Guest Author: Laurel McKee

After a slight technical glitch, I'm posting the correct interview. Yay!

This week we're welcoming the return of Amanda McCabe, writing as Laurel McKee, as she celebrates the release of COUNTESS OF SCANDAL, out now from Grand Central.

Eliza Blacknall and Will Denton were childhood sweethearts, growing up on neighboring estates in beautiful County Kildare. But adulthood finds them on opposite sides of the monumental and violent struggle of 1798, as Eliza supports the United Irish in their quest for independence, and Will is a major in the British Army, sworn to uphold the Crown. The passion for each other burns hotter than ever—but can it survive as their world crumbles around them?

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"McKee sets the stage for a romantic adventure that captures the spirit of Ireland and a pair of star-crossed lovers to perfection" -- RT Book Reviews

"COUNTESS OF SCANDAL combines a passionate romance with a nail-biting plot. The author's research shines through to make the era come alive, as well as her characters. An exciting tale out of the common mold" -- Romance Reviews Today

"This book has rarely used and well-drawn setting, good characters, and so much more working in its favor. I absolutely loved reading this one!" -- All About Romance

"McKee's intriguingly nuanced characters and deliciously subtle sense of humor provide the ideal counterpoint to the perfectly executed historical setting that gives COUNTESS OF SCANDAL its refreshingly different literary flavor" -- Booklist

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Tell us about COUNTESS OF SCANDAL!

First, I have to say thank you so much for having me back at Unusual Historicals! I'm obviously a huge fan of the "unusual" in historical romances, and this is such a fabulous source for finding out where to find them.

As for COUNTESS OF SCANDAL, it's my 'debut' as Laurel McKee (two different publishers equals two different names, though hopefully no identity crisis!) and I'm so excited about it. It's the first of the "Daughters of Erin" trilogy about the three Blacknall sisters, set in late Georgian/early Regency Ireland. Eliza Blacknall and Will Denton were childhood sweethearts, separated when Will joined the Army and Eliza married her family's choice for her. Now it's a few years later--1798, a fateful year in Ireland, and they're reunited on the eve of the Uprising. He's still a British officer, and she's an ardent supporter of the United Irishmen, but their old feelings for each other are still there, stronger than ever.

(The chaos of a rebellion might not be the number one setting people think of for a romance! But I found it had a lot of potential for danger and passion, and a chance for Eliza and Will to discover truths about themselves, their love, and the world around them. It was fun to work with a happier-ending Romeo and Juliet-ish story! Plus at the beginning I got to put in the great clothes and glamorous settings I love. Georgian Dublin was a very glamorous and party-loving place!)

Where did you get the idea for these stories?

My own family background is Irish, and I've wanted to do a book set there for a long time! It just took me a while to find the right characters and story. Ireland is such a gorgeous country, full of dramatic history people with passionate characters, and it seems ripe for romantic stories. I remembered a visit I made years ago to the beautiful Georgian estate Castletown, which was owned by Lady Louisa Conolly, one of the famous Lennox sisters, who made the house her life's work.


The guides had a trove of fascinating stories about Irish life in the late eighteenth century! I also read Stella Tillyard's fascinating book about the Lennox sisters, Aristocrats (and saw the lavish Masterpiece Theater adaptation), and that was the original inspiration--strong women in Georgian Ireland!

What kind of research did you do for the book?

I love doing research! That is one of the most fun parts of writing. I would have happily spent my whole life living in a library as the world's oldest permanent graduate student. Sometimes it's hard to stop researching and start writing. I started with some books I already had on the shelf, like Aristocrats and Tillyard's Rebel Lord, a biography of Edward Fitzgerald (son of another Lennox sister, the Duchess of Leinster, and a leader of the United Irishmen); Thomas Pakenham's The Year of Liberty; Thomas Bartlett's The 1798 Rebellion: An Illustrated History; and an old book I once found in an antique store, Mrs. Thomas Concannon's Women of '98. Then I expanded to the Internet and local university libraries and looked up maps, info on military uniforms and regiments, detailed sites in Ireland (since I sadly couldn't take a trip there right now!). It was lots of fun.

What's "unusual" about the book?

I think the setting is pretty unusual! I'm not sure I've ever read a Georgian Ireland romance (which is one reason I set out to write one), though my friend Michelle Willingham writes some fabulous Medieval Irish books. I also really enjoyed using the setting and events to create the conflict for the characters. That made my job a lot easier!

What's next for you?

DUCHESS OF SIN will be out from Grand Central Publishing in December 2010! It's Anna Blacknall's story, where she meets again with the Irish Duke of Adair amid the chaos of the Act of Union in 1800. It's also set against a Christmas background, and I had fun researching the holiday--the Irish really knew how to party at Christmas, LOL! (LADY OF SEDUCTION , Caroline Blacknall's book, will be out in 2011)

As Amanda McCabe, I have a Regency-set trilogy coming out in April, May, and June, "The Muses of Mayfair" (Book one is TO CATCH A ROGUE). I love this series, which is set around another passion of mine--archaeology and antiquities collecting! There will also be a Harlequin Undone short story to kick off the series in March, TO BED A LIBERTINE, where a real Greek Muse comes to Regency London and wreaks some havoc.

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Thanks, Amanda, for stopping by!

We're giving away COUNTESS OF SCANDAL to a lucky commenter. Maybe you'd like to let us know whether you find Ireland an unusual setting for romance? What is it about Ireland that fascinates you? I'll draw one random name next Sunday. Void where prohibited. Best of luck!

The Seasons: The Year Without a Summer

By Erastes

One of my Regency novellas is set around the last official Frost Fair in 1814, and people have been saying how much they'd like a sequel to it. I'm not normally swayed by being asked for sequels but a couple of years after the Frost Fair, in 1816, there came another unusual event: The Year Without a Summer, and I think that I might do a sequel with the same characters set there.

These days, with geological evidence and satellite and all sorts of gadgets, the meteorologists tend to know what causes blips in the weather after the event (even if they still can't forecast it very successfully), but back then when something like the summer of 1816 happened, people must have been pretty concerned. I believe that sunspots were blamed for the unseasonable weather at the time, no-one thought for one moment that it was a volcanic eruption that had taken place the year before.

In fact, 1812-1817 were hugely active for volcanoes around the world, causing temperatures to drop all over the place but it was the volcano of Tambora that did the damage, all the way over in Indonesia.

Tambora killed 10,000 people from the explosion and another 82,000 people from related causes such as starvation and disease world-wide. To date, Tambora is the world's worst volcano disaster in recorded history. The dust from the massive explosion reached 10km high, entering into the stratosphere. Two other volcanoes had erupted previously, Saint Vincent (1812) and Mayon in the Philippines (1814), but this third explosion added more dust to the atmosphere and changing the weather throughout much of the world.

Median temperatures of around 13 degrees meant that, in England, crops failed and famine ensued. Snow was seen in June in many places, such as in New England and northwestern Europe. The lack of light contributed to the failing crops as photosynthesis struggled to take place.

Turner painted this in 1816, and even though Turner's skyscapes were often odd-coloured, this gives a real flavour as to what people were seeing that year, with the brown dust colouring the sky.

One thing related to writing did take place however. In a secluded house in Switzerland during that dark dank summer, a group of writers gathered together and with the gloomy atmosphere to inspire them, challenged each other to write ghost stories. And thus Frankenstein was born.

Research: Men's Underpants

By Erastes

When you write romance, particularly historical romance, you need to know a lot about the clothes. For me, part of the sensuous and pleasurable aspects of writing in eras other than our own is to picture exactly what my characters are wearing, what those clothes are made of, how they are created, dyed, woven, etc. A historical writer has to be partly geek, and would fit right in with any society of living history buffs.

When you write books which are going to have the protagonists stripping off, then you need to know what's under those clothes, and when--like me--you write about homosexual men, you need a good grounding in what men wear under those breeches, those kilts (if anything) and those dandified trousers. And how they go on. And how they come off!

So I'd like to share a little with you about things I have learned about men's undergarments whilst researching for my books. Here I cover up to the Elizabethan age, I'll share later eras perhaps in another month.

Loincloths might still be around (roll on global warming!!), but they have been found in burial sites on the bodies of men living over 7,000 years ago. Who knows what sparked man to start covering his bits--it would hardly be warmth, after all. It would offer some level of protection from thistles I suppose, but not if a sabre toothed-tiger was coming at you at groin level.

Tutankhamun was buried with 145 loincloths. This seems either a lot, or not enough, depending on your point of view of how long the afterlife is going to be. Of course by this time, the loincloth was worn under a skirt. Still--roll on global warming!

The Ancient Greeks obviously didn't have to worry about sabre-toothed tigers, and consequently didn't wear any underwear at all. Good for them! Φοβάμαι τους Έλληνες όταν είναι πηγαίνοντας καταδρομέας!*

The Romans did, though00big sissies. Possibly because their empire stretched into chillier areas. They'd wear something called a subligaculum, which in modern terms means a pair of shorts or a loincloth and was worn under a toga or tunic.

Pull-on undergarments were invented around the 13th century, large baggy drawers called "braies" made from linen were worn by men under their clothes. This style of undergarment did not really change in design for 500 years--Plus ca change...I know some men who change them about as frequently--other than to be fashioned from better, finer fabrics and to have ornamentation.

These knickers shrank considerable during the Renaissance as the familiar image of cod-piece and hose emerged. The hose themselves were an open garment--not like our tights or hose of today. Tight on the legs and open at the front and back which could not be worn openly as the privities hung lose. As the doublet became shorter clearly something else was needed! The braies shrank to show off the hose, and the codpiece was developed to protect the wearer's modesty.

Or at least at first.

Gradually the codpiece evolved, became padded, shaped to fit and as some clearly showed were frankly showing off--and obviously exaggerating. Some of the most "impressive" are those belonging to Henry 8th and shown at the Tower of London.

What is interesting about fashion today is that of showing off one's designer underwear is not a new thing at all. The rich would commission the most exquisite undershirts, and underwear, fabulously expensive fabrics and meticulously embroidered. Why, they reasoned, am I paying for such incredible work that will never be seen? Well, partly because Sumptuary Laws came into force in many European countries, restricting the sumptuousness of dress in order to curb extravagance, protect fortunes, and make clear the necessary and appropriate distinctions between levels of society.

This led to the "slashing" fashions that we see in the Elizabethan period, where the overclothes had slits, the better to show off the gorgeous clothes being worn beneath, and thus bypassing the laws.

After these excesses calmed down, and waistcoat shirt and breeches took the place of doublet and hose, men returned to wearing braies or "strossers." During the English Civil War the only difference between undergarments and overgarments were the weight of the wool they were made from.

*I fear the Greeks when they go commando.

Sources:
A history of Men's Underwear
Revival Clothing
Vintage Skivvies

FROST FAIR Winner!

We have a winner for Erastes' FROST FAIR giveaway:

Elisa Jankowski!

Contact Erastes to give her your address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought of her book! Congratulations!

Book Party: Erastes

Today we celebrate the release of our contributor Erastes' latest release, FROST FAIR. Enjoy!

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Gideon Frost is willing to do whatever it takes to earn enough money to save the printing shop that was left to him by his father. But when faced with the prospect of having to engage in acts society deems unnatural and the law declares punishable by death, he realized there are limits as to how far he'll go. Then he meets the privileged and handsome Joshua Redfern, the one man who tempts Gideon to break his own rules.

Joshua Redfern has no title or important relations, but his independent fortune allows him a life that is more than comfortable. And more importantly, it enables him to offer assistance to the unfortunate but beautiful Gideon just when the man needs it most. Joshua realizes his interest in Gideon is far more than charitable, but is the man similarly attracted or merely indebted?

When the Thames freezes over and London hosts the great Frost Fair of 1814, trouble and necessity bring Gideon and Joshua together. But just as ice is destined to eventually crack, will the circumstances break these two men as they learn that life isn't always fair?

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Once upon a time, before all this nasty global warming, the River Thames freezing over was a pretty regular occurrence. When William the Conqueror was still on the throne, it wasn't unusual for the Thames to be solid ice for weeks at a time.

In 1564 the first Frost Fair was held-although there's not that much recorder evidence of it, but we can rely on the Londoner's sense of free theatre, they'd have flocked to anything new. There were probably street vendors galore, cock fights, bear baiting and the like.

Why did the Thames freeze then and not now?

It was all to do with the bridges. Once, all the bridges had small arches, so when the ice formed in large enough clumps it couldn't flow easily under the bridges, so it piled up and the water behind it froze. Once the bridges were replaced by ones with larger spans this ceased to be a regular occurrence. The Thames did freeze occasionally after the Regency period but there was never to be a giant Frost Fair again--the last one was in 1814, and it's around this week-long event that my book FROST FAIR concerns itself.

How is this an Unusual Historical?

It's a break from a "traditional" Regency romance (and not only because it's a gay romance!) in that there's no aristocracy, no balls, no pump rooms, nothing like that. The main protagonist, Gideon Frost, is an impoverished printer and engraver eking out an existence and not making any profit. Sometimes he simply runs out of money completely and finds himself forced to frequent the sites of male prostitution (Lad Lane, Cock Lane and St Paul's Churchyard, which were all notorious) to earn a few shillings to make ends meet. (Pardon the pun!)

He falls in love--hopelessly he feels--with a customer, Joshua Redfern, a wealthy man who comes to his shop one day, little knowing that Redfern shares his predilections and is as in love with Gideon as Gideon is with him. However, this being 1814, it's not exactly something one can bring up in conversation! Redfern has already lost one lover to the hangman, and it's not a risk he wants to take again.

Stir in a returning character from Hard & Fast the devilish Finbarr Thouless, a cockney shop-assistant and a dastardly plot and you have Frost Fair.

It's at the top of the bestseller's list at Linden Bay Romance, (of which, out of the Ten Ten, four are gay historical romances) which makes me happy!

Would you like to share an excerpt? If so, set it up for us.

Yes! Redfern's just met Gideon for the first time.

Thouless raised one darkly handsome eyebrow. "Well, then," he said with the exquisite patience and subtlety of a rhinoceros, "perhaps Mr. Frost might be persuaded to do a commission. Were you not saying that you were thinking of getting some pictures done? Of the house?"

Redfern could feel himself coloring, as for the third time, and, convinced he looked like some cork-brained nincompoop, all he could find to say was, "Yes. Yes, I was."

Somehow, he'd snapped himself out of his shock, and in moments, the young man--Gideon Frost--had written down Redfern's name and address in, Redfern could not help but notice, an elegant hand, and had promised to call within a very few days. He'd explained that his assistant was unwell but he had every hope that his recovery was imminent. Redfern left the shop with a spring in his step he hadn't had for many a month and found it difficult not to smirk. Thouless--damn his questing eyes--commented favorably on Frost's talents all the way back to Fleet Street.

To cover up his interest in the young man, Redfern said, "Are you trying to shock me, Finn? To hear you speak, I'd think you were smitten by young Frost."

Finbarr hailed a hackney, and as it trundled along the street toward them, he said, "I appreciate art, Joshua. That young man creates it, and his Creator has made it in him. If you tell me you did not see the beauty in him, I will call you a bowyer and as such I will never believe anything you say again."

Redfern had grunted something, enough to placate his friend and make him change the subject onto the ball of that night, and that had been the end of the matter between them. When Frost came to sketch the house, there was no archly sarcastic wag to confuse matters. But it did no good. For all that Redfern wanted to be the charmer, the urbane friend to Frost that Thouless was to him, he found it impossible. He was not so much tongue-tied, but seemingly tongue-less in the young man's presence and all he had been able to do was give the engraver carte blanche to sketch where and how he liked. He sounded curt and gruff even to his own ears, and he knew that it was self-protection; better to appear an arrogant nouveau-riche than to give any hint of his true feelings. For from the moment he'd seen Frost again he knew that he was violently, passionately attracted to the young man, in a way that he hadn't felt for many years.

He left Frost to sketch, and forced himself not to trouble his work. He stayed in his library, giving orders to the staff that he had left the house and that he would call on the engraver presently. He sat and wrestled with the burgeoning attraction for the man he'd seen twice. What good would it do to moon after the young man? What good had it ever done? He'd learned harsh lessons in his life, that his predilections had brought nothing but danger and misery to all concerned. He'd long been of the opinion that it was better to live like a monk than to put one more man at risk.

So what, he wondered, as he stood outside Frost's shop on a freezing day, had led his footsteps back here? There was nothing in their business that could not have been done by servants or by correspondence but here he was. Before he gave it another thought, and talked himself out of it, he pushed open the door, and suddenly, as he saw the engraver stand with a welcoming smile on his face, he was warm.
What's next for you, Erastes?

A very exciting book release in April 2009. An imprint of Perseus Books--Running Press--is releasing a line of M/M Romance as mainstream romance for the first time ever. They'll be available in the women's romance section of books and marketed specifically at women with "proper romance covers". My English Civil War romance TRANSGRESSIONS and Alex Beecroft's Age of Sail adventure, FALSE COLORS are to be the pathfinder releases and they are lining up more releases to follow.

Sadly I can't show you the covers yet, but I'll keep you all posted! I hope you give FROST FAIR a try and enjoy it if you do.

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Thanks so much to Erastes for stopping by today. We're giving away a copy of FROST FAIR to a random commenter when we return from the holiday break on December 28. Leave a comment or question for your chance to win. Good luck!

Weekly Announcements - 12 Dec 08

Carrie Lofty is pleased that WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS continues to earn quality reviews. Merri Crawford of Medieval Book Reviews writes: "Although set in distant times, WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS captures in imagery, psychological depth and imagination, a timeless truth in the way only fiction can. ...a book to read slowly in order to savor in all its details. Keep a hanky for the ending, not for tears of pain but joyful tears."

And in even more exciting news, Carrie's recent spread in the romance magazine LoveLetter helped her catch the attention of German editors. Translation rights to WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS were purchased by Cora for a 2009 release.

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Join us tomorrow when Erastes celebrates the release of Frost Fair, a m/m romance set during the Frost Fair of 1814 in London.

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We'll also draw the winner of Michelle Styles's VIKING WARRIOR, UNWILLING WIFE. There's still time to leave a comment for your shot at winning!

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Have a good weekend. If you have an announcement to make for next week, email Carrie. See you next week...

Weekly Announcements - 15 Nov 08

Michelle Styles has been featured in The Hexham Courant, her local paper, about her latest book, A QUESTION OF IMPROPRIETY

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Erastes has done an interview with Romance at Heart magazine and received a nice review for FROST FAIR:

The historical details are obviously very accurate, you can always picture the nineteen century London in which is set the story, and I bet that you can still follow the steps of Gideon around the city still now and seeing the same view he saw. The nice description of the FROST FAIR, an impromptu fair held on the frozen Thames, is the same you can see in some prints of the time.

FROST FAIR was released today, so you can pick up a copy here.

Gideon Frost is willing to do whatever it takes to earn enough money to save the printing shop that was left to him by his father. But when faced with the prospect of having to engage in acts society deems unnatural and the law declares punishable by death, he realized there are limits as to how far he'll go. Then he meets the privileged and handsome Joshua Redfern, the one man who tempts Gideon to break his own rules.

Joshua Redfern has no title or important relations, but his independent fortune allows him a life that is more than comfortable. And more importantly, it enables him to offer assistance to the unfortunate but beautiful Gideon just when the man needs it most. Joshua realizes his interest in Gideon is far more than charitable, but is the man similarly attracted or merely indebted?

When the Thames freezes over and London hosts the great Frost Fair of 1814, trouble and necessity bring Gideon and Joshua together. But just as ice is destined to eventually crack, will the circumstances break these two men as they learn that life isn't always fair?

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Elizabeth Lane received two reviews for THE BORROWED BRIDE from The Good, the Bad and the Unread. Wendy the Super Librarian wrote, "THE BORROWED BRIDE is an emotional read, and Judd is just the ticket for readers who adore haunted, wounded heroes," while Devon said, "The chemistry was good and the tension was involving. I was waiting for that first kiss."

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Hot on the heels of her first release, Jennifer Linforth just sold book two of The Madrigals. ABENDLIED, which weaves in Philippe de Chagny's role in The Madrigals, will be a 2009 release. More details to come!

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If you have an announcement to make for next week, email Carrie. See you next week...