June 13, 2009
Welcome Terri Brisbin!
Written by Jaunty Quills in Jaunty GuestsI’ve been having so much fun researching 11th century Brittany, Normandy and England for my current trilogy for Harlequin Historicals – the stories center on three Breton knights who fight for William the Bastard in his quest to take over England. One thing I’ve discovered is that William never heard of anger management!
How bad was he? Let me explain –
After becoming Duke of Normandy at about age eight, William eventually had to fight for control of his lands and title and watch as his first three guardians were killed and other nobles tried to take over everything he’d inherited. So, when he won his first pivotal battle and became Duke in fact, he ruthlessly retaliated against those who’d plotted against him. We’re talking dead…lots of dead.
Then, in the marital realm, he decided to marry a lovely noblewoman from Flanders whose bloodlines went all the way back to King Alfred the Great. We’re talking seriously blue-blooded. And William, as we all know, was a bastard…..er….illegitimate and not quite as highborn even though his father was a duke. So, the story says that when Mathilda first heard about the proposed marriage, she balked. William had some issues accepting this rebuke quietly and it’s said he went to her father’s house and dragged her out of her room and tossed her to the floor. The good news is that, in spite of this very-iffy beginning, their marriage was a long and fruitful one.
By now, you’re probably thinking – well, that’s not THAT bad, is it? We are talking Middle Ages. We are talking a time of kill or be killed. We are talking about a man also called The Conqueror. Some other notable examples of his lack of anger-management skills?
In Alencon, he cut off the hands of those townspeople who dared to mock his base origins (his mother was supposedly the daughter of a tanner). In Brittany, those who threatened to take over his lands while he was busy invading England seemed to die, with poison being the most favored of his tools. Then, in 1068, when those in the north of his kingdom still rebelled, William destroyed everything in his path, in a campaign known as the Harrowing of the North. Nothing was left standing as he burned crops and buildings, killed cattle and people, and completely overwhelmed his opponents.
Did he ever get his anger under control? I’d like to say yes, but word is that he actually got worse after Mathilda died! Yikes! But, I guess when you’re the ruler of a large part of what became modern-day France and England and command fighting forces in the thousands, there aren’t many people who can stop you.
Was that too much info? As I said, I found it fascinating when I began to look into the life and times of one of the most influential men of the Middle Ages as I was planning and plotting my stories. Now I can’t wait to get back and begin to look further at another interesting person or place in history for my NEXT writing project. . .
Is there some time or place or person in history that interests or intrigues you? If you could go back and see one event or meet one person what or who would that be? Leave a comment and answer that question and Terri will pick one person to win a special gift and an autographed book!
Terri’s current release is A NIGHT FOR HER PLEASURE, a Harlequin Historical Undone short story, available now at eharlequin.com or amazon.com. This introduces the four sexy warriors who fight for William the Bast. . . Conqueror in 1066. Her next book, THE CONQUEROR’S LADY, the first of the Knights of Brittany trilogy is a July release from Harlequin Historicals. Stop by her website at www.terribrisbin.com for more info about upcoming books, contests and events!








A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Good Ghouls Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner
One of the things I like best about being a writer is imagining what it would be like to live somewhere else. I’ve lived in Connecticut most of my life and am a New Englander through and through, but I dream about living in other parts of our great nation all the time. Sometimes you visit a place that just strikes you as being not just a place that you love, but a place you could live, and that happens to me all the time. Funny, my grandmother never lived more than half a block from where she was born and never felt the remotest desire to experience life elsewhere (unless it was on a cruise ship). But I’d love to live somewhere else, as long as I could come back to my little house here in the woods and sit on my front porch, listening to the wind in the trees.
An editor at Harlequin recently told me that the towns in my books are like characters, one of the the nicest compliments I’ve ever received. Maybe that’s due to my wanderlust. When writing a book, I try to pick a town that means something to the plot or reflects my protagonist’s character somehow. In Catch of the Day, for example, I needed simply for the heroine to have a hard time meeting marriagable men. Choosing a town on the northern Maine coast with a population of 1500 did that just fine. In Just One of the Guys, I wanted a backdrop for Chastity’s physicality…she rows, runs, hikes. She’s a strapping lass, our Chas, so the mighty Adirondacks were perfect. Too Good To Be True
from Just One of the Guys. What a pretty town! The Hudson River, the architecture, that gorgeous City Hall, all the little Craftsmen bungalows…yep, I could live there. Or Mackerly, Rhode Island, the setting of my upcoming book The Next Best Thing,
Maryville, Kansas, has such charm and sweetness, brick streets and buildings surrounded by miles and miles of farmland. The light in Portland, Maine, is unlike anything I’ve ever seen anywhere else, this clear golden luminosity that is downright magical. 


It’s a great pleasure to welcome Toni Andrews today! Toni’s the author of several books, including the Mercy Hollings series — Beg for Mercy, Angel of Mercy and the latest release, Cry Mercy. Throughout the series, the title character struggles to control and profit from her unusual gift — the ability to convince people to do just about anything.
Lately I’ve noticed a trend with younger couples and the number of men who do most or all of the cooking. Now I’ve only been married for a little over four years, but I guess I do consider myself an old married lady who is mostly traditional. Don’t get me wrong I’d love to have a man who cooked regularly, not that I’ll be trading The Professor in for a different model. And he does have some culinary skills, but they are mostly limited to grilling hamburgers and making scrambled eggs and pancakes. Needless to say I do the vast majority of our meals and meal planning and shopping. It works well for us and mostly I don’t mind because I enjoy cooking and I’ve just about mastered the art of cooking quick, healthy meals for the two of us.
I have a variety of favorite cooking shows where I get recipe ideas and technique assistance. But I don’t like a lot of the shows hosted by men. I don’t think it’s a conscious decision on my part, I like men and there are some guys on there I do like - I dig Guy’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, but that’s not a cooking show per se. So all of this got me thinking if maybe I’m WAY traditional when it comes to the kitchen. I find myself shaking my head if I’m watching a show with a younger couple on there and the woman can’t cook and leaves it all to their man. Ideally I think it would be very nice to cook WITH your guy, but that doesn’t happen much at my house.



















