Meet me in Cambridge? And/or online?

My friend Megan Frampton has a new book coming out in August, and author Felicia Davin and I will be in Cambridge to help celebrate. This is a rather early invitation because space is limited, and these events tend to sell out quickly.

Demons and Diplomacy, the first book in Megan’s Ministry of Supernatural Affairs romantasy series, comes out on on 25 August, but I got an early copy, which I’m about to dive into. Queen Victoria as a vampire? I can’t wait to find out all about it.

Megan Frampton’s latest, Demons & Diplomacy

Details, details: 7 PM - 9 PM / Wednesday 26 August 2026 / Lovestruck Books & Cafe / Cambridge, Massachusetts

This link will give you all the information. Or you can cut & paste this:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/demons-and-diplomacy-release-party-with-megan-frampton-tickets-1992417562564

In Other News

TWO NERDY HISTORY GIRLS, AGAIN.

Forty-eight-shilling note, issued November 17, 1776, engraved, Boston: Paul Revere. American Antiquarian Society

Historical fiction author Susan Holloway Scott and I return as the Two Nerdy History Girls this coming Monday, courtesy the Ashland (Massachusetts) Public Library. We’ll be talking about everyday life in 1776, when things changed on this side of the pond.

Details, details: 7-8pm Monday 13 July 2026 via Zoom

To find out all about it and register, please follow this link. Or you can cut and paste:

https://ashlandmass.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/virtual-celebrating-americas-250th-the-two-nerdy-history-girls-discuss-everyday-life-in-1776/

REGENCY FICTION WRITERS ANNUAL VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Though the official Regency was quite short, 1811-1820, we members of the Regency Fiction Writers take the longer view of most social historians, setting the time from the late Georgian to the early Victorian periods, 1780-1840. Among other excellent offerings, the RFW organizes a three-day annual conference for a remarkably low fee—and they’ve extended early registration to 11 July.

The conference is virtual. You never have to leave the comfort of your favorite screen-viewing area. You don’t have to worry about missing overlapping sessions. You learn things from a stellar line-up of workshop presenters. Also, it’s fun. It’s open to members and non-members (but members get the lower rate, as you’d expect). If you’re writing or thinking about writing fiction set in this era, do consider joining the group. But if you’re not sure about joining just yet, maybe try the conference?

James Pollard, Arrival of the Stage Coach

Details, details: Regency Fiction Writers 2026 Virtual Conference / 30 July – 1 August 2026

You can learn more by following the link above, or by cutting and pasting this link:

https://regencyfictionwriters.org/events/conference/

Image credits: 1. The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park for the Grand International Exhibition of 1851, courtesy Wikimedia. 2. Megan Frampton event, image courtesy Megan Frampton and Lovestruck Books & Cafe. 3. Forty-eight shilling note issued November 17, 1776, engraved, Boston: Paul Revere, courtesy American Antiquarian Society. (“By July 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts recognized the urgent need for paper money in multiple denominations to support trade and to pay obligations during the Revolution. They commissioned Boston silversmith and engraver Paul Revere (1735-1818) to design and produce the plates. He was paid £8 for engraving the plates and just over £41 for printing the 37,040 bills in the issue. His original design featured a figure holding the Magna Carta—a symbol of traditional rights—but for the November 17, 1776, issue, Revere revised the image to show the figure holding a document labeled “Independance,” a misspelled reflection of the colony’s embrace of the Declaration of Independence adopted that July.”) 4. James Pollard, “The Arrival of the Stage Coach,” 1816, from Thomas Cook, “The Autobiography of a Stage Coachman” (1861).

Welcoming "My Inconvenient Duke" and celebrating "Lord of Scoundrels"

As has been proclaimed in various areas of my website, the third Difficult Dukes book, My Inconvenient Duke, will be released on 21 January. After all the frustration, and the fighting with characters (those strong and rather secretive personalities!) and delays and delays, Alice & Blackwood’s story will finally reach my readers.

It’s won some thumbs-up early reviews, including a starred advance review in Booklist in December, which included the following:

With the latest dazzling addition to her Difficult Dukes series (A Duke in Shining Armor, Ten Things I Hate About the Duke), readers will again revel in Chase’s buoyant yet deliciously sharp sense of wit and her ability to craft radiantly romantic love stories rendered with the meticulous attention to detail she pays to everything, from nuanced characterization to an expertly evoked historical setting. — John Charles

It’s will also get a party, at the Ashland Public Library, where we’ll celebrate the 30th anniversary of Lord of Scoundrels as well.

This is an actual, in-person event.

1-3PM ET 25 January 2025

Ashland Public Library (Schiesske Large Meeting Room)

66 Front St / Ashland Massachusetts 01721

Ph 508 881 0134 / Email: ashlandprograms@minlib.net

Further details here. Kindly register here.

Aesop’s Fable bookshop is once again providing the books, which you can pre-order here.

Also, we’re celebrating Lord of Scoundrels’ thirtieth anniversary with an eBook deal of $1.99 (through 31 January). If you haven’t yet met Jessica and Dain, this is an opportunity to do it for a couple of bucks. If you know their story already, it might make a suitable gift for somebody.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to hear me hold forth about My Inconvenient Duke as well as Lord of Scoundrels, you can listen to this podcast. Megan Zinn, Host of The Writers' Block on WHMP radio, Northampton, Massachusetts, is a superior interviewer, and the time (about 20 minutes) flew.

With a new book shortly to be released, and an older title being celebrated, you can expect a little flurry of blog posts and, very likely, an actual newsletter in the near future. Just warning you.

Signed by Author books and an updated French edition

Readers have asked how to get signed copies of my books. If you’re unable to attend one of my book events, you might want to get in touch with a bookstore affiliated with it. For instance, Aesop’s Fable in Holliston, Massachusetts, has supplied books for the Ashland Public Library RomCons, and will be at the book celebration tea party on 25 January 2025. They have signed copies of many of my books and will be able to provide signed copies of My Inconvenient Duke (if you preorder and let them know). You can find relevant information here.

Aesop’s isn’t the only bookshop. I recently signed copies of Lord of Scoundrels as well as bookplates at the Book Club Bar in Manhattan and at the Ripped Bodice bookstore in Brooklyn, NY. These are lovely bookshops, and if you’re in the New York area, you might want to drop in. Otherwise, you might want to give them a call for a signed copy or a bookplate.

If I’m invited to sign books elsewhere, I’ll update.

Lord of Scoundrels cover with “Signed by Author” sticker.

In international news:

It’s been years since I’ve received a print copy of one of my international editions. Apparently, they’re not doing that much anymore. However, my French publisher, J’ai Lu, recently sent me a lovely surprise—updated covers for the first Carsington Brothers book, Miss Wonderful. It’s so interesting to see the different interpretations and styles, and I think J’ai Lu does a beautiful job.

Cover of French edition of "Miss Wonderful"

Cover of French edition of “Miss Wonderful”