Love is worth the risk
That the coaches carrying the Royal Mail in the first half of the 19th century took passengers and were superior to travel by stage coach in a number of ways. They were faster. They stopped for nothing. They even flew through toll gates. They traveled at night Their schedule was strict and predictable They had […]
Highlighting the Facts behind Historical Romance with Jude Knight Like any big city, London has always had slum areas. In the early nineteenth century, they were noxious and dangerous. I’ve been studying them for the last two novels in my Regency series, The Return of the Mountain King. In 1800, over a million people lived […]
…that titles were rarely rescinded, historically, even if the Crown made a mistake, because, well, the Crown didn’t make mistakes. According to Debrett’s, “When a hereditary peer dies, and his heir wishes to prove his claim to the title, he or she must provide suitable documentary evidence to the Crown Office of the House of […]
Highlighting Historical Romance with Elf Ahearn on grisly murders in the Regency era. The grisly Ratcliffe Highway murders caused panic in London in 1811, yet there were no police to arrest the perpetrator(s), no detectives to hunt them down, and no officials to cordon off the locations. In fact, the public lined up to view […]
Highlighting Historical Romance with Pamela Gibson on eye care in the Regency era While researching ophthalmology in the Regency period for Scandal’s Child, I discovered a medical practice in its infancy. A relatively unknown science at the beginning of the 19th century, the field was rife with quacks and charlatans. Much changed with the end […]
Highlighting Historical Romance with Caroline Clemmons and her look into rail travel in Texas When I start researching a book, I can easily fall down the rabbit hole. I see something interesting and—even though the information doesn’t pertain to my book—there I go. By the time I reached MONK’S BRIDE, book 5 in the Kincaid […]
Highlighting Historical Romance with Patricia Preston on that outlaw Frank James. I did a lot of research on the James-Younger gang for Almost an Outlaw and for this blog post I’m sharing the real-life romance of Frank James, Jesse’s older brother, and the love of his life, Ann Ralston. She was a schoolteacher. A pretty brunette, […]
What do you think of when I say I’m “writing?” I suspect most people envision the creation of the first draft of a book, the putting of words on paper, er, or into a word processor, This week I’ve been putting down words, creating new prose, at a steady pace. So. Writing. In some ways […]
Highlighting Historical Romance with Mageela Troche and some facts about Highland sheep. The iconic image of the Scottish Highlands are the green hills dotted with fat, wooly sheep. The image of the sheep we see in that pastoral ideal would be different in my thirteenth century highlander romance, Highland Scandal. Oh, they would still be […]
Highlighting Historical Romance this week over Christmas in Venice. Romance stories come together in a variety of ways, an astounding alchemy of life experience, reading, fantasy, and, in my case, history and travel. I do know you can’t force it. The stories just bubble up once I drop enough elements into the caldron. A good […]