Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays if you prefer) to everyone!

For many folks, today marks one of the most celebrated holidays of the entire year. But unlike today’s modern celebrations in which many perceive December 25th as the culmination of Christmas, in Regency times, it was the beginning! In fact, today is considered the very first day of Christmas, so we still have 12 more wonderful days to celebrate.  See what neat things one learns when researching ?

It’s time to talk with Regency author Carolynn Carey, and learn about her contribution to the Cotillion Christmas Spirits anthology, and more about her love of all things Regency. So as your family celebrations and large holiday indulgences (think fudge and Turkey and all the trimmings!) wind down, I invite you to spend a few quiet, calorie-free moments with us.

Larissa

Larissa Lyons: Hi Carolynn! Why don’t you get things started by telling us what draws you to write Regency romance?

Carolynn Carey: Writing Regencies is a treat for me because, although I love Regency romances, I tend to write contemporaries more often these days. Still, because writing Regencies was my first love, I was pleased to have an opportunity to participate in both the 2008 and 2009 Cotillion Christmas anthologies. I enjoy the fact that these anthologies center around themes. The 2008 theme was “Christmas in the country” and the 2009 theme is “Christmas spirits.” Because I don’t ordinarily write paranormals, working on a story for the 2009 anthology allowed me to stretch my writing skills a bit and I had fun plotting my ghost story.

LL: Regencies were my first love too, but I was too chicken to write them initially, being afraid of the research aspect, so I applaud your bravery in starting with them! Do you have a favorite Regency story or author?

Carolynn: Like many other Regency writers, I was drawn to the time period by the works of Georgette Heyer, who will always, I’m sure, be my favorite Regency author. I’ve read and re-read her works and have a collection of her books. I have several hardback copies, most of which I found in an antique book store in New Orleans, but I also own the paperbacks. I admit that I haven’t read her books in a number of years, and recently I’ve found several contemporary Regency authors I enjoy. None of us, however, can quite capture the period as Ms. Heyer did, at least in my opinion.

LL: It’s nice to hear additional compliments about Heyer’s work. Based on Jeanne’s prior comments, I’m happy to report Santa delivered An Infamous Army to my stocking this morning! Speaking of Santa and his deliveries, would you like to share a favorite holiday recipe or memory with readers?

Carolynn: Although I’ve lived in an urban area for many years, I was born and raised in the country. One of my favorite Christmas memories involves going into the woodland to cut our own greenery. There was an absolutely gorgeous hemlock on my parents’ property, and I’d go every year and cut some of the smaller hemlock branches that were covered with small cones and then make a wreath for the front door. I often wonder if that tree is still there and if it has escaped the hemlock woolly adelgid (a non-native insect that has killed most of the hemlocks over a wide area in the Appalachians). I have heard that some hemlocks in the county where I was raised are not yet infested, so I’m choosing to believe that “my” hemlock still stands tall and beautiful on the edge of the creek in the woodland of my youth.

LL: Oooo…making your own wreaths. I’m suitably impressed! The closest I’ve ever come is buying a grapevine wreath from Michael’s and gluing on a bow and ornaments. I hope your hemlock tree is hale and hearty! What can you tell us about your story in Cotillion Christmas Spirits?

Carolynn: ”A Spirit of Christmas Forgiveness” involves a ghost who appears as a beautiful woman dressed in red. This lovely lady rarely makes an appearance, but when she does, it’s always during the Christmas season. Her goal is to teach forgiveness and in the process to bring together a man and woman who otherwise would never meet and fall in love. Enter Anna Marshall, our heroine, who refuses to visit London because she can’t forgive her aristocratic London relatives for the way they treated her deceased mother, and our hero, the notorious Earl of Ashington, who can’t forgive his country neighbors for the way they treated his sister when she was a child. But the lady in red has plenty of tools to aid her, including freak snowstorms, and her machinations eventually teach Anna and the earl the value of both love and forgiveness.

LL: Excellent! I love meddling ghosts. Initially, the specter in my contribution also wore red…I had to streamline out the description due to word count restrictions, so I’m glad to hear another female ghost got to keep her crimson attire. How long have you been writing Regency stories? Do you have a particular favorite of your own?

Carolynn: I completed my first Regency almost twenty years ago. That book and the one that followed were learning experiences for me and will forever remain on floppy disks hidden deep in my desk. The second Regency, however, was a finalist in RWA’s Golden Heart contest for unpublished writers, as was the next Regency I wrote and the next. These latter books came close to publication but it wasn’t until 2007 that I contracted with Cerridwen Press to publish my fourth Regency, which by then was ten years old. That traditional Regency, Compromising Situations, is my favorite of those I’ve written, and I’m pleased that the print version received the National Readers’ Choice Award in the Regency category. Although I now predominately write contemporaries, I still love the Regency period and am convinced that I’ll never completely stop writing them.

LL: Wow! Carolyn, those are some fabulous credentials. Part of me can’t help but wonder if those older three regencies might not be worth shaking the dust off and polishing them up. It’s so tough for me to fully let go of any story that I spent months (or years) writing. Lucky for me, I have a critique partner who keeps kicking me in the tush and keeping me focused on the future not the past (well, other than stories set in the past. Those, she approves of…it’s just me pulling out really old, unfinished attempts she discourages). Aren’t we lucky our writing improves with effort and time? Carolynn, thanks so much for spending today with us and sharing such great information about your writing and Christmas memories!

Have a fabulous holiday season! I’ll be back next week talking with another Cotillion author.

Larissa (who likes her reindeer so much, she used him twice)

Continuing the mini-interviews with my fellow Cotillion Christmas Spirits authors, this week we hear from long-time Regency author Jeanne Savery. I’ll let you in on a nifty tidbit — 10-15 years ago, well before I ever started writing romance, I held several of Jeanne’s books in my hands as I read her stories! When I first saw she was published with Cerridwen Press, I recalled those long-ago romances. Now to be featured in an anthology with one of my stories alongside one of hers? Wow! What a great feeling. Larissa

Larissa Lyons: I’m thinking you touched on this last week when we exchanged e-mails over Barbara’s interview, but now I’m asking officially: Do you have a favorite story or Regency author?

Jeanne Savery: I can’t imagine that anyone who loves the Regency is unaware of Georgette Heyer’s books. She invented the genre! I discovered her when we were in England and they were reissuing her books. I’d sit giggling at something. D.H. would want to know why so I’d read a bit–and he’s as hooked on Heyer as I am.

LL: I love hearing about husbands who read romance! To me it’s like men who wear pink — it takes a confident guy to pull it off and admit it. Bravo! While Mr. Lyons hasn’t braved reading any other romance authors, I’m happy to report he always reads my stories and offers valuable feedback before I submit them. What can you tell us about your story contribution to Cotillion Christmas Spirits?

Jeanne: “Jenna’s Eternal Lover” is actually the final scene which should follow a four book series, my Ghost series. Jenna and her dead lover work hard to see that the four heirs the late Lord Everston left unentailed property to actually succeed in fulfilling the requirements he set for them to do so. What he hoped was that each and every one would overcome various personal problems…and that they would also find happiness with the one they love. Three of those four books have been published. The Ghost and Jacob Moorhead. The Ghost and Sarah Tomlinson. The Ghost and Patrick Tomlinson. Unfortunately the fourth book is still in progress. My characters simply refuse to behave themselves and, worse, a whole bunch of secondary characters are trying to upstage the stars! That book, when finished, will be The Ghost and Roman Trent. Actually, I think I’m finally beating them all into submission and the book should be finished soon. As for Jenna, she’s not young. She’s tired of adventures and she can’t wait to join her lover in eternity. “Jenna’s Eternal Lover” shows that love really can be forever.

LL: I know what you mean about pesky secondary characters who don’t know their place! Glad to hear you’re getting them corralled and that your fourth book is coming along. I gave a bit of a spoiler in your introduction, but now you can share the specifics — How long have you been writing Regency? Do you have a favorite story of your own?

Jeanne: When I discovered Heyer I fell in love with her work but I swore I’d never ever attempt to emulate her. I couldn’t. I didn’t know enough! Instead I tried for far too long to write contemporary romance. And got rejected again and again–often with very nice letters, but still, it was rejection. I’d get mad and swear I’d show ‘em.  And then that straw that breaks the camel’s back? In the form of still another rejection, it landed on mine. I got depressed. When I get depressed I read Heyer. One or two and I’m smiling again. How can one not smile at her characters and situations? Except this time it didn’t work. I read my whole shelf and wanted more. I sat down and wrote one. My crit group told me I’d been writing the wrong thing all the time. They must have been right. My second “real” Regency was a Golden Heart finalist. It “won” me a sale!

Since that first visit we’ve returned to England a number of times, because I needed to research some particular area of the country. (D.H. only belatedly realized I was setting my books in new regions just so I’d have that excuse–a bit dense of him, what?) One consistent part of any visit to England were visits to used books stores where we collected everything from published letters and diaries, biographies, history and social studies of the era, architecture—and on and on. By now I’ve yards of research material where I can find almost any bit of information I may need.

One story I have a special affection for is The House Party. That one was named a RITA finalist! My first Regency was published in 1991. Zebra, before they stopped their Regency line, published or re-published nearly thirty full length novels and perhaps half that many of novellas in their collections. It’s nearly twenty years later and my books are now coming out in the Cerridwen Press Cotillion line. I hope they print another thirty or so!

LL: I love this! Huge congratulations on the Golden Heart placing and resulting sale, the RITA recognition, and your great longevity writing Regencies. Isn’t it amazing how so often our heart knows what we should be writing even when our heads tell us something else? Mr. Lyons and I are currently saving up for our very first trip to England. I detest flying and airplanes (just looking at an airport, I somehow get heartburn — eek!). I told him if I was going to board one again–I’ve successfully avoided them for over a decade–then we were staying for a minimum of three weeks and exploring the bazooka out of that entire island! Since becoming a Regency author, I always make a beeline for the history section of every Half Price Books store I come across, but I never thought of the gold mine I could find at actual English bookstores! How to bribe the airline so I can bring back suitcases loaded with books? Hmmmm…

Jeanne, huge thanks for joining us and sharing more about your writing. Here’s to those next 30 Regency books — may they fly from your fingertips and off the cyber and store shelves!

For the next few weeks, I’ll be posting mini-interviews with my fellow Cotillion Christmas Spirits authors. I thought it’d be fun to find out a little more about each author participating in the anthology, what draws them to Regency Romance, and what their favorite holiday memory or recipe might be. You’ll also learn a bit more about their story contribution to the anthology. Enjoy! Larissa

First up is author Barbara Miller…

LL: What draws you to write Regency romance?

Barbara: I wonder that myself.  Every time a Regency market dries up, I think, well that’s that. There’s no point in writing any more Regencies, yet I do anyway. I think it’s because characters are allowed, even expected, to be witty.  That can lighten even the darkest moments in a story. No matter how much I rant against the constraints of the Regency in women’s dress and social customs, I realize they form a comfortable structure on which to hang a story. I also like that the period was the heyday of the horse.

LL: “heyday of the horse” — I like that. Droppings aside, I often wish we all still rode horses instead of drive cars. Do you have a particular favorite story or Regency author?

Barbara: Georgette Heyer is my inspiration, and I think she reached her greatest form in The Infamous Army. It is actually more historical fiction than a simple Regency romance, but I read it over and over.

LL: I have to admit, the Heyer regencies I’ve tried have! been! so! sprinkled! with “!!!!!!!” I haven’t been able to make it past the first few pages, despite numerous attempts. I’ll try again with The Infamous Army if I run across it.

Do you have a favorite holiday recipe or memory you’d like to share with readers?

Barbara: This is my version of Lemon Curd.

1 cup sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

Three eggs

¼ cup canola oil

1 cup lemon juice

Mix sugar and cornstarch. Cream eggs into these dry ingredients to encapsulate the corn starch and prevent lumps. Then add the oil and lemon juice. Cook on medium high heat until it bubbles.  This can be eaten plain, used as a topping for cake, spread on toast, or stuffed into cream puffs.

LL: Cool! I love recipes made from scratch and this one is brand-new to me. I look forward to giving it a try!

What can you tell us about your story in Cotillion Christmas Spirits?

Barbara: I’ve always been fascinated by the Dickens Christmas Carol story in any of its many forms. In Dreams of Christmas I invented my own spirits of past, present, and Christmases yet to come to bring together a man and woman who almost met and just missed a chance at love. Lord Vance knows he can become a better person if only Sarah Pelham consents to marry him. She isn’t so sure, which puts them at odds. I had fun writing this story and hope readers enjoy it.

LL: How long have you been writing Regency? Do you have a favorite story of your own?

Barbara: I started writing Regencies in 1990. I did seven for Harlequin, four for Pocket and now four for Cerridwen. It’s like choosing between your children, but I have to say Music Master is my recent favorite since it took the most research. Of course I write other things: cozy mysteries, paranormal and YA, but I am so happy there is a still a market for Regencies.

LL: I confess to being something of a book miser. When we moved from the city to the country and I had to leave my favorite used bookstore behind, I started stocking up on regencies and historicals. I have a stack of those Harlequin regencies and now I want to dig through and see if you’re in it!

Do you have any other tidbits you’d like to share with readers?

Barbara: I live on a hundred and fifty acre farm that has inspired many of the outdoor settings for my Regencies. All I have to do is take a walk and I am transported to Amberly, Homeplace, Talltrees, Gaites Hall, Dorney Park, Byerly Hill, and all the other estates that fictionally reside in England.

I want to thank Barbara for spending some time here at Larissa’s Lair. I knew I was in great company when my story was selected for this anthology, and that’s only been cemented as I discovered more about Barbara and her writing. I encourage readers to visit her website and learn about her current projects.

Until next time!

Larissa (who hasn’t forgotten about posting more baking tips and recipes…but who  just completed her second Bottoms Up story– yes, Alyssa is thrilled–and who needs to rest away from the computer!)