Anna Campbell on Why She Would Have Been a Courtesan
March 26, 2007
Ha! I bet that got your attention.
Well, maybe not, as you’re not getting the full glory of me sitting here in a torn t-shirt and faded madras shorts on a very sweaty morning. My hair is already forming lank hanks. Ugh! Aren’t you glad video email is in its infancy? If you’re not, YOU SHOULD BE!
Firstly, thank you, Sybil, for inviting me to blog. I’m really looking forward to a lively discussion! I admire the way you girls don’t pull your punches.
There were questions a while ago on this site about whether my heroine was a real prostitute or not. Even though the book was called Claiming the Courtesan. Apparently too many people had seen virginal widows in romance novels and suspected I might be touting a chaste courtesan as a variation on a theme.
Mind you, a chaste courtesan story has possibilities…
The idea for Claiming the Courtesan came to me as I thought about the lot of most women in early 19th-century Britain (or anywhere, really).
Career and educational opportunities were extremely limited and if you were poor and without the support of friends and family, life could be dangerous, insecure and unpleasant, at the very least.
My heroine, Verity Ashton, loses her parents when she’s fifteen and is left with a much younger brother and sister to support. She takes a place as a maid at the local manor but unfortunately for her long-term prospects, she’s beautiful enough to stop traffic (bet her hair doesn’t go nutty in humidity!) and she’s fair game for the son of the house.
All this is backstory and only emerges as the book progresses, but bear with me. Verity is forced into a position where selling herself is her only choice. That’s a common story – the streets of Victorian cities thronged with prostitutes who’d once been servants and had lost their reputation and therefore any chance of finding respectable work. But Verity triumphs over her circumstances. She’s brave and smart and resourceful and raises herself up to become Soraya, the most sought-after courtesan in late Regency London. There she catches the attention of the Duke of Kylemore and you have the basis of Claiming the Courtesan.
Faced with Verity’s choices, I don’t think I would have had any alternative. And at least a courtesan had some control over her affairs. I like to believe I’d have managed that. Being beautiful enough to stop traffic, however, might be a bit more of a stretch…
Where’s that shampoo?
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Anna?
March 26, 2007
From The Sound Of Music:
The funny thing is I have never ever seen this movie, nuns scare me. But the title of this song kept running through my head while trying to come up with an intro for Anna Campbell.
Now, now before anyone gets all puffy, the problem was what to do for the intro (you never wanna be around while I am doing them trust me). And once it was stuck in my head, I thought what the hell and went to view it on youtube. Then I laughed and laughed and laughed because in an odd sort of way it fits.
Anna is a complete nut. She is amusing and probably the type that understands what the titles of my blog posts mean more often than most.
What does that mean?
Be afraid... be very afraid... But it should be an interesting day *g*.
Anna is down under in case you don't know, so expect to see her around noonish. I will prolly start posting around 9-ish. She is more than ready to talk and more than happy to answer questions. So do bring some...
But trust me, neither of us are nuns.
Some People Are So Touchy
March 25, 2007
Wow... maybe someone should have waited for the results before making those 'craft' and best of comments.
Or maybe it was a typo? Kraft? And she meant it was teh cheesiest! Tis a whatever. I am done with it. I don't even know if I can work up the want to mock, which of course would be fine, dandy and protected by law.
God Bless America
Beef, It’s What’s for Dinner
March 25, 2007
You may remember I blogged recently about Harlequin's casting call. Well they did it and you can read about it here:
Harlequin books seeks "real men" for covers
reported by Reuters...
First they say:
"Some of the heroes are captains of industry, billionaires," said Deborah Peterson, a Harlequin creative designer and a judge at the audition. "A lot of the models were too young, men in their twenties ... and our audience likes men a little bit older, a bit bigger, than the runway models."
And then we learn:
At the Toronto casting, chiseled hopefuls shed their shirts and donned a cowboy hat for the panel while a handful of other judges watched on closed-circuit camera in an adjacent room.
::blink::
Because you know those billionaire captains of industry types are always running around with no shirts in their cowboy hats. le sigh... and we wonder why romance has the rep it does...
That blog has warped my fragile little mind
March 25, 2007
[note: I thought of calling this: I hate you, youtube but figured no one would get it. Like not even the five or six people who normally get the stupid things I title my posts]
I noticed some crying around romanceland over the lack of moderation on reader blogs. I had a serious what the fuck moment when I read it. We are suppose to be moderating? Huh? What?
I created this blog to talk about romance novels, publishing, the industry and reviews of them. Why in the world would I ask you for your view and then tell you how you HAD to think or delete it when it didn't meet what I thought was right or correct.
I try to never delete posts (or blogs). In fact I don't think I have ever deleted or moderated a post on this blog, unless it was spam. I can't say I will never because I do host Author days. I would never delete a post asking a 'difficult question' of an author, I just leave it up to the author to answer or not.
Cynical bitch that I am, I am sure at some point in time I will have someone post something that will need the delete button. As it is the author's day, I work with them to find where that line is drawn. Lucky for me so far it just hasn't been an issue - yeah I hope it stays that way. ::crosses fingers::
I want to know what other readers think. I want to know what authors think. I will agree with some of it and disagree with some of it. Not agreeing with a person isn't the same as disliking a person. At the same time, allowing someone the right to voice their opinion isn't saying you agree. I wish more people understood this and I wish I had a 1,000,000.00 and don't see either of those things happening any time soon.
If you are looking for a playground that is sanitized for your protection, I would say romanceland isn't for you. For the rest of you, stick around tis fun here. And just for the hell of it here are some really amusing southpark quotes.
Screw Disneyland I wanna go here…
March 25, 2007
Harlequin Distribution Center in Depew
no really... Fred O. Williams from the Buffalo News tells you why in Harlequin makes Depew the capital of romance novels
things that amused me:
"From the fun facts perspective, one of every six [mass market] paperbacks sold in North America is ours," Reindl says, "and we sell one every four seconds."
there is "enough floor space for eight football fields"
It generates $500 million in annual sales for Torstar and operating profits of about $50 million.
Something that makes me go hmmm...
In the eight years Reindl has worked here, the volume of books has stayed about the same, but the number of titles has surged from about 80 a month to the current total of 115 or more.
And at the end they have some ebook notes from Harlequin like...
When it started in 2005, Valik’s unit distributed only about nine titles a month; now it zaps 70 percent of Harlequin’s titles to readers.
When Bad Things Happen to Good Readers
March 25, 2007
Dear Jane had a nifty idea for a contest. No, really I did and do think it is nifty but I thought the timing sucked ass.
I am an odd duck like that maybe I have told you this before but I HATE, hate, hate it when people think they can tell me to do something and force my hand to do it.
Suggest... cool
Recommend... cool
Offer ideas... tres cool
Make me feel like I have to do something or I am a bad reader, bad person, bad something and well ten to one I will either toss my hair and be done with you or tell you to go fuck yourself. Sometimes BOTH!
So this is the perfect example of why Jane is a much better, smarter, dare I even say nicer person than moi. Of course the funny thing is I still get to say four lil words about the whole thing.
But I won't. Often. Well I shall try. And in case you are like shiloh, sitting there going what in the fuck is she talking about... go here
Hunting a Contest - WINNER!
March 23, 2007
Hunter’s Salvation by Shiloh Walker **July 2007**
March 23, 2007
Doesn't he go well with my blog?
Lover Revealed… the reviews
March 23, 2007
In case you haven't noticed... JR Ward has started to answer some of the questions in her
Q&A post...
Wonders of wonders, she is really answering some of them! So go look, unless you hate spoilerish stuff. Then don't go.
ETS: JR Ward is also on Romantic Times in their Ask the Author feature. Go check it out if you haven't.
Really.
No going and then whining about the spoilers cuz I would have to beat you.
I am going to add links to reviews as I see them... I will mark with spoilers IF I KNOW they are there. I willl not be able to read them all first. I will be updating this all day. Fill free to post a note if you have one up!
soooo enter at your own risk:
Bam takes on Lover Revealed
Janine takes on Lover Revealed
Cindy takes on Lover Revealed
Tara Marie takes on Lover Revealed
Angie takes on Lover Revealed
Rosario takes on Lover Revealed
Paperback Reader takes on Lover Revealed
Arielle guest reviews on rosario's blog and takes on Lover Revealed
Devon takes on Lover Revealed
Nath and Ames take on Lover Revealed
