A handful of historical authors brave the wilds of unusual settings, times, and characters to create distinctive, exciting novels just outside of the mainstream. Join us as we chronicle the trials and rewards of our quest - from research and writing to publication and establishing lasting careers.
Contact Leanna to give her your address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought! Congratulations!
Margaret Mallory is holding a new contest on her website. The details? Her covers are so gorgeous that she decided to have small posters made of them. Go to her website to enter for a chance to win 12"X18" color posters of her KNIGHT OF DESIRE and KNIGHT OF PLEASURE covers. She will pick a winner Oct. 15th.
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Jennifer Mueller just learned the release date for her newest new unusual historical. On November 12th, 2009, GHOSTS IN THE NIGHT will be coming out at Red Rose Publishing. Here's an excerpt and the blurb:
Andrew Townsend survived the trenches only to come home to find most of his family had died in their relative safety. When his last uncle dies and leaves him a plantation in far off Ceylon, Andrew drops his life in London and sets out for a new life--only he finds out the past doesn't let him go so easily. With a layabout friend tagging along, and not to mention a case of shell shock that brings to mind the war at every turn, he's more ghost than man. But the woman across the way, as much a ghost as he, is able to help the visions of war as everything he knows is falling apart. Digging up long dead secrets is the only option and it's enough to get them killed.
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Join us tomorrow when author Michelle Beattie will be here to talk about ROMANCING THE PIRATE, her latest high-seas adventure romance!
And stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Michelle Willingham, Kimberley Killion, JoAnn Smith Ainsworth, and Jennifer Linforth will be our guests. We hope you'll join us!
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Have a good weekend! If you have an announcement to make for next week, email Carrie. See you next week...
What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria's Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent--and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death....
Hello, Unusual Historicals! I'm very glad to be here, thank you, and excited to answer a few questions about why my debut novel, THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER is just perfect for this site...an unusual historical indeed!
So what's unusual about this historical?
Here's just some of the Unusual you'll find in this book:
1. The Heroine, Miss Percy Parker, is nineteen, can see visions and ghosts, and she looks like a spectre too. Deathly pale skin, hair, eyes; she's striking, but eerie--an unusual looking woman to say the very least. In a world of kick-ass heroines, Percy is unique in her timidity, but her sweet nature shines with passion and strength when she is given the opportunity.
2. The cross-genre nature of this book. It has a slew of different influences, genres and archetypes, combined in a new way. New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis for Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine show called the book "Bulfinch's Mythology and Harry Potter and Wuthering Heights in a blender."
3. Reviewers have said this book is a fresh take on the Gothic novel and have commented that there's nothing like this book on the market today.
4. A tender, slow-building, palpable and often aching discovery of a passionate romance.
5. There is a whole lot of Paranormal going on. There's ghosts and sacred rituals, myth and legend, darkness and light, prophecy and portents. And you've never seen a Jack the Ripper quite like this.
What's your favourite part of this book?
Two scenes--scenes that have been with me since the beginning of the book--remain my favourite. 1. An irreverent and banter-filled pub scene where The Guard lets down their guard a bit. 2. The night of the Academy Ball there's a private, tender, moonlit waltz between my hero and heroine.
What about the Victorian era fascinates you?
The grit and the grandeur, the polar extremes--a Jekyll and Hyde society of civility and monstrosity. Constraints and ingenuity. Romance and restriction. An age rich with skeptics and mystics, spiritualists and body snatchers. I've been obsessed with the 19th century for as long as I can remember, it has always compelled me; a rich muse that continues to be as fascinating to me as it first was when I first discovered it; playing a role in an adaptation of Oliver Twist around age 9. I've never looked back from that inspiration, I've only gone deeper inside. The more I examine the era, the more I see.
What's your favourite aspect of writing Historical novels?
The escapism and world-building that you can create when you apply real facts to your imagination. Historical constructs are like sandboxes in which to play and build things within a specific framework. I find a historical setting comforting because often the most interesting ideas can come from having limitations, and the specifics of a historical setting can provide that structure. But what's great about writing a Historical Paranormal / Historical Fantasy is that I can play even more boldly and fantastically within that world and the moment I'm too limited, I've any number of magical or paranormal possibilities. The two play off one another so well, the historical and the magical, they're such delightful companions.
How can people find out more about you and the Strangely Beautiful series?
I've also posted four excerpts here for you to enjoy.
Blessings and thanks for your time!
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Thanks for joining us today, Leanna! For readers of Unusual Historicals we have...wait for it...a giveaway! Just leave a comment or question for Leanna and you'll be entered in a drawing for one free copy. I'll draw a winner next Sunday, so spread the word! Void where prohibited. Good luck to everyone!
And stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Michelle Beattie, Michelle Willingham, Kimberley Killion, and JoAnn Smith Ainsworth will be our guests. We hope you'll join us!
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Have a good weekend! If you have an announcement to make for next week, email Carrie. See you next week...
This week on Excerpt Thursday we're featuring a taste of Leanna Renee Hieber's ghostly Victorian-set romance THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER. Join us on Sunday when Leanna will stop by to answer questions and give away a free copy! Don't miss it!
What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria's Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent--and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death....
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London, England 1888
A young woman, the likes of which London had never seen, alighted from a carriage near Bloomsbury and gazed at the grand facade before her. Breathless at the sight of the Romanesque fortress of red sandstone that was to be her new home, she ascended the front steps beneath the portico with a carpetbag in tow. One slender, gloved hand heaved open the great arched door; Miss Percy Parker paused then stepped inside.
The foyer of Athens Academy held a few milling young men, papers and books in hand. Their jaws fell in turn. In the diffuse light cast by a single chandelier they saw a petite, unmistakable apparition. Dark blue glasses kept eerie, ice blue eyes from unsettling those stares that she nervously returned. Much of her snow-white skin was hidden from view by a scarf draped around her head and bosom, but only a mask could have hidden the ghostly pallor of her fine-featured face.
The sudden tinkling of a chandelier crystal broke the thick silence. Percy's gaze flickered up to behold a young man, equally pale as herself, floating amid the gas flames. The transparent spirit wafted down to meet her. It was clear from the stares of the young men of solid mass, rudely focused on Percy, that they were oblivious. She herself acknowledged the ghost only subtly, lest she be thought distract as well as deformed.
The spectral schoolboy spoke in a soft Scots brogue. "You'd best give up your pretensions, miss. You'll never be one of them. And you're certainly not one of us. What the devil are you?"
Percy met the spirit's hollow gaze. Behind her glasses, her opalescent eyes flared with defiance as she asked the room, her voice sweet and timid, "Could someone be so kind as to direct me to the headmistress's office?" A gaping, living individual pointed to a hallway on her left, so she offered him a "Thank you, sir," and fled, eager to escape all curiosity. The only sounds that followed were the rustling layers of her sky blue taffeta skirts and the echo of her booted footfalls down the hall.
HEADMISTRESS THOMPSON was scribed boldly across a large wooden door. Percy took a moment to catch her breath before knocking.
She soon found herself in an office filled to overflowing with books. A sharp voice bade her sit, and she was promptly engulfed in a leather armchair. Across the desk sat a severe woman dressed primly in grey wool. Middle-aged and thin, she had a pinched nose and high cheekbones that gave her a birdlike quality, tight lips twisted in a half frown. Brown hair was piled atop her head, save one misbehaving lock at her temple.
Blue-grey eyes pierced Percy's obscuring glasses. "Miss Parker, we've received word that you're an uncommonly bright girl. I'm sure you're well aware that your previous governance, unsure what to do with you, supposed you'd best be sent somewhere else. Becoming a sister did not suit you?"
Percy had no time to wonder if this was sardonic or understanding, for the headmistress continued: "Your reverend mother made many inquiries before stumbling across our quiet little bastion. Considering your particular circumstances, I accepted you despite your age of eighteen. You're older than many who attend here. I'm sure I needn't tell you, Miss Parker, that at your age most women do not think it advantageous to remain...academic. I hope you know enough of the world outside convent walls to understand." Headmistress Thompson's sharp eyes suddenly softened and something mysterious twinkled there. "We must acknowledge the limitations of our world, Miss Parker. I, of course, chose to run an institution rather than a household."
Percy couldn't help but smile, drawn in by the headmistress's conspiratorial turn, as if the woman considered herself unique by lifestyle inasmuch as Percy was unique by fate. But the woman's amiability soon vanished. "We expect academic excellence in all subjects, Miss Parker. Your reverend mother proclaimed you quite proficient in several languages, with particularly keen knowledge of Latin, Hebrew and Greek. Would you consider yourself proficient?"
"I have no wish to flatter myself--"
"Honesty will suffice."
"I'm f-fluent in several tongues," Percy stammered. "I'm fondest of Greek. I know French, German, Spanish and Italian well. I dabble in Russian, Arabic, Gaelic...as well as a few ancient and obscure dialects."
"Interesting." The headmistress absently tapped the desk with her pen. "Do you attribute your affinity for foreign tongues to mere interest and diligence?"
Percy thought a moment. "This may sound very strange..."
"It may shock you how little I find strange, Miss Parker," the headmistress replied.
