Mr. Beard's Regency Tour Day 11: Not Getting Your Hands Dirty, A Proper Gentleman

Welcome to my eleventh post on late Georgian/Regency England. If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about, please check out this post.

-----

"In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal.''

"True. You are a gentleman's daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition.''

Elizabeth Bennet and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Pride and Prejudice

To many modern readers it might seem curious that Lady Catherine de Bourgh had such contempt of Lizzy's relations. One uncle, Mr. Gardiner, was a successful businessman. Her aunt, Mrs. Philips, had married an attorney. They weren't exactly working as scullery maids. Lizzy's own father's wealth was rather modest compared to Mr. Darcy or Mr. Bingley. If she could tolerate the idea of Lizzy's father, why the sneering condescension about the "condition" of her aunt and uncles? It was simple really, they had a rather unfortunate affliction: they weren't gentlemen or married to gentlemen.

Not gentlemen? Were they rude and coarse individuals lacking in any sort of manners or proprietary? There's no real indication of this. The issue is where they got their money. A proper gentleman owned land and made their income came from land-related rents. While having a higher income was valued, it wasn't the amount of money that was important here as much as the fact that the gentleman owned the land, and it was his primary (if not only) source of income.

To put this into stark relief, consider two cases:

A) Mr. Preston holds a very modest estate.
B) Mr. Wade is a businessman considerably more wealthy than Mr. Preston. He only recently came into his wealth as a result of clever and industrious business dealings, but he doesn't own an estate.

By Regency standards, Mr. Wade is Mr. Preston's social inferior. In fact, Mr. Wade, despite his wealth, would be denied the right to vote until legal reforms in 1832. Even those reforms still had some provisions for some mild amount of land ownership (though the amount was so trivial that any mans of means could easily acquire it). The members of Parliament would, for the most part, both be and be selected by landholding males.

As these men had a steady income from rents and were often not even all that involved in the low-level management of their lands, they had more time to attend to the complicated web of social engagements that could take up so much time. It also afforded them the time to partake in various idle forms of recreation if they so chose. Having to work for a living was a sign of inferiority. In fact, a man who owned land but personally farmed it would not being considered the same status of a man purely collecting rent even if the relative value of their lands were otherwise equal.

This isn't to say, though, that they were not involved in managing their land, though they typically had assistance. The relative level of industriousness varied among gentlemen just as did it among other classes; they just had the benefit of a relatively stable income course that allowed them, potentially, to not have to pay as much attention to how they got their money.

Note that being a gentleman was not the same thing as holding at title, which I will discuss in a future post. Although title holders, as a matter of course, typically held land as well, the term "gentleman" was associated with commoners until well-past the Regency.

This obsession with land was at the basis of primogeniture--an inheritance pattern where the eldest son inherited either entire estate or the vast majority of the state. This was primarily intended to prevent the division of property into smaller chunks and the possibility of these smaller portions being otherwise lost or sold. Younger brothers would be shunted off into a small number of various "respectable" professions such as the military or clergy. Despite Lady Catherine de Bourgh's implied disdain for Mrs. Philips, the law was potentially other area of respectability, but it varied by the location and relative rank (London judge vs. country lawyer). In general though, this meant that younger sons would never have the full prestige of their eldest brothers.

The explosion in wealth accompanying the Industrial Revolution threw a lot of these social relationships into disarray. Men gaining wealth from mere "trade" seeking respectability could try to somewhat cleanse the "taint" by buying an estate and settling down into the life of a true gentleman. Even if they couldn't manage it, their children or grandchildren likely would. Of course, the age of one's estates could always grant more prestige. Part of this, though, would be to remove themselves and their income from non-rent sources.

This mismatch between land and wealth also provided opportunities for daughters of wealthy tradesmen to gain social respectability by marrying into a landed family, particularly those with lower relative wealth. Sure, having land was, at a fundamental level, more important than having money, but having money and land was still the best combination.

While this is a Regency entry, I can't help but quote a similar sentiment from a much different setting:

"You ain't no kind of man if you ain't got land."

Delmar O'Donnell, O Brother, Where Art Thou?

No Country Bumpkins To Save This World: An Interview with fantasy author Ronald Craft

Today, I'm talking with Ronald Craft about his new epic fantasy, Bound by Fire.


1) Please tell us about your book.

Bound by Fire is the first of a planned trilogy where a blacksmith's apprentice becomes entangled in a rivalry that's spanned over the course of several hundred years. The gods once reigned over the world, however to stay in touch with the humans that resided on it they elected a pure human from amongst them in order to be their liaison. This human would be responsible for passing the wishes of humans onto the gods and then the gods, in turn, would grant wishes as they saw fit. In turn, this man was the only human who was given the knowledge of the gods - he knew where each physically resided in the earthly realm and how to get to them. When this man's own family were subject to a plague that was sweeping across the world he pleaded with the gods to grant him his wish; but, they denied him and his wife and child eventually died. This began a chain reaction that would eventually lead to the death of the gods physical bodies and the beginning of a calamity that would soon change the world forever.


The story begins several hundred years after these events, and peace has somewhat returned. The story focuses on seven characters, each of them connected in some way. The main character, Ilian, is thrust into the remnants of this conflict and soon his life is changed forever as his father is killed before his eyes by a red-haired female assassin.


2) What inspired you to write this book?



This book was inspired by my love of fantasy, and my dislike for the peppy, ever-so-happy fantasy that keeps springing up. I wanted a gritty story, rife with deceit, treachery, and betrayal. Something where the main character isn't a knight in shining armor, a hero, nor is he some country bumpkin that will rise up and save the world. There's none of that in my story. The focus of the story is on selfishness, greed, and how the darkness of the human heart. I show that in book 1, but book 2 will really demonstrate how the events that have taken place, and will take place, can warp someone's heart.


3) Epic fantasy is tricky. On one hand, fans expect certain tropes in their epic fantasy, but, at the same time, people want something new and fresh. What distinguishes your work from other epic fantasies out there?


They say that anything you can think of has already been written. I don't exactly agree with that, because my characters and my world are my own. I'm bringing to the table a very character-focused fantasy novel that will delve into the darkness of their hearts, as well as a tale that doesn't necessarily focus on saving the world, or rising up to become a hero. In fact, there's a lot of anti-hero elements in this story which I think will be a nice change for many fantasy readers. It's gritty and I don't pull any punches. There's no healing magic to heal a gaping wound in your chest, and "arriving just in the nick of time" will never take place. I really wanted to break the chains of the norm and try to branch out into something new. Now, this doesn't mean the entire story is dark - as there's definitely humor in it, as well as some light-hearted moments, but this is an overall very "realistic" story in a sense.


4) Can you tell us a little about the nature of magic in your book?

Magic in my world is mostly dead. The only form of it left resides in the form of elemental weapons, which is a nearly lost art. Using the blood of the one that will wield the blade, the blacksmith then combines steel, blood and an element of their choosing in order to forge a weapon that can harness that element. Each weapon varies, as well as the power of each weapon as it depends upon the skill of the blacksmith that is forging said weapon. There are some other powers, those that the gods wield, but these are not powers that humans can harness. There is, however, one last city where an ancient order remains that has some small use of magic left over. This does not come into play until book 2, however, and the use of their magic is for a different purpose and is not used for combat.


5) All authors were readers first. What first drew you into fantasy?

There were many, but it all began with Tolkien. I was so enamored by The Hobbit that I soon found myself devouring all the fantasy books that I could find. Anne McCaffrey, rest her soul, was also a huge influence on me as well. I adored works by authors like James Clemens, Terry Brooks, and more recently David B. Coe, with some other popular authors like Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin thrown into the mix. I couldn't list all the books that I've had the pleasure of reading over the years, but there are many fabulous fantasy authors who influenced me in a positive way to get where I am now.


6) Are there aspects and angles of this story that you felt were easier to accomplish because you were writing a YA book?



I really didn't even think about that until I finished the novel. My focus was writing the story the way I wanted to write it, not what age group or type of reader I wanted to aim for. I believe that, as an author, I shouldn't limit myself to saying, "I'm going to write for YA." That's just how it turned out, and I'm fine with that. I'll be sticking on the YA side for the rest of this series, but will most likely write an adult-oriented fantasy down the road.


7) This is the first in a series. Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin, among others, have made some fantasy fans gun shy about series. Does Bound By Fire stand up by itself as enjoyable novel?


When it comes to fantasy novels I can certainly understand the disappointment that fans have had over the years. In fact, I was one of them myself. It's pure torture to have to wait 5 or more years just for the next novel in a series to come out. You end up spending more time waiting for a series than you do actually reading. My novel is written in a way as to where it flows into the next book at the end. I believe that it's definitely an enjoyable book on its own, but when writing a series it's simply inevitable that the reader will be left craving the next novel in the series. If that doesn't happen then I feel that I, as an author, have failed.


8) How many books are planned for the series?

There's 3 planned right now. I am committed to finishing this series, however, and am planning a 6 - 8 month release cycle. The next book in the series should be out by the middle of 2012, with the last one in 2013. While the story will end there, I do plan on expanding on my world rather than abandoning it as many authors seem to. I'll be adding a prequel, and likely cooking up a new story taking place after the original finishes. I have barely touched on the history of this world thus far and I feel that there's so much more to tell. I want to expand on it and really bring the world I've created to life for my readers.


Thank you for this opportunity to talk about my writing. I hope you've enjoyed the small glimpse into the world I've created, as well as what brought me here.


-----


Thanks, Ronald.


You can read more from Ronald at http://ronaldcraft.com/.


Bound By Fire is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The Age of Tranquility and Peace: Heian Japan #10: The Dark Smile of Beauty, Ohaguro

I present the tenth in my series on Heian-era Japan. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, just click here for an overview of the Heian era.

-----

Beauty standards vary wildly by culture and time period. Paleness, for example, has often been historically valued for its implicit lack of association with outdoor labor. A proper aristocratic Heian beauty would take this to an extreme by using rice-powder (or lead-based, yikes) make-up to ensure a pale face. Such a beauty regime isn't particularly unusual cross-culturally, but those same Heian beauties would combine the facial work with something a bit less common (even if not unique to Japan): blackened teeth.

Actually, following the lead of the imperial family, this blackening of the teeth, ohaguro, was seen both among aristocratic men and women, even though it tended to be more common in women, and the relative gender balance would vary throughout the Heian era. While in later periods teeth darkening was often associated with older married women, in this era it tended to be more associated with adolescents and coming-of-age.

The involvement of both men and women might seem odd at first. Black teeth were desired because they were considered beautiful. This means, in turn, that men were applying a beautification treatment. This was  consistent with general Heian aesthetic ideals. Although there were obvious differences between what was expected of men and women, the underlying Heian obsession with beauty was applied to both genders. A proper aristocratic man was expected to be beautiful in his own way. One might even argue that the two fundamental pillars of Heian thought were beauty and harmony.

Darkened teeth were valued for multiple reasons. Black teeth contrasted nicely with the common pale white make-up. In addition, Heian aristocrats found aesthetic value in the color itself. There's also the more practical reality of limited dental care in this period often leaving the typical citizen, even aristocrats, with unattractive yellowed teeth if not otherwise dyed. In addition to the aesthetic aspects, ohaguro also acted as a sort of a primitive dental sealant and helped to limit tooth decay. While the people of the period may not have had a full handle on why ohaguro helped their teeth, they were aware of the health benefit.

Despite evidence that teeth darkening may have started centuries prior to the start of the Heian era, it seems to have become firmly established during the Nara era (710-794) and then became wide-spread (among aristocrats at least) during the Heian period.  It's specifically referenced in the 11th-century Tale of Genji. The practice would linger on in Japan until the 19th-century, when it was banned as part of general cultural reforms by the government.

The actual dyeing was accomplished with an acidic mixture of tea, vinegar, rice wine, and iron fillings. This was not a permanent procedure, and generally required reapplication every few days or so. Besides the basic time inconvenience, the dye itself smelled awful.

Ah, the things people'll do for beauty.

Alzheimer's, Forty-billion missing dollars, and Russian Gangsters: An interview with thriller author Helen Hanson

Today, I'm welcoming back thriller author Helen Hanson. After reviewing and enjoying her book 3 Lies at Good Book Alert, I previously invited her over for an interview. She just released a new thriller, Dark Pool, and I've invited her back again for another interview.

-----

1) Tell us about your book.

To me, DARK POOL is a novel about the expectations we make in life. We tend to gauge our happiness or success by how well those expectations are met.  But we don’t always get a vote regarding our circumstances.

Here’s the official pixel-and-dust jacket blurb:

~ Forty Billion Reasons to Kill

By this time in her life, Maggie Fender expected to be on her way to law school. Instead she’s far from any degree, waiting tables to support her teenage half-brother and their ailing father. With early onset Alzheimer’s, her father’s lucid moments are few and unpredictable.

Her brother’s legal defense for felony hacking charges strained their finances to a snap. In spite of the conviction, he claims he was framed. But now that he’s on parole, he also claims their father is sending them messages.

Maggie’s tired of the struggle, but she’s everybody’s legal guardian. Slowing down will lead to disaster. She can hustle. Or face financial ruin.

This isn’t the life she envisioned.

In the news, disgraced hedge fund manager Patty O’Mara awaits trial for bilking investors out of forty billion dollars. The legendary dark pool wizard offered phenomenal profits until the SEC examined his books. Then they discovered O’Mara didn’t make any legitimate trades on the market.

O’Mara ran his hedge fund the way Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff ran theirs. It was all a fraud.

One wealthy investor rallies the troop of irate victims by hiring a noted private investigator to find the missing pot of gold. A Russian mobster, out thirty million in cash, prefers to search for the money alone and without witnesses. Their competing efforts sift the same set of facts.

So why are they interested in Maggie Fender’s incoherent father?

While SEC officials try to rebuild credibility for allowing the financial scandal to rage unchecked, the private investigator and the Russian mobster vie to answer a solitary question:

What happened to all that money? 

2) Your last book was a twist on fears of terrorism. This book is more a twist on the fear of Wall Street "fat cats" as it were. Anyone reading the book can't escape the parallels to Bernie Madoff. Was this book directly inspired by Madoff's Ponzi scheme or did you already have a similar idea when the Madoff scandal broke?

I was pondering a plot with a financial element when the Bernie Madoff scandal hit the wires.  His incredible story certainly fueled mine.  I liken his offense to that of a poisoner.  Poisoners are typically women and are often wives who murder their husbands over a long period of time.  She’ll feed him a little arsenic every day with his breakfast burrito, and then scurry to the store for Maalox when his tummy is upset.  She’s right by his side simmering with evil as his life slowly bleeds.  

How does a human do that to another?  I get shooting someone in the head.  Blam! It’s quick and requires little aforethought.  Regret may or may not follow.

But Bernie Madoff assumed a fiduciary responsibility to protect the financial assets of his clients.  As such, he bore a legal and moral obligation to be faithful to his client’s trust, to the point of putting their needs above his own. Instead, it was an investment travesty.  There were some high-profile victims, such as Steven Spielberg, but not all of his victims were able to absorb such a stunning loss.  Entire life savings were wiped out because of one man’s megalomaniacal greed. Positively egregious and, yet, fascinating.

Whether through gross incompetence or outright corruption, the SEC let him continue the slaughter for years.  They failed abysmally to uphold their duty to the people.  I think they should have cells adjoining Madoff’s. 

3) You have an appearance of a character from your previous novel, 3 Lies, in this book. Why do you choose to have the cross-over?

I view my story world as contiguous from one work to the next.  While timelines and locations shift, the people from one novel exist in the realm of the others.   For instance, Travis from Dark Pool was arrested for hacking about the time that Beth from 3 Lies started dialysis. 

If I ever write a science fiction novel, I may have to change this practice.  I don’t envision Maggie Fender battling Nausicaans on Risa.  But if she did, I suspect she would kick butt.

4) One thing that struck me about Dark Pool is the primary protagonists are on the younger side compared to what we saw in 3 Lies. Why did you choose to go that route? Plot-wise you could have told the same story focusing on say, a thirty-something sister and brother.

The “failure to launch” syndrome intrigues me because we typically bear some level of responsibility by the time we hit thirty. It’s the anomalous bloke who finds a way ‘round that fact. This isn’t the case with newly-minted adults.  For them it’s a stage of introspection and self-interest.  It’s a time to figure out their role in life or at least decide which step to take next.  Plus their experience in managing their environment is usually limited.  With Maggie at 22 and Travis at 15, they haven’t had an opportunity to launch.  Caring for their ailing father requires them to step up their game in ways they never expected.

5) Did you find it more difficult to write Dark Pool? The nature of the tension is rather different than what we saw in 3 Lies.

Dark Pool is a more personal story for me in many ways because I lost my father to Alzheimer’s. After my mother passed on, his condition spiraled, and his timeline ceased to be linear.  He’d want to visit people who were long gone.  One time, he asked my sister, “Who was that woman?” after I left the room.  I often wondered what he experienced from his side of the chasm.

Some of us get a glimpse of our future. But not everyone who does so is of the mindset to exploit the advantage.   I liked the idea of Martin Fender preparing for his own demise. 

6) Is there anything you learned from writing 3 Lies that you applied to Dark Pool?

I’m a planner by nature, so my systems for keeping track of storylines, characters, locations, et cetera are much cleaner now.  I know what works and what makes my head spin.  When editing 3 Lies, I compiled a list of my obvious personal excesses as a writer.  I tried to keep these in mind when I wrote my first draft of Dark Pool and used them as a filter on my last.

As an indie writer, the book isn’t finished when you type the final word.  After writing 3 Lies, I still had to deliver it to readers somehow, so I figured out how to format four different editions, and I put them up for sale at five different venues.  I even learned how to prep a cover for the paperback edition.  Each step was another curve to negotiate. With Dark Pool, it took very little time to actually publish.  And I no longer feared the process. 

Except marketing.  I still fear marketing.  Sometimes I feel like I’m standing under the lamp post wearing a halter and a mini yelling, “Hey, sailor. Wanna buy my book?”

7) You have financial/legal conspiracy and international espionage covered. What's next for you? Will anyone from 3 Lies and Dark Pool make it into your next book?

I suspect someone from 3 Lies or Dark Pool will make an appearance in my next novel.  I’m not certain who that might be, yet.  The protagonist of my current project isn’t a pillar of any community.  Baxter Cruise is a perpetual college student who makes his living by filling your in-box with spam.  Well someone has to do it.

-----

Thanks, Helen.

If you'd like to see more from Helen, please visit her website at http://www.helenhanson.com.

Dark Pool can be purchased at a variety of vendors but here at the links Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and here are the Amazon and Barnes and Noble for 3 Lies.

Crashing Planes? There's an app for that: An interview with lawyer and thriller author Melissa Miller

Today, I'm talking with lawyer and author Melissa Miller about her legal thriller, IRREPARABLE HARM.

-----

1) Please tell us about your book.

IRREPARABLE HARM is my debut novel and the first book in a legal thriller series featuring Attorney Sasha McCandless. Here’s the blurb:

There's a smartphone app that can crash a plane. And it's for sale to the highest bidder . . .

Attorney Sasha McCandless is closing in on the prize after eight long years: she's months away from being made partner at a prestigious law firm. All she has to do is keep her head down and her billable hours up. Then a plane operated by her client slams into the side of a mountain, killing everyone aboard. Sasha gears up to prepare a defense to the inevitable civil lawsuits.

She quickly realizes the crash was no accident: a developer has created an application that can control a commercial plane's onboard computer from a smartphone. Sasha joins forces with a federal air marshal who's investigating the crash. As they race to prevent another disaster, people close to the matter start to die. And she's next on the list. Sasha will need to rely on her legal training and her Krav Maga training in equal measure to find and stop a madman before he strikes again.

2) How did your legal background influence the plotting of this book?

Like Sasha, I’m a civil litigator with a practice that focuses on complex commercial litigation. My legal background was helpful, of course, when I was writing the courtroom scenes and explaining things like the standard a party has to meet to obtain injunctive relief. What I aimed to do, though, and I hope I succeeded, was to pull back the curtain and show the lay reader the backstage strategic and practical considerations that underlie a lot of the legal stuff and to give a glimpse of life at a law firm.

3) What inspired you to write this particular book?


I’m a reader of many genres, but there is nothing I love better than a good thriller—especially a legal thriller. Despite that, for some reason, I tried for years to write literary fiction and it never clicked. But, when the germ of an idea—what if you could control a plane with a smartphone app?—occurred to me, I was off and flying (no pun intended) with this book.

4) Your heroine, Sasha, is both a legal expert and proficient in the Israeli martial art Krav Maga. That's an interesting combination. Why Krav Maga versus something a bit more mainstream like Tae Kwon Do or Karate?

Krav Maga was the right fit for a woman Sasha’s size. She is just under five feet tall and just shy of one hundred pounds. She needs a self-defense / hand-to-hand combat system that would work for someone of her stature. I have a friend who is not much bigger than Sasha who practices Krav Maga. She has learned to use her size to work for her. Also, although Krav Maga incorporates aspects of boxing, judo, and jujitsu, the philosophy differs from most other martial arts in that it isn’t ritualized. It’s more focused on the practical application in, say, a street fight than on working through traditional exercises.

5) Plane crashes are a major aspect of this book. Did writing this book make you more nervous about flying?


You know, it’s funny, but looking back, I don’t think I’ve traveled by plane since the book was published. That is, however, a total coincidence, I promise. Having moved from D.C. to central Pennsylvania, I have found it easier and quicker to handle East Coast business travel by train. Having three kids ages six and under, I have found leisure travel easier to handle by car (the flying public is welcome).

6) Did you find it difficult to balance the drama of legal maneuvering and the more action-oriented scenes?

Somewhat, but probably not the way you’d think. Because I live and breathe the legal stuff, I tend to focus, if anything, a little too much on the action when I am writing. I have to remind myself, okay, this woman is a lawyer, let’s do some lawyering in between our butt kicking scenes! The fun thing about writing the legal aspects are that my characters can really explore, test, and question the confines of our legal system in ways that real lawyers simply can’t (if they want to keep their licenses).

7) Do you intend to write more books focused on this character?

I do, and I have. The second book in the Sasha McCandless series is INADVERTENT DISCLOSURE; it will be available later this month. I am hard at work on the third book, tentatively titled Irretrievably Broken. I have further plans for Sasha, but I think after book three, I might take a break from two-word legal doctrines beginning with the letter “I” and turn to a young adult suspense novel that’s been kicking around in my brain for a while now.

Thanks for having me!

----

Thanks, Melissa.

IRREPARABLE HARM  is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble in both physical and e-book formats.

You can visit her at her website at http://www.melissafmiller.com/.