An Austen Addict, and Proud of It.

My friend Kathy Strong—that's Dr. Strong to you (she recently received her Ph.D. from USC in English with a specialty in eighteenth-century British literature; and yes, I'm bragging) made me this fun necklace—a one-of-a-kind piece.  

Unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice. The setting is a bottle cap, the little portrait and letters are affixed to the concave side with resin. And can you read what it says? "Addict."

In short, the coolest piece of Austen-inspired jewelry I've ever seen.

Don't you think she should sell these? I wouldn't mind not being the only person in the world proudly wearing this "Addict" necklace! And yes, that's a double negative. Dr. Strong would likely disapprove.

Reading & Signing July 22

Come raise a glass of bubbly with me and hear some passages from my brand-new novel, RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT.

The reading and signing is at my most wonderful neighborhood indie bookstore, Vroman's, where I teach writing workshops, lose myself for hours in the aisles of bookstore heaven, and find the perfect book, card, or can't-live-without-gift.

How can you resist?

See you there!

July 22, 2009 7:00 PM

Reading and Signing of RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT

Vroman's Bookstore

695 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91101
Tel: 626-449-5320

 

Persuasion, Twitter Version: Chapters 20 (part 2) - 21

When last we left Anne sitting with her amorous cousin (what can I say, it's a nineteenth-century thing), Mr. Elliot, at the concert, he had momentarily distracted Anne from her joyful realization that finally, Captain Wentworth's heart seems to be returning to her. But Mr. Elliot is playing the flattery game...

[Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest Captain Wentworth of them all? Please don't make me choose...]

Persuasion, Ch20, continues:

"The name of Anne Elliot...has long had an interesting sound to me." Says the spider to the fly.

"And, if I dared," says he, "I would breathe my wishes that the name might never change." Put a cork in it, Mr. Elliot.

Anne has no wish to drink the KoolAid. She only wants THE ONE. But how to escape the suffocating circle of her party?

Finally Anne speaks with Capt W, who is once again reserved. No sooner does he warm up when Mr. Elliot barges in. Grrrr!

Result: Capt W says he's outta there. "Is not this song worth staying for?" says Anne, suddenly realizing he's jealous.

"No!" says he, "there is nothing worth my staying for." And with that he's gone. Ouch. The man is definitely green-eyed.

Jealous! "For a moment the gratification was exquisite." And yet...without text or tweet, "How was the truth to reach him?"

Mrs. Smith tells Anne that everyone thinks Anne will marry Mr. Elliot, & she hopes Anne will influence him on her behalf.

Mrs. Smith encourages Anne to marry Mr. Elliot, but when Anne says no way, Mrs. Smith sings a different tune.

It seems that Mrs. Smith and her late husband were close with Mr. Elliot, but he abandoned her after Mr. Smith's death.

Mr. Elliot is executor of Mr. Smith's estate, yet refuses  to disentangle Mrs. Smith's desperate financial affairs. Dog.

Mr. Elliot is "a cold-blooded being," says she. (Hello, weren't you trying to get Anne to marry him a minute ago??)

Mrs. Smith says that although Mr. Elliot fell in love w/Anne, his 1st motivation to reconcile w/her family was mercenary.

Mr. Elliot fears that Eliz's friend Mrs. Clay will marry Sir Walter. And if she has a son, HE will be the next Sir Walter.

Anne shudders to think that if not for her own pre-engaged heart, she might have been persuaded to marry that duplicitous dog.

Anxious to find out how this triangle of Anne, Captain Wentworth, and Mr. Elliot resolves itself in a Twitter-less, social-networking-devoid world?

I'll be tweeting the final chapters after I return from my travels on July 9th.

Till then, be happy, be healthy, and be persuaded to read Jane!

More Giveaways

The list of giveaways is growing. I've already posted about a number of giveaways in June, most of which are still taking entries.

Now there are even more chances to win a copy of my new book, RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, at these fine blogs:

DATES ARE WHEN ENTRIES BEGIN. PLEASE CHECK EACH BLOG FOR ENTRY DEADLINES AND RULES:

Jane Austen Today (began June 25)

Historical Fiction (began June 25, with Q&A)

Brant Flakes*(begins June 29 with Q&A)

Austenblog (begins late June or early July; check Austenblog for details.)

Jane Austen Today (begins July 15, with Q&A)

Peeking Between the Pages (begins July 16, with guest post)

 Living Read Girl (begins July 20, with Q&A)

And coming up in early August (exact date TBD; check the Austen Addict homepage for further details):

Stephanie's Written Word (guest post)
 Stephanie is hosting the Everything Austen Challenge, which runs from July 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010. The challenge is to read, listen to, and/or watch six Jane Austen-related things. Check out Stephanie's Written Word for a list of suggestions. The challenge kicks off on July 1 with a review of RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. Stephanie's got lots of giveaways scheduled, so keep checking back.

RUDE AWAKENINGS is here, and CONFESSIONS needs your vote.

It's heeeeere! RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. June 25 is the day!

 At a time like this I find myself caught between channeling Mrs. Bennet ("Oh, Lord! What will become of me. I shall go distracted") and that Mike Myers character (you know, the one who's always verklempt).

Romantic Times has made RUDE AWAKENINGS a Top Pick for July, SisterDivas Magazine praises it for its "great main character, solid storytelling, and social commentary on women, independence, and love," and the Deseret News calls it "the perfect summer read."

Enjoy the book, and please check the Jane Austen Addict homepage for giveaways and other news.

And please vote for CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, which has been nominated for  a 2009 Regency World Award.* 

Polls close June 30, so please cast your vote now! 

*The Regency World Awards are sponsored by The Jane Austen Centre in Bath, a wonderful place to visit.

Many thanks, and may this summer bring you much happiness! 

Persuasion, Twitter Version: Chapters 18-20, part 1

Greetings, Gentle Readers.

Herewith I present the latest group of tweets of Jane Austen's PERSUASION. Enjoy (and do read the book, which is ever so much more delightful):

Persuasion, Ch18:

Breaking news: Louisa is to marry Capt. Benwick, not Capt. Wentworth! Louisa and Benwick?? WTF? Fetch my smelling salts!

Anne refrains from breaking into song while hoping that Capt W & Capt B have not 86'd their friendship over Louisa.

Admiral Croft provides Anne w/status update on Capt W: He does not appear to be heartbroken at all. (Smile.)

Persuasion, Ch19:

And then Anne runs into the man himself: "It was agitation, pain, pleasure, a something between delight and misery."

Capt W is somewhat self-conscious with Anne, perhaps even embarassed. Please sir, may I have some more? But then…

…Mr. Elliot whisks Anne away, leaving Capt W to hear the gossips of Bath yammering that Anne & Mr. Elliot are an item.

If only Anne could see Capt W again, but she is neither free to call nor able to tweet. Perhaps he will be at a concert…

Persuasion, Ch.20:

Capt W arrives—and Anne is so friendly that he tells her his opinion of Benwick and Louisa's engagement. Dish it, dude.

Aside from Benwick's superiority of mind to Louisa, says Capt W, Benwick's fiancée had been an extraordinary woman.

 "A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman. He ought not; he does not," says he.

Anne is "struck, gratified, confused, and beginning to breathe very quick, and feel an hundred things in a moment."

Lady Dalrymple & her spawn arrive at the concert, and Anne is separated from Capt W as she and her party take their seats.

All Anne can think of are Capt W's words, "his half averted eyes and more than half expressive glance." (Hmm...)

"All declared that he had a heart returning to her at least; that anger, resentment, avoidance, were no more…"

It seems all his coldness has been "succeeded, not merely by friendship and regard, but by the tenderness of the past."

"She could not contemplate the change as implying less. He must love her." (Grabs fan, swoons on fainting couch.)

Mr. Elliot tantalizes Anne with cryptic statements of how he had heard praise of her for years before they met.

Mr. Elliot won't reveal his source, who "had inspired him with the highest idea of her merit." Man is a flattery machine.

"Anne…wondered, and questioned him eagerly; but in vain. He delighted in being asked, but he would not tell." Sneaky...

The rest of Chapter 20, and more, to follow...

Catch up here for the next installment, or follow me on Twitter.

AustenFest on BrantFlakes!

What does that mean, you might ask?

BrantFlakes is the blog of author Marilyn Brant, whose upcoming Austen-inspired book, ACCORDING TO JANE: A NOVEL ABOUT PRIDE, PREJUDICE, & THE PURSUIT OF THE PERFECT GUY, comes out October 2009. ACCORDING TO JANE is already a winner—it won the 2007 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements.

So what is AustenFest?

AustenFest is a series of Q&A's and giveaways of Austen-inspired books and more on Marilyn's blog.

Here is the AustenFest lineup:

6/22/09: Syrie James, author of THE LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN, which was nominated for a 2008 Regency World Award for Best New Fiction; and her new novel, THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE.

6/24/09: Kim Wilson, author of TEA WITH JANE AUSTEN and IN THE GARDEN WITH JANE AUSTEN, which is nominated for a 2009 Regency World Award for Best New Nonfiction.

6/26/09: Abigail Reynolds, author of THE PEMBERLEY VARIATIONS series of novels.

6/29/09: Laurie Viera Rigler (that's me), author of RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, which comes out June 25; and CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, which is nominated for a 2009 Regency World Award http://www.janeausten.co.uk/awardsurvey.ihtml for Best New Fiction.

Although Marilyn Brant won't be doing a Q&A herself, she just received the ARCs of ACCORDING TO JANE and will be giving away at least one of them.

Each of these authors is giving away at least one book, so be sure to go to AustenFest to enter!

Win a Copy of RUDE AWAKENINGS and more

To celebrate the release of RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT on June 25, there are lots of book giveaways coming up: 

June 21:  Lipstick Chronicles

June 25 (approx.):  Austenblog

June 25:  Historical Fiction

June 29:  AustenFest, hosted by Brant Flakes*

But wait, there's more!

Check back here on the Austen Addict Blog  and on the Austen Addict homepage  for more RUDE AWAKENINGS giveaways in July and August.

*Brant Flakes is hosting a series of giveaways and Q&As called AustenFest.  Check out  AustenFest starting June 22 to win books by Syrie James, Kim Wilson, Abigail Reynolds, Marilyn Brant, and me.

More details about AustenFest in my next post...

Good Bedtime Reading

...or so I've been told.

[Photograph by Deborah Zeitman]

Book Trailer: Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

Thomas Rigler, my very own Mr. Darcy/Mr. Knightley* produced, wrote, and directed a new viral video in support of my about-to-be-released novel, RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. I hope you are as delighted and diverted as I am:

Many thanks to the incredible team who, along with Thomas, generously poured their time and talent into this trailer:

Jane's Scene Readings:
Arabella Field
Multitalented Arabella Field is an accomplished stage and film actress who frequently guest stars on your favorite TV series and has way too many credits under her belt to mention. She co-stars in the upcoming motion picture releases PAPER MAN and FLYING BY. Someday we're going to see her with one of those cute little gold statues they give out here in Los Angeles.

Music:
Paul Haslinger, Composer, Producer
The fabulous electronica track was pulled from one of Paul's solo CDs. Check out two of Paul’s most recent offerings, the spectacular soundtracks for UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS motion picture (he's composed the soundtracks for all three UNDERWORLD movies) and X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE video game.

Piano:
Sigrid Trummer
Germaine Tailleferre Piano Concerto D-Dur, Edition Frauentöne Vol. 1
Sigrid just completed solo piano tour across the US and Canada that brought her to Chicago, Washington, Montreal and Ottawa. I don't know about you, but I cannot get that gorgeous piano music out of my head. And why would I want to?

VO:
Mehran Azma
An accomplished graphic designer and indie musician with The Lost Libraries, Mehran got drafted as a voiceover artist and narrator for this project. With that golden voice he should be narrating movie trailers and audiobooks, too!

VO recordings:
Silvia Ryder @ Starfish Records
Get the excellent new CD Chinese Leftovers by Starfish Records' house band Sugarplum Fairies. One of the tracks on Chinese Leftovers, HOLD ONTO ME, was featured on the 2009 season finale of GREY'S ANATOMY.

Photography Courtney’s bedroom:
Elissa Merola
Quintessential Silver Lake photographer, new media artist and decorator.

Animation, visual & sound effects, editing and other wonders:
Dave ‘The Rave’ Emmendorfer
Dave is an incredibly accomplished editor and animator and pulled out all the stops for this trailer. We still don’t quite know where the space shuttle entered the picture, but it’s beyond brilliant. And we're still not quite sure how we got so lucky as to work with Dave.

* Also sometimes known as Captain Harville when he's puttering around the house fixing things or building shelves.