Monday, October 10, 2011
A loss for Georgette Heyer fans
 I was saddened to discover that one of the very few Georgette Heyer fansites appears to have shut down. Georgette-Heyer.com was bare-boned but helpful, providing readers with news, a forum, and numerous links. The site's main page indicates that it might eventually re-open—here's hoping that happens soon, because Ms. Heyer's work is too entertaining to be so poorly celebrated online. Labels: Georgette Heyer
Thursday, August 04, 2011
A closer look
 Much to my delight, there is a new biography of Georgette Heyer coming out this October. According to The Bookseller, Jennifer Kloester's book Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller includes plenty of juicy details about Ms. Heyer's accusation in 1950 that Barbara Cartland had plagiarized her characters... and made them much stupider. (Heyer felt Cartland couldn't even copy a decent book.) Heyer apparently said: "I think I could have borne it better had Miss Cartland not been so common-minded, so salacious and so illiterate", and added she would "rather by far that a common thief broke in and stole all the silver". Man, I wish I could have met Georgette Heyer. That woman knew how to turn a phrase. Particularly a mean phrase. Labels: Biography, Georgette Heyer
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Getting my hopes up
I was all excited when I ran across this book in the clearance section of Barnes and Noble:  I'm not a big fan of Charity Girl, but I like Lady of Quality, and the cover design is pretty. Plus, the book is in hardcover, something Heyer's various publishers haven't offered since, like, the 1970s. I've been buying the lovely Sourcebooks editions of Heyer's books, but I wouldn't mind picking up a couple of these hardcover editions, too, particularly if the two-books-in-one combo was a pair I loved (the more Heyer the merrier, as far as I'm concerned). Sadly, when I got home I discovered that this seems to be the only Heyer book Sterling Publishing is offering, and I'm betting it was published specifically for Barnes and Noble's sale section. So if you'd like to own (non-large-print) hardcover editions of Georgette Heyer's books, hitting eBay for the E.P. Dutton versions is still probably your best bet. Labels: Dashed Hopes, Georgette Heyer
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Hiss, boo
 Seriously, I am so disappointed in you, NPR. As part of their obnoxiously condescending " My Guilty Pleasure" series, author Helen Simonson has contributed an essay on her love for Georgette Heyer... despite the fact that she appears to have confused Heyer with someone else, someone whose heroines always "[hold their chins] a little higher than the other simpering misses" until they meet "some brooding gentleman". Um, no. One of the coolest things about Heyer is the way she didn't always match up the lovely, fearless heroine with the great rake, and even when she did, there was usually something about the match that tweaked it, turning what could have been another stale Regency romance into something a little more interesting—and that something was Heyer's sense of humor and gift for creating endearing characters, not her meticulous historical research (although I'm not knocking the meticulous research). She wrote some truly great books, some mediocre ones, and some stinkers, but anyone who considers themselves a fan but limits themselves to "slyly" buying Heyer's books at yard sales can suck it. Labels: Georgette Heyer, Reviews
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Well, *I* would pay to see it.
 While looking up Jane Austen stuff surrounding the New York exhibition, I noticed that Lady Susan is being adapted by playwright Lucy Prebble (best known as the creator of the Secret Diary of a Call Girl TV show) for the BBC. Further hunting indicated that this project appears to be on hold, but it still begs the question: if they're willing to make a movie out of anything Jane Austen put her hands on, ever, why won't anyone film an adaptation of a Georgette Heyer book? I leave you to ponder this over the holiday weekend, dear readers. Have fun! Labels: Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, Movie Adaptations
Friday, October 16, 2009
Hardcore Heyer fans take note...
 The fine people at Georgette-Heyer.com have posted 9 YouTube links to the 1950 film version of Heyer's novel The Reluctant Widow. They can't find all of it (apparently it ends a little prematurely) and the movie was made as a spoof, so it's a far cry from our Wordcandy Holy Grail, but it does have some charm as a curiosity. Enjoy! Labels: Georgette Heyer, Movie Adaptations
Monday, August 03, 2009
It strikes again...
 Horrors! Another publisher has fallen prey to The Curse of the Georgette Heyer Back Cover Blurb, as Ace and Harlequin and Arrow have done before it! Here's what's written on the back cover of the recently-released Sourcebooks edition of Heyer's The Nonesuch: An impetuous flight
Tiffany Wield's bad behavior is a serious trial to her chaperone. "On the shelf" at twenty-eight, Ancilla Trent strives to be a calming influence on her tempestuous charge, but then Tiffany runs off to London alone and Ancilla is faced with a devastating scandal.
A gallant rescue
Sir Waldo Hawkridge, confirmed bachelor and one of the wealthiest men in London, comes instantly to the aid of the intrepid Ancilla to stop Tiffany's flight, and in the process discovers that it's never too late for the first bloom of love. Admittedly, as The Curse goes, this one isn't too bad. Apart from some minor mistakes (Ancilla is twenty-six, not twenty-eight, and Sir Waldo is not a confirmed bachelor), the biggest problem with this description is that it's highly misleading. Nine-tenths of The Nonesuch is about Ancilla, Tiffany, and Sir Waldo's interactions in a country town outside of Leeds. Ancilla is Tiffany's governess-companion, and her job is far from easy: Tiffany is as selfish and heedless as she is beautiful, and Ancilla is constantly straining to find new ways to manipulate her young charge into at least the appearance of good behavior. When the highly desirable Sir Waldo and his handsome young cousin appear in this sleepy village, Tiffany determines to bring both men to their knees—but it becomes increasingly clear that Ancilla, not Tiffany, is the woman who interests Sir Waldo. Admittedly, Tiffany does plan a flight to London (which doesn't happen), and Ancilla would have been left to face a scandal (although not a personally "devastating" one) had she succeeded, and Sir Waldo does come to Ancilla's aid, but that's at the end of the book. In fact, this particular blurb gives away the entire climax and dénouement of the novel, while saying very little about the first 300 pages... and proves, once again, that The Curse is not to be trifled with. Labels: Georgette Heyer
Monday, April 06, 2009
Georgette Heyer smackdown
Okay, one last piece of Heyer coverage and we're done (...for awhile). I went to the bookstore last night, and what to my wondering eyes did appear but TWO new Heyer releases—one from Sourcebooks, and one from Harlequin. Now, ordinarily I’d be 100% behind anybody releasing any of Heyer’s books, but I’m still recovering from Harlequin's last bunch of Heyer releases, which came out a couple of years ago. They looked like this:  I was pretty excited to see these books (despite their hokey cover art), as they allowed me to read some of the Heyer titles I hadn’t been able to find in used bookstores. Unfortunately, they were *terribly* made. My copies lost pages, the bindings split, and—in one memorable case—the entire cover actually fell off the book. My vintage paperbacks, on the other hand, are still holding together despite countless re-reads, so I was really taken aback by this lack of quality. Anyway, Harlequin’s new Heyer releases look like this:  Better cover art (although historically inaccurate—this is not a Regency-era novel), and they’re the same size and price as the Sourcebooks reprints, but a closer inspection raised some concerns. Everything about them seemed slightly lower in quality: they were markedly lighter than the Sourcebooks versions, and their pages looked thin. I’m not in a position to judge their longevity, so I’d be curious to hear from anyone who has bought one of these—how are they holding up? Labels: Georgette Heyer
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Contest follow up
 We just sent out notices to the winners of our Georgette Heyer Giveaway, so if you entered that contest, please check your e-mail. As always, we'd like to send our sincere thanks out to both Sourcebooks AND everyone who entered. We really appreciate you guys checking out the site, and we hope the winners enjoy their books! Labels: contest, Georgette Heyer
Friday, March 27, 2009
Georgette Heyer resources
 We're wrapping up our week of Georgette Heyer coverage (although our Heyer giveaway runs through Tuesday), so we thought we'd close with a list of additional references. If you'd like to know more about Ms. Heyer's life and work, we suggest checking out: Websites:GeorgetteHeyer.com—the definitive Heyer website The Sourcebooks Heyer site—Heyer’s most recent American publisher The Arrow Books site (UK)—Heyer’s most recent British publisher Austenfans—This Jane Austen site has a page devoted to Heyer’s work Books:The Private World of Georgette Heyer, by Joan Aiken Hodge
Georgette Heyer's Regency World, by Jennifer Kloester Both of the above books are British publications, and can be hard to find in the States, but I hear there might be an American Heyer bio coming out sometime this year.... Labels: Georgette Heyer, other websites
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Georgette Heyer's film adaptations
 The question of “Why hasn’t there been a Georgette Heyer television adaptation?” is one of the great Wordcandy conundrums, right up there with “How can anybody read the Twilight books without wanting to punch Bella in the face?” and “Why won’t someone reprint Jill Pinkwater’s Buffalo Brenda?”. According to GeorgetteHeyer.com, there have actually been two Heyer film adaptations (a 1959 German version of Arabella and a spoof of The Reluctant Widow), but neither sounds like the kind of thing our readers are looking for. We want the full-on Mystery!–style treatment, complete with great vintage costumes, cars, and location shots. Is that so much to ask? Apparently, yes. After some e-mail hunting, I received a response from the literary agent who handles Ms. Heyer’s work in the U.K. According to his letter, his agency has been trying to interest production companies in dramatizations of Heyer’s mysteries for a long time, with no success. He said production companies “mumble about the cost of period drama, and whether there is an audience for old-fashioned crime”! Thankfully, he assured me that they plan to persevere until someone sees the light.... Labels: Georgette Heyer, Movie Adaptations, TV
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Georgette Heyer: Author Bio
 Wordcandy favorite Georgette Heyer was born in 1902, and wrote her first novel at age 17. While she is best remembered as a writer of Regency-era romances, Heyer also penned several earlier period romances, a dozen mysteries, and four modern novels. By the time of her death in 1974, she had written more than fifty witty, romantic books, many of which are still in print. Georgette Heyer once said “Romantic I am not”. That isn’t quite fair ( saccharine she was not), but her novels are notable for their tartly humorous approach to love. Her best books are truly outstanding—hilarious and sharply intelligent, sweet but not sentimental—and even her less impressive efforts display considerable style. Heyer’s first book began as a serialized melodrama she created to entertain her invalid younger brother. Impressed by his daughter’s creativity, Heyer’s father suggested that she turn her story into a novel, and found her a publisher. The Black Moth came out in 1921, when Heyer was just nineteen years old. By the time she was thirty, Heyer was producing one romance novel and one thriller per year, and supporting both her extended and immediate family with her writing. (Her short stories paid for her brothers’ weddings, for example.) Heyer wed Ronald Rougier in 1925, and remained happily married for the rest of her life. Her husband reportedly created the basic outlines for her detective stories, with Heyer coming up with the characters, relationships, and dialogue. The pair had a son, Richard, in 1932. Despite her early and consistent success, Heyer’s life had its fair share of troubles. She never figured out the British tax system, and tried everything from accountant-hopping to forming a limited liability company to minimize her financial obligations. (None of these plans worked out, but she kept trying.) She had frequent health problems—some of them bizarre, like the time she got a mosquito bite that turned septic—and eventually died of lung cancer at age 71. Her later career was plagued by several alleged plagiarists, whose books displayed everything from imitations of Heyer’s style to outright theft of her characters, plot elements, and turns of phrase. (Some of Heyer’s fans actually suspected her of publishing inferior work under a pseudonym.) Over the course of her career, Heyer wrote thirty-four romances, six re-imagined histories, twelve mystery novels, and sixteen short stories. She also wrote four non-genre modern novels— Helen, Pastel, Barren Corn, and Instead of the Thorn—in her twenties, all of which she later suppressed (with good reason, if these books are as terrible as my mother claims). While she achieved considerable popularity and commercial success, Heyer’s books never received much critical attention. Only recently, thanks to elegant new reprints in the United States and Great Britain, as well as an admiring essay by high-falutin’ English novelist A.S. Byatt, has Heyer’s work begun to attract some long-overdue literary acclaim. Labels: Georgette Heyer
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
So pretty...
We got an e-mail from Sourcebooks yesterday, letting us know the cover art for Georgette Heyer's The Unfinished Clue featured in our 2009 Preview is actually out of date. They've chosen new cover art, and while I liked the old cover quite a bit, I think this image is more eye-catching:  It doesn't have anything to do with the story, from what I remember, but it looks great! Seriously, I can't wait for these releases— The Unfinished Clue is due out on March 1st. Labels: Art, Book Cover, Georgette Heyer, Re-releases
Monday, July 07, 2008
Georgette Heyer giveaway!
And in celebration of Ms. Heyer's NPR triumph, we're announcing another contest: Labels: contest, Georgette Heyer
Monday, June 16, 2008
Even more Heyer info!
 Sourcebooks has announced that they're planning to release several of Georgette Heyer's mysteries next spring, starting with Behold, Here's Poison, Why Shoot a Butler?, and The Unfinished Clue. All three of these classic British mysteries are awesome, and they're very hard to find in American bookstores, so this is extremely welcome news. Labels: Georgette Heyer, mysteries, Re-releases
Thursday, June 12, 2008
If you'd be so kind...?
 I keep hearing that NPR commentator and librarian-at-large Nancy Pearl is going to be featuring Georgette Heyer's novel An Infamous Army: A Novel of Wellington, Waterloo, Love and War on her highly anticipated summer reading list. (The full list will be released sometime this month.) An Infamous Army isn't my favorite Heyer--although any Heyer press is good press, as far as I'm concerned--so I was even more excited to discover that Pearl has already recommended Heyer's The Grand Sophy, which proves she's capable of appreciating Heyer's less intense titles, too. Anyway, this means it's time for her to feature a book that truly needs the exposure: Cotillion. It's currently out in stores, Ms. Pearl! Send it a little love! Labels: Georgette Heyer
Friday, March 07, 2008
Georgette Heyer rides again!
 Much to my delight, Sourcebooks, Inc. is continuing to release beautiful paperback editions of Georgette Heyer novels. Their most recent publication, False Colours, isn’t her best work, but even an average Heyer novel is cause for celebration. False Colours opens as Kit Fancot, on leave from the diplomatic service, decides to pay a surprise visit to his family in London—and is promptly confronted with a laundry-list of disasters: his flighty twin brother Evelyn has disappeared; his lovely, extravagant mother’s creditors are pressing her for payments she is wholly unable to make; and the family’s security and good name hinge upon Evelyn’s marriage to heiress Cressy Stavely. Unfortunately, the betrothal requires the approval of Cressy’s domineering grandmother, who has demanded Evelyn’s presence at a large, formal party the following evening. Against his better judgment, Kit’s mother convinces him to pretend to be Evelyn, assuring him that the masquerade will only last for one night. The deception leads to a complicated comedy of errors—and things get even more convoluted when Kit discovers that quiet, poised Cressy is exactly the kind of girl he has always dreamed of marrying.... False Colours doesn’t even make my top-five list of Heyer titles*, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome—it’s just a sign of how great her work can be. This witty, light-hearted novel features an engaging romance and a collection of memorable secondary characters (including the immortal Sir Bonamy Ripple). Longstanding Heyer fans will be thrilled to see that Sourcebooks has made this book available again, and if you’ve never read a Heyer novel, False Colours would be an excellent place to start. * Cotillion, The Unknown Ajax, The Grand Sophy, Sylvester, and A Civil Contract, in case you’re wondering. Labels: Book Reviews, Georgette Heyer
Friday, October 05, 2007
Heyer done wrong
I have limited bookshelf space for my Georgette Heyer collection, and if I was smart, I'd save it for the beautiful Sourcebooks editions of her books. But life is uncertain, and I fret. What if they give up on Heyer, and nobody else ever reprints her books? This is why it's impossible for me to pass by a cheap Heyer paperback when I find one. I'm particularly fond of the vintage Ace editions—not only do they have gloriously cheeseball cover art, the promotional blurbs on the back covers must have been written by drunks. Here's the text from their 1951 edition of The Quiet Gentleman—my comments are in italics: It seemed like an impossible romantic daydream when Drusilla Morville set her cap (she totally doesn't do this) for handsome Gervase Frant, for she was his mother's companion (no, she wasn't), and he was the Earl of Erth (uh, he was actually the Earl of St. Erth). Her prospects, in fact, became even more remote when Gervase began to suspect that she was part of an insidious plot against his life (this never even crosses his mind).
Soon Drusilla found herself up to her pretty ears in intrigue (...what?), for not only had she to outwit an unseen enemy (uh, no—in fact, she's determined to stay out of it), she had to convince the reticent Earl that winning her would be the greatest accomplishment of his life (again, no—the reason it's a romance is because he realizes this all by himself—no "convincing" is necessary). Error-to-Sentence Ratio: 7 errors, 3 sentencesAnd here's the text for their 1957 edition of Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle: Nothing could have induced impulsive outspoken Phoebe Marlow (in fact, she's crippled by shyness in public) to marry handsome, elegant Sylvester Rayne, Duke of Salford, the one man she thoroughly detested (actually, he's just one of a very long list). But Sylvester had other ideas; this beautiful young rebel (she's nowhere near beautiful, and the "rebel" bit is questionable, too) had caught his fancy (no, she hadn't), and if Petruchio could tame Katharine, he had no doubt he could tame Phoebe (Ugh. And, again, totally incorrect.).
But Sylvester underestimated his opponent: Phoebe secretly wrote a novel that not only shocked London, but presented her unwelcome fiancé (They're not engaged! And when she wrote the book, they barely even knew one another!), thinly disguised, as a villain and a knave. Error-to-Sentence Ratio: 6 errors, 3 sentencesSee? Who could resist? It's like they're talking about different books entirely! Labels: Georgette Heyer
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Keep your chin up.
In honor of all the time we're about to spend with relatives, allow me to recommend the following Christmas-themed murder mystery:  Georgette Heyer's Envious Casca will get you through this ordeal, I promise. (Or provide a handy holiday how-to guide. Whichever.) Happy Christmas, everybody! Labels: Georgette Heyer
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I was saddened to discover that one of the very few Georgette Heyer fansites appears to have shut down. Georgette-Heyer.com was bare-boned but helpful, providing readers with news, a forum, and numerous links. The site's main page indicates that it might eventually re-open—here's hoping that happens soon, because Ms. Heyer's work is too entertaining to be so poorly celebrated online.
