Hi Jeane, thanks again for hosting me during my Grand Tour of the blogosphere incelebration of the release of my new Austen-inspired anthology, Jane Austen Made Me Do It. The bookpremiered last week and I could not be more pleased by the reception itreceived during its launch party at the Sundance Square Barnes & Nobleduring the 2011 Jane Austen Society of North America’s conference in Ft. Worth,TX.
Jane Austen’s second published novel, Pride and Prejudice, is by far her most well-known and popularworks. In fact, it continually pops into the top five “favorite books of alltime” lists, and Mr. Darcy is equally acclaimed as the most romantic man in allfiction. There are hundreds of Mr. Darcy does “this and that” sequels andretellings in print, and many movie adaptations gracing the screen andtelevision of our cherished P&P.Websites and blogs also herald its charms. Here I am at one of them today!
With all this adoration and praise thrown at its feet, it isno surprise that there are seven Prideand Prejudice-inspired stories in my new anthology, Jane Austen Made Me Do It. I am very happy to offer this preview ofthem with you today:
“The Riding Habit,”by Pamela Aidan
It is April 1814, almost sixteen months since the wedding ofElizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and the happily married couple is inLondon for the Season. The months have been full for Elizabeth, but since removingto Town, she has discovered that the blunt words of Lady Catherine held moretruth than she knew. Negotiating Society is complicated, and it promises tobecome more so as she prepares for Georgiana’s coming out ball. Why, then, musther beloved Fitzwilliam insist she learn to ride a horse now before the eyes ofthem all?
“Mr. Bennet Meets His Match,” by Amanda GrangeOn his daughters’ wedding day, Mr. John Bennet’s mind drifts back to theevents of twenty-three years before, and the events leading to his own marriage. . . Encouraged by his parents to marry sooner rather than later andthereby provide a new generation of Bennet heirs for the estate, John laughedat their hurry. However, a meeting with his Cousin Collins, who was next inline for the entail, and an unfortunate accident, made him reconsider hisposition, and the proximity of the lively, pretty Miss Jane Gardiner sealed hisfate.
“Faux Jane,” by F. J. Meier (Frank Delaney & Diane Meier)
A rich young American actress anxious to marry an English Lord buys a“signed first edition” of Pride and Prejudice as a gift to impress hisrare book collecting mother – which, of course, is a fake. The actress’sfriends are the story’s two protagonists – a fashionable New York photographerand her chic-restaurant owner husband – they’re Nicola and Charles Scott. Thestory mirrors many of the snob and society nuances excelled in by Jane Austen –on whom the restaurateur, Charlie (as his wife calls him: he’s “Charles” toeveryone else) is encyclopedic. With the help of their butler-manservant, aformer hood named Uncle Julius, Charles and Nicola crack the fraud.
“When Only A Darcy Will Do,” by Beth Pattillo
Elizabeth Brown hopes her bootleg tour of Jane Austen’s London will bring insome quick extra cash, but when a real-live Mr. Darcy shows up for the tour,her day takes an unexpected turn. Elizabeth has very real problems. Her father’s lost everything in the economic downturn, her parents have splitup, and she has no idea where she’ll get the money she needs for grad schooltuition. Her afternoon with Mr. Darcy, though, shows her that even in themidst of turmoil, happiness can arrive in the most unexpected ways.
“Me and Mr. Darcy, Again…,” by Alexandra Potter
Mr. Darcy is every woman’s fantasy. But what happens when he becomes onewoman’s reality? In 2007 Emily traveled from New York to England to go on aJane Austen-inspired literary tour. There she met and fell in love with Spike,an English journalist.
She also met Mr. Darcy… Or did she? She can never be sure if it reallyhappened, or it was her over-active imagination. Now, four years later, she’shad a huge row with Spike and is back in London nursing a broken heart. Andthere’s only one person who can mend it. Mr. Darcy….
“Letters to Lydia,” by Maya Slater
While visiting her newly married sister Charlotte Collins, Maria Lucaswrites to her best friend Lydia Bennet of her experiences in Kent. Top on herlist of tittle-tattle is the budding romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.Present throughout the Hunsford episode, which culminates in Darcy’s firstdisastrous proposal of marriage to Elizabeth, we are privileged to Maria’s ownaccount of their romance from the point of view of her naïve sixteen-year-oldimaginings. Although she misinterprets everything she observes, it turns outthat she is partly responsible for bringing about the marriage of Elizabeth andDarcy.
“Intolerable Stupidity,” byLaurie Viera Rigler
Well hidden from the ordinary world, in a little-known corner ofjurisprudential hell known as the Court of Intolerable Stupidity, a legal dramaof literary proportions unfolds. The plaintiff is none other than the mostfamous romantic hero of all time, Mr. Darcy. The defendants are the authors whodared write sequels, adaptations, and inspired-by’s of his Creator’s mostbeloved work, Pride and Prejudice. One of those works, whose authorwas tried and convicted in absentia, is so popular that its salaciousswimming-in-the-lake scene has resulted in Darcy’s being forced to endure aperpetual state of shivering wetness in a transparent white shirt. For whenDarcy’s adoring public isn’t throwing water on him, his umbrella breaks in themidst of a downpour. And now, between the zombies and the vampires, Darcy andhis wife Elizabeth are at their wit’s end. So is defense attorney FritzWilliams, who not only fights a losing battle in a kangaroo court ruled byDarcy’s tyrannical aunt, the Honorable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, but also hissecret infatuation with prosecuting attorney Tawny Wolfson. Who has her ownsecret: a hopeless addiction to the illegal miniseries that she is supposed toabhor.
It is quite amazing how Pride andPrejudice’s indelible influence has become such a part of culture and howit inspired all of these great stories. I hope that you enjoy them, and theother fifteen stories in Jane Austen MadeMe Do It.
===================================================================
Editor bio:
A life-long acolyte of Jane Austen, Laurel Ann Nattress isthe author/editor of Austenprose.com, a blog devoted to the oeuvre of herfavorite author and the many books and movies that she has inspired. She is alife member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, a regular contributorto the PBS blog Remotely Connected and the Jane Austen Centre online magazine.An expatriate of southern California, Laurel Ann lives in a country cottagenear Snohomish, Washington. Visit Laurel Ann at her blogs Austenprose.comand JaneAustenMadeMeDoIt.com, onTwitter as @Austenprose, and on Facebook as Laurel Ann Nattress.
JaneAusten Made Me Do It: Original Stories Inspired by Literature’s Most AstuteObserver of the Human Heart, edited by Laurel Ann Nattress
Ballantine Books • ISBN: 978-0345524966
===================================================================
Giveaway of Jane Austen Made Me Do It
The contest is now closed and a winner has been selected.
No comments:
Post a Comment