Elin Gregory

My guest today is an author whose work I adore, and she also gives some of the best hugs around. 🙂

Welcome Julie!!

Jane Austen’s grasp of the English language is justly celebrated. Is there any part that you can quote for us that you particularly relish?
For me, Jane Austen’s brilliance isn’t about any “high astounding terms” as with Marlowe’s Tamburlaine. It’s more that she has a very clear eye and sharp mind when observing herself and others, and a very precise and concise way of using the English language. Not to mention her delightfully dry wit.
I have a couple of examples here from her letters: “What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps one in a continual state of inelegance.” I freely admit to being inelegant at the best of times, but I hate hot weather, and Austen’s words immediately remind me of that frumpy, inescapable sense of discomfort it always brings.
Here are her thoughts on decorating her hat: “I cannot help thinking that it is more natural to have flowers grow out of the head than fruit.” You can just hear the dry ironic tones choosing the lesser of two absurdities.
And a last one, expressing quite the opposite of the usual sentiment: “Our little visitor has just left us, and left us highly pleased with her; she is a nice, natural, open-hearted, affectionate girl, with all the ready civility which one sees in the best children in the present day; so unlike anything that I was myself at her age, that I am often all astonishment and shame.” Her more acerbic judgements of those around her are often quoted, so here is a nice one to balance them out!

What inspired your story in the A Certain Persuasion anthology? May we have an excerpt?

When I was writing the call for submissions, I tried to come up with some ideas that might provoke my fellow authors into writing a story. One of them was “What if Elinor Dashwood was repressing her love not for Edward but for a woman?” – and while I’d been hoping to write something dealing with the rambunctious heroines of the Juvenilia, the idea about Elinor was the one that made it into print.
The story is basically a retelling of Sense and Sensibility, with brother-in-law Edward Ferrars swapped out for cousin-in-law Ada Ferrars. And this is how it starts, with me cunningly borrowing and adapting some of Austen’s best lines:

“It is enough,” said Mrs Dashwood. “To say that Ada is unlike Fanny is enough. It implies everything amiable. I love her already.”
Elinor smiled at her mother’s warm response, so typical of her enthusiasms. “I think you will like Ada, when you know more of her.”
“You love her, Elinor,” said Marianne. Her look expressed her full meaning more fervently than her tone. “You love Ada already.”
Elinor glanced at Marianne to acknowledge the truth that the sisters had never shared with their mother, but she responded honestly when she said, “I cannot deny that I greatly esteem her.”

What are you working on at present?

Well! I haven’t really talked about this a great deal, as it is an odd little project that I fear no one will want to read except me.
One of my Favourite Ever experiences in the theatre was seeing the play The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (the beautiful indoor theatre at Shakespeare’s Globe in London). It is a hilarious play, and surprisingly (even shockingly) post-modern. It features two plays within a play.
My idea was to wrap another layer around the play’s layers, and write about a modern-day performance, including the actors and what happens backstage as well as ‘novelising’ the play itself.
If I can persuade Manifold Press to publish it, I hope you’ll see it in the first half of next year!

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Bio:

Julie Bozza is an English-Australian hybrid who is fuelled by espresso, calmed by knitting, unreasonably excited by photography, and madly in love with John Keats.

Links:

Blog: http://juliebozza.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/juliebozza
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/juliebozza

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A Certain Persuasion

from Manifold Press

Thirteen stories from eleven authors, exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours.

Being cousins-by-marriage doesn’t deter William Elliot from pursuing Richard Musgrove in Lyme; nor does it prevent Elinor Dashwood falling in love with Ada Ferrars. Surprises are in store for Emma Woodhouse while visiting Harriet Smith; for William Price mentoring a seaman on board the Thrush; and for Adam Otelian befriending his children’s governess, Miss Hay. Margaret Dashwood seeks an alternative to the happy marriages chosen by her sisters; and Susan Price ponders just such a possibility with Mrs Lynd. One Fitzwilliam Darcy is plagued by constant reports of convictions for ‘unnatural’ crimes; while another must work out how to secure the Pemberley inheritance for her family.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Darcy meets the enigmatic Lint on the edge of Pemberley Cliff; while another struggles to live up to wearing Colin Firth’s breeches on a celebrity dance show. Cooper is confronted by his lost love at a book club meeting in Melbourne while reading Persuasion; and Ashley finds more than he’d bargained for at the Jane Austen museum in Bath.

A Pemberley-sized anthology featuring authors: Julie Bozza, Andrea Demetrius, Sam Evans, Lou Faulkner, Adam Fitzroy, Narrelle M Harris, Sandra Lindsey, Fae Mcloughlin, Atlin Merrick, JL Merrow and Eleanor Musgrove.

Available from Manifold Press | Smashwords | Amazon  | ARe

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My guest today is new-to-me-author Fae Mcloughlin who, I believe, is enjoying her debut in this terrific anthology.

She is here today to help my celebrate A Certain Persuasion – an anthology of Austenesque stories from Manifold Press.

Welcome Fae.

Jane Austen’s grasp of the English language is justly celebrated. Is there any part that you can quote for us that you particularly relish?

I love Jane Austen’s descriptions and use of metaphors. This account of Pemberley House is a favourite; I particularly like the stream that is full of its own self-importance.

“It was a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned.”

What inspired your story in the A Certain Persuasion anthology? May we have an excerpt?

I knew that I wanted to set Thirteen Hours in Austen in modern times and that I wanted to write about a fictional Austen museum at night. I’ve always wanted to spend a night in a museum, to wander the corridors alone and really get a feel of the exhibits, instead of dodging kids, pushchairs, and the people that read every word and don’t move on. So I took a uninterested young lad and an exuberant cos-player and let them have an empty museum adventure.

He flounced in front of me like a drunken ballerina, all arms and out-of-control legs, forcing me to retreat against the brickwork. ‘But, like Mr Wickham I’m charming, an excellent conversationalist, and possess a gift for making friends. Unlike him, I’m not wicked, although sometimes it might be fun to be so,’ he said and winked.
I smiled. There was something appealing about the nineteenth-century soldier amongst rubbish of the twenty-first. I held out my hand. ‘Ashley, Ash.’
‘Hello Ashleyash, I’m Mr Wickham.’ He clicked his heels and shook my hand with a surprisingly firm handshake.
‘No, you’re not.’
‘Okay, I’m Noah and you’re still out of bounds.’
I took one last draw on the e-cig then said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m off.’
‘What is that?’ Noah pointed towards the vaporiser.
‘Um, an electronic cigarette. Have you not seen one before?’
‘No. Why do you smoke that and not a real cigarette?’
Did he live under a rock? ‘Erm, for health reasons.’ I turned to leave.
He caught my arm and there was urgency to the grip. ‘Did you dress up today? It’s the museum’s most popular activity.’
I pulled away. ‘Nope. I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.’
‘Oh, you’re out of luck, the wardrobe department has run out of pins.’
‘Ha-ha.’ I turned towards the door.
A red jacket filled my vision and blocked the way. ‘Why are you here if you hate Austen so much?’ Noah asked.
‘My mother dragged me along on some kind of parent/child bonding thing.’
Noah leaned in, he smelt of mints and brass polish, and his breathing was quick and low. ‘I bet you a week’s wage I can make you fall in love with Austen before the night’s out,’ he murmured.
‘My week’s wage wouldn’t buy a novelty eraser from your shop.’
‘If they are your thing then my week’s wage would buy you a thousand.’ He waited, his eyes round, and his lips parted.
The only people who spend a night at the museum are boffins and Ben Stiller. It was lunacy, but I said, ‘What the hell. Nothing to lose—’
‘—and a lot to gain.’ Noah took my hand.

What are you working on at present?

At present, I’m researching Spitfires, particularly how you eject from one, so I can contribute towards Manifold’s WW2 anthology – Call to Arms.

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Bio:

Writing is my first love but my other passion is photography, in particular taking pictures of big skies, random cloud formations, plane trails, sunsets, rainbows, and the weather.

When I’m not tapping on a keyboard or standing on my garage roof taking pictures of the sunrise, I like to make perfectly smooth ice balls and plink them into Jack Daniels.

You can follow Fae on Twitter @FaeMcloughlin

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A Certain Persuasion

from Manifold Press

Thirteen stories from eleven authors, exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours.

Being cousins-by-marriage doesn’t deter William Elliot from pursuing Richard Musgrove in Lyme; nor does it prevent Elinor Dashwood falling in love with Ada Ferrars. Surprises are in store for Emma Woodhouse while visiting Harriet Smith; for William Price mentoring a seaman on board the Thrush; and for Adam Otelian befriending his children’s governess, Miss Hay. Margaret Dashwood seeks an alternative to the happy marriages chosen by her sisters; and Susan Price ponders just such a possibility with Mrs Lynd. One Fitzwilliam Darcy is plagued by constant reports of convictions for ‘unnatural’ crimes; while another must work out how to secure the Pemberley inheritance for her family.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Darcy meets the enigmatic Lint on the edge of Pemberley Cliff; while another struggles to live up to wearing Colin Firth’s breeches on a celebrity dance show. Cooper is confronted by his lost love at a book club meeting in Melbourne while reading Persuasion; and Ashley finds more than he’d bargained for at the Jane Austen museum in Bath.

A Pemberley-sized anthology featuring authors: Julie Bozza, Andrea Demetrius, Sam Evans, Lou Faulkner, Adam Fitzroy, Narrelle M Harris, Sandra Lindsey, Fae Mcloughlin, Atlin Merrick, JL Merrow and Eleanor Musgrove.

Available from Manifold Press | Smashwords | Amazon  | ARe

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My guest today is an author who I have met a couple of times at UK Meet and I can’t wait to meet again..

She is here today in celebration of the recent release of A Certain Persuasion – an anthology of Jane Austen themed stories from Manifold Press.

Welcome Sam!

Jane Austen’s grasp of the English language is justly celebrated. Is there any part that you can quote for us that you particularly relish?

I have a favorite quote which I was ‘given’ by a friend in 2003. I was going through a rough patch and she sent me a card with this handwritten inside.

It isn’t what we say or think what defines us but what we do – Sense and Sensibility

I think that then it was perfect and still is.

What inspired your story in the A Certain Persuasion anthology? May we have an excerpt?

The inspiration behind my story in the anthology (and which also answers question 1) is the one below. I studied P&P at university so when I returned to my copy earlier this year this line was highlighted. It obviously stood out then as much as it does now. All I needed to do was add a Soap Actor, a celebrity dancing competition, a pair of breeches and Colin Firth and the was born.

To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love – Pride and Prejudice

What are you working on at present?

Currently I am taking a small break from writing. I have had a tough year physically and with the exception of Cross and Cast I haven’t worked on very much. I think I’ve needed to heal mentally and physically. After a little bit of encouragement at the UK meeting in September my aim for 2017 is to plan out my Rugby League story and see where things go after that.

Elin: and I can’t wait to read it. Please let us know how you get on.

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A Certain Persuasion

from Manifold Press

Thirteen stories from eleven authors, exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours.

Being cousins-by-marriage doesn’t deter William Elliot from pursuing Richard Musgrove in Lyme; nor does it prevent Elinor Dashwood falling in love with Ada Ferrars. Surprises are in store for Emma Woodhouse while visiting Harriet Smith; for William Price mentoring a seaman on board the Thrush; and for Adam Otelian befriending his children’s governess, Miss Hay. Margaret Dashwood seeks an alternative to the happy marriages chosen by her sisters; and Susan Price ponders just such a possibility with Mrs Lynd. One Fitzwilliam Darcy is plagued by constant reports of convictions for ‘unnatural’ crimes; while another must work out how to secure the Pemberley inheritance for her family.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Darcy meets the enigmatic Lint on the edge of Pemberley Cliff; while another struggles to live up to wearing Colin Firth’s breeches on a celebrity dance show. Cooper is confronted by his lost love at a book club meeting in Melbourne while reading Persuasion; and Ashley finds more than he’d bargained for at the Jane Austen museum in Bath.

A Pemberley-sized anthology featuring authors: Julie Bozza, Andrea Demetrius, Sam Evans, Lou Faulkner, Adam Fitzroy, Narrelle M Harris, Sandra Lindsey, Fae Mcloughlin, Atlin Merrick, JL Merrow and Eleanor Musgrove.

Available from Manifold Press | Smashwords | Amazon  | ARe

Read Full Post »

My guest today is an author whose short stories delighted in A Pride of Poppies and whose first novel, Submerge, was released on the first of November.

She is here today in celebration of the recent release of A Certain Persuasion – an anthology of Jane Austen themed stories from Manifold Press.

Welcome Ellie!

Jane Austen’s grasp of the English language is justly celebrated. Is there any part that you can quote for us that you particularly relish?

There’s a wonderful sentence in Sense & Sensibility that I always think sums up a lot very concisely: “Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.” I also love Edward Ferrars’ assertion that “Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. If I could persuade myself that my manners were perfectly easy and graceful, I should not be shy.” I can relate! And, of course, there is that wonderful speech of Darcy’s in Pride & Prejudice.“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. […] You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

What inspired your story in the A Certain Persuasion anthology? May we have an excerpt?

This sort of question always makes me wish I hadn’t written two stories! But only for a moment. So if you don’t mind, I’ll take each one separately.

Margaret actually evolved from my first idea when I saw the brief – I like to stay more or less canon-compliant (if you squint a bit) so I wanted to take a look at the Dashwood sister who didn’t get much page-time in Sense & Sensibility, which is my favourite of Austen’s novels. I wrote my other story while I was trying to iron out the details of this one, and then suddenly it came to me that Colonel Brandon was the answer to all my prayers. And he turned out to be useful in the story, as well!

Extract from Margaret:

“Have you raised the idea of a companion with your ward yet, Colonel?”
He sat back a little in his seat, looking almost embarrassed. “No. I mean to do so within the next few days, but I haven’t yet worked out how best to broach the subject. I confess, I am rather afraid that if I wound her pride, she won’t come at all.”
Margaret did not pry into the reasons behind his expression, which spoke of real grief and fear; instead, she set about trying to relieve his anxiety. “Well, I think I know a way you can suggest it without causing any offence. As it happens, I might soon be in need of companionship myself; perhaps you would be so kind as to ask a young lady of your acquaintance if she might oblige, as a very great favour?”
“Well, that could hardly cause offence,” the Colonel conceded, “but how could I then explain the substitution of another girl in your place?”
“Well, unless you think me unsuitable, I don’t believe you would have to make any such substitution. I have not consulted with my mother yet, but I would be happy to act as companion to your ward if she agrees.”

Father Doesn’t Dance started life as a companion piece to Pride & Prejudice, which would run alongside the events of the original novel, with a few differences! That quickly spiralled far beyond the word count for the anthology – and I’m hoping I can develop it separately at some point. For A Certain Persuasion, though, I decided to take the story back in time, to the death of Darcy’s father, and I think it turned out much better that way.

Extract from Father Doesn’t Dance:

As the weeks went by, Lavinia could only watch as her father became more frail and his expression became more worried. She could hardly blame him for his preoccupation; she imagined that losing one’s health so quickly was quite difficult enough without having to contend with the knowledge of an entail that would leave one’s family, if not destitute, considerably less comfortable than one would wish. Lavinia hated to see her father so disconsolate, and so she began to rack her brain for some brilliant scheme that might make him happy. When at last the idea occurred, it was such a preposterous notion that she discarded it immediately, but the thought would not leave her. At last, she knocked on the door of her father’s study, where she was increasingly likely to find both parents closeted together.
“I’ve been thinking,” she told them once the door was closed behind her, “about the entail.”
“You needn’t worry yourself about that, Lavinia. There’s nothing to be done,” her mother began in a soothing tone, but Lavinia turned her head to address her father.
“Has Mr Lowick found the heir yet?”
“No. No, he hasn’t.” Perhaps he noticed the glint in her eye, because he raised an eyebrow as he continued. “If I had a son, it would be quite a different matter. Nothing could be simpler. But with so few men left in my family … well, it’s a little harder to trace the line of succession.”
Lavinia took a deep breath. “What if you did have a son?”

What are you working on at present?

As ever, I have my fingers in several pies – my first novel, Submerge, was released on the same day as A Certain Persuasion and I’m already working on a potential sequel to that, as well asFather Didn’t Dance, the continuation of Father Doesn’t Dance. At the time of writing, however, it is November, which for me means NaNoWriMo, so I’ve put both of those on hold and started something completely different – a novel set in Cambridge in the ’50s, following a fictitious scientist through a short period of his life. So far, I’ve written about a sixth of the story I had in mind, and around half of my intended word count, so we’ll see how that goes when the time comes to edit!

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Bio:

Eleanor Musgrove was born in a seaside town on the South Coast of England, where she developed a love of writing when she was very young. Other ambitions – and homes – have come and gone, but she has always wanted to be an author. After lots of practice, both through writing fan fiction and through participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) most years, SUBMERGE is her first novel. She’s pretty excited about it!
When she’s not writing or reading, Eleanor enjoys going to the theatre, walks in the woods, and getting far too emotionally invested in films and TV shows. She graduated from the University of Kent in 2014 with a BSc in Multimedia Technology and Design, and hopes to one day put it to good use.
If you’d like to keep up with Eleanor’s writing journey, or let her know what you think of her book, she keeps a blog at eamusgrove.wordpress.com.

Links:
eamusgrove.wordpress.com
facebook.com/eamusgrovewrites

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A Certain Persuasion

from Manifold Press

Thirteen stories from eleven authors, exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours.

Being cousins-by-marriage doesn’t deter William Elliot from pursuing Richard Musgrove in Lyme; nor does it prevent Elinor Dashwood falling in love with Ada Ferrars. Surprises are in store for Emma Woodhouse while visiting Harriet Smith; for William Price mentoring a seaman on board the Thrush; and for Adam Otelian befriending his children’s governess, Miss Hay. Margaret Dashwood seeks an alternative to the happy marriages chosen by her sisters; and Susan Price ponders just such a possibility with Mrs Lynd. One Fitzwilliam Darcy is plagued by constant reports of convictions for ‘unnatural’ crimes; while another must work out how to secure the Pemberley inheritance for her family.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Darcy meets the enigmatic Lint on the edge of Pemberley Cliff; while another struggles to live up to wearing Colin Firth’s breeches on a celebrity dance show. Cooper is confronted by his lost love at a book club meeting in Melbourne while reading Persuasion; and Ashley finds more than he’d bargained for at the Jane Austen museum in Bath.

A Pemberley-sized anthology featuring authors: Julie Bozza, Andrea Demetrius, Sam Evans, Lou Faulkner, Adam Fitzroy, Narrelle M Harris, Sandra Lindsey, Fae Mcloughlin, Atlin Merrick, JL Merrow and Eleanor Musgrove.

Available from Manifold Press | Smashwords | Amazon  | ARe

Read Full Post »

My guest today is new-to-me author Lou Faulkner, another author based in the antipodes, and I’m looking forward very much to getting to know her and her work.

She is here today in celebration of the recent release of A Certain Persuasion – an anthology of Jane Austen themed stories from Manifold Press.

Welcome, Lou!

Jane Austen’s grasp of the English language is justly celebrated. Is there any part that you can quote for us that you particularly relish?

Short of saying, “Just go and read everything!” I can think of no way of doing justice to Jane Austen’s command of the English language. But I love the instances where she nails a concept or two in a couple of words, like Anne Elliot’s dread of the “white glare” of Bath in the heats of September, or Mrs. Jenning’s opinion of Nancy Steele as “no conjurer”. That’s the fine brush in incomparable action on the little bit of ivory.

What inspired your story in the A Certain Persuasion anthology? May we have an excerpt?

Persuasion has been my favourite of her novels ever since I got over the sheer dazzlement of Pride and Prejudice. Given Jane’s vigorous endorsement of the landscape near Lyme, and my own memories of walking part of the South West Coastal Path, including a day’s march through the weird landscape of the Undercliff, the choice of setting was inevitable. Then there was the allure of writing two disreputable characters, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Fortunately, the inn prepared its set dinner to coincide with the arrival of the coach. William and Musgrove were shown to a table by the window, through which William observed with amusement that Mary Anning was studying Musgrove’s fossils with a magnifying lens.
“Your expedition was successful! I think your prizes have met with favour.”
“A midshipman needs all the prizes he can lay hands on!” said Musgrove. “The King’s Service don’t pay well for us lowly fellows. It’ll take more than a sea-fight or two for me to set up my carriage; the captain has the lion’s share of the profits of any action, and any admiral within sight may claim a portion. Still, it’s a living, when all’s said and done – and there’s less study than being a parson, or a lawyer.”
“As it happens, I’m a lawyer myself.” William observed with amusement how Musgrove mentally reviewed his words to ascertain that he had not been disparaging, and on satisfying himself of this, took a sip of coffee to cover the awkward gap in his conversation. “But I agree with you about the study that is necessary. No longer for me, though; my wife and I have a more leisurely existence. At the end of the week I will meet her in London; she is visiting old friends at the moment.” Now why did he suddenly feel the need to mention his wife? But a little truth was easier to maintain than a wholesale lie, any lawyer knew that, and at some point soon, perhaps, he would reveal that he saw no need for strict – or even any – fidelity.
Indeed, this information was met with a guffaw. “So you’re off the leash for a few days, then?”
William poured himself more coffee. “I am indeed off the leash.”

What are you working on at present?

At present I’m working on a naval action-adventure, set during the middle of the eighteenth century. I wanted to write a sea-fight, and it got out of hand. This was a time when the mastery of the seas hung in the balance between French and English – and it was the Enlightenment, so all sorts of other interesting things were going on as well. There’s such a lot to play with in that period!

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Author’s bio:

I live in a little house with a big garden in the far south of the world, and most of my life has revolved around books: reading them, selling them, lending them out and, more recently, writing them. Apart from bibliophilia, I’ve done a variety of different things, including years learning falconry, and I enjoy hands-on pursuits that might give me material for my stories: blacksmithing, sailing and flying. I will attempt things in my writer’s persona that I would never contemplate as myself; this does not, however, extend to bungy-jumping.

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A Certain Persuasion

from Manifold Press

Thirteen stories from eleven authors, exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours.

Being cousins-by-marriage doesn’t deter William Elliot from pursuing Richard Musgrove in Lyme; nor does it prevent Elinor Dashwood falling in love with Ada Ferrars. Surprises are in store for Emma Woodhouse while visiting Harriet Smith; for William Price mentoring a seaman on board the Thrush; and for Adam Otelian befriending his children’s governess, Miss Hay. Margaret Dashwood seeks an alternative to the happy marriages chosen by her sisters; and Susan Price ponders just such a possibility with Mrs Lynd. One Fitzwilliam Darcy is plagued by constant reports of convictions for ‘unnatural’ crimes; while another must work out how to secure the Pemberley inheritance for her family.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Darcy meets the enigmatic Lint on the edge of Pemberley Cliff; while another struggles to live up to wearing Colin Firth’s breeches on a celebrity dance show. Cooper is confronted by his lost love at a book club meeting in Melbourne while reading Persuasion; and Ashley finds more than he’d bargained for at the Jane Austen museum in Bath.

A Pemberley-sized anthology featuring authors: Julie Bozza, Andrea Demetrius, Sam Evans, Lou Faulkner, Adam Fitzroy, Narrelle M Harris, Sandra Lindsey, Fae Mcloughlin, Atlin Merrick, JL Merrow and Eleanor Musgrove.

Available from Manifold Press | Smashwords | Amazon  | ARe

Read Full Post »

My guest today is new-to-me Australia based author Narrelle Harris, who writes crime and paranormal stories in addition to romance and brand new adventures for Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I’m looking forward very much to getting to know her and her work.

She is here today in celebration of the recent release of A Certain Persuasion – an anthology of Jane Austen themed stories from Manifold Press.

Welcome Narrelle!

Jane Austen’s grasp of the English language is justly celebrated. Is there any part that you can quote for us that you particularly relish?

I’ve always been amused/horrified by how much Mr and Mrs Bennett reminded me of my own parents, and the way Mr Bennett teased the missus before retiring to the library is a very elegant version of aspects of my childhood!

“Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves.”
“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least.”
“Ah, you do not know what I suffer.”
“But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young men of four thousand a year come into the neighbourhood.”
“It will be no use to us, if twenty such should come, since you will not visit them.”
“Depend upon it, my dear, that when there are twenty, I will visit them all.”

What inspired your story in the A Certain Persuasion anthology?

I’d been reading some posts about bi erasure and when Julie sent the call out for submissions I thought it might work as a crux point for a retelling of Persuasion with a modern context.

May we have an excerpt?

“Come to my book group with me on Thursday, Coop,” Kate told her melancholy new flatmate.
Cooper sighed and shook his head, resisting the inevitable.
“C’mon,” she wheedled. “You’ve been lying around the flat like a depressed slug for eight weeks. So it didn’t work out with Ruby.”
Cooper grunted.
“Or with Shen, or that boy with the mohawk,” she added, “or … Helena wasn’t it, before that, and Mandy? They were about the same time, anyway, and before that Isla, Poppy … ”
He grunted again. More of a snarl, really.
“Okay, so you’ve had a run of miserable luck. Shake it off. Read a book, eat something with vitamins in it, have a fucking bath, spritz up your sad hair and come out with me on Thursday. We’re reading Jane Austen this month.”
Cooper made a noise like it was the end of the world, and the end-times smelled like cheap dog food. “Aren’t you meant to make this sound appealing?”
“What’s not appealing about Austen, you cretin?”
“It’s all fucking bonnets and county balls.”
“Shows what you know,” Kate sneered back. “It’s all sass and snark, though I will admit there are bonnets. And you like balls, don’t you? As well as boobies?”
“Ha fucking ha.”
“No, really Coop. You smell like a school bathroom. Scrub up, pull on your glad rags and come to book club. You could meet a lovely girl. Or a lovely boy. With or without bonnets. Besides, if you don’t, I won’t have anyone to be my wingman at the club after. And I need a wingman.”
“You said I had a face like a wet week and to stay the hell away from you when you were on the pull.”
“That was last week. This week I need a wingman. So get up you lazy, mopey sod, and read this.” She tossed a pre-loved paperback at him, “And gird your loins for Captain Wentworth. He’s hot. Imagine Hugh Jackman in tight breeches.”
Cooper took up the copy of Persuasion and leafed through the first few pages. “All right,” he said, unenthusiastically, “I’ll come to your book group. I’ll even wash.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Kate, with a little air punch. She grinned, then sobered at Cooper’s frown. “Really, Coop,” she said, “it’ll be good.”
Cooper smiled at her, giving her some crumb of effort in exchange for hers.
His cousin patted his shoulder and it made him want to weep.
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened? I mean … you came back with one bloody suitcase, and Ruby sent four boxes over, and that was it. Most of your stuff was still here in your room. My spare room.” She shook her head. “Your room. You never really moved in with her, did you? That was the problem.”
Cooper looked at his feet. “It was a manifestation of the problem.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
“Is it about what happened when you came out to your mum and dad?” Which was why Cooper now lived in Kate’s spare room on such a regular basis.
“Before then. But. I don’t want to talk about it. I messed up. I ran away because I was scared of losing everything, and lost it anyway when I stopped pretending I wasn’t bi. So.” He shrugged. “I’ll get over it.”
Kate stooped to kiss his forehead. “You’re a good guy, Coop. You’ve got a good heart, and a good brain. It’ll get better.”
He nodded and smiled, more successfully than last time.
He was better than he’d been after abandoning Archer. He was better than he’d been after his family abandoned him. It would get better again. Not as good as it had been with Archer, but better.
It would.

What are you working on at present?

I’m writing a short Holmes-and-Watson story for an Australian anthology, and following that up with a Holmes-and-Watson adventure and also a Holmes/Watson romance for Clan Destine Press. I’m also cowriting a modern-era Holmes/Watson romance for Improbable Press, so I have plenty to keep me working for a while!

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Bio:

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer of crime, horror, fantasy, romance, erotica and non-fiction. Her books include Fly By Night (nominated for a Ned Kelly Award for First Crime Novel), and fantasies Witch Honour and Witch Faith (both short-listed for the George Turner Prize).

In March 2012, her short story collection, Showtime, became the fifth of the 12 Planets series (released by World Fantasy Award-winning Twelfth Planet Press). Walking Shadows, the sequel to the Melbourne-based vampire novel The Opposite of Life, was released by Clan Destine Press in June 2012. Walking Shadows was nominated for the Chronos Awards for SF and fantasy, and shortlisted for the Davitt Awards for crime writing.
Narrelle also writes Sherlock Holmes adventures in Victorian-era and modern settings, with the first of these due out in late 2016.

In 2013, Narrelle also began writing short erotic romance, often combining romance with adventure/crime stories. Her first full-length romance, The Adventure of the Colonial Boy – a Holmes/Watson crime/romance set in Australia in 1893 – was published by Improbable Press in 2016. A queer paranormal romance novel and more short stories (both het and queer) are in the pipeline with Manifold Press, Clan Destine Press and Improbable Press. Find out more about Narrelle’s work at http://www.narrellemharris.com

Social Media:
Twitter: @daggyvamp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarrelleMHarris.Writing
Blog: http://www.mortalwords.com.au

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A Certain Persuasion

from Manifold Press

Thirteen stories from eleven authors, exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours.

Being cousins-by-marriage doesn’t deter William Elliot from pursuing Richard Musgrove in Lyme; nor does it prevent Elinor Dashwood falling in love with Ada Ferrars. Surprises are in store for Emma Woodhouse while visiting Harriet Smith; for William Price mentoring a seaman on board the Thrush; and for Adam Otelian befriending his children’s governess, Miss Hay. Margaret Dashwood seeks an alternative to the happy marriages chosen by her sisters; and Susan Price ponders just such a possibility with Mrs Lynd. One Fitzwilliam Darcy is plagued by constant reports of convictions for ‘unnatural’ crimes; while another must work out how to secure the Pemberley inheritance for her family.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Darcy meets the enigmatic Lint on the edge of Pemberley Cliff; while another struggles to live up to wearing Colin Firth’s breeches on a celebrity dance show. Cooper is confronted by his lost love at a book club meeting in Melbourne while reading Persuasion; and Ashley finds more than he’d bargained for at the Jane Austen museum in Bath.

A Pemberley-sized anthology featuring authors: Julie Bozza, Andrea Demetrius, Sam Evans, Lou Faulkner, Adam Fitzroy, Narrelle M Harris, Sandra Lindsey, Fae Mcloughlin, Atlin Merrick, JL Merrow and Eleanor Musgrove.

Available from Manifold Press | Smashwords | Amazon  | ARe

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My guest today is new-to-me author Atlin Merrick, and I’m looking forward very much to getting to know her and her work.

She is here today in celebration of the recent release of A Certain Persuasion – an anthology of Jane Austen themed stories from Manifold Press.

Welcome Atlin!

Jane Austen’s grasp of the English language is justly celebrated. Is there any part that you can quote for us that you particularly relish?

The Jane Austen quote I relish most is of course the single most famous line in all of English literature:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

I hadn’t expected to read Pride and Prejudice and yet one day I found myself holding the book while I waited for a friend to finish shopping. Bored, I opened to the first page and read that first line.

I never did notice the next fifteen minutes pass…

What inspired your story in the A Certain Persuasion anthology? May we have an excerpt?

“Hide Nor Hair,” was inspired by a friend living a life of love and devotion with his one true love even though he came from a culture that said being transgender is wrong.

For me the most important part of my story is this truth I learned while writing it:

EXCERPT:

“Scandals are rare things, and the men and women who come to public notice for not conforming to society’s standards are but the smallest fraction of such people in this world. The reason we do not know of the others is that their stories are boring.

Beautiful and fine as the stories might be for those living them, people who are different in one way are nevertheless usually gloriously ordinary in most others.

Like Mary Hay and Adam Ashford Otelian, who married one year after they met and who went on to be so incredibly boring to most, that most never knew they were quite different.

That Mary had soft hands, fine cheekbones, the prettiest lips, as well as a penis: none of those things were what made her different really. And Adam’s gentle hands, the lovely curls he would keep well into old age, and the fact that his penis was very partial to his wife’s penis: those were not what made him different either.

No, what made the Otelians unusual to others was the couple’s quiet and constant devotion.”

What are you working on at present?

With Narrelle M Harris and Verity Burns I’m writing a mystery called God Save the Queen, which concerns a dastardly plot against Her Majesty, mendacious media moguls out to smear the reputation of Sherlock Holmes, and perhaps the most dangerous threat of all to the world’s only consulting detective: falling in love with his flatmate John Watson.

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BIO:

Atlin Merrick is the author of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Night They Met and editor of the anthology A Murmuring of Bees, both through Improbable Press. As Wendy C. Fries she’s written hundreds of features on high tech, personal finance, and health and wellness. Atlin’s fascinated with theatre, London, and lattes.

atlinmerrick.tumblr.com

improbablepress.co.uk

https://twitter.com/AtlinMerrick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Certain Persuasion

from Manifold Press

Thirteen stories from eleven authors, exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours.

Being cousins-by-marriage doesn’t deter William Elliot from pursuing Richard Musgrove in Lyme; nor does it prevent Elinor Dashwood falling in love with Ada Ferrars. Surprises are in store for Emma Woodhouse while visiting Harriet Smith; for William Price mentoring a seaman on board the Thrush; and for Adam Otelian befriending his children’s governess, Miss Hay. Margaret Dashwood seeks an alternative to the happy marriages chosen by her sisters; and Susan Price ponders just such a possibility with Mrs Lynd. One Fitzwilliam Darcy is plagued by constant reports of convictions for ‘unnatural’ crimes; while another must work out how to secure the Pemberley inheritance for her family.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Darcy meets the enigmatic Lint on the edge of Pemberley Cliff; while another struggles to live up to wearing Colin Firth’s breeches on a celebrity dance show. Cooper is confronted by his lost love at a book club meeting in Melbourne while reading Persuasion; and Ashley finds more than he’d bargained for at the Jane Austen museum in Bath.

A Pemberley-sized anthology featuring authors: Julie Bozza, Andrea Demetrius, Sam Evans, Lou Faulkner, Adam Fitzroy, Narrelle M Harris, Sandra Lindsey, Fae Mcloughlin, Atlin Merrick, JL Merrow and Eleanor Musgrove.

Available from Manifold Press | Smashwords | Amazon  | ARe

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I dunno – I guess I’ll stop this eventually but these notes have just sort of grown.

Shortcuts to a sense of place?

Shortcuts can work quite well with contemporary stories with a high romance content. In fact, sometimes all one needs is the right cover. Paris – Eiffel Tower. Rome – the Colosseum. New York – a yellow taxi. London – Big Ben or a red bus. Australia – Uluru. I have read many books where, apart from an establishing paragraph on the first page – Space Needle, that means Seattle, right? – and an occasional reminder, the location is completely irrelevant to the story.

People fall in lust/love, consummate and commit all over the world and sometimes that relationship story arc is so important that no further frills are needed. In a London set story, arranging for your characters to meet by the London Eye or a scene on the Underground can be enough to remind the reader where they are. You can go a step further and have them decide not to go on the Eye because they didn’t book. Or on the Underground they can talk about the weird smell and remind each other to mind the gap. In Paris they can nip into a café-tabac to buy some stamps. But in other genres the readers often has no idea what they are getting into and location is just one of the things that need to be established.

Sci fi and fantasy may graft fantastical elements onto a solid foundation of familiar facts – for instance, Tolkien’s world is deeply rooted in Anglo-Saxon myth and legend and is filled with details familiar to people who live in rural areas – but others need their world’s built from the bedrock up. With a completely alien world, flora, fauna and society the author will have to spend a lot of words on establishing enough information for the reader to get a toehold while the story grabs them. In the Helliconia Trilogy, Brian Aldiss describes a planet where season last for centuries. His way to make this weird and wonderful place more accessible to the reader is to have a space station staffed by humans orbiting it to observe. The big advantage is that sci fi and fantasy readers tend to be a bit more forgiving of info dumps than m/m romance readers who want to get on to the action. So how much is too much?

I remember reading a fantasy novel once – book one of five books, each of which was 600+ pages. The author started the series with a fight scene that was fine but then spent 5 pages describing the codes by which the warrior class lived by. Then there was a scene in a library and 6 pages about education, comparative philology, and the social status of scribes. Later his quest party happened to need a boat – many pages about the local fishing industry, average yields and frequency with which boats are lost at sea. It was like being beaten up with an encyclopedia. Yes, the author had done his homework, had created a wonderful and vibrant world, but showed the reader ALL of it. It was a pity because the world and plot was fun but I just didn’t have the stamina to endure all the lectures. Tolkien got around this by using appendices [elves, very nearly immortal barring accidents, have a very low birth rate – I remember how relieved I was to see that because I’d been wondering why there wasn’t a lot more of them] and that is great if you’re writing in a genre that craves all the extras, while not perhaps wanting them as part of the narrative.

In Romance, readers expect things to be a bit more straightforward, but I still think that it’s very possible to give a terrific sense of place without over burdening readers with information or being overly clever.

Jan Struther used this bit of description to give her readers a sense of place – in the summer [because we need to locate in time as well]:

It was a Wedgwood day, with white clouds delicately modelled in relief against a sky of pale pure blue.

For some people she could have stopped at Wedgewood day, because they would have made the immediate connection from Wedgwood to blue and white to the sky. But Wedgwood made many patterns of pottery.

Also there may be readers who have no idea what “Wedgwood” is. Adding the second clause, provides a way in for people with a different experience. I still feel that a modern editor might blue pen “Wedgwood” and insert ‘beautiful’ instead to avoid the risk of alienating readers.

In Part 4 I think I might cut to the chase and use examples – show not tell, eh?

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Last week I started writing up my notes from the Queer Company sense of place panel and it all got a bit rambly so I decided to cut it up into bits. I posted the first bit here promising to follow up but that was on the 8th and all the world knows what happened next. I’ve had brains like scrambled egg all week so I apologise for the gap.

Description – too much of a good thing?

We can all probably remember those romances of the 70s and 80s – Judith Krantz is one of the authors who comes to mind – that were described as ‘sex and shopping’ romances. In them there would be pages of description detailing every delectable item of furnishings in people’s houses, and every classy item of clothing worn by the heroine, heroes and important secondary characters. Barbie for adults, the heroine would be given an amazing wardrobe and very specific sexy jobs – movie star, aristocrat, billionaire CEO – and desirable accessories – dogs, cars and horses. Everything about her was described, right down to her choice of IUD, and every twitch and quiver of her sexual encounters. These bonkbusters sold in their millions, spawning made for TV versions and introducing hundreds of young women to the absolute importance of designer labels.
I sometimes wonder if they also spawned the idea that took hold in the late 90s that books were better without descriptive passages, or speech tags and that a terse account of what a character says and does enables the reader to imagine all the frills for themselves. Elmore Leonard’s rules to write by tore through the fan fic community like a chain saw with the result that all fics in all fandoms sounded like Get Shorty. I think this is a terrific pity because description can be one of the sharpest tools in the writer’s kit.

Here’s is a short excerpt from Rosemary Sutcliff’s ‘end of civilisation as we know it’ Dark Ages novel The Lantern Bearers:

Aquila knew that beach; he and Felix had used to bring their birding bows out here after wildfowl. He knew the wriggling trail of sea wrack on the tide line, the dunes of drifted shell-sand where the yellow vetch and the tiny striped convolvulus sprawled. Standing with panting breast beside Sea-Snake as she came to rest, he had the feeling that he had only to look down to see the track of his own feet and Felix’s in the slipping white sand. He caught a glance over his shoulder, and saw the tower of Rutupiae light rising against the sunset. There was a great burst of flame above the crest, but it was only a cloud catching fire from the setting sun.

There is a LOT going on in this little passage. Aquila is a man who lost everything he cared for, including his self-respect and his freedom, who has returned to a place where he was once happy. Felix was his best friend, from whom he parted suddenly and irrevocably in an act of betrayal. No wonder he distracts himself by fixing on the familiar and much loved trivia of home. But thought of his lost friend intrudes again – the slipping white sand has long since smoothed over – so he looks for further distraction. There is the light house where, after parting from Felix and watching the ‘light’ of Rome leaving the shores of Britain, he lit the beacon fire one last time as an act of defiance to show that the country had not been completely abandoned. This theme of a last flare of light before the darkness is one returned to again and again throughout the book. There are many descriptions of fires and lanterns, the guttering smokiness of tallow dips and the pure clear light of beeswax candles, which add hugely to the atmosphere of the story while adding nothing to the development of relationships or to the plot. I doubt that all would survive the blue pen of a modern editor who believes that every word has to do one or the other.

So how to use description to get over that sense of place, whether to comfort or discompose the character and likewise the reader?

More tomorrow.

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On Saturday November 5th I attended Queer Company 2, an event for authors and readers organised by the lovely ladies of Manifold Press. Thank you Fiona Pickles, Morgan Cheshire and Julie Bozza – and everyone else involved in the organising – you did us proud.

It was a BRILLIANT day with tea and cake and fabulous people to talk to, a new anthology to launch and exciting talks that I found hugely inspiring. Many thanks to Farah Mendelsohn, K J Charles, Chris Quinton, Julie Bozza, Ellie Musgrove, JL Merrow, Alex Beecroft, Charlie Cochrane, Sandra Lindsey and Anna Butler. Aleksandr Voinov was the MC and kept us gently in check when we got rowdy.

The last panel of the day was about ‘a sense of place’ – how it can add a lot to a story if the characters seem really at home – or completely uncomfortable – in their situation. I was listed to deliver this with Sandra Lindsey, who writes terrific historicals, and Anna Butler, whose sci fi and fantasy is out of this world. I had good intentions beforehand and had made loads of bullet point notes to try to cover, but in the hurly burly I got nervous, gabbled a lot and strayed completely off the point.

Here then are some of the things that I would have said if my brain had been working. And HERE is a similar write up by Anna Butler which is very well worth reading.

A Sense of Place

Let’s start with a definition. This one is from the Geography Dictionary:

Either the intrinsic character of a place, or the meaning people give to it, but, more often, a mixture of both. Some places are distinctive through their physical appearance, like the Old Man of Hoy; others are distinctive, but have value attached to them, like the white cliffs of Dover.

Less striking places have meaning and value attached to them because they are “home,” and it is argued that attachment to a place increases with the distinctiveness of that place. Planners use this argument by consciously creating or preserving memorable and singular structures to make a space distinctively different. The Cardiff Bay Development scheme has done this, first by preserving the best of the old buildings, and even relocating one — the Norwegian church. All this is done to encourage in the residents an attachment to that place.

A final element is our own experience of that place; if you had been desperately unhappy in central London, it might be that the sight of Trafalgar Square would reawaken a sense of misery in you.

And another much more concise one from cultural geographer J.B. Jackson, in Discovering the Vernacular Landscape:

It is place, permanent position in both the social and topographical sense, that gives us our identity.

I think that it is the latter quote that is most important to us as authors. Where a character originates has a profound effect on his appearance, his accent, his vocabulary, and his patterns of thought. He may behave differently when in his own environment from how he behaves when he is far away where different rules prevail. He may revel in the freedom, or be crushed by the differences – both reactions excellent ways to develop conflict. But we need to show the differences and to do that we need to use description.

Here is a description of the Fens from Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayer:

Spring and Easter came late together that year to Fenchurch St Paul. In its own limited, austere and almost grudging fashion, the Fen acknowledged the return of the sun. The floods withdrew from the pastures; the wheat lifted its pale green spears from the black soil; the stiff thorns bordering dyke and grass verge budded into a softer outline; on the willows the yellow catkins danced like little bellrope sallies and the silvery pussies plumped themselves for the children to carry to church on Palm Sunday; wherever the grim banks were hedge-sheltered, the shivering dog-violets huddled from the wind.

Not only does this passage get over the appearance of the place but also the chilly feel of it. Look at the words used – austere, limited, grudging, stiff, grim, shivering. A man from such a background is probably going to have a very different mind set to one raised on the sunlit lavender fields of Provence. A man from Provence placed in that environment, especially if under-dressed for the climate, is going to be like the dog-violet, shivering and longing for shelter. He may feel alien, off-balance, a fish out of water – horrible for him but fantastic stuff for plot.

I also think it’s a pity that such a description – this is just one paragraph of it – is unlikely to be acceptable to a modern reader or editor. Description, in it’s fullest and most delicious sense, is out of fashion despite the common instructions to show and not tell.

But that’s more than enough for today. I’ll post a bit on description and some more examples tomorrow.

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