THE SERGEANT'S LADY Winner!

We have a winner for Susanna Fraser's THE SERGEANT'S LADY guest blog. A free copy of goes to:

JEN M.!

Contact Carrie to provide your mailing 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! Congratulations!

Guest Author: Susanna Fraser

This week on Unusual Historicals we're welcoming Carina Press author Susanna Fraser as she celebrates the release of her debut, THE SERGEANT'S LADY, set in Spain and France during the Napoleonic Wars.

Highborn Anna Arrington has been following the drum, obeying the wishes of her cold, controlling cavalry officer husband. When he dies, all she wants is to leave life with Wellington's army in Spain behind her and go home to her family's castle in Scotland.

Sergeant Will Atkins ran away from home to join the army in a fit of boyish enthusiasm. He is a natural born soldier, popular with officers and men alike, uncommonly brave and chivalrous, and educated and well-read despite his common birth.

As Anna journeys home with a convoy of wounded soldiers, she forms an unlikely friendship with Will. When the convoy is ambushed and their fellow soldiers captured, they become fugitives together. The attraction between them is strong, but even if they can escape the threat of death at the hands of the French, is love strong enough to bridge the gap between a viscount's daughter and an innkeeper's son?

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Why does THE SERGEANT'S LADY qualify as an unusual historical?

THE SERGEANT'S LADY is Regency in that it's set in 1811-12 with a British hero and heroine--but with a big twist. Most of the story takes place not in London or the English countryside, but in Spain with Wellington's army, and the hero is not an aristocrat but a common sergeant.

Tell us more about your hero and heroine.

Anna, my heroine, is a survivor. Being an aristocratic heiress couldn't protect her from an abusive husband, so when we meet her she's just endured two years of hell. After her husband dies, she has to choose between a safe, conventional life and embracing risk and adventure.

My hero, Will, on the other hand, has led a happy life despite the challenges of being in a profession where enemy soldiers regularly try to kill him! He's good at what he does and has never regretted running away from home at sixteen to join the army. But meeting Anna calls him to challenge the limitations placed on him by his common birth.

What kind of research did you do for this book?

I read everything I could get my hands on about the Peninsular War in general and specifically about the 1811 and 1812 campaigns that form the backdrop of my book. I also did a very little bit of hands-on research--I wish I could've done far more--by spending an afternoon at a Revolutionary War reenactment. Military technology barely changed between the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, so talking to reenactors and handling some of their equipment was a wonderful way to learn not just the specs and tactical usefulness of a muzzle-loading single shot flintlock rifle, but what it feels like in your hands and the sulfur-scented smoke that hangs in the air after it's fired.

Incidentally, it's fun being a woman who knows a lot about military history and technology. Men just don't expect you to be able to explain the changes in ballistics technology between the Napoleonic and Civil Wars and what they meant for battlefield tactics, nor to be able to put together a diagram of the Battle of Waterloo at the dinner table ("Your beer will be Hougoumont; my wine glass is La Haye Sainte, and the pepper shaker will represent the Prussian advance..."). Their jaws drop, they stare at your chest, they stare at you...it's the closest I've ever experienced to that awesome scene in Firefly where Kaylee is talking engines to a rapt audience of posh young men at a ball.

Really, if you're at all interested in any traditionally masculine subject, I recommend learning as much as possible about it. It's so fun to shock the guys with your expertise.

What's next for you, and do you see yourself writing outside the Regency/Napoleonic era in the future?

Carina will also be publishing my prequel to THE SERGEANT'S LADY. I don't have a definite release date yet, but it will most likely be Spring 2011, and my current title is A MARRIAGE OF INCONVENIENCE. It's more of a traditional Regency story, with Anna's viscount brother as the hero and a house party as the setting.

I'm working on a shipwreck novella with an English heroine and a French hero, and after that I'm tentatively planning to stay in the Napoleonic Era, but try my hand at historical fantasy. I definitely want to write 5th century BCE Greece one of these days, focusing on the Athenians and Salamis instead of the Spartans at Thermopylae. And I'm also interested in the American colonial era and Revolution, so who knows where my muse will take me?

How can readers get in touch with you?

I have a blog I'd love for you to visit. Also, I'm occasionally on Twitter and more frequently on Facebook.

About Susanna:

Susanna Fraser wrote her first novel in fourth grade. It starred a family of talking horses who ruled a magical land. In high school she started, but never finished, a succession of tales of girls who were just like her, only with long, naturally curly and often unusually colored hair, who, perhaps because of the hair, had much greater success with boys than she ever did.

Along the way she read her hometown library's entire collection of Regency romance, fell in love with the works of Jane Austen, and discovered in Patrick O'Brian's and Bernard Cornwell's novels another side of the opening decades of the 19th century. When she started to write again as an adult, she knew exactly where she wanted to set her books. Her writing has come a long way from her youthful efforts, but she still gives her heroines great hair.

Susanna lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter. When not writing or reading, she goes to baseball games, sings alto in a local choir and watches cooking competition shows.

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Readers, Susanna will be giving one lucky commenter a $10 gift card to the recipient's choice of Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Books on Board. Just leave a comment or question for your chance to win. I'll draw a winner at random next Sunday. Void where prohibited. Best of luck! And thanks again to Susanna for stopping by!

Weekly Announcements - 27 Aug 2010

Over the next few weeks we'll be undergoing some changes to our line-up here at Unusual Historicals. This week I'd like everyone to welcome Stephanie Dray, who writes historical fiction with romantic and mystical elements set in the ancient world. Her debut, LILY OF THE NILE, is set in 30BC in Egypt and Rome, and will be available from Berkley in January 2011.

With her parents dead, the daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony is left at the mercy of her Roman captors. Heir to one empire and prisoner of another, it falls to Princess Selene to save her brothers and reclaim what is rightfully hers...

In the aftermath of Alexandria's tragic fall, Princess Selene is taken from Egypt, the only home she's ever known. Along with her two surviving brothers, she's put on display as a war trophy in Rome. Selene's captors mock her royalty and drag her through the streets in chains, but on the brink of death, the children are spared as a favor to the emperor's sister, who takes them to live as hostages in the so-called lamentable embassy of royal orphans...

Now trapped in a Roman court of intrigue that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, Selene can't hide the hieroglyphics that carve themselves into her flesh. Nor can she stop the emperor from using her for his own political ends. But faced with a new and ruthless Caesar who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very own, Selene is determined honor her mother's lost legacy. The magic of Egypt and Isis remain within her. But can she succeed where her mother failed? And what will it cost her in a political game where the only rule is win or die?

And here's a little more about Stephanie, who also writes as Stephanie Draven for Silhouette Nocturne:

Stephanie graduated from Smith, a small women's college in Massachusetts where--to the consternation of her devoted professors--she was unable to master Latin. However, her concentration in Middle Eastern Studies gave her a deeper understanding of the consequences of Egypt's ancient clash with Rome, both in terms of the still-extant tensions between East and West as well as the worldwide decline of female-oriented religion.

Using the transformative power of magic realism, Stephanie illuminates the stories of women in history so as to inspire the young women of today. She remains fascinated by all things Egyptian and has--to the consternation of her devoted husband--collected a house full of cats and ancient artifacts.

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Join us Sunday when Carina Press author Susanna Fraser will be here to chat about her debut, THE SERGEANT'S LADY, set in France and Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. She'll also be giving away a digital copy to one lucky commenter! Be sure to join us then.

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We'll also draw the winner of Liz Fichera's CAPTIVE SPIRIT guest appearance on Sunday. You still have time to leave a comment or question for your chance to win.

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Stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Jeannie Lin, Lila DiPasqua, Christina Phillips, and Sarah Parr will be our guests. Join us!

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Have a good weekend! Remember, you don't have to be an Unusual Historicals contributor to submit good news to the weekend announcements. If it has to do with unusual historicals, we'd love to shout it out to the world! Send announcements to Carrie. See you next week...

Excerpt Thursday: Susanna Fraser

This week on Excerpt Thursday we're welcoming Carina Press author Susanna Fraser as she celebrates the release of her debut, THE SERGEANT'S LADY, set in Spain and France during the Napoleonic Wars. Join us Sunday when Susanna will be here to answer questions and award one lucky commenter a free copy.

Highborn Anna Arrington has been following the drum, obeying the wishes of her cold, controlling cavalry officer husband. When he dies, all she wants is to leave life with Wellington's army in Spain behind her and go home to her family's castle in Scotland.

Sergeant Will Atkins ran away from home to join the army in a fit of boyish enthusiasm. He is a natural born soldier, popular with officers and men alike, uncommonly brave and chivalrous, and educated and well-read despite his common birth.

As Anna journeys home with a convoy of wounded soldiers, she forms an unlikely friendship with Will. When the convoy is ambushed and their fellow soldiers captured, they become fugitives together. The attraction between them is strong, but even if they can escape the threat of death at the hands of the French, is love strong enough to bridge the gap between a viscount's daughter and an innkeeper's son?

***

With Wellington's Army in Spain, June 1811

"Aiee! Madre de Dios, it hurts!"

Will knelt on a coarse wool blanket beside his best friend's woman, gripping her hands. "Not much longer, Juana," he murmured. "Everything is going well."

He hoped he spoke the truth, but he didn't rightly know. His boyhood experience with lambing on his brother-in-law's farm hardly made him a midwife. He was a Rifle sergeant, an eleven-year veteran who had known no life but a soldier's since he was sixteen. He'd been trained to usher men out of the world, not babies into it.

Juana's birth pang ended, and she released his hands. Will flexed his fingers to get the blood flowing again. Her grip had turned so fierce he wondered if he'd be able to manage his rifle the next day.

Somewhere nearby there had to be better help for a laboring woman. He could still hear tramping feet and creaking oxcart wheels on the road, just a few yards away from the grove of cork trees where they had sought shelter when Juana's pains grew too strong for her to continue on the march. Their own regiment marched far ahead with the vanguard, but the main body of the army hadn't yet passed them by.

He allowed himself a brief daydream of seeking out Lord Wellington to tell the general exactly what he thought of him for ordering a march today of all brutally hot days. It wasn't as if they were going to or from battle. They hadn't seen action in weeks, and if camp gossip was to be believed, that was unlikely to change soon. Today they marched to improve their position relative to the French, many miles distant, or maybe simply to avoid exhausting the countryside's food and water and the goodwill of their Spanish hosts. They could just as well have waited a few days in hopes of the heat breaking, and Juana could've given birth in a settled camp.

Will shook off his insubordinate fancies and turned his mind to reality. He fixed the third occupant of the grove with a glare that would've made any private leap to obey. "Damn it, Dan, you must go for help."

Dan, however, was no private. He was the other sergeant of Will's company--not to mention Juana's lover and the father of her child.

"No," he said. "I'm not leaving her. Not this time." His jaw was set, his eyes haunted.

Will shook his head. Two years before, Dan had lost his wife in childbirth after being forced to leave her behind on the retreat to Corunna, so he had made up his mind that he could keep Juana safe by keeping her in sight. But he was useless, pacing the edge of the grove in a nervous panic. He could not take Will's place, freeing him to seek help, so somehow they had to manage. But Juana needed more. She needed a woman.

All of them tensed as a rustling in the grove heralded the approach of an animal, then relaxed as the intruder came into sight. As if in answer to Will's prayers, a beautiful woman rode toward them on a donkey, trailed by a local girl on foot. He could have kissed her. Granted, she wasn't quite what he'd had in mind. He would've preferred a stout matron who'd borne half a dozen children and attended the births of ten times that number. In short, his mother.

This one was too young--younger than he was, probably not yet five-and-twenty. She was also too much of a lady. With her servant, donkey, and fine dress and bonnet, she was unmistakably an officer's wife. Her Spanish maid was still in her teens, and she was trying to hide behind the donkey. But at least they were female.

The beauty took in their situation at a glance--a dismayed glance, Will thought--and slid down from her mount's back.

She met Will's eyes. "I heard a scream, just now. May I offer any assistance..." Her voice trailed off as her gaze darted to the neat stack of gear at one corner of the blanket. "...Sergeant?"

His uniform jacket, with its sergeant's stripes, lay atop his gear. He felt a moment's embarrassment at being caught in a state of undress by such an elegant lady. But if she'd been following the drum for any time at all, this couldn't be the first time she'd seen a strange man in his shirtsleeves.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said fervently. "Anything you can do, we'd be grateful for."