Monday, August 11, 2014

Don't Judge a Book by Its Title....

   

                                  



Or should you? I'm looking for a great title for my historical novel with romantic elements about an idealistic young woman who tries to set up a utopian community in mid-1800s England and finds it's not as easy as she expects. Of course, she finds love and learns a few lessons along the way.

Read my previous posts for more background, and send me your ideas via "comments," along with a way for me to contact you (email is best). Winner will win a $25 Amazon gift card, and will be announced on Monday, August 19.


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

"Experimental Societies" of the 1800s

                                         5741919.jpg (250×172)

Perhaps it's my ADHD that makes it impossible to work on just one project at a time, so I have two new books headed down the pipeline: my western,  and a rather odd book that doesn't quite fit in the romance category (although there is definitely a romance!).

The second story is about an idealistic heiress who attempts to found a Utopian society in mid-1800s England--with mixed results.

I'm fascinated by how many of these experimental societies existed on both sides of the Atlantic during this era, some of them rather shockingly progressive for their time. We often make the mistake of thinking of Victorians as being stodgy or traditional. The truth is that reformers were constantly trying to find new and better ways to do things, and many swept up huge numbers of followers in their path. Once-radical ideas have found acceptance and continue to shape our world.

I hoped at least one of these books would be finished and available for sale by now, but now I'm hoping to have the as-yet unamed utopian novel out by Fall, 2015, and the western out by Christmas, 2015
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