Dear Friends in Austenesque Fiction: Please subscribe to this newsletter (it is no charge and never will be). If you subscribe by November 30, 2021, I will send you an Audible code good for a no-charge download of either Volume 1 of the Bennet Wardrobe Series, The Keeper: Mary Bennet’s Extraordinary Journey, or Lessers and Betters. UK or US Audible sites only. I will send you an email asking which.
I am a bit delayed in posting this week’s newsletter because I have been hip-deep in the 2021 JAFF Writer/Reader Get-together. This year, like last, the conference—hosted by Victoria Kincaid and Summer Hanford—was 100 percent ZOOM. Next year, though…
We had over 100 participants—authors and readers—and the panels were thoroughly engaging.
My contribution was to organize (as I do every month) the Work-In-Progress sessions. There were two this time—Dinner at the Dashwoods (11/12/21) and Breakfast With the Bennets (11/14/21)—to allow folks East of the line (as in Greenwich) the opportunity to enjoy without nodding off. Kudoes, by the way, must go to Elin Eriksen, a Norwegian who heard the clock strike twelve as she listened to our authors on Friday evening although Alice McVeigh took the WIP to the Eastern Med.
The goal of the WIPs is to offer a tasting menu of what is slightly over the horizon…or even barely emerging from the primordial ooze that serves as the fertile base for an author’s imagination. As always, we enjoyed a wide array of new and established authors, from those with their first book in editing to the founders (or at least those who hit the ground after the 1995 mini-series) of our genre. If you were unable to attend, I can assure you that you missed a pair of remarkable “booked sets” of unpublished work.
While many of these writers may be familiar to you, I commend the entire list for your consideration. Herewith are those who shared their Works-In-Progress at the conference. I have included links to their sites for your use or you can search their names on your local Amazon. The Amazon author page links are to the USA site.
Friday: Dinner at the Dashwoods
Melanie Rachel is the author of 11 P&P variations from novels like A Gentleman's Honor, to her recent whimsical fairy-tale novella Transforming Mr. Darcy. She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her family and their impertinent Jack Russell, Maggie. Her WIP was Interwoven.
https://www.melanierachelauthor.com/
Lily Bernard grew up in the desert southwest, lived outside NYC for forty-plus years, and now resides in the land of sunshine and orange juice. She began writing Pride and Prejudice Variations four years ago. Lily is a retired speech pathologist. Her most recent book is A Love to Remember. She will be reading from her WIP, Let Your Heart Decide. https://www.amazon.com/Lily-Bernard/e/B076PT7SP3
Abigail Reynolds is a retired physician who is celebrating her twentieth-anniversary writing Austenesque fiction. She coined the term "A Pride & Prejudice Variation." Her latest book is The Price of Pride. Her hobbies do not include sleeping or cleaning her house. Her reading is from her WIP The Magic of Pemberley.
https://www.pemberleyvariations.com/
Susan Andrews is a lover of classic British humor, from P.G. Wodehouse to Monty Python. Raised in Chicago, she spent her working life as an educator at a child/teen psychiatric hospital. In retirement, she and her husband reside in Roatan, Honduras. Susan read from her upcoming second installment in the Camp Jane series: The Trouble with Willoughby. https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Andrews/e/B093DZGKGC
Clarisse Anne Scott earned both a BA and MA in English. While an undergraduate, she overcame teacher-inflicted bias against Austen. Dami is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in English Composition at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash After years of having to defend her love of Austen, Dami decided to create Black Girl Loves Jane, a Facebook Page dedicated to Austen and the idea that it was perfectly wonderful to be an African American woman who loves Austen novels. She will be reading from her debut novel, a modern version of Persuasion entitled Persuaded due out in 2022 from Meryton Press.
https://merytonpress.com/portfolio/persuaded/
J. Dawn King was inspired to read Pride and Prejudice after reading Jan Hahn’s Austenesque novel The Journey. Since 2014, she has published eleven tales as J Dawn King and twelve as Christie Capps. She read from her latest J Dawn King work-in-progress which is entitled: Mistaken Identity, a Regency mystery leavened by romance. https://www.facebook.com/JDawnKing/
Diane Andersen first read Pride & Prejudice in seventh grade. Her writing career began in 2007 she embarked on a foray into historical fiction. Transitioning into Austenesque fiction has offered yet another outlet for her love of Regency literature. Her first novel titled Across Unstill Waters, was a finalist for the Wishing Shelf Awards in the UK and earned a Red Ribbon Winner title. She read from Miss Austen’s Merry Adventure.
Katherine Cowley is the author of The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet and the award-winning blog, Jane Austen Writing Lessons. She first read Pride and Prejudice when she was ten years old. She loves history, chocolate, traveling, and playing the piano, and teaches writing at Western Michigan University. Katherine read an excerpt from the third book in her Secret Life of Mary Bennet series, The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception.
http://www.katherinecowley.com/
Bella Breen writes clean and sweet Pride and Prejudice variation books. She also writes as Demi Monde. Her books focus on Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. She fell in love with Pride and Prejudice in high school and again with the BBC miniseries. Bella read from Demi Monde’s WIP Elizabeth is Missing. https://www.amazon.com/Bella-Breen/e/B07G14KXL7
Don Jacobson’s writing has ranged from news and features to advertising, television, and radio. In the 20-10s, he turned his hand to fiction. Since then, he has released ten Austenesque variations. In 2016, the Bennet Wardrobe Series was launched with The Keeper: Mary Bennet’s Extraordinary Journey. The series arc has now grown to seven volumes. The eighth and final book, The Grail: The Saving of Elizabeth Darcy, will be published by Meryton Press in January 2022. https://www.amazon.com/Don-Jacobson/e/B001IQZ7GC
Sunday: Breakfast With the Bennets
Monica Fairview enjoys reading Jane Austen, fantasy, and post-apocalyptic novels, but avoids zombies like the plague. She writes Pride & Prejudice sequels, variations, and fantasy, sometimes veering towards wild comedy, but she does write angsty scenes as well. Her latest book is a comic novella, Longbourn Entanglement. She read from her current WIP, Weaving Magic, which is Book Two of Mr. Darcy’s Magic. https://www.amazon.com/Monica-Fairview/e/B0028OE1BU
Sarah Courtney is a homeschool mom with six kids who writes in the evenings when everybody has been sent off to pretend they are sleeping. She has been writing off and on for twenty years, but only discovered Austenesque fiction about five years ago. She has four published novels and a book of short stories. Her Work In progress is a novella A Disguise of the Worst Sort. https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Courtney/e/B081LVFXK1
Beth Massey decided late in life to try her hand at writing fiction. A friend told her about fan fiction and the forums. She saw the Jane Austen category and thought it would be a good fit since she had been a literature major in college. In 2008 she started posting her first story. She has written and self-published five novels. Her WIP is Calliope’s Choice. https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Massey/e/B007S8YL84
Alice McVeigh’s first in her series of six Austenesque novels, Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel, has just reached the quarterfinals of Publishers Weekly's BookLife Prize (2021), as well as winning First Prize in the PenCraft Book Awards, an IndieReader medallion, and a gold medal in the Global Book Awards in historical fiction. It has just been released as an audiobook. She read from Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation, which will be published in January 2022. https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Austen-Prequel-Warleigh-Press-ebook/dp/B097RLKKFB
L.L. Diamond is a native of Louisiana. Leslie spent the majority of her life living within an hour of New Orleans. Then she became a military wife and called (not necessarily in order) home Louisiana, Mississippi, California, Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska, England, and now Missouri have all been called home along the way. Leslie has written several Austenesque novels. She read from her Work In Progress In a Moment. https://www.amazon.com/L-L-Diamond/e/B00DF93YUQ
Noted Austnesque narrator Stevie Zimmerman explained during her panel that authors and performers form a partnership as they work to turn words on a page into lyrical sounds that transport the listener to another world. Such is the case with Maria Grace (Dragons Series) and Benny Fife (Voice performer for Dragons series).
Maria Grace is a six-time BRAG Medallion Honoree in Historical Fantasy. She has her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and is a 16-year veteran of the university classroom. She pretends to be a mild-mannered writer/cat-lady, but most of her vacations require helmets and waivers or historical costumes, usually not at the same time. She writes gaslamp fantasy, historical romance, and non-fiction to help justify her research addiction.
Benny Fife grew up in Southeast Idaho and attended Idaho State University, where he met his future wife in their music theory class. He enjoys all kinds of sci-fi and fantasy, is an extreme eclectic music lover, and prefers his chocolate to be of the 90% cocoa variety. The working title of the WIP is Dragon Friends. It is a short story collection, mostly based off Pride and Prejudice. https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMariaGrace
Sara Marks first read Pride and Prejudice when she was sixteen years old. It wasn’t until a few years later, when Clueless came out, that she realized Austen’s stories never got old. After years of participating in National Novel Writing Month with silly ideas, she turned to her own modernizations of these stories and published her first one, Modern Persuasion in 2017. Now she’s working on the fifth book in her 21st Century Austen series - Unraveling Carrie Woodhouse, a modernization of Emma. https://www.facebook.com/saramarks01/
Summer Hanford is an author of clean, sweet, adventure-filled Regency Romance, Pride and Prejudice retellings and Epic Fantasy. She lives in New York with her husband and compulsory, deliberately spoiled, cats. The newest addition to their household, an energetic setter-shepherd mix, is not yet appreciated by the cats but is well-loved by the humans. She read from her WIP Once Upon a time in Pemberley.
https://summerhanford.com/?page_id=1636
Cristy Huelsz has been studying translation for a couple of years, especially about literary translation from English into Spanish. She's happily married, is originally from Mexico, and now lives in Seattle. Her translations of many Austenesque novels, novellas, and short stories have opened new arenas for our work. She read from her Spanish translation of Sally Smith O’Rourke’s The Man Who Loved Jane Austen. https://www.facebook.com/Cristranslates/
Cherith Boardman is the mother of the ten best kids, ever - and Gamma to the cutest grandbaby. She writes Austenesque fiction in her spare time. You may know her from her most recent work, Total Want of Propriety made up of two books Darcy's Reformation and Georgiana's Reclamation. Her WIP was Mistaken Premise, a Pride and Prejudice variation. https://www.amazon.com/Cherith-Boardman/e/B0774FTZSW
Sophie Turner worked as an online editor before diving into the tech world. Writing and researching the Regency era, and occasionally dreaming about living in Britain are her escapes from her day job. Her Constant Love series—projected to be 7 books—consists of A Constant Love, A Change of Legacies, A Season Lost, and the soon-to-be-released A Generation’s Secrets. This morning’s WIP is The Crimes of Elizabeth Darcy. https://www.amazon.com/Sophie-Turner/e/B00WRV8CWI
If you attended, please drop a comment below to let me (and everyone else) know what you thought.