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

Mary Jo Putney

Five Books I’d like to read again for the first time

by

By Mary Jo

I’m a great re-reader and there are many books I’ve read over and over. But there are certain books I’d love to be able to read again for the first time so I could have that wonderful sense of discovery for a second time. This is a listing not of my favorite books, though they mostly are, but books that took me to fascinating new places.

1) The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart.

Mary Stewart was an inspiration for many romance authors, and this is the first of her books I ever read, though far from the last.

Technically I didn’t even read the book, but rather a condensation published in one of my mother’s Lady’s Home Journal magazines. I was enthralled by the location in Northumberland by the Roman wall and by the characters, the story, the romance, the lyrical prose, the suspense. And there was a twist at the end that I probably would have seen coming if I were an older and a more experienced reader. But it stunned me then, and it’s still a great story.

Read more

Ask a Wench about Tech!

by

Are you a high tech or low tech person?  Do  you enjoy all the bells and whistles of modern technology—or does it make you run for the hills?

Mary Jo here: Because the Word Wench site is transitioning to a new platform and there has been much flailing and some howling behind the scenes, tech has been much on Wenchly minds so this seemed like a good time to talk about it.

Technology, specifically the personal computer, literally changed my life.  I bought a Leading Edge, an early PC, to do copywriting and billing for my small freelance design business.  The Mayhem Consultant showed me how to use word processing–and very shortly after I realized that here was a great tool for writing down the stories in my head because when you fix the typos, they stay fixed!!! Three months later I was offered a contract for Signet Regencies and the rest is history.

Clearly I owe tech a lot, but that said, I’m a tech minimalist.  I love communicating with friends all over the world, my desk top computer is set up just the way I like it and I must admit that I like my iPhone for various reasons, including the ability to take quick pictures, such as this one of Riley the Wrecker and do of his Egyptian pals.

But I loathe upgrades, which usually make things worse, not better.  I have to be dragged, hissing and snapping, into new tech.  I have software that is a couple of decades out of date because I don’t want to waste time and brain space learning something new that I’ll probably like less.  Put me on the island with the Tech Dinos!

Read more

Remembering Mitteleuropa

by

I’m still locked in mortal combat with the current book, so I’m offering another classic travel blog: a riverboat cruise on the Danube.  Rivers were the interstates of the past, and so much of European civilization developed along the waterways.  How better to explore than in a boat holding maybe 150 friendly, intelligent passengers and serving lots of really good food?

Like a plot element, the idea of a riverboat cruise simmered in my lizard brain for years, and in 2006, I thought it was time to do a cruise in Southern France.  Except that all the French cruises were booked for the time slot we had, and we ended up cruising the Douro River in Northern Portugal. It was great.

This year, I decided it was time to book that French cruise.  Urp. Once again, Southern France along the Rhone was sold out.  Which is how we ended up cruising Danube Riverthe Danube.  Again, it was great—the Mayhem Consultant and I are easily amused, and any interesting new place will be fun.  (Update 2023: we’d booked a French riverboat cruise for autumn 2022, but for a variety of reasons we cancelled it. I think I’m doomed never to travel the French rivers!)

Prague

Our Danube cruise started with a three day pre-cruise extension in Prague, which isn’t on the Danube, but really, how could we go to Eastern Europe and not see Prague?  The city has been an intellectual and creative center for centuries, and under the blighting hand of five decades of Soviet rule, it was spared rapacious developers tearing down beautiful old buildings.

Read more

A Christmas Tart!

by

ChristmasTar_The Christmas Tart Stands Alone! 

By Mary Jo

I have a weakness for writing Christmas novellas, but many people never read the original anthologies.  This is why I love publishing older novellas independently because good stories deserve a second chance at life.

Because I love writing novellas, in an excess of enthusiasm in the early '90s, I agreed to do two novellas the same year. Ooops!

For the Signet Victorian Christmas anthology, I wrote my Beauty and the Beast story, The Black Beast of Belleterre, which had to be written really fast!

Then I had to write another story really fast for the Signet Regency Christmas anthology.  Hence The Christmas Tart.  I have no idea where the story idea came from, other than the fact that I wanted a light, suspension-of-disbelief-type story.

 

Read more

Lands of Ice and Fire

by

by Mary Jo

Islands of Ice and Fire

Faroes 2

 Our North Atlantic cruise was so interesting that I'm breaking it into three parts.  (I could go on much longer, but I'll spare you. <G>)  I've already written about Norway, and now I'm writing about some of the other wonderful places we visited.  

 

Read more