Words in Progress: The Banqueting House

This week on my writing blog, I’m remaining in the 17^th century to chat about a line of research for my new release, Lucky in Love, which is 50% off today only at JMS Books, together with all my stories.

In Lucky in Love, country gentleman Owen and his servant and lover John are summoned to the royal court in London and all the decadence therein. Continuing on from last week, I’m sticking around the Palace of Whitehall to focus on a particular building, The Banqueting House.

As I mentioned previously, this spacious royal dining hall, built by James I and improved upon by his son Charles I from designs by Inigo Jones, was one of the few Stuart embellishments on the Tudor palace. Given that most of the Palace of Whitehall was destroyed by fire towards the end of the 17^th century, the Banqueting House, although modified over the centuries, is of especial interest as it is one of the few original remaining buildings from the complex..

When Charles II returned to England in 1660, the restoration and modernization of the Palace of Whitehall was a priority. The richly decorated Banqueting House had been stripped of its paintings as Antonia Fraser notes in her biography of King Charles II. “His father’s great art collection had been tragically sold after his death, and it was with a view to replacing it to some small degree that Charles had acquired some paintings of his own in the Netherlands.”

Rather than a private dining room, the Banqueting House was (and still remains) an official and impressive function room, designed to “impress fellow monarchs and ambassadors” as Lisa Picard explains in Restoration London.

However, the general public was allowed surprisingly frequent access due to the custom of public dining practised by the monarchs of Europe in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Liza Picard describes, “Anyone who looked respectable and could talk his way in could watch Charles dining, three times a week.”

This intriguing revelation was a gift to my imagination and I had to include one such public dinner in Lucky in Love. My main characters behave in their typical fashion. Owen is slightly bored by the entire procedure while John is agog as the spectacle and amazed that the king requires food like any other man!

Rainbow Snippets: Gentlemen’s Agreement

This week for Rainbow Snippets, I’m snipping from another January bookversary story, Gentlemen’s Agreement, the fourth novella in my ongoing Twelve Letters series. These Regency romps stories revolve around the lives and loves of four sets of couples who function as a found family in Regency London.  My main ensemble cast consists of Jo Everett and Daniel Walters, Captain Ben Harding and Dr Edward Stephens, Percy Havilland and Nathan Brooks and Luc Gerrard and Harry Kent.

All my stories, including the seven novellas so far in my Twelve Letters series and its companion trilogy, Town Bronze, are in the 50% ebook sale at JMS Books this weekend to celebrate JM Snyder’s birthday. Happy Birthday, JM!

Authors who take part in Rainbow Snippets each weekend are encouraged to post six lines from one of their stories on their blog and then link back to the group post on Facebook. I always enjoy joining in with Rainbow Snippets, especially to read and comment on everyone else’s choice of snippet.

This snippet from the beginning of Gentlemen’s Agreement is from the point of view of Nathan Brooks, the long-suffering lover of Regency beau Percy Havilland. As usual, Percy is taking forever to make himself beautiful for an afternoon party, delaying the departure of his three younger sisters and Nathan. Percy’s forthright sister Araminta takes matters into her own hands…

~~~

Nathan stifled a grin as Araminta reached the half-landing and ascended the next set of stairs while calling, “Hurry up, Percy! You’re keeping us, the coachman, and the horses waiting.”

There was a rap at Percy’s bedroom door and a low murmur from Percy before Araminta declared in robust tones that Nathan would blanch at using with his mercurial lover, “Yes, yes, you look very fine even if you think there is room for further improvement. But if you don’t come downstairs directly so we can start on our way, it will be growing dark before we arrive, and no one will be able to admire you. You wouldn’t want to waste all your efforts, would you?”

On hearing this, Nathan turned a snort of laughter into a cough and mentally catalogued that argument for the next inevitable hold-up.

Rainbow Snippets: A Festive Gathering at Chelsea

For this week’s Rainbow Snippets, I’m snipping again from my latest release, A Festive Gathering at Chelsea, Book 7 in my Twelve Letters series. Together with most of my titles, this novella is currently 50% off in the Smashwords end-of-year sale until January 1^st.

Authors who take part in Rainbow Snippets each weekend are encouraged to post a few lines from one of their stories on their blog and then link back to the group post on Facebook. I always enjoy joining in with Rainbow Snippets, especially to read and comment on everyone else’s choice of snippet.

In contrast with the lighthearted exchange from A Festive Gathering at Chelsea for last week’s Rainbow Snippets between Percy and Nathan, another of my ensemble couples is experiencing less harmony. In this snippet (slightly over 6 lines!), Jo Everett has his suspicions confirmed that all is not well between his best friend Ben Harding and his sweetheart Dr. Edward Stephens as the following snippet reveals…

~~~

“Perhaps it’s my fault,” Edward said, ever eager to take the blame, his fine-boned face shadowed with sorrow. “I’m absent from London for weeks on end and when I am here, I’m often distracted by my studies at the hospital. No wonder he’s tiring of me.”

Jo could counter that Ben was long accustomed to Edward’s periods of absence. The elder Doctor Stephens’ insistence on Edward’s involvement in the family practice, effectively separating him from Ben in London, had caused the couple much heartache.

Yet they had weathered the storm patiently and had been rewarded by Edward’s advancement in medical research at Barts Hospital. This post met with his father’s approval and also enabled Edward to divide his time between Ben’s Piccadilly home and Trowbridge. Ben had gladly accepted this compromise and was proud of his lover’s growing reputation. So what on earth has gone wrong?

Like a gleam of light through darkness, it dawned on Jo that Ben’s retreat might be strategic, in true military fashion.

By his own admission, Edward was stretched thin, professionally and personally. So perhaps Ben had retrenched in an ill-considered bid to lighten Edward’s load. Such misplaced gallantry sounds exactly like Ben, Jo thought grimly.

Read Around the Rainbow: Looking Back at 2023 and Forward to 2024

In keeping with the end of the year and the start of the next, this month on Read Around the Rainbow, we’ve decided to each have a retrospective of 2023 and a peek into 2024. I’m really looking forward to reading about everyone’s achievements and their plans.

2023 has been a quietly productive year for me. I’ve carried on increasing Twelve Letters, my ongoing Regency series. Also, I’ve started and nearly completed another 3-part series, Tow Bronze. While lurking in my comfort zone of Regency, I’ve also nipped into the Elizabethan and Stuart eras for a refreshing change.

I started 2023 with Gentlemen’s Agreement, the fourth book in my Twelve Letters series. During the year, in April, May and December, I’ve added stories five, six and seven, The Misfit, May Wedding and the newly released A Festive Gathering at Chelsea. Looking forward to next year, The Way Home, book 8 in the series, will be released in March.

In February 2023, I followed up 2022’s The Spice of Life with the sequel, A Touch of Spice, as my couple Gregory and Jehan find their HEA in Elizabethan London. March was a retrospective in itself with the release of Gentlemen in Love, a box set of some of my one-off Regency stories.

Summer brought Lucky John, my story for JMS Books’ Lucky 13 submission call for the publisher’s anniversary celebrations. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the cusp of the transition from the Commonwealth to the Restoration of Charles II in the mid-17th century for my Royalist messenger Owen and his John. I’m just starting to work on a follow-up for these two as they leave Owen’s Monmouthshire home for the decadence of the newly re-established royal court at the Palace of Whitehall. And I got a research bargain with Antonia Fraser’s iconic biography of Charles II for 50p!

For the August Silver Foxes submission call, I wrote Town Bronze, which I fondly imagined to be a one-off story. While I was writing this older/younger spanking story with rabbit-in-the-headlights Jasper and suave, considerate Sir Mortimer, it suddenly occurred to me that I had not one, but a trio of young men who needed to find their perfect partner, however unlikely! So Town Bronze Book 2, Pantaloons and Petticoats, Barney and Ross/Rose’s love story was published in November. Impeccable Credentials, Julian’s story, finishes off the trilogy. It’s currently on pre-release at JMS Books and will be published on January 6th. And to see my original couple, Jasper and Mortimer, on track for their HEA, there’s a bonus chapter for my newsletter subscribers going out on January 1st to round things off nicely.

Talking of rounding off, I have only two remaining stories from 2023 to mention. October brought The Monk’s Lair, my Regency Gothic Halloween story, with the dramatic backdrop of Tintern Abbey and hooded monks galore to haunt my couple, Christian and Sam. Finally, there’s Christmas Below Stairs, released last week and a story about a footman, Joseph and a valet, Eli, working for the same household, who find themselves virtually alone in the London townhouse over Christmas, leading to a chance for romance.

With looking backwards and forwards at once, I’m thrilled that last year’s Christmas story, A Christmas Engagement, is included in JMS Books’ 2023 Top Ten Gay Romance anthology, with plenty of representation from the RAtR bloggers! My couple in that story, Charles and Avery, will return in February for A Lasting Vow, my contribution to the multi-author Love Wins series from JMS Books.

All my published titles are currently in the Smashwords winter sale until January 1^st and most with a 50% reduction. Together with the pre-release of Impeccable Credentials, all my stories are also in the JMS Books New Year sale through Monday, January 1st.  

My post will be linked on the last Friday of every month with posts from fellow blog ring members. There are five other writers blogging in the Read Around the Rainbow Webring this month… find their posts about looking back at 2023 and forward to 2024.

Ofelia Grand : Addison Albright : K.L. Noone : Amy Spector : Holly Day : Nell Iris :

Words in Progress: Regency Christmas

A very Merry Christmas for those who celebrate and happy holidays to all!

Unsurprisingly, my topic today centres around Christmas and how the occasion was celebrated in Regency times which ties in with my research for my latest story A Festive Gathering at Chelsea, Book 7 in my Twelve Letters series, currently in the 50% end-of-year Smashwords sale until January 1st with the rest of the series and most of my titles.

Naturally, the commercial aspect that overwhelms our modern Christmas barely existed and the giving and receiving of presents were a very small part of the celebration (and that tended to happen on Boxing Day, named for that reason), but I’m happy to say that feasting and socialising were as popular then as now.

This fabulous blog from Historic UK on Georgian Christmas customs gives a wonderful overview of how Christmas traditions have evolved over the centuries. So for a Regency Christmas, there would be a blazing Yule log in the hearth and decorations of holly and ivy and other seasonal greenery – but no Christmas trees! Those came along later in the 19^th century.

In my story, Percy Havilland is holding a pre-Christmas bash at his semi-rural home in Little Chelsea before some of his closest friends leave London to spend Christmas in the countryside with their families. It was common for the gentry to retire to their landed estates for the winter and do plenty of Christmas entertaining.

Of course, Christmas was essentially a religious celebration, but after attending church, feasting and fun became the order of the day. Certain foods were associated with Christmas, and so I had to include this fascinating article by Paul Couchman, The Regency Cook on the history of Christmas pudding.

Percy’s seasonal get-together is altogether more restrained, the equivalent of a modern pre-Christmas drinks party with nibbles. However, I was thrilled to find a recipe for rout cakes that I mentioned in the story on The Regency Cook’s blog. They sound absolutely delicious!

During A Festive Gathering at Chelsea, my ensemble cast is making preparations for Christmas, whether they remain in town or set out for the countryside, so it just leaves me to wish you a happy and joyous day, whatever your plans may be!

Smashwords sale: New Releases now half price!

Both my new Regency Christmas releases are 50% off in the Smashwords sale!

My 17k-word Christmas novella, Christmas Below Stairs and my 13k-word story A Festive Gathering at Chelsea, Book 7 in my Twelve Letters series are now half-price until January 1st in the Smashwords end-of-year sale.

Most of my other titles are also reduced by 50% in the sale including my Twelve Letters series.

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Blurb:

At the age of twenty-three, Joseph Paul has come a long way from an abandoned foundling to the dizzy heights of a position as a second footman in London’s Bedford Square. But Joseph doesn’t want to remain in service forever and harbours ambitions to be his own master.

Eli Turner might have become a valet by his thirties, but he is weary of his profession and lacks direction. He can’t even summon the energy to seek out a new position in a more prestigious household.

Under ordinary circumstances, working as servants for the same family, these two men might not have the chance to exchange more than a few words, let alone confide their feelings. But when they both remain in the virtually deserted townhouse over Christmas, they take the opportunity to talk as equals and explore their mutual attraction.

Is this just a short-lived holiday fling? Or might it be the start of a long-standing romance?

Blurb:

Sequel to May Wedding

In early December of 1817, shortly before the ton retires to the countryside for the winter, Percy Havilland decides to hold an informal Yuletide afternoon party for his companions and family.

Within the unconventional social array of guests are Percy’s closest friends, the four couples consisting of gentlemen and working men who meet for supper each Thursday evening at The Golden Lion tavern. 

Percy’s aims are supported by his long-suffering and ever-reliable lover, Nathan. Meanwhile, gentleman Jo Everett relishes that he can proudly attend a social occasion with his life partner, the tailor Daniel Walters. And musician Luc has a private plan for Christmas to reveal to his actor sweetheart, Harry.

But amongst these happy couples, all is not well between Captain Ben Harding and Edward Stephens. Can Ben’s best friend Jo intervene on Edward’s behalf? Or might Ben have already reached a decision, leaving Edward heartbroken?

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Smashwords Winter Sale Starts Today!

The Smashwords winter sale is upon us from today, Friday, December 15th through Monday, January 1st, 2024.

Lots of fabulous JMS Books authors have many of their stories reduced by 50%. These include A.L. Lester, Nell Iris, K.L. Noone, Ofelia Grand, Holly Day, Mere Rain, Clare London, Scarlet Blackwell, Eule Grey, Addison Albright, Fiona Glass, Amy Spector and so many more!

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This 50% reduction includes most of my stories.

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Read Around the Rainbow: After “The End”

For this month’s Read Around the Rainbow, we’re discussing the joys of post-story stuff such as proofreading and editing. And from the discussion in the group, it seems that I’m not the only one who doesn’t look forward to this stage.

Readers might reasonably assume that once a story is written then it’s done and dusted. I can only wish it was that straightforward. This is how the process goes Chez Ellie.

So, I’ve finished the first draft of my story. I feel a slight sense of satisfaction but a greater sense of dread because now the work really starts. Maybe I’m just a fusspot, but I suspect the majority of the blog ring will have similar complaints!

When I’m writing, I do self-edit to a certain degree, but to be honest, keeping the flow going with a looming deadline ahead is my first priority. So after a story is finished, I start pummelling it into shape.

At this point, I can step back from the story slightly. Rather than being fully engaged in writing mode, I unleash my inner critic. I switch around paragraphs, and ruthlessly cut sections that seem repetitive or full of blather. I double-check my historical references, etymology and track continuity. This seems to take far longer (at least in my imagination) than the writing process.

After that, it’s proofreading time. The story goes through the grammar checker once and the voice reader at least twice. This is the nitpicking stage (with more re-writing) where I try to weed out the worst of word repetitions and clunky phrasing as well as picking up on stray typos. Frankly, at the end of all that, I’m sick to death of the thing and it’s a relief to get it submitted and out of the way!

Thankfully, there’s a gap in time between submitting a story and the editing process, by which time I’ve almost forgotten what I wrote! That means I have some valuable perspective that’s impossible to achieve when you’re repeatedly going through a story endlessly. It’s also a huge benefit to have another pair of eyes involved.

I tend to get a bit anxious when anticipating the edits from my lovely editor. So the reality always comes as a bit of a relief. I’m very fortunate in my regular editor, who describes herself as a ‘friendly reader’ but also knows to look out for my many weak points.

I regard this process as a welcome collaboration. The expert feedback is always invaluable and gives me insight as to how my readers might regard my story. Going through the edits, making any suggested amendments and then getting a clean copy for a final proofread feels like putting a layer of varnish on a story. Afterwards, it’s smoother, cleaner and ready to go. Despite my nerves, it’s the most satisfying stage of a story’s development.

My post will be linked on the last Friday of every month with posts from fellow blog ring members. There are seven other writers blogging in the Read Around the Rainbow Webring this month… find their posts about their post-story process and bugbears!

Ofelia Grand : Addison Albright : Nell Iris : A.L. Lester : Kristin Noone : Fiona Glass : Lillian Francis