Welcome back to History Undressed Janet! Can you tell readers more about your upcoming release, BLOOD PERSUASIAN?
Polite society was so...well, uptight! I
bet you had a lot of fun playing on their delicate sensibilities. In
what ways do the Damned trample upon etiquette
and acceptable manners?
The way I structured the Damned was to
have them as a separate group within society—they’re “out,” in other words, although
they can conceal their identity. In this book they’ve lost the patronage of the
Prince of Wales (who became the Prince Regent) and they’re trying, rather
unsuccessfully, to adapt to country life. Their main interest even in reduced
circumstances remains unchanged--inviting people to dine, which is their term
for feeding. The Damned themselves are pretty uptight in their own way,
obsessed with manners and protocol as a mirror image of society, and I had a
lot of fun coming up with terms that seemed historically correct—like “dining”
for feeding, “en sanglant” for experiencing exposed fangs. Of course for Jane
the major conflict is that the Damned are, literally, damned—they’re immortal
but not indestructible and are destined for hell. What’s a vicar’s daughter to
do?
I did a lot of research on reading Austen’s letters, visiting Chawton
last year, and also Chawton Great House, which was owned by Jane’s brother
Edward, the adopted heir of a local landowning family. He was the one who
provided Jane, her sister and her mother their home in the village. In the book
Chawton Great House is rented by the Damned. I think the title was chosen
because it’s about a rekindling of a love affair, but mine has a lot more
biting in it.
What is your favorite quote from the book?
Here’s Luke trying to seduce Jane. She resists because every time they have physical contact it brings her closer to turning back into a vampire (metamorphosis):
“Ah,
you’re so close,” he murmured. “Your skin is like satin, Jane. I’d clothe you
in satin, if I clothed you at all. I’d break strands of pearls to see them roll
on your skin and warm. You smell like summer fruit, my love, ripe and sweet,
and your heart beats so fast. Let me, Jane. I’ll bite here, just a little.” His
breath scorched the skin of her arm. “You remember how it felt? That shock, and
you can’t decide whether it’s pain or a wonderful violation, and then the tug
and the shiver as you lose yourself.” His lips trailed down her arm, following
the slide of the kid glove, pausing again at the wrist. “Or here? Yes, here
where your pulse is strongest, and all anyone will see is that I kiss your
wrist, but you and I, we both know it’s more. A close observer might wonder at
the brightness of your eyes, and the way your lips part …”
No, this is the second and last one. What I intended to do was work some
of the known facts about Austen’s life into the books, so the first one was set
in 1797 when the family visited Bath, because I wanted to set the book in that
city. This one is set around a specific period in Jane’s life, when her niece
Anna visited the household for a few weeks in the spring of 1810. I didn’t want
Jane to mysteriously fake her death in 1817 and become some sort of vampire
socialite. One of the rules I set up in the first book was that she couldn’t
write as a vamp and in this book, because the metamorphosis is different, she
can write but it’s a very different sort of book, which explains Mansfield Park (originally all about
vamps until her brothers made her change it!).
I have another Austen-related release this month, as a contributor to an
anthology, JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT, but it’s nothing to do with my books
about Austen. I went out on a limb and wrote a story set in 1964 about the
Beatles (Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!).
Do you have a question for readers?
Do you like books that have real historical characters in them? Tell us
which books you’ve enjoyed.
*~*~*~*
Janet Mullany was raised in England by half of an amateur string quartet and now
lives near Washington, DC. Persecuted from an early age for reading too long in
the bathroom, she still loves books and is an avid and eclectic reader. She has
worked as an archaeologist, classical music radio announcer, arts administrator,
and for a small press. Visit her at www.janetmullany.com
