Meeting my Waterloo: A sale, a contest and a new story...

‘Are you certain he’s here?’ Isabel — Lady Somerton — asked, her voice muffled by the lavender scented kerchief she had pressed to her nose and mouth.

The pathetic piece of muslin did little to conceal the stench of unwashed bodies, blood, corrupted wounds and worse that pervaded the makeshift hospital. The price Wellington had paid for the victory lay crowded on filthy straw mattresses on the makeshift hospital floor of an old warehouse in Battersea.

Everywhere she turned the wounded had been crowded together, so many of them that only a curtain separated the officers from the other ranks. Pushing aside the curtain, the conditions for the officers was little better. At least they had cots, not straw-filled bags, but those who had survived the rapid evacuation to England were in a poor state. Most still wore the tattered remnants of the uniform they had worn in battle over ten days ago and it looked to Isabel as if the rough bandages over their wounds had not been changed in days. 

(Opening lines from LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR ... by Alison Stuart)

Waterloo June 2015:  It is hard to imagine these peaceful fields were once the scene of so much carnage... (20,000 casualties)

The battle site of Waterloo today

Ten years ago, my military husband and I made a flying visit to the battle site at Waterloo, en route to returning a rental car. (Needless to say in the days before GPS we then got hopelessly lost trying to get back into Brussels and nearly missed our train... but that's another story).  That brief visit was the inspiration behind my Waterloo story LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR which starts in the days immediately following the battle.

On our recent travels, booked in complete ignorance that June 18 2015 was in fact the bicentennial of Waterloo, we found ourselves accidentally on a Waterloo trail that began in London with a visit to the Guards Museum and ended at Waterloo - the week before the Bicentennial weekend of re-enactments. A little bit of better planning and we could have been AT the bicentennial! However as it turned out, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, apart from hordes of workmen frantically trying to finish the paving and put up signs and bleachers etc. 

Alison labours up the 200 steps of the Butte de Lion

The new Visitors' Centre had been open a week and it is a marvel of 21st century technology including animated paintings, detailed and lifelike wax mannequins and a 3D movie about the battle that has you ducking for cover while facing the charge of 8000 French Curaissiers! 

Napoleon's staff on the eve of Waterloo - Visitors' Centre

Needless to say I have returned with a Waterloo buzz and a suitcase full of Waterloo memorabilia so in conjunction with my wonderful publishers from the 4th to the 13th of July I have a very special offer... several very special offers.

A CONTEST...  The prize is a collection of Waterloo memorabilia including a full reproduction of The Times with Wellington's Waterloo despatch. To enter, you only have to participate in the RAFFLECOPTER at the end of this post or click HERE

A SALE Lord Somerton's Heir , my own 'Waterloo' story will be on sale on Amazon and iBooks for only .99c for this week only.

A NEW STORY And finally, in honour of Waterloo I have written a short story... a prequel to LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR, which I have titled SEBASTIAN'S WATERLOO, in which we share the events of the 18th June 1815 with the hero of LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR, Captain Sebastian Alder.  

This available is FREE to subscribers of my Readers' Group Newsletter... so you can subscribe here to either read the story on line or download it to your ereader.

TO SUBSCRIBE JUST CLICK HERE OR USE THE FORM TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST

ENTER THE WATERLOO CONTEST HERE

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A Reader's Weekend in Canberra... ARRC15

The Regency Fashion Parade!

For those who think the life of a writer is a solitary vigil beside a guttering candle in a cold, cheerless loft, they are obviously not thinking of romance writers. Every time I get together with my "tribe" I am reminded how blessed I am to found my niche in the writing world. 

But no writer can really call themselves a writer without readers and while the Australian Romance Readers Convention is teeny tiny compared to the American equivalent (I've yet to go to RT but I've heard stories), a reader nomination for an Australian Romance Readers Award (for Lord Somerton's Heir) was all the incentive I need to pack my bags for a weekend in Canberra with my "peeps".

Roomies

Knowing how full on these weekends can be I normally lodge alone but a dear friend, Beverley Eikli, made a last minute decision to come to Canberra and agreed to be my roomie. I had forgotten what fun it was to have a roomie and as we are both on deadlines (hers more urgent than mine) we shared a little writing time and space - but, in my case, not nearly enough!

The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a gathering of the Harlequin authors followed by the welcome drinks and a chance to finally put some names to faces among the bloggers and readers who were there. 

Among inspirational women in my life, I rate Helene Young highly. Not only is she a fabulous writer of romantic suspense but she is an airline pilot. Now I have worked most of my life in male dominated professions (law... the military) but whatever difficulties I encountered are nothing compared to the fight for women to be fly (and yet look at how many of the early aviators were women???). I remember the battle Debbie Worley fought in the late 70s and it was wonderful to see Debbie with Helene on a recent TV program talking about how they just wanted to be able to do what they loved. Anyway I digress, Helene was the first key note speaker talking, aptly, about inspirational heroines (she also took out one of the ARRA awards). American authors Sylvia Day, Kelley Armstrong and Victoria Dahl were also among the guests as well as the charming, delightful and thoroughly lovely Nalini Singh. 

Getting ready for the Book signing

Pen poised...

The atmosphere at ARRC was so relaxed and the amazing organising committee had gone to so much trouble with games and contests and inventive ways for readers to connect with authors - not that we are a frightening bunch but if you are both a little shy, sometimes we all need a nudge. I loved having a chance to chat with a couple of special readers as a "Mystery Author". 

Then, of course, there is the book signing... A lovely opportunity to talk to readers about what they like reading. Although I reached rather depressing conclusion I needed to be writing "hot" paranormals, not considered historical romances... The queues for Sylvia Day and Nalini Singh are testament to that fact!




The ARRA dinner is a highlight, the fun amplified by a foto booth and a lifesize cut out of Fabio (remember him? "most beautiful man in the cosmos, including the black holes"). Anne Gracie was the thoroughly deserving winner of the Historical Romance Award. I texted my husband to say "I didn't win" and he responded "Win what?". I love that man...

Lady Elizabeth Kentmere

Sunday brought a special treat... a secret "Fashion Parade" of regency historical fashion and I was one of the models. As you may have guessed I love any excuse to dress up. Author Bronwyn Parry produced a Regency day dress... handstitched I have to say, as was the chemise, stay, chemisette and cap! The whole ensemble was extremely comfortable. I did have to remember to remove my watch and Fitbit!  Beverley Eikli, also a fabulous costume maker, provided a couple of the other costumes and we had some ring ins from the Jane Austen Society. Jeniffer Kloester (who has a life long affair with Georgette Heyer) wrote the script but none of us knew anything about our characters until we were on stage. Apparently Lady Elizabeth Kentmere was a foremost equestrienne, handy with a whip and a devil in a curricle. Hard not to collapse on the floor, paralysed with laughter! (Particularly when I think I looked more like Mrs. Bennet!)

Later in the day I appeared on a historical panel with Anne Gracie, Suzie Love and Allyssa James. 

That was it... needless to say I climbed into my own bed last night and was asleep before my head hit the pillow - with dreams of Fabio!

An Award Nomination to start the year...

What a wonderful start to the year... an award nomination for LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR.

The Australian Romance Readers Awards are always very special because the nominations come directly from the readers themselves, so you can imagine how thrilled I am to receive a nomination for my regency romantic suspense, LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR.  Of course I am in very distinguished company but this really is one occasion where just receiving a nomination is a reward in itself.

The Awards are announced at the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Canberra in March.

A list of all finalists is HERE and if you are a member of ARRA and loved this book, please give it a vote! (it is also on a lowered price on Amazon at the moment!)

LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR

Can the love of an honourable man save her from  the memory of a desolate marriage?

From the battlefield of Waterloo to the drawing rooms of Brantstone Hall, Sebastian Alder’s elevation from penniless army captain to Viscount Somerton is the stuff of dreams. But the cold reality of an inherited estate in wretched condition, and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his cousin’s death, provide Sebastian with no time for dreams, only a mystery to solve and a murderer to bring to justice. 

Isabel, widow of the late Lord Somerton, is desperate to bury the memory of her unhappy marriage by founding the charity school she has always dreamed of. But, her dreams are shattered, as she is taunted from the grave, discovering not only has she been left penniless, but she is once more bound to the whims of a Somerton. 

But this Somerton is unlike any man she has met. Can the love of an honourable man heal her broken heart or will suspicion tear them apart?

In love with a new breed of Regency hero...

I have a huge confession to make. It has taken me a long time to understand the magic of the “Regency Romance”. As a teenager Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer simply passed me by. My taste has always been for stories with a little more action and less mannered ballroom scenes. I quickly add that in more recent years I have become a convert to Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and certain regency romance authors such as Anne Gracie and Jo Beverley.

I set out to write my own Regency, LORD SOMERTON’S HEIR, intending it to be of the school of the traditional regency romance. That lasted five minutes as my hero found himself having to solve a murder mystery. I loved writing the story and the reason is (my second confession) I read a great deal of mystery - mostly via audible books on the long commute to and from work. And, yes, historical crime is top of the list so it is small surprise that I turned the “thing I love to read” into the “thing I love to write”.

Recently I have come across a new breed of Regency hero - the amateur sleuth and I am in heaven. The two gentlemen in question are quite different but I am madly in love with both of them and thought I would share them with the rest of you. 

CAPTAIN GABRIEL LACEY (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries by Ashley Gardiner)

I picked up the first books as a boxed set on a special offer and on a recent holiday to Fiji dipped into the first story - THE HANOVER SQUARE AFFAIR). I read all three books and the two short stories within three days. I am now nearly at the end of the second box set and eking out the last story.

Gabriel Lacey is the impoverished son of Norfolk gentry who joined the Army to follow his charismatic friend, Colonel Brandon. The two men fell out over Brandon’s wife, Louisa, while on campaign in Spain and Brandon’s actions have left Gabriel permanently crippled. He now lives in genteel poverty above a baker’s shop but through good fortune has fallen in with one of London’s most popular men of the moment, who provides him with not only a man servant but entry into the fashionable salons. Gabriel is a man of honour and purpose but not without his flaws… or his baggage.

The plots are clever and well executed and the characterisations deep -everything I love about a good historical mystery. There are times I wonder at Gabriel’s motivations, particularly his honourable attitude toward Brandon, who, in my opinion, deserves nothing, least of all Lacey’s loyalty, but maybe Brandon will redeem himself. There are plenty more books to go…

To find out more about The Captain Lacey Mysteries visit Ashley Gardiner’s website: http://gardnermysteries.com/

And the HANOVER SQUARE AFFAIR is currently FREE on IBooks, Barnes and Noble   and  Amazon … so it costs nothing to introduce yourself to Gabriel… but remember I saw him first! (PS at $4.99 the boxed sets are incredibly good value!)

SEBASTIAN ST. CYR (Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries by C.S. Harris)

Unfortunately I have come into the middle of the series so I need to go back to the very first book WHATANGELS FEAR (not out on Audio or as ebooks yet!) but just the couple I have read, I am smitten with Sebastian.

Like Gabriel Lacey, Sebastian is an ex soldier, although his books are set a little earlier than Gabriel’s stories and the Napoleonic war is still raging. Unlike Gabriel Lacey, there is nothing impoverished about Sebastian. He is Viscount Devlin, heir to the Earl of Hendon and he moves easily in the circle of the Haute Ton. I don’t want to give away any spoilers except to say he is well matched with his heroine but I think (and this is where not having read the earlier books is an issue) the path of their relationship has not been smooth, not least of all because she is the daughter of his arch enemy.

Like Gabriel, Sebastian has a minor cast of well drawn secondary characters to help him in his sleuthing - the one legged doctor and anatomist, Paul Gibson and his ‘tiger’, Tom just to name a couple.

Visit C.S. Harris’ website http://www.csharris.net/sebastian.php for more information on this series.

Both authors are also romance writers under different names and that understanding of characterisation and relationships is what gives these books an extra depth that you don't often see in "straight" mystery or crime stories. Both men are honourable and attractive and they love (and lose). 

My biggest gripe with Harris' books is they are published by a mainstream publisher and the kindle editions of the later books are over $12! More expensive than the mass market paperback. Her early books are not even available as ebooks.  Gardiner on the other hand is an indy author. Her books are beautifully produced, well edited and formatted and reasonably priced (and also gradually coming out as audio books too). When will the big publishers get it?

So if you are after a change of Regency pace and looking for a different type of Regency hero... one you can fall in love with over a span of different books, look up these two gents!

Or you can meet my own Sebastian Alder, Lord Somerton... in LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR. Sadly he only has the one story but oh, the temptation to write my own regency sleuth...

From the battlefield of Waterloo to the drawing rooms of Brantstone Hall, Sebastian Alder’s elevation from penniless army captain to Viscount Somerton is the stuff of dreams. But the cold reality of an inherited estate in wretched condition, and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his cousin’s death, provide Sebastian with no time for dreams, only a mystery to solve and a murderer to bring to justice.

Isabel, widow of the late Lord Somerton, is desperate to bury the memory of her unhappy marriage by founding the charity school she has always dreamed of. But, her dreams are shattered, as she is taunted from the grave, discovering not only has she been left penniless, but she is once more bound to the whims of a Somerton.

But this Somerton is unlike any man she has met. Can the love of an honourable man heal her broken heart or will suspicion tear them apart?

Any Excuse for a Party! A good old fashioned book launch...

Book launch 2007

When my first books were published - way back in the dark ages (2007), a friend insisted that there should be a proper book launch for the two books and promptly went ahead and organised one for me. I realised then that writing a book is a big thing, getting it published even bigger but celebrating it is so important.  This is the book baby you have slaved for months if not years over and it deserves a rite of passage that marks its transition from hope to reality.

There followed a long hiatus while I laboured away at the OTHER career which meant that my next book did not come out until 2012 (GATHER THE BONES). What a difference 5 years had made. This was to be a digital only publication but remembering that actual book launch, I felt it still needed a party to mark its entry into the book world so I organised my first "virtual" book launch - on my Facebook Author Page and I have to say I had as much fun as I did at that first actual book launch but by the time books 3 and 4 came out, everyone was doing FB parties and it was hard to engender the same sense of fun.  

So LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR came into the world on 1 May with very little fanfare... until my friend Beverley Eikli emailed me with a suggestion I could not refuse... a REAL book launch but with a bit of a difference. Let's make it an event to remember - books, music, wine, cheese... and so the ideas started flowing.

Beverley and I write similar books - historical romances with meaty plots so we are a natural fit - the only difference being her MAID OF MILAN has a print edition (and it will be in bookstores), while LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR lives in the cloud which meant I only had copies of my other books to sell on the day, not the book I was actually launching.

What the hell... let's do it anyway! 


Paramoor Winery was booked, a fabulous string quartet (La Fraternita Solisti) organised, cheese (Gippsland Cheeses) and chocs (from Daylesford's Chocolate Mill) purchased, my dear friend, award winning poet, Chris Ringrose bludgeoned into agreeing to read a couple of poems and on a cold, damp winter's afternoon the crowds arrived for the Eikli/Stuart book launch.

The lovely venue at Paramoor winery - perfect for a cold winter's day

It must have been a good party... because I can hardly remember anything about it! One glass of wine and one cracker with cheese was all I ate but so many people to talk to... so many wonderful friends who had made the trip up from Melbourne. Wonderful friends and family who helped out... children having a great time, people talking about books and writing. Chris set the mood with his poems and my lovely friend and multiple award winning writer, Fiona Lowe did the honours, officially launching our books.

Beverley and Alison standing in the wings...

Fiona Lowe sending the book babies out into the world.

Thank you Beverley for making the suggestion and thank you to everyone involved in contributing to such a fabulous afternoon - there are too many of you to mention by name but you know who you are! Two days later and I am still buzzing. 

And best of all, thanks to the generosity of our guests and our sponsors, we raised $300 for a cause close to my heart, Alzheimers Victoria

.
A brilliant day and I heartily recommend an actual book launch, even if your book is virtual!  And it is much more fun sharing the event with someone else. Thank you Beverley!

Eikli/Stuart... so excited they can't stand still long enough to get their photo taken!

What is it about the Regency?

This is reblog of a recent post on LOVE HISTORICALS... 

In the film “Austenland”, the heroine, a mousy young woman obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, and believing she will never find her “Mr. Darcy” in modern New York, spends her life savings on a trip to England and a Jane Austen theme park, Austenland. Of course all is not as she may have dreamed and Mr. Darcy may not be what she expected… but you need to read the book or see the film.

Having just released my first Regency romance (suspense), LORD SOMERTON’S HEIR, I have been thinking about the Regency. My previous novels have been set mostly in the English Civil War and while I love all periods of history, there is SOMETHING about the Regency that draws readers like magnets.

I wasn’t brought up with Georgette Heyer or, I am ashamed to say, Jane Austen. My own reading taste was rather more for battlefields rather than drawing rooms, so I am a late comer (and a full on convert!) to the genre.

So in my quest to understand more about Regency Romance I have discovered there are two distinct sub genres: TRADITIONAL and REGENCY HISTORICAL. I am probably preaching to the converted when I note Traditonal Regencies are found in the tradition of Georgette Heyer, mannered romances where romance and attention to historical detail is all. Regency Historicals are everything else (and do run the risk of being modern costume dramas). Attention to historical detail is terribly important in whatever period you write and small details like Christmas trees in a Regency drawing room or an English lady fussing about her pumpkins for Thanksgiving are going to be noticed.

These are my thoughts and it will be interesting to know what others think:

• Firstly I believe that Regency romances are, in fact, fantasies. If the real Regency England had been filled with quite so many amorous members of the aristocracy, there would have been no room for the common people and there were common people. It was actually a time of great misery - the Napoleonic wars and the industrial revolution had a huge impact on the populace. Poverty was rife in the large, industrial cities and changes in agricultural practice were forcing more and more people off the land and into the cities, worsening the situation. No one wants to read about that in the world of Regency romance, it is big houses and beautiful people, brooding Dukes and feisty heroines.
•   Secondly I think it is the first accessible period of history. The clothes and the hairstyles and the way of life are understandable in a modern context. The civilising factor allowed for gracious houses and comfortable furniture. We recognise (and can transpose ourselves) into the lifestyle of the “ton”.

Excerpt from LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR

In this short excerpt Sebastian Alder ventures out to explore the new world he has just entered...

He sanded the letter and folded it and picked up a seal, engraved with the same coat of arms, and applied it to the wax, shaking his head in disbelief as he inspected the impression.

Rising carefully from the chair, his hand going to his side, he limped over to the door.

Beyond it, a wide gallery circled around from a broad, sweeping staircase. Using the balustrade for support, he took the stairs with care, cursing the infernal weakness of ill health.

When he reached the ground floor, he found himself in an elegant, circular entrance hall with a floor of black and white tiles. He turned a slow circle, taking in the elegant Grecian statuary in the alcoves and the fine paintings on the walls.

A number of closed doors, all of which were now his to open, led from the hall. He took a deep breath, hesitating and, for a moment, closed his eyes. Surely this magical world would vanish and it would all be revealed as a fevered dream. But when he opened his eyes, a white marble statue of Diana and her hounds beamed back at him. He smiled and put his hand to one of the doorknobs. .

The first door revealed a dining room dominated by a long polished table and the 

second a handsome reception room. The third revealed a bright, cheerful parlour — a woman’s room, he thought.

‘Captain Alder!’

Lady Somerton rose from a small escritoire as he entered, her eyes wide with surprise. 

Don't forget to enter the May Rafflecopter to win an author goody bag... details on my website:  www.alisonstuart.com

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