Thursday, August 30, 2012

Barbara Tiller Cole: On The Eve of a Landmark Event!

On The Eve of a Landmark Event!

Decatur Book Festival--Jane Austen: Then and Now Events!!

By a Very Excited Barbara Tiller Cole

Bags are being packed, plane tickets and mapquest directions being printed, books have either already sent or being packed in cars, excitement is hardly being contained. 16 Authors are headed this way! And another 12 are participating remotely. Volunteers have dusted off their Regency outfits, banners and table and chair covers are getting their last stitches. Nerves exist for a few (me included).

The Plaza sits ready for out tents there in Decatur, Georgia. See if you can imagine them as they will be set up to the right of the first column on the right (in the picture above).

I can't wait to see everyone! So many of you are coming in addition to our authors. Please drop by and see all of us.

If you would like to see the final schedule for the book signings and book readings at the tent, I could not figure out how to upload it to this site. You will need to go to the Darcyholic Diversions Facebook page as they are uploaded there. Or, if you are not on facebook leave me a message here including your email address and I will send them to you.

Today's post is a summary post. I am including links for all of the authors that are participating in DBF who are participating. There are only a couple of the 8 who have not yet taken a part. If you are coming or if you are not, I know that they would all appreciate your remembering a little bit about them.

First of all, I will share links with the DBF authors that still have Active August GiveAways:

Laura Hile's Post
Laura Hile giving away one print copy of the first book, Mercy's Embrace: So Rough a Course (USA only).

Cynthia Hensley's Post
Cynthia is giving away a copy of her book, Echoes of Pemberley soft cover copy for both US and International.

Colette Saucier's Post
Colette Saucier is giving away one copy of Pulse and Prejudice eBook and one copy of All My Tomorrows--US/Canada can choose Paperback but if the winner is International then the prize is an eBook.

Regina Jeffers's Post
One lucky visitor will win an autographed copy of Regina Jeffers recently released modern day twist on Pride and Prejudice, entitled Honor and Hope, while another will hopefully be happy with a copy of my latest Austen cozy, called The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy.

KaraLynne Mackrory's Post
KaraLynne is giving away one copy of her book, Falling For Mr. Darcy, available to all including International.

Sally Smith O'Rourke's Post
Sally is giving away a copy of The Man Who Loved Jane Austen and a future copy of Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen

Pamela Aidan's Post
Pamela will be giving away a copy of An Assembly Such as This and a copy of Young Master Darcy: A Lesson in Honour, awarded separately.

From here on, all the Give Aways are closed. But the posts are still wonderful and will allow you to get to know our Decatur Book Festival Authors:

Maria Grace's First Post

Maria Grace's Second Post

Maria was my First Guest author who posted at Darcyholic Diversions!

Robin Helms's Post

Jack Caldwell's First Post

Jack Caldwell's Second Post

Jan Hahn's Guest Post

Jan Hahn's Second Post

Abigail Reynolds's First Post

Linda Wells's Post

Regina Jeffers's First Post

Susan Mason Milks's Post

Karen M Cox's Post

Sharon Lathan's Post

Shannon Winslow's Post

Laurel Ann Nattress's Post

Jennifer Petkus's Post

Lori Smith's Post

Barbara Tiller Cole's Post

Amy Cecil's Post

William Deresiewicz's Post

And Authors Who Have Yet to Post at Darcyholic Diversions:

Marsha Altman, Amanda Grange, Katie Baxley

And Dr. Laura Dabundo

HOPE TO SEE YOU AT DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL!

But If You Can't Make It There Will Be Pictures and Posts From the Festival Soon!!

And if you still want to know information about the upcoming Decatur Book Festival here it is:

Decatur Book Festival Information Here...

Want to win some of those give aways above?

Comments count as entries, but additional chances will be given for joining this site, tweeting this post, joining this site as a member via Google Friend Connect (GFC) (See the left hand column on the blog to join!), sharing this on Facebook or your blog, Friend Barbara Tiller Cole on Facebook, clicking 'like’ on Barbara Tiller Cole, Author's Facebook page (or now you can do that with the widget on the right side of this post), Join Darcyholic Diversions Facebook Page or following BarbTCole on Twitter.

Winners of Maria Grace's Give-Aways!

Congratulations to A Simmering and China!!

Winners for William Deresiewicz's Book

Winners for William Deresiewicz's Book

Congratulations to GranJan and Maria Grace!

Can't believe that I drew those two names!

I have the copies already from Penguin Publishing

And will be able to give them to Jan and Maria this weekend

So they can get Bill to sign their copies at the Decatur Book Festival!

Announcing the Winner of Amy Cecil's Give-Away

Announcing the Winner of Amy Cecil's

Give-Away...

Congratulations to Candy M And Cyn209!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Jack Caldwell: Darcy, Darcy Everywhere!

Welcome Jack Caldwell!
One of 28 Authors Participating in the Upcoming Decatur Book Festival
To Darcyholic Diversions...

4 Week to Go till Decatur Book Festival!

Hi, Darcyholics! Jack Caldwell and his two Darcys have stopped by to celebrate with him, and with us as we all get ready to go to the Decatur Book Festival! There are still hotel rooms available at the Emory Conference Center. Just ask for the Jane Austen rate of $99 and call during business hours. First social event is at 7 pm at the restaurant at the hotel on Friday night. Festival starts at 10 on Saturday till 6 and then 12-6 on Sunday. We would LOVE to see YOU there!

As for Jack, not only am I going to get to meet him, but also his lovely wife Barbara!

The DBF Event Link.

I am also announcing initial plans for a Darcyholic Holiday eBook Festival.

More Information to come, but send me an email at barbaratillercole@gmail.com if you are an author and would like to participate!!

Upcoming Guest Posts Are As Follows:

August 31--Decatur Book Festival Eve!

September 2--Live from the Decatur Book Festival

September 4--Fun Stories from the DBF

September 7--Jack Caldwell's Experiences at the DBF

September 11--Karen Cox's Experiences at the DBF

September 14--Mary Simonsen
September 18--Amber G.

September 21--Moira B.

November 2--Amy Patterson

November 13--Karen Doornebos

And Many more to come!

Pamela will be giving away a copy of An Assembly Such as This and a copy of Young Master Darcy: A Lesson in Honour, awarded separately. Comments count as entries, but additional chances will be given for joining this site, tweeting this post, joining this site as a member via Google Friend Connect (GFC) (See the left hand column on the blog to join!), sharing this on Facebook or your blog, Friend Barbara Tiller Cole on Facebook, clicking 'like’ on Barbara Tiller Cole, Author's Facebook page, Join Darcyholic Diversions Facebook Page or following BarbTCole on Twitter.

DARCY, DARCY EVERYWHERE
by Jack Caldwell

(SCENE: A small, windowless room with numerous couches and chairs.

FITZWILLIAM DARCY WALKS IN, CARRYING AN ARMFUL OF BOOKS. A MAN OF THE REGENCY PERIOD, HE’S DRESSED IN A BLACK CUTAWAY COAT, BLACK TROUSERS, AND A BUFF VEST OVER A SNOW-WHITE SHIRT AND CRAVAT. HE’S UNCOMFORTABLY WARM.)

FITZWILLIAM DARCY – Good Lord, Georgia is hot! How can anyone live here? I do not understand why the Empire fought so hard to keep it. Let the colonialists have it and be done with it, say I.

(HE SETS DOWN THE BOOKS ON A TABLE AND TAKES A SEAT.)

FD – If it were not for my love of books, I would have never allowed Mr. Caldwell to transport me here. Traveling through space and time is always unsettling. I hope the participants of the Decatur Book Festival appreciate my offering.

(THE DOOR OPENS AND WILLIAM DARCY OF ROSINGS, TEXAS COMES IN. A WEALTHY RANCHER OF 1870S AMERICAN WEST, HE WEARS A BLACK COAT, GREY VEST, TROUSERS, AND BLACK COWBOY BOOTS. HE SPORTS A BOLO TIE AT HIS THROAT AND A BLACK COWBOY HAT ON HIS HEAD. HE’S ALSO CARRYING BOOKS.)

FD (RISING TO HIS FEET) – Good afternoon, sir.

WILLIAM DARCY – Whew, it’s a hot one out there today! Howdy, stranger. Just let me set this load down. (WD PLACES HIS BOOKS NEXT TO THE OTHER PILE AND EXTENDS HIS HAND). William Darcy’s the name.

FD – William Darcy? Extraordinary! (SHAKES HAND)

WD – It is?

FD – Yes. It just so happens that my name is Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

WD – Fitzwilliam? (COUGHS) You don’t say. That explains your fancy duds.

FD (LOOKS AT HIS CLOTHES) – Duds? I assume you refer to my manner of dress.

WD (TAKES FD IN) – Dress? You’re not from around here, are you?

FD – I am from Pemberley Manor in Derbyshire.

WD – Derbyshire—that’s in England, isn’t it?

FD – Yes. (HE EYES WD’S CLOTHES) And you are a local resident?

WD – Me? No, I’m from Rosings, Texas. Funny—my ranch is named Pemberley.

FD – And where is Texas?

WD (LAUGHS) – You really aren’t from around here! Everybody knows where Texas is! It’s about nine hundred miles west of here.

FD – I thought that was Mexico.

WD – Not for a long time. We’re the biggest state in the Union.

FD – Nine hundred miles? Good Lord! I knew America was a large country, but I had no idea.

WD – Partner, Texas ain’t even half way to California! So, you’re here for the book festival?

FD – Yes, Mr. Caldwell was kind enough to transport me here. I must ask you, sir, not to refer to me with such familiarity. I know you Americans are used to more relaxed manners, but it will not do! I am Mr. Darcy to all but my closest acquaintances.

WD – Now hold your horses, friend. I meant no disrespect. You can call me Darcy, by the way.

FD – Very well, Mr. Darcy.

WD (SIGHS) – You’re a stickler for rules, aren’t you?

FD – It has done me no ill, yet. Manners are the rules by which society functions.

WD – I used to think like you, until I met my wife, Beth.

FD – Good God, there is another extraordinary coincidence! My dear wife is named Elizabeth!

WD – I’ll be damned—oh, sorry. Still, this is darn peculiar. (HE SITS)

FD – She was the making of me, Mr. Darcy. My manners were not what they should have been before her.

WD – Yeah, nothing like a good woman to straighten a feller out. I expect your wife is pretty?

FD (SMILES) – Elizabeth is the handsomest woman of my acquaintance.

WD – Beth’s prettier than a sunset.

FD – A light and pleasing figure—

WD – Curly brown hair—

FD – Witty and intelligent—

WD – Kind and loving—

FD & WD (TOGETHER) – And has the most enchanting eyes!

(FD AND WD LOOK AT EACH OTHER IN A MIXTURE OF WONDERMENT AND CONFUSION)

FD – I do not believe in coincidences, Mr. Darcy.

WD – Neither do I, Mr. Darcy.

FD – What is the meaning of all this?

WD – I’m not sure. Maybe it has to do with that time and space stuff that Mr. Caldwell is always going on about.

FD – Could we be related?

WD – Maybe. My people came from England about a hundred years ago, before the Revolution.

FD – This is bizarre.

WD – I can’t argue with you. (LOOKS ABOUT) So, you brought some books, too?

FD – Ah, yes. Homer, Wordsworth, and a delightful book named Sense and Sensibility, written by “A Lady.”

WD – Sense and Sensibility? I’ve brought that one, too! But the author’s name is Jane Austen.

FD – I am about to freak out.

WD – What does freak out mean?

FD – I am not sure. The phrase just popped into my head. But it seems to fit this occurrence.

WD – I think you’re right, Mr. Darcy. I’m about to freak out, too.

FD – I comprehend your feelings, Mr. Darcy.

WD – Okay, enough of this Mr. Darcy stuff, all right? Just call me Will, like all my friends.

FD – Very well, Will.

WD – And what do I call you?

FD – Darcy?

WD – No. How about Fitzy?

FD – Absolutely not! Fitzwilliam is acceptable, however.

WD – It’s a mouthful, but okay. By the way, what does your Elizabeth call you?

FD (SMILES) – That must remain between Elizabeth and me.

WD (SMILES) – If she’s anything like my Beth, I understand.

(JACK CALDWELL COMES IN THROUGH THE DOOR)

JACK CALDWELL – Okay, guys, it’s show time! All these lovely ladies are waiting to meet Mr. Darcy and Mr. Darcy! Come on. Oh, by the way, Texas isn’t the largest state in the USA—Alaska is.

FD & WD (TOGETHER) – Where is Alaska?

JC – Uh, it’s north of…. Oh, never mind. Come on or we’ll be late!

FD – After you, Will.

WD – Nope, age before beauty, Fitzwilliam.

FD – “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”

WD – “Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.”

FD – I am not familiar with that one.

WD – Tennyson—rather after your time. (HOLDS UP THE COLLECTED POEMS OF ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON) It’s a favorite of mine. You can borrow it later, along with Huckleberry Finn.

FD – I shall take you up on that.

WD – Lead the way, Mr. Caldwell!

Jack Caldwell will be one of the many authors featured at the JASNA – Georgia Regions tent at the AJC Decatur Bok Festival, September 1 and 2, 2012 in downtown Decatur.

About the Author - Jack Caldwell is an author, amateur historian, professional economic developer, playwright, and like many Cajuns, a darn good cook. Born and raised in the Bayou County of Louisiana, Jack and his wife, Barbara, are Hurricane Katrina victims who now make the upper Midwest their home.

His nickname—The Cajun Cheesehead—came from his devotion to his two favorite NFL teams: the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers. (Every now and then, Jack has to play the DVD again to make sure the Saints really won in 2010.)

His latest novel is THE THREE COLONELS – Jane Austen’s Fighting Men (2012), a sequel to Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility. His first novel is PEMBERLEY RANCH (2010), a re-imagining of Pride & Prejudice set in 1870s Texas.

When not writing or traveling with Barbara, Jack attempts to play golf. A devout convert to Roman Catholicism, Jack is married with three grown sons.

Jack's blog postings—The Cajun Cheesehead Chronicles—appear regularly at Austen Authors.

Web site – Ramblings of a Cajun in Exile – http://webpages.charter.net/jvcla25/

Blog – Austen Authors – http://austenauthors.net/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-Caldwell-author/132047236805555

Twitter – https://twitter.com/#!/JCaldwell25

PEMBERLEY RANCH VIDEO PREVIEW - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JkxXrqYhSg

THE THREE COLONELS VIDEO PREVIEW - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNVx55OSJc

Link to 'Pemberley Ranch' on Amazon

Link to 'The Three Colonels' on Amazon

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Pamela Aidan: The Man in Full: Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman

Welcome Pamela Aidan!
One of 28 Authors Participating in the Upcoming Decatur Book Festival
To Darcyholic Diversions...

1 Week to Go till Decatur Book Festival!)

Hi, Darcyholics! I am thrilled to welcome Pamela Aidan to Darcyholic Diversions today! And I am thrilled that I will soon get a chance to meet her in person! I hope you enjoy getting to know her as much as I am!

The information on Decatur Book Festival was updated this week! And if you would like to see the schedule for the events at the Austen tents, check out the uploaded schedules at the Darcyholic Diversions Facebook page (link below). It now includes the Social Events planned AROUND the festival! So check it out at the link below! If you are planning on attending and are not one of our authors, please send me an email to barbaratillercole@gmail.com so I can send you information out our social events during the festival weekend.

The DBF Event Link.

I am also announcing initial plans for a Darcyholic Holiday eBook Festival.

More Information to come, but send me an email at barbaratillercole@gmail.com if you are an author and would like to participate!!

Upcoming Guest Posts Are As Follows:

August 26--Reposting Decatur Book Festival Author Links!

August 28--Jack Caldwell

August 31--Decatur Book Festival Eve!

September 2--Live from the Decatur Book Festival

September 4--Fun Stories from the DBF

September 7--Jack Caldwell's Experiences at the DBF

September 11--Karen Cox's Experiences at the DBF

September 14--Mary Simonsen
September 18--Amber G.

September 21--Moira B.

November 2--Amy Patterson

November 13--Karen Doornebos

And Many more to come!

The Man in Full: Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman

by Pamela Aidan

The phenomenal modern day fascination with Austen’s Mr. Darcy is fast approaching its twenty-year. Ever since actor Colin Firth brought the formidable master of Pemberley to life from Andrew Davie’s screen play in a way no previous actor had dared, this character has served as the inspiration for a mind-boggling number of novels by both seasoned and novice authors. And I am one of them…the novices, that is. Or, I was, now that it is just over fifteen years ago that I first set my fingertips upon the computer keyboard and began dreaming the answers to my own questions about Jane Austen’s compelling hero. In the next years I posted each bit and piece on line, then at my own website, and finally self-published in 2003 when such a thing was almost unheard of for a work of fiction. 70,000 copies sold later, a well-respected NY publishing house knocked on my door, and in 2006 my Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy took flight again.

Why Darcy has caught the imagination of 20^th and 21^st century women is a subject for an entire book of its own, but it was Firth’s interpretation of him for the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice that first opened my eyes to the enigma of the man. How did Fitzwilliam Darcy change so dramatically between the opening pages of the book and his re-acquaintance with Elizabeth Bennet at Pemberley, a change no only in his inner man, but one that carries him to great personal acts of charity involving a man he has every reason to hate? To discover this, there had to be a significant “filling in” of events that never made it into Austen’s pages. On this, they are entirely blank! To begin to understand how this happened, we must get to know Darcy and see him change by observing him in his world, rather than through Elizabeth’s eyes.

The three parts of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, look at Darcy during three seminal point in his life. The titles reveal where he is on his road to self-knowledge and becoming the man he had been born and bred to be—a gentleman, and one in the highest sense of the appellation. It is only after attending An Assembly Such As This, weighing Duty and Desire, and embracing These Three Remain that he becomes, indeed, the man in full.

For fun, I also wrote the first of a series of novellas, Young Master Darcy, that attempt to answer the obverse question: how did Darcy become the man Elizabeth met at the Meryton assembly? We begin with A Lesson in Honour when Fitzwilliam Darcy is but thirteen…

Pamela Aidan can be tracked down at her blog: Traipsing After Jane and at her website Austenesque.

'An Assembly Such As This' on Amazon

'These Three Remain' on Amazon

'Duty and Desire' on Amazon

'Young Master Darcy' on Amazon