A MIDSUMMER'S MAGIC AND THE REGENCY ERA - INTERVIEW WITH MARY CHASE

Your A Midsummer’s Magic has been re-released as a kindle these days.  What do you think of e-books  as a writer and as a reader?

I’m of two minds about them. As a reader, I prefer paper; however, I have been travelling a great deal lately and carrying a Kindle with a hundred books loaded is a great convenience. I can also get a new book or a sequel within seconds, even while I’m in bed in my pajamas. I will still buy traditional books for my library, especially if they include illustrations, but there is definitely a place for e-books in my life.

A Midsummer’s Magic is a Regency romp.  What is it that you most appreciate of writing historical fiction?

I enjoy the excitement of research, the discipline of adhering to the correct language and cultural norms of a period, and living in this other world as I write.

DANCING LIKE JANE AUSTEN - GUEST POST BY LOUISE SMITH OF RHD

Louise Smith is my guest today to present her group performing dances from different historical periods, Renaissance Historical Dance and to tell us about her incredibly rewarding and entertaining activity.
Renaissance Historical Dance Society (RHD)  is based in Plymouth, Devon, and its members learn and perform dances from four historical periods - Medieval, Elizabethan, Stuart and Regency. Louise is here to tell us about their Regency performances.

As a historical dance group, we cover four separate periods of history, but some of our favourite dances are those from the Regency period.

Interestingly, lots of the dances classed as Regency and the ones you see in the films were actually danced before the Regency period. Minuets and waltzes started to come into favour during the true Regency, when Prince George was declared Prince Regent.

One of our favourite dances shows the transition particularly well – The Duke of Kent’s Waltz is danced as a long-way set, with men and women facing each other. However, there’s the opportunity for men and women to get rather close to each other, more so than in slightly earlier dances. Twice in each verse, men and women step in towards each other with their hands together, before the woman turns under the man’s arm to end up in the other line. You can imagine this truly being a lovers’ dance, with the chance to gaze into your partner’s eyes and get physically closer than would have been allowed in any other polite circumstance. One lady in our group says the bit she enjoys the most about this dance is ‘flirting with her eyes’!

The Duke of Kent’s Waltz is a favourite for another reason too – it’s the only Regency dance we can think of where each pair gets to lead up the centre of the dance, making it really distinctive and good fun too!

ONE THING NEW INTERVIEWS THE AUSTEN HERO OF THE DAY - PROFESSOR MICHAEL CHWE

There’s a famous scene in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in which Mr. Darcy’s aunt, the imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh, tries -- and fails, spectacularly -- to browbeat the heroine, Elizabeth Bennett, into promising not to marry Mr. Darcy. For Austen fans, Elizabeth’s refusal to make such a promise is just more evidence how smart, strong and sassy a heroine she is.  

For UCLA political science professor Michael Chwe, it’s an example of something else altogether: strategic game theory, or the study of how people optimize choice when interacting with others. In his new book, Jane Austen: Game Theorist, Chwe aims to show that Austen, in fact, was one of the earliest game strategists.

In the case of Pride and Prejudice, Chwe says Lady Catherine’s fatal

flaw lies in her failure to recognize that Elizabeth’s refusal will actually spur Mr. Darcy, who still pines for Elizabeth, into action. As Darcy tells Elizabeth after the fact: “It taught me to hope as I had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before. I knew enough of your disposition to be certain that, had you been absolutely, irrevocably decided against me, you would have acknowledged it to Lady Catherine, frankly and openly." Chwe says this example of Lady Catherine’s “cluelessness” shows how she is ultimately outsmarted as Elizabeth and Darcy marry.

I asked Chwe how Austen’s strategic thinking is applicable today and to share his favorite example of what he calls “strategic manipulations” -- examples of how her heroines outsmart others -- in her work

(go on reading at One Thing New)

AUTHOR GUEST POST - LANA LONG: WHY I LOVE JANE AUSTEN

As a devoted fan of young adult novels herself, Lana Long is thrilled to be gracing the YA world with her first novel, Finding Favor. Many years of daydreaming and several writing classes and workshops have contributed to the development of Finding Favor as well as to Lana’s inevitable future books. Through her experiences at Lighthouse Writers in Denver, the Big Sur Writing Workshop in California, and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference, Lana has learned an amazing amount about writing novels. Although writing serves as a relaxing process for Lana, she is also grounded by her family, by her work as a church treasurer, and by volunteering at her kids’ elementary school. She hopes that her books provide readers with the same entertainment she herself finds in YA novels. If you enjoy a good coming-of-age story featuring enthralling characters, check out Finding Favor and read more of Lana’s thoughts at www.lanalongbooks.com. 

Today Lana is our guest to share her love for Jane Austen! Welcome her to our online club!

I can sum it up in one word: escapism.  Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy reading books that deal with hard-hitting issues, issues that are real and difficult, but for the most part watching one nightly newscast can provide enough reality to last a few weeks. When it’s late at night, the kids are sleeping, the dog is sleeping, the husband is sleeping, everything is real quiet and the day’s activities are slipping into memory, I want to spend my last waking minutes in a world that’s interesting, satisfying, and nice. That is why I love Jane Austen.

 

ADAPTING NORTHANGER ABBEY - GUEST POST BY NOEL BYRNE (BOX TALE SOUP)

When we first set out to adapt Northanger Abbey we didn't think too much about the potential difficulties, which was probably a good thing! Austen has so many fans around the world, and you have to respect that in your treatment of the material. It was our enjoyment of the original novel that made us want to adapt it in the first place, and I hope our fondness for Austen's writing comes across in the show. I think some people may look at the production photos and assume it's some kind of spoof, which it absolutely isn't. We use puppets help us tell the story, but they're not remotely incongruous. In fact, thanks to the wonderful way puppetry works, you quickly forget that they're puppets at all, and simply see the characters they're playing.

Fortunately there's a lot of dialogue in the book, some of which can be used verbatim, but then you have to decide how you're going to bridge the gaps and tell the rest of the story. We felt very strongly that the authorial voice was an important part of the novel and a big part of Austen's style – even today her wit feels remarkably fresh and we didn't want to lose any of that, so we ended up with a narrator character. He's quite good fun in fact, and allows a playful connection with the audience too.

MARIA GRACE, ALL THE APPEARANCE OF GOODNESS: GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Given Good Principles is a three part series that explores what Jane Austen’s’ Pride and Prejudice’ might have looked like if Darcy’s pride and Elizabeth’s prejudice no longer played a central role in their relationship. For both, mentors and situations provide opportunities for reflection and growth, making them very different people when they meet.Our beloved characters remain true to their essentials while they make different and arguably better decisions throughout.

In the first volume of the Given Good Principles series, Darcy’s Decision, Fitzwilliam Darcy faces the challenges presented, when, in the midst of dealing with Wickham’s attempt to compromise Georgiana, he discovers his father’s darkest secrets. With the help of his mentor, Mr. Bradley, Darcy struggles to overcome some of the blackest moments of his life.

In Volume 2, The Future Mrs. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet struggles to reign in her sister when the regiment comes to visit Meryton.  To her shock, she learns that Lydia  has endangered the reputation of the entire family and it is up to her, with the help of her Aunt Gardiner’s advice and Mr. Pierce, the local curate, to keep her family from social ruin.

AUSTEN INSPIRED MOVIES: SOMETHING GOOD, SOMETHING USELESS

It's Friday again. How was your week? Mine was filled with chores, school work, deadlines but with a bit of  Jane Austen. As you know, I love watching movies, especially romantic comedies. If they are Austen–related or Austen-inspired, I literally can’t resist having a look, even when they are introduced to me as not very good. I hardly ever like what I insist on seeing after hearing negative comments,  but I feel the duty to give everything Austen a chance,  so I add  it to my “to be seen” list. This week I've watched one of these films and re-watched a good one I like.

AUSTEN ON STAGE: "FITZWILLIAM LOVES LIZZY" - MEET MAGGIE HERSKOWITZ, PROTAGONIST AND PLAYWRIGHT OF THE SHOW

Maggie Herskowitz came to love Jane Austen thanks to her best friend and being an actress and a playwright has now decided to make one of her dreams come true: to be Elizabeth Bennet in an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for the stage. She'll be in a very special version that she herself wrote: Fitzwilliam loves Lizzy. Discover more about the show that is going to debut soon in New York City reading Maggie's guest post. If only I didn't live so far ... 

It all started with an apartment in Boston. I shared it with my best friend, a girl whose sister’s first name is “Jane” and whose middle name is “Austen.” No joke. This is the environment into which I was thrust by association with her family. By the time I lived with her nearly two years, I knew more about the Brontes, Emily Dickinson, and Miss Jane Austen than I would have ever thought possible . . . more than I think I ever wanted to know. But she had definitely piqued my interest and brought an author at the edges of my mind to the forefront of my awareness.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS, A BIT OF PREJUDICE AND ... WOW! THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES!

I'm stunned at how little I've learnt from reading Pride and Prejudice so many times in my life. Why do I resist the main lesson in it? Never trust first impressions, they may be pretty deceitful and often wrong. But,  nope, I go on and on making the same old mistake. 

Darcy & Lizzie Bennet

I give something, which I already think I won't like,  a quick look and then I dismiss it before even starting actually getting the gist of it and this happens, you know,  because of my  tendency to pre-conceptions. However,  like Lizzie,  I 'm ready to recognize my mistakes, reconsider and fall deeply in love with "what" I proudly rejected at first.

The "what" I'm thinking of is the popular Youtube series "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries" , for  the discovery of which I must thank the persistent warm recommendations of my Janeite pal Monica, who wrote me more than once asking me why I wasn't watching and writing about it.

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... KATHLEEN ANDERSON & SUSAN JONES, AUTHORS OF JANE AUSTEN'S GUIDE TO THRIFT

Welcome at My Jane Austen Book Club, Kathleen and  Susan! I'm always really glad when I find new Janeites to share with. Then, if they happen to be teachers of English literature like me, I become very curious. So, my first question is linked to my job, our job. Do you teach Jane Austen and what do you think young people can learn from her?

Susan: I do teach Jane Austen, especially in upper level courses where students need to connect with excellent writing.  Austen models the level of perfection a writer can achieve through scrupulous review and revision:  sentence clarity and style, precise word choice, understanding of audience, to name a few.  You don’t reach millions of readers over two centuries without doing your homework in those areas.

Kathleen: We incorporate Austen novels into our courses whenever possible.  We all have so much to learn from Jane Austen.  Especially young people can become more sensitized to effective, grammatical, elegant language by absorbing her beautiful, witty narrative style.  Moreover, all of the novels emphasize the importance of the feelings of others and of the preservation of the social fabric, a beneficial reminder to all of us.  We often forget that we live in community.

KIM IZZO'S "THE JANE AUSTEN MARRIAGE MANUAL" TO BE ADAPTED FOR THE SCREEN

Do you remember Kim Izzo, journalist and writer, author of The Jane Austen Marriage Manual who guestposted here at My Jane Austen Book Club sharing the report of her meeting with the one and only Mr Darcy, Colin Firth? No? Yes? Well, anyway, if you've missed it, have a look HERE. 

I  immediately thought she was a very lucky lady on that account, but today my conviction has even been made greater. Kim Izzo IS a very lucky, talented woman and her Austenesque marriage manual is going to be adapted . 

Canadian film producer David Cormican announces the acquisition of the rights to bring  Kim Izzo’s debut novel The Jane Austen Marriage Manual to the screen. 

Kim’s charming and witty first novel, The Jane Austen Marriage Manual – a must-read for Austen die-hards – explores the modern day love story with a meaningful message.  Izzo tells the story of Kate Shaw, an acting beauty editor at a fashion magazine who is about to turn forty.  

AUTHOR GUEST POST - P. O. DIXON, FRIENDSHIP AND THE PANGS OF DISAPPOINTED LOVE + GIVEAWAY OF "LOVE WILL GROW"

I'm very glad to welcome P.O. Dixon back to My Jane Austen Book Club. Her new book has just been released and she's here with a new great post to give the you the chance to win your own kindle copy of Love Will Grow. Read P.O.'s piece and take your chances in the rafflecopter form below. The giveaway is open internationally and ends on 27th March. 

“Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”

This quotation from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey aptly illustrates the theme of Love Will Grow. The premise of the story is one of love’s disappointments and the lengths one is willing to go to remedy said sufferings in service of a friend. Love Will Grow begins with Miss Elizabeth and her intimate friend Charlotte Collins. In keeping with Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte is just the sort of friend one can always count on to speak the unvarnished truth. Who would not benefit from wise counsel from time to time? Of course, Elizabeth tends to trust her own opinion over that of others. She considers her friend Charlotte merely intends to tease her by implying that Mr. Darcy admires her.

Then there is the matter of Mr. Darcy and his particular friends. As regards Darcy’s relationship with Colonel Fitzwilliam, I like to suppose the two are more than cousins but rather the best of friends. Although, I must admit the colonel’s boasting of Darcy’s role in separating his friend Bingley from a young lady in Hertfordshire gives me pause. Surely he must have had some inkling that Elizabeth might know the family of the young lady whom Darcy found objectionable. What was he thinking? Without calling his motives into question, I find the colonel’s verbosity is not exactly the truest indication of a friend.

COMPETITION - WIN JANE AUSTEN LITERARY WALKING TOURS IN LYME REGIS

© Literary Lyme Walking Tours 

Have we got the competition for you! For all you Jane Austen Persuasion fans, we have got the chance to visit Lyme Regis, where Persuasion is set and go on a Jane Austen tour of the town.

Jane Austen visited Lyme Regis in England on at least two separate occasions and set Persuasion, her last novel, in the town. On the Jane Austen tour we follow in the footsteps of Jane Austen and her characters around Lyme Regis. During the Jane Austen tour we take a walk along the Cobb to see the steps from which Louisa Musgrove fell on the famous harbour wall and visit the inns mentioned in Persuasion. We see the house in which she stayed and enjoy the pleasure of Lyme Regis's views, knowing that you are seeing the same sights as Jane Austen saw and loved.

REGINA JEFFERS AT MY JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB - THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF MR DARCY BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY

Welcome to a friend of My Jane Austen Book Club and a very special guest, Regina Jeffers, on her blog tour for the launch of THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF MR DARCY. As usual, Regina has granted us a very interesting piece, this time a thoroughly researched article about the historical context of her new book. Thanking her very much, I invite you to read it and then to take your chances to win an autographed copy of the Regina Jeffers's new book in the rafflecopter form below. The giveaway contest is open worldwide and ends on March  21st.

With the onset of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the idea of a European Grand Tour for English aristocratic class lost its appeal. Instead, English men and women turned their sights on popular British destinations, such as Brighton, Margate, Lyme, and Weymouth. In England, inland spas, such as Bath, were the models of health spas like Lourdes. Among the early fashionable Georgian-Regency resorts (from approximately 1789 – 1815) was one favored by King George III, but Mudeford never achieved the popularity of the other tourist destinations.

Some jokingly account the lack of development to the Christchurch district’s name. Mudeford was then part of southwest Hampshire. The idea of “mud” was likely not very appealing to the public. Also to the area’s detriment, Highcliffe was not adopted as a village name until 1892. Before that time, the local hamlets were known as Chuton, Newtown, and Slop Pond. The district’s other name was Sandhills.

In the summer of 1789, George III arrived in Weymouth to partake of the healing waters, a good sign for a concerned English population, which saw its King as a man going slowly mad. Each day, during his visit, as the King partook of his royal plunge into the salt waters, a band played “God Save the King.” Dips in the “curative waters” at Weymouth helped popularize the idea of “spa” towns.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... RETURN TO LONGBOURN BY SHANNON WINSLOW

The Book

What will happen to the Longbourn family when Mr. Bennet dies? - seeing that his estate is entailed away from the female line.  The question was first posed by Jane Austen herself 200 years ago, in the opening chapter of Pride and Prejudice, and it’s still hanging there unanswered. Shannon Winslow settles the matter once and for all in this next installment of her P&P saga. Return to Longbourn picks up the story a few years after the close of The Darcys of Pemberley, and it centers on Mary, Kitty, and the new heir to Longbourn (the unappealing Mr. William Collins having met with a premature end in the earlier book).

With Mr. Tristan Collins on his way from America to claim his property, Mrs. Bennet hatches her plan. The heir to Longbourn simply must marry one of her daughters. Nothing else will do. But will it be Mary or Kitty singled out for this dubious honor? When the gentleman in question turns out to be quite a catch after all, the contest between the sisters is on. Which of them will be the next mistress of Longbourn? Or will the dark horse in the race win out in the end?

Darcy, Elizabeth, and the rest of the Pride and Prejudice cast are back as the socially awkward Mary emerges from the shadows to take center stage in this captivating chapter of the Bennet family’s story.  

AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY - ALEXA ADAMS, SECOND GLANCES: A TALE OF LESS PRIDE AND PREJUDICE CONTINUES

I’m so excited to be once again at My Jane Austen Book Club, especially to discuss my new book, Second Glances: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice Continues. I thank my always gracious hostess, just as warm and welcoming as she was almost four years ago when we first became known to one another online. At the time, I had just completed my first novel, and I had no idea what to do with it. The very writing of First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice came as something of a surprise. The idea arrived suddenly - what would have happened if Darcy and Elizabeth danced at the Meryton Assembly? - and in a month I had written the first draft. I intended the story as a purely selfish entertainment, but after reading it to my husband and listening to his outbursts of appreciative laughter, I had to know if others might find the same joy in my work.  Few things in my life have ever given me the satisfaction I discovered in learning that I could make others laugh. In Second Glances, I’ve tried to replicate the comic tone of the first novel, but its writing was a very different process. I began the book in 2010 and struggled with it for two years before deleting nearly everything I had written and starting over again from scratch.

AUSTEN ON STAGE - SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL : INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER, MARCIA MILGROM DODGE.

The Denver Center Theatre Company has assembled a stellar group of Broadway performers to bring Jane Austen's beloved romance to life in SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL, with book and lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow and music by Neal Hampton. It  will receive its world premiere production April 5. Many thanks to its director and choreographer, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, for accepting to answer some questions about her work, Jane Austen and Sense & Sensibility.  

-        Your  Sense & Sensibility The Musical will receive its world premiere production soon,  on April 5th.  Does it take more sense or more sensibility to bring such a beloved novel to life on stage? 

(picture courtesy of Marcia Milgrom Dodge)

-          What a great quest­­ion!  It takes sense to pull together all of the technical aspects of creating a production of this size and it takes lots of sensibility to dig into the relationships of the characters.

-           How different is Sense and Sensibility from anything you’ve worked on so far?

-          It’s the most romantic show I’ve ever worked on. 

-          You’ve assembled a stellar group of Broadway performers for this grand musical.  Can you tell us something about them ?

-          Sure.  Our sisters will be played by two exciting young leading ladies: Stephanie Rothenberg (Elinor) and Mary Michael Patterson (Marianne) who bring such beauty and vitality to these roles.  Our trio of suitors: Nick Verine (Edward), Jeremiah James (Willoughby) and Robert Petkoff (Col. Brandon) are all handsome leading men with enormous charisma and depth of feeling.  Mrs. Jennings and Sir John are played by Ruth Gorttschall and Ed Dixon, two of the livliest Broadway performers who last appeared together on Broadway in Mary Poppins.  And rounding out the company are the versatile Joanna Glushak (Mrs. Dashwood and Mrs. Ferrars), the saucy Stacie Bono (Lucy), the hilarious Liz Pearce & Andrew Kober (Fanny & John Dashwood), Daniella Dalli, Preston Dyar, Kate Fisher, Jessica Hershberg, Steven Strafford, Josh Walden and Jason Watson who play Society People, Servants, Country Gentry and (with a few surprises) everyone in between!

JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY TO CELEBRATE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRIDE & PREJUDICE - MARCH 15

The Greater Louisville Region of the Jane Austen Society invites you to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's masterpiece, Pride & Prejudice, on March 15, 7-9 p.m. in the Visitors' Center of Locust Grove.

The evening will include a trivia contest with prizes, film clips of various versions of Pride & Prejudice and discussion of favorite scenes, tea and scones, and a chance to meet Mr. Darcy!

Anyone interested is welcome to attend and asked to RSVP  to Locust Grove at 502-897-9845.  Attendees are encouraged to wear Regency attire. Information will also be available about the 6th Annual Jane Austen Festival, July 20 & 21 to be held at Locust Grove.

Locust Grove is located at 561 Blankenbaker Lane (between Brownsboro Rd & River Rd), Louisville, Kentucky.   For more information about the Greater Louisville Region of the Jane Austen Society, call Bonny Wise, Regional Coordinator at 502-727-3917 or visit www.jasnalouisville.com

IN MY MAILBOX: LOVELY JANE AUSTEN STAMPS AND NOT ONLY

Every time I find a packet waiting for me in the mail box, I got excited, long to unwrap it and to discover its content. You may well figure the scene out thinking of a child eagerly waiting to open up his Christmas gifts. 

 If the packet happens to come  from abroad and it seems to contain a new book, I'm doubly excited and long even more to discover its content. 

I happen to have a few very good, generous friends, blogomates, readers who from time to time make me very, very happy with little (or big!) unexpected gifts.  They are so kind to me, they make me feel special,  but I'm not sure to deserve all their generosity. I'm always so terribly busy trying to keep my 3 blogs going, coping with school work, and with my many other chores,  that I feel I must sound rather distracted, distant, if not rude or ungrateful. 

This is why I wanted to thank these very special, very generous friends publicly and to share with you the joy of receiving these incredible gifts I'll  really treasure.

TO ENGLAND ON THE FOOTPRINTS OF JANE AUSTEN - Q & A POST WITH LAUREL ANN NATTRESS AND SYRIE JAMES

Laurel Ann Nattress (a life-long acolyte of Jane Austen, the editor of the short story anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It, and Austenprose.com,)  and Syrie James (bestselling author of eight critically acclaimed novels) are going to travel back in time on a very special quest in search of Jane Austen.  They will  in fact travel to England and visit the homes and estates of Jane Austen as well as famous film locations used for Austen adaptations. Do you wish to join them?  Read about their exciting  plans...

Thanks a lot to both of you, Laurel Ann and Syrie, for being my guests again here at My Jane Austen Book Club. Useless to say I envy you!  How excited are you to go on your September trip to England?

Laurel Ann  : I am thrilled beyond belief! A Jane Austen Tour: Seascapes and Landscapes is indeed a dream come true for me, and sharing the experince with my good friend and author Syrie James makes it even more special. When Maria Stefanopoulos invited us to craft the itinerary to our liking, it was akin to the moment in Pride and Prejudice when Elizabeth Bennet writes to her Aunt Gardiner,“give a loose to your fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject will afford.” Amazingly, this Anglophile has never been to England before, so this excursion through Ingenious Travel is the perfect opportunity.

 Syrie: It has been five years since I last visited England, when I researched my novel The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen--and I had such a fabulous time, I can’t wait to return! We hope we have designed the ultimate Janeite fantasy trip! Wespecially requested all the locations on this tour, because they were such important places in Jane Austen’s own life. We will literally be walking in Jane’s footsteps—and for a Janeite,it is an awe-inspiring and unforgettable experience!