Cerridwen Press, the mainstream arm of popular erotic romance publisher Ellora's Cave, has brought back the traditional Regency, a subgenre largely featuring chaste comedies of manners, at their best reminiscent of founding mothers Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. Trad Regencies used to be a huge part of the romance market, but sales dwindled over the past decade or two, squeezed out, IMO, by the growth of the sexually explicit Regency historical on the one hand and the growing inspirational romance market on the other. As a result, all the major print publishers dropped their Regency lines, with Zebra and Signet the most recent casualties a year or two ago.
Now Cerridwen, which is mostly an e-publisher, with some successful titles eventually seeing print, is picking up the slack with its Cotillion line. Today I was poking around on their website when I realized one of the debut Regencies sounded awfully familiar--I'd judged it in an RWA contest for unpublished writers last year and thought it was charming and well-written. Pleased to see an entry I'd enjoyed for sale, I bought my first ebook, A Certain Want of Reason. It'll be awhile before I have a chance to read it. I managed my library hold list poorly and as a result have 13(!) library books crowding out all my time to read things I actually own. But I have high hopes for it, and for the Cotillion line in general. I'd hate to see traditional Regencies die out.
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Susan,
Thanks for your kind words and for buying my book. It was judges like you who convinced me that I wasn't crazy myself for writing it. It got very diverse feedback - judges either loved it or hated it. Fortunately, I found an editor who fell into the former category. (I find my Cerridwen editor so much more supportive than any other I've worked with, that I plan to write two more in the series just so I can keep working with her.) I will be very interested to see the reviews for this book. I'm finishing the first draft of the sequel now. It's about Helen and Sophie, the sisters left behind.
Your blogsite is very interesting. I too have given the short shrift to France in my studies of history. It looks like you are a history nut just as I am (and have the same problem with never having time to read the books you own because you have to read the books that are due back to the library or someone else). I would love to know what you consider to be the best books about the Regency period. Up until recently, I've done most of my research on colonial America and my knowledge of Regency England comes from Jane Austen (and Bernard Cornwell and C.S. Forrester). So drop me a line when you have time.
--Kate Dolan mail@katedolan.com
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