Happy Christmas!

#FallBackInTime

I've never understood why some people don't like historicals — for me they're not "books about history" but stories set in a different place, that's all. A good story is a good story, and I don't care if it's historical, paranormal, contemporary, crime or whatever. As long as it sweeps me away to somewhere else, I'm a happy reader.

I think it started when I was a kid. I read every book I could lay my hands on and didn't care what sort of book it was, as long as it entertained me. So I don't get it when people tell me "I don't read historicals" or "I only read historicals" or "I don't read paranormals" or "I only read contemporaries" or whatever.

I got a letter from a reader recently telling me that she doesn't usually read historicals, she always thought they were boring, but she was given a copy of one of my books. It sat there for ages, and she was going to give it away, but she started reading it one day when she had nothing else to read — and now she's bought the rest in the series.

I have a number of letters like that. I think that's the key to liking any subgenre - you just have to find one book or author you like, and it opens you up to others.

A historical author group is promoting a "Fall back in time" campaign, where people post selfies with a favorite historical romance. So here's a couple of pics of me, with two of my fave Georgette Heyers. I first read her when I was a kid, and I've reread some of her books umpteen times — they're some of my favorite comfort reads.

What I love about these books is that they're funny and lively. Venetia is the most romantic - it's about a bad-boy rake and a beautiful heroine who is very much a match for him. But there's some very funny moments — he's the kind of rake who can charm women, and to see him bend "nurse" around his thumb is a delight.

The Unknown Ajax is about a gorgeous hero who is so quietly self-confident that when he realizes everyone thinks he is some illiterate clod, can't resist playing up to the role.

I'll post a few more favorites — other authors I love — in a few days. In the meantime, do you have a fave historical?

Wedding Dresses

I'm blogging at the word wenches about a wedding dress exhibition I attended, with pictures.

But I couldn't fit in all of the pictures I wanted to, so I'm putting some more up here. Unfortunately the signs that explained the dresses in detail were hard to read -- in small white print on a dark red background, and far enough from the viewing are that I couldn't read them, especially since the light in many of the rooms was quite dim — I presume to protect the dresses. And although I bought the guide book, the dresses are simply listed at the back, with no cross-referencing, so I can't match them to my photos. So I'm very sorry but I cannot even provide dates for some of them.

This outfit was made in England for a sixteen-year-old bride, married in 1827, who emigrated with her husband to Australia.

Below is a silk satin dress worn by a Melbourne bride in 1915.

This gorgeous dress was worn for a wedding in 1957

This is the same dress from a different angle.

A view of back lacing on a jacket.

The graceful fall of a Victorian era dress.

The inside detail of the boning in a jacket. The picture below shows it in slightly more detail.

A boned bodice being formed on a dressmaker's dummy.

A corset with suspenders for stockings attached.

This dress was worn by Kate Winslett when she portrayed Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility

A dress in formation on the dressmaker's dummy.

The foundation of a dress in preparation on a dressmaker's dummy

Beading and fine detail work on a dummy.

Close up of some amazing embroidery

Gwyneth Paltrow wore this dress in the production of Emma.

This is a detail of the lace train on the dress Gwyneth Paltrow in the production of Emma

The back view of a Victorian-era dress.

A stunning Edwardian-era outfit (at a guess). There's another view below.

This is the top half of the dress Natassja Kinski wore in the production of Tess of the d'Urvervilles, by Thomas Hardy. There is more below.

The whole outfit

 Detail of the skirt.

Victorian era? Not sure, sorry.

I loved the medieval flavor of this outfit. The sleeves are hooked to the wrists by a ribbon.

The pictures below are of a "dress" that was made by pinning old tissue paper patterns to a dressmaker's dummy. It's gorgeous and very detailed.

Look at those rosettes. Click for better detail.

This stunning, rather OTT dress, is made of silk crepe, velvet, chiffon and tulle and is encrusted with pearls and embroidery. It was made in 1889 in Paris by Maugas, whose clients included royalty and the nobility of Europe. The bride's father was a successful—clearly a very successful—local Melbourne butcher. It must have weighed a ton to wear.

A gorgeous dress. no details, sorry.

Detail of some pearl beading and embroidery

Such pretty undies. Sorry, no details.

Mt Macedon

Next Saturday I'm going to be speaking at The Gallery in beautiful Mount Macedon -- a lovely gem of a town a little over half an hour's drive from Melbourne. It's historic, and is best known for scenery and gorgeous gardens, and as spring has sprung in my neck of the woods, I'm looking forward to seeing the spring gardens. 

So, art, spring gardens, book talk and a delicious afternoon tea included in the price — what could be better? To book email: info (at) thegallerymtmacedon (dot) com (dot) au  (no spaces)
or phone: 5426 3322   Hope to see you there.

Romance Writers of America — San Antonio

I arrived here last night, exhausted after my 26 hour journey -- staggered in to my hotel feeling like a limp rag, and hey, the hotel was overbooked, so I was given an upgrade — a lovely room with a balcony that looked out on this view.

It looks down on the San Antonio Riverwalk, which is a brilliant conception and makes for a lovely focus of the city. That's part of it below.

 Boats filled with tourists float by on a regular basis -- you can see some of them in the pic below. I didn't take a tour — I wanted to walk and straighten out the kinks from sitting a plane for so long and try to reduce the effects of jet-lag by resetting my body clock with exercise in the sun.

This is the same view from my balcony at night. Gorgeous, isn't it? I feel very lucky at the moment.

So I'm off to bed now, though I don't feel the slightest bit tired. It's 1 am here, but despite all the walking in the sun, my body still thinks it's on Australian time, which is mid-afternoon.

Oh well, let's hope I'm not a complete zombie in the morning.

My RITA pin

Look what's just arrived in the post. Isn't she pretty?

I'm so happy to have her.

I can't stop smiling.

More Paper Earrings

Several times I've made paper earrings from my book covers, for me, and also for a few of my friends. Book award time coming up, I had a request from another friend for earrings made from the cover of her award-nominated book. So I made them.

I put them on FB and it provoked interest from a couple of other friends. So here are some more - the covers and the earrings. Kelly Hunter's RBY final What The Bride Didn't Know — a wonderful book— and her two books for Tule Publishing, both of which I loved — and they had such pretty covers I had to make them into earrings, too.

And BTW the blue bikini one —The Honeymoon Trap—is on special for the next few days at 99c and it's fabulous - set at a gaming convention and so sexy and funny.

Can you match the earrings with the covers?

And Trish Morey's RBY finalist book - A Price Worth Paying. I couldn't decide which cover to use, so I made both.

I'd already made some tiny books of my own RITA nominated Autumn Bride cover for last year's conference, so that'll do for me. Unless I get inspired again tonight — I make things in front of the TV when I'm relaxing.

But I did make some tiny earrings out of some leftover Japanese paper and I think they look pretty gorgeous, don't you?