Larissa Lyons: Kate, I’m happy to see you bright eyed and chipper on New Year’s. Guess that means you didn’t party too hard on all that spiked wassail! (Neither did Mr. Lyons or I…we were in bed shortly after 11 ) So what draws you to write Regency romance? What brought you to the genre?

Kate Dolan:  Like so many Regency readers, I’m drawn to stories in this setting because I absolutely love the books of Jane Austen. I also really enjoy “time-traveling” to the past and a well-written historical novel provides a great mini-vacation that you can’t get through a travel agent. While I find most historical settings interesting, I’m particularly drawn to settings involving Anglo culture probably because it is directly related to the culture we live in today and because my ancestors were products of that culture.

LL: Mini-vacation. I never thought of it that way, but it’s perfect! (Based on that theory, I’ve been “tripping” regularly for years!) Do you have a favorite story or Regency author?

Kate:  My favorite Jane Austen book is Persuasion. Unfortunately, Jane didn’t leave us nearly as many books as she should have! And try as we might, modern authors can’t quite capture the flavor of era – we are just too far removed. But I recently started reading the stories of Frances Burney and I’m finding them to be almost as compelling as the Jane Austen books.  One reason I enjoy these stories so much is that my favorite period of study is the 18th Century, and Burney’s stories were written and set in 1770s London.  I can see her as kind of a precursor to Jane Austen. Their stories share many of the same elements, but Jane refined the art a bit more, her characters and plots are a little less extreme and more true to life.

LL: Thanks for the new-author tip, I’ve never heard of Burney before and am always on the lookout for new sources of entertaining history. Your mention of Persuasion brings to mind The Lake House. In the movie, Persuasion is Sandra Bullock’s favorite book too, and it even helps shape the plot. I wonder if authors in days of yore had even an inkling of how long their stories would endure or the manner of entertainment (movies, television shows) they’d inspire. Speaking of things that endure, would you like to share a favorite holiday memory with readers?

Kate: One of my favorite Christmas stories has nothing at all to do with history – except my own. When I was about ten-years-old, I got up real early on Christmas morning to sneak a present downstairs for my mom. Later, when we were officially “allowed” to get up, my dad wouldn’t let us go downstairs until after he had the video camera set up and rolling. I thought he was crazy. I’d just walked through the living room and there was nothing worth making such a fuss over. But anyway, we waited until he was ready to go and then we walked down the stairs to discover two ten-speed bikes fully assembled in the living room. I had walked right past them earlier in the morning and not even noticed them! Now that was partly due to the dim light, but mostly it was a case of only seeing what I expected to see. I try to use that as a lesson to myself that I need to keep watch for the unexpected – or I might walk right by something wonderful again without even noticing.

LL: What a great present! I’m thankful you didn’t trip over those shiny ten-speeds, and what a good life lesson. My only lesson with bicycles is — don’t take off the training wheels until you’re truly ready! Now for some more fun holiday stuff (can you tell I’m not letting go of the holiday season a moment before I have to?) what can you share about your story in Cotillion Christmas Spirits?

Kate: My story, “Bride of Belznickel,” is a about a Christmas demon. Does that put you in the holiday spirit? Maybe for Halloween…but Christmas? In actuality, the story is more about family than anything else. Family tensions that smolder during the rest of the year tend to burst into flame around the holidays. In my story, the heroine is forced to spend Christmas far from home with her cousins. And since the cousins are insecure teenagers, they make themselves feel better by making fun of their visitor at every opportunity. To get even, the heroine tries to frighten them by making up a scary Christmas story.  At first, the cousins laugh. But when the story starts to come to life, it doesn’t seem quite so amusing.

I had a lot of fun writing this tale! It’s my first holiday story and my first ghost story.

LL: Hmmm…I notice you keep the hero’s part a secret. Guess that means readers need to learn for themselves whether he puts a stop to these demons stories, or supports them wholeheartedly. You’ve intrigued me! How long have you been writing Regency? Do you have a favorite story of your own?

Kate:  I started writing traditional Regencies at about the time the major publishers decided to discontinue them. Let’s just say I’m not doing this for the money.

I first came up with the start of a story, where a young ingénue is invited to London and set up with a round of wonderful engagements but instantly announces that she has to leave. Then I had to figure out why she had to leave. And I came up with a whole crazy family and a million reasons why she couldn’t ever do what she really wanted to. That first story was A Certain Want of Reason, so I guess I’d have to say that’s my favorite, since it started everything. I’m still writing about the crazy family and still enjoying them a great deal. There is a lot of truth in their mad ramblings!

LL: Those crazy families sure can suck us in, can’t they? As a writer, I’ve been surprised by more than one unexpectedly entertaining sibling who made an appearance in the story I was currently composing and immediately demanded their own. Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers?

Kate:  A lot of times, I feel like I’m not actually writing my stories at all. My characters take over and start talking and I just write it down.

If I were to say that any place else, I might find myself in a padded room with lots of scheduled medications. But instead I slap a byline on it and call it “work.”

Nice, huh?

LL: Excellent!  Ain’t it grand how very entertaining our own “crazy” minds work? I know as long as I have a pen and spiral notebook in hand, I’ll never be bored or complain of wasted time.

Something Kate didn’t mention, but I will after poking around on her site, is the wonderfully entertaining articles about history she posts periodically. Excepting the ugly bug picture (Kate, you have my permission — and encouragement — to put that article at the bottom of your page!) there’re many neat facts and stories accessible from her Living History page.

Next week, I’ll be interviewing the remaining contributor to the anthology — myself. Yes, Larissa interviews herself. It’s a strange job, but someone has to do it.

Have a wonderful start to the new year!

Last night was popcorn & organic chocolate — this lavender, milk chocolate concoction unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Almost like eating melt-in-your-mouth perfume. Amazing.

The combo of chocolate and popcorn always makes for a fabulous supper. Granted, she eats dinner before she comes over, but I save my appetite for the good stuff, always making sure to take my wheatgrass and enzymes before savoring our popcorn-and-chocolate bonanza (my vitamin and dietary habits crack her up).

We’ve been watching the James Bond movies in order. We started with Dr. No last year and have worked our way up to The Spy Who Loved Me (which I’ll post a review of when I get around to it) .

We’ve only skipped one month to catch James Coburn in Our Man Flint.

So hip are we.

So do you and any of your girl friends (or guy friends) have any neat “date” nights or traditions? Do share!