THE REGENCY ERA
The internet is over-burdened with writers
marketing their wares. And I’m adding to the general plethora out there. But
hear me out.
I’ve been writing Regencies for eighteen
years now and getting them published. Now my three main publishers have closed
their doors, I have joined the endless queue of self-published authors. So many
of us out here jostling for position like mid-field marathoners. The chances
are you’ll never hear my plea. But I’m chucking this out there in the anorexic
hope that you just might read this. Perhaps you have nothing better to do.
I hope you’re one of the many readers who
like historicals, and in particular, the Regency era. It was such a short
period in Britain’s history, but has given rise to many things such as the
development of canals (as trade with its trading partners hotted up with the
imprisonment of Napoleon, freeing up trade routes and resulting in large
numbers of goods that needed to be transported all over England), the Royal
Astronomical Society was founded, the early prototype of the bicycle, the
development of the railway system, the Act of Union with Ireland in 1801 etc.
All this is from the British point of view. Elsewhere, in the USA, Whitney came
up with the principle of manufacturing interchangeable parts as pertaining to
firearms. The statue of the Venus de Milo was discovered in Greece (1820) and
so it goes on.
So in spite of many Regencies persuading
you that it was all about Almacks and dukes, the Regency era was actually a
time on the cusp of great changes, not just in Britain but all over the world.
Minds were opening up, no longer relying on the dogma of ages past.
In 1814 The Times
adopted steam printing. By this method it could now print 1,100 sheets every
hour, not 200 as before—a fivefold increase in production capability and
demand. This development brought about the rise of the wildly
popular fashionable novels.
The Regency is also noted for its
achievements in the fine arts and architecture (Nash springs to mind, and
remember that striped wallpaper known as ‘Regency’?) This era encompassed a
time of great social, political, and economic change that shaped and altered
the societal structure of Britain as a whole. Remember that in London alone,
the population increased from just under a million in 1801 to one and a quarter
million by 1820. One of the reasons that the arts flourished during this era was because of the patronage of ‘Prinny’, the fat and at times ridiculous Prince of Wales. We might laugh at him, but it’s thanks to him that the development of British architecture flourished, even if his schemes often left the common people paying for his over-the-top designs.
The Regency era opened up the market for many authors including Sir Walter Scott, Maria Edgeworth, Mary Shelley (who incorporated the general mistrust of science during the earlier part of the Regency era), John Keats and William Blake. Then there were the playwrights and artists…the list goes on and on to confirm how minds began open to new possibilities during that time.
Oh yes, there was a lot more to the
Regency period than those autocratic dukes and the patronesses at Almacks!
My latest Regency historical is a
re-release called Mr. Monfort’s Marriage wherein a chivalrous businessman who
is not overly fond of the aristocracy finds himself married to an earl’s
daughter. She teaches him about noblesse
oblige, courage and joie de vivre,
and he teaches her…all sorts of things!
Mr. Monfort’s Marriage:
My Amazon bookpage is here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Vonnie+Hughes&x=18&y=20
Vonnie Hughes
Sorry I wasn't here to communicate with anyone. Guess whose computer CRASHED (the caps are intentional) last week. We are just staggering back online.
ReplyDelete