Google+ The Art that Inspires Writers and Readers: November 2013

Monday, November 18, 2013

Romance novel cover: an endangered species.

Dear Ladies,

I am not claiming this is the highest form of art...although it must be a genre in itself: the paperback Romance novel cover and "hidden cover". 


It is also an alarmingly endangered species now that Kindle books usually just omit this piece of delectable morsel.




In the spirit of conservation (save the cheese cover!) I made this video of a series of novels by Stephanie Laurens: "the Cynsters" an all-time favorite with domineering, powerful, handsome, mulish male characters. Devil's bride, the first and best book in the series has a terrible cover, mainly because the image of the Hero has a questionable appeal. See for yourself the offending art-peace at your left. 



I followed the suggestion of a fellow blogger 

http://dikladiesrule.blogspot.ca/2009/02/my-secret-revealed.html and attempted plastic surgery using the likeliness of the model Christian Bonello
You can be the judges of my work in this little video. I wish I had better images for some of the stories, but even the new paperback editions of the books have sober covers these days.



enjoy!


And for those of you who want to learn more about these characters check out the author's page http://www.stephanielaurens.com/books/the-cynster-novels/



Miranda

Friday, November 8, 2013

"THE" season

Dear Ladies,

We read about  "the season" in every other historical  romance novel. let me start by adding a little historical cartoon making fun of the marriage mart. Because, lets face it: this was hunting season at its best. 




The season started in the 17th and 18th centuries, and in its traditional form it peaked in the 19th century, ending at the time of World War I.

The English aristocracy would pour into their London Mansions a little after Christmas. The men would dutifully (or not) sit at parliament and the young ladies would formally start their social life by been presented to the King or Queen at court. After attending coming-out balls, charity events, dinner parties, horse races and the like the aristocracy and gentry would retire again to the country at the end of June.

Interestedly, it was Queen Elisabeth II who ended with the presentation at court in 1958. Débutante balls are still alive and kicking though.

Back to historical literature: I found an other little book by John S Goodall (see my previous post)  with what could be described as a step by step guide of what not to miss at the London season. I am very pleased with the resulting short video I can share with you:


Enjoy!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

The places visited by my heroines

As an avid reader of Historical fiction, I found myself lagging in actual knowledge of the events portrayed. With little time to spare I just ignored my own ignorance and pieced together the bits I was learning from the novels themselves, movies and the very occasional Google search.

Until I found an old little book in my local library with beautiful pictures of places I had read about many times. The author was John Goodall,  best known for his wordless picture adventure books for children. The setting was The Edwardian era (England during the Reign of Edward VII 1901-1910, and sometimes extended to 1919), but The images could have been from the regency (aprox 1795-1832) or the Victorian era (1832-1901)  because the way of  life had not changed much before the first world war. The fashion had changed of course, but not the places and the entertainments.

I  wanted to share my little discovery and made a small video attempt, using some of Goodall's pictures.

It brought be back memories about Barbara Cartland's Novels, were several "Gaiety Girls" were portrayed. The croquet game picture made me remember the Bridgerton family from Julia Quinn's novels. There was also a "rotten row" image, with horse-riding-heroine included.


 I hope you enjoy it.