***Edited to add… I’ll draw a winner either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. Winner’s name will be posted here.***
Meljean Brook is joining us today!
And she brought a prize to give away. One lucky commenter is going to win an ARC of Demon Night. Details on how to win down below… but make sure you read the contest disclaimer here on the blog. Remember, we want to keep it fair for all.
And onto Meljean’s guestblog…
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Thank you so much to Shiloh and the rest of the Vamps & Scamps crew for inviting me to talk with you all today! It’s been one of those crazy months, with my little girl coming down with one cold, fever, and earache after another, and needing Mommy to snuggle with her. Which means that most of my writing is getting done late at night (and not much sleeping!) because I can’t manage a laptop and a little girl at the same time. But the upside is that I can read most of my research sources while she’s cuddling with me, and sneak in a category romance now and then.
There’s been some discussion of research and romances around the web lately, but this isn’t meant to bring up that debate. What struck me while I was stuck on the sofa (aside from realizing how easy kids pick up bugs from one another, and at one point: “oh my God, it’s December?!”) was how much I’ve actually picked up because of romances.
One of those categories I re-read was an early-80s Harlequin Presents. I’m not sure if anyone else remembers these, but the Presents line used to have an “Extra” at the end, which was usually a page-long note about something within the story: an item of history, a bit of trivia regarding the setting (usually an exotic one), a quick biography of an historical figure or artist.
I loved those Extras, and many times they sent me to the library, to look up and research more about the topic.
Now, it’s easier to hop online and look up something that catches my interest while I’m reading–it might only be a passing mention of a minor historical event, but chances are that if I don’t have any idea about it, I’ll go look it up when I’ve finished the book.
Over the years, I’ve picked up a lot this way–researching some items deeper than others. And when I’m writing, the same things crop up. For DEMON ANGEL, looking through the history of Rome, I ran across the fate of Dionysus I of Syracuse, who–after some poetry he’d written won an award–engaged in a “debauch that proved fatal” (from Wikipedia).
Now, that wasn’t something that ever showed up in the novel, but just the fun kind of information that I run across and file away for everyday conversations. For DEMON NIGHT, a throwaway description in the prologue like “He’d seen rolls of barbed wire less tightly wound” requires checking that in 1886, barbed wire had a) been invented and b) came in rolls — but it was also something that I was already pretty sure of before I wrote it (thanks to plenty of westerns and western historical romances).
So I’m wondering: what have you learned from romances, and have you been driven to find out them in more depth? Do you have a favorite bit of trivia, something that you’ve used at party conversation, or have you run across anything that surprised you?
And if you’re a writer, do you have any fun items from your research to share that might never have made it into your novels?
Everyone who comments has a chance to win an ARC of my February release, DEMON NIGHT. It’s the third single-title in my Guardians series, and it features Drifter, an outlaw from the Old West turned Guardian–and Charlie, who has been through her own personal hell, worked her way back, and is completely unprepared for the vampires who are determined to transform her.
~From Meljean Brook
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It’s me (shiloh) again. All you have to do is join in the discussion below. From those who join in, I’ll draw one name to win the ARC.
Remember, I draw by the IP addy and every IP gets tossed into the hat one time.
Discuss as much as you like, wander off topic…and make sure you admire the cover. It’s a good one.
Vamps and Scamps 
Oh yea! Great cover – I don’t see that around Macon!
I remember a book – I think by Linda Howard – that the H/H told each other the meanings of obscure words. Things I had never heard of – like what the white stringy stuff on a banana is called, or the lines running across your palm. The hero accused the heroine of reading the dictionary to one-up him and I thought there’s no way I would even remember the word or definition to tell it later. See, now I’ve got to go find that book to see what the title is.
My parents actually bought me a books called “Bingo boys and Poodle fakers – a curious compendium of historical slang collected from the best authorities. ” for my birthday this year
it ROCKS! did you know that “break a leg” meant to have an illegitimate child? or ” lie in state” mean to be in bed with three regular harlots? oh and “fadoodling” meant sexual intercourse. i love things like that.
That is an awesome cover by the way!
Lisa — i know that book! It’s Duncan’s Bride — one of my absolute favorites! Those exchanges were fantastic, and so funny. I learned quite a few things there, too. 😀
Ayla — i didn’t know those, lol! i had no idea. it sounds like a fantastic resource … and at some point, i’m going to have to use ‘fadoodling’ in a sentence, hee.
I have learned a lot about different countries’ terms for things and from historicals different customs and modes of dress.
I enjoyed your post today. I find romances fascinating and have learned many things from them, especially historicals which provide me with snippets of information about the specific country and their culture, food and habits. It becomes a unique and great experience which is enthralling. All of the British historicals have been a delight for me. Victorian England, the classes, prejudice and their lives.
Hi Meljean. I recently finished “Demon Angel” and really enjoyed it. It’s a heavy read, so I haven’t started the other books, though I have read the story in “Hot Spell”, and I have “WIld Thing” and “Demon Moon”. They are very thought-provoking about good and evil, and the outline you wrote in “Demon Angel” with the different events in history was very interesting, it makes me want to find out more about each event.
So other than instances like those, I can’t recall any specific details, other than by reading about something that actually took place back 100 years ago or 500 years ago gets me curious. Romance readers are a pretty smart bunch, and part of it is from what we’ve learned through our books. Thanx for adding your own take to actual events.
Geez, I signed up for a wordpress acct but didn’t realize it changed my sign-on. Have to fix that…
Stacy ~
I’m glad Ayla is enjoying her present from us. We knew she would as she is like all her siblings in liking really obscure trivia 😀
BTW I love the cover and am adding hte book to my wishlist 🙂
Welcome! I am really looking forward to this book! It looks and sounds wonderful and I have had it on the wishlist since learning about it!
I love the little extras too that are sometimes included in books…make me want to learn more. I actually started reading historical romances when I was about 13 or 14 and I do have to say that on one occassion they actually did help me in history class…I think it was with keeping who Queen/King of England was…LOL. A teacher was also a bit shocked to realize that I knew about The Tower and other historical figures…didn’t tell them I read them in romance books…LOL
Historicals have made me want to know more about different time periods and I have read a few non-fiction books or looked up terms to learn more…especially slang and terms that aren’t used widely today.
Contemporaries have also made me learn more about different things…I can’t remember the book, but there was a character in it that did a special type of artwork called rosemaling…after reading about it, I looked it up and found some beautiful examples. It helped me to picture exactly what the character was doing in the book when they talked about it.
I had read all those Harlequin Presents titles many moons ago, and had forgotten about the extra fun facts they used to include. I like learning about weapons and computer gadgets. Shannon McKenna’s books come to mind as stories full of lots of fun facts.
I’ve read lots of books set in regency, and never realized that my knowledge of England (although not extensive) is greater than average. I’ll refer to Bath, Dover, the Royal Pavilion and many don’t know what I’m talking about.
It was neat when I went to England because I made a point of seeing some of the sites I’d read about.
I have looked into different things in more depth if I find something I didn’t know in the romance books I read. A few things I have looked up are different legends & myths, law practices, abbreviations for words or procedures I didn’t know, medical problems, the meaning of latin phrases, and the meaning of different words in other languages besides English. No specific thing comes to mind because I love and read alot of books so it kind of all blends together. Now that i think of it one book that I looked up horse races and horse ranch practices for was the anthology Irish Hearts by Nora Roberts. I became absolutely fascinated by this and it led to western romances becoming one of my favorite genres. Happy Holidays!
Caitlin
I love reading about different places, learning their language and their customs. One author put all the meanings for the phrases in the back of the book. I have also read a couple of historicals that had recipes in the back of them. Love when the books have extras in them. Demon Night sounds great!
I love to find out some of the customs of other countries when I’m reading. Demon Night sounds like a great book!
I’ve heard wonderful things about your writing. UGH.. Yet another author to look for in the bookstores. 🙂
I learn about military jargon and weopons from books on seals and other. And yeah shiloh that cover is great love that man he is way sexy.
Hi Meljean~
What a great cover! I love it!! I think that you can learn lots of things from reading romance books. I have learned a lot about history that I did not know…of course, at this moment I cannot remember any one thing. I know that things I have read about have come in handy while playing trivia games. Everytime you pick up a book….you learn a little about the place where the story is based.
I hope your daughter is feeling lots better!
Crystal — dress is definitely something I’ve gotten used to looking up … even as far as noticing how one culture describes the same article of clothing (pants vs. trousers, etc). All of those Harlequins helped me give Colin (from Demon Moon) his British voice.
Anne — I’m totally addicted to historicals. Strange, maybe, for a paranormal writer … but my first choice is almost always a historical. I love it when i’m totally immersed in that world, and details go a long way toward making it really ‘real’.
Stacy — I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I loved, loved writing the historical sections, but i’ll admit they are intimidating, because I definitely am twisting history to suit the needs of the story. And to have two characters who lived through those centuries? Yikes! They know much more than I ever could, so to get that across, along with their changing views of the world, was incredibly daunting. I hope you enjoy the other books in the series!
Jennifer — I’m the same way whenever I run across any art or music in a book that I don’t know about: I have to go and look it up, so that I “get” what the characters are seeing. (Okay, not so much if the book isn’t interesting me…but if it’s a good one? I definitely want the picture to be as sharp as possible.) And, lol, i’m also one of those that didn’t mention WHERE they got the info that helped her get that A on a history test 😀
cathy — Guns! yes! LOL — this just happened to me recently, although it was an urban fantasy short story instead of a romance. I learned all about SIGs, and then had my heroine carry one, as well.
Kathy — I’d LOVE to travel and see the same. There are so many locations that have come to life through romances, I really want to know if they match what I imagined.
Caitlin — Nora Roberts’s Irish Thoroughbred was a book that I’d read over and over and over — it not only fed my love of horses, but I actually tried my hand at growing roses and sweet peas 😀 it didn’t work, but i still want to know what those two smell like together, thanks to Dee and Travis.
Amy — the books with recipes just kill me! I always end up hungry, but the sad truth is, I’m a terrible, terrible cook. So whenever I try to make the recipe, it comes out awful. Sigh.
Stacy — I do, too, and for that reason, I wish that more romances included different settings (I love English historicals, but spreading out some wouldn’t hurt) and, perhaps, a wider population to draw from.
I’d love to be entered to win a copy of Demon Night! It sounds like a great book!! Gorgeous cover, very eye catching!
Ann — LOL! Sorry 🙂 Okay, it’s hard to be sorry, but I totally understand; I have way, WAY too many authors and books waiting to be read, and I feel like I’ll never catch up.
Pam — I love the military lingo. I hear it and I can’t help but think: Alpha male. And I did luck out on that cover model… ::happy sigh::
Lori — thank you, and she is doing much better! Finally back playing in pre-school. Now it’s my internet connection that’s on the blink, unfortunately (and now, apparently, my Shift key … I’m leaving half of my “I”s uncapitalized) … but soon i’ll have everything sorted, and hopefully back to normal.
Thanks again to everyone who dropped by! I hope you all have a wonderful week, and a fantastic holiday!
Meljean 🙂
Hey Meljean, I think I understand the question 🙂 and here’s my answer: I’ve always been fascinated by mythology and ancient history so stories like yours (seriously) and romantic movies like Mummy (recently re-watched, loooove the movies, Brenden, Rachel etc etc) are time really well spent for me. Plus when I come across terms in historical romances that I find particularly interesting I might tell my husband about them or just save them for use when we next play scrabble 😉
Great cover!
Reading books has helped me to improve my English, but I’ve also learned a lot of other stuff. Things abot history: the clothes, the etiquette,… It’s always fun to talk about those things with my friends. Especially if they don’t have a clue what I’m talking about,lol.
But I’ve also learned how to make more space for my books, even if I don’t have space anymore! (how weird is that, huh!) 😛
I just purchased DEMON ANGEL and I’m so looking forward to reading this series.
I’ve read the first book in the series and I’m looking forward to the rest. Glad to see you here today!
This book looks pretty nice… it is my first visit here!
Hello Meljean,
What a fascinating blog! I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses. I haven’t read the DEMON series yet but the book sounds fantastic from all the wonderful comments I read here! I absolutely adore mythical, fantasy books. I recently got hooked on the paranormal romance books also.
Whenever I read novels I always learn something new. I recently read a book that contained facts about Black Hawk and the early settlers. It was absolutely fascinating! I am so impressed by all the research that an author goes through just to state the facts accurately.
I am interested on how much time an author spends on researching. I would think, depending on the topic, it would take countless hours to get all the data right.
Also, I have read many novels of murders where the FBI is involved. I would think that would be very hard to research since they really don’t like to reveal all their resources to the public.
I’ve learned alot of different tidbits, I especially like when you learn about diseases or customs that have long since died out.
It’s always fascinating to see glimpses into people’s lives. Often I will read something that has me pause and think for a moment. Of course I can’t think of anything at the moment. The internet is dangerous because I tend to get lost in it and time disappears.