Most of my fiction has at least one thing that I put in purely to amuse myself and Shades of Milk and Honey is no exception. There are a number of Easter Eggs, if you know where to look.
Periodically, I’ll post one of these and an explanation for how it got there. Some of them may be amusing, others things may talk about Regency history, still others will just be odd. Since many of them also involve spoilers, they’ll be password protected to keep the unwary from stumbling into them.
To access any of the ones I post, you just need to know the name of the mare that Jane rides in Chapter 10.
I will, occasionally, insert things into my novels strictly to amuse myself. My rule is that I can slide these private jokes in only if they don’t interrupt the story. In Shades of Milk and Honey, I managed to fit Doctor Who into the Regency. Oh, yes. I’m not kidding about this. He’s easy to spot …
Would you like to know about the giant anachronism that spans two chapters in Glamour in Glass? I thought you would. While I was researching Without a Summer, the next book in the series, I discovered an interesting thing. I’d done the seating arrangements wrong in Glamour in Glass. And not just a little wrong. Completely, …
The current Battersea Bridge crosses the Thames and is an iron structure. In the days of The Glamourist Histories, it was still a wooden bridge and the oldest remaining wooden bridge crossing the Thames. This painting is from 1840, so twenty-five years after the events in Glamour in Glass, but looking very much the same. …
I have just realized that Jane, from Shades of Milk and Honey should participate in the Month of Letters Challenge. So, she is. If you want to write to her, address correspondence to: Mrs. David Vincent P.O. Box 221298 Chicago, IL 60622 I will tell you, as a teaser, that she will be writing back to you with …
As you might imagine, we’ll be meeting some new characters in Glamour in Glass. Allow me to introduce you to one of them, or at least to her dress. When Jane was introduced to Mme Meynard, she had a moment of coveting the belle’s beautiful Pomona green gown with blond lace embellishments. The original dress …
In Shades of Milk and Honey, when Jane first sees the professional glamourist, Mr. Vincent, she describes him as, “Tall, and very broad of chest. His hair was chestnut and curled about his head like Bacon’s portrait of Jean- Baptiste Isabey.” In Glamour in Glass, we see him again. His brown curls were tousled in the fashionable wind- swept …
Hey, there’s a quiz about Shades of Milk and Honey over at Goodreads. How well do you remember the book? It’s only ten questions long! Take the Shades of Milk and Honey quiz.
Today’s visual teaser for Glamour in Glass is another room in Carlton House. After the overt glamour of the ballroom, the Blue Room seemed positively staid, though it was appointed in the best manner. The walls were covered in blue damask, which matched the upholstery. Gilt frames bordered the walls, with cleverly rendered oysters on …
This is one of my favorite dresses in the Glamourist Histories, so I wanted to show it to you. It appears in Shades of Milk and Honey and belongs to Miss Dunkirk. She offered Miss Dunkirk her arm and led her to a bolt of white lawn, the fabric most appropriate to a debutante. Then Jane suggested …
Shades of Milk and Honey: Miss Dunkirk’s ballgown Read More »
It is always a bit unnerving to use real historical figures in fiction, especially someone as well-known as The Prince Regent. Because the Regency period is named after him, it is easy to think that he was an admirable figure in the same way that Queen Victoria was. Alas… He was regarded as self-indulgent, extravagant, …
Today’s teaser for Glamour in Glass is a scenic location. The Carlton House Red drawing room, which appears in Chapter 1. As the Prince Regent led her out of the Red Room, Jane felt all the eyes of those assembled fall upon her, and under their gaze the unequal nature of her station magnified. The Carlton House was …
Yesterday, I showed you a sneak peek of Glamour in Glass through a picture of Jane’s dove grey silk dress. She thought it seemed dingy by comparison… to what? To this dress. The dove silk which had seemed so fine when she had commissioned it last summer now seemed dingy by comparison to gowns such as …
Glamour in Glass: Lady Hertford’s claret velvet dress Read More »
In three months, Glamour in Glass, will hit the book stores. The first chapter is in the trade paperback of Shades of Milk and Honey, so you’ve already had a little bit of a teaser. Since one of the things that attracts me to the Regency are the pretty, pretty clothes, I’m going to offer you …
I hope your holiday is bright and enjoyable. This is a short story which takes place between Shades of Milk and Honey and Glamour in Glass. Last year I wrote about Christmastide with the Ellsworths. This year’s short story takes place the next morning and is our newlyweds’ first Christmas morning together. I’ve hidden it …
Whee! Chapter 13 is posted of the Without a Summer draft. I spent most of my writing time today not actually writing. The scene I was writing involved a dinner which in turn involved me realizing that I could not write it until I had done a seating chart so that I knew where people …
Arranging the seating (plus Chapter 13 is posted) Read More »