Stereotypical Beauty...by Jamie Hill

The main characters in my novels are physically fit because let's face it, they're made up so if I'm going make them my fantasy, I might as well do it right. My cops and US Marshals need to stay trim for their jobs, so with this in mind I start them out as perfect then mention that they like to run for exercise and eat salads and lean protein for dinner. Perfect, right?

Readers have told me they appreciate how down to earth my characters are. They smoke (people HATE that), they might drink a little too much, they like to swear and have sex (opinions are mixed on THAT but the reviews are generally positive.) For most of them, weight isn't an issue because I don't mention it. They might joke about a couple of extra pounds, but it's nothing major. The beautiful cover models that BWL Art Director Michelle Lee comes up with give us a glimpse of what our people look like before we ever crack the book. They're attractive, enviable people. As a reader, that's what I look for in a romance book and it's what I suspect the majority of readers look for, too. 

The overweight heroine (or hero) has her/his place in certain titles, God Bless 'em and thank goodness for that. But for the most part, the attribute of size is usually skipped over or assumed by the cover image. This sounds horribly prejudiced but the cold fact is, if I'm going to live vicariously through a woman in a book, I want her to be pretty and damn sexy. 

That's my author perspective. My real woman perspective is that all people can be pretty and sexy, regardless of their size or shape. True beauty comes from within as much as it comes from the outside package. A woman can be a size zero supermodel but if she's got an ugly personality, neither my husband nor myself will ever think she's attractive. Conversely, if all of us had makeup artists, hair stylists, and Photoshop at our disposal, more of us might look like supermodels!

Thankfully, beauty is subjective and I truly believe there is someone for everyone. Speaking as a plus-sized woman who's trying to make her way down into being a normal-sized woman, it's not easy. I don't expect or want to look like a model, I just want to feel good and be healthy. So I plug along, walking after my dinner of salad and lean protein. 

But in my mind...well, let's just say, it's more fun to be perfect, right?

Find all of my beautiful people at Books We Love: http://bookswelove.net/authors/hill-jamie/

or visit me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jamie-Hill/135137799867321

and for goodness sake, somebody pass me some chocolate!

Jamie Hill
www.jamiehill.biz

17th Century Whitehall Part 1, by Katherine Pym

Whitehall Palace

Whitehall Palace was a sprawling conglomerate of buildings that made no sense or order. Today, only the Banqueting House remains. 

Part I, A quick history:

In the 13^th century, Whitehall was called York Place. It was not a palace, but a mansion built by an archbishop between the cities of Westminster and London. It wasn’t too large then, but over the centuries, its owners added to it which accommodated kings, queens, and their entourages when they visited York Place.

By the 16^th century, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, lived in it. He had expanded it to such a degree that it rivaled most of the king’s palaces. Besides the fact Wolsey was Catholic, and Henry now rebuked Catholics, to have a minion with a larger house than his did not sit well. King Henry stripped Wolsey of all power, then moved into York Place and renamed it Whitehall.

Whitehall & the Privy Garden

King Henry made his own changes. He updated it until it encompassed 23 acres and was the largest palace in Europe. He erected merriment buildings that included a cockpit (turned into a theatre during the reign of King Charles II), tennis court, and a tiltyard. There was the King Street Gate and Holbein Gate that allowed the Court to traverse from Whitehall to St James’ Park without ever crossing a public road.

Each king or queen thereafter Henry VIII added to Whitehall until in 1660 when King Charles II took residence there, it had become a rambling jumble of chambers, passageways, and staircases connected by uneven floors that amounted to more than 1,500 rooms. It was also a montage of architectural designs.

During Queen Elizabeth I’s time, the first of the Banqueting Houses came into being. Elizabeth I had a large chamber built of timber and canvas to house entertainments. It occupied the site of the current Banqueting House, until James I commissioned Inigo Jones to build a solid structure, which replaced the aging, and dilapidated building. This new one was completed by the end of James’ reign. It was large with windows on all four sides, an interior balcony that hugged the walls, and an undercroft that took up the entire base of the building. 

Inside the Banqueting House

King Charles I commissioned Rubens to paint the Banqueting House ceiling. He was given £3,000 and a gold chain for the effort. Rubens painted the canvases and sent them to England for installation on the ceiling, which finished in 1635.

Rubens’ work effectively put the Banqueting House out of business. It was feared smoke from torches and candles would damage the splendor, so a new reception room was built. This was placed beside the Banqueting House where most of the ceremonial functions took place.

Charles I was executed on a platform outside the Banqueting House. After this, Whitehall Palace emptied out during the Civil Wars, but once Cromwell became the new sovereign, Whitehall filled up, again. After Cromwell’s death, what remained of the Rump Parliament tried to sell the palace.

Then, with the Restoration of King Charles II, Whitehall became alive again. As with his father and grandfather, Charles II wanted to make changes to the already sprawling palace. He hired Sir Christopher Wren to make it more like Versailles, but all that planning never came to fruition. He did, however, make new and sumptuous chambers for his favorite mistress, Barbara Villiers, 1^st Duchess of Cleveland.

After Charles II died, King James II made changes in the forms of bettering his wife’s apartments, and adding a new chapel. By the time William III & Mary II took up residence in Whitehall, its importance was on the decline. King William suffered from asthma. The palace sat on the banks of the Thames, drafty and damp. He preferred Kensington Palace. By Queen Mary’s death in 1694, Whitehall was rarely used.

In 1698, the great rambling palace of Whitehall burned to the ground. The only structures that remained were the Banqueting House, the Holbein and Whitehall gates. Today, only the Banqueting House still stands. 

The Banqueting House Today

Next time, Other Stuff about Whitehall. 

Many thanks to the following sources:

Adrian Tinniswood. By Permission of Heaven, The true Story of the Great Fire of London. Riverhead Books, NY, 2003

http://www.hrp.org.uk/learninganddiscovery/Discoverthehistoricroyalpalaces/thebuildinghistories/BanquetingHouse/WhitehallPalace

http://amzn.com/B00I6KOKL6

Setting The Scene with Diane Bator

In writing the Wild Blue Mystery novels, I've had to make sure to keep the settings close in mind. I've even gone so far as to make a map of the stores and homes in my fictional town of Packham for my own sanity as I go from novel to novel. So far, I've written three novels and have two more in the works so I have a lot of locations to keep track of. Places like Daisy's Bakery, the tattoo shop, Java Jo's, all have to be consistent with each book in the series.

Currently, I'm juggling three book series with different publishers, so keeping each new town distinct and organized is no small feat!

The Wild Blue series features two main towns:  Packham and Newville. Both locations are in the Northeastern US. One is a small town, one a larger city. Both are central to a few of my main characters.

One of my favorite books to research for the series was The Bakery Lady. Not only did I have to learn more about the bakery itself, but just happened to see a show one night about Andy Warhol who became my inspiration for artist D.J. Gage and his studio loft, painted silver and decorated with Warhol in mind...including the famous red couch.

The small Ontario town I currently live in was my inspiration for the town of Packham, right down to Father Sam's front yard with the Virgin Mary statue and the Presbyterian church with the amazing stained glass windows that Katie walks past. The bookstore Katie eventually owns was also based on a local indie bookstore that I love to haunt, right down to the staircase to the upper level. I've even held book events there and look forward to planning a new one now that all my Wild Blue books are in print, but that's a whole other blog!

 

So, if I live in Canada and have used my town as a backdrop for my novels, why did I chose to set the series across the border? Easy answer:  on the advice of a fellow writer who did the same thing on some advice he received. It's working for me so far, but I would like to set a series in Canada once all my current obligations are met...two books for the Wild Blue Mysteries series and an undetermined amount for my other two series. 

I do hope you check out my Author Page on the Books We Love website as well as on Amazon and my personal website Pens, Paints and Paper.

YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THEM - DEATH, SEX AND TAXES - MARGARET TANNER

SEX, DEATH AND TAXES – MARGARET TANNER

Everyone has to pay taxes; no government on earth is going to let their citizens get away without paying taxes. Taxes on your salary, business tax, death taxes, you name it, they will tax it. Even the humble hamburger doesn't escape the clutches of the tax man.

In romance novels, we don’t talk about taxes. I don’t recall ever having read anything about tax collection.

Sex – yes in all its forms, sweet and tender, just a kiss or two. Hot and spicy, no shutting the bedroom door here, and the really hot stuff that Margaret Tanner doesn’t write. I do commend the talented authors who do, and pull it off so successfully in their erotic romances.

Death – In novels, I consider death to be a great tool in creating emotion and upping the drama. I don’t mean having the hero and heroine die, but the villains and secondary characters. Of course, near death experiences for heroes or heroines is always good.

I have been thinking about this in regards to my stories. I write historical fiction with romantic elements, so death is probably easier to include in these stories. Harder to justify in contemporary romance, unless it is some villain who is hell bent on harming the heroine and to save her life, he has to go.

In bygone days, death in childbirth was quite common. People died of snakebite/disease/illness because they were miles from medical assistance or could not afford to pay for it. Bank robbers, stage coach robbers, cattle rustlers etc. the sheriff could quite legitimately shoot these criminals down without fear of reprisal from their peers, or condemnation from the public.

In war, on the field of battle, soldiers die or are wounded, so we happily accept this in historical romance. We probably shed a tear or two for the gallant warrior and the staunch heroine who waits in vain for him to return. We wouldn’t throw the book against the wall because of this. We just sigh with contentment when another dashing soldier rides into the life of our heroine and she finally gets her happily ever after ending.

I have to confess that in all my novels there is some sex of the medium to hot variety and someone must die. Never a main character, of course, but someone invariably has to go, usually a baddie, but not always so.

As for taxes, I never mention the word in my novels unless it is to say – the heat became very taxing.

My Links:

http://www.margarettanner.com/

http://bookswelove.net/authors/tanner-margaret/

My novel, Falsely Accused, published by Books We Love, has recently won the Historical Section of the Easy Chair Writing Competition. Yes, there is a death or two in this story, but hey, the 1820’s were wild and violent days in a young colony.

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LEXEVES

 

Shirley Martin on Celtic Celebrations

AVADOR BOXED SET ONLY $5.00 FOR ALL FIVE BOOKS

Before writing my fantasy romance, "Night Secrets," (Book 1 of the Avador series), I knew I needed to give my novel its own culture, its own civilization. The ancient Celts have long fascinated me, so I gave my fantasy a Celtic flavor, with my own variations. To describe the Celtic culture would take a book in itself, so here I've centered only on their festivals.

Celtic festivals weren't connected to equinoxes or solstices but were related to the fertility of the land. The four seasonal festivals reflect the pastoral and agricultural cycles of the year. Another way these festivals differed from more modern celebrations was that they began on the eve of the specific day of celebration. The Celts measured time by the moon.  In all of their calculations, night preceded day. In their festivals, we find traces not only of religious beliefs but also of a magical belief in things.

Samhain marked the beginning of the Celtic year and began on the night of October 31. (Guess what holiday we've derived from Samhain.)  On Samhain, the veil between the real world and the Otherworld was torn aside.  The sidhe--fairy mounds where the people of the Otherworld lived--opened, and spirits walked the land. The sidhe released phantoms and goblins to ride the night winds. The warrior dead came back to life, and bonfires were lit to guide the returning warriors. Gods and demons walked the night places, and humans knew to stay inside. A harvest festival, Samhain is the best-known Celtic celebration of all. (Although it's not part of the Avador series, my fantasy romance, "The Sacrifice, is based on this holy eve.)

Imgolg (or Imbolc) was a fertility festival celebrated on the first of February. It marked the beginning of spring. As believers of magic, the Celts brought divination and watching omens to this celebration. They lit candles and bonfires if the weather permitted.  Fire and purification played a prominent part in this festival. The Celts visited holy wells on this day where they prayed for health.

In more recent times, Imgolc has become a holy day honoring St. Brigid. Before going to bed, people left clothing and bits of cloth outside for Brigid to bless. In the morning, they brought the strips of cloth inside, now believed to have powers of healing and protection.

The Celts also believed that on Imbolg the Cailleach--divine hag--gathers her firewood for the rest of winter.

Beltane is the Celtic May Day festival and marked the beginning of summer, a time when cattle were driven out to pasture. As with Samhain, the people lit bonfires at night and walked around the fire; some even leaped over the fire.  People doused  household fires and relit them at the Beltane bonfire. A great feast that featured lamb accompanied these gatherings.  As a festival of life,decorations of yellow flowers--symbolizing sunlight--abounded, even on cattle. 

Some people say the bonfire was an attempt to mimic the sun and to ensure a plentiful supply of sunshine for the people, animals, and plants. In some places people took oatmeal cakes, a bit of which was offered to the spirits to protect their livestorck.

If tales are to believed, Beltane often became a riotous affair, where not only fire but romances were kindled.

Lughnasad was celebrated on August 1. Some say the god Lugh started the festival in honor of his mother. It marked the beginning of the harvest season. Often animals were sacrificed, the victims placed in baskets and thrown into the bonfire. The Celts held the concept of the vegetation or tree spirit that had the power over rain, sunshine and every means of fruitfulness. A tree held a prominent place in this festival, where tree branches were attached to houses to impart fertility.

This festival, too, involved great gatherings that included religious ceremonies, ritual athletic contests, feasting, and as with Beltane, matchmaking.