his wife, saved from Badajoz, becomes the woman that the cities (3 of  them) of Ladysmith is named after. Beau Brummel and his Dandy Club, all I find fascinating
JDP: It was truly a fascinating age. What inspired you to write Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence?
David: Before I was a teenager, we were flipping through channels on television, when my mother, who thought she could order us when it came to control of the tv set, made us stop on an old black and white show. 'That's my favorite,' and then she made my three younger brothers and I watch it. It was Olivier's Pride and Prejudice and yuck!  Fast forward into my twenties and I began to appreciate that movie, and then in my 30's loved it. I even delved into reading the original piece of chick lit and enjoyed it as well. While I do not think of myself as a tremendous fan of Jane Austen, her work certainly got me interested in the Regency, along with the re-enactment activities I was becoming involved in. And then I read Heyer.
What a hoot! Georgette's use of language to evoke a period was tremendous and that further gave me an appreciation for the period. As I spent more time with the Regency, meeting Cheryl who would become my wife in that society, I also worked on my writing. Also working on a true Historical of the Peninsular war. While researching that, the pieces fell into place for a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Something that Cheryl and I would also watch is the A&E (1995) version of each year. So many write about Darcy and Lizzy and so few acknowledge that the war was occurring and that those of the Ton were quite concerned that the Little Corporal go down to defeat. I thought it an important gap that needed to be addressed.
JDP: I agree. I think even historical romances sometimes need to be placed in their historical context. Please tell us a little about your Regency romance, Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence.
David: Originally I envisioned that the Colonel would emerge and have a romance, but I quickly put Kitty into the scene. With Lydia gone, I found Kitty torn between wanting to be a better young lady than she had been while her more boisterous sister led her about, but also still a person of fun. I knew that the growth that occurs in all of us over time could be telling for one such as Kitty moving from being a girl to a woman.             I also knew that the war lasts for years, and a woman, if not married before her lover goes to war, most likely would not wait and appear to be on the shelf. When I placed the first letter in the story as a device to appease and contain the ever flighty Mrs. Bennet, I had no realization that would become the device I could employ for the entire story, but the truth is that England was growing closer by virtue of the post. Look to the original and the post between Jane and Lizzy telling of Lydia's flight. Look at the missive Darcy places in the hands of Lizzy to explain himself. There is a great deal of letter writing occurring.            I believe that carries my book. That it is also the change in our hero, who becomes a great correspondent and uses his connections back in England to keep him sane amidst the battlefields of Portugal and Spain. The crux of both his growth, and that of his love interest occurs when he returns from the war. I attempt to place my own use of language, as did Heyer, into the story. I think this is a dividing point for my readers. Some have related that they find this works for them, while others expecting this book to be our current use of language can't get past that.            The last caveat of a work based upon another's writing is that many have their own ideas of what should be happening to the characters the original author created after writing The End. I of course take all those characters in the direction I chose. I used the last few paragraphs as a guideline, and I used Aldous Huxley's view of Pride and Prejudice's Catherine de Bourgh portrayed by Edna May Oliver for mine more than some of the others. Austen says that Lady Catherine and Elizabeth will make amends in the final paragraphs of the novel. The Olivier movie (1940) I think shows that clearly. (Edna May beats Judi Dench in this portrayal, hands down-IMO)
JDP: Are you working on any new projects?
David: Always. Currently being edited by my core group is a modern romance. I don't want to say too much, but as it is Halloween, there are certain spectral beings that bring humor and channel Cupid. There are a few other Regencies also being edited at the moment. One called Beggars Can't be Choosier, the other is Two Peas in a Pod. The last about identical twins and mistaken identities. Beggars has the underlying theme that so many Regency marriages were founded on, marrying for money.
JDP: Where can readers obtain copies of your books?
David: All my books are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The iTunes-iBookstore carries my Regencies
List of titles by David William Wilkin
Regencies:The End of the WorldThe Shattered MirrorColonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence
Fantasy:A Trolling We Will GoTrolling Down to Old Mah WeeTrolling's Pass and Present
General:Genghis Khan's Rules for (Warriors) Writers
You can learn more about David and his books at the following links:
Regency Assembly Press Home page: http://regencyassemblypress.com/Home.htmlColonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence Book site: http://www.colonelfitzwilliam.com/Home.htmlDavid's blog: http://thethingsthatcatchmyeye.wordpress.com/
Okay, now for the giveaway. This is a busy month, so I'm going to keep this one easy. Just leave a comment on this interview AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS for a chance to be entered to win a copy of Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence , by D.W. Wilkin. Winner may choose either a print or e-version of the novel if USA, or if International, will receive an e-book version of this romance.
Deadline for entries is Sunday, November 13, midnight PST.

Winner of "Ammon"

Congratulations to Angie Lofthouse, winner of Ammon by H.B. Moore!


Thank you to everyone who stopped by to read my interview with Heather (H.B.) and enter the giveaway. I've got several more giveaways coming up this month, so pop back in frequently to see what's going on. :-)

7 Random Facts and 15 Lovely Blogs

The Lovely Gail Pallotta of Peering Through Life's Window has awarded JDP NEWS a Lovely Blog Award. Thank you so much, Gail!



Before I can fully accept this award, I have to share seven random facts about me. So here goes:

1. I don't like to cook, but I love to eat. Schawn's frozen foods is my friend. :-)
2. I don't enjoy reading fantasy, but I love fantasy movies or TV shows.
3. I'm a fan of The Five on the Fox News Channel.
4. I love chocolate chip cookies without nuts, but brownies with nuts.
5. I never learned how to swim.
6. I celebrate Norman Conquest Day every year. (Aw, you already knew that about me, right?)
7. I have a masters degree in library science from the University of Arizona. (I've never used it, though.)

Okay! Now I get to pass on this award to fifteen other lovely blogs! I hope you'll take the time to visit each of them, because they're truly lovely!

Totally Tina (Tina Scott)
Cotton Candy for the Soul (Jennifer Griffith)
Writer in the Pines (Marsha Ward)
A Storybook World (Deirdra Eden Coppel)
Up to Speed (Suzanne Barker)
Anna Jones Buttimore
Donna Hatch, Romance Author
Into the Mind of Jaimey Grant (Jaimey Grant)
Haunt's Haven (Joan Sowards)
Peggy Urry - Writer
A Succor for Writing (Kathleen Brebes)
Author Debra Brown
Claudia MH Culmone
Debbie's Inkspections (Debbie Davis)
A Writer's Ramblings (Karen Hoover)

To claim the award:

1. Thank the giver and link back to his or her site.
2. Provide seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award to fifteen other blogs, then let them know, and link to their sites.
4. Copy the award logo and paste it on your site.