Overheard at various RWA workshops/speakers/conference functions:
“Brokeback Mountain is tragic. Titanic is merely sad.” (I should point out this was NOT a comment on their respective quality! It was about the story structure.)
“The Regency is a shared world fantasy like Star Wars or Star Trek.” –Mary Jo Putney. Hell yes! That is one smart lady.
“Our ‘voice’ emerges when we embrace that exposure [the stuff about ourselves that authors reveal in their writing] and allow the barriers between ourselves and readers to become porous.” –Madeline Hunter. Yes! That!! This is what I was trying to say in this blog post and couldn’t quite express.
New genre concept created by my table at the Keynote Lunch: Space Regency! I think this is a great idea. I can see it now: the short but tough emperor of Beta Gaul IV out to conquer the Europa galaxy! Many planets have fallen under his sway. In his way stands tiny Albion Prime, ruled by a decadent Regent, protected only by its natural asteroid belt…(All roads lead to Nathan Fillion wearing a Rifleman’s uniform, that’s all I’m saying. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, go to Susanna Fraser’s blog here. Wow, time for a sidenote: when I first read that post I was NOT as into Ian Somerhalder as I am now. He’d make a great James! So compelling and adorable.)
Did you know if you google image search “Jane Austen goggles” you find nothing? NOTHING! What is that? …Sorry, I think my brain is falling out my ears a bit from all that conference and I’ve gotten a bit scattered. Which leads me to:
I started researching Sussex for the WIP. I am stealing this parish church: “Above the tower clock is a figure of Father Time, who, according to legend, jumps down from his perch at midnight and scythes the churchyard grass; the legend is said to have been started by a former rector, who could not afford to pay for the grass to be cut and did the job himself under cover of darkness. Another rector left a unique and useless addition to the fittings of the church—the tall stone ‘tub’ for total immersion, standing against the south wall and reached by a flight of steps. This was installed in 1710 in an attempt to lure Baptists back to the church on the grounds that ‘anything you can do we can do better’; but it was only used once.”
What’s the smartest or funniest thing you’ve heard someone say recently? Also, can anyone photoshop me some Space Regency images?
I think Elizabeth Moon’s fox hunting in space books (the Heris Serrano trilogy, starting with Hunting Party) are awfully close to Space Regency. Grizzled veterans, feckless aristocrats with hearts of gold, wise aunts saving the day, and horseback-riding lessons.
That sounds AWESOME! Why did I not know about this? I see that some people recommend starting with the second book, do you agree?
The Amazon reviewers who recommend starting with the second book seem to be the ones who dislike the space regency elements and would rather have less fox hunting and more space battles. The villain of the first book is sort of over the top . . . but then, these are books about FOX HUNTING IN SPACE.
I want a theme song…”Fox hunting…Fox hunting in SPACE! dee dee dee dum” Okay I will start at the beginning then.
I love the idea of the rector creating the story of the statue! Priceless. 🙂 Glad you had a wonderful time at RWA.
Thanks! And yes, sometimes truth is funnier than fiction.
I really, really need to get Miles Vorkosigan into your hands. You are going to love Komarr and A Civil Campaign so much, though unfortunately I don’t think it’d work to START with those two books. Not that the others aren’t good, those are just the two that are most space-Regency.
o/ Which one should I start with? I have my Kindle with me, you know…
For reasons that are obscure to me, Baen doesn’t seem to be releasing their books in Kindle editions. I think you can buy ebooks from their site if you know how to convert them to a Kindle-readable format.
Anyway, most of the series has been released in omnibus editions. I have the two prequels about Miles’s parents, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, in the combined Cordelia’s Honor edition. You can start there, or you can start with the first set of Miles books collected in Young Miles, which I don’t own because that’s back when I was being patient and reading them from the library.
Sure, can I borrow Cordelia’s Honor next time I see you?
You can get Warrior’s Apprentice (the first Miles book) from the Baen free library:
http://www.webscription.net/p-1290-warriors-apprentice.aspx
I think this is probably the best place to start. (I wish I had known you hadn’t read these books when I was still in Seattle; we have almost a complete set.)
The first Cordelia book feels a little first-novel-y to me, though Cordelia and Aral are great characters. I personally don’t care for Civil Campaign (because a lot of the plot involves the characters embarrassing themselves, and because I think it trivializes Mark’s psychological struggles, which are treated with a much darker tone elsewhere in the series). But Komarr is an extremely satisfying romance, and one I often go back to.
Okay, good to know. new books/
I see someone beat me to it above, but space regency? I have three words: Lois McMaster Bujold.
You can put pdfs on a kindle. Also non drm’d mobi (Baen only does drm free!) And you can email yourself doc, or htm files for Amazon to convert. I’m pretty sure there are some options there that Baen offers.
Have you tried Catherine Asaro? Also Weis and Hickman (the dragonlance people) have a space /fantasy / dynasty series, the name of which temporarily escapes me, which riffs heavily on Star Wars, historical romance and sword and sorcery novels ala Elric of Melnibone.
And now that I think about it, David Weber has a space monarchy series called the Honorverse.
I suppose there’s Christopher Stasheff, but honestly too simplistic for what you want. Also the gender politics make me wince a little. I loved them when I was 12 though.
It’s my favourite sub-sub-genre, but sadly very sparse reading.
Oooh, will check these out!