02 February 2007

Unusually Yours

Hello, my name is Anna, and I am a time traveler. At least when it comes to writing. My first release was set in colonial New York, (with a hermit who sticks his hand in the fire on purpose as the hero) upcoming releases cover Edwardian London and Italy, (with an over-fifty heroine) and the Cornish coast of the 16th century (with a Spanish hero.) I’m currently working on two Georgian-set books (one with a set of Yoruban twins as strong secondary characters, the other with an actress heroine who makes a bunch of her own trouble) and the manuscript I’m shopping around plops my Manx heroine into the tail end of the English Civil War and Charles II’s court in exile. After that? We’ll see.

I do have ideas for a medieval where the hero chases the heroine on Crusade, ideas from different spots in the Tudor times, more colonials, a few more Georgians, definetly more Restoration…pick only one? Not this gal. I’d even like to play with the Edwardians a time or two, maybe edge into the 1920s, because Brideshead Revisited rips my heart out and I love it for that. I like angst, and I like happy endings.

Ooh, I didn’t mention Vikings, did I? Or Dark Ages? I could do those, and discovering Diana Groe this year makes me tingle at the thought of a dragon ship of my own. Deliver us from the fury of the Norsemen, indeed. Those guys got around.

My introduction to the historical romance was a pilfered copy of Bertrice Small’s The Kadin when I was eleven. Scottish noblewoman ends up in the Ottoman Empire and rises to the highest position of power a woman could have? For me, that set a bar regarding historical romance. I want sweep and scope and lovers worthy of legend. A reason we’d want to remember this man and this woman hundreds of years after their lives are over. That, for, me, is the essence of the genre, and I knew at that young age, I’d found what I wanted to read and write for the rest of my life.

Romances that play out over years rather than weeks? Fine by me. Long separations? Hey, they happened, but as long as hero and heroine are together at the end, what's the harm? Real historical figures? Wonderful in supporting roles. I'm excited by buzz of the big historical coming back, and I fully plan on being part of its return.

How about you?