August 15, 2007

I appreciate Colleen’s offer to guest blog here while she is away on vacation.  I thought I’d answer some questions that I’ve been asked when I read my vampy romantic comedies, Happy Hour at Casa Dracula and Midnight Brunch, to groups.  

Question:  I’m your neighbor and I had a Honda just like yours.  Would you like to sell your car to me?

Answer:  Thank you for coming to my book reading, and, no, I am not interested in selling my car.

Question:  How does your family feel about you being obsessed with vampires?

Answer:  I’ve never been obsessed with vampires in particular, but I’ve always enjoyed paranormal stories.   The pleasure is in placing a reasonable character in an unreasonable situation and seeing how she deals with it.  

Question:  Where do you get your imagination?

Answer:  I had three brothers and at a certain point they wouldn’t play with me, so I spent a lot of time in my room alone reading books.  I could never afford to buy them, but I was a feral reader, roaming the stacks at the public library and at my school library.  I had time to daydream; so much of writing is daydreaming.

Question:  Have you always been funny?

Answer:  I guess.  One friend said of me, “People who think you’re funny, think you’re really funny.  People who don’t think you’re funny, don’t think you’re funny at all.”  I don’t know if I find that reassuring at all.

Question:  Is your heroine, Milagro, based on you?

Answer:  We have some things in common.  Both she and I are Latinas who attended a Fancy University (F.U.).  But Milagro is very alone in the world, and I have always had lots of family support.  Milagro is more optimistic and kinder than I am because I based her on characters I admire, such as Jane Austen’s heroines, who attempt to do what is right over what is self-serving.  I gave her a young person’s genial cluelessness, my homage to P.G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster.  

Question:  Is writing hard?

Answer:  I’m close enough to my blue-collar roots to know exactly how lucky I am to write for a living.  I don’t kid myself that it’s hard.  Waitressing is hard.  Working at a factory is hard.  Working on a road crew is hard.  Raising young children is hard.  Anyone who is lucky enough to succeed as a writer should be thrilled.  

Question:  Did you plan to write a series?

Answer:  No, I wrote Happy Hour at Casa Dracula as a lark.  My editor at Simon & Schuster said, “Your fans will want to know what happens next.”  I said, “How do you know I have fans?”  She said, “I mean your fans here at Simon & Schuster.”

Question:  Do you use a computer?

Answer:  Yes.  I think that people who use a pen and notepad should be hit upside the head with an Underwood until they come to their senses.  I love using a computer to write.  It makes re-writing that much easier.

Question:  How much research do you do?

Answer:  A little bit all the time.  I’m always looking up information to back up my stories.  Do you know that the incubus myth appears in most cultures, and that rats’ teeth continue to grow?  I’ve also learned that birch branches were used in pagan ceremonies in Lithuania, and that the vampire stories were carried along the Silk Road.

Question:  What authors inspired you?

Answer:  Mark Twain, P.G. Wodehouse, and Kurt Vonnegut inspired me with their first-person narratives and humorous, colloquial voices.  I love Jane Austen’s beautifully structured novels and her wry humor.  I’m very fond of Evelyn Waugh’s dark comedy.

Charlotte Bronte influenced with her stories about outsiders, class, and passion.  It is so wrenching when Jane Eyre tells Mr. Rochester, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart!”

Question:  Who are your favorite authors now?

Answer:  My favorites change with my moods, which is why I love going to bookstores and finding something that suites me at the moment.

Question:  What’s next?

Answer:  I’m working on my third Casa Dracula novel, but I don’t know what happens after that.  I’d like to write a gothic YA novel.

Visit Marta's Website

August 13, 2007

One of my fellow Noodlers, Janet Mullany, has a new book out this month, and it's getting quite a bit of buzz on the Net (and elsewhere), so, naturally, I had to snag her by the throat and drag her over here to meet you all.

Janet is witty and British and oh-so-proper (about as proper as Mae West), and she wrote one hell of a book called The Rules of Gentility.

Rules is like a Bridget Jones's Diary set in the time of Jane Austen, and it's written in the alternating first person points of view of Miss Philomena Wellesley-Clegg and Mr. Inigo Linsley…both of whom are well-drawn, witty, articulate and naughty characters. I loved them both!

And when I asked Janet to stop in while I'm vacationing in Northern Michigan, she agreed to not only provide the very first Gardella Chronicles fanfiction (!!), but also to give away a copy of the book! Can you say W00T?

All together now: W00T!

So, without further ado, please meet the talented and witty Janet Mullany…(stay tuned below for how to win).

Colleen said I could blog about anything I wanted to, so I turned the job over to Miss Philomena Wellesley-Clegg, Regency fashionista and heroine of my August release The Rules of Gentility (available now. Buy, buy!! Or do what Colleen says to win a copy below). What I hadn’t realized about Philomena was that she actually met Victoria Gardella at a London ball… and had a very narrow escape indeed.

~~~ 

I cannot see Mr. Inigo Linsley anywhere–not of course that I wish to do so after his dreadful effrontery in calling me a ninny and–I blush to relate it–I fear he tried to bite my neck! Is this normal among amorous gentlemen? It was less of a bite than a nibble as though I were a particularly succulent slice of ham, but there were teeth involved.

Thinking I shall have to consult my sister in the matter (and although she is supposed to be my chaperone at this ball she is nowhere in sight), I strike up a conversation with a most elegant young woman, who, like me, seems to be alone.  After we exchange compliments on our gowns and head dresses, I ask her, “Miss Gardella–” a most romantic and foreign name indeed–“I feel I may confide in you. Tell me, do you ever have any trouble with gentlemen biting you?”

Her reaction is sudden and shocking. She grasps my arm and pulls me into a corridor outside the ballroom. Her eyes blaze with determination. “My dear Miss Wellesley-Clegg, you must tell me all. Who has tried to bite you? Is he here? Yes, he is. I know it…”

Before I can speak, there is a sudden clatter and I look down to see a wooden stake on the floor.

“D–n these garters,” she says.

As she bends to retrieve it I see a gentleman, tall and handsome, approach us. Although we have not been introduced, there is something about him that makes me feel warm all over; it as as though the silken cord I purchased this morning (1s . 3d a yard) binds us and draws me toward him. I fear I am about to swoon with the promise of pleasure to come. His eyes glow with passion as he reaches for me…

“Good riddance,” says my new friend Miss Gardella. She is slightly flushed, and she blows a little ash from her wooden accessory before lifting her skirt to tuck the item back into her garter. There is no sign of the gentleman, who, I now realize, is not nearly as handsome as Mr. Linsley. “I am quite parched. Shall we seek some lemonade?”

~~~

Fabulous, wasn't it? The whole book is just as wonderful, trust me!

Victoria never told me about that particular incident with Miss Wellesley-Clegg, but I'm sure there are lots of things she hasn't yet seen fit to divulge.

(If only she'd be more forthcoming, I might have more of the fourth book done by now!)

Anyway, in order to be entered in a chance to win Ms. Mullany's very fun, literate, witty novel, please make a relevant comment in the spotlight below, and I'll draw a name sometime after Tuesday, midnight EST (depending upon Internet connectivity and such).

Ms. Mullany (and Miss Wellesley-Clegg will be around to answer questions on Monday and Tuesday, so feel free to direct your queries as appropriate.)

Have fun!

August 7, 2007

And she won't let up.

Yes, I know you all know that today is the release date for her first book, Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of the Phantom of the Opera.

But she's also telling all and sundry that there's a $1-off coupon for it at Borders–and, well, if it were me, I'd use it, because it's a trade-sized paperback priced at $14, and, well, it's a bit pricier than those mass-market Gardella books ya'll are used to buying.

So. Have at it. And I'll tell Colette to bug off and let us talk about vampires and Venators instead of hot, sexy Opera Ghosts.

March 13, 2007

(At the end of Diane's post is a chance to win a copy of her latest book!)

Diane Gaston's Musings (Gushings) About 300…and Innocence and Impropriety 

It was so nice of Colleen to mention my March Harlequin Historical, Innocence and Impropriety. I jumped at her invitation to be her guest blogger today.

(And I jumped at the chance to have her! Diane has been one of the most supportive, mentoring of my author friends and I'm so glad to have her here!)

Innocence and Impropriety takes place in the same time period as Colleen’s wonderful The Rest Falls Away, but it is a slightly different Regency England than that of Victoria and Max and Phillip. Innocence and Impropriety tells the story of Rose, a Vauxhall Gardens singer, who is coveted by three men: a marquess, Lord Tannerton, who wants her for his mistress; Flynn, his secretary whose job it is to make that happen; and Greythorne, the greatest danger of all. Of course, Flynn falls in love with Rose… 

(Hmmm…she has three men to choose from? No wonder I can't wait to read this book!) 

It occurs to me that maybe Victoria and Max were in Vauxhall Gardens fighting vampires while Rose sang her songs from the two storied gazebo in the Grove. Vauxhall Gardens would have been a perfect place for vampires. 

The Gardens were a “pleasure garden” akin to today’s amusement park, only without the mechanical rides. They had music, restaurants, displays of art, fountains and fireworks. Once they filled part of the Gardens with water and reenacted the Battle of Trafalgar. 

Vauxhall Gardens was full of tree-lined paths. At night, the trees were illuminated by thousands of tiny gaslights, making the whole place seem magical to this pre-electricity world. People of all classes mixed together in Vauxhall. It was common for people to wear masks, like a masquerade, so no one knew if they were dancing with a duke or a duke’s footman. 

The tree-lined paths of Vauxhall were perfect for lovers to stroll. Tucked along the paths there were even small structures built in classical Roman style where lovers could be very private indeed. The longest and most private of the paths was called the Dark Walk, at the end of which was an illusion of a hermit (hermits were popular several years earlier, not so much in Regency times). Going to see the hermit was a perfect excuse to take one’s lover down the Dark Walk. 

Perfect for vampires to lurk as well! 

No vampires appear in Innocence and Impropriety, Victoria and Max made sure of that!There is a fairly sinister villain in Lord Greythorne, though. 

Innocence and Impropriety, being a Harlequin Historical, is only on the bookstore shelves for this month, but should be available longer on online sites like Amazon. It is my fourth Harlequin Historical and is connected to the previous book, A Reputable Rake, which won the 2006 RITA for Best Regency. Visit my website to learn more about my books.

And YES, I did see the movie 300! Me and enough other people to give it a 70 million dollar gross. I know the reviews are mixed, but I loved the movie.

I thought it was a masterpiece in cinematography, ground-breaking. The images on screen, even when violent, were beautiful, clearly reflecting the images created by Frank Miller in the graphic novel upon which the movie is based. It is a movie about a graphic novel, with typical, over-the-top elements familiar to readers of action comic books.
 
To those who proclaim the film has a political agenda–it is a movie about a comic book!!!! That's all–except for universal themes, such as honor and sacrifice.

I have been accused of going to see the movie specifically to see Gerard Butler’s abs, but I have to say that Gerard's physique as Leonidas and those of his Spartan soldiers were never depicted in a gratuitous manner. The way the film was shot, you just believed this was the way they dressed.

More credit to the filmmakers, the minor characters, though having very little dialogue, were so vividly drawn that you cared what happened to them. 

I’m a card-carrying Tart, a fan of Gerard Butler (read about my initiation here) and this film only added to my admiration. His performance was so good, I forgot it was Gerard Butler on the screen and I totally believed it was Leonidas, the king who led his 300 Spartan soldiers to their deaths against a million Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae.

I don’t think any other actor alive could have done a better performance. They could not have accomplished the physical demands of the role and yet play the king with such nuance. Gerard has the most expressive face and he can switch from sarcasm to fury in an instant as he does in the scene with the messenger ("This is Sparta!").

Don't get me started on the love scene, which was really more tender than I had anticipated and beautifully filmed. 

To win a copy of Innocence and Impropriety, ask me any questions you like, about my books, about being a Gerard Butler fan… Ask me how I know Colleen! Tell us what you thought of 300!

Or, if you’ve read any of my books, tell us what you thought of them! Anyone who asks a meaningful question or leaves a meaningful comment will be in the running to win a copy of Innocence and Impropriety!

(PS I also write under the name Diane Perkins, like on my Phantom blog posting above.)

And…Diane is also a RITA-award winning author! For those of you who don't know what a RITA is…well, it's the equivalent of an Oscar, but in the romance fiction genre.