Jane Austen Society Talk in Wellington

I'll be doing a Q&A in conjunction with the Jane Austen Society, KAtherine Mansfield House and Garden, and Paper Road Press on Saturday the 21 May at 2 - 4:30pm.

Speakers include:
Emma Anderson, Director of Katherine Mansfield House & Garden, will talk about Katherine Mansfield and Mansfield with Monsters.

Marie Hodgkinson, Publisher of Paper Road Press, will talk about Murder and Matchmaking.

The meeting will close with a Q&A session with the author Debbie Cowens.

This is a joint event with the Katherine Mansfield House and Garden.

Venue: the hall at St Andrew's on the Terrace

Find out more about the Jane Austen Society of New Zealand: janeaustensocietynz.wordpress.com

and Katherine Mansfield House and Garden: http://www.katherinemansfield.com

When: Saturday, 21 May 2016 from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM 

Where: St. Andrew's on the Terrace - 30 The Terrace, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

You can buy tickets here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/murder-and-matchmaking-mansfield-with-monsters-qa-with-the-author-tickets-19466399525

Pugs and literature

Mimi Matthew's has an excellent and informative post on Pugs in Literature and how they often are not portrayed in the most positive light by Austen and Heyer. Admittedly, my Regency pug, the canine incarnation of Lydia Bennet, does not come across as an entirely virtuous pooch, although she is at least energetic.

Proof that it is not only cats that are drawn to sit upon any person holding a book.

This pug looks rather too content about sprawling on the young lady's forearm. It's almost as though it has figured it can shed fur over her shawl whilst simultaneously leaning its weight into the crook of her elbow and she's obliged to gaze demurely into the distance for the portrait. Or maybe I'm misjudging its intentions. Maybe it's trying to take her pulse?

Otago Daily Times Review

A great review for Murder & Matchmaking in the Otago Daily Times. My favourite phrase in the review: "CSI:Hertfordshire".

"Elizabeth and Sherlock Darcy are well matched but this is less a romance and more a ''CSI: Hertfordshire'' as they follow the evidence trail to its inevitable conclusion.

Debbie Cowens has captured the feel and language of Jane Austen's original work beautifully.
 
Pride and Prejudice fans should find this fun"

Birthdays are an excuse for Austen-esque fun.

I had Jane Austen themed birthday celebrations this year. Lots of costuming, dancing (well only my enthusiastic little son was keen to dance with me and neither of us had much grace or talent but we had fun) and cake.

Family portrait Regency style.

A Lydia the pug inspired cake. (Chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting)

The dog captured the spirit of Lydia by gazing at the cakes on the table all through the tea party!

My son and I got right into the Austen spirit.

Fandom: Mash-ups

I wrote about my love of mashups for the Fandom series on Booknotes Unbound. You can read all my love of Basil, the Great Mouse Detective and other early influences here.

Interview on Darian Smith's blog

Darian Smith was kind enough to interview me on his blog about Murder & Matchmaking and my writing in general. Interview is here.

Darian Smith and Me at Atlantis Books in Rotorua

Radio NZ Podcast

This great Radio NZ podcast with Mary McCallum is an interesting discussion about the loos of sponsorship for New Zealand Book Month and the current movement on Twitter to promote #NZBookMonthMay by sharing titles of great NZ books. Murder and Matchmaking gets a lovely recommendation along with some other tempting NZ books.