Never Too Late at Vauxhall Gardens

Highlighting Susana Ellis’s love of Vauxhall Gardens.   Vauxhall Gardens has become a bit of an obsession with me. I even visited there last September, even though it has become little more than a small grassy area between the Vauxhall Underground station, Kennington Lane, and the busy Vauxhall Bridge. The Orchestra building being long gone, […]

Cattle, Horses, and a Cowhand

Highlighting Ana Morgan’s research about cowhands and their universe. I had lots of first-hand experience to draw on, when I started writing Stormy Hawkins. I knew homesteading. I’d been chased out of a pasture by the neighbor’s Jersey bull. (It had nasty horns and knew exactly how to use them.) I lived near the fictional […]

A Viscount, Irish History, and Plumbing

Alina K. Field joins us this week Thank you for having me as your guest today, Caroline! I love historical romance that draws on the current events of the story world. (Your most recent novel, The Reluctant Bride, does that beautifully!) So when I came up with the idea for a series about the children […]

4 Benefits of BookCons

I leave for California and InD’Scribe on Wednesday. If you’re anywhere near Burbank, join us, especially on Saturday, the fan day,  which has programming and opportunities designed for for readers. What are the benefits? You can meet your favorite author, discover new ones, browse books in abundance (who doesn’t like that?), and meet folks who […]

The Fate of Prisoners

Research about Fortune’s Foe from Michele Stegman Ever since I visited El Castillo, the fort in St. Augustine, Florida, and saw the small space where 20 English captives were held in 1740, I wondered what happened to those men. Apparently, no one made any effort to rescue or help them during that awful war between the […]

The Global Tourist in New Zealand

Jude Knight introduces us to Victorian Tourists to New Zealand. The nineteenth century, says the book I’m currently reading, was the European century; the century in which Europe dominated the world. The nineteenth century was a European one also in the sense that other continents took Europe as their yardstick. Europe’s hold over them was […]

Here Again—Gone Again

When I slid into June exhausted from launching The Reluctant Wife—which let me just say is a very good tale of love, loss, journeys, and reconciliation. Sigh… Where was I? Oh yes. Launching. It is exhausting work to get the word out about a new book, and I had guest visits to a few dozen […]

Bringing the Oregon Trail to Life

  Tina Susedik with details about the Oregon Trail The Trail to Love is my first historical romance and part of The Soul Mate Tree Collective. The story is set on the Oregon Trail. As I wrote the book, I research many words to find out if they were used in 1854 and was surprised […]

Romance and the American Civil War

Gina Danna on romance and war Why write about the American Civil War? It is a period that I, as a historian, love. Victorian America, with all the rules and societal set by England set, was practiced here on courting, marriage, fashion and how to manage life. Yet how did the War affect it? This […]

Book Hook: The Forceful Hero

In which the hero commands and Charlotte refuses… His fierce look almost cowed her, but she clenched her teeth and reminded herself how gentle his hands looked when he examined her brother. “You are without protection in a foreign city, you face desperate illness, and you refuse help. Foolish woman! Pack your bags,” he demanded. […]