Category: reading
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Two Women, A World Apart
Two books give me joy in the New Year. The first, by Sarah Emsley, is The Austens, a novel about Jane Austen’s relationship with her sister-in-law, Fanny Palmer Austen. The second, by Rebecca Romney, is Jane Austen’s Bookshelf, nonfiction about women writers who shaped the English author. Both works are part of the onslaught of…
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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…
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Launch Week for Muslin & Mystery!
The trunks are loaded, the mailbags are sealed (securely this time), and our packet ship has sailed!. Muslin and Mystery launched on Monday! This voyage began with a question: what if some of Jane Austen’s most composed and self-assured characters found themselves crammed together on a small ship, far from home, with nothing to do…
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Marianne
#SenseAndSensibility #MrDarcy Hi friends, It’s been a toughish year, what with my husband’s – ultimately successful – operation for thymic mass cancer. (And no, you’ve prob. never heard of it. It accounts for fewer than 1% of cancers diagnosed in the UK, as a rule… but his surgeon has banished it.) Also on the bright…
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An Early Christmas Gift
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And I’ve been going back through some older writings. Five years ago, I put together a collection of scenes called 12 Months of Darcy to give away to readers who signed up for my newsletter. I thought I would share December with you today. December A weak…
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New JAFF Covers That Are Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen Before
ChatGPT and I design some stellar covers that would make Austen herself swoon.
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Caroline Bingley Goes to Sea: On Reforming a Snob
Several people have asked if they could read my latest novel without reading the previous books in the series. “Is it self-contained, would it still make sense?” And the answer is yes! Er, sort of! Here’s the main thing: If you’re willing to take it on faith that Caroline Bingley had a moment of clarity…
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Another P&P Play
I apologize for this brief post, but life has turned a bit crazy recently and my blog completely slipped my mind until the alarm went off on my phone shortly after I received a text from my daughter. Since they happened so close together and both had to do with Jane Austen, I figured it…
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To Be An Editor
Most of what I ran across as I gathered information for this topic was in regard to final content of a text prior to publishing such as a book, newspaper or magazine. Editors typically do the following: Read content and correct spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. In other words, they look for and correct mistakes. Rewrite…
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Rules of the Road for Regency Language
Writers of Austen-based or broader Regency fiction regularly discuss the use of language by a modern writer for that period. I, too, reflect on my approach—which I considered for quite a while in my historical fiction based on Jane Austen’s life. For general language, I take the actor’s approach when preparing to play an historical…