The Intellectuals: Alfonso X’s Contribution to World Science and Culture

By J. K. Knauss 

Juan Diego portrays
Alfonso X on the
series Toledo

He has a portrait hanging in the US House of Representatives in the Great Lawgivers series. A moon crater bears his name. His name is on the largest unified collection of annotated medieval music. Why do so many fields of inquiry praise the intellectual efforts of Alfonso X, el Sabio? What mark did he leave on the world to make us think he was so learned?

The short answer: his books.

In the General Estoria, we read: “The King makes a book, not because he writes it with his hands, but because he outlines the facts in it, and edits it and makes it right, and shows the way in which it is to be made… Just as we say that the King makes a palace, we don’t say it because he constructs it with his hands, but because he ordered it to be made…” The Book of the Sphere discusses at length the way King Alfonso worked as general editor. He came up with the idea for the book and what it should contain, and then went through it to take out extraneous parts and correct infelicities.

Alfonso X oversaw these projects to give himself access to the best knowledge in order to learn how rule his country more wisely, and a great additional benefit was that the books were created in Castilian and in Latin. They could then be consumed by Alfonso’s Castilian-reading subjects and Europeans farther afield. A wise populace is the beginning of a wise kingdom, and wise foreign friends make for smooth dealings and further the cause of that wise kingdom.

The collaborators made use of the finest sources available. They accurately cite Aristotle, the early Christian saints including Augustine, and eleventh-century philosophers such as Pedro Alfonso and Aelred of Rievaulx, to give the most basic examples. The scope of the intellectual activity has led to many scholarly volumes. Here’s a list of highlights.

The Alphonsus Crater on the Moon. Wikimedia Commons

Astronomy

• Alfonsine Tables

• Picatrix

• Book of Knowledge of Astronomy

• Book of the Forms and Images

• Book of the Fixed Stars

• Book of the Sphere, etc.

(More about Alfonso X’s astronomy on Unusual Historicals inJuly.)

Other Science

Lapidario—A book of erudition about types of stones.

Alfonso X in the US House of Representatives

Law

• The Fuero Real—A pragmatic town charter that was granted to new towns in order to begin regularizing the rule of law throughout Alfonso’s kingdoms.

• Espéculo—Elegant and comprehensive legal theory with practical applications as an afterthought.

• Siete Partidas—A great book of medieval thought that also served as the basis of Spanish law for centuries.

• Specialized books of law—The Book of Gambling Houses, the Book of Frontier Commanders, various ordinances, etc.

History/Wisdom

• Book of Calila and Digna—This charming book is the first work of Castilian prose narrative. Based on ancient Indian texts via Arabic sources, two jackals (or lynxes) tell each other fables to illustrate complex and sometimes conflicting points of wisdom.

• Setenario—Often classed with the legal works, this book obsessed with the number seven is an unfinished compendium of the most secret kinds of knowledge and how to apply them.

• History of Spain—Tells the story of the Iberian Peninsula from the end of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the thirteenth century.

• General History—An astoundingly wide-reaching world history from Biblical times.

Music/Religion

• The Cantigas de Santa Maria—The largest collection of written medieval music in the world. More than 400 praise and miracle songs in Galician Portuguese for the Blessed Virgin with fun melodies and gorgeous illustrations. I attempted to describe how wonderful this collection is in this post. I investigate one exciting cantiga in this post.

Alfonso's sculpture at the National Library in
Madrid emphasizes intellect with books and a scroll.

Pastimes because leisure is important for refreshing the intellect.

• Various cantigas de escarnio e mal dizer—Profane, sometimes grotesque, mostly humorous, and at least one moving account of the weariness of a king in failing health (“Non me posso pagar tanto”).

• Libro de ajedrez, dados e tablas—A comprehensive illustrated compendium of chess strategy for the troubled intellectual. Ways to play dice, backgammon, and other games of chance are not as highly regarded.

Much of this body of work had far-reaching impacts in medieval Europe and modern world. The astronomy inspired and informed Copernicus, and the law works influence decisions even today in the American Southwest.

In order to begin my studies of Alfonso X, I had to vastly broaden my fields of expertise in addition to the strictly literary training I’d had up to that time. Perhaps Alfonso X’s greatest wisdom lay in the voracity with which he pursued all intellectual subjects. It seems there was nothing the Wise King wouldn’t want to investigate and read about further.

Simon R. Doubledays’ biography (The Wise King, New York: Basic Books, 2015) seamlessly weaves the trials and tribulations of Alfonso X’s life and times into the writing of the body of work he left behind. He makes a good case that Alfonso X based his intellectuality on the model of polymath Muslim princes. Indeed, the translators and compilers frequently relied on rescued ancient documents in Arabic. Doubleday’s book is an excellent overview of a fascinating king—I learned a few things I didn’t know before. 

My tribute to Alfonso's contribution to world culture, Our Lady's Troubadour, lets you experience the Cantigas de Santa Maria in a fun new way! 

Jessica Knauss earned her PhD in Medieval Spanish with a dissertation on the portrayal of Alfonso X’s laws in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, which has been published as the five-star-rated Law and Order in Medieval Spain. A driven fiction writer, Jessica Knauss has edited many fine historical novels and is a bilingual freelance editor. Her historical novel, Seven Noble Knights, is available from Encircle Publications in ebook, paperback, and hardcover. Find out more her writing and bookish activities here or here. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter, too!

Crimes & Law Enforcement: Colonial Prisons

Anna C. Bowling

As of this date, I've been in two colonial prisons. Before anybody suspects me of time travelling misdeeds, let me state up front that the prisons were museums at the time I visited, and the purpose was research, not correction. Old Newgate Prison, built in 1775 in East Granby, CT, began its tenure as a copper mine, and when the mining proved unprofitable, became a holding facility for Tories and captured British troops during the American Revolution. This particular tidbit perked my colonial-loving ears, and throughout the tour, I kept my ears open for any future characters who might want to share their stories of time spent in such a place.

The tour included both the mine itself--very dark, very slippery and not for the claustrophobic--and the cells where the prisoners slept. Standing in the low-cielinged cells, with stone on three sides, bars on the other, I could well imagine what could have gone through the minds of the men housed there, including a desperate need to escape. Which, as our guide informed me, was extremely common at this particular facility.

The first prisoner to call Old Newgate "home" arrived in December of 1773 and escaped eighteen days later, and one prisoner, listed as Richard Steele, holds the record for escaping from this facility a grand total of three times. After the war, the prison housed serious criminals such as rapists and murderers instead of political prisoners, admitting women starting in 1824. The prison closed in 1827, and an attempt to revive the mining failed. The property served other purposes before being declared a national landmark.

Old Newgate was not my first exposure to the colonial correctional system. That came on a school field trip to the Bedford Historical Society in Bedford Village, NY,. One of two original jail cells from the 1780s remains now at the society's museum. Prisoners housed in the Bedford cell would find their walls of wood rather than stone, and escapes would be trickier, as they shared a building with the courthouse, which has also been preserved.

I have to confess making multiple trips to revisit the courthouse and jail cell over the years, which inspired similar locations in MY OUTCAST HEART, though the preserved sites date from several decades past the 1720 setting of the story. The entire town of Bedford was burned to the ground by British troops during the American Revolution. Though I have no idea if any of the soldiers involved in that were captured and housed at Old Newgate, the storyteller in me has to wonder what if....

Have you ever visited a historical prison? What prison do you think would be perfect for a historical version of Prison Break?

Writing historical romances allows Anna C. Bowling to travel through time on a daily basis and make the voices in her head pay rent. Her current release, ORPHANS IN THE STORM, is available from Awe-Struck E-books.

Women Did It Better: Deborah and Yael

By Anna C. Bowling

Before there was Judge Judy, there was Judge Deborah, whose story can be found in the Biblical Old Testament Book of Judges. Her story connects with that of a woman named Yael, who proves that Army wives can get the job done. Whether one considers the spiritual side of Deborah and Yael's adventure fact or fable, their tale is a compelling one. Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, held her court between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, serving as leader as well as settling disputes. During the time Deborah led her people, Israel faced an impressive enemy in Sisera, captain of the Canaanite army. For twenty years, Sisera's army oppressed Israel and Israel had had enough.

Deborah, a prophetess as well as a judge, summoned Barak, one of Israel's greatest military men, and told him that God had laid out a plan for Barak to follow which would deliver Sisera's army, with nine hundred iron chariots, into Israelite hands. Barak agreed to follow this plan, but only if Deborah would go with him. If she would not, neither would he. Deborah did accompany Barak, but told him that because of the way he was going about this, the honor for the victory would not be his, and God would hand the enemy over to a woman. Barak, Deborah and ten thousand soldiers set out for Mount Tabor to face off against Sisera.

According to Deborah's prophecy, the plan succeeded. The Israelites conquered the Canaanites, but Sisera managed to escape on foot. Fleeing to a tent he suspected would give him safe haven, Sisera found himself greeted by Yael, who welcomed him into her tent. Yael gave Sisera a drink of milk and covered him with a blanket. Yael, seeing her chance, waited for Sisera to fall asleep and then drove a tent peg through his skull.

"Jael Slaying Sisera" by Maarten van Heemskerck, 1551.
When Barak came searching for Sisera, he found his enemy in Yael's tent, already dead. This fulfilled the second part of Deborah's prophecy, that the honor of dispatching Sisera would go to a woman.

What Surprised Me: Don't Know Much About History

By Delia DeLeest

I've always been a history buff. When I was little, my favorite TV show was "Little House on the Prairie." My favorite book was about four kids who were required to clean an old vacant house as community service and ended up researching the house's history in an attempt to save it from the wrecking ball. I wanted a time machine so I could go back to ancient Egypt.

It's always amazed me that there are so many people out there who just flat out aren't interested in history and therefore, know nothing about it. I didn't realize that historical ignorance was as bad as it was until a reader once questioned my character's use of a telephone in my 1920s era upcoming book, NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE. Telephones were old hat by that time, yet this person had no idea.

My love for history turned into a love for historical romances. Though those early novels weren't always totally historically accurate, it was through them that I gleaned nuggets of information about the Civil War, the Norman invasion of Saxony, and--thanks to the wonderful, dearly departed Kathleen Woodiwiss--sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Those books were simply starting off points, from there, I dug into actual history books and rounded out all those wonderful history bites the romance books provided.

But even when I didn't dig deeper into a subject, my mind is still teeming with wonderful little bits of historic trivia provided by all those books I've devoured over the years. What a wonderful community service we historical romance writers are providing to the public when a reader cracks open a book and not only gets a wonderful story, but can take something else away that can give them an appreciation for past people and places. I get the warm fuzzies just thinking about it.

I feel bad for people who don't know who fought in the French and Indian war, how a wagon train made its way to California, or how bootleggers smuggled illegal hooch in from Canada. Too often it's felt that history is in the past and since there's nothing we can do about it, so why bother learning? Of course George Santayana said it best with, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." But I couldn't help but feel a little surge of pride when my sixteen-year-old daughter stated the other day, "You know, if people would just learn from history, there'd be a whole lot fewer problems, wouldn't there?"

Yep, there's hope for the future.

Humor: Commedia Dell Arte

By Anna C. Bowling

Barring time travel, how many of us can claim to have seen performances of sixteenth century Italian theater? Show of hands, please? Hm, I don't think that number is right. How many have seen the US or UK versions of Whose Line is It Anyway? Ah, more. UK friends, how about traditional pantomimes or a Punch and Judy show? More there, as well. How about Matt Groenig's cartoon series, Futurama? Thought so.

Wait a minute, what does Futurama have to do with sixteenth century Italian theater? I'll share the exact connection a bit later, but many traditions and stock characters found in the comedy that entertains us today was equally entertaining half a millennium ago.

Commedia Dell Arte, which can be translated as "comedy of craft" or "artist's comedy" originated as a form of professional theater in sixteenth century Italy. As we can recognize favorite characters today through images of their distinctive costumes audiences of the time could identify the players by the costumes and masks particular to the character. Though an audience member might not see the same troupe twice, as the players traveled, the characters stayed the same, and actors improvised from suggestions given by each particular audience.

The roster of characters could vary from locale to locale, but usually could be divided into: Inamorati, male and female lovers; vecchi, the older people, often parents of the lovers; and the zanni, who were servants or commoners, and from whom we get the word "zany." Other names used in commedia are still well known today: Rafael Sabatini's classic novel, Scaramouche, gets its title from the boastful swashbuckling character, and singers who perform the Queen song, "Bohemian Rhapsody" invoke Scaramouche as well. (It has yet to be determined if he will do the fandango.)

Arlecchino gives us Harlequin, which brings to mind not only a Renaissance clown and distinctive diamond pattern, but the largest publisher of romantic fiction in the world. Iconic as well are the images of Pierrot, the sad, white-faced clown whose tear-streaked face tops a huge white ruff. Then, as now, Isabella was a very popular choice for the name of the female lover. The absent-minded professor, crotchety miser and bumbling official all have their histories in commedia as well.

The usual plot of a commedia performance often revolved around the lovers wishing to marry but being kept apart by the machinations of one or more of their elders, until with the help of cunning servants, the obstacle is removed. This may sound familiar to readers of romance novels today. Of course, exactly how any of the above might come about would vary according to actors, audience, local political or religious climate. Working from a basic framework with characters needed to fill certain roles, one can imagine that provided enough variations that the same play was seldom performed twice unless the actors worked from a script. Actors frequently performed outside, with elaborate masks and costumes making up for the lack of setting or props. There was no fee to see the performances, and actors passed the hat afterward to collect what the audience could pay.

By the seventeenth century, commedia troupes began to work from scripts and the style became stricter and less improvisational, moving from outdoor performances to inside more traditional theaters. As time progressed and other forms of theater came into vogue, commedia took a back seat to more modern entertainments but true classics never die. In the nineteenth century, the likes of George Sand and Frederic Chopin constructed a theater for performances of commedia in France. Interest in the form revived through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. True romance is, indeed timeless.

What about the Futurama connection? Visit the Commedia Dell Arte entry at TvTropes.Org and scroll down to the Western Animation section.

What commedia characters can you find in modern television, movies or books?

Dynasties: The Tudors

By Anna C. Bowling

Long before Jonathan Rhys Meyers declined to wear body padding to play Henry VIII, the real Tudors provided enough drama, passion, conflict and spectacle that some Tudor aficionados contend that the HBO series didn't have to change a thing to provide an entertaining tale. From Henry VII to his granddaughter, Elizabeth I, the Tudor dynasty has long been a favorite among writers such as Jean Plaidy, Bertrice Small and Philippa Gregory, not to mention the feast for the eyes in numerous films set in this era. As supporting players or leads, the Tudors left their stamp on everything they touched.

Henry VII came to power at the end of the Wars of the Roses in 1485. Henry, aligned with the house of Lancaster on his mother's side, united both factions by marrying Elizabeth Plantagenet of York, the niece of the defeated Richard III. The Tudor rose symbol pays homage to union of York and Lancaster. Henry and Elizabeth may have thought the united houses' future well secured with four surviving children, Arthur, Henry, Margaret and Mary.

Both girls married well, Mary to Louis VII of France and Margaret to James IV of Scotland. Arthur's marriage to Catherine of Aragon provided an alliance with the Spanish crown, and had Arthur survived, we might have seen history play out in far different fashion.

After only four months of marriage, Arthur died. Henry VII secured a papal dispensation to allow Prince Henry to marry Arthur's widow, Catherine. By the time the marriage took place, Henry VII had died and Henry VIII made Catherine his queen. Another point where history might have taken a vastly different turn; Henry and Catherine endured a string of stillbirths and infant deaths, including a son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, who died at an age of less than two months. Only one daughter, Mary, survived, and Henry's desire to preserve his dynasty through the birth of sons only grew. Attempts to obtain a divorce within the Catholic church failed time and again.

What's a desperate monarch to do?

In Henry's case, break with Catholicism and form the Church of England, with the king as the head of church as well as head of state. Henry's appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, allowed for the dissolution of Henry's marriage to Catherine. Now single, Henry made his mistress, Anne Boleyn, his wife and new queen. Perhaps if their daughter, Elizabeth, called by many one of England's greatest monarchs, had been a male, Henry would have been satisfied, but fate was once again keeping the desired son out of his reach.

Anne would no longer suffice, and Henry was faced once again with getting rid of a wife he no longer wanted. Accusations of witchcraft, incest and high treason leveled upon Anne and though the validity of several accusations are widely contested among historians, it was enough to send Anne to her death. She was beheaded in 1536, after which Henry remarried, this time to Jane Seymour.

It was Jane at last who provided Henry with a son, Edward, though she died soon after his birth, leaving Henry distraught at her loss. Not distraught enough to put him off marriage, as he took a fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, his reluctance overcome when he saw a portrait of her painted by Hans Holbein the younger. The real Anne, however, did not suit him. Nor, apparently, did he suit her, as she agreed to an annulment, and was known thereafter as My Lady, the King's Sister. Henry had Thomas Cromwell, who had proposed the marriage, executed.

Henry was nothing if not determined. He married Catherine Howard, a cousin of the Duke of Norfolk. The marriage was doomed. Catherine, more than three decades Henry's junior, conducted an affair with one of Henry's favorites, Thomas Culpeper, and as one might guess, this did not go over well. Catherine was executed in 1542.

By 1543, Henry was back at the altar with Catherine Parr, who survived him upon his death in 1547...which is where things really get interesting. His will had restored Mary, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon and Elizabeth, his daughter by Anne Boleyn, to the line of succession. It did not, however legitimize them, as annulled marriage legally never occurred, so both girls were still legally illegitimate. Edward VI ascended the throne at the age of nine.

Had the boy king, a religious reformer even at his young age, survived, again, we might have a far different tale to tell, but Edward became ill in 1553, and the issue of Edward's successor came into play. Edward changed his father's will to allow his cousin, Jane Grey to succeed him upon his death. There's no telling what England might have been under Jane's rule, as she did not want the throne, and indeed did not technically have it, and her reign lasted only nine days before she was dethroned.

Henry's older daughter, Mary, became queen, and Jane, along with her husband, Guilford Dudley, were executed. Mary, who desired to make England a Catholic nation once more, married Prince Philip of Spain, a distant relative. Mary, however, inherited her father's bad luck with marriage, as Philip preferred to spend his time away from Mary. Though there were several reputed pregnancies, Mary produced no offspring. Though she could not produce a Catholic heir, her actions as eliminating Protestants earned her the name of "Bloody Mary." She died without issue in 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth as her heir.

Elizabeth has been known as the Virgin Queen, though there have been speculations about her relationship with Robert Dudley, her Master of the Horse and constant companion. Elizabeth never married, knowing that a woman's power and assets would go to her husband and preferred to remain in control of her own life and country. Politician, fashionista, poet, diplomat and true Renaissance woman, Elizabeth left her mark on the age that bears her name. Her speech at Tilbury on the eve of the Spanish Armada still inspires many to hold fast in the face of danger. Her court is synonymous with splendor and intrigue, and Elizabeth is as famed for her temper as her fashion sense.

If Elizabeth had accepted any of the many applicants for her hand, again, we'd have a very different history, but the Virgin Queen remained married only to England, and upon her death in 1603 unmarried and without issue, the sun set on the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth was succeeded by her cousin, James VI of Scotland who became the first English king of that name, beginning a new age...but that's another story.

Scandal: Anne Bonny

By Anna C. Bowling

Though Anne Bonny earned herself a spot in the history books as one of the most famed female pirates off all time, she started her life of scandal right out of the gate with her birth in 1700 (or 1702 depending on source). Reputed to be the daughter of Irish attorney William Cormac and one of the family's maidservants, Anne's arrival did not please Mrs. Cormac one bit, though one account has suggested that Mrs. Cormac revealed her knowledge of her husband's affair by waiting in the maidservant's bed for William to come for one of his regular visits. However the family dealt with this new development, William absconded to Charleston, South Carolina, with the maidservant and baby Anne to start life anew.

Colonial life brought prosperity to the Cormac family, and Anne grew up with a degree of privilege, though her fiery nature manifested itself early on. Some accounts claim that Anne stabbed one of her maidservants and at another time set fire to her father's plantation, but there is no conclusive evidence to support or deny either claim. Anne's wild ways led to an impulsive teenage marriage to James Bonny, a sailor with a taste for the high life, who hoped to gain control of Anne's family's fortune. William Cormac would have none of that, or of his daughter and son-in-law, so the newlyweds set sail for New Providence Island in the Bahamas.

Their rocky marriage crashed. James became an informant for Governor Woodes Rogers, while Anne preferred to spend her time in local taverns rather than keeping house. It was there that she met the dashing pirate James could never be. Calico Jack Rackham, so named for his flashy style of dress, matched Anne in spirit and thirst for adventure, and the two soon began an affair. James Bonny brought his wife before Governor Rodgers to have her flogged for the crime of adultery. She was ordered to return to him to live as a proper wife. Such was the law of the land, but as pirates subscribed to a law of their own, Jack Rackham had a counter-offer.

Jack offered to buy Anne from James in a divorce by purchase--not entirely legal, but accepted practice in some circles. Anne refused; she was not property to be bought and sold. Anne's sentence was passed but not carried out (foreshadowing alert), and she and Jack disappeared to embark on their piratical partnership. They would later acquire another companion, the female pirate Mary Read, who had a scandalous background of her own. Mary was raised in male disguise by her widowed mother, as her paternal grandmother would support a grandson but not a granddaughter. The trio wreaked havoc upon the seas, taking many prizes. Some accounts have Anne bearing Jack's child during their two years together, though varying accounts list the child as being stillborn or left to be raised with a family in Cuba.

The pirate's life is said to be a merry but short one, and in 1720, Anne and company found this to be true. Captain Jonathan Barnet, working for the governor of Jamaica, captured the trio's ship. Only Anne and Mary fought to the end, the men reputedly being too drunk to fight. All were brought to trial for piracy, and Anne and Mary both plead their bellies, claiming to be pregnant, which would earn them stays of execution until their children were born. Neither execution ever took place. Mary died of a fever which may or may not have been connected to childbirth. Anne's fate was a mystery for quite some time.

Had she in fact been executed? No documents or contemporary sources existed to that effect. What then? Had she died in prison like Mary? Again, no documentation existed anywhere to indicate that. Had she perhaps escaped and resumed piracy under a new identity? The truth, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, using evidence provided by Anne's descendants, is that William Cormac ransomed his daughter back to South Carolina. There she bore Jack Rackham's posthumous child. She later married James Burleigh, bearing him eight children, and lived a quiet and circumspect life until her death at the age of eighty-two. Perhaps that was her most scandalous feat of all.

Professions: Circuit Riders

By Anna C. Bowling

Today, if someone would like a member of the clergy to perform weddings, funerals, baptisms of children or adults, give spiritual counsel or instruction or perform a worship service, the options are endless. A drive through most major cities will result in passing several churches, synagogues, mosques, meeting houses or other such places, and a flip through the yellow pages or a quick online search will bring up dozens of choices even beyond that.

In earlier times, such as the American colonial era or during the western expansion, people had to be a little...or a lot...more patient. Settling a new land or territory, more often than not, happened in stages, and settlers knew going into the new venture that they would have to forgo things taken for granted in their locale of origin. The way one conducted one's spiritual life was no exception.

While a person's faith travels with them no matter who or what is or isn't along for the ride, the way such faith is expressed can definitely be affected. Food, shelter and safety are prime concerns in these situations, with other aspects of life having to sit tight and wait a while. Enter the circuit rider.

Going from town to town, servicing those without a permanent clergy member or house of worship, the circuit rider had to be a spiritual jack of all trades, arriving in each stop on his circuit knowing that he'd need to pack weeks, months, or even years worth of pastoring into a short period of time.

He might find himself using the same ceremony to marry a young couple and baptize their child...or children. In some communities where a circuit rider was the only clergy they could get, this wasn't entirely uncommon, and the couple might actually be considered married by declaration until the preacher came by to make things legal. Memorial services for those buried weeks or months ago might also be on the schedule, and baptisms for any who wished it, from babies to new believers. He might be asked to perform services for denominations other than his own, and depended on the offerings of the communities for his upkeep.

Often without a permanent home of his own, the circuit rider had all the ups and downs of pastoring a regular church...times five, six, seven or however many stops he had on his circuit, not to mention the constant travel. Depending on what he could afford, he might travel his circuit actually riding on beast or wagon, or travelling by shank's mare: on foot. The life of a circuit rider was not easy or predictable, but for those with a true vocation and at least a touch of wanderlust, it could be a rewarding job choice.

I've said "he" in referring to the circuit riders of the past, as prior to the late 20th century, most Protestant denominations did not ordain women. Not so today--I know several modern-day itinerant ministers (what one might call the circuit riders of our day), male and female alike.

Standards of Beauty:Dangerous Beauty

By Lisa Yarde

While the modern age may seem to be taking beauty rituals to the extreme, women have always resorted to dangerous methods of making themselves lovelier and more attractive. The use of Botox, implants and other cosmetic treatments, designed to maintain a youthful appearance have their parallels throughout history.

During the Turkic Ottoman Empire, the female occupants of the Sultan's harem vied to hold their masters' heart with a variety of rituals that increased beauty. Rhusma is a depilatory, a mixture of caustic lime (a corrosive element) and orpiment, a by-product of arsenic. Turkish women applied rhusma all over their bodies to remove all hair and after a quick rinse, they used a bronze scraper to remove the mixture. It had the effect of whitening the skin, but if left on for longer than necessary, rhusma could cause painful burns as it corroded the skin.

Meanwhile in Renaissance Italy, the counterparts of Ottoman women used belladonna to appear more attractive (belladonna is Italian for beautiful lady). Native to Europe, belladonna is one of the most toxic plants in the world. Italian women refined an extract of belladonna as part of their beautification. With one drop in both eyes, belladonna dilated their pupils, simulating the natural state of arousal where a person's pupils became dilated. Prolonged use of belladonna caused permanent blindness, but before the onset of it, many women also experienced increased heart rates and prolonged blurred vision as constant complaints.

In the Victorian era, upper class women mixed white arsenic, vinegar and chalk to consume or rub on their skins to improve their complexions and reduce the natural wrinkling of aging skin. It had the effect of whitening their skin, but arsenic is a potent poison, known from ancient times as the weapon of choice among nobility and royalty for dispatching rivals permanently. Ingesting it consistently resulted in absorption into the blood stream. Deaths sometimes resulted from organ failure.

These historic rituals give new meaning to the phrase, "dying to be beautiful."

Crime & Punishment:"They Deprived Them of Their Hands"

By Karen Mercury

Emperor Tewodros of Abyssinia (1818-1868) was a most difficult despot to write about. I studied him in depth for over a year and felt I'd come to know him, yet I was still strangely on the fence about him. As writers know, there are always grey areas to "evil" people--no one is ever completely black or white. Tewodros changed with the moon.

What is certain is that he was insane by our standards now, and that he decimated his beloved country, but that was not his intent. He was without doubt one of the greatest rulers of all time, possessed of a brilliant military mind, brutally enigmatic.

So I wrote:

Tewodros was tireless in business, sleeping only a few hours each night, and he was strangely polite and charming when glad. He was a dashing ruler, invoking great love and adoration in his people when he wished, but all trembled when his ire was raised. In his early years he had shown clemency toward the vanquished, wishing them to be his friends, requesting nothing from them other than arms for his soldiers. He had been free from greed and generous to a fault. Like Peter the Great, he was a king of kings, overflowing with military idealism, a lover of the mechanical arts, possessed of unbounded courage. Yet when his beloved first wife who accompanied him on all campaigns had died, and he had tired of the endless rebellions always springing up around him, he changed. He took greatly to drink and began exacting revenge upon his enemies in equal part. He burned men, and deprived them of their hands and feet for the slightest insurrection.

He achieved "The Long March" with his followers and army against the greatest of all odds, hauling armament his white slaves had built for him (the first ruler in Africa not to rely on foreign armament, he built his own foundries), up to his mountaintop fortress of Magdala, where he made his last stand against the invading British Army, because he'd found it necessary to imprison several dozen white missionaries. It took a few years for word to get back to Whitehall (Tewodros didn't allow anyone to write letters), and the expedition to be mounted. One of the prisoners, the Reverend Henry Aaron Stern, was imprisoned for putting his hand to his mouth. Placing your hand against your mouth was not a kosher thing to do in Abyssinia--or around Tewodros.

Yes, indeed, Stern wrote a captivating and engrossing edition entitled Wanderings Among the Falashas. He published it back in England, and had the sincere naïveté to return to Abyssinia afterwards. Tewodros said "I've had enough of your Bibles" and had him chained, claiming that he was calumniated in the book. He nearly killed him, merely for putting a hand to his face to suppress horror at seeing his two servants beaten to death.

I loved Stern so much, I based a major character on him. Missionaries are usually good for that sort of thing!

Of course, along the way, I formulated my own ideas about "Ted," as I came to fondly call him. I worked hand in hand with Sir Dr Richard Pankhurst (yes, the son of Sylvia) who was at the time busily erecting a statue of Ted in Addis Ababa. I was very worried that he might find my portrayal on his idol perhaps a bit too harsh, but he never said a word to me about that. I came to believe that Tewodros had what we now call "abandonment issues" and was highly mortified that he was the son of a prostitute and, much like Phil Spector, held guns to the heads of people who tried to leave him.

"You’re a good friend of the Emperor. Why is he so fickle and unstable? Why does he imprison so many people who only mean to help?"

Delphine knew this would be a complex question, but even she was surprised at the thoughtful manner in which the Captain laid his pipe on the windowsill, then bore down on both palms to lean out the window and regard Lake Tzana. The silver cumulus clouds that raced over Gondar's valley cast mutating shadows on his excruciatingly handsome face, forming craggier depths to the half-moon scar on his left cheekbone. "Tewodros's spirit does not lie easy with him, Miss. He wishes to keep everyone close to him, for it's his deepest fear to be abandoned. He wants Europe, and most of all England to love him, and so he keeps making overtures that he interprets as being rebuffed. If he imprisons everyone, they can never leave, and so he'll never have to be alone."

"He's insane," Delphine said quietly.

Standing erect, Ravinger looked down at her. "Perhaps. But isn't it in everyone's nature to want to be loved? And do we not go to great lengths to achieve that?"

"But...we don't imprison those we expect love from, Captain."

His last stand on Magdala was doomed from the start, and I'm sure he knew that. He wanted to show the world that an African ruler could build a country without the help of Europeans, and that he did. But as a military ruler, he found he couldn't control the different districts of the country that were swiftly becoming disillusioned with his particular brand of justice--his army needed food, yet Tewodros had 10,000 head of cattle shot because a prophet told him their lives would signify the end of an emperor.

She was soon in a horrifying clearing. The prison stables stood to her left, and a sheer drop of some three thousand feet occupied the entire right. Tewodros stood over a youth of about thirteen, his talwar already lubricious with blood, his face disfigured by rage. Delphine raced forward, her garments tripping her. She landed on her knees next to the squirming body of a man who had been hacked apart by Tewodros's sword.

"Tewodros! Why do you do this? Why do you try him? You told me you were benevolent, and would let them go!"

"Do these people think they can oblige me to strike off their chains? Now they cry and moan for food, when I do not even have enough food to give my devoted soldiers!"

He evidently recognized her, but he was so distorted with anger, he was in an entirely different sphere altogether.

Delphine's hands slapped together in prayer. "What has this boy done? How could he have possibly--"

"He is the son of a man who took liberties with a concubine!" Tewodros shrieked, his hair all in unseemly disarray.

"But then you must kill the man who did that, not the son!"

She saw only sky then, for she was wrenched from her kneeling in the mud, her limbs were jerked about, and she was hauled back into a buttery cocoon of men's limbs. She shook her head to clear it of phosphenes, and she was staring into the bug-eyed visage of Kaspar Nagel, who agitated her rudely.

"Mein Gott, woman, will you never cease your unhelpful ravings? Leave the Emperor be! He is the only one who can pass judgment and carry out the sentencing!"

"But that poor boy is only the son of a man who had eyes for one of--" She turned to gesture where Tewodros had stood, only to view the enraged monarch toss the flailing boy over the edge of the cliff. The boy hovered for a moment suspended on the breeze, a black figure cut from a block of wood with no features or defining marks. Then he was gone.

General pandemonium broke out now, the prisoners yet waiting in the queue to have their fetters struck suddenly changing their minds and trying to flee back inside the stables. The inmates still inside prevented their access by pushing to get out, as they had not witnessed Tewodros's acts of murder. Soldiers in the audience who thus far had numbered among the perfectly free, innocent, and liberated also turned and made tracks in a disorderly fashion toward the peaks of Selassie and Fahla, as though in his mania Tewodros might select random victims from among the general populace.

"Do you see? See what he’s doing, Kaspar? Not an hour ago, he promised me he was freeing everyone! Now he’s throwing little boys over the--there's another one! What has that man done?"

Kaspar wouldn’t answer, and wrestled with her arms as though determined to throw her to the ground and sit on her, so she beseeched a nearby man, "What has that man done?"

"He loaded a musket for the Emperor, and it misfired."

"Misfired!" That fellow went sailing over the cliff's edge.

The crime of the next man, who had been a valet to the Emperor, was of daring to laugh with a royal body-guard. He was swiftly dispatched. And because the water wells were situated at the base of that cliff and some of the victims fell into the water, thus not arriving in the properly deceased mode, Tewodros sent musketeers to finish them off, blasting away ruthlessly in a neat line on the cliff like so many architectural crenellations.

Are things better now in Ethiopia? I had to snail mail chapters to Dr. Pankhurst at his university in Addis, because computer systems were so dodgy there, and he's very old and can't read the computer screen very well. Once, I didn't hear from him for 2 months, and I read there was a huge uprising at the University, with students shot and jailed. In the end, I found that I loved Ted, and probably would've followed him to Magdala, too.

Ravi leaned against the red stone arch and looked out at the pool. "He does now say that Europeans are wanting in sincerity, ill-mannered and ill-tempered. But it’s only because he had the highest expectations of us. You have to understand, I came here ten years ago. Things were different then. According to the apocalyptic work Fikkare Iyesus, Christ would himself bring Tewodros to power after a long period of corruption, perversity and lawlessness, of the rule of imposters and corrupt Rases. That was the Zemene Mesafint. During Tewodros's reign, the wrath of God would be averted and blessings and mercy bestowed upon the faithful."

"Oh, yes. Don’t they all say that, at first?"

"He exhorted the farmer to plough and the trader to trade. He urged thieves and shifta to quit their robbery. Wronged people were invited to appeal, the destitute to approach him as their father. He took it seriously, devoting several hours a day to hearing plaintiffs. He also abolished the custom that kinsmen of a murderer or even someone who’d caused an accidental death had to answer with their lives."

"Yes..."

"He risked the clergy's wrath by booting all the big fish, saying that each church should have land sufficient to feed only two priests and three deacons, giving their lands to farmers. He's an educated man, Delphine, raised in a convent. He puts some of our countrymen to shame in his knowledge of Shakespeare--he can certainly out-quote me, though I've never had a warm and friendly relationship with that behemoth."

In the words of Reverend Henry Aaron Stern: "Abyssinia is the only nation in Central Africa bearing the name of Christian, and now, alas, notorious for vice, that may yet become famous for 'whatsoever is honest, lovely, and of good report.'"

Dutch Treat

Growing up in New York state, only miles from Sleepy Hollow (yes, that Sleepy Hollow) I had early exposure to Dutch history and folklore. Maybe numerous retellings of Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (though I can't bring myself to see the Johnny Depp version; I know he's brilliant, but I can't bear anyone tampering with Ichabod Crane.)planted the seed and later the Valerie Sherwood novels I gobbled in college watered it. However it started, I'm noticing Dutch references in my own stories more often than not.

An urban legend about the ghost of a Dutch settler spooks the heroine of my first historical, My Outcast Heart. The hero of "Never Too Late" has a Dutch name, the heroine of my time travel WIP is proud of her Dutch heritage and one of the core families in the saga I'm co-writing with a partner is Dutch. In a novel I'm shopping around now, Jonnet and Simon fall in love while in the Dutch exile of the English Civil War. So, what's the appeal? Beyond the wooden shoes, cheese and tulips?

The Netherlands, or The Low Countries, depending on the period, enjoys a golden age during my favorite periods to set my romances. Duking it out with England and Spain for mastery of the seas, and the booming trade of the Renaissance, Dutch merchants and explorers traveled across the oceans to the Caribbean, and the New World. Tons of story potential both on the respectable side, and during the golden age of piracy that followed.

When a college friend tracked me down across campus to physically put a Valerie Sherwood novel in my hand and tell me I had to read it, the history and legends I'd absorbed in childhood took on a new dimension as I read her tales of love and adventure, in the bustling city of Amsterdam and the wilds of New Amsterdam colony with the wealth of the patroons contrasted with the new land. I knew I had to know more and more. In fact, I gleaned so much that I was able to ace a colonial history exam with an essay question about Dutch contributions to colonial society. Trust me, we can thank Dutch ingenuity in ice travel for keeping colonial trade going during the colonial winters.

Dutch women, historically, often had more rights and freedoms than their English sisters. They had an easier time if they wanted or needed to fend for themselves economically, even instigate divorce. Now wouldn't that be an interesting twist?

Ingenuity flourishes throughout Dutch history, with farmers, artists, artisans, scholars and nobles abounding. With the current market expanding to include a wider variety of settings, and the Fox network about to debut their New Amsterdam drama series, maybe readers will be interested in discovering a few Dutch treats of their own.

Introduction

This is my first post, so here's a little information about me before I talk about historicals.

I went to work straight from school, on to university as a mature student, gained a degree in English Language and Literature, and then a diploma in Library Science which all sounds terribly boring but was exciting at the time. I managed libraries in the academic sector and I've worked most of my adult life, which is why retirement seems so wonderful now. Along the way I've divorced and re-married and it is so much better the second time around.

My two historical novels are set in Viking times. They're both available as e-books from Fictionwise and one as POD from Amazon.com.

The Banners of Alba follows the repercussions of Old King Malcolm's decision to force through his grandson’s claim to the throne in preference to the traditional method of selection of the best candidate from the derbfine. When Finlay's girl is married off to a cousin and his best friend joins the King, Finlay throws in his lot with his half-brother Thorfinn of Orkney. Resentment simmers and makes for a heated relationship with Thorfinn's beautiful and headstrong sister Rada. A desperate struggle for the crown follows in a violent, exciting age slowly acclimatizing to Christianity yet still believing in love potions.

Dark Pool is set a couple of years later. The heroine is Eba, a young ward of Alba who makes a bad decision that ends in her being kidnapped by Dublin Vikings. Finlay feels obliged to rescue her, but finds Dublin's ruler Sigurd Silkenbeard a wily opponent who denies all knowledge of the girl. Meanwhile, Eba fights off an arranged marriage with Torquil's strange son Kimi.

Both books are written in the mainstream mould, but now I'm trying my hand at a lighter type of category historical romance. I'm re-editing an as yet untitled tale set in late Victorian Northumberland. The tone of this one is kind of frothy in comparison to the Viking books, and it is great fun to write, but of course the heroine will have to have a Black Moment of the soul before she can be totally happy with her hero.

For the Victorian time period the research is easy, but for the 11th century in Scotland it is a very different story. Almost no written material of the period has survived. Most of the information has been gleaned from the written records of other nations, particularly the Irish; but it is not unusual for the four major sources to contradict each other, vary the dates and call people by different names. Icelandic and Scandinavian records offer a different perspective, often along with another set of names and dates.

I found a wonderful academic discussion on the Internet about the reality and location of a place called variously Lothlend, Lathlind or Lochlainn. Was it the Isle of Man, somewhere in Ireland or in Scotland? It is also often difficult to decide if references to three men called Sigurd, all alive at approximately the same time, are actually one man, or any combination of father, son, brother and/nephew.

Writers were often monks and scribes who, since their livelihood depended on it, knew which side their bread was buttered. They wrote to glorify their patrons, and if that meant they bent the truth a little, that’s what they did and who can blame them?

This gives a writer wonderful freedom to invent and build a story around characters that have a nodding acquaintance with the scanty facts, which, as you've guessed, is what I did. Facts about food and weapons and ships are as accurate as I can make them by reading archaeological research, but the characters are truly a work of imagination. I went to Dublin to do research for Dark Pool and stayed in a hotel on Fishamble Street, watched the rain run down the hill to the river and thought about my heroine on that same dog leg of a street a thousand years ago. It was an odd feeling, but quietly enjoyable.

Jen
http://jenblackauthor.blogspot.com

Laura Ingalls Wilder

So you may or may not know I just moved. Even fewer would know I moved to Laura Ingalls Wilder country. It wasn't a factor in the decision I promise, but a fact we found out after the move. A fact my almost 7 year old daughter picked up on quickly and begged me to go visit since we moved. I held her off long enough on the after were settled argument and I took her Monday. We live less than an hour from Walnut Grove, Minnesota. The place immortalized in the TV show and filmed in Simi Valley, CA. Looks nothing like it. The present day Walnut Grove is a town of less than a 1,000 and boasts the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant, three weekends in July where they have lookalike contests which don't just require looking like the Laura and all the rest, but also knowing extensively about the characters themselves. The year round facility is a collection of building none of which is actually associated with Laura's original stay. If you want to see where Laura laid her head its a walk out in a field to see the remnants of a dugout. In other word a hole. Inside all these buildings though there was no stone unturned as far as Laura's real background. Family pictures, fill ins for things that were mentioned in the books. This is what Laura's favorite dishes looked like. Laura was 26 times removed relation to the princes William and Henry or was it more than that.

There was one little article written about the time that the TV show started(they have a whole room relating to it). It was just by the local paper, but it was pointing out that the books are fiction of a sorts. She wrote them as children's books when she was in her 60's and 70's, the first was supposed to tell of her time when she was three that was when they actually lived in the little house on the prairie, in Kansas. The publisher said there was no way she could remember that time and she changed her age to 5. It of course through all the other dates off and there's where it essentially became fiction. As they were children's books she used no dates, no full names half the time. But the museum had pictures of the walnut grove citizens mentioned after how much research I don't know. There was no Nellie Oleson that can be found in town, but if most of the people are real and the things happened to some degree is it really fiction or dramatized non-fiction. The dates thing sounds more like things have been changed to protect the innocent sort of warning. And the TV show don't get me started on the license they took with the 9 places that Laura lived as she was growing up. Walnut Grove was just a stop on their constant travels around the Midwest.

New Orleans Pre-1803

I figured I'd actually blog about my unusual historical time this month. Between this blog and several others I am either on or own, it's hard to think of new and exciting things to write about. You'd think a writer would have a plethora of ideas, but frankly mine are all story related.

Bloodlines takes place in the 1790s in New Orleans. Technically this was a Spanish territory then, but the city was such an amalgamation of cultures it was only a technicality. New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, and named for the regent of France, Philippe II, duc d'Orleans. It was transferred to Spain in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris, then back to France in 1800 Treaty of San Ildefonso: October 1, 1800 (refusal to give up Louisiana would probably mean war with both the US and France, which was inevitable with France, but Spain couldn't afford that, either) who then sold it to America in 1803–-The Louisiana Purchase.

In 1790, the city was a bustling metropolis, full of life, music, free blacks who made a better living than many whites, upper class white plantation owners, and Yellow fever, smallpox, and cholera epidemics. They had the highest rate of deaths in North America, and gained the moniker of the City of Wet Death.

Searching websites for information on New Orleans' history is impossible, there are so few out there, and what's available skim over pre-Louisiana Purchase history. In April 2005 I went for a week's visit of touring and non-Mardi Gras fun. (Have been there during Mardi Gras, and it's only reinforced my intense dislike of crushing crowds.)

During the vampire tour I learned a lot of great history that seems to be missing from much of what's findable now. For instance, Anne Rice didn't need to do much research outside her city, it was all right there for her to mine. The French government bribed and tricked its women to head to N.O. to continue the colony. Over 1/2 the inhabitants died from cholera and yellow fever in any given year. Individual plantation owners were required, by law, to build and maintain the levees. I guess if they didn't, they'd not only have their own property damage to content with, but a bunch of angry neighbors on their doorstep demanding compensation, too.

I have a ton of other information sitting in a large pile waiting for me to sort through for this story. I've outlined Bloodlines, know the plot itself inside and out, but it's the flavor of the town and era I'm working on. Plus, the more research I do into the city itself, the more I love that history. I now have another three books planned for New Orleans, one during the early days of Reconstruction, one several years later (early 1870s or thereabouts) and one contemporary. They all have Bloodlines as the basis of their plot.

A few books I have on this are:

The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld by Herbert Asbury
Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans by Joan B. Garvey and Mary Lou Widmer
Street Names & Picayune Histories of New Orleans by Elaine Lacoste

Plus a bunch of little paperbacks from the plantation I visited. No, I can't remember the name of it, and do you think I can find those paperback? Of course not and I'm in a slight panic about that. They have to be here, but in which pile of books? I heard it survived Katrina. It was about a 30 minute drive outside New Orleans proper, and well worth the tour-truck sickness I endured.

Historicals: What Got You Started?

It's a given that everyone who reads historicals has at least a passing interest in history, whether they were given a Regency by a friend or relative and told "read this it's good," or they picked up a novel in the grocery store because it had a bright cover featuring a guy in a kilt or a Viking, or whatever. So my question is what got you the writer started and what is it about your favorite era that made you want to write a book set in that time?

For me it was a book on Medieval history in the 6th grade. I took it home the first day of school and read the whole thing. I graduated to my mother's Georgette Heyer novels and from there my dad being stationed to Crete sparked the interest in ancient history. I got interested in genealogy and the further back I went the more I wanted to recreate what it must have been like to live during ancient times, hence my ebook Caesar's Love.

So, how did you all get hooked on your favorite eras?

Oh yeah, and do you have any favorite historical figures that you'd love to base a character on but haven't yet? Rather partial to Catherine the Great myself.

Fun Link

Here's an interesting blog. Just thought I'd share.

Historical Novel Society, Part II

Lisa Yarde can write about Friday night (hey Lisa! hope you're feeling better) because I missed the entire thing.

The next panel was "Rewriting the Role of Women" with Suzanne Adair, Irene Burgess, Susanne Dunlap, Sandra Gulland, moderated by Mary Sharratt. Again, they mentioned this Red Tent by Anita Diamant that Irene mentioned--Irene recommended being like that author and going on a two-year promotional signing tour, something that shut the room up immediately because it's clearly not practical for most of us. Irene Burgess, a professor of women's studies, mentioned a lot of historical heroines who seem anachronistic to readers really aren't. A lot of this comes from a lack of understanding. In the 20thC we created a lot of behaviors that were already present in women for centuries. Sandra says she got a lot of her historical information from midwifery guides. Josephine went into early menopause and was crying all the time, had intense migraines. Oops, it appears I didn't take all that many notes during that panel. I had to run to the group book-signing where I purchased Jeanne Mackin's novel about Maggie Fox, the "founder" of modern Spiritualism. To me, that's the fun part of a group signing--purchasing the other author's books and talking to them. Diana Gabaldon and Bernard Cornwell signed the entire two hours, and had lines going around the pool.

That night was a delicious banquet--the "Feast" part of "Feast 'n' Fun"--Diana Gabaldon (the "'n Fun" part) said it was the best conference food she'd ever had. She told a story about her road to publication that I think left most of us functionally depressed. She was a mother of two working at a university, apparently the world's only expert at writing bird programs in FORTRAN (or something of that nature). She realized she was almost 35 so had better start on this novel she'd always wanted to do. She doesn't write in a linear fashion; apparently she writes in chunks and pieces them all together later like a puzzle (yes, she does wind up with chunks that won't fit, and those all go into a separate file). Someone in her compuserve group said he'd recommend her to his agent. A very short story ensued: the agent took her on and within three days had five offers. And the book wasn't even finished yet. The end. Imagine three hundred people gaping, slack-jawed, in awe and stupefaction.

Sunday morning the first panel was "Bringing Pirates to Life," with my pirate editor Cindy Vallar, and Jim Nelson. Jim believes it's OK to use secondary source material to get an overall idea of your big picture, but you must use primary sources for the details of what happens to one guy. He is amused at our fascination with pirates. It's as though in 2020 we will all dress up like gangbangers, because in the interim they've gained an aura of coolness. But pirates ran the show back then. They were mostly in warm areas because they could fall down, pass out drunk, and not die: that was good.

In the 16th and 17thC pirates all emerged from geopolitical struggles. In the early 1600s the French moved into Hispaniola (now Haiti). They were savage woodsmen. Smoking meat over a fire called a "boucan" led to their moniker of "buccaneers," a term you should never use for anyone other than Caribbean pirates of this era. Soldiers eradicated the buccaneers and drove them to Tortuga. Now they became a large cadre who hated the Spanish. Cindy discussed a lot of technical details I didn't take notes on, since it’s all fresh in my memory from having just written a pirate book. One thing I didn't know is they always wore striped stockings. She did mention she's not big on the nautical details, and was recently stumped working on some gal's big "storm at sea" scene since she didn't know 90% of the technical stuff. I'm going to get her for that. Later. Beforehand I made her promise not to call on me, but forgot to make her promise not to TALK about me.

Next up was the Sitting Room Only "Writing Love Scenes: How Much Sex is Too Much?" with Diana Gabaldon, Chris (C.C.) Humphreys, and Jade Lee. Diana said her books have been categorized as everything from horror to Gay/Lesbian. Jade Lee said being a romance writer, she's seen it all. She wanted people to remember that in romance, there are different ways of rating how sexy a book is. There are chili peppers, HOT/BURNING scales, etc. Homoerotic stuff is also very hot right now, even though she doesn't understand why. (I do.) Diana said the female idea of how two men are together isn't accurate. We make it all tender and kissy, and that's not how guys really do it. Diana read aloud a homoerotic scene from one of her Lord John books that concluded with a hearty, "Yes, I AM a nasty beast."

Jade mentioned how big Ellora's Cave is, for those not familiar with it. Some of those women make $10k per month, "IF you are able to do it." (I think I know what she meant--I am physically incapable of writing a pure erotica. I wish I could!) When she first started out, she received rejections for being "too hot." Nowadays, she has to take "erotic" out of her press literature because now, though she hasn't changed, her writing is relatively mild. Now she's only three chili peppers. Chris opined that he wants to see more thigh boots of the sort he uses in his Jack Absolute novels.

For Diana, a sex scene should show emotional intimacy between two people. People were appalled when, in her later books, she depicted people in their 50s having sex. "Oh my god!" But she wanted to tell a story about how to maintain a long-lasting close supportive marriage, the story of what makes two people stay married for fifty years. Sex is integral, it's a power issue in marriages; sex heals after stress and loss. Sex must further the plot. Chris thinks you should show something different in a sex scene that demonstrates a fresh aspect of a character. For instance, show the same soldier being tied up in the same way, but this time whipped by dwarves. In romance, said Jade, each sex scene is a plot point. The first plot point is the first kiss, then at least one sexus interruptus, and so on. Each publisher has different requirements. Once she was told by an editor not to stress the required three orgasm scenes, to just phone them in. Chris thinks men are more restrained when writing sex scenes, unless they're going for the "throbbing blue veiners." They’re more restrained for fear of offending. Then I had to leave because my feet were killing me. Another two years until the next HNS conference!

Historical Novel Society Conference, Albany NY

Historical Novel Society Conference
Albany NY, June 8-10, 2007

Friday night there was a dinner banquet at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. Bernard Cornwell was the keynote speaker and unfortunately I didn't make it thanks to the evil incompetent sadists of O'Hare International Airport. Cornwell was eloquently hilarious, apparently.

So the first panel I dragged myself in to see Saturday morning was "Fictionalizing the Already Famous" with Jeanne Mackin and Brenda Rickman Vantrease. Jeanne said that bad fiction is telling the same story over and over, thus perpetuating myths and legends about a historical figure--for example, the myth that Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake." (She never said that.) If you're going to use what Irene Goodman calls a "marquee name" in your fiction, readers already have preconceived ideas, so you have to keep digging to find the fresh character.

Jeanne asked us to mention which historical figure we felt like at that very moment, and I thought "Timothy Leary" because I felt on drugs after no sleep for two days.

The already famous are emblems, so you need to keep building and refreshing them, not building up the same lies over and over again. Kosinski said "Only in fiction can we tell the whole truth."

Brenda said Michelangelo looked at a piece of marble and saw his character in the block. He merely chipped away at it until the person was freed. The drama is in the first cut, the first rough draft, and like Michelangelo you need to learn what to leave out. Someone asked how to interest readers who are not enthralled with your particular era or setting, and Brenda thinks you need to catch them off balance--you need to have a new approach, not the same old "let them eat cake."

Irene Goodman was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. They must not have set up 300 chairs because it was SRO—standing room only. Irene talked about being in second grade and students were asked to choose between two study subjects--animals or "the olden days." She was the only one who didn't choose animals. Her mother would yell at her to go outside and play, and she'd yell back, "But I'm already up here playing with my friends!" Her historical "olden days" friends.

When she went into publishing, there were a few anomalies like Jean Auel, Colleen McCullough, and John Jakes, but they were considered the exceptions to the rule--historical fiction was a dead zone. Now, Irene said, The floodgates are open! Now you have atrocious in-laws, jealousy, trophy wives, drop dead gorgeous women, and history is full of sex! The sky's the limit, as long as it's well told and has the necessary hook.

Now you have historical fiction shelves in bookstores in the nebulous section titled "Literature," which means anything from Mark Twain to Jackie Collins. There are sub-genres: historical thrillers, historical mysteries, historical romance (and some is quite good, she added--and like TV, some is bad). You just have to know where to look.

Some subjects seemed unmarketable until a writer broke the barrier. Australia was stupid until The Thornbirds came along. Right now England is the smart place to set a historical since the TV advent of "The Tudors," even though they changed France into Portugal for no good reason.

Next up: "Sharpe Practice: Writing a Historical Novel" by Bernard Cornwell. He said the entire panel would revolve around "All right, who has a question?" The first question was, "Why is it so difficult for an American author to get published or taken seriously in England?" Cornwell hated Cold Mountain. He said there is no way men talk to each other like that, so damned serious all the bloody time--men joke together. He wrote a Civil War series after he'd moved to the States, and we were so fond of pointing out "mistakes" that weren't, but nobody would listen to him because he was British.

He said we're writing historical entertainment--leave history to the historians. Write an exciting story, but write A STORY first and foremost. You read a history book and you don't say "Wait, I can't go to sleep, I've got to get to the end of Chapter Five!" But you do when you read a historical STORY. The worst thing you can do is to make it obvious that you copied facts down from notecards. We entertain. You have to chuck 95% of your research in order to TELL YOUR STORY.

Some Americans criticized one of his American stories by claiming "baseball wasn't invented yet," when he knew it was, but his hands were tied in refuting it, because he didn't want to get involved in all that bitchiness.

Someone asked what does he do when he has no inspiration. He laughed and said, Inspiration does not exist! You write by being a writer. You sit there, you write, and you stop in the evening. Writer's block doesn't exist! We all have bad days--that's not writer's block. You write through it, even though it might not be your best work. You don't hear a nurse claiming she has nurse's block, do you? 'I can't come into work today, I have nurse's block.' No one put a gun to your head, 'Be a writer now, dammit!' It's a job of privilege and we should be glad to have it. The dress code is pretty easy, too. Ben Franklin wrote naked. Cornwell encourages this habit, for some of us.

"How much research is too much? How do you know when it’s not enough?" Cornwell doesn't know where to draw the line. You copy from one book, that's plagiarism. You copy from forty books, that's research. Your first draft is like a huge mountain. When you get halfway up there, you look back and you see a better route to the top. The first draft is the biggest job, that's getting the story down right. Don't worry about style or length! He recommended typing out a few pages of your favorite book. In his case it was Forrester, some Horatio Hornblower thing. Put these pages in a drawer. When he went back to look at his pages, he was all, "Oh my god! What crap!" Then he realized, "Holy shit, that’s Forrester!" You can easily see how overly-critical you're being on yourself.

Is he a plotter? No. Someone once said, "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are." The joy for him is in finding out what happens, the process of discovery along the way. Seeing what his characters decide to do, since he is one of those who views them as living breathing people. He holds conversations with them. People often ask him why he feels the need to have a major woman character. Why not? 70% of his readers are women. The successful writer doesn't write for men! The three most popular subjects in the world are golf, cats, and Nazis, so someone wrote a book called "Golfing for Nazi Cats."

What sells? THE STORY. Tell a good story. Write the book YOU want to read. If you write to the market you're guaranteed to fail. You SHOULD be saying "Bernard Cornwell is no bloody good, I can do better than that!"

Drink Jameson Whiskey, though not until you're done with your day's work, or it's all downhill from there.

Here's how to trick an editor. Put in something stupid that you're completely prepared to give up, and defend it to the death. Let her have her way at the end. Then she'll be too tired to fight the other stuff.

Writing is intuitive. You either have a gift for storytelling, or you don't. Cornwell doesn’t believe in groups, creative writing classes, crit groups. You write alone. The only critics you have to please are #1 yourself, #2 your agent, #3 your publisher, and #4 your readers.

How does he go about writing battle scenes? He wrote a battle scene once that had three sides--it was just too bad not one of them was French. If your battle is famous, the reader already has the terrain fixed in his head. You have to find another reason to visit that place, and you're limited to what the hero can see and smell. He recommends reading John Keegan, The Face of Battle. In another battle scene there were two peaks to a mountain that only confused the issue, so he eliminated one of the peaks. Anything that helps your reader to visualize it clearly.

Part II from Karen on Tuesday!