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An invitation to the inn

invitation to inn

Most parties have a wee bit of preparty buzz.

But the Bluestocking Belles are having a preparty party – with a difference.

Come and see what happens organically when a whole lot of authors get together to play… and bring rakes, dukes, ingenues, itinerate artists, spies, runaway countesses, and all sorts of other characters.

We have a missing cat, a man who needs his face slapped (again), a girl caught in a compromising position with her swain, several soldiers in need of a drink (or a widow, or both), and half a dozen potential crises.What will happen next? Why not come and dip your toe into the mayhem.
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How low can I go? Doing the cover limbo rock

And here’s another view – this time in with a whole lot of other covers (some of mine and most belonging to other people). Most people will see the covers on a virtual bookshelf. On the scrolling ‘People who bought this book also bought’ list on Amazon, the images are small, and in the chat threads on Goodreads they’re even smaller – not too different in size to what you see below.

Can we make our covers work at this size? I think some of these work. You can still read my name on the Candle cover, and Lucinda Brant’s Dare Devil is striking, though only the face and her name are legible. Her name is legible on Autumn Duchess, further down the page, too.

Some are beautiful, but they’re not legible, and they’re not noticeable put in with a heap of other books.

This experiment changed my mind about the blue cover. I just don’t think it stands out enough. What do you think?

book covers

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Bring your characters and enjoy a party

country inn

 

As I said a few posts ago, the Bluestocking Belles are having a multi-venue house warming party next month.

Between now and then, we’re trying something new; a gathering at a nearby inn, hosted by Mariana’s hero and heroine from Royal Regard (the Duke and Duchess of Wellbridge), and attended by characters created by all eight of us, and any characters that our friends and party guests may want to bring along.

Please come and join in the comments. Ask questions. Complain about the goings on or join in. Add one of your own characters to the mix. (The party is taking place in during the Regency in England, but we’re not averse to a bit of time travel if your character needs to cross the years to join us.)

We’re having a great time, and we’d love to see you there.

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Announcing Bluestocking Belles

Bluestocking-Belles-logo-01-300x300My seven author colleagues and I are delighted to unveil the group we’ve been putting together over the last couple of months.

Bluestocking Belles is a group of eight authors who write novels set in or around the Regency period. Come and visit our website. Meet the other authors and their books, and learn about the Malala Fund, the charity we jointly support.

We’ve got lots planned for the future, including a book club, boxed sets of our work (some written specifically for the Belles), interesting newsletters, and fun contests. And we’re kicking it all off with a Housewarming Party in e-space on 14 March (or 15 March if you live on my side of the date line). Please join us in one or all of the three party venues:

We’ve an exciting line up of giveaways, games, and questions, and the eight of us (and some of our characters) will be delighted to mix and mingle with all of you lovely people.

And if you can hardly wait, fill in the time by entering the Rafflecopter we’re running between now and then. Be in with a chance to win an amazing grand giveaway prize of books, swag, and gifts from the Belles.

 

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All at sea – travelling the Mediterranean in the early 19th Century

640px-French_ship_under_atack_by_barbary_piratesI’ve been researching times for sea travel. I began because I had a soldier to get home wounded from a battle in Alexandria. The times didn’t work, so I had to have him injured elsewhere.

It’s a tricky question, because it depended so much on the type of ship, the time of year (and therefore the prevailing wind), which direction they were travelling (trips towards the west were slower than trips towards the east) and the weather encountered along the way.

But I’ve managed to come up with a table showing what I think are reasonable timings for a medium-sized sailing ship – a brigantine or a frigate – in the early 19th.

A fast ship given perfect conditions would do better, and bad conditions could mean the trip took a lot longer. And pirates could mean you didn’t finish it at all.

I’d be delighted if any of you naval buffs want to correct my figures. Just comment below.

Embarkation port Destination port Nautical miles Time spent on the voyage
Rome (Ostia) Gibraltar 935 7-10 days
Gibraltar Rome 935 7-10 days
Tunis Gibraltar 820 6-9 days
Gibraltar Tunis 820 6-8 days
Istanbul Rhodes 445 5-6 days
Rhodes Istanbul 445 5-6 days
Rhodes Marsala (in Sicily) 760 30-50 days
Marsala Rhodes 760 20-30 days
Gibraltar Marsala 857 7-10 days
Marsala Gibraltar 857 7-10 days
Marsala Alexandria 1175 20-30 days
Alexandria Marsala 1175 45-65 days

Add 1374 miles from London to Gibraltar, and you begin to have a sense of the distances.

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Troubles in coverland

BookcoverFtK4I do make trouble for myself. I have this concept for the cover of Farewell to Kindness. Since Anne’s ability as an archer is a pivotal plot point, I want the cover to feature a woman in regency dress with bow and arrow. I put the image on my working cover together from several other images – one person’s hair, another person’s body, and a random background. But all along, I’ve planned a cover shoot for the real cover.

I have a photographer (the charming Britt, who drew the chair for Candle). She has organised a model. We have a selection of places for the shoot. But do you think that we can find someone who will let us borrow their long bow?

I’ve tried the prop hire firms. Long bows are apparently not much in demand for New Zealand movies and television shows. I’ve tried the archery clubs. Some archery clubs do have long bow enthusiasts, but not within easy driving distance of my model and photographer.

I’m pinning my hopes on the re-enactment societies. I’ve made several approaches to different groups, and I think I may be getting somewhere. Yesterday, I spoke to someone who has spoken to someone… But no call last night, so if that hasn’t worked by next weekend, I’m off to the annual joust half an hour from here, where they’re advertising traditional archery.

Watch this space!

Meanwhile, here are the four designs (wrong photo, but experiments to look at typography and placement) Britt has sent me as concepts. What do you think?

Rough draft 1 Rough draft 2 Rough draft 3 Rough draft 4