Welcome, Tracy!

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:20 am Post subject: Welcome, Tracy!

Thanks for joining us this week, Tracy. I'm sure lots of Bluestocking have questions for you.

Tracy's latest two re-issues are available now: Secrets of a Lady and Beneath a Silent Moon. The latter is a prequel to the former. She has also written three other wonderfully rich historical romances, and seven Regencies written with her mother under the pseudonym Anthea Malcolm. I remember when I first discovered Regencies, I quickly glommed Anthea Malcolm books, finding them more layered and complex than most others. And the writing was always beautiful. Later, when I decided to try my hand at writing and joined my local RWA chapter, I found Tracy and her mom sitting at my table at my first chapter meeting, and I almost swooned. I couldn't believe I was sitting and chatting with the great Anthea Malcolm!

I have followed Tracy's career ever since, never missing a book. I remember when I read Daughter of the Game (re-issued as Secrets of a Lady), I thought the rest of us should just pack up and leave the field. It was, and still is, one of the best books I've ever read.

Now I am pleased to call Tracy a friend, and we frequently meet with other local writers to brainstorm over lunch. I hope all you Bluestockings will give Tracy a warm welcome. She is prepared to answer your questions about her books, her research, and the Regency in general.
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:49 am Post subject:

Welcome to the Manor Tracy! Sit back and have a cup of tea, and don't forget to share with us about your books.

A tough question...

If you were a cast away on a deserted island but still had a looming deadline, what ONE research book would you take with you? And for kicks and giggles, who would the sexy hunk turning the pages for you?

Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1077

Ooooo, time to have a total FAN GIRL moment. Tracy's books are simply amazing. Secrets of a Lady was easily one of the best (if not the best) book I read in 2007. I bought 17 copies and gave them away to friends. Beneath a Silent Moon is on its way to being in my top reads of 2008 (along with World War Z; yes zombies and Regency-era romantic suspense; my tastes are wide and varied, LOL!).

There's just something about the world Tracy has built. Specifically there's something about Melanie (the heroine or female protagonist) that just speaks to me. She's strong and smart and capable. Everything I long for in heroine (and her husband Charles isn't bad either *grin*).
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-Kalen
w/a Kalen Hughes
LORD SIN; LORD SCANDAL
w/a Isobel Carr
The League of Second Sons, coming 2011
www.kalenhughes.com

Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82

Thanks so much for the warm welcome and the wonderful words about my books, Candice, and for asking me to be a guest author! I love your site and boards, so this is a special treat.

I still remember meeting you at that RWA meeting--my mom and I were so excited to meet someone who'd actually read our books! It's so much fun brainstorming with you (not only is Candice wonderful at research questions, as one might guess, she's fabulous at coming up with plot twists.

Cheers,
Tracy
http://www.tracygrant.org

Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82

Great question, Haven! For a secondary source, I'd probably pick The Rise of the Egalitarian Family by Randolph Trumbach. It has a wealth of information about things like entails and prohibited degrees of marriage and provides a wonderful look at changing toward marriage and family (I know it's a book Kalen loves too). For a primary source, probably The Letters of Harriet Countess Granville. She was Harriet Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire's younger daughter (her growing up letters, Harryo: The Letters of Lady Lady Cavendish, are great too). I love her witty, somewhat acerbic take on Regency and post-Regency society. Her husband was a diplomat and politician, so there are fascinating details and political and diplomatic life and travel in her letters. I included some fictional letters between her and Emily Cowper in the A+ section of Beneath a Silent Moon.

As to a guy to read them with--David Duchovny (if one can ignore the fact that he's very happily married). Or if we're including fictional characters, my own Charles Fraser, who bears a more than passing resemblance to David Duchovny Smile

(if one can ignore the fact that he's also very happily married).

Cheers,
Tracy
http://www.tracygrant.org

Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82

Hi Kalen! Thanks so much for the truly wonderful comments, which mean so much to me (not to mention the support of giving that many copies of Secrets of a Lady to friends!).

I'm so glad you like Mélanie. I love writing about her. I've always liked strong, unconventional heroines (as I know you do--your first book has a fabulous example of one and it sounds as though your second does as well). One of the things I wanted to do in the Charles & Mélanie series is create a heroine who could challenge conventions and believably be as involved in the action as the hero. I wanted a heroine with experience, in every sense of the word. I love writing about Mélanie because sometimes she surprises me (as well as Charles and the other characters) with what she'll do in a given situation and how far she'll go. And I'm also very fond of Charles Smile

(see my answer to Haven above).

Cheers,
Tracy
http://www.tracygrant.org

Upstart Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 26

This is how I think of Tracy - notworthy

*pets copies of Beneath and Secrets*

Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82

Anne, you are too nice!

Thanks so much for setting a great example of guest authoring a couple of weeks ago!

Cheers,
Tracy
http://www.tracygrant.org

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject:

Welcome Tracy....Glad you join us
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An Avid Reader of all things Romance~ Ellen

Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82

Thanks, Lovely Duchess! It's very fun to be here!

Cheers,
Tracy
htttp://www.tracygrant.org

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:58 am Post subject:

Tracy!!! Hello and welcome once again to The Manor. We always adore your visits. And I have to do an AnneMallory here ( niedermayr anbeten

) as far as your books go. Love them. LOVE THEM.

So, here's impertinent question #1: How much of Mélanie is based on your own life and personality?

(PS: Tracy blogs with the History Hoydens.)
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Medieval & Regency Writer
keirasoleore.blogspot.com

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:56 am Post subject: Hi Tracy

I can't resist adding my own kudos here, for a writer who's expanded the reach of the Regency romance genre.

By introducing us to Charles and Melanie Fraser, Tracy reintroduces us to a history we thought we knew -- but didn't, quite. And by making us fall in love with this wonderfully smart, sexy couple, she rekindles our passion for the Regency period in all its wonderful (and sometimes dark) wit and complexity.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:45 am Post subject:

((Pam)). Welcome to The Manor! I'm looking forward to seeing you at the Beau Monde conference.
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Medieval & Regency Writer
keirasoleore.blogspot.com

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:27 am Post subject:

Welcome, Tracy! I became a huge fan when someone gave me a copy of Daughter of the Game a few years back. It totally blew me away. As did Beneath a Silent Moon. I have been waiting and waiting for another Charles and Melanie book, and I am hoping the re-issues of the first two mean a third one is soon to follow. I see on your website that Mask of the Night is the next book. When can we get our hands on it? Soon, I hope. Pray

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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:34 am Post subject: And hi back to Keira

I gotta admit that having Tracy here finally got me to straighten out my login/password snarls on this site and it's great to finally be in the salon with all you ladies.

Looking forward to seeing you at National too, Keira. With all the stuff Kalen is planning for the historical writer's conference, it's really gonna be something.