Category: book excerpt
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A Soldier’s Tale – Colonel Fitzwilliam takes centre stage
If you were to ask a gathering of Jane Austen fans and Pride and Prejudice lovers who their favourite side character is, I suspect Colonel Fitzwilliam would receive quite a large share of the votes. He has very little page-time, and Austen uses him as little more than a plot device, both to act as…
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February with Darcy
It’s a bit early for Valentine’s Day, but I thought I would share the February scene from my 12 Months of Darcy collection. This grew out of my wondering how suspicious Wickham was about Darcy’s intentions towards Elizabeth. Enjoy! FEBRUARY “Look!” cried Lydia from the drawing room window. Kitty joined her and bounced on her…
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“Darcy’s Passions” Excerpt – As Elizabeth’s Betrothed, Darcy Dines at Longbourn
Back in 2012, I was part of a project where a group of authors revisited Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and retold scenes from the points of view of the other characters. This excerpt revisits the later part of Austen’s classic. This is after the second proposal. This excerpt comes from chapter 17 of my first Austen-inspired novel, Darcy’s…
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Enjoy This Post from Chapter Four of “Darcy’s Passions” ~ We Are at Netherfield and Jane Bennet is Ill – Releasing 2/3/2026
Relive the witty and romantic story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy once again in this charming Pride and Prejudice retelling from Darcy’s point of view. For fans of historical romance like the Bridgerton novels to lovers of alternative point-of-view books like E. L. James’ Grey and Stephenie Meyers’s Midnight Sun, Darcy’s Passions invites readers…
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ReRelease of “Darcy’s Passions” from Ulysses Press, Arriving 2/3/2026
In June 2025, my original publisher of “Darcy’s Passions” approached me about rereleasing the book, along with another title from the nine books I did for them back in the early 2000s. Like many publishers they wanted back on the Austen train, especially with the resurgence of Austen’s popularity after her 250th birthday. When all…
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A Soldier’s Tale – What the Colonel Did Next
It’s been a while since I’ve released a new JAFF novel. I’ve been busy writing, of course—in the past year I had JAFF short stories published in two terrific anthologies (Darcy Ever After and In the Path of Jane Austen) and released two non-JAFF novels as part of the multi-author Noble Hearts Historical Romance series.…
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Austen and AI: Steak or Sausage
All actual or imaginary characters are treated as fiction. Any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental. The author’s imagination and hard work brought this work of fiction to life. At no point in this body of work has Artificial Intelligence (AI) been employed to write it. Use of this work to train Artificial…
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The Unsnarling of EBBD
In one of my recent comments I mentioned how Elizabeth Bennet’s Bad Days was a little harder to write than any of my other books because there were so many different directions I could take the plot. Well, as it turned out, that particular attribute caused some issues for me. As a result, the publishing…
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Plans for 2026
It has been a few years since I’ve done this and it’s probably long overdue. There have been several changes happening in my life over the last few years, but the last time I “mapped them out” in a January post was before Always Austen started in 2023. Since that time, my husband retired; I…
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Christmas Celebrations: Short Stories of Jane Austen Fan Fiction
At Christmas time, we return to Jane Austen’s world where warmth, wit, and hope remind us of what truly endures. This sixth Christmas Anthology gathers new stories inspired by Jane Austen’s beloved characters, imagined by authors who offer fresh insight into their emotions, their choices, and the moments left untold. These tales remind us why her creations…