Mary Jo Putney

Mary Jo Putney

Patricia Rice

Patricia Rice

Susan Fraser King

Susan Fraser King

Anne Gracie

Anne Gracie

Nicola Cornick

Nicola Cornick

Andrea Penrose

Andrea Penrose

Christina Courtenay

Christina Courtenay

Would You Want The Gift of a Stately Home?

by

Nicola here. Today I’m talking about a couple of visits I made recently to stately homes (and using it as an excuse to post some historic house photos!) and I’m thinking about the question it raises in my mind: “What do you do with a historic house when it can no longer be used as a home?” Britain, as we know, is choc-a-bloc with old houses. It’s something of a paradise for those people who love historic buildings because you’re never going to be short of one to visit. Cities, towns, villages and the countryside are packed with old “stuff” that date back centuries. It’s one of the country’s main tourist attractions. But these places are incredibly expensive to maintain, and there are so many of them. How does that work in practical terms?

Back in the day (roughly from the 11th century to the early 20th century) the aristocratic and gentry families of England lived in these

Mike Searle / Mapperton Manor House / CC BY-SA 2.0

houses. They were their castles and/or family homes, at least for a part of the year when they weren’t in London, Edinburgh or travelling elsewhere. These days, a comparatively small number of “old” families still occupy their ancestral homes. Some of them feel a responsibility to keep the estate going since it’s been in the family since 1382, for example. Others probably feel the enormous weight of family history around their necks and decide to give them up. In some cases, historic houses originally built for landed gentry have been bought by more recently-enriched people. Many of these families open their houses to the public because the upkeep of ancient buildings is so costly that they need to bring in an income (and opening your house to the public for a number of days a year allows the owners to claim a government grant for doing so.) Many of the nobility have diversified: Aristocratic podcasts are very popular and one family, Viscount and Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, are launching a private members online club called Stately based on their home at Mapperton in Dorset.

Read more

Queens of Code: An Interview with Eileen Buckholtz

by

Susan here. Today, Mary Jo and I are delighted to welcome Eileen Buckholtz, former Wench blogmistress, romance author, computer wiz/guru—and the author of a fabulous new book, Queens of Code, a firsthand account of a team of female computer experts at the National Security Agency (NSA) when few women were in the field. Eileen was one of them, and took on the huge task of compiling their stories for a fascinating read and a look at the hidden history of what these ladies accomplished. Scroll down for Mary Jo’s introduction and our interview—and help us welcome Eileen!

News Flash! There’s a publisher’s giveaway – you could win a copy of Queens of Code! Scroll down to find out more – and read on! 

Mary Jo: Eileen Buckholtz has worn many hats as an author and a top level computer expert.  In Queens of Code, she profiles many of the women who worked behind the scenes as computer experts for the National Security Agency.

She is also the godmother of the Word Wenches since she was the one who first suggested starting a writers blog when she and Susan and I were lunching at a local diner. (Luckily we all live within driving distance.)  She said a blog would be a way to create a community of readers and writers, and she was righ.  <G> ! Eileen was already the webmistress for Susan, Pat, and me. She continued as the Wench webmistress for years, and has always been patient about answering our baffled computer questions.  I’ve long since preordered the Queens of Code, which will be released on November 19.  I’m looking forward to what she has to say!

Eileen with Stella, her trustworthy writing assistant.

Welcome back to Word Wenches, Eileen! Tell us about Queens of Code. Who were they, and what inspired you to write the book?

The Queens of Code were true technology pioneers — women who worked for the National Security Agency in the early days of computing, when computers were room-sized giants and “state of the art” meant a machine that could fill a small army barracks.

One of NSA’s best-kept secrets was that it hired more than 150 women — mostly 21- and 22-year-olds — to program and manage the most sophisticated computers of the era. These women were doing astonishingly forward-thinking work in software development, big data processing, search capabilities, mainframe computing, microelectronics, cybersecurity, and more.

In other words: while the rest of the world was still getting used to the idea of computers, these women were helping build the digital future. What inspired me to write about them was simple: I knew these women were extraordinary, and I wanted their story to finally be seen. They are the hidden origin story of women in technology and STEM — top-secret Hidden Figures before the phrase STEM ever existed.

You led a double life — in the public eye as a successful romantic suspense author and by day, a master computer scientist with the super-secret NSA. How did you manage that?

Read more

The Cinderella Challenge

by

The Cinderella Challenge

by Mary Jo 

I love writing Christmas novellas, which is why I’ve written more than a dozen of them.. (https://maryjoputney.com/booklist.php) Over the top sentimentality works very well with Christmas!  

A Cinderella Christmas is a Kensington anthology that includes stories by Sabrina Jeffries and Anna Bradley. My story connects with my two Dangerous Gifts novels, Silver Lady and Golden Lord.  The premise of the series is that some people have special psychic abilities that make others nervous, so gifted people tend not too reveal their skills if they can avoid it.  

Read more

What We’re Reading: October

by

Here are the books the Wenches loved in October. . .

Anne:  I’ve had another good month of reading. It’s a blessing, isn’t it, when you find good books to read?  To start with I read WAIFS AND STRAYS – by Helen Harper, the first in the paranormal series recommended by Mary Jo last month. I immediately read the others in the series and have preordered book #5.

It’s a fun series in which the heroine, a retired assassin, is now living as an apparently harmless cat lady — she has five cats and also feeds all the strays that come around. She’s a cat sith, which means she can transform herself into a cat. And of course, in each book she gets involved in investigating various murders. The murder plots are good — clever and not easy to guess who the murderer is, which I like. There’s also a very nice romance with a werewolf. Highly recommended.

Read more

Three Wenches come together to explore London, History and Herefordshire!

by

Me at the Serpentine Bridge

Andrea here, I’m just back from a fabulous trip to England, which combined  three of my very favorite things: research, sightseeing and meeting up with dear friends, as Christina, Nicola and i got together for some wonderful Wench adventures! So, without further ado, I shall share some of the highlights!

Ah, where to start! I had a long list of places I wanted to visit in London—some were old favorites, which are always worth a re-visit as the exhibitions changes, and some were places I had not yet explored. I always love discovering historical details that I can weave into my Wrexford & Sloane mysteries and the city is a never-ending source of inspiration.

The Wallace Collection

I had heard so many great things about The Wallace Collection, so that was one of my first stops. A stunning assortment of Old Master paintings, British and Venetian art, French porcelain and furniture, as well as armor and weapons, the collection was assembled by four generations of Marquesses of Hartford and Sir Richard Wallace, the illegitimate son of the fourth marquess, who inherited all the family art and money from his father. His widow left it to the nation, with the proviso that the house and the presentation of all the artwork could never be altered—and nothing could be sold. Words can’t do it justice. It’s absolutely amazing. (I will definitely find a way to set a scene in the mansion in one of my books!)

Historic Newton and Faraday manuscripts at the Royal Society

Those of you familiar with my books will know that I often feature the Royal Society in my plots, The oldest scientific society in the world, it has an extraordinary archive of scientific  papers and objects. These days, it’s not open to the public, but one can make an appointment to visit the research library—which I did!

Read more

Protected by CleanTalk Anti-Spam