Tag: regency

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“The Three Graces has the honor to present this ring as one of the finer examples of its type and condition. Hailing from the earlier 19th century in the romantic portion of the Georgian period, it is exceptional in every regard.

More ornate than the typical cluster ring of the time, the top is hinged and opens to reveal a secret glass covered locket compartment. Hand-engraved to the obverse of the locket top on the interior of the shank is “from Hugh Clunes, to his sister, Margaret”. Exceedingly fine, the top is modeled in a vision of a flower head using natural half saltwater seed pearls and natural half Persian turquoise with a crimped collet perimeter with the central turquoise in a pinched bezel setting.

A trio of half seed pearls set in individual pinched collets forms a “bridge” across the wider section of each split shoulder along with a separate pearl closer to the double shank. Throughout the surface of the 15k yellow gold shank and shoulders you find that characteristic floral texture and pattern for which the English are best known.

Please note how the bifurcated shoulders segue into the double banded shank. Hand engraved to the interior of the shank is the Latin phrase “Pignus Amicitiae” which translates as a pledge of our friendship or a token of our alliance. In all, the period 15k yellow gold ring is set with fourteen (14) natural half seed pearls and seven (7) natural half turquoise cabochons.”

Source

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Look at what I found at the museum today! A violin dated to 1810, the year Rite of Summer is set. I envisioned Stephen’s violin a little darker than this while I was writing, but just look at that shape! 

The violin was considered a man’s instrument during the British Regency; it would be utterly scandalous for a woman to be caught raising her arms high enough to play it properly.

Note also the lack of rests. Louis Spohr (1784–1859) is supposed to be the inventor of the chinrest in about 1820, while shoulder rests didn’t come into use until the mid-twentieth century. There’s a reference to using folded cloth between the violin and shoulder in order to bring the violin up higher in a document from 1836 or so, but no mention of how often that was actually done. 

Rite of Summer – coming June 2nd, 2015

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I have a finalized blurb, and a publication date! Rite of Summer will be available for purchase from Samhain  on June 2nd, and available for pre-order some time before that. I also got to submit my notes for the cover artist; I cannot wait to see what they come up with.

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There are terrors worse than stage fright. Like falling in love.

Violinist Stephen Ashbrook is passionate about three things—his music, the excitement of life in London, and his lover, Evander Cade. It’s too bad that Evander only loves himself. A house party at their patron’s beautiful country estate seems like a chance for Stephen to remember who he is, when he’s not trying to live up to someone else’s harsh expectations.

Joshua Beaufort, a painter whose works are very much in demand among the right sort of people, has no expectations about this party at all. Until, that is, he finds out who else is on the guest list. Joshua swore off love long ago, but has been infatuated with Stephen since seeing his brilliant performance at Vauxhall. Now he has the chance to meet the object of his lust face to face—and more.

But changing an open relationship to a triad is a lot more complicated than it seems, and while Evander’s trying to climb the social ladder, Stephen’s trying to climb Joshua. When the dust settles, only two will remain standing…when they’re not flat on their backs.

Warning: Contents under pressure. Contains three men, two beds, one erotic piercing, and the hottest six weeks of summer the nineteenth century has ever seen. 

Book 1 of ‘Treading the Boards’

Hello, world!

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You would figure, as an author, I’d be more creative than that for my first post. Alas, you would be hopelessly mistaken. Welcome!

I’m mostly using this to test out the theme, but also to have some content in here besides that lovely crotch-thrusty portrait in my header. Isn’t he a darling? 

That dashing young buck with the prominent protrusion is Captain Gilbert Heathcote (1779-1831), painted by William Owen. His portrait is owned by the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. I think he sets the conversational tone around here rather neatly. 

So this is my blog! I’m a new author in the romance genre, and I’ve just signed a contract with the utterly amazing Amy Sherwood over at Samhain Publishing for my first novel. Set in 1810, The Rite of Summer is a queer erotic romance (M/M, M/M/M, and then back to M/M again for some variety), currently slated for publication in June (or possibly July) of 2015.

If all goes well it will be the first in a series called Treading the Boards, erotic and queer-ish romances about artists and performers in Regency England. I’m working on the second book in that series at the moment (F/M/F, most likely), so right now my reading list is full of books about the theatre life in and around the Haymarket and Drury Lane. 

Right now I’m reading: 

Burwick, Frederick. 2011. Playing to the crowd: London popular theater, 1780-1830. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

and

Moody, Jane. 2000. Illegitimate theatre in London, 1770-1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Does it make me a hopeless nerd to be so excited by some of this stuff? 

… don’t answer that.