by Roseanna White | Jun 17, 2013 | Word of the Week
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| Sir Sumbras at the Ford by JE Millais, 1857 |
Hello, m’lovelies! I’m back from the beach and back to business. =) And while I was gone, a friend sent me a link to some awesome word etymologies, so I thought I’d share one with you today.
So. We all know the word “wend,” right? We wend our way through crowds and other things that make us take twisty paths and whatnot. But apparently back in the day wend and go were synonyms. Used interchangeably. You could wend anywhere you could go and vice versa.
In those days (of Middle English), the past tense of wend was went and the past tense of go was gaed. Then round about the 15th century, people started to like go better for whatever reason. Only, the past tenses of the synonyms got mixed up. Hence one of our most crazily irregular verbs–it’s actually a mix-up of another verb! Pretty fun, huh?
I’ll be bringing you more of the words from this list over the next couple weeks. =)
by Roseanna White | Jun 10, 2013 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I’m on vacation this week at the gorgeous beach with my awesome family, and I didn’t have time to schedule posts last week. So you’ll just have to get along without me for a few days. đ But if you haven’t stopped by for a while, here are some recent posts you don’t want to miss!
It’s time for me to build my list of influencers for Whispers from the Shadows! If you can help me spread the word, let me know–but hurry! I only have a couple spots left! Read the Full Article
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I’m so very blessed to have a husband who chases dreams with me. If you don’t know the story of how we started a small press, come by to read about how we meshed our dreams! Read the Full Article
~*~
I got to research outside my norm for the setting of Fairchild’s Lady (which is still free! Find all the links here!). Come learn a tidbit about those early days of the French Revolution! Read the Full Article
See y’all back here next week!
by Roseanna White | Jun 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
It’s that time again! With only weeks left before Whispers from the Shadows starts appearing, it’s time for me to build my list of influencers!
What, you may ask, is an influencer? Quite simply, it’s someone who agrees
that, in exchange for the publisher sending them a free copy of a book,
they will (assuming they like it) do some or all of the following:
- Post reviews on retailer sites
- Buy a copy for everyone they see in the grocery line
- Blog about it (assuming they have a blog)
- Have the cover tattooed across their forehead
- Talk it up to all their friends
- Take out an airplane banner ad for it
- Request their Library stock it
- Invest in a giant blinking sign for their roof that says “Buy Whispers from the Shadows!””
- Request their bookstores stock it
- Leave some bookmarks/postcards with libraries or stores or in waiting rooms
đ Okay, so I doubt anyone would do all of those, LOL. But if
you’re interested in taking on some influencer tasks, email me at
roseanna at roseannawhite dot com with your address and what you’ll be
able to do to help with the influencing. (I have a limited number of
spots left, so hurry!)
“The characters’
Christian faith is artfully integrated into their personalities, words,
and actions. The combination of romantic tension, spiritual contention,
and wartime intrigue makes for an engrossing, entertaining read.”
Which, yes, totally made my day on Friday when I saw their very-positive review. đ (My first review in any publication as big as that!!) And in case you’ve missed the blurb…
I Love
Her…Can I Trust Her?
I
Love HimâŚIs He Safe?
1814âEngland and
America are again at war. Sudden and implacable treachery causes
Gwyneth Fairchildâs world to crumble in a momentâs time. The
daughter of a British general, she barely saves her life by fleeing
London aboard a ship bound for America. Her goal is to find refuge
with the Lane family in Maryland. Yet after meeting the Lanesâ son,
Thaddeus, Gwyn wonders how safe she is. For she discovers that this
family trades in a dangerous commodityâespionage.
Thad Lane is a
prominent citizen in the city of Baltimore. He has the ear of
everyone, and he is in a unique position to pass on to leaders of
government exactly what he hears. Not long after the beautiful and
British Gwyneth Fairchild finds safe haven in his community, he
experiences the tug of love, though he fears it may blur lines of
loyalty. With family playing the part of enemies and enemies proving
themselves friends, a future with Gwyn is more than uncertainâit
could be life threatening.
In the end, with the
British advancing relentlessly on Baltimore, Thad and Gwyn have to
trust in their shared faith in God to be a shield about them. To give
them a future and a hope.
by Roseanna White | Jun 5, 2013 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
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| Versailles, the setting of Fairchild’s Lady |
Since I’m still celebrating the release of this free novella, I thought today I’d chat a bit about its setting. A departure from my American-set historicals that take up the rest of the series, this one follows Isaac Fairchild, a character everyone seemed to love in
Ring of Secrets, on another covert assignment–in France, on the eve of revolution.
Being a history lover, it was fun for me to find another war to set this little book around, one that has certainly been the backdrop of its fair share of books! In a novella I obviously didn’t have the time to explore much of the revolution that turned into the Terror, so I decided to keep it simple and have Fairchild travel to Versailles at the very beginning of the uprising, climaxing at the storming of the Bastille.
France, you see, was in rather dire financial straits. Bankrupt. They tried to balance things out a bit by raising the taxes on the rich, but the nobility simply refused to pay them. (American-me has a hard time imagining an entire class just saying, “No thanks. I think I won’t pay that higher rate.” LOL) Which means the poor had to take up the slack…but couldn’t. So while the rich were partying in style at Versailles, their villeins were starving mere miles away–and because the court was so cut off from the rest of the country, being ensconced as they were in the palace, many of them didn’t even know.
The class system in France were broken up into Estates. The First Estate being the priests, the Second the nobility, and the Third the commoners. Well, right about then a special meeting was called, called the Estates General. They were all getting together to figure this thing out. Revolution, officially, wasn’t on the agenda. But the Third Estate had had enough. They rejected that name, called themselves an assembly instead and basically held the court hostage, saying they wouldn’t budge until they were given a constitution.
Though the Revolution quickly escalated and turned far bloodier than America’s was, at the start, they had no interest in ousting their king–they loved him. They merely wanted him to recognize them as something more than a servant class, something deserving of a fair chance. And for a while after they stormed the old prison (which was more armory than prison at that point), they were happy with Louis’s overtures…until they weren’t anymore.
Fairchild’s Lady ends soon after the rioting in the streets of Paris that day when the Bastille was fired upon, but hovering over the story is that certain knowledge that in the coming months and years, anyone with noble blood had to either flee…or face the guillotine.
I also got to weave this into the next full Culper Ring book,
Whispers from the Shadows, which CBD will have in stock in less than a month (woo hoo!!!). Not only is my heroine the daughter of these folks from
Fairchild’s Lady, but my hero’s best friend came from a family of French nobility who fled to America at the start of the French Revolution. Alain Arnaud was a lot of fun to write, and I hope everyone enjoys his brooding Gallic attitude as much as I did. đ
Vive le France!
by Roseanna White | Jun 3, 2013 | Word of the Week
First, have you grabbed your free copy Fairchild’s Lady yet? If not, check out Saturday’s post for all the links to your choice of retailers!
Now onto the Word of the Week. =) This will be short but sweet. Carnival. I confess that when I see the word, I mostly think of a fair. But carnival in fact has its roots far more firmly in the famous Brazilian celebration–meaning literally “goodbye, meat!” in Latin, it has been a time of merrymaking before Lent since the 1540s.
Color me surprised. I really had no idea the pre-Lent festival was so old! The more generic “fair” meaning didn’t actually come around until the 1930s.
Have a lovely Monday, all! We’re heading back to Johns Hopkins today for Xoe’s follow-up. Prayers appreciated that her arm is healing up perfectly! =)
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, sheâs homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her booksâŚto offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.