Monday, October 27, 2008

New contest October 30; website updates too

I can't believe it is the end of the month already; and it's the end of the bi-monthly contest on October 30 as well! I'll post the winner here as well as on my website contest page http://www.lesleyannemcleod.com/contest.html The new contest will begin October 31 and the prize, to be drawn on December 30 will be an out-of-print book "Everybody's Historic England" by Jonathan Kiek. It's a delightful little book, full of interesting facts about all periods of English history, as well as excellent maps, photos and drawings.

I will be putting a number of updates on my website at the end of the week as well. The Castles and Cathedrals page will have a number of additions, and there will be a new colouring picture by Shakoriel, my 'artist in residence'.

I finally finished the book trailer for "Carolina's Walking Tour" so it is up on my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/regencylady, on my myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/lesleyannemcleod or at my Regency World at http://www.lesleyannemcleod.com/novelettescarolinaswalkingtour.html

The first review for "The Education of Portia" came last week from Coffee Time Romance. Here is an excerpt: Ms. McLeod pens an outstanding Regency. It pulls you back in time, where you can feel the era and the romance. Creative characters and important secondary characters set the stage for events. Mystery, intrigue and romance follow. Ingram's young daughters offered a lot of emotion to this tale as you could see their relationship unfolding with Portia and their needs being filled. Romantic and sweet, this romance is just right for a good bedtime read.

Do join me at my website on Friday and view the updates, and enter the new contest. Or visit http://www.myspace.com/lesleyannemcleod --I'd be delighted to be added to your friends!

Talk to you soon,
Lesley-Anne

Monday, October 13, 2008

I'm reading as well as writing...

In between working on my three new projects--four new projects if you count the one that is not a Regency--I am reading some chicklit, some historical fiction and some Regencies from the TBR pile. And I'm enjoying two books with a basis in Jane Austen:

Jane Austen's Guide to Romance: The Regency Rules by Lauren Henderson
Pub. by Headline ISBN 0-7553-1463-8 pbk

I really like this book--if I had read it at eighteen, I would have been a much happier young woman, and I would have made far better choices. It even lives up to its back cover blurb "full of sage advice and wise strategies". But you don't have to be dating to enjoy the book. The author pulls out the relationships of Jane Austen's characters and illuminates modern life through the actions of Elizabeth Bennet, Elinor Dashwood, Darcy, Bingley and the rest. It's a fun read and a good book to give to those young women in your world. I asked my twenty-something daughter to have a look at it, and she liked it. The commonsense, the style, and of course, Jane Austen's great characters all combined have great appeal.

Voices from the World of Jane Austen by Malcolm Day
Pub. by David & Charles, ISBN 0-7153-237902 hc
I came across this book quite by chance when I was browsing ChaptersIndigo for something quite different. I can't believe I haven't heard anywhere about this book--it is great! Essentially social history, it uses "diaries, essay, travelogues, sermons, treatises, journal articles and notices--and Jane's novels themselves..." to show the world of the early 1800's. Day has used chapters such as 'Domestic Life', 'The Rhythm of the Year' and 'Work and Social Rank' to contain excerpts from all kinds of material--wonderfully fascinating stuff for any student of history. This is a research tool not to be missed by any author of Regency era fiction. I'm so glad I found it.

I still haven't had time to watch the version of "Northanger Abbey" put out by BBC in January! And now I have on order the BBC 'Beau Brummell' which has been unavailable in North America until recently. I will be watching it immediately it arrives, and hopefully NA soon after. Now if I could only get a copy of 'Byron', also a release by the BBC unavailable here!

Talk to you soon...

Lesley-Anne