strange and random happenstance

I started my blog in May of 2009. In the early days it was a haphazard affair. I didn't really have any theme other than, this is what's going on in my head at the moment; here's a TV show I'm watching, what about this book everyone loves that I hate, here's an actor whose awesome and would be perfect in an adaptation, you get the idea, in fact you can go back and read it if you wanted, I don't think I can cause of the cringe factor. I wasn't alone though, there seemed to be a lot of people doing book blogs that were a mishmash of ideas. The content creators of quite a few of them are still my friends but many blogs have gone by the wayside. Rest in peace book blogging craze of the late 2000s. There were quite a few authors who were debuting around that time and reaching out to the blogging community and they were getting a lot of buzz and Stephanie was one of them. Her debut, Kat, Incorrigible, was coming out in 2010 and it was all anyone was talking about. I really don't know if she knew this was going on, but those of us who are Regency mad couldn't wait to get our hands on it, I even found this really old blog post I did. Plus the US cover is so delightfully Disney with a dash of Coraline how could anyone resist? She also was one of the first authors I knew of who really used the web to engage with her fans. I remember I'd get up every day and get ready to blog but I'd stop by her website to see what was going on with her first. Over the years I've become more and more of a fan of her work and was beyond honored that she participated in my inaugural year of Regency Magic. I feel as if Stephanie and I have gone through this crazy book journey of the past fourteen years together, her writing books and me promoting them and adoring them in my little way. And I really mean little way, what I do is content, what she does is magic with pen and ink. And the magic she has been creating in recent years is once again set during the Regency, so how could I not ask her to participate again? So I'll be here gushing about her Harwood Spellbook series and her Regency Dragons series and probably her cat Pebbles, because she's just so adorable. I hope you'll join me and Stephanie!

Question: When did you first discover Jane Austen?

Answer: My dad read me Pride and Prejudice when I was eight years old, and I fell head-over-heels in love! I ended up devouring all of her novels, and I've re-read almost all of them many times since then.

Question: What do you think Jane Austen would think of her impact with so many literary offshoots, from parody to pastiche?

Answer: I'm sure she'd be pleased by her success, although she might wish she had gotten paid better for the books at the time she originally published them...

Question: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Answer: All of my books feature families, not just solitary characters, and that definitely comes from my own experience growing up in a big, noisy, loving family. As for the rest of it - the setting of my first Kat book, Kat, Incorrigible, was based on Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, where my husband and I used to go almost every weekend to soak in the atmosphere and walk our dog. Walking around Georgian House museums all across the UK was really, really helpful. And the second Kat book, Renegade Magic was directly inspired by my many trips to the city of Bath, and particularly by the wonderful Museum of the Roman Baths, which is amazing. I highly recommend a visit to anyone who ever gets the chance!

Question: What makes the early 19th century mesh so well with magic?

Answer: It's recent enough - and popular enough - to feel accessible even for people who don't generally read historical fiction, but it's also distant enough from our own time period to feel exotic and a bit like a fantasy setting in itself! I think the fact that we accept so many different social rules and expectations when we're reading Regency-era novels sets us up as readers to accept different rules of magic/reality as well.

Question: The world building and system of magic varies greatly in the regency fantasy genre, how did you go about creating yours?

Answer: I've loved playing with lots of different kinds in my different series, from the secret-magic-rumbling-behind-the-real-historical-world setup of my Kat, Incorrigible series to the slightly-tweaked alt-history of my Regency Dragons trilogy (in which no one believes in magic but oops, dragons just got rediscovered!)...all the way to the flat-out, totally-different-history of my alt-19th-century Harwood Spellbook series (in which Boudicca kicked out the Romans centuries ago and 19th-century Angland is ruled by a Boudiccate of powerful, hard-headed women politicians who leave the more irrational, emotional magic to the gentlemen). There are so many different possibilities to explore!

Question: If you had to choose between writing only period literature or only fantasy literature, which would win?

Answer: Fantasy would have to win, for me. I've published lots of contemporary fantasy short stories in various magazines, and the MG novel I'm working on right now is set in a secondary world that's only loosely based on early nineteenth century Germany. But I would never want to give up writing historical fiction, either! I have a historical fantasy novel for adults coming out next year, Masks and Shadows, which is set in a real eighteenth-century palace in Hungary, full of intrigue, magic and romance. It was delicious to get to play with another rich historical setting as I wrote that book. I can't imagine giving up writing historical fiction!

Question: Be honest, have you ever dressed up in Regency clothes just to pretend for a moment you are in the past?

Answer: Ha! No - but only for lack of opportunity. I would loooove to dress up in a real Regency outfit just to feel it for myself instead of having to guess exactly how those gowns really feel on my characters.

Biography:
Stephanie Burgis grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, but now lives in Wales with her husband and two sons, surrounded by mountains, castles and coffee shops. She writes fun MG fantasy adventures and has had seven published so far, most recently The Raven Heir. She also writes wildly romantic adult historical fantasies, most recently Good Neighbors. She has had over forty short stories for adults and teens published in various magazines and anthologies.

Stephanie's Social Media:
Website
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Authors, Bath, Book Blogger, Boudiccate, Cats, Content Creation, Coraline, Fantasy, Harwood Spellbook, Kat Incorrigible, Pebbles, Pride and Prejudice, Regency Dragons, Regency Magic, Renegade Magic, Stephanie Burgis

A Death Along the River Fleet by Susanna Calkins
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: April 12th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Lucy Campion, a ladies’ maid turned printer’s apprentice in 17th-century London, is crossing Holborn Bridge over the murky waters of the River Fleet one morning when, out of the mist, she sees a specter moving toward her. Frightened at first, Lucy soon realizes the otherworldly figure is in fact a young woman, clearly distraught and clad only in a blood-spattered white nightdress. Barely able to speak, the woman has no memory of who she is or what’s happened to her. The townspeople believe she’s possessed. But Lucy is concerned for the woman’s well-being and takes her to see a physician. When, shockingly, the woman is identified as the daughter of a nobleman, Lucy is asked to temporarily give up her bookselling duties to discreetly serve as the woman’s companion while she remains under the physician’s care.

As the woman slowly recovers, she begins―with Lucy’s help―to reconstruct the terrible events that led her to Holborn Bridge that morning. But when it becomes clear the woman’s safety might still be at risk, Lucy becomes unwillingly privy to a plot with far-reaching social implications, and she’ll have to decide just how far she’s willing to go to protect the young woman in her care.

Susanna Calkins has drawn a richly detailed portrait of a time in history and a young woman struggling against the bounds of her society in her next absorbing Lucy Campion mystery."

Ye olde thyme murder mystery? Sign me up!

A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain
Published by: Pegasus
Publication Date: April 12th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When brilliant FBI agent Kendra Donovan stumbles back in time and finds herself in a 19th century English castle under threat from a vicious serial killer, she scrambles to solve the case before it takes her life―200 years before she was even born.

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.

While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.

Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman."

So, despite the obvious fashion faux pas on the cover, it's so evocative that I must read this book. I MUST!

Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Pyr
Publication Date: April 12th, 2016
Format: Paperback, 300 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The year is 1779, and Carlo Morelli, the most renowned castrato singer in Europe, has been invited as an honored guest to Eszterháza Palace. With Carlo in Prince Nikolaus Esterházy's carriage, ride a Prussian spy and one of the most notorious alchemists in the Habsburg Empire. Already at Eszterháza is Charlotte von Steinbeck, the very proper sister of Prince Nikolaus's mistress. Charlotte has retreated to the countryside to mourn her husband's death. Now, she must overcome the ingrained rules of her society in order to uncover the dangerous secrets lurking within the palace's golden walls. Music, magic, and blackmail mingle in a plot to assassinate the Habsburg Emperor and Empress--a plot that can only be stopped if Carlo and Charlotte can see through the masks worn by everyone they meet."

Seriously people, after reading Stephanie's Kat, Incorrigible series, I will read ANYTHING she writes.

Sherlock Holmes: The Patchwork Devil by Cavan Scott
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: April 12th, 2016
Format: Paperback, 228 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It is 1919, and while the world celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Holmes and Watson are called to a grisly discovery.

A severed hand has been found on the bank of the Thames, a hand belonging to a soldier who supposedly died in the trenches two years previously. But the hand is fresh, and shows signs that it was recently amputated. So how has it ended up back in London two years after its owner was killed in France? Warned by Sherlock’s brother Mycroft to cease their investigation, and only barely surviving an attack by a superhuman creature, Holmes and Watson begin to suspect a conspiracy at the very heart of the British government..."

Another book in the Titan series in which my friend George Mann has written!

Kick Kennedy by Barbara Leaming
Published by: Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date: April 12th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy was the incandescent life-force of the fabled Kennedy family, her father’s acknowledged “favorite of all the children” and her brother Jack’s “psychological twin.” She was the Kennedy of Kennedys, sure of her privilege, magnetically charming and somehow not quite like anyone else on whatever stage she happened to grace.

The daughter of the American ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, Kick swept into Britain’s aristocracy like a fresh wind on a sweltering summer day. In a decaying world where everything was based on stultifying sameness and similarity, she was gloriously, exhilaratingly different. Kick was the girl whom all the boys fell in love with, the girl who remained painfully out of reach for most of them.

To Kick, everything about this life was fun and amusing--until suddenly it was not. For this is also a story of how a girl like Kick, a girl who had everything, a girl who seemed made for happiness, confronted crushing sadness. Willing to pay the price for choosing the love she wanted, she would have to face the consequences of forsaking much that was dear to her.

Bestselling and award-winning biographer Barbara Leaming draws on her unique access to firsthand accounts, extensive conversations with many of the key players, and previously-unseen sources to transport us to another world, one of immense wealth, arcane rituals and rules, glamour and tragedy, that has now disappeared forever. It was a world of dukes and duchesses, of grand houses, of country house weekends, and of wild rich boys. But it was also a world of blood and war, and of immeasurable loss.

It was a time of complete upheaval, as reflected in the life of this most unlikely and unforgettable central character. Kick Kennedy reveals her story, that of a young girl learning about love, sex, and death--and doing it all at warp speed as the world races toward war and then reels in the war’s chaotic aftermath. This is the coming-of-age story of the female star of the Kennedy family, and ultimately a tragic, romantic story that will break your heart."

Seriously, I'm not a Kennedy nut, it's just that until the death of her first husband she would have been the Duchess of Devonshire, and even after her death the Devonshires and the Kennedys were close, and this just fascinates me. 

I Know What I'm Doing and Other Lies I Tell Myself by Jen Kirkman
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: April 12th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author and stand-up comedian Jen Kirkman delivers a hilarious, candid memoir about marriage, divorce, sex, turning forty, and still not quite having life figured out.

Jen Kirkman wants to be the voice in your head that says, Hey, you’re okay. Even if you sometimes think you aren’t! And especially if other people try to tell you you’re not.

In I Know What I’m Doing—and Other Lies I Tell Myself, Jen offers up all the gory details of a life permanently in progress. She reassures you that it’s okay to not have life completely figured out, even when you reach middle age (and find your first gray pubic hair!). She talks about making unusual or unpopular life decisions (such as cultivating a “friend with benefits” or not going home for the holidays) because you don’t necessarily want for yourself what everyone else seems to think you should. It’s about renting when everyone says you should own, dating around when everyone thinks you should settle down, and traveling alone when everyone pities you for going to Paris without a man.

From marriage to divorce and sex to mental health, I Know What I’m Doing—and Other Lies I Tell Myself is about embracing the fact that life is a bit of a sh*t show and it’s definitely more than okay to stay true to yourself."

I mainly know Jen from @midnight, but that alone makes me want to buy this book. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: @midnight, A Murder in Time, Cavan Scott, Deborah Mitford, Jen Kirkman, Julie McElwain, Kat Incorrigible, Kick Kennedy, Masks and Shadows, Sherlock Holmes, Stephanie Burgis, Susanna Calkins

Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 1st, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

After Kat's sister Angeline loses her true love Fredrick during their older sister's wedding thanks to the interference of Lady Fotherington, the girls stepmother whisks them away to Bath to avoid scandal. With the public renouncing of Angeline as a witch their stepmother hopes that by going to Bath Angeline can get herself an eligible bachelor before the gossip reaches the resort town. But their stepmother isn't counting on the fact that Fredrick is Angeline's true love and she's not about to just give up on him because of his family's objections. Angeline has a plan, a plan put into place by the accidental meeting of the rake and reprobate, the Viscount Scarwood. He is a totally unsuitable match, so perfect for Angeline's purposes.

But Angeline's future happiness isn't the only future in jeopardy. The head of the Order of Guardians, Lord Ravenscroft, with Lady Fotherington's interference, has taken away all Kat's hopes of being trained as a Guardian. They insist she is too headstrong and has violent tendencies. She only broke Lady Fotherington's nose the once, are they going to hold that against her forever? Her tutor, Mr. Gregson, insists that he will champion her if she just lays low. Sadly when Kat and her family show up in Bath there's a mysterious magical happening that the Guardians are investigating and her enemies are quick to point the finger at Kat. How can she lay low when she needs to help her family and help the Order? Just because they don't want her as a Guardian doesn't mean it's not in her blood. But they might not see her actions as altruistic but opportunistic.

Bath! What could be more Austenesque then Bath? Not only did Austen live (and hating living) in Bath for five years, but two of her scant six novels have action set there. The Jane Austen Centre is located in Bath and each year the town plays host to the Jane Austen Festival with people coming from around the globe to take part in honoring one of the greatest writers the world has known. But just setting a story in Bath, while a touchstone to Austen, isn't enough, in my mind; there has to be something more. A little adventure, a little spice, a little history. While there is adventure and spice, it's the history that Burgis infuses into the story that she then manipulates to her narrative that is so arresting. I am referring to the hot springs that are the source of the towns fame.

The Assembly Rooms and the Roman Baths became the go to place in the Georgian era for a restorative cure in this spa town. The Romans themselves actually built the baths and a temple, hence the Georgian moniker the "Roman Baths." Burgis was able to give more of a connection to these springs and the customs surrounding them by having Kat give her visceral reaction to "taking the waters" at the assembly room. One would think of dainty women circling the Assembly Rooms and having a nice gossip, but in reality they were jammed with people and that cool refreshing glass of restorative water was anything but. It was straight from the hot springs, hot being key. So the water was warm and sulfurous, therefore having that lovely odor of rotten eggs. One doesn't often think of the gentility of this time in realistic ways, but Burgis has this knack to show the truth while giving us a romping good time.

Burgis also expands on the history of the springs, and the goddess that the Romans worshiped. Because this book has magic, anything can happen with an incantation to a deity, and anything does. The combining of the real history and the magical possibilities is such a good fusion that it doesn't leave you questioning why something happens, it just makes sense. But my favorite part of all has to be the fact that it's book knowledge that bests magic in the end. It's not some old incantation or a secret spell that's unearthed, it's knowing that prior to the Romans's worshiping their goddess, there was another goddess that ruled. I just love the bookish guy being the victor in the end. Books for life!

The magic of the spring brings another interesting twist to the worldbuilding that Burgis has done. Instead of being either witchcraft or Guardian magic there is a third, more dangerous magic, wild magic. I love that there's this magic that existed before the other harnessed magics that is still thrumming through Britain and can trump the rest. Witchcraft is the easier for using spells and drawing little power, Guardian magic is more refined, it's inborn and therefore a part of you and just flows out, therefore able to easily squash witchcraft. But now there's wild magic! Magic that has the power of the Gods behind it. Magic that can not be contained and makes all other magic insignificant. I love that this world Burgis has built is expanding and evolving to encompass more instead of being formulaic and the same story told in a different way over and over again.

What I can't wait for is the further expansion of this world. While the war with France had previously been mentioned, I'm glad to see that Burgis isn't discounting the power that magic could have in that war, just look what two magician's did in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell! The British Government obviously has some sort of connection with the Guardians, but how much is the secrecy of magic tied to the Government's wishes? Is the hatred of magic and it's place in society a kind of propaganda done by the Government so they can keep it in control and on their side? Because near the end of the book I started to wonder if perhaps the French Government maybe had a different view on magic. There's no denying that Britain and France have often been at two very opposite ends of the spectrum, so maybe in France magic isn't disreputable? Maybe in France a Guardian would be worshipped publicly as a hero? One thing is sure, I'm grabbing the next book to see how this all plays out!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Assembly Room, Bath, France, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Centre, Jane Austen Festival, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Kat Incorrigible, Magic, Regency Magic, Renegade Magic, Roman Baths, Romans, Stephanie Burgis

Courting Magic by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: August 10th, 2014
Format: Kindle, 105 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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Kat has fought countless magical battles but she has never had to face the horror of making her debut in society. Her sisters have taken her coming out in hand and have the top modiste creating Kat's wardrobe, much to Kat's chagrin; there are too many pins! But her first ball is looking like it just might be interesting. There is a thief making a swath through the ton by impersonating famous personages and making off with jewels and other valuables. It is a magical crisis that is to be stopped. In order to hide the investigation Kat and three other male magicians will go to the ball with the three men paying court to Kat and posing as eligible husbands. Problem is Kat would actually really like one of them to be her husband. Alexander, the by-blow of the last head of her Order, awoken her heart years ago and she has found that despite their very different statuses in the world that he just might be her true love. But can love overcome society's strictures? Well, Kat's never played by society's rules anyway!

Do you ever finish a series and think, I wonder what the characters will be like in the future? What will they be like in five or ten or twenty years? Rarely in literature are we given this luxury to pop into their future lives just for a quick glimpse after the book or series of books ends. If it does happen at all it's usually squeezed into an afterword that is more frustrating then illuminating. This is why I think television shows sometimes do the gimmicky "what happened to all of our characters in the years to come" flash forwards in the last five minutes of their series finale, human's insatiable need to have closure. Rarely are these quick impressions satisfying. There is no development, no time to have one last adventure, just an addendum thrown to us as a bone. That is why I am so grateful for Courting Magic. When the Kat, Incorrigible series ended we got a tiny glimpse of what Kat's HEA might be, but being only thirteen, well, she wasn't ready to be out in society let alone be married. Yet there was a wistfulness and a longing that just maybe we could one day find out about Kat's own HEA.

Skip forward two years and Stephanie is giving fans what they hoped for. The problem with Courting Magic is that it doesn't fit neatly into the series, it's short, and I don't think it could even be considered middle grade, being more romantic and definitely the most Austenesque of all Kat's adventures. But that's what I love about the age in publishing we live in. Sure, we can complain all we want about the rise of the e-reader and the downfall of printed books, but before this era would Kat's story have been given closure? NO! It couldn't be published traditionally, for the aforementioned reasons, and how else could we have gotten it? Bless authors willing to embrace new mediums in order to tell the story the way they want to. I'm not going to go on a rant about technology here, I just really want to point out that sometimes technology is there for a reason and helps us, here we got closure.

While this whole series has been about love, familial love, and of course the marriages of Angeline and Elissa, Kat being younger and our protagonist, we didn't get the swoon worthy love that Austen was known for. Kat's story here is more typical Austen, coming out in society, a ball, and a proposal. Throw in some stumbling blocks, aka Alexander's status in society, and it's a very typical Regency love story. Kat is anything but typical. So of course, throw in magic, a sweet and hilarious reunion with the magically tainted Cousin Lucy, a cringe worthy run in with the Prince Regent, a couple of awkward dances, a thief worthy of the Pink Panther movies, and the bad guys being caught and you get the perfect blend of Austen and Kat. Not to mention a last minute reversal of fortune and Kat has her ideal HEA!

But what I wholeheartedly embrace is that Kat's HEA is anything but typical, in true Kat fashion. Firstly, she ends up with someone who has the same career path as she does, saving England by using magic. This means that Kat doesn't have to ever hide who she is let alone have to choose between her duty and her heart; that would destroy Kat and we can't have that. Secondly it's her true love! And no, she didn't double check with her mother's spell, she just knows. The moment she first met Alexander it was fate, but having them reconnect years later, sigh, it's almost as satisfying as when Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth finally get their HEA! But the clincher for me was that in her enthusiasm to finally end up with Alexander Kat inadvertently was the one to propose. She always has been a mold breaker, and I'm happy to read that a few years down the line that that hasn't changed.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Captain Wentworth, Courting Magic, HEA, Jane Austen, Kat Incorrigible, Kindle, Persuasion, Pink Panther, Prince Regent, Regency, Regency Magic, Stephanie Burgis

Stolen Magic by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: April 2nd, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Kat Stephenson and her family are off to Devon to the Carlyle's great estate on the coast for the long delayed marriage of Kat's sister Angeline to Fredrick Carlyle, her true love. Why the delay? Because Fredrick's mother was none too keen on the match, hoping to marry Fredrick to her niece Jane; besides being against the whole Angeline's a witch thing. One thing is clear, Mrs. Carlyle is going to put Angeline through the ringer in a final effort to see the back of her. But would Fredrick's mother resort to attempted murder to get her way? Because the Stephenson's have had a perilous journey, their coach almost rolling off a cliff to the ocean far below, and it was no accident. But who was behind the accident? Unbeknownst to most of the family they have not been travelling to Devon alone. There is a mysterious and magical person shadowing Kat, and she's not sure of their motivation.

Much like the hurtles Angeline has faced to reach her wedding day, Kat has had many obstacles in her induction to the Order of the Guardians. The induction is finally approaching when yet another delay happens. Kat sacrificed her magical portal to save England and her need for a new one has caused much consternation in the Order. You would think it would be easy to get a new one, but all the replacement portals have disappeared and the lovely Lady Fortherington is gleeful to point her finger at Kat once again, especially when it looks like the portals are somewhere in Devon. So not only does Kat have to prove her innocence, yet again, she has to work with her nemesis Lady Fortherington, prepare for the wedding, keep everyone alive and safe, and hope that all the delays end happily for all involved.

What I most loved about this "final" installment in Kat's magical journey is that while still channelling Jane Austen, Stephanie Burgis has decided to throw a little Daphne Du Maurier into the mix. Devon, being so close to Cornwall, has had it's fair share of wreckers and smugglers, and spies! The cliffs are honeycombs, hiding secrets that could imperil our erstwhile heroine. Not to mention you can get some damn good spirits down the local pub. The environment permeated the book with it's sea air and wind swept clifftops making me think longingly of Jamaica Inn. Burgis has been able to fuse the feeling of propriety that is Austen with this wildness that belongs to Du Maurier as she emulates the Brontes for yet another strong middle grade book that shows that there are great books for this age group.

Despite the fact that Kat is the youngest sibling in her family it just struck me how unique this is if we compare it to other literature set during this time, versus other middle grade books. The younger children, if mentioned at all, rarely figure into the narrative other then just part and parcel of the chaos of everyday life. We will excuse Lydia Bennet because she doesn't play by anyone's rules. Look at Sense and Sensibility, the youngest daughter, Margaret Dashwood, she's just there doing whatever and is hardly mentioned, in some adaptations they even just drop her all together. What I'm saying is that usually we get the older, "wiser" POV, but here there's something magical about seeing it through the eyes of a rambunctious youngster. Kat has an advantage being the youngest, because not only has she observed her older siblings all their lives, but being the youngest, there's a little leeway. She does love to cause trouble and there seems to be an indulgence in this, even if she's frowned upon at the same time.

Also by being the youngest she is allowed a certain excess of emotion. She is allowed to cry without it being viewed as indulgent. Yet what I love in the way Burgis writes Kat is that Kat is allowed to be vulnerable, she's allowed several times to break down and cry because of the emotional drain and chaos that surrounds her. She is allowed to give way to her emotions but at the same time she is strong. I always hate, what I will call the "There's No Crying in Baseball" rule. That you must be strong or vulnerable, there is no middle ground. This isn't how humans work. We aren't just strong and we aren't just weepy, we are a combination of the two. The strongest amongst us can also be the easiest to cry. By showing this complicated nature that is humanity, Burgis is showing young girls and boys that you don't always have to be strong, you can be a hero or a heroine and still cry. I love that this is such a positive message, such a true message. 

And Kat is able to have periods of vulnerability because she is surrounded by people who love her. Kat has always been a little rebellious and more the a little self sufficient. Over time though, while she can still handle all these hurtles thrown in her path, she has realized the strength of family. The hardest thing for any headstrong girl, yes, here I'm pointing the finger at myself, is when to acknowledge you can't do something on your own and when you realize it's not a weakness to ask for help. Here Kat's family knows her so well that she doesn't even need to ask for the help, it's just there. I love that Charles has really stepped up. In the first book he was little more then a lump in bed that caused the family untold troubles. By the second volume he was central, but as a source of consternation and also in need of rescue. By this volume we see that he has mended his ways and is taking on the role of protector of the family, even if this mainly means protecting Kat from herself. I kind of fell in love with Charles a little for how he's matured.

As for the magic? I like that there appears to be an entente brewing between the warring factions of Guardian magic and witchcraft. To me it seemed silly that they should hate each other just because they are different forms of the same thing. They are both reviled by society so it makes sense that uniting their powers together to form a united front is a logical step. But far be it from people of any kind to be logical. They latched onto their differences instead of embracing their similarities. Of course the French had no such compunction when it comes to this missishness. All for victory and that. So I'm glad that the prejudices will hopefully start to break down if only out of necessity. But I'm even more excited for Kat who has vindicated her mother's opinions all these years later.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier, Devon, Jamaica Inn, Jane Austen, Kat Incorrigible, Lydia Bennet, Margaret Dashwood, Middle Grade, Regency Magic, Sense and Sensibility, Stephanie Burgis, Stolen Magic, Weddings

Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 1st, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

After Kat's sister Angeline loses her true love Fredrick during their older sister's wedding thanks to the interference of Lady Fotherington, the girls stepmother whisks them away to Bath to avoid scandal. With the public renouncing of Angeline as a witch their stepmother hopes that by going to Bath Angeline can get herself an eligible bachelor before the gossip reaches the resort town. But their stepmother isn't counting on the fact that Fredrick is Angeline's true love and she's not about to just give up on him because of his family's objections. Angeline has a plan, a plan put into place by the accidental meeting of the rake and reprobate, the Viscount Scarwood. He is a totally unsuitable match, so perfect for Angeline's purposes.

But Angeline's future happiness isn't the only future in jeopardy. The head of the Order of Guardians, Lord Ravenscroft, with Lady Fotherington's interference, has taken away all Kat's hopes of being trained as a Guardian. They insist she is too headstrong and has violent tendencies. She only broke Lady Fotherington's nose the once, are they going to hold that against her forever? Her tutor, Mr. Gregson, insists that he will champion her if she just lays low. Sadly when Kat and her family show up in Bath there's a mysterious magical happening that the Guardians are investigating and her enemies are quick to point the finger at Kat. How can she lay low when she needs to help her family and help the Order? Just because they don't want her as a Guardian doesn't mean it's not in her blood. But they might not see her actions as altruistic but opportunistic.

Bath! What could be more Austenesque then Bath? Not only did Austen live (and hating living) in Bath for five years, but two of her scant six novels have action set there. The Jane Austen Centre is located in Bath and each year the town plays host to the Jane Austen Festival with people coming from around the globe to take part in honoring one of the greatest writers the world has known. But just setting a story in Bath, while a touchstone to Austen, isn't enough, in my mind; there has to be something more. A little adventure, a little spice, a little history. While there is adventure and spice, it's the history that Burgis infuses into the story that she then manipulates to her narrative that is so arresting. I am referring to the hot springs that are the source of the towns fame.

The Assembly Rooms and the Roman Baths became the go to place in the Georgian era for a restorative cure in this spa town. The Romans themselves actually built the baths and a temple, hence the Georgian moniker the "Roman Baths." Burgis was able to give more of a connection to these springs and the customs surrounding them by having Kat give her visceral reaction to "taking the waters" at the assembly room. One would think of dainty women circling the Assembly Rooms and having a nice gossip, but in reality they were jammed with people and that cool refreshing glass of restorative water was anything but. It was straight from the hot springs, hot being key. So the water was warm and sulfurous, therefore having that lovely odor of rotten eggs. One doesn't often think of the gentility of this time in realistic ways, but Burgis has this knack to show the truth while giving us a romping good time.

Burgis also expands on the history of the springs, and the goddess that the Romans worshiped. Because this book has magic, anything can happen with an incantation to a deity, and anything does. The combining of the real history and the magical possibilities is such a good fusion that it doesn't leave you questioning why something happens, it just makes sense. But my favorite part of all has to be the fact that it's book knowledge that bests magic in the end. It's not some old incantation or a secret spell that's unearthed, it's knowing that prior to the Romans's worshiping their goddess, there was another goddess that ruled. I just love the bookish guy being the victor in the end. Books for life!

The magic of the spring brings another interesting twist to the worldbuilding that Burgis has done. Instead of being either witchcraft or Guardian magic there is a third, more dangerous magic, wild magic. I love that there's this magic that existed before the other harnessed magics that is still thrumming through Britain and can trump the rest. Witchcraft is the easier for using spells and drawing little power, Guardian magic is more refined, it's inborn and therefore a part of you and just flows out, therefore able to easily squash witchcraft. But now there's wild magic! Magic that has the power of the Gods behind it. Magic that can not be contained and makes all other magic insignificant. I love that this world Burgis has built is expanding and evolving to encompass more instead of being formulaic and the same story told in a different way over and over again.

What I can't wait for is the further expansion of this world. While the war with France had previously been mentioned, I'm glad to see that Burgis isn't discounting the power that magic could have in that war, just look what two magician's did in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell! The British Government obviously has some sort of connection with the Guardians, but how much is the secrecy of magic tied to the Government's wishes? Is the hatred of magic and it's place in society a kind of propaganda done by the Government so they can keep it in control and on their side? Because near the end of the book I started to wonder if perhaps the French Government maybe had a different view on magic. There's no denying that Britain and France have often been at two very opposite ends of the spectrum, so maybe in France magic isn't disreputable? Maybe in France a Guardian would be worshipped publicly as a hero? One thing is sure, I'm grabbing the next book to see how this all plays out!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Assembly Room, Bath, France, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Centre, Jane Austen Festival, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Kat Incorrigible, Magic, Regency Magic, Renegade Magic, Roman Baths, Romans, Stephanie Burgis

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 1st, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Kat isn't your typical girl. When her family is facing money problems due to her older brother's profligate ways, she decides to cut off her hair and run away to London to make her fortune and save her family. Never mind that the idea is more then a little ill conceived, her heart was in the right place. But her stepmother has a foolproof plan, and that's to marry off Kat's sister, and her eldest stepchild, Elissa, to the wealthy Sir Neville. This is something Kat and her other sister Angeline don't view as acceptable. Angeline has heard the rumors that he killed his first wife and despite what society thinks and how their stepmother would frown on her plan, Angeline decides to use magic to help them out of this hole.

The girl's real mother was a powerful magician, something that made her an eccentric outcast. Something that passed down to her children. Little does Angeline know as she's pouring over her mother's spellbooks, that it's Kat who has the real power. Kat is to inherit her mother's legacy and become a Guardian, under the tutelage of her mother's teacher, Mr. Gregson. Though once Kat learns all this she's having none of it. She's going to help her family and get on with her life, and that life isn't going to be complicated by a secret organization that she's uncertain of, even if that organization might help her with the Sir Neville problem.

For some reason I have found myself picking up a lot of middle grade books recently. Whether for my blog or my book club, I have read quite a few lately and been severely disappointed. Some people might say that I have high expectations seeing as these books where written with a younger audience in mind. But the truth is, as authors and readers, this is the age to hook kids. If I hadn't found Elizabeth Levy and her delightful "Something Queer Mysteries" series staring Jill, Gwen, and Fletcher, at this precise "middle grade" age, well, I highly doubt you'd be reading any book reviews written by me. So when reading middle grade books I try to read them not only as if current me is reading them, but as if that little ten year old me is too. I have to say, ten year old me would have loved the heck out of Kat, Incorrigible, and thirty something me really enjoyed it as well.

With re-reading, and also having previously read so many Regency books with a magical bent, I found it fascinating to find a book that tackled the idea of magic existing in that society in an entirely different way. From Susanna Clarke to Mary Robinette Kowal, magic is not only accepted, but viewed as an enhancement to life, used for the betterment of society from conflicts with the French to making your ballroom look spectacular for your yearly fete. Here Burgis has created a society that doesn't look kindly on magic, it is frowned upon. Magic is not something that anyone in polite society would deign to do. Therefore Angeline and later Kat doing magic is a societal no no.

The girls are reminded time and time again by their stepmother that their dearly departed mother was a freak for her magical abilities that she flaunted. Elissa, being a stickler for societal conventions, parrots the party line and her stepmother by adhering to this train of thought and lecturing her younger sisters on it as well. What this has done to society as a whole and is seen in the microcosm of the Stephenson household is that magic has moved underground. Magic is done in secret and is regulated by shadowy organizations but, despite the outward appearance of society, it is more widespread then you would think. Not only is there magic, but there is even distinctions in magic, from the lower witchcraft to the higher Guardian magic, which helps to secretly control all the magic.

At first I was wary of this "Guardian" magic. Yes, it's cool that, unlike witchcraft, it doesn't need spells and is more a force of will. The magic isn't what I was taking umbrage with, it was the fact that there was an Order, capital "O", that regulated everything. I don't know what it is that exactly raised my hackles, but I audibly sighed at yet another secret organization controlling a supernatural force. Seriously, how many secret organizations can one world hold? I know that this is more then a bit hypocritical of me seeing as I love shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Warehouse 13 and The Librarians that all revolve around this trope. In fact, Buffy could be a very good comparison with Mr. Gregson taking on the role of a Watcher... but for some reason I just wasn't willing to initially buy it and I'm not sure I'm sold on it yet, only time will tell. But I will say that as the book progressed it bothered me less and less, so that's something.

I think all the flaws started to fall away because of my love for Kat. She is seriously the most amazing, kick ass, witty heroine you could wish for. I don't joke when I say that literaryily speaking I think that her kindred spirit is Arya Stark from George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. They both have this take no prisoners attitude towards life. They both love and care for their family and will protect them above all others. They are confined by the strictures of their society until they start to slowly subvert them. I just adore that Kat is a heroine young (or young at heart) girls can look up to as someone real and amazing that doesn't follow any damsel in distress tropes and is willing to take down titled nobility with a good right hook.

But Kat alone wouldn't work without being surrounded by her sisters. Her sisters bring the book it's believability. They fill the pages with sisterly love but also sisterly strife. While I didn't have a sister growing up this book captures perfectly what I think it must be like, I can only extrapolate from having a brother after all. Her sisters and their affairs of the heart bring a madcap feel that makes the book transcend the typical middle grade fare and made Kat, Incorrigible a fun romp that felt like old time comedies and farces. I dare you to not fall headfirst for this book once the ball starts and the masked bandit appears. It is a situation that a young Jane Austen would have devoured as she herself was known to deftly skewer the literary tropes of her day in her earliest writing. Personally I can't wait to devour the next installment of Kat's adventures. Allons-y!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: A Most Improper Magic, Arya, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Elizabeth Levy, GRRM, Kat Incorrigible, Magic, Mary Robinette Kowal, Middle Grade, Regency, Regency Magic, Stephanie Burgis, Susanna Clarke, Witchcraft

Stephanie Burgis is one of those lucky Jane Austen lovers who has somehow managed to escape the United States (East Lansing, Michigan to be exact) and relocate to Great Britain, where she now has dual citizenship, I am so jealous. She lives in Wales, after some years in Yorkshire, surrounded by castles (even more jealous) and coffee shops, and one would hope a bookstore or twelve. Stephanie shares her life with her husband Patrick Samphire, who is also a Middle Grade writer among other things. They have two sons, who I am sure will grow up to be book addicts, who could avoid that fate being raised by these two? Stephanie has exquisite tastes in books, and one of her favorite by Austen is Northanger Abbey, which I also adore and view as her most underappreciated book. She is also a huge fan of Caroline Stevermer who happens to be the next featured author this month!

Stephanie has spent much time in school, from the United States to Vienna to England she has learned about music and then writing. I love finding a fellow educational enthusiast who is willing to take the time to learn! Though occasionally it feels as if you'll never be done with school. Writing a vast plethora of short stories, literally over thirty stories for teens and adults, she has turned to writing books, as well as more short stories. After a health setback she took her writing from a darker place to a lighter place, and place a comfort that I know all Janeites feel is home, Regency England. Though Stephanie's has a little some extra, a little magic! Her first book in this series, Kat, Incorrigible, won the 2011 Waverton Good Reads Award for Best Debut Children's Novel by a British Writer, under its UK title, A Most Improper Magick, and rightfully deserved I say! Now let's talk to Stephanie a little more.

Question: When did you first discover Jane Austen?

Answer: My dad read me Pride and Prejudice when I was eight years old, and I fell head-over-heels in love! I ended up devouring all of her novels, and I've re-read almost all of them many times since then.

Question: What do you think Jane Austen would think of her impact with so many literary offshoots, from parody to pastiche?

Answer: I'm sure she'd be pleased by her success, although she might wish she had gotten paid better for the books at the time she originally published them...

Question: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Answer: All of my books feature families, not just solitary characters, and that definitely comes from my own experience growing up in a big, noisy, loving family. As for the rest of it - the setting of my first Kat book, Kat, Incorrigible, was based on Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, where my husband and I used to go almost every weekend to soak in the atmosphere and walk our dog. Walking around Georgian House museums all across the UK was really, really helpful. And the second Kat book, Renegade Magic was directly inspired by my many trips to the city of Bath, and particularly by the wonderful Museum of the Roman Baths, which is amazing. I highly recommend a visit to anyone who ever gets the chance!

Question: What makes the early 19th century mesh so well with magic?

Answer: It's recent enough - and popular enough - to feel accessible even for people who don't generally read historical fiction, but it's also distant enough from our own time period to feel exotic and a bit like a fantasy setting in itself! I think the fact that we accept so many different social rules and expectations when we're reading Regency-era novels sets us up as readers to accept different rules of magic/reality as well.

Question: The world building and system of magic varies greatly in the regency fantasy genre, how did you go about creating yours?

Answer: I loved getting to create different layers of magic and secrecy in my world-building, rather than just having one system of magic. There's the magic everyone knows about (and is horrified by), witchcraft, but then there's also secret Guardian magic and the wild magic that even the Guardians fear. I don't do a lot of plotting or outlining before I write my books, but I discovered all the different layers as I wrote and had a lot of fun with them!

Question: If you had to choose between writing only period literature or only fantasy literature, which would win?

Answer: Fantasy would have to win, for me. I've published lots of contemporary fantasy short stories in various magazines, and the MG novel I'm working on right now is set in a secondary world that's only loosely based on early nineteenth century Germany. But I would never want to give up writing historical fiction, either! I have a historical fantasy novel for adults coming out next year, Masks and Shadows, which is set in a real eighteenth-century palace in Hungary, full of intrigue, magic and romance. It was delicious to get to play with another rich historical setting as I wrote that book. I can't imagine giving up writing historical fiction!

Question: Be honest, have you ever dressed up in Regency clothes just to pretend for a moment you are in the past?

Answer: Ha! No - but only for lack of opportunity. I would loooove to dress up in a real Regency outfit just to feel it for myself instead of having to guess exactly how those gowns really feel on my characters.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Most Improper Magic, Bath, Bolton Abbey, Jane Austen, Kat Incorrigible, Masks and Shadows, Middle Grade, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Regency Magic, Renegade Magic, Stephanie Burgis, Wales, Yorkshire