Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Opening Letter for Flapper Girl (A Story of the Jazz Age)

Was chatting with a twitter friend (@tiffanyreisz) about how reading biographies of people in other eras is a great reminder that everyone is always living in what they consider to be the most modern age. And that reminded me of this opening letter for my upcoming Jazz Age series. Really looking forward to putting this one together.

To my kind reader,

These are the stories I remember, and after telling them for years some of y'all convinced me to write them down. The thing to know, like I always say, is that it's not history. Not if you've been there. Never was a time that was more modern, more a part of the future, more immediate. We thought we'd done it, we thought, no, we knew, we were on the edge of a new age. I've lived a lot of years since then and I got to tell you, the world still ain't caught up to that time. While you read this know that it isn't the past, it's a future that already happened.

But when I think about where to start it seems like the best place is in the beginning, and that means Lulu. I've seen a lot of legs in my time but never any that compared to Lu's. When she started dancing there wasn't a man born that could take his eyes off her. And when she smiled at you it was somewhere between the holy Madonna and the first girl you fell in love with. She stole hearts, that one, stole them with such beauty and joy that there never was a man who could get mad about it. At least not until 1921.

                                                                                                    The Jazz Man

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Egads! Is Historical Romance Becoming Credible?

A friend brought me this article at work (where it now hangs on my door) In a Plot Twist: Scholars Get Serious About Romance Novels. Yes, that link goes to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Well dang. Can't decide this means that I entered the market at just the right, or just the wrong, time.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Sue Hangs Out with Nerd Lunch - Podcast 98: Nerd Romance

In case you don't haunt my "Interviews" page looking for new entries, I was on the Nerd Lunch podcast this week. Take a little Friday downtime to check it out. #TGIF Nerd Lunch: Nerd Lunch Podcast 98: Nerd Romance