Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence

Posts Tagged ‘Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence’

A Jane Austen Sequel: Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence

Posted in Regency, tagged Amazon, Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence, iBooks, iBookstore, Kindle, Nook, Regency Assembly Press, Smashwords, Writing on April 12, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence
For your holiday enjoyment, one of the Regency Romances I published. It is available for sale and I hope that you will take the opportunity to order your copy for the holiday season. For yourself or as a gift.
It is now available in a variety of formats. For just a few dollars this Regency Romance can be yours for your eReaders or physically in Trade Paperback.

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Witnessing his cousin marry for love and not money, as he felt destined to do, Colonel Fitzwilliam refused to himself to be jealous. He did not expect his acquaintance with the Bennet Clan to change that.

Catherine Bennet, often called Kitty, had not given a great deal of thought to how her life might change with her sisters Elizabeth and Jane becoming wed to rich and connected men. Certainly meeting Darcy’s handsome cousin, a Colonel, did not affect her.

But one had to admit that the connections of the Bingleys and Darcys were quite advantageous. All sorts of men desired introductions now that she had such wealthy new brothers.

Kitty knew that Lydia may have thought herself fortunate when she had married Wickham, the first Bennet daughter to wed. Kitty, though, knew that true fortune had come to her. She just wasn’t sure how best to apply herself.

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A Jane Austen Sequel: Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence

Posted in Historical Novel, Regency, Writing, tagged Amazon, Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence, iBooks, iBookstore, Kindle, Nook, Regency Assembly Press, Smashwords, Writing on March 26, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Barnes and Noble for your Nook or in Paperback

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But one had to admit that the connections of the Bingleys and Darcys were quite advantageous. All sorts of men desired introductions now that she had such wealthy new brothers.

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If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it then we would love to hear from you.

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A Jane Austen Sequel: Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence

Barnes and Noble for your Nook or in Paperback

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iBookstore

But one had to admit that the connections of the Bingleys and Darcys were quite advantageous. All sorts of men desired introductions now that she had such wealthy new brothers.

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If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it then we would love to hear from you.

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RAP writing update

Posted in Historical Novel, RenTech, Writing, tagged Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence, David Shapard, Jane Austen, Jane Austen and Ghosts, Pesuasion, Regencies, Steamy Suasion, Writing on February 15, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

It has been some months since I have done an update on the work in progress writing I am doing. Well a few minutes ago I finished the first draft of a project I call Steamy Suasion, though I hope for a better title then that during the second draft or prior to publication. If you can think of one, let me know.

As with other works, we have published Jane Austen themed work before. The first was our Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence. This is the tale of what happens after Pride and Prejudice.

This was followed by another Austen themed book. Jane Austen and Ghosts. This is a tale that has nothing to do much with Jane’s work so much as the recent books that have twisted and tortured Jane’s works.

But recently the idea came to me that Persuasion lent itself to a little steampunkery. Making the ships that all the naval heroes commanded, Dirigibles, instead of sea going vessels. And then moving the squadron and Admiral Croft to take over Kellynch-hall. The nucleus of the tale came to me. But to aid me, I delved into Shapard’s Annotated Persuasion. It is well worth getting if you are serious about Jane scholarship.

Here then are the first few pages of the first draft.

Chapter 1

There are many truths in a man or woman’s life. They change as do the seasons, or the courses of the tide. One truth you hold when the tide is in, may be reversed as the water itself, when the tide has gone out. When circumstances change. Such is the case that happened to Sir Walter Elliot, when he found himself a widower. The truth that he had known, had adhered to when married and his wife, Lady Elliot, had been there to provide an anchor on habits that in other men, he had found abhorrent, was now reversed. Without a wife, he was without his rudder. He floundered and found solace only in the comforts he had when he was young and all acknowledged him beautiful.

A remembrance that age finds fault with all who spend enough time to argue with it. Those either blessed or unfortunate that do not remain to argue the point can only but look in a mirror and see that she makes no judgement but send the affliction of time upon all.

That Sir Walter, without the close guidance that his wife provided found no true course to hold to would have been evident from those who knew him from before that state of wedded bliss he had known for twenty years. Perhaps even one who was willing to bestow an allowance would say that the loss of Lady Elliot gave the man cause to return to a state of mind that was less than it had been when he had been partnered by a spouse that could challenge him to the best of his qualities.

But with Lady Elliot’s passing, Sir Walter was able to indulge upon himself all manner of pleasures and folderol that appeased his vanity. And allowed that quality, as he perceived it, to grow and eclipse his other intentions. While he had grounds that were extensive at Kellynch-hall, he seldom chose to walk about them as the sun might cause his complexion to darken. His library was perhaps the greatest in all Somerset, yet the only book that excited his fancy and that he could be counted upon to peruse, aside from the bible, was the Baronetage. And here he would but look at the page that bore his family name, and the entries therein.

Such perusal might take him a mere minute, as he had memorized each line, each comma that had to do with his branch of the Elliot tree. Though often he would look at other entries, for there were many of families much younger than his, and here one might notice the curve of his lips as he might smile when reflecting on the longevity of his line. Or, seldom, he might look upon those few families mentioned that were listed in the rolls of the Baronetage that had history a few years more than his own family. But, he took pride that there were but a handful of those, and seeing the current descendants of those named, he could tell at a glance that their blood must have been tainted in some way as none could put forth a leg or a visage that would in any way be classed in the same circle from which he could exhibit.

But to Sir Walter’s mind, there was little wrong with this. He was from a great and illustrious family that had been in England long before the conqueror thought to row over from Normandy. As supporters of the Restoration of the second Charles, the Elliot’s had been rewarded with their title and so it was recorded in Dugdale’s tome, The Antient Usage of Bearing of such Ensigns of Honour as are commonly call’d Arms.

Yet Sir Walter had responsibilities left to him when his wife died. Three girls of various ages were left for him to sort out. A task that was made hard to bear for they each, in their way to his mind’s eye, took after Lady Elliot. Further, he had not undertaken the study of rearing of children and would promptly admit, should anyone ever venture to broach the topic, that he was the least qualified man in the world to handle such a task.

Miss Elliot, the eldest child Elizabeth was at an early age made mistress of the great estate of Kellynch-hall. Next was Miss Anne Elliot and last Miss Mary Elliot. The latter perhaps too young to understand all that encompassed in the death of one’s mother. The eldest so involved in deciding and managing a great estate at such an early age left her with little time for feeling any emotion whatsoever upon the death of her mother. This left only the middle child, Anne, to have the time, understanding, and inclination to realize what truly had taken place with the death of her mother.

Anne knew that such feelings must be contained, for many children her age lost their parents to death and they found some manner in which to proceed. Anne did as well, but it did not mean she did not note her loss, or did her best to find a way to resolve the emotions that came of it.

She was aided, though never with word, by Lady Elliot’s close friend, Lady Russell. Lady Russell lived in Kellynch, the widow of a knight. Her bond with Lady Elliot had ensured that Lady Russell would do her best, not as a substitute mother, but as an interested party, to see to what little she could in aid of her friend’s children.

While Elizabeth, with her own firm notions of what was required of her as mistress of Kellynch-hall unless circumstances changed and her father, Sir Walter remarried, did not brook any helpful guidance, the younger two girls were quite pleased to seek what passed for care from Lady Russell. Elizabeth, perhaps, took some very slight offense that another woman would choose to have say at Kellynch-hall, but Sir Walter never saw this as an affront to his own sensibilities. He did seem to recognize that there were issues and events where a woman’s touch was needed to help guide him, and cognizant of the great friendship that had persisted between his wife and Lady Russell thought it natural, as he had no other close female relation of such an age, to seek her counsel.

Thus Lady Russell who had been often an fixture about the drawing room at Kellynch-hall prior to Lady Elliot’s sickness, was after her death, seen at the manor house near each day. And held in such high regard by Sir Walter, that Miss Elliot, Elizabeth the eldest of the daughters of Sir Walter, found that though she needn’t listen to all that Lady Russell advised, following much of what Lady Russell advised was a way to keep peace and all calm in the waters that lay about the estate.

A study of her father by Anne, and also that of Lady Russell along the paths of why neither sought solace in another spouse, came to the conclusion that Lady Russell had been provided with enough of a fortune by her late husband that she might live out her life quite comfortably. Her husband had been bright enough to invent the outlet installed upon the wall that converted the new electricity that was carried through the cables to homes, become knighted, marry, and then sell his invention for a quite tidy sum. Able to live the life of a gentleman.

In the case of Sir Walter, Anne concluded that though he might wish for some form of companionship besides she and her sisters, Sir Walter had an aesthetic of beauty that he was searching for. One that was balanced that could never be as beautiful as he perceived himself, yet had to be more beautiful than he found in all others. This was further hampered by some credence that the woman would have to be a great heiress, for he knew that Kellynch-hall needed some little additional income, as he understood it, to maintain it’s glory. A fortune had been spent to keep the manor on a footing that all the new inventions that came were installed in the house.

Then last, Anne understood what her sisters and Lady Russell might also understand but certainly would never say aloud. Sir Walter had lived through three young people underfoot as they grew in the nursery, and then the schoolroom. He had Lady Elliot at that time to smooth his feathers and do her best to steer him to calm waters when he was upset by the antics that Anne and her sisters displayed in their youth. Faced though with such events once more with a new wife desiring her own children, Sir Walter would never consent to it. Rather would he remain unmarried, and live with all that came of not having a son to be his heir, and not having a companion in his twilight years, then to live with a new wife and new babes. Further, for companionship, he may not have wished to renew his marital state, but he did have Lady Russell to act as a companion for all else, for she was at Kellynch-hall at least five days of each week and more often than not, all seven.

Anne reflected that Lady Russell was not a companion of her father in the sense that she was looked to be the lady of Kellynch-hall. That would have taken from Elizabeth. And Elizabeth, who had been on the cusp of coming out when their mother died, and forfeited her first season in London instead remaining in the country wearing mourning. Whilst doing so, as Sir Walter’s eldest, she asserted herself and took the place in household matters that their mothers death had laid vacant.

The two younger girls were consoled by Lady Russell, as Lady Elliot had designed when news of the fatality of her illness was brought to light. Anne had some bond with Lady Russell before this event, but it was made stronger after. Lady Russell had more education than most in the near country and she shared this with Anne.

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A Regency Romance, a Jane Austen Sequel: Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence

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But one had to admit that the connections of the Bingleys and Darcys were quite advantageous. All sorts of men desired introductions now that she had such wealthy new brothers.

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If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it then we would love to hear from you.

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A Regency Romance, a Jane Austen Sequel: Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence

Barnes and Noble for your Nook or in Paperback

Smashwords

iBookstore

But one had to admit that the connections of the Bingleys and Darcys were quite advantageous. All sorts of men desired introductions now that she had such wealthy new brothers.

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If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it then we would love to hear from you.

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A Regency Romance and Jane Austen Sequel: Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence

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But one had to admit that the connections of the Bingleys and Darcys were quite advantageous. All sorts of men desired introductions now that she had such wealthy new brothers.

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If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it then we would love to hear from you.

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Barnes and Noble for your Nook or in Paperback

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But one had to admit that the connections of the Bingleys and Darcys were quite advantageous. All sorts of men desired introductions now that she had such wealthy new brothers.

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If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it then we would love to hear from you.

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The Peterloo Massacre and the writing life

Posted in Historical Novel, Regency, Writing, tagged A Trolling We Will Go, Cato Street Conspiracy, Colonel, Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence, Henry Hunt, Jane Austen, John Byng, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Peterloo Massacre, Regencies, The Crown Imposter, The Masque of Anarchy on May 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

History

This week a little break from the Squares of London. I am not an anarchist, though the history of the Cato Street Conspiracy and now the Massacre might make you think that. What I do with these examples is underscore that all was not well outside the circle of the Ton and that these things that were occurring need to be addressed in our Regency tales. Otherwise they just become faery tales. Our heroes and heroines should have some meat on their bones. They should know some trouble from outside their comfort levels. Jane Austen did us a disservice when she left the war outside of her novels. (Though it opened wide the chance for me to discuss it in Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence.)

The Peterloo Massacre

August 16th, 1819 a few months before the Cato Street Conspiracy and some citizens of Manchester decide to peacefully assemble at St. Peter’s Field. That the day would end with 15 civilians dead and the event labelled a massacre has significance. The Boston Massacre not fifty years before resulted in 5 deaths at the hands of British Soldiers. An incident that led to the American Revolution and the loss of the colonies. Today such small numbers would not be labelled massacres, but unfortunate incidents, or riots. During the Georgian period and that of the regency such a headline as 15 dead from these atrocities did not evoke immediate sympathy for innocent women slaughtered by the soldiers, or the first victim, a child of 2, who surely was quite political and a threat, but instead had the government crack down on all those who thought to create sympathy for the victims and for the reason they had gathered together.

That in itself strikes a note about the times and how different they are in that day and age then they are now. Would we want our heroes of our Regency stories to walk into a drawing room and say that they had heard about the massacre. That they felt the government was in top form repressing the action?

After the Napoleonic Wars ended, things were not all well in England. There was famine and unemployment. The introduction of the Corn Laws did not help the populace either. And so by 1819 an unhappy populace were making their voices heard. A gathering in Manchester so that the well known orator, Henry Hunt, could speak came about.

The magistrates did not like this and probably did not like that 60,000 to 80,000 people had gathered to hear. Around this time the entire population of Manchester was just over twice that. As a result they decided to arrest Hunt and the others who were speaking on the hustings with him.

Prior to the gathering, a letter had been intercepted where journalist Joseph Johnson wrote to Hunt and suggested that an insurrection was on the horizon. The government sent the 15th Hussars north in case such occurred.

Twice delayed, for at first the meeting was called for on the 2nd of August, the government as well as the organizers each became more concerned. The government sure that the plan was to find new ways to elect MPs and circumvent time honored tradition. After the wars on the continent to maintain the rights of the nobility and the loss of the colonies to the concepts of better representation for the masses, how else could they feel.

The organizers, such as Samuel Bamford, feeling that the endeavor had to be better than ever before urged that an atmosphere of sobriety ensue. They adopted, “Cleanliness, Sobriety, Order and Peace” as a motto for the day. Truly a new way for the english to hold a political gathering. The contingents would march to St. Peter’s Field in good order and they took to drilling until the crown worried that this was in support of the insurrection, outlawed all drilling on August 3rd.

The commander of the british army units in the army was John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford, who had two horses entered in the races in York that day. Naturally, as a british aristocrat of the times and the Ton, he was off to the races even though so many had gathered to start an insurrection. In his place he left his second in command, Lt. Colonel Guy L’Estrange who led the 15th Hussars on the 16th as well.

It was perhaps the largest meeting ever to take place in England, and it was done so peaceably. Thousands marched to the meeting, none in anger. Hunt had told all to come armed with only their conscience. We have several journalists in attendance who confirm all this, and the momentous occasion, so many gathered and then what comes next, gives us great documentation.

The magistrates, most likely still afraid of an insurrection ordered the arrest of Hunt, but seeing so many people gathered thought that the constables, 200 of them, could not handle the arrest. They sent to the military to request help.

Which came.

Things got out of hand. The constables trying to arrest Hunt found their horses, untrained to be around people so close together, rearing up and crushing them. Finally when the rest was made, the banners that all the contingents had brought in, were set to and the yeomanry helping the constables, started to destroy, which was not in their mandate.

The Hussars arrived and seeing the yeomanry beset as they went above their mission, they naturally needed to defend, especially as the chief magistrate William Hulton urged them to do so. And thus the 15th Hussars formed line and charged into the crowd. It did not help that the exit route so the gathering could disperse was blocked by the 88th Regiment of Foot with their bayonets fixed.

Within a day accounts of the event were published in London, and linking the term Peterloo to connect it to Waterloo was thoughtfully done. The government did not take kindly to this at all and cracked down on reform, instead of those responsible that turned a peaceful meeting into an atrocious event.

Shelley wrote a poem about the events when he heard of them in Italy, The Masque of Anarchy.

Stand ye calm and resolute,

Like a forest close and mute,

With folded arms and looks which are

Weapons of unvanquished war.

And if then the tyrants dare,

Let them ride among you there,

Slash, and stab, and maim and hew,

What they like, that let them do.

With folded arms and steady eyes,

And little fear, and less surprise

Look upon them as they slay

Till their rage has died away

Then they will return with shame

To the place from which they came,

And the blood thus shed will speak

In hot blushes on their cheek.

Rise like Lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number,

Shake your chains to earth like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you-

Ye are many — they are few

A Trolling We Will Go

I released a new book, an omnibus of the three first Trolling stories. In honor of that I have made the first tale of Humphrey and Gwendolyn available for a limited time for $.99 This introductory price is so those who have not discovered this fantasy work can delve into it for a very incentivised price and see if they like the series and continue on, either ordering the other two stories separately, or ordering all three in the Omnibus edition. There are still two more in the series for me to wrap up with edits and release. They have been written as those who follow my blog know. Just not yet gone through my final check protocols.

The Writing LIfe

I am now almost 150 pages (over 40000 words) into writing on The Crown Imposter. A fantasy that has had two different ideas about for the last few years. Neither was working by when I decided to combine them, all of sudden it worked and I wanted to write. Something I have been too exhausted to do these last few months. I have just completed chapter six and hope that by the next post the end of the story will be in sight.

I enclose a few paragraphs from the first draft and first chapter for perusal.

Chapter 1–the next part

“My cousin, the King of Altan and Duke of Bortell cursed the day that the princes of Altan died. His grandfather, the King of Altan cursed the day that my cousin became his nearest heir. My other cousin, our king though was petitioned by those who lived next to us in Altan that they follow their overlord for he was just and fair. That they become part of Altan when Henry became their king seemed natural. Did you and Master Edvard not say then that this was a good thing?”

Middlin had to nod. “Then. Yes then it was a good thing. Now, now it is a tragedy.”

Henry had put aside his wife who was past the age to rear children, having giving two daughters to the man who became the king of the neighboring kingdom. The Altan’s had put pressure on their new king to act so. And then Henry’s first wife was from an old line of Centrion. The birth of a little boy last year to Henry’s second wife had caused great rejoicing in the kingdom of Altan.

King Henry though had started to decline shortly after the birth of his heir. Middlin had kept his thoughts to himself that it was quite suspicious. That the King of Altan was attended by advisors who were related to the new wife, or were those who despised Centrion. The two kingdoms had been enemies more times than they had ever been friends.

Long had those of Altan wished to possess the Duchy of Bortell. The capital of the duchy held the last port along the river Sprag that deep bottom vessels could traverse. From there flat bottom ships journeyed along the tributaries and canals that linked a great deal of Centrion. Bortell was one of the most important trading links that Centrion had.

It had been made a duchy when the first king of Centrion, Bryan, whom Damien had also been named after for he was Damien Bryan Frederick Everheart awarded those lands to the general who married his eldest daughter. A tradition that had continued with every king of Centrion. Dukes and Marquis were raised only from families who had no direct line of male connection to the ruling family. The daughters of the Kings of Centrion had been married to strong men who had become the highest nobility in the land, while those who were the brothers and nephews of the kings of Centrion became the Earls and Barons of the land.

Middlin thought the Barons, like Damien were the spares should the main line falter, but every king had four or five children, since the first Bryan, and that had always been one son, if not more. Except now. King Frederick the third had only one son, and that was Brion. Brion who was not shy about saying his mind about what he thought were the causes of King Henry’s illness.

Damien had taken of his gloves, soaked as was the rest of him and he worked his fingers repeatedly in front of the fire. Cupping his hand and twisting and stretching. With what must have been feeling returning to them, the young man started on the buttons of his cloak. With luck he would be a little warm underneath it, but Middlin did not expect that it to be so.

“Did you have to go to every sentry post?” the sergeant asked, then winced. He had not wanted to keep chewing at that bone, but he had. He shouldn’t worry about the man so. The Baron had to stand firm on his own.

But Middlin thought of Damien as if he were another son. And Middlin had four of his own. Four that he had spent less time with than he had with Damien. The old Baron had asked him to do his best with Damien. And then, when the matter of the Duchy of Altan came upon them all, had come again to say that Damien was going to need even more training now that their barony of Spragfalls, was to become the border between the kingdoms.

“Middlin, do not worry. I shall have a hot drink, or three, and be fine. I shall even be changing all my clothes into fresh ones so that the damp from these stops seeping into my bones. It is quite outside, as you said it would be. Foolish though. Perfect night for someone to stir up trouble. And they know we have the grain fleet here with the canals all swollen from the recent rains.”

“Your cousin King Henry is not dead yet, though he be sick. He would be wroth were there such a blatant attack upon our trade.” And that was something that had not escalated as yet. Three traders had been attacked before reaching Altan and the river port in Bortell. It was why Damien had more sentries and guards out amongst his lands, and here, where most of the waterways came to join the Sprag. But the harvest was in and ready for sale. Tempting prizes should they be taken.

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Clapton Square in the Regency, and an Interview

Posted in Historical Novel, Regency, Writing, tagged Church of St John-at-Hackney, Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence, Jane Austen and Ghosts, Kensington Square, My Jane Austen Book Club, Regencies, Regency Era, Sloan Square, Writing on March 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

History

The location of the lord or ladies home in London is always something I spend time over. And each time I then research the square I use or re-research it. This week I look at Clapton Square.

I have never used the square in any of my writings. It was founded in 1816 following on development from of the Church of St John-at-Hackney which was built in 1792.

You can see from this drawing from 1830 that the church is surrounded by fields, and so too would be the housing of Clapton Square at the time for it is out in the boondocks of London. Living here would give one the feel of living in a village, just far enough away that you were somewhat countrified, too far to walk to visit any of your neighbors of society. Close enough that a carriage or horse ride would not take very long to pay a social call, or visit the shops a few miles away.

The square was laid out by wealthy brokers from the City to emulate those squares of the West End. Though one may not find the first rank of the Ton about the square, during our period the son of Samuel and Louisa Courtauld was born in a house just off the square. This man, Samuel Courtauld is credited with establishing the famous silversmithing company.

MAPCOMapAndPlanCollectionOnline_Moule_sEnvironsOfLondon1837.-2012-03-31-08-48.jpg

Interview

Once again I was Interviewed, this time at My Jane Austen Book Club. I have been interviewed a few times these last months. As mentioned last week, here is the post of that interview for your entertainment in the next blog. Though please click on the hyperlink and have a visit at Maria’s site.

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH … DAVID WILKIN

A new “Talking Jane Austen with …” session. My guest today is David Wilkin, author of “Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence” and “Jane Austen and Ghosts”. Enjoy our Austen chat!

Welcome at My Jane Austen Book Club, David, and thanks for accepting to talk Jane Austen with me. First of all , do you mind telling us something about yourself?

An evaluation in high school suggested I should either be a businessman or a dancer. So I am a businessman, having spent two decades in the woodworking industry and opening a company that does the wood interiors of restaurants.

The dancing part resulted in my mastering the dances from the mid fifteenth century to modern times, and teaching them. I have run several different regular dance practices, and entire dance weekends of these historic dances.

The fondness for the past does not just extend to the pleasantry of dance, but to the study of the conflicts from which History predominates. War gets a lot written about it. That was perhaps my earliest exposure, army men, leading wargaming, and role-playing games. Or just gaming in general. I was around when the first Computer Gaming magazine debuted. I not only have an extensive library of books, but also games, and play many, not more on computers rather than across the table from an opponent over a board, or with miniatures representing our armies.

The extensive library of books, the vast reading that I have indulged in has also had me turn my hand to writing. Starting with simple sketches while in high school and college to completing novels after graduating. I continue to hone this craft.

What is your opinion? Do you think Jane Austen is very angry for what is happening to her works? Vampires and all kind of monsters have invaded her world!

I think Jane would be very angry at what is happening to her works. From her writing I find that she looked at her society and used her stories to not only comment on society, but t ogive hope to the lives of the woman of her society. She was confined to a certain life based on her birth and that England was a very stratified place to live at the time. Her tales were to give women of the Regency a belief that they could be smart, intelligent and destined for a happy marriage. She wrote before the time of Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stoker’s Dracula. But as I understand it, the heroine portrayed here in these new adaptations far exceed anything Lizzy Bennet or Emma Woodhouse ever did

However, it seems our world has gone vampire/monsters crazy. Have you got your own interpretation of this phenomenon? Why is our world so attracted by this kind of supernatural characters?

I can’t really comment on the attraction of the pheonomena. I really do not like watching flicks that scare me. I like Aliens better than Alien because the Marines attack back. I’ve read Dracula twice and I can see that it is a literary masterpiece. I have not read much else, Anne Rice, or others, though what I have read in the genre was never as strong as Bram Stoker. My interpretation is based on ghosts of course as the title of my book suggests. For it, I hope I have grasped another romantic influence, Rex Harrison as the Ghost, in the Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

The story in your book is set in the world of moviemaking. Of course, any work by Jane Austen made into a movie is a bankable project, but don’t you think that sometimes the screen adaptations might distort the real tone of the novels ?

I live out here in Southern California. For a brief time I worked in “Hollywood” doing a night shift for Dick Clark Productions. I taped every American Bandstand and other productions of the company to send to the copyright office. I made my 15 minute pitch to a producer at the end of my gig, but that didn’t fly. So on to other career choices.

For Jane’s work, it is very bankable and I think there is an appeal for all regencies that if produced with the right budget, could make a profit amongst those of us who love this era. Of the productions of the work, I think the only fail I can recall is the 1999 Mansfield Park. (Which was one of Cheryl and my first dates) The other that you might call a fail is the 1940 Pride and Prejudice by Huxley and with Olivier and Garson. That however is one of my favorites and why I came to the love the regency era. Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine is a hoot…

But aside from my favorites and those I don’t like your question is if the movies drift from the tone of the novels. We look at the supporting characters I think in Jane’s work as caricatures of people and stereotypes so that they enrich the story with humor and pathos. We see the leads as those characters we aspire to be and to have lives as. I think the adaptations in film for the most part hit the mark admirably.

Jane’s world is so down-to-earth, all sense and balance do you think fan fiction mostly respect those features?

I have to say, that I have not read much fan fiction based on Jane. I have read the Stephanie Barron mysteries which I love for the footnotes. I have read a few sequels, and then I have my own, Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Correspondence. I spent a great deal of time thinking about Colonel Fitzwilliam and the war. The war that Jane ignores a great deal in her writing. Even in Persuasion it is off camera. I don’t think you could have lived in England with the war ocurring and not have had it touch you in a much greater way than Jane’s characters seem to be effected. For my sequel I did my best to convey the drama that the war could have upon a family, and in this case the Bennets and the Darcys.

Without spending time with a great many other authors in the genre of writing fan fiction based on Jane’s work, it would be unfair of me to speak about that. I do know that were one to want to elevate their writing, you need to respect what Jane did with her characters, and you also need to provide characters to have some fun with, as Jane did as well.

What is the appeal of Jane Austen and her world to nowadays readers? What’s the secret of her huge global success ?

Jane has always had an appeal. She gives us a Regency world that is clean and bountiful. All of her heroines are part of the lower upper class, or for Fanny Price, quickly sent to an upper class house. How many of us want to be part of the richest wrung of society? Then Jane has kept the underside, the part of the world that does not appeal away. Including the war as I have mentioned.

The Regency may not have been as pretty as the picture Jane has painted, but she did paint it so nicely that it is a canvas that those of us who write Regencies have been able to use ourselves in our endeavors to leave the world as an ideal and not as the reality that it was.

If Jane had lived nowadays what kind of novels would she have written?

I think she would have written literature for women. Strong heroines, and here, instead of class boundaries that kept a women thinking they would have only one avenue in life to pursue, she would have placed them in a dead-end job, or having chosen the wrong career. Something that they would realize and begin to transform themselves, not with the aid of a hero character such as Darcy. The man would be something they would pick up and drag along as they evolved and completed their transformation.

What is it that you best love in her world and in her work?

I love the sense that things do come out for our heroes and heroines. Happy endings may not be how we are going to be rewarded in life, but in fiction, it is a reward I like a great deal.

What is your favourite Austen novel, hero and heroine?

Persuasion is my favorite tale, while I have to say that Elizabeth Bennet is the ultimate heroine. I love Captain Wentworth, but then to have the wealth of Darcy and to be so exceedingly correct and right is something I wish I could live as. Captain Wentworth and his emotions however seem to be more the lot in life for those of us not born to the highest wealth in the land.

As a lover of the Regency and a Janeite what are you next projects to spread more Austen passion?

I’ve been thinking of perhaps doing something with Margaret Dashwood. Where Colonel Fitzwilliam and history, as well as the last few paragraphs of Pride and Prejudice lent me some firm ideas, Margaret seems a very open character and I do not want to write something that would go to far afield. In the meantime I will release two more, at least, regencies that don’t touch on Jane’s characters this year. One a classic play on a rich heiress and penniless lord. The other about identical twins whose characters are different even should they look exactly alike. That of course is where the drama, trouble and humor will stem from. I have completed the first drafts of both of these novels and am beginning the second draft.

Could you please tell us something more about your new novel: Jane Austen and Ghosts?

As I mentioned, I spent some time in Hollywood, and then my cousin does exactly what our hero of JAnG does. He reads everything he can to see if the studio could make a good movie from it. I thought of that and the various Zombie, Vampire and Sea Monster books and it came to me that Jane isn’t very happy about these works. That they find some way to twist her tales away from the core values.

I then thought that the tale of making these works into a movie, one where as they are doing so, Jane might come back and have a thing or two to say would be humorous. Playing upon that ,the story reflecting a key Jane storyline as well seemed to add to the writing. In the end I have a nicely received short piece that entertains one and all.

Thanks for the interview, I hope that your readers have found this interesting and I am open to answering follow-up questions!

Thanks a lot, David, for being my guest today. Good luck with all your incredible activities and passions!

Jane Austen and Ghosts

The Kindle version has been out for two weeks. It is also available now at Barnes and Noble for your Nook, or at Smashwords. The iTunes edition is also available as is the trade paperwork version so Jane Austen and Ghosts is now physically in print.

You can purchase your copy today at Amazon for $4.99. Or you can purchase at Smashwords, or at Barnes and Noble.

With the availability on the iBookstore for your iPad, and in Trade Paperback, Jane Austen and Ghosts is available at all the outlets that Regency Assembly Press publishes to. The Trade Paperback is now available for $8.99 US and of course available in other currencies for other countries based on that US price. Digital versions across all platforms are $4.99.

Click here to be taken to the webpage on Amazon

A brief synopsis of the story:

In the world of moviemaking, nothing is as golden as rebooting a classic tale that has made fortunes every time before when it has been adapted for the silver screen. Certainly any work by Jane Austen made into a movie will not only be bankable, but also considered a work of art.

That is of course until the current wave of adaptations that unite her classic stories with all the elements of the afterlife is attempted to be created. That these have found success in the marketplace amongst book lovers may not be quite understood by those who make movies. But that they are a success is understood and a reason to make them into movies.

All that being said, perhaps it would also be fair to say that the very proper Jane, were she present to have anything to say about it, would not be pleased. Of course she has been away from this Earth for nearly 200 hundred years. But does that mean were she upset enough, she wouldn’t come back?

Ellis Abbot found stories for tinseltown to make into movies. His most recent find were the batch of stories set in the regency world of Jane Austen. Jane Austen and Monsters.

Meeting with the various authors of those works, it did not seem that Ellis could get one coherent plot of script out of any of them. At least not until he got help from the best source of all.