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What Would Darcy Do If Elizabeth Chose Another? Welcome Austen Author, Joana Starnes and Her Lastest Release “The Unthinkable Triangle” + a Giveaway

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

Today, I welcome one of my fellow Austen Authors: Joana Starnes lives in the south of England with her family. A medical graduate, in more recent years she has developed an unrelated but enduring fascination with Georgian Britain in general and the works of Jane Austen in particular, as well as with the remarkable and flamboyant set of people who have given the Regency Period its charm and sparkle.

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Many thanks, Regina, for welcoming me here today, to talk about my latest release, ‘The Unthinkable Triangle’.

It recently occurred to me that each of my novels has a medical reference, and this one is no exception. I suppose it cannot be helped. I left the profession a while ago, but seemingly the profession did not leave me. Which is probably why I wrote about Mr. Bennet’s heart condition in ‘The Second Chance’, of Mr. Darcy’s deep cut treated with slices of agaric in ‘The Subsequent Proposal’, or of his injury acquired in a duel with Wickham in ‘The Falmouth Connection’.

In ‘The Unthinkable Triangle,’ as well as my first novel, ‘From This Day Forward’, which in some ways are each other’s counterpart, the medical angle goes a little deeper because, in both, Colonel Fitzwilliam is treated for severe war-related injuries under Mr. Darcy’s roof. In both novels, Darcy goes to fetch his cousin from wherever he was languishing and brings him to his house to recover under a physician’s expert care – and Elizabeth’s gentle ministrations. And in both cases, perhaps predictably, her presence at the bedside has its effects on Colonel Fitzwilliam’s tender heart.

The stark difference between the two novels is that in the first Darcy is assured of Elizabeth’s love and loyalty – they had been happily married for almost a year – while in the second the situation is reversed. Mr. Darcy is the one who seems to face the dire spectre of unrequited love, as he steadily keeps watch at his cousin’s bedside, while Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Colonel Fitzwilliam betrothed, tends the colonel.

Of course, in ‘The Unthinkable Triangle’ the role reversal does not continue till the end. I am one of those people who cannot read or write a story where Elizabeth marries anyone but Darcy. But for a while, the lovelorn Darcy seems to have no answer to his quandary – because his deep affection for his cousin makes him recoil in horror from pinning his hopes on Fitzwilliam’s death.

The following excerpt from ‘The Unthinkable Triangle’ provides a glimpse into Mr. Darcy’s struggles, as he is caught between two very different kinds of love:

Purchase Links:

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The Unthinkable Triangle
Excerpt from Chapter 5

They attended him in turns, just one of them, or alongside the doctor, or in constantly changing pairings. Beyond that first dawn, when he felt compelled to walk out and leave them to their heartfelt reunion, Darcy no longer sought to regulate his comings and goings, regardless of who was keeping watch over his cousin at the time.

It came as no surprise that, more often than not, it would be Elizabeth. Georgiana was too young and Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Annesley too old and frail to be kept by the bedside for too long. So, time and again, and especially in the grim hours of the night, they would find themselves caring for him together. Raising him to help him drink, take nourishment or cough. Cooling his brow when the fever mounted. Cajoling him into taking the vile draughts that Dr. Graham was insistently prescribing. Watching him snatch a few minutes of fitful slumber and agonising for him when his rest was disrupted by bouts of racking cough that were supposed to help, yet brought nothing but pain. Exchanging frightened glances when the horrible bouts of coughing showed no sign of abating. Rushing to bring him a warm drink when they did abate, and striving to hide their fear when the cough would recommence to torment him until he would collapse back on his pillows, exhausted and breathless.

Then they would hasten to refresh the flannels applied to his affected side, soak them in the hot decoction of camomile and elderflowers that the housekeeper had prepared at the doctor’s instructions, then wring them and spread them on his chest again. And if their hands touched as they did so, this sparked no untoward emotion in Darcy. It could not, not now. No more than sitting there watching Elizabeth stroke Fitzwilliam’s brow as she whispered tearful, disjointed words of tenderness and comfort.

It sparked no jealousy, no envy. The horrific sight of his cousin fighting for every breath – for his life, even – had drained him of all shameful jealousy, leaving just oppressive anguish.

Every past instance of begging for an answer to his heartache over Elizabeth’s engagement to his cousin returned to torture him with all the sharpness of excruciating guilt. This was not the answer he had begged for! Not this! Merciful God, not this!

‘Let him live!’ was his one and only prayer, as flashing recollections of days of boyhood came unbidden to join ranks with dark thoughts from recent months and point accusing fingers, like as many ghosts of Banquo. Unlike Macbeth’s, Darcy’s own hands were not stained in blood, but every fibre of his being knew that his cousin’s death was not the answer he had prayed for. It was not a deliverance, but the worst possible sentence.

‘Good Lord in Heaven, let him live!’

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This year in Bath, the apothecary’s trade was a new feature at the Jane Austen Festival and I had the privilege to see Mr. John S. Smith, Consultant and Performance Historian, impersonate ‘James Buchan, the Apothecary’. This is just one of the characters that Mr. Smith brings to life with such sparkle and vivacity. For more details please visit http://www.selectsociety.co.uk and you might have the great pleasure of seeing him perform, as he has many appearances in the UK and US.

No doubt for comedic value, he entertained us with tales of coughs treated with ground woodlice, of bruises cured with coins allegedly touched by King Charles I and of distempers of the brain relieved by placing the half of a shelled walnut on one’s forehead.

The real Dr. Buchan (William, not James, and physician rather than apothecary) recommended a trifle more advanced cures, and in the writing of medical scenes I owe a great deal to his treatise on Domestic Medicine published in London, with a second edition in 1785.

There I read about the well-known practices of blood-letting, blistering, cupping, purging, induced vomiting and several other methods of treatment that leave us in wonder how the patient survived the cure, as well as the disease. I also found all manner of details such as the use of an extract of sea-squills (a marine plant) as expectorant. I learned of pleurisy being treated with cabbage leaves or a combination of elderflower, camomile and mallows made into a decoction and applied to the affected side; of pectoral infusions made with linseed, liquorice root and colt’s foot leaves; of acute fevers treated with ‘infusions of the bark’ (willow bark) and ‘sweet spirit of nitre’ (a solution of ethyl nitrite in alcohol).

Of all of the above, it is only the ‘infusion of the bark’ that makes sense to the modern reader, and these days we know the extract as Aspirin. But, to my surprise, I found that, alongside the grim blistering and the leeches, Dr. Buchan also recommended precepts surprisingly in tune with modern ones, such as the benefit of fresh air in the sickroom, limiting visitors to reduce the risk of infection, or not overloading a shivering and feverish patient with bedcovers.

So I must thank Dr. Buchan for teaching me how to treat Colonel Fitzwilliam’s injuries. Perhaps I should say that, either thanks to or in spite of the treatment, he recovers. If you would like to learn what happens next, please leave a comment to enter the international giveaway of one Kindle copy. And be not alarmed, the few medical references are there just to add a little Regency colour. My fascination with old-fashioned medicine is my own and, just as the excerpt shows, ‘The Unthinkable Triangle’ is very much a love-story, not a medical treatise. That task must be left to Dr. Buchan. Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the story.

Join Joana at these links:

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GIVEAWAY: LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A KINDLE eBOOK GIVEAWAY OF “THE UNTHINKABLE TRIANGLE.” THE GIVEAWAY WILL END AT MIDNIGHT EDST ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 12.

Posted in British history, Great Britain, Guest Post, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, medicine, Pride and Prejudice, real life tales, Regency era | Tagged apothecary, Elizabeth Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcy, guest post, Historical Romance, Jane Austen, Joana Starnes, medicine, Pride and Prejudice, Regency romance, The Unthinkable Triangle | 25 Comments

Celebrating Our Ladies ~ Four Heroines of the REALM Series (Part 1) + a Giveaway

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

Cathy Helms of http://www.avalongraphics has designed us this logo

During the month of October (on Tuesdays) nine other authors and I are “Shining a Light on Our Ladies” by taking a closer look at what makes our heroines so special. The other authors involved include: Helen Hollick, Alison Morton, Anna Belfrage, Inge H Borg, Linda Collison, Elizabeth Revill, Patricia Bracewell, Sophie Perinot, and Diana Wilder.

Specifically, we are looking at what makes heroines in our series such an integral part of the action. With this first post, I wish to highlight some of my favorite female leads from my award-winning REALM series. For those of you who are first timers on “Every Woman Dreams,” the REALM is a covert operation working under the auspices of the Home Office during the Napoleonic Wars. There are seven men in my group, and each book of the series is devoted to one of them (and the lady who brings the gentleman up to snuff). Please note that although the series is about the men of the REALM, the books all sport images of the women the men love.

After years away from England, members of the REALM return home to claim the titles and the lives they previously abandoned for selfish reasons. Each man holds onto the fleeting dream of finally knowing love and home. For now, all any of them can hope is the resolution of the difficulties which drove them from England before their old enemy Shaheed Mir finds them and exacts his revenge. Mir seeks a fist-sized emerald he believes one of the REALM stole from him.

My favorite book of the series is Book 4, A Touch of Grace. In the series, I often refer to Gabriel Crowden, the Marquis of Godown, as an “Adonis.” He is a rake about Town, a man who does not trust women until he meets Miss Grace Nelson. Grace’s brother gambled away his fortune, and she must take the position of a governess. While the whole world recognizes the “handsome countenance” of Godown, no one notices Grace. As a defense against the world in which she is thrust, Grace developed the art of being invisible. She wears nondescript clothing, spectacles with plain glass in the lens, and slicked backed hair in a simple do. From the moment they meet, Gabriel recognizes a beauty to which others are blind.

One of favorite lines in the story occurs when Grace delivers a message of warning to Godown’s Town home. His butler brings Godown the message.

Gabriel bit back his first retort. Instead, he said, “Does no one else see this woman except me?” It was true, only Godown recognizes Grace’s true beauty – her true worth.

One of the things I love about Grace is her resilience. She survives where others would fail. Despite loving her beyond distraction, Godown treats her poorly. Even so, Grace risks her life and that of her unborn child to save Godown’s elderly aunts, as well as the marquis himself. When Godown rejects her, Grace disappears into London’s underbelly with a plan to survive without the man she adores. What is most frustrating to Godown when he comes to his senses is the fact that he knows that no matter how hard he searches for Grace so he might beg her forgiveness, he will not find her unless Grace wishes to be found. Where his life is nothing without her, Grace can claim success in the knowledge of her ability to persevere.

Blurb for A Touch of Grace:

GABRIEL CROWDEN, the Marquis of Godown, easily recalled the night that he made a vow to know love before he met his Maker. Needless to say, that was before Lady Gardenia Templeton’s duplicity drove Godown from his home and before his father’s will changed everything. Godown require a wife to meet the unusual demands of the former marquis’s stipulations. Preferably one either already carrying his child or one who would tolerate his constant attentions to secure the Crowden line before the will’s deadline.

GRACE NELSON dreams of family died with her brother’s ascension to the barony. Yet, when she encounters the injured Marquis of Godown at a Scottish inn, her dreams have a new name. However, hope never takes an easy path. Grace is but a lowly governess with ordinary features. She believes she can never earn the regard of the “Adonis” known as Gabriel Crowden. Moreover, the man holds a well-earned skepticism when it comes to the women in his life. How can Grace prove that she is the one woman will never betray him when the marquis believes she is part of a plot to kill him?

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Grace’s younger sister, Mercy Nelson, is the heroine of Book 5 of the series, A Touch of Mercy. When Grace leaves her brother Baron Nelson’s manor to become governess to the Averette household in Edinburgh, Mercy is left alone to fend off the attentions of Nelson’s associates. Her brother decides to marry Mercy off to a much older man, who has five children by his previous wife, in order to pay off the baron’s debts. When the household receives word of Grace’s likely demise, Mercy runs off to find her way in the world.

Mercy, who is five years Grace’s junior, is barely nineteen when she leaves Lancashire for London. Fortunately, she encounters Henry “Lucifer” Hill, the man of all trades to Aidan Kimbolt, Viscount Lexford. Hill gets it in his mind not only to assist the girl to safety, but to play matchmaker to Lexford and Mercy. Hill stages a farce where he introduces Mercy as Aidan’s half sister, the product of an affair his father had years prior. The viscount’s history is one of the more bizarre ones that I concocted, so much so that one of my friend’s called one evening to say tearfully that I should have warned her of what occurred to bring a minor son to the viscountcy.

As typical of the youngest child in a family, Mercy views Grace’s efforts to thwart the debauchery of their elder brother as adventurous and courageous. Mercy wishes to imitate Grace’s stance, but in a more rebellious manner. Unlike many “babies in the family,” Mercy is not spoiled or manipulative. She has not experienced the luxury of such traits. The men with whom her brother/guardian associates are crude thieves, who mean to have Mercy in their bed long before she is of age.

What I like about Mercy is that she is a quick learner. As the youngest, first her parents and then her older siblings made decisions for Mercy. When she begins her adventure, she is less sure of herself and more naïve than was Grace, but when Mercy meets Aidan Kimbolt, she takes on his troubles as her own, and in the process grows into a vibrant, decisive woman. The viscount holds the power of his title, but his personal life is in total disarray. The encounter provides Mercy the opportunity to prove herself worthy.

Blurb for A Touch of Mercy:

A devastating injury robbed AIDAN KIMBOLT, VISCOUNT LEXFORD, of part of his memory, but surely not the reality that lovely Mercy Nelson is his father’s by-blow. His “sister’s” vivacity intrigues Aidan. She ushers life into Lexington Arms, a house plagued by Death’s secrets – secrets of his wife’s ghost, of his brother’s untimely passing, and of his parents’ marriage: Secrets Aidan must banish to know happiness.

Fate delivered MERCY NELSON to Lord Lexford’s door, where she quickly discovers appearances are deceiving. Not only does Mercy practice a bit of her own duplicity, so do all within Lexington Arms. Yet, dangerous intrigue cannot quash the burgeoning passion consuming her and Viscount Lexford, as the boundaries of their relationship are sorely tested. How can they discover true love if they must begin a life peppered with lies?

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Mrs. Lucinda Rightnour Warren is the heroine of Book 6 of the series, A Touch of Love. We briefly met Lucinda in Book 2, A Touch of Velvet, where she held an acquaintance with Brantley Fowler, the Duke of Thornhill. As the wife of an Army captain, Lucinda encountered Fowler when he served under Wellington. Fowler and Lucinda’s late husband were university companions. But in this book, Lucinda becomes the love interest of Sir Carter Lowery (a baronet destined to assume the role of the REALM’s leadership) when Fowler asks Sir Carter to intervene in Lucinda’s problems. [In this book, I take a closer look at Jews during King George III’s England.]

However, Lucinda’s life is far from easy to set aright. Her late husband kept another wife, a first wife, in fact. A first wife who was of Jewish extraction and who bore the late Captain Warren a son. Not only is Lucinda’s marriage a sham, but so is everything she knew of her husband. When the child mysterious appears on Lucinda’s doorstep, she is forced to learn more of Captain Warren’s actions when he served with Wellington’s forces. This journey places her in danger, so much so that she must turn to Sir Carter for safety, but will the baronet recognize her for who she really is?

Lucinda is the only child of a career military man, a minor son of the Earl of Charleton. She and her mother followed the drum during the war years. She is a very private person and not willing to accept the assistance of others. As such, Lucinda never experienced the closeness of female friends. In A Touch of Velvet, Velvet Aldridge is jealous of Lucinda because Mrs. Warren can speak freely with men. Why not? She has known nothing but her father’s officers since she was but a child. Lucinda’s lack of social skills are compounded by her husband’s “under my thumb” attitude. She thought Matthew Warren was simply protective of her, when in truth, he possessed a controlling personality. Lucinda acts meek in large social situations for her husband conditioned her to an “eyes cast downward” sort of woman. If I were to label her, Lucinda is a bit of an introvert. Introverts are more easily conditioned than are extroverts, and she is uneasy in large social situations. Even so, when push comes to shove, Lucinda is the first to react. She saves Sir Carter twice during their encounters. She is quite self sufficient, but Lucinda is inherently alone (as is Sir Carter), which makes them the ideal match.

Book Blurb for A Touch of Love:

Aristotle Pennington has groomed SIR CARTER LOWERY as his successor as the REALM’s leader, and Sir Carter has thought of little else for year. He has handcrafted his life, filling it with duties and responsibilities, and eventually, he will choose a marriage of convenience, which will bolster his career; yet, Lucinda Warren is a temptation hard to resist. Every time he touches her, Lowery recognizes his mistake because his desire for her is not easily assuaged. To complicate matters, it was Mrs. Warren’s father, Colonel Roderick Rightnour, whom Sir Carter replaced at the Battle of Waterloo, an action which named Lowery as a national hero and her father as a failed military strategist.

LUCINDA WARREN’s late husband left her to tend to a child belonging to another woman and drowned her in multiple scandals. Her only hope to discover the boy’s true parentage and to remove her name from the lips of the ton’s censors is Sir Carter Lowery, a man who causes her body to course with awareness, as if he etched his name upon her soul. Fate’s cruel twist throws them together three times, and Lucinda prays to hold off her cry of completion long enough to deny her heart and to release Sir Carter to his further: one to which she ill never being.

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This next heroine is not a traditional English lady. In fact, Miss Arabella Tilney is an American hoyden, who always, literally, trips over her own feet. Other than rain storms, few things fluster Arabella. She is practical and decisive and everything Lawrence Lowery, Lord Hellsman (Sir Carter’s older brother) needs in his life. Lowery is a dutiful son, so dutiful that he is isolated from all the spontaneity that Arabella offers. In the novel His American Heartsong: A Companion Novel to the Realm Series, Sir Carter assists Lawrence to a relationship with the one woman his brother cannot ignore.

Lawrence Lowery makes a brief appearance in A Touch of Velvet. His proposal to Arabella is part of both A Touch of Mercy and A Touch of Love. Arabella becomes Lucinda Warren’s dearest friend in A Touch of Love, and the stories are all connected in some manner.

Lawrence calls Arabella “Mouse,” for she darts about with excessive energy, and she cowers with a squeak when a thunderstorm approaches. She knows horses better than most men, and she rides with confidence. Bella also has a working knowledge of roots and herbs and their medicinal values. She can beat most men in a game of chess. Her dancing is more exuberance than grace, and the woman possesses a quick temper and a tongue to pronounce all of Law’s faults. Bella accepts Law’s attentions because she considers him a friend, for she is lonely in a country to which she holds little knowledge or allegiance. Yet, when difficulties arrive, it is Arabella that Law wishes in his corner. She is not only quick to act, she is quite intelligent.

Arabella’s parents are both English born, but, even so, Arabella feels a bit out of place. She is the eldest of two daughters. Bella’s mother was once a lady in waiting to Queen Charlotte, but her parents’ previous connections to the English aristocracy remain thin. With her mother’s passing, Bella and her younger sister Abigail are sent to England to make their debut, along with their cousin Annalee Dryburgh. Bella’s father is a successful breeder of thoroughbreds in Virginia.

Book Blurb for His American Heartsong:

LAWRENCE LOWERY, Lord Hellsman, remains the dutiful elder son of Baron Niall Blakehell; the baron groomed Lawrence for the future, but his father never considers any of Law’s wishes. When Blakehell arranges a marriage with the insipid Miss Annalee Dryburgh, Lowery must choose between his responsibilities to his future estate and the one woman who makes sense in his life.

By Society’s standards, MISS ARABELLA TILNEY is completely wrong to be the future baroness. Althoug Bella’s mother was once a lady in waiting to the Queen, Arabella is an American hoyden. She is everything her cousin Annalee is not, and Bella demands that Lowery do the impossible: Be the man he always dreamed of being. Will Law choose love or duty?

These are the first of the heroines of the REALM. Do you see someone who interests you? What about the women do you find admirable? Leave a comment below to be a winner of one of two eBooks available: Winner’s choice of any one of these four books. The giveaway will end at midnight, Monday, October 12, 2015, EST.

Please visit the other “Shine Light on Our Ladies” blogs for this day.

6th October Participants:
Hellen Hollick + Giveaway
Patricia Bracewell
Inge H. Borg

Posted in British history, Great Britain, heroines, Living in the Regency, Realm series, Regency era | Tagged " "His American Heartsong, A Touch of Grace, A Touch of Love, A Touch of Mercy, heroines, Historical Romance, Realm Series, Regency England, Regency Era, Regency romance | 11 Comments

From Where Does That Word Come?

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

We are back with more words and phrases with interesting origins.

Abracadabra is a late 17th Century word that was originally a mystical word engraved and used as a charm to ward off illness. Coming to us from Latin, it was first recorded in a 2nd Century poem by Gnostic physician Serenus Sammonicus.

Sammonicus’ anti-pyretic abracadabra talisman.

From Medscape Multispecialty (Quintus Serenus Sammonicus), we learn, “The somewhat mystical concept of bad air set the stage for an alchemistic malaria treatment in the third century CE. Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, directed patients suffering from fever and ague to wear an amulet with the inscription “abracadabra” in his didactic medical poem ‘Liber Medicinalis:’

“Inscribis chartae, quod dicitur Abracadabra,

Saepius: et subter repetas, sed detrahe summae,

Et magis atque magis desint elementa figuris

Singula, quae semper rapies et coetera figes,

Donec in angustam redigatur litera conum.

His lino nexis collum redimire memento.[Sammonicus QS: Liber Medicinalis. C. 210. Chapter 51, verse 944]

“Write several times on a piece of paper the word ‘Abracadabra,’ and repeat the word in the lines below, but take away letters from the complete word and let the letters fall away one at a time in each succeeding line. Take these away ever, but keep the rest until the writing is reduced to a narrow cone. Remember to tie these papers with flax and bind them round the neck. [Wootton A: Chronicles of Pharmacy, volume 1. London: Macmillan and Co.; 1910::164–166.]

“After wearing the talisman for nine days, it was to be thrown over the shoulder into an eastward-running stream. Failing this treatment, Sammonicus recommended the application of lion’s fat, or the wearing of cat’s skin tied with yellow coral and green emeralds around the neck. [Wootton A: Chronicles of Pharmacy, volume 1. London: Macmillan and Co.; 1910::164–166.]

“Some scholars dismiss the word abracadabra as meaningless. Others, however, translate it as, “let the thing be destroyed”, “Out, bad spirit, out” (from the Hebrew words Abrai seda brai), or “Father, Holy Ghost, Word” (from the Hebrew words Ab, Ruach, Dabar).” [Skemer D: Binding words: Textual amulets in the Middle Ages. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press; 2006::25.]

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Tossing the Caber | Celtic Knowledge Wandering Angus: Celtic Traders
wanderingangus.com

Caber is an early 16th Century word. It stands for a roughly trimmed tree trunk used in the Scottish Highland sport of “tossing the caber,” which involves heaving the trunk into the air so that it lands on the opposite end. The word comes from the Scottish Gaelic caber ‘pole.’ “In Scotland the caber is usually made from a Larch tree and is typically 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) tall and weighs 175 pounds (79 kg). The person tossing the caber is called a “tosser” or a “thrower”. It is said to have developed from the need to toss logs across narrow chasms (in order to cross them) or by lumberjacks challenging each other to a small contest.” [Caber]

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Magnet is a late Middle English word, originally a name for “lodestone.” Derived from the Latin words magnes, magnet- and from the Greek magnes lithos ‘lodestone,’ it likely came into being from the Anglo-Norman French magnete. In the early 17th Century we find the first written references to the adjective “magnetic.” 1400-50; late Middle English magnete < Latin magnēta < Greek mágnēta, accusative of mágnēs, short for ( hē) Mágnēs (líthos) (the stone) of Magnesia

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From the Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories [edited by Glynnis Chantrell, Oxford University Press, 2002], we learn that Proprietary is a late Middle English word. “A proprietary was originally a member of a religious order who held property. It is from late Latin proprietarius ‘proprietor,’ from proprietas. The adjective, recorded from the late 16th Century conveys ‘belonging to a proprietor’ is commonly applied in modern use to manufactured items which are patented [proprietary brand].

“During the Middle Ages, the proprietary church (Latin ecclesia propria, German Eigenkirche) was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what in English law is “advowson”, that of nominating the ecclesiastic personnel.” [Proprietary Churches]

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Dog and Pony Show “is a colloquial term which has come to mean a highly promoted, often over-staged performance, presentation, or event designed to sway or convince opinion for political, or less often, commercial ends. Typically, the term is used in a pejorative sense to connote disdain, jocular lack of appreciation, or distrust of the message being presented or the efforts undertaken to present it.

“The term was originally used in the United States in the late-19th and early-20th centuries to refer to small traveling circuses that toured through small towns and rural areas. The name derives from the common use of performing dogs and ponies as the main attractions of the events. Performances were generally held in open-air arenas, such as race tracks or public spaces in localities that were too small or remote to attract larger, more elaborate performers or performances. The most notorious was ‘Prof. Gentry’s Famous Dog & Pony Show,’ started when teenager Henry Gentry and his brothers started touring in 1886 with their act, originally entitled ‘Gentry’s Equine and Canine Paradox.’ It started small, but evolved into a full circus show. Other early dog and pony shows included Morris’ Equine and Canine Paradoxes (1883) and Hurlburt’s Dog and Pony Show (late 1880s). By the latter part of the 20th century, the original meaning of the term had been largely lost.” [Dog and Pony Show]

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According to the Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories, Snuff has two meanings. The first meaning, coming from the late Middle English, of “‘suppress, extinguish’ is of obscure origin. The noun originally described the portion of a wick partly consumed during burning as it gave off light. The slang phrase snuff it meaning ‘to die’ dates from the late 19th Century.”

The second meaning of Snuff (also from late Middle English) was a verb meaning “‘inhale through the nostrils’; it comes from Middle Dutch snugger ‘to snuffle.’ The noun as a term for a preparation of tobacco inhaled through the nostrils dates from the late 17th Century and is probably an abbreviation of Dutch snuftabak.”

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Umbrage is a late Middle English word coming to the language from the Old French and from the Latin umbra, meaning “shadow.” Early one, the word was used to indicate a “shadowy outline.” Eventually, the word transformed to mean “ground for suspicion,” which led to the current usage of an “offense.”

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Raspberry is an early 17th Century word. The dialect rasp forms the first part of the word. It is an abbreviation for the obsolete word rapid ‘raspberry,’ which was also used as a collective. The word’s origin is unknown. In the 19th Century, the word took on the meaning of a derisive sound (coming to the language from the rhyming slang for “fart,” a shortening of raspberry tart. Rhyming slang was particularly used in British comedy to refer to things that would be unacceptable to a polite audience. The nomenclature varies by country. In the United States, Bronx cheer is sometimes used; otherwise, in the U.S. and in other anglophone countries, it is known as a raspberry, rasp, or razz – the origin of which is an instance of rhyming slang, in which the non-rhyming part of a rhyming phrase is used as a synonym. [Blowing a Raspberry]

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Flummox is a mid 19th Century word (approximately 1830-1840), likely from a dialect origin flummock, meaning ‘to make untidy, confuse.’ It was first recovered in western counties and the north Midlands.

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gypsy-vanner-horses0535 copy.jpg www.gypsymvp.com

gypsy-vanner-horses0535 copy.jpg
http://www.gypsymvp.com

Piebald is a late 16th Century word. The word is used to describe certain horse markings. It comes from pie, as in magpie for the magpie’s black and white plumage + bald in the sense of being ‘streaked with white.’

“A piebald or pied animal is one that has a spotting pattern of large unpigmented, usually white, areas of hair, feathers, or scales and normally pigmented patches, generally black. The colour of the animal’s skin underneath its coat is also pigmented under the dark patches and unpigmented under the white patches. This alternating colour pattern is irregular and asymmetrical. Animals with this pattern may include horses, dogs, birds, cats, pigs, and cattle, as well as snakes such as the ball python. Some animals also exhibit colouration of the irises of the eye that match the surrounding skin (blue eyes for pink skin, brown for dark). The underlying genetic cause is related to a condition known as leucism.

“In British English piebald (black and white) and skewbald (white and any colour other than black) are together known as coloured. In North American English, the term for this colouring pattern is pinto, with the specialized term “paint” referring specifically to a breed of horse with American Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred bloodlines in addition to being spotted, whereas pinto refers to a spotted horse of any breed. In American usage, horse enthusiasts usually do not use the term ‘piebald,’ but rather describe the colour shade of a pinto literally with terms such as “black and white” for a piebald, ‘brown and white,’ or ‘bay and white,’ for skewbalds, or color-specific modifiers such as ‘bay pinto,’ ‘sorrel pinto,’ ‘buckskin pinto,’ and such.

“Genetically, a piebald horse begins with a black base coat colour, and then the horse also has an allele for one of three basic spotting patterns overlaying the base colour. The most common coloured spotting pattern is called tobiano, and is a dominant gene. Tobiano creates spots that are large and rounded, usually with a somewhat vertical orientation, with white that usually crosses the back of the horse, white on the legs, with the head mostly dark.” [Piebald]

Posted in word origins | Tagged abracadabra, Blowing a raspberry, caber, derivation, dog and pony show, magnet, proprietary, snuff, umbrage, word origins | 3 Comments

Literature of the Age of Chaucer: Part I

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

Language and Culture in Medieval Britain http://www.amazon.com/
Language-Culture-Medieval-Britain-c-1100-c-1500/dp/1903153271/
ref=sr_1_1ie=UTF8&
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Many experts consider the Age of Chaucer quite barren in regard to “great” literary production. With the exception of Chaucer, no one of note rises to the top. Most scholars blame the War of the Roses and the decline of the nobility for this condition. Even so, the age is not as null as it first seems to the student of literature. The “stories” that were captured are characteristic of the age and deserve our attention.

One of the more prominent characteristics of the age was social discontent. John Wycliffe was an advocate for the translating the Bible into the vernacular of the common people.His translation from the Vulgate to more informal speech knew completion in 1382. The book is now knows as Wycliffe’s Bible. Most scholars believe Wycliffe translated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. (Wycliffe’s Bible)

William Langland’s Piers Plowman voiced the social discontent of the age and championed the rights of the laboring classes. From the perspective of medieval Catholicism, the poem takes up the narrator’s quest for the Christian spirit. The tale examines the lives of three characters: Dowel (Do-Well), Dobet (Do-Better), and Dobest (Do-Best).

John Gower (c. 1330-1408) was an English poet of courtly love who is remembered as the author of the Confessio Amantis, a collection of exemplary tales (from both classical and medieval sources) about courtly and Christian love. To judge by the language of this work, Gower was from Kent. (Writers from the Middle English Period)

Meanwhile, Sir John Mandeville (mid 14th century) The Travels of Sir John Mandeville was an immensely popular book of the 14th century which has survived in a couple of hundred manuscripts. The name ‘Sir John Mandeville’ was probably adopted by a doctor form Liège called Jehan de Bourgogne, who would have written in French. Hence the English version is a translation, though it is not known who prepared it. The travels described in the book are entirely fictitious though they may be based on genuine travel descriptions by other writers. (Writers from the Middle English Period)

During the period, we find the rise of the narrative as a popular literary form. For example, we are presented with Thomas Occleve’s (1368-1426) Regiment of Princes. This book was a work of advice to a prince. It dealt with politics and religion. “By 1410 he (Occleve) had married ‘only for love’ (Regiment…, 1.1561) and settled down to writing moral and religious poems. His best-known Regement of Princes or De Regimine Principum, written for Henry V of England shortly before his accession, is an elaborate homily on virtues and vices, adapted from Aegidius de Colonna’s work of the same name, from a supposititious epistle of Aristotle known as Secreta secretorum, and a work of Jacques de Cessoles (fl. 1300) translated later by Caxton as The Game and Playe of Chesse. The Regement survives in 43 manuscript copies. It comments much on Henry V’s lineage, to cement the House of Lancaster’s claim to England’s throne. Its incipit is a poem encompassing about a third of the whole, containing further reminiscences of London tavern life in the form of dialogue between the poet and an old man. He also remonstrated with Sir John Oldcastle, a leading Lollard, calling on him to “rise up, a manly knight, out of the slough of heresy.” (Thomas Hoccleve) Other works by Occleve are the Complaint, the Ars Sciendi Mori, and the poem to Sir John Oldcastle.

Stephen Hawes wrote in the Chaucerian tradition. “He (Hawes) was Groom of the Chamber to Henry VII, as early as 1502. According to Anthony Wood, he could repeat by heart the works of most of the English poets, especially the poems of John Lydgate, whom he called his master. He was still living in 1521, when it is stated in Henry VIII’s household accounts that £6, 13s. 4d. was paid to Mr Hawes for his play, and he died before 1530, when Thomas Field, in his Conversation between a Lover and a Jay, wrote “Yong Steven Hawse, whose soule God pardon, Treated of love so clerkly and well.” (Stephen Hawes) Hawes’ poetry was didactic, and he made frequent use of allegory. His Pastime of Pleasure was a love story who hero was Graund Armour. Other characters were Lady Grammar, Geometry, Astronomy, Rhetoric, etc.

His major work is The History of Graunde Amour and la Bel Pucel, conteining the knowledge of the Seven Sciences and the Course of Mans Life in this Worlde or The Passetyme of Pleasure, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1509, but finished three years earlier. It was also printed with slightly varying titles by the same printer in 1517, by J. Wayland in 1554, by Richard Tottel and by John Waley in 1555. Tottel’s edition was edited by T. Wright and reprinted by the Percy Society in 1845. (Stephen Hawes)

The Passetyme of Pleasure is a long allegorical poem in seven-lined stanzas of man’s life in this world. It is divided into sections after the manner of Le Morte d’Arthur and borrows the machinery of romance. Its main motive is the education of the knight, Graunde Amour, based, according to William John Courthope (History of English Poetry, vol. I. 382), on the Marriage of Mercury and Philology, by Martianus Capella, and the details of the description prove Hawes to have been acquainted with medieval systems of philosophy. At the suggestion of Fame, and accompanied by her two greyhounds, Grace and Governance, Graunde Amour starts out in quest of La Bel Pucel. He first visits the Tower of Doctrine or Science where he acquaints himself with the arts of grammar, logic, rhetoric and arithmetic. After a long disputation with the lady in the Tower of Music he returns to his studies, and after sojourns at the Tower of Geometry, the Tower of Doctrine, the Castle of Chivalry, etc., he arrives at the Castle of La Bel Pucel, where he is met by Peace, Mercy, Justice, Reason and Memory. His happy marriage does not end the story, which goes on to tell of the oncoming of Age, with the concomitant evils of Avarice and Cunning. The admonition of Death brings Contrition and Conscience, and it is only when Remembraunce has delivered an epitaph chiefly dealing with the Seven Deadly Sins, and Fame has enrolled Graunde Amours name with the knights of antiquity, that we are allowed to part with the hero. This long imaginative poem was widely read and esteemed, and certainly exercised an influence on the genius of Edmund Spenser. (Stephen Hawes)

Posted in Age of Chaucer, Anglo-Normans, British history, Great Britain, real life tales | Tagged Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, John Wycliffe, Sir John Mandeville, Stephen Hawes, Thomas Occleve, William Langland | Comments Off

Winners from Caroline Warfield’s Release Party for “Dangerous Weakness”

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

Caroline Warfield is happy to announce that Suzan and TaNeshia will each receive an eBook copy of Caroline’s Dangerous Works or Dangerous Secrets. Congratulations, Ladies.

Posted in giveaway, Living in the Regency, Regency era, romance | Tagged Caroline Warfield, Dangerous Secrets, Dangerous Weakness, Dangerous Works, giveaway, guest post, Regency Romace, series | 2 Comments

Winners from Regina Jeffers’ Two-Days of Giveaways of “Second Chances: The Courtship Wars”

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

I am very happy to announce that the following ladies will receive an eBook copy of Second Chances: The Courtship Wars as part of my recent giveaway. Check your email boxes, Ladies, for I sent out the gift prize notices late last evening. Congratulations!

MaryAnnN

Glynis

Denisia

junewilliams7

anadarcy

Lúthien84

tgruy

Posted in contemporary romance, giveaway | Tagged contemporary romance, giveaway, medicine, olfactory nerve, reality TV show, Regina Jeffers, Second Chances: The Courtship Wars | 1 Comment

Getting Ready for October: The Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe Manor

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

Mike Searle – From geograph.org.uk
Bettiscombe – Church of St Stephen The church was entirely rebuilt in 1862 in the Perpendicular style by John Hicks of Dorchester.

Bettiscombe is a small village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated in the Marshwood Vale 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Beaminster. Dorset County Council’s 2012 mid-year estimate of the population of the civil parish is 70.

This version of the legend comes to us from The Castle of Spirits website: “84 Bettiscombe Manor located in a village of the same name, near Lyme Regis in Dorset, England is the home of the very famous legend of the screaming skull. There are a few stories around that involve screaming skulls but this would be the most famous. The original story tells of Azariah Pinney who was banished to the West Indies in 1685 for supporting the Duke of Monmouth. He soon became a very successfull businessman and returned back to his home of England with one of his black slaves. The slave, often thought to have been a West Indian native but could also have been African, as most slaves were in those days, became ill and upon his death bed made one last request, that his body be buried back in his native home. Here we find some variation in the story – he also was said to have demanded that his body be returned to native ground or a terrible curse would befall Bettiscombe.

“Azariah promised him that he would fulfill that last request and the slave passed away soon after. The promise was never kept and Azariah buried him in the local churchyard located a short distance from the house. As soon as the body was buried people began hearing roars, moans and screams coming from where the body was buried. The locals didn’t take too kindly to the noisy corpse who both terrified and annoyed their peaceful country village and Azariah was forced to removed the body at once. The slave was then removed and placed up in a loft back at Bettiscombe Manor where it slowly perished and somehow only the skull remained (some versions of this story tell of the body being shipped back to it’s home in West Indies/Africa and the skull remaining behind).

“Over the years many attempts to get rid of the skull have been made only to find soon after it’s removal that screams and other strange phenomena would soon follow it’s removal and not cease until it was placed back inside the manor. One instance the skull was thrown into the depths of a nearby pond, by a resident of the manor – he was said to be so appaled by the appearance of the skull that he immediately ran outside and threw it into the local pond. The resident was trouble by screams and moans all night long and the next day quickly retrieved the skull and replaced it back inside the manor where it resided for a while nice and quietly. GraveyardIt is said that on one particular night of the year a ghostly coach hurtles up the road from Bettiscombe Manor to the local Churchyard, the locals call this incident “the funeral procession of the skull”. A writer by the name of Eric Marple spent a night in the manor with the skull in the 1960’s and claimed to of not heard any screaming but was apparently plagued by nightmares. He declined an offer to stay a second night and hastily left the manor.

“The owners of Bettiscombe manor are now never bothered by the skull – they of course never remove it from it’s home in a box in a bureau drawer. The skull has plenty of mystery surrounding it – no one is sure if any of the stories are true.In 1963 an archaeologist named Michael Pinney owned Bettiscombe manor and had the skull examined by a pathologist, who determined the skull did not belong to a Negro man at all. Rather it belonged to a European woman who died 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. The fossilised skull is believed to have been submerged in the well near the manor house, at the foot of Pilsdon Pen, a hill that covers an Iron Age ritual plot. The skull may have come from the hill itself, and the shiny surface of the skull may be the result of its immersion in the well and the minerals contained therein.

“Skulls or severed heads were often used as offerings to water spirits in ancient times – they were placed in wells and ponds and believed to hold spirits who would protect and guard the homestead as long as they were treated with respect. The sacred heads were feared so much that many would not even speak of where the heads lay for fear of bad luck. Stone heads were also used for guardian and luck purposes and can still be seen to this day around England and the UK.

To add further to the confusion about the skulls origins another popular story is that Azariah and the slave originally had a fight to the death, the skull being the only thing that remained of the looser, only nobody knows which one lost!.

“In 1874, Judge J.S. Udal recorded that the skull had been preserved on the premises ‘for a time long antecedent to the present tenancy’ and ‘the peculiar superstition attaching to it is that if it be brought out of the house, the house itself would rock to its foundation, while the person by whom such an act of desecration was committed would certainly die within the year’.”

Skull Legend
Wikipedia provides a some different details: “Bettiscombe Manor, a manor house in the village, is known as ‘The House of the Screaming Skull’ due to a legend dating from the 17th century. Other ghost stories are also associated with the manor.

‘The legend maintains that the skull is that of a Jamaican slave. John Frederick Pinney disposed of the Nevis estates and returned to the family home of Bettiscombe Manor in the early nineteenth century, accompanied by one of the family’s faithful black servants. While in his master’s service, the servant was taken seriously ill with suspected tuberculosis. As he lay dying, the servant swore that he would never rest unless his body was returned to his homeland of Nevis, but when he died, John Frederick Pinney refused to pay for such an expensive burial and instead had the body interred in the grounds of St. Stephen’s Church cemetery. After the burial, ill fortune plagued the village for many months and screams and crying were heard coming from the cemetery. Other disturbances were reported from the manor house, such as windows rattling and doors slamming of their own accord. The villagers went to the manor to seek advice. The body of the servant was exhumed and the body taken to the manor house. In the process of time the skeleton has long since vanished, except for the skull where it has remained in the house for centuries.

‘In 1963 a professor of human and comparative anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons stated that the skull was not that of a black man but that of a European female aged between twenty-five and thirty.

Pinney’s Estate
The website Mountravers Plantation (Pinney’s Estate), Nevis, West Indies (by Christine Eickelmann and David Small) tells us about the island plantation at the center of this story. “Mountravers, also known as ‘Pinney’s Estate’, was a medium-sized sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Nevis. It was made up of several estates and tracts of land. From the late seventeenth century until slavery was abolished in 1834, more than 750 enslaved people are now known to have lived on Mountravers. Successive members of the Pinney family owned the plantation, among them John Pretor Pinney, who settled in Bristol, England, in 1784. His family home in Bristol is now the city’s Georgian House Museum. Nevis was the premier landing point for slaves in the Leeward Islands between 1675 and 1730, and Bristol was the most important British slaving port in the 1730s.”

Nevis AerialCC BY-SA 2.5
Aaron Vos – Own work
The east coast of Nevis, partially protected by coral reefs. Long Haul Bay is seen in the foreground.
Aerial shot taken from the northeast, depicting the east coast of the island of Nevis, Saint James Windward Parish, Saint Kitts and Nevis, West Indies. Long Haul Bay in the foreground. The islands of Redonda and Montserrat are visible at the horizon.

Dark Dorset by Robert J. Newland and Mark J. North explains, “By the time John Pretor Pinney left Nevis in 1783 to settle down in Bristol, the Mountravers plantation was one of the most successful estates in all the Caribbean. Dependent on the labour of their black slaves, the estate produced about 30,000 kg (66,000 lb) of sugar annually and 32,800 litres (7000 gallons) of rum, and comprised of 393 acres, extending from the top of Mount Nevis on down to the sea. His combined estates have about 2000 slaves; a male slave was then worth about £50, a woman £37 and children about £14. John Prector Pinney’s son John Frederick Pinney (the second), in 1811 begins the sale (finalised in 1816) of the estate including, Mountravers and other properties to Edward Huggins for £35,650 (about £1.75 million today).” Anne Marie Pinney’s notes on the family’s papers mentions “the skull,” but no other mention is made.

Mountravers, also known as ‘Pinney’s Estate’, was a medium-sized sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Nevis. It was made up of several estates and tracts of land. From the late seventeenth century until slavery was abolished in 1834, more than 750 enslaved people are now known to have lived on Mountravers. Successive members of the Pinney family owned the plantation, among them John Pretor Pinney, who settled in Bristol, England, in 1784. His family home in Bristol is now the city’s Georgian House Museum.

Nevis was the premier landing point for slaves in the Leeward Islands between 1675 and 1730, and Bristol was the most important British slaving port in the 1730s.

This folktale brings us to the America writer, Francis Crawford. Francis Marion Crawford (August 2, 1854 – April 9, 1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastic stories. Several of his short stories, such as “The Upper Berth” (1886; written in 1885), “For the Blood Is the Life” (1905, a vampiress tale), “The Dead Smile” (1899), and “The Screaming Skull” (1908), are often-anthologized classics of the horror genre. An essay on Crawford’s weird tales can be found in S. T. Joshi’s The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004); there are many other essays and introductions. The collected weird stories were posthumously published in 1911 as Wandering Ghosts in the U.S. and as Uncanny Tales in the UK, both without the long-forgotten “The King’s Messenger” (1907). The present definitive edition is that edited by Richard Dalby as Uncanny Tales and published by the Tartarus Press (1997; 2008).

A footnote follows the story of The Screaming Skull, which reads [Note. – Students of ghost lore and haunted houses will find the foundation of the foregoing story in the legends about a skull, which is still preserved in the farm-house called Bettiscombe Manor, situated, I believe, on the Dorset coast.]

1958 American film “The Screaming Skull,” NOT based on the UK legend

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, castles, customs and tradiitons, gothic and paranormal, Great Britain, legends and myths, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, real life tales, Regency personalities | Tagged Bettiscombe Manor, Dorsetshire, Francis Crawford, Legend of the Screaming Skull, Nevis Island, Pinney's Estate | Comments Off

The Road to Somewhere Special

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

This post appeared recently as part of Karen Cox’s five-year anniversary celebration of her Austen-inspired release of 1932. I thought it worth repeating here for those of you who missed it.

As an author, I am often on the road and staying at motels/hotels. My friend Kim crisscrosses America at least once per week and often bemoans the desire to sleep in her own bed. Even so, both Kim and I have it SO-O-O much better than early travelers.

In 1925 in America, the word “motel” was coined. Although the word did not appear in dictionaries until after WWII, motor hotels carved out a niche in society.

A “motel” was customarily a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot. Occasionally, the rooms faced a common area. The need for low cost overnight accommodations grew with the improvements to the road system. Motels were situated along the highways.

With the development of a nation highway system, long distance travel exploded in the 1920s, which expanded the need for accessible (and inexpensive) overnight accommodations near the busier routes: Motels quickly filled the need. Several motels are on the U. S. National Registry of Historic Places.

Omar Omar – http://www.flicker.com/photos/omaromar/16805302/ The Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo (originally known as the Milestone Mo-Tel) — the first motel in the world. Created and built in 1925, in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, now in ruins. Located on old Highway 101 in northern San Luis Obispo, Central California.

Prior to motels, the urban areas sported hotels, while the rural areas had “tourists courts” or “tourist rooms.” Highway travelers encountering “tourists courts” found a series of one-room dwellings holding a steel cot and perhaps a chair or two. The bathrooms were down the path to the outhouse. A “tourist home” was generally a family home with extra rooms to let.
Do you recall this song? “King Of The Road” which was written by and performed by Roger Miller.

Trailer for sale or rent/Rooms to let, fifty cents/ No phone, no pool, no pets/ ain’t got no cigarettes/ Two hours of pushin’ broom/ Buys a eight by twelve four-bit room/ I’m a man of means, by no means/ King of the road/ Third boxcar, midnight train/ Destination: Bangor, Maine/ Old worn out suit and shoes/ I don’t pay no union dues/ I smoke, old stogies I have found/ Short, but not too big around/ I’m a man of means, by no means/ King of the road/ I know every engineer on every train/ All of the children and all of their names/ Every handout in every town/ Every lock that ain’t locked when no one’s around/ They sing, trailers for sale or rent/ Rooms to let, fifty cents/ No phone, no pool, no pets/ I ain’t got no cigarettes/ About two hours of pushin’ broom/ Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room/ I’m a man of means, by no means/ King of the road.

How can one tell the difference between a “motel” and a “hotel”? With a hotel, the rental rooms customarily face inward, toward a central lobby. They are often found in the “downtown” areas of large cities as opposed to motels, which are located along highways. The doors in motels typically face the exterior of the building.

Motels provide a parking area for their patrons, while hotels typically do not. Motels are rarely more than a few stories high, while high-rise urban hotels grew around railway stations.

This was not an issue in an era where the major highways became Main Street in every town along the way and inexpensive land at the edge of town could be developed with motels, car lots, filling stations, lumber yards, amusement parks, roadside diners, drive-in restaurants, theatres, and countless other small roadside businesses.

The automobile brought mobility, and the motel could appear anywhere on the vast network of two-lane highways. Auto camps predated motels by a few years, established in the 1920s as primitive municipal camp sites where travelers pitched their own tents. As demand increased, for-profit commercial camps gradually displaced public camp grounds.

Until the first travel trailers became available in the 1930s, auto tourists adapted their cars by adding beds, makeshift kitchens, and roof decks. The next step up from the travel trailer was the cabin camp, a primitive but permanent group of structures.

During the Great Depression, landholders whose property fronted onto roads in U. S. highway or provincial highway systems built cabins to convert unprofitable land to income; some opened tourist homes. The (usually single-story) buildings for a roadside motel or cabin court were quick and simple to construct, with plans and instructions readily available in how-to and builder’s magazines. Expansion of highway networks would continue unabated through the depression as governments attempted to create employment but the roadside cabin camps were primitive, basically just auto camps with small cabins instead of tents.

A scene from 1934’s “It Happened One Night,” in which Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert must share a motel cabin.

The 1935 City Directory for San Diego, California, lists “motel”-type accommodations under Tourist Camps. One initially could stay in the Depression-era cabin camps for less than a dollar per night, but small comforts were few and far between. Travelers in search of modern amenities soon would find them at cottage courts and tourist courts. The price was higher, but the cabins had electricity, indoor bathrooms, and occasionally a private garage or carport. They were arranged in attractive clusters or a U-shape. Often, these camps were part of a larger complex containing a filling station, a café, and sometimes a corner store. Facilities like the Rising Sun Auto Camp in Glacier National Park and Blue Bonnet Court in Texas were “Mom-and-Pop” facilities on the outskirts of towns that were as quirky as their owners. Auto camps continued in popularity through the Depression years and after World War II, their popularity finally starting to diminish with increasing land costs and changes in consumer demands.

In contrast, though they remained small independent operations, motels quickly adopted a more homogenized appearance and were designed from the start to cater purely to motorists. In town, tourist homes were private residences advertising rooms for auto travelers. Unlike boarding houses, guests at tourist homes were usually just passing through. In the southwestern United States, a handful of tourist homes were operated by African-Americans as early as the Great Depression due to the lack of food or lodging for travelers of color in the Jim Crow era.

Marion Post Wolcott – Library of Congress: Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination: Documentation by Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photographers; Location: E-527; Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-51945-D “A highway sign advertising cabins for Negroes.” [Sign: “Cabins for Colored.”] South Carolina.

“There were things money couldn’t buy on Route 66. Between Chicago and Los Angeles you couldn’t rent a room if you were tired after a long drive. You couldn’t sit down in a restaurant or diner or buy a meal no matter how much money you had. You couldn’t find a place to answer the call of nature even with a pocketful of money…if you were a person of color traveling on Route 66 in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.” – Irv Logan, Jr. The Negro Motorist Green Book (1936–64) which listed lodgings, restaurants, fuel stations, liquor stores, and barber and beauty salons without racial restrictions, while the smaller Directory of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses in the United States (1939, US Travel Bureau) specialized in accommodations.

Segregation of U. S. tourist accommodation would legally be ended by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and by a court ruling in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States affirming that Congress’ powers over interstate commerce extend to regulation of local incidents (such as racial discrimination in a motel serving interstate travelers) which might substantially and harmfully affect that commerce.

Information for this post can be found in Reminisce: The Magazine That Brings Back the Good Times, July/August 1995 and from Wikipedia.

Posted in America, American History | Tagged Great Depression, highway system, hotel, Jim Crow era, motel, segregation, traveling | 2 Comments

Welcome Caroline Warfield and Her Release of “Dangerous Weakness” + a Giveaway

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

Carol Roddy – Author

Today, I wish to welcome my friend, Caroline Warfield, to the Every Woman Dreams blog. Caroline Warfield has at various times been an army brat, a librarian, a poet, a raiser of children, a nun, a bird watcher, an Internet and Web services manager, a conference speaker, an indexer, a tech writer, a genealogist, and, of course, a romantic. She sailed through the English channel while it was still mined from WWII, stood on the walls of Troy, searched Scotland for the location of an entirely fictional castle (and found it), climbed the steps to the Parthenon, floated down the Thames from the Tower to Greenwich, shopped in the Ginza, lost herself in the Louvre, gone on a night safari at the Singapore zoo, walked in the Black Forest, and explored the underground cistern of Istanbul. By far the biggest adventure has been life-long marriage to a prince among men.

She sits in front of a keyboard at a desk surrounded by windows, looks out at the trees and imagines. Her greatest joy is when one of those imaginings comes to life on the page and in the imagination of her readers.

I asked Caroline some quirky questions so you might learn more of her.

What’s the craziest, bravest, or stupidest thing you’ve ever done?

What an interesting question. Risk comes in a variety of forms. I am terrified of heights so, in one sense, the bravest thing I ever did was step off a ninety-foot cliff and rappel down it. “Feel the fear. Do it anyway,” became a life motto for me at one point.

In another sense, however, the bravest thing was allowing myself to love and marry. The utter exposure of one’s vulnerabilities to another takes immense courage. The “danger” from the titles of all the books in my current series is to the human heart. I believe this strongly. The tag line for all my writing is “Love is worth the risk.”

How long have you been writing, and how did you decide this was a career you wanted to pursue?

I completed my first novel in 1998 after diddling with it for a few years. I sent it off to the Harlequin critique service (with a hefty fee, of course). What came back told me essentially that the work wasn’t publishable as it was, but that my writing held promise. I believed them. At that point, I began to think of myself as a writer.

That novel, by the way, is upstairs in a closet and also deep in my laptop files. I recently pulled it out, sliced it, diced it, and massaged the pieces into a novella called A Dangerous Nativity. It is included in the Bluestocking Belles’ boxed set, Mistletoe, Marriage, and Mayhem.

What do you write? You’re welcome to include your latest title (shameless plug)

If a fiction genre has a historical setting, I’ve probably tried it. I worked on a long historical novel set on a medieval pilgrimage. An agent is reviewing one of my historical novels for the middle grades as I type this. Those will carry the by-line “Carol Roddy.” As Caroline Warfield, I write historical romance. My first series is set in the Regency era. The next will be set in the early years of Victoria’s reign, and carry over characters from the first. History and geography are important elements in all my books but in romance, the love story comes first.

My latest title? Dangerous Weakness is set in 1818. It tells the story of a man learning to trust and a woman learning that sometimes love is shown by action not words. It skims over a backdrop of the seething upheavals of the Mediterranean basin in that era, including revolution in Greece, Barbary corsairs, and the weakening grasp of the Ottoman Empire. Readers of my previous books will enjoy seeing the Marquess of Glenaire taken down a peg or two and learning to let his kindness and caring heart out into the open.

Introducing Dangerous Weakness

How far will he go to protect her? How far will she run from her fears?

If women were as easily managed as the affairs of state—or the recalcitrant Ottoman Empire—Richard Hayden, Marquess of Glenaire, would be a happier man. As it was the creatures—one woman in particular—made hash of his well-laid plans and bedeviled him on all sides.
Lily Thornton came home from Saint Petersburg in pursuit of marriage. She wants a husband and a partner, not an overbearing, managing man. She may be “the least likely candidate to be Marchioness of Glenaire,” but her problems are her own to fix, even if those problems include both a Russian villain and an interfering Ottoman official.

Given enough facts, Richard can fix anything. But protecting that impossible woman is proving to be almost as hard as protecting his heart, especially when Lily’s problems bring her dangerously close to an Ottoman revolution. As Lily’s personal problems entangle with Richard’s professional ones, and she pits her will against his, he chases her across the pirate-infested Mediterranean. Will she discover surrender isn’t defeat? It might even have its own sweet reward.

Excerpt:

If women were as easily managed as the affairs of state—or the recalcitrant Ottoman Empire—Richard Hayden, Marquess of Glenaire, would be a happier man. As it was, the creatures made hash of his well-laid plans and bedeviled him on all sides.

“What did we miss now? I can tell you’re unhappy.” Will Landrum, Earl of Chadbourn, and one of the handful of men who would call Richard ‘friend,’ was not fooled by the cool façade and bland expression with which the marquess surveyed his ballroom.

“Who invited Lilias Thornton?” Richard demanded under his breath. His eyes followed a slender young woman who paced out the steps of the Quadrille across the parquet floor of the earl’s ballroom.

“No ‘thank you for turning your country seat into a diplomatic snake pit for an entire week so the haut ton can mingle with exotic visitors from the East while the foreign secretary manages the fate of Greece over Brandy and cards?’” Will demanded.

Richard looked at his friend, one eyebrow raised. “Chadbourn Park fit the need precisely. I thanked your Catherine this morning.”

Will grunted. “My Catherine worked miracles when Sahin Pasha showed up with six extra people in his party.”

“We can’t predict how many retainers the Turks will impose,” Richard growled. The Ottomans danced to their own tune; the Foreign Office never knows what to expect. Richard loathed the unpredictable. He went back to surveying the overheated ballroom.

“Who invited Lilias Thornton?” he repeated.

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Learn More of Caroline Warfield Here:
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Caroline’s Other Books
Dangerous Works
Dangerous Secrets

Now, for the Giveaway:

Caroline will give Kindle copies of both Dangerous Works and Dangerous Secrets, one each to two randomly selected people who comment.

Mistletoe, Marriage, and Mayhem can be pre-ordered for the remarkable price of 99 cents at
Amazon 

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Posted in British history, excerpt, giveaway, Great Britain, Guest Post, Living in the Regency, Regency era, Victorian era | Tagged Barbary Pirates, Carol Roddy, Caroline Warfield, Dangerous Secrets, Dangerous Series, Dangerous Weakness, Dangerous Works, Historical Romance, Lily Thornton, Ottoman Empire, Regency romance, romance, The Marquess of Glenaire | 3 Comments

Excerpt + Giveaway from “Second Chances: The Courtship Wars”

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Regina Jeffers

Yesterday, I spoke of the medical research behind my writing of Second Chances: The Courtship Wars. If you did not have the opportunity to check this information out, it is fascinating. Read it HERE. One of the things that struck me in the original article was the idea that women on birth control change their hormonal makeup, and, therefore, skew their natural instincts. Could this be a factor in the rise of divorces? Of miscarriages? LOL! I hold no means to know, but what an interesting concept!

With that in mind, I give you the premise behind my contemporary romance, Second Chances: The Courtship Wars.

Second Chances is a reality TV show in which couples who were once married and now divorced wish to remarry. The winners will receive the wedding of their dreams, as well as a substantial cash prize. As part of the show’s medical staff, psychologist Dr. Lucian Damron meets his match in Gillian Cornell, a sexologist. Lucian and Gillian are as of much interest to the American viewing public as are the contestants, and the show’s executives decide to highlight their growing romance to boost viewership. Needless to say, things do not go as planned.

Excerpt (This scene takes place early on in the book, and it incorporates some of the research mentioned in yesterday’s article.)

Worried she would be late for her university lecture, Gillian stepped onto the busy sidewalk. Digging in her purse for her sunglasses, an action, which seemed to claim more and more of her time each day, she did not notice Damron’s approach until the man stood before her.

“Dr. Damron,” she gasped, reaching for her heart as if frightened.

“Lucian. Please call me Lucian.”

He reached to steady her stance, and Gillian felt the warmth of his touch scooting up her arm.

“Lu…Lucian,” she flustered. “What are you doing here?”

“I know this is presumptuous on my part, but I wished to see if there’s something I could do to convince you to join the show’s staff.”

“How did you know where I lived?” she asked suspiciously.

Damron smiled amusedly.

“I am afraid I purposely did some research on you. I thought if we’re to work together, it might be easier if we knew something other than what the lecture circuit tells the public.”

“I suppose I should be flattered, but it’s a bit disconcerting to know a stranger could find such personal information so easily.”

“I was a bit tenacious in my efforts,” he admitted before releasing his hold on her arm.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’m accustomed to making decisions without assistance from those I know little of,” she announced.

Dr. Damron smiled, and Gillian realized a smile on his lips was a powerful weapon against her resolve. Deep set dimples. Like those found on Clark Gable. God! To be the recipient of that smile on a regular basis would be heavenly.

“Naturally. I overstepped my boundaries. I apologize for intruding upon your privacy,” he said dutifully.

“I am not offended, Doctor…I mean, Lucian.”

Gillian placed her purse across her shoulder.

“I take care of my responsibilities, and I believe I’ll be able to meet the contract. I just possess a few small details to settle, but now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be at the university for a lecture soon.”

She glanced around to hail a cab.

“I’ve my care with me, might I offer you a lift?” he offered.

“I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way on my account.”

Gillian’s eyes finally met his, and a tingle of anticipation rushed through her.

“I’ve nothing else planned, and it would provide us time to talk a bit more.”

The man did not wait for Gillian’s answer; he caught her elbow to lead her to his waiting car. In truth, as soon as he touched her, Gillian swallowed her refusal.

***

The relatively short drive to the university didn’t allow for much conversation, but Lucian used it to his advantage.

“What’s the lecture on?” he asked as he maneuvered through traffic.

“MHC.”

“Is that the subject of your upcoming book?”

“It’s a large portion of it, but there’s more hard core honesty than many psychology based offerings currently on the market.”

A lull in the conversation followed. Lucian did not know much about MHC, but he meant to learn something of it when he returned to his computer later. At length, Miss Cornell asked of his hopes for a talk show.

“It’s my chance to market myself; I hoped for something more along the lines of Dr. Phil. I prefer to take the high road: no fist fights or married siblings or such foolishness.”

Lucian asked without forethought, “Would you have lunch with me?”

Miss Cornell stammered, “Lucian…I…I don’t know whether that is wise.”

“Why not? I’m not asking for an intimate evening. We’ll have lunch and learn more of each other. That’s all.”

“I have the lecture.”

“I’ll sit in the back and listen. Then we can spend a leisurely lunch.”

Lucian watched her from the corner of his eye. He could read the moment of indecision swaying in his favor, and he relished the idea. At length, an aggravated sigh escaped Miss Cornell’s lips as she grudgingly accepted.

“If you insist.”

“Good.” His heart lifted with anticipation. “Thank you, Gillian.

***

Good to his word, Lucian sat in the shadows at the back of the auditorium, but that didn’t keep him from Gillian’s thoughts as she worked her way through the afternoon lecture series.

“So what makes two people fall in love?” she asked as she stepped from the podium and into the audience. “Have you ever been in love?”

Gillian thrust the microphone before the face of a bleach-blonde co-ed.

“Sure,” the girl’s gum snapped as she answered.

“How did you know?”

“He was hot!”

The crowd roared with laughter.

“Ooh. Lust,” Gillian purred. “Isn’t it exhilarating?”

The girl giggled nervously.

“Yeah, hot!”

“How about shared goals? Mutual interests?”

Gillian moved on to an older grad student.

“Without that,” he said what he thought she wanted to hear, “the sex is useless.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Gillian teased. “However, what if I told you an olfactory nerve discovered in a whale could be the real source of a person’s attraction?”

This time she turned to the “jock” type.

“You mean I just need to smell my girlfriend to find out if we’re in love?”

The guy blushed when his obvious girlfriend playfully slugged his shoulder.

Gillian’s eyes rose to where Dr. Damron looked on.

“An esteemed colleague asked me a similar question recently.”

An enigmatic smile played across his features, and Gillian fought the urge to ask him his thoughts on their previous encounter.

“But the truth is a bit more complicated.”

Gillian returned to the stage to continue her thoughts.

“The truth is Nerve O has endings in the nasal cavity, but those nerve endings play a different role from what we might expect. Nerve O doesn’t smell out the person to whom we’re attracted, but it does identify sexual cues from all the thousands of potential lovers we meet on a daily basis. Family members. logically, have a similar chemical make up. That is nature’s way of protecting close family members from procreating as we seek out those with a different chemical program.”

“Unless you live in the South,” a voice from the rear of the audience shared a bit too loudly.

“Hey, I attend school in the South,” Gillian countered, shooting down the laughter before it began. “Nerve O also can be a cue to fertility issues, miscarriages, and infidelity. If your partner has similar chemical markers, such problems may occur. This is where the old adage of opposites attract coming into play. And loading up on your favorite cologne won’t change your love life, no matter what all the commercials tell you; our scents are natural and instinctive. You can’t change the code. My last caution is to the females in the audience. Although I applaud your responsibility in choosing birth control, if you’re sexually active, you must remember that birth control changes your hormonal makeup, simulating pregnancy, and, therefore, making your body seek out those with similar chemical programs, like family kinship, rather than potential mates. Your choices for successful love may be affected by the pill.”

A nervous giggle filled the space.

“Before I leave you with this last lecture in the series, I wish to thank you for your participation in the program.”

A light round of applause spread across the room, but Gillian raised her hand to let the attendees know she still required their attention.

“I am considering a contract in the fall that will not permit me to be part of the series when your return to classes; I will not see many of you until the spring semester.”

“Where you going?” A dark-headed prep shouted from the front row.

Gillian glanced to Dr. Damron again. She hesitated before she offered an explanation.

“Dr. Lucian Damron, who I am certain many of you took note in the lecture hall today, and I will work on a joint national campaign. That is all I am at liberty to tell you at the moment, but you’ll be hearing about it before long.”

Gillian motioned for Dr. Damron to come to the front.

“Please welcome Dr. Damron. If you’ve questions for either of us, we’ll be glad to address them.”

Damron self-consciously came forward as the audience applauded. He hugged Gillian quickly – too quickly for her preferences – as he accepted the hand-held microphone from her and turned to face those gathered in the lecture hall.

“How does she smell, Doc?”

A sniggering voice penetrated the silence.

“Like roses,” he responded with a light laugh.

“Actually, it’s lavender,” Gillian corrected.

“Well, that shows you I’ve no sense of smell.”

Damron presented Gillian a knowing look before turning to the audience.

“Are there any questions I can answer.”

Book Blurb:

Rushing through the concourse to make her way to the conference stage, Gillian Cornell comes face-to-face with the one man she finds most contemptible, but suddenly her world tilts. His gaze tells stories she wants desperately to hear. As he undresses her with his eyes, Gillian finds all she can do is stumble through her opening remarks. The all-too-attractive cad challenges both her sensibility and her reputation as a competent sexologist.

Dr. Lucina Damron never allows any woman to capture his interest for long. He uses them to boost his career and for his pleasure. Yet, Lucian cannot resist Gillian’s stubborn independence, her startling intelligence, and her surprising sensuality. Sinfully handsome, Lucian hides a badly wounded heart and a life of personal rejection.

Thrown together as the medical staff on “Second Chances,” a new reality show designed to reunite previously married couples, Lucian and Gillian soon pique the interest of the American viewing public, who tune in each week, fascinated by the passionate electricity coursing between them. Thus begins an all-consuming courtship war, plagued by potential relationship-ending secrets and misunderstandings and played out scandalously on a national stage.

Giveaway: Yesterday, I offered 2 eBook copies of Second Chances: The Courtship Wars to those who commented. I’m adding an additional two copies to this giveaway for a total of four. If you did not comment yesterday, do so, as well as leave your comments below. The winners will be chosen at midnight EDST on September 30, 2015.

Posted in contemporary, excerpt, giveaway, publishing, research, romance | Tagged contemporary romance, eBooks, excerpt, giveaway, Regina Jeffers, research, Second Chances: The Courtship Wars | 4 Comments

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