THE THREE COLONELS BY JACK CALDWELL - GIVEAWAY WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT & BOOK REVIEW

Last week Jack Caldwell was here at My Jane Austen Book Club as my guest , one of the many  stops in his blog tour for the launch of The Three Colonels - Jane Austen Fighting Men (see guest post). On that occasion Sourcebooks granted you readers of this blog two copies of the book, 1 e-book version and 1 paperback. The giveaway contest ends today and I'm going to reveal the names of the two winners in a while. But  first,  I'd like to share my review of the book with you, since I was lucky enough to read  it meanwhile. 

Did I like The Three Colonels?YES! One of the best Austen sequels I've read so far!

MY REVIEW

Jack Caldwell contributes  a male outlook on Jane Austen World. His  The Three Colonels – Jane Austen Fighting Men  is sequel to Sense and Sensibility  and Pride and Prejudice with hints to Tolstoj's War and Peace. It also  includes  characters from  other major novels by Austen as well as new ones created by Caldwell himself.  What Jane Austen had not even hinted at – the Napoleonic Wars – Jack Caldwell  brings forward  in this brilliant tale set in one of England’s most challenging  moments .

Bonaparte, prisoner  in Elba, succeeds in escaping  and marches on Paris .  King Louis flees the country so Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French Republic. It is war again and the country is not ready.  Lord Wellington needs his best men and they must urgently answer the dreaded call.

Colonel Brandon will have to answer that call, for example. He has long been inactive and is now a very happy husband to Marianne and proud father of a baby girl, Joy.  He is one of the few officers Lord Wellington trusts in his enterprise to stop Bonaparte once and forever.   Useless to say  Willoughby steps forward  on hearing Marianne is alone at Delaford Manor.

Colonel  John Buford  - a new fascinating character with the reputation of being a libertine entertaining married ladies -  meets, wooes  and marries  Caroline Bingley.  She used to be rude, grasping, selfish and cold, but ... love can do magic. When she becomes Lady Buford she totally transforms herself  into a generous woman in love.  At first she probably  marries John Buford  for his position and for his charm, while he marries Caroline for her good looks and her  brilliant personality.  Nonetheless their mènage  will be filled with  intriguing, passionate and even highly dramatic moments.   

Since Lady Catherine De Bourgh has estranged her other nephew,  Fitzwilliam Darcy both  as her trustee at  Rosings Parks  and as her favourite elegible husband to her daughter Anne, Richard Fitzwilliam  is coping with the hard task to  substitute  his cousin in those duties.  While trying to save his Aunt’s property from total failure in a period of  deep economic crisis, he realizes  he has new feelings for Miss De Bourgh. Anne’s health has greatly improved in the last  years and she has gained energy and charm.  Colonel Fitzwilliam’s  new plans and affections will have  a hard time since, suddenly,  he has to leave for Belgium and meet other  duties. 

Even Wickham’s regiment must join Wellington’s Army but  he  doesn’t like the idea of going to war.  He hadn’t joined the army to fight in a war and he  blames Darcy for his unfortunate destiny. 

The historical scenario described by Jack Caldwell moves from  London to Vienna for the  1815 Congress . He deals with politics, of course,  but  he doesn’t  spoil the excitement and glamour of the social gatherings  nor renounces to use the typical  Austenesque light touch.

As Lady Beatrice Wellesley, cousin to Wellington,  says to Caroline Bingley (now Lady Buford) :  “ It is far different from the London society or even the Court of St James. Here empires may rise or fall. Wars may break out or be ended. This world attracts a certain type of individual – hard clever people who are used to having their own way and know how to get it”

This novel was a delightful discovery . Different from other sequels I’ve read , yet in the trend of the Austenesque  vogue, it champions love, loss, redemption, duty and war . It is a real page turner and a must-read for lovers of Austen - inspired novels and historical fiction in general.  

Are you ready to discover who the winners of last week's giveaway contest are? Here we go, then! 
The paperback of The Three Colonels is GranJan  while the e-book version goes to Luthien84! 
Congratulations to both of you. I'm sure you'll enjoy your new read! Many thanks to Jack Caldwell for being my guest and to Sourcebooks publishers for granting the copies for the giveaway contest

JACK CALDWELL, THE THREE COLONELS - GUEST POST AND GIVEAWAY

My Jane Austen Book Club is glad to welcome  Jack Caldwell on his blog tour for the launch of his second brilliant Austenesque novel, THE THREE COLONELS. After Pemberley Ranch, which reimagined Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as a heart-pounding western romance, Jack Caldwell presents his new book revolving around Jane Austen's charming fighting heroes. Here is his guest post. Enjoy and leave your comments + e-mail address to win a copy (see below the post for the giveaway details)

Hello, everybody, Jack Caldwell here. I’d like to thank Maria for the opportunity to visit with you today to talk about my latest book, THE THREE COLONELS – Jane Austen’s Fighting Men from Sourcebooks Landmark.

THE THREE COLONELS revolves around the lives and loves of several Austen military characters. For my novel, I have Colonel Fitzwilliam, Captain Wickham, and Major Denny from Pride & Prejudice, and Colonel Brandon from Sense & Sensibility. I’ve created my own officer—Colonel Sir John Buford—and have my men interact with historical figures, such as the Duke of Wellington.

There is no romance without the ladies, and this novel stars Marianne Brandon (Sense & Sensibility), Anne de Bourgh, and Caroline Bingley (Pride & Prejudice). Major supporting roles go to, from P&P, Fitzwilliam, Elizabeth and Georgiana Darcy, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mary Bennet, Mrs. and Mrs. Collins, and Mrs. Jenkinson. From S&S we have Elinor and Edward Ferrars, and John Willoughby.

To make an epic story short, I send Jane Austen’s fighting men to war—to be precise, Waterloo. Why the heck did I do that? Because the Napoleonic Wars were an integral part of the Regency period.

As I say in the introduction to THE THREE COLONELS, by 1814 Great Britain had been in almost continual war with the various governments of France for seventy-four years—the Kingdom of France, the French Republic, and the French Empire. Thousands fought and thousands died. During Jane Austen’s lifetime (1775-1817), some of the most important battles in British history took place. Saratoga.Yorktown.Saint Vincent.The Nile.Trafalgar.Talavera.Vitoria. Waterloo.

Britain fought France for three reasons: colonies, trade, and political stability. Let me briefly review them.

Since the discovery of the New World, the major European nations scrambled to control as much of the resources as possible. France and Great Britain, the two great naval powers, were in immediate loggerheads over North America. India was another source of conflict.Colonies offered trade—exotic foods and raw materials for the new factories—and a dumping ground for criminals, political agitators, and other “undesirables.”

Trade with Europe was also vital. The countries might have beenin political conflict from time to time, but trade between them was necessity for survival. When Napoleon instituted the Continental System—a blockade—in an effort to bring Britain to its knees, the country had to fight.

Political stability was also important. The King of France helped the American revolutionaries not because he believed in American independence but to hurt and destabilize Britain. Indeed, the new United States inspired political change in France, and helped trigger the French Revolution and the king’s execution. The French Republic turned homicidal, intent on bestowing its brand of revolutionary government on all of Europe. Britain believed in reform and change, but not that much change. They fought to contain the agents of the Reign of Terror, and later the self-styled Emperor Napoleon, who had his own ideas about the governance of Europe (under his own thumb).

Jane Austen was an intelligent woman, who had the means to know what was occurring in the world. Indeed, several of her brothers served in the Royal Navy, one achieving the rank of admiral. Many of her characters were military officers. And yet, Austen never talked about the wars. She commented on the politics in the navy in both Mansfield Park and Persuasion, but she did not go into what the navy did—fight battles.

I am certain one reasonable reason was that war was considered an “unsuitable” subject for ladies’ conversation. That was left to the gentlemen, who after dinner retreated to their smoking room for cigars and politics. However, ladies could certainly read, and dispatches from the wars were in the newspapers. Not every woman read only the society pages.

There was another force going on—a disconnect between the struggles around the world and the everyday concerns of the home front. The war was over there—not here. With no fighting occurring in Britain, the people concentrated on more mundane subjects: family, work, chores, entertaining, and gossip. All this is important, and a very different experience than what was going on in Europe. There, war was in your back yard. It could not be ignored.

The Continental System was inconvenient for the civilians, because it was difficult to impossible to get goods from Europe. The French also threatened trade with the Americas. People carried on, because prices remained stable—the blockade was actually good for domestic production. In fact, things were worse after the war—falling prices and poor harvests triggered unrest.

It is uncomfortable to acknowledge that war affects society for evil AND good, but it does. Just like the sacrifices of World War II saved the world from the evils of Nazism, Britain’s expenditure of blood and treasure helped prevent Napoleon Bonaparte from conquering all of Europe. The nation could not have survived such an event.

The efforts of men like Colonels Brandon, Fitzwilliam, and Buford saved the Regency.

Jack Caldwell

---

About the Author - Jack Caldwell is an author, amateur historian, professional economic developer, playwright, and like many Cajuns, a darn good cook. Born and raised in the Bayou County of Louisiana, Jack and his wife, Barbara, are Hurricane Katrina victims who now make the upper Midwest their home.

His nickname—The Cajun Cheesehead—came from his devotion to his two favorite NFL teams: the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers. (Every now and then, Jack has to play the DVD again to make sure the Saints really won in 2010.)

Always a history buff, Jack found and fell in love with Jane Austen in his twenties, struck by her innate understanding of the human condition. Jack uses his work to share his knowledge of history. Through his characters, he hopes the reader gains a better understanding of what went on before, developing an appreciation for our ancestors' trials and tribulations.

When not writing or traveling with Barbara, Jack attempts to play golf. A devout convert to Roman Catholicism, Jack is married with three grown sons.

Jack's blog postings—The Cajun Cheesehead Chronicles—appear regularly at Austen Authors.

Web site – Ramblings of a Cajun in Exile – http://webpages.charter.net/jvcla25/

Blog – Austen Authors – http://austenauthors.net/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-Caldwell-author/132047236805555

Giveaway  


Leaving your comments + your e-mail address below this post you can get a chance to win one (1) physical copy and one (1) e-book copy of THE THREE COLONELS from Sourcebooks Landmark. (Note: Only US addresses are eligible for physical copy, so please add the country you are writing from in your comment). This giveaway ends on April 10th when the winners' names are announced.

GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY : THE COMPANION OF HIS FUTURE LIFE BY JACK CALDWELL

Hello, everybody, Jack Caldwell here. It’s been a while since I’ve been here. Last time I talked about my grand sequel to Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility, THE THREE COLONELS – Jane Austen’s Fighting Men.

Today, I’m going to introduce my latest book, a comic re-imagining of Pride & Prejudice called THE COMPANION OF HIS FUTURE LIFE.

Some of you may recognize this title. It was on the fan fiction boards several year ago, and was warmly received. For those unfamiliar with the book, I’ll give you a short synopsis.

One of the great "what-ifs" among Pride & Prejudice aficionados is: If Mr. Collins married Mary Bennet instead of Charlotte Lucas, how would that influence Mr. Darcy's dogged pursuit of the elusive Elizabeth?

I take that thought and run with it. In my story, Mr. Collins decides that a pretty and pious Mary would make him a better wife than a lovely and lively Lizzy. Because Mary is now living in Hunsford as Mrs. Collins, Jane joins Elizabeth visiting Rosings Park at Easter. Yep, Jane’s in Hunsford, too, right when Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam visit. Does that mean Jane is there when Colonel Big-Mouth spills the beans about Mr. Bingley? What do you think?

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... JACK CALDWELL + DOUBLE GIVEAWAY

 Jack Caldwell is an author, amateur historian, professional economic developer, playwright, and like many Cajuns, a darn good cook. Born and raised in the Bayou County of Louisiana, Jack and his wife, Barbara, are Hurricane Katrina victims, and now make the upper Midwest their home. Always a history buff, Jack found and fell in love with Jane Austen in his twenties, struck by her innate understanding of the human condition.

 Jack uses his work to share his knowledge of history. Through his characters, he hopes the reader gains a better understanding of what went on before, developing an appreciation for our ancestors' trials and tribulations. A devout convert to Roman Catholicism, Jack is married with three grown sons.

As usual, in our "Talking Jane Austen with ... " sessions there's a great giveaway for My Jane Asuten Book Club readers! Leave your comments and e-mail addresses below and two of you will have the chance to win a copy of Jack Caldwell PEMBERLEY RANCH!!! The giveaway is open to US and Canada readers only and will end next Wednesday 3rd November. Enjoy our interview and good luck to all of you!

I'm so glad to host the first man ever on My Jane Austen Book Club. It’s such a rare event! Well, let’s say unique so far.  Quoting from a blogpost of yours … it takes a real man to write historical romance … so please, tell us all how and when you started doing it.

 Maria Grazia , thank you for inviting me on My Jane Austen Book Club.  It’s a pleasure talking with you.

I first read Jane Austen back in the early 1980’s, and I’ve always been fascinated by history.  About ten years ago, I came upon The Republic of Pemberley, the first of many Jane Austen fan fiction sites on the Internet I would visit in the years to follow.  I had no idea that fan fiction existed, and I enjoyed reading what others did with Miss Austen’s beloved characters.  By 2005, my muse had convinced me to take a stab at it, combining my love of Austen with my deep interest in history.  My first story, The Three Colonels, was very well received, and will be published by Sourcebooks in the spring of 2012.  My muse was aflame and I have been writing ever since.

  What do you particularly appreciate in Jane Austen’s work?

 From the beginning, I was struck by Miss Austen’s understanding of the human condition.  She knew how men and women acted and talked, admittedly in her version of the dialogue of Regency England.  From the beginning of time, men and woman have been involved in the great game of love and understanding.  The timeliness of her stories is as real today as it was two hundred years ago.

Also, as a reader, I admire Miss Austen’s genius in turning a phrase.  Is there any opening sentence better than, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”?

  As a man, which of her fascinating heroines would you be more pleased to meet and woo?

 Ha!  As I already have met, wooed, and married the perfect woman—my dear wife Barbara—I can’t say I’m fascinated by any one of Miss Austen’s heroines.  Rather, I would say that I admire the wit and brightness of Elizabeth Bennet, the quiet sensibleness of Elinor Dashwood, and the steadfastness of Anne Elliot.  Characteristics that are found in my lovely wife.

Well, you are very lucky Jack. You can say you’ve found a typical Austen ending for your own life! A marriage of love with a real Austen heroine. Which of her heroes do you feel resembles you the most?

I would like to say Fitzwilliam Darcy, but Barbara would say that I’m more like Frederick Wentworth.  Hard working and loyal, but a bit hard-headed.

 

How do you explain such a great success for everything Austen these days?

 Obviously, the films help.  But I think there is a desire to look back at a simpler time.  Plus, Miss Austen wrote about such wonderful, real characters.  Readers just want to continue hanging out with them.

 Your Austenesque novel Pemberley Ranch  is going to be released in December and it is such an original, different interpretation of our beloved P&P.  You moved the Bennets and their adventures both in space and time.   Tell us something more about it, I’m so curious!

Pride and Prejudice is based upon misconceptions the lead characters have about each other over class, behavior, and motivations.  By moving the story to Reconstruction-era Texas, I’ve kicked the onflict up a few notches.

In my novel, Pemberley Ranch, Beth Bennet is a farm girl from Ohio whose only brother died while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.  After the war, the family moved to Rosings, Texas to get a new start.  There, she meets and befriends a fellow Yankee, George Whitehead, who works for the occupation government.  She also comes in contact with the reclusive Will Darcy, ex-Confederate officer and owner of the largest spread in the county, Pemberley Ranch.  Beth is both attracted and repulsed by Darcy, for she had vowed to hate Southerners for causing her brother’s death.  Whitehead knows Darcy, and his tales of the former Rebel only intensify Beth’s aversion to the rancher.

 Unfortunately for the Bennets, not everything is as it seems.  Evil is stalking the plains of Texas, and Beth’s family is in deadly danger.  Will Beth set aside her prejudices and place her trust in the man she rejected—the man who is her family’s only hope of salvation?

 What do you think of the many Austen adaptations, I mean, the several different movies and TV series based on her major works? Have you seen any of them? Have you got any favorite one/s?

 Honestly, I have seen almost all of the Jane Austen TV and/or movie adaptations. Most are very, very good.  2009’s “Sense and Sensibility” and 1995’s “Persuasion” were excellent.

My favorite P&P adaptation is the first one I saw—the 1980 BBC miniseries starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.  I enjoyed both the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth and the Keira Knightley/Matthew Macfadyen versions, but Garvie/Rintoul is the definitive depiction, in my opinion.

 However, my wife and I hold a special place in our hearts for the Bollywood extravaganza, “Bride and Prejudice.”  It’s a hoot!

Would you accept if they asked you to adapt your Pemberley Ranch? Any suggestion for the leads in the eventual casting?

 I would love to have Pemberley Ranch made into a movie.  I’ll leave the casting suggestions to the readers, though.

I’ve asked this several times before but, maybe, you are the right Austenite to ask this. How would you convince my teenage male students to read Jane Austen? I usually face a hard task when I try … my attempts are rarely very successful. Any tips?

 Young men—and men in general—consider Austen “chick lit,” to their detriment.  Jane Austen is one of the giants of English literature.  I have a couple of Ideas.

 Persuasion is the most “male” of Austen’s works—the reader has a greater understanding of who Frederick Wentworth is than they have of Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, which is told through Elizabeth’s eyes.  Wentworth is a naval officer, dashing and successful at war.  He is also deeply hurt by what he considers a betrayal by the girl he loves.  What teenaged boy doesn’t understand that?

 Another approach is what was used in the amusing film, “The Jane Austen Book Club.”  To put it bluntly, if a guy wants to understand girls, read what the girls read.  They will get more dates.  Same reason to take your girl to a “chick flick.”  If your girl is happy, the guy will be happy.

Persuasion is my favourite one! I ‘ve always felt Anne is the Austen heroine I can sympathize with the most. But I’ve never thought of it as the most “male” of Jane Austen’s works. Thanks a lot! It’ll be a great pleasure to try. Any other Austenesque future projects?

 I have written or co-written eight novels using Miss Austen’s characters, both Regency and Modern, and I’m in the process of writing a ninth.  Pemberley Ranch  is the first to be published.  The Three Colonels, a Regency sequel to Pride and Prejudice  and Sense and Sensibility, centered on the Battle of Waterloo, will be published in early 2012. 

 Excerpts from this and my other works can be found at my web site, Ramblings of a Cajun in Exile .

 I also invite your readers to stop by Austen Authors , the blog I share with some truly outstanding Austenesque writers.

 Final task, Jack! You’ve got about 50 words to convince our readers to read/buy your PEMBERLEY RANCH.

 Pemberley Ranch – hailed by critics as a “fresh and original” re-imagining of Jane Austen’s classic novel that is “’Pride & Prejudice’ meets ‘Gone With The Wind’!”

 Not enough?  How about—William Darcy is a tall, handsome cowboy.  How’s that?

Maria Grazia, thank you.  I’ve enjoyed this very much.

Thank you, Jack. I wish you great success in the  Jane Austen fan fiction world and, in general,  with your writing! I both love P&P and Gone with the Wind so I can’t wait to read your PEMBERLEY RANCH! Now it's your turn, dear readers! Suggest your ideal cast for  a movie adaptation of PEMBERLEY RANCH or just leave a comment and your e-mail address to enter the double giveaway! I'll announce the names of the winners next Wednesday 3rd November. But remember, US and Canada only!

PEMBERLEY RANCH BY JACK CALDWELL - GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

To meet a man loving Jane Austen is such a rare experience that  I must thank Jack Calwell warmly and once again. Have you read my interview with him? For once a different perspective and a very interesting one. Now, giveaway time. Or, better, time to announce the two winners of the giveaway of Jack Caldwell's Pemberley Ranch. Here are their names , as usual,  through random.org

TRACY & AMY Z.

YOU ARE THE LUCKY WINNERS

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

JANE AUSTEN'S FIGHTING MEN: PERSUADED TO SAIL

Greetings, everyone. Jack Caldwell here. I’d like to thank Maria  Grazia for the opportunity to visit with you today to talk about my latest book, PERSUADED TO SAIL: asequel to Persuasion and Book Three of Jane Austen’s Fighting Men.

PERSUADED TO SAIL picks up at the end of Persuasion—the wedding of Anne Elliot to Captain Frederick Wentworth. Planning an uneventful honeymoon cruise aboard HMS Laconia to Frederick’s posting in Bermuda, the Wentworths’ plans are thrown into disarray by the Hundred Days Crisis.

Hold on a second. What is the Hundred Days Crisis?

To explain this, I have to go back to the genesis of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). This era of conflict arose out of the Wars of the French Revolution (1792-1802). Europe had been locked in a bloody conflict between the homicidal French Republic and the autocratic European monarchies. The chaos allowed a little-known general from the French island of Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte, to prove his military prowess, to seize power in a coup d'état, and then smash the Coalition armies and force a peace. Peace only lasted a year, and a third coalition of European powers was formed in 1803 to fight the self-styled Emperor Napoleon.

AUSTENESQUE NEWS

1. WAS JANE AUSTEN POPULAR?

Today, thanks to Laurel Ann @ Austenprose 's post on facebook, I've read this very interesting article by Lev Raphael from The Huffington Post. These are the most relevant ideas:

"Given Austen's ubiquity, and the fact that anything with her name on it will sell, you might think she's always been a sensation. But you'd be wrong, as Jodi Picoult was when she recently said the New York Times needed to review popular authors because

"historically the books that have persevered in our culture and in our memories and our hearts were not the literary fiction of the day, but the popular fiction of the day. Think about Jane Austen. Think about Charles Dickens. Think about Shakespeare. They were popular authors. They were writing for the masses".

Not at all. Austen's fame and popularity grew long after her death, but during her life she was only moderately successful, and novels weren't even the most popular genre in her era.

Back then, novels were less widely read than poetry by celebrity authors like Sir Walter Scott and Byron. The day it was published in 1814, Byron's The Corsair sold 10,000 copies. Also published in 1814, Emma took six months to sell out its printing of 1250 copies.

And when Scott turned to historical fiction in 1814 with Waverly, he became an instant success in this genre, thanks to his poetry. He sold far better than Austen ever did in her lifetime. Given his status as 800-pound gorilla on the literary scene, it's not surprising Austen made fun of their different levels of success in a letter to her niece Anna:

"Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. - It is not fair. - He has Fame & Profit enough as a Poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people's mouths. - I do not like him, & do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it - but fear I must..."

So who did read Austen? She was a special favorite of the fashionable set who enjoyed guessing at her identity because her first four books were published anonymously. Aristocrats ranging from the future wife of Byron all the way to the dissolute Prince Regent and his beloved daughter Charlotte admired her work. The royal librarian even gave Austen a tour of the Prince's ornate London residence, telling her that his master kept copies of her books in all his homes.

When she died in 1817, Austen was more than fifty years away from the idolatry and burgeoning sales of her first great boom (the second came in the 1990s, thanks in part to Colin Firth's Darcy". (Lev Raphael)

2. MATTHEW MACFADYEN AS ATHOS

 

Just few days ago we were  thinking about what Darcy Macfadyen was up to. The answer was he was shooting two different films, do you remember? If you don't , read last week Austenesque News. Are you ready to watch him like this?

As Athos in The Musketeers? Not bad!

They are shooting in Bamberg, Germany,  these days but Matthew is not yet there.

Have a look at this link

3. SEX AND THE AUSTEN GIRL'S ... WEDDING DRESS

After a period of holidays, the online comedy inspired to Laurie Viera Rigler's Austen Addict novels is back with the 13th episode: Sex and The Austen Girl - Wedding Dress

  

"It's bad enough to be stranded in Regency England while another woman takes over your life. Even worse that she's wearing your wedding dress. The one you hid in the back of your closet. The one from the wedding that never took place. Watch our time-swapping heroines clash over what it means to be dressed in white.

Ah. If only it were as simple today as it was in Jane Austen's time...

4. AUSTEN AUTHORS SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH

This new Austen dedicated blog has been launched with great enthusiasm and the response has been greatly enthusiastic as well!  Since  September 6th,  lots of interesting blogposts and comments. You'll find contributions from many familiar names &  faces there: Susan Adriani , Marsha Altman, Marilyn Brant, Skylar Burris , Jack Caldwell, Victoria Connelly , J. Marie Croft, Carolyn Eberhart , Monica Fairview , Regina Jeffers , Cindy Jones , Sharon Lathan, Kara Louise , Kathryn Nelson , Jane Odiwe , C. Allyn Pierson, Abigail Reynolds , Heather Lynn Rigaud , Lynn Shepherd , Mary Lydon Simonsen.

Have you had a look yet? Don't miss it! HERE

5. TALKING JANE AUSTEN

Have you read the first part of TALKING JANE AUSTEN with C. ALLYN PIERSON? Tomorrow I'm going to post Part II , to reveal the name of the first winner of her MR DARCY'S LITTLE SISTER  and to launch a second internationally open giveaway! So check My Jane Austen Book Club tomorrow and, if you are not the lucky winner, never mind! You may read part II of my interview, leave your comment and try again!

I've just received my lovely copy of Carey's novel and I'm going to review it soon on this blog.

Next Thursday 16th September, on occasion of the release of her new novel in the UK, A WEEKEND WITH MR DARCY, Victoria Connelly will be my guest to Talk Jane Austen with me. Don't miss her lovely interview!

AUSTEN AUTHORS ON LINE

 A group of Austen Authors have decided to unite forces and start a new promising site. It'll be ready on September 6th. If you follow this link http://www.austenauthors.com  you'll read "Thanks for stopping by! We're not quite ready for prime time, but if you come back on or after September 6, we'll be in full swing with posts by many of your favorite Austen-related fiction authors, as well as contests, information, and lots of fun stuff. Whether you like Regency historicals, contemporary fiction, sequels, mysteries, variations, or just plain love Jane Austen, you'll find plenty to interest you here. Don't miss our first month which will be chock full of giveaways!
If you are a traditionally-published author of Austen-related fiction and would like to join in the fun at Austen Authors, just drop us a line. We'd love to have you!"

Austen Authors Blog will feature

 

Cindy Jones

Abigail Reynolds

 

 

 

C. Allyn Pierson

Jack Caldwell

Jane Odiwe

Kara Louise

Kathryn Nelson

Marilyn Brant

Marsha Altman

Sharon Lathan

Skylar Burris

Susan Adriani

 Keep in touch with these Austen Authors and don't miss their upcoming releases through their new blog . I'll see you there .

Guest Post - Barbara Tiller Cole: Party Like It’s Austen Regency Time At the Upcoming Decatur Book Festival: Now With 28 Authors Participating

http://www.darcyholicdiversions.com/p/jane-austen-then-and-now-events-at.html 

Barbara Tiller Cole, Austen-inpired author and Lady Host at Darcyholic Diversions, is here to present a great upcoming event to My Jane Austen Book Club readers. If you don't live far, you might even be interested in taking part in it. If only I didn't live in Italy! This would be a fabulous occasion to meet our favourite authors and bloggers. Read more and if you can, don't miss the chance to be there!

What happens when an independent Austen-inspired author and a rapid Austen fan join forces? The Jane Austen: Then and Now events at the upcoming Decatur Book Festival Labor Day weekend, that’s what—now with 28 authors participating as of today as Laurel Ann Nattress is joining us! It has been a joy to be the Author Liaison and Program Chairman for the upcoming event, working along the side of the Event Chairman, Jan Ashe.

BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY - SHANNON WINSLOW ON PERSUASION BEHIND THE SCENES

Hello dear friends and welcome to our online book club. Today our guest is Shannon Winslow, who is one of the twelve authors of Austen-inspired fiction that collaborated in a unique, creative attempt to fill in "missing" scenes to Austen's classic work, Persuasion,  sure to delight any true fan. The result is Persuasion Behind the Scenes.   Enjoy Shannon's guest blog and take your chances to win in the giveaway contest you find below. 

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... KATHRYN L. NELSON & GIVEAWAY

My guest this week for our weekly Austen chat is Kathryn L. Nelson, author of Pemberley Manor. Join me and welcome Kathryn on My Jane Austen Book Club. Leave your comments and e-mail address to get a chance to win an autographed copy of her sequel to Pride and Prejudice. The giveaway is open internationally and ends on Wednesday 18th May when the winner is announced.

MG. Jane Austen and the modern world. Why is such an odd match so successful? I’m thinking of fan fiction, modernizations, Austen–dedicated sites and blogs, Austen–Twitter Projects, nowadays film versions….

K: I hope you don’t imagine I have any idea what’s going on. It took me more than a year to even say out loud that I had written a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. I was quite sure that it simply wasn’t done, but then I stumbled across Diana Birchall and Jane Odiwe and a few others and eventually became part of an avalanche. My guess is that Jane’s spirit has been out trying to stir up this phenomenon for a very long time, and she finally tickled enough minds to start the ball rolling. I firmly believe that if she had lived longer she would have tried out a few stories herself about life after the wedding. At any rate, I imagine that she’s enjoying the attention.

MG: This is a harsh one, I think. I’m asking you to advocate for all Austen Authors. Fan fiction has become the order of the day in Austenland. Can’t all this flooding fiction risk dumbing-down the book market? What novelty can be added to such popular characters and plots? 

K: You would find a fair number of Jane Austen fans that take no pleasure in anything Austenesque not written by either Jane herself or a literary scholar. I have to admit that it took me a little while to warm to the vampires and zombies—not to mention the platypus!—but really, it’s all fun. Austen’s stories were, and still are, fun. Rather than dumbing anything down, I think that a flood of creativity has been unleashed. She was the earthquake; we’re the tsunami.

MG: For what you know of her personality, what would Jane Austen most appreciate in our world and what couldn’t she bear?

K: If Austen were plucked from her time zone and dropped into ours, I imagine she would be a horrified by the pace of life and the barrage of media images and words coming out of the sky day and night. But if she was allowed a few years to acclimatize, I suspect that the political rhetoric of today, satirized by people like Craig Ferguson or Jon Stewart, would have amused her. Before Queen Victoria put a clamp on frivolity, Jane lived in a pretty rowdy Regency period where scandals and bad behavior were well known, even in a quiet country town. She would have made a great writer for the Colbert Report with her wit and sarcasm.

And for a woman who resisted being known as the author of her own books, I can only imagine that Facebook and Twitter would have seemed quite vulgar. Blogging? I think she would have loved it.

Read excerpts from the book

MG:  And what about you, instead? What is it that you like best in her work and world?

K: I began writing what eventually became Pemberley Manor as an exercise in language. After reading her without much enthusiasm in school, I rediscovered her in 1995 after watching the BBC/A&E version of Pride and Prejudice. A friend and I wore out a set of VHS tapes, watching and re-watching parts. Then I started rereading her books, and finally, recently, her Juvenilia.

I found Austen’s style so addictive and the imitation of it such fun that I stayed up until the middle of the night for months trying to capture it. Every time I write an entry in the Austen Authors blog, I go back to one or more of her books and look for something new to think about. They never fail me.

MG: I’ve just finished reading your blog post at Austen Authors about money as the driving force in Jane Austen’s work. Is money the real driving force in her plots? (see http://www.austenauthors.com/2011/04/in-search-of-living.htm)

K: Well, if you leave romance aside, the possession of—or lack of—fortune is an obsession in almost every Austen character’s life. Sometimes it isn’t their choice. Anne Elliot, for instance, is not herself overly interested in money, but her family and her mentor, Lady Russell, value it excessively and she hasn’t the strength to ignore them. Emma’s “little friend” Harriet has very simple tastes, but succumbs to Emma’s relentless drive to make her into a woman of “discernment,” devaluing the farmer who loves her.

Elizabeth Bennet falls into a kind of careless middle ground: she believes herself above that sort of thing, and yet blushes with pleasure at the thought of being the mistress of Pemberley. Unlike her sensible friend, Charlotte, though, she doesn’t raise a finger to help herself find security. Emma, Darcy, Charles Bingley are free to think very little about money, as they didn’t have to earn it and take it as a natural condition.

Then we have the true money rogues, John and Fanny Dashwood, Willoughby, and the Bingley sisters, for example. They can never have enough and have no scruples at all about how they acquire it.

Joy Lee Davis, in Jane Austen and the Almighty Pound, points out the evolution in Austen’s writing toward the final novel, Persuasion, where the undeserving rich are undone, and the lowly poor are lifted up in example.

MG: And how did it come that you decided to write a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, Pemberley Manor? Could you tell us something about it? 

K: Those late night writing binges finally resulted in a very thick pile of papers that had a story stretching from the Darcy’s wedding day through the first year of their marriage. Having sufficiently scratched the itch, I started to think of the pile as a book. I dug into the literature on publishing, sent out a few queries and copies of the manuscript, filed away the rejections and went back to paying full attention to my real job, our family’s electrical contracting business. A few years later, a friend gave me a sequel named Presumption by Julia Barrett. I started digging and was astonished to find that there were other sequels out there, and so I dusted off the manuscript, edited it, and found a publisher, just as the floodgates were opening to Austen fan fiction.

MG:  As to Austen heroes/heroines, have you got a favourite one? Why?

K: Well, I couldn’t resist writing a dark past for Darcy to explain his arrogance and very prickly manners—that was the compulsion that turned Pemberley Manor from a writing exercise into a novel. I confess I didn’t like Lydia Bennet very well until Jane Odiwe turned my head with Lydia Bennet’s Story. The great fun of all of the fan fiction is that it’s interactive. We are allowed to take characters and interpret them, grow them up, invent their early lives, and blend them with zombies and other curious life forms. I don’t believe there’s another author, living or dead, who has invented so many complex and compelling characters— they simply cry out for attention.

I’d love to see Catherine Moreland grow up, or Harriet Smith start raising lovely, lively children in her farmhouse. And if I were to choose another character to write about, I believe it would have to be Colonel Fitzwilliam. Jack Caldwell has interviewed him on Austen Authors on April 28th. We know so very little about him that it would be a treat to dig into the possibilities. He’s much more willing than Darcy to engage in a little gossip and the odd witty repartee.

MG:  Are you working /planning to work on any new Austenesque project?

K: I left Elizabeth and Darcy holding the red leather journal of Darcy’s father at the end of Pemberley Manor. As I haven’t read it yet, I don’t know whether it contains enough juicy intrigue to warrant another novel. It’s been put on the shelf while I write a novel about three generations of a Minnesota family whose lives are strained by the secrets and lies of the past. Hmmm, sounds like a familiar plot—I think I might have used the same devise once before….

MG: Sounds intriguing! Let us know what you are up to, Kathryn. Meanwhile, thank you so much for taking the time of being my guest and answering my questions.

K: It’s been my great pleasure to answer, Maria, and to spend some enjoyable hours reading posts on My Jane Austen Book Club. I’m hooked!

MG:  I'm flattered, Kathryn. Thank you! 

And now to you, dear readers, and to your comments. Don't forget your e-mail address to enter the international giveaway. Good Luck!