Difficult Dukes #3 News—or, What's Happening With the Blackwoods? Also, Other News

As reported elsewhere, the third Difficult Dukes book, the Blackwoods’ story, is in production.

It doesn’t yet have a cover, but that is in process. It does have a title and a release date, which I feel pretty safe in reporting, now that it appears on major online bookseller pages:

My Inconvenient Duke 21 January 2025

Meanwhile, because the writing happens ages before the publishing (in my case, something resembling eternity occurs between these two phases), I am working on the next book, which currently seems to be a spinoff. But things change. It may turn out to be something completely different.

Previous Occurrences

In May, the Ashland Public Library, in Ashland Massachusetts, was the site of yet another great RomCon last month. In fact, my assistant Jessica and I were so busy that we never got to take photos, so I had to steal them from the library. Thank you, readers, for enduring yet another wet New England day, and for making us feel so welcome and loved.

Top Row: The authors; Historical Romance Panel-Carla Kelly, Caroline Linden, Loretta Chase, Evelyn Richardson; Moi with crocheted Jane Austen figure. Bottom Row: Meena Jain & her Minions aka Meenions—an incredible team, who kept everything running smoothly.

Coming Attractions:

July will see a return of the Two Nerdy History Girls, courtesy our most excellent host, Meena Jain, and the Ashland Public Library. You can register for the event if you follow this link. I will report in more detail as we get nearer the date.

The Two Nerdy History Girls Return. Again.

Once more, Meena Jain, of the Ashland Public Library here in Massachusetts, has invited Susan Holloway Scott and me for a session of nerdy history. Susan and I retired from writing Two Nerdy History Girls blog posts a few years ago, but the blog is still there. Every so often, I pay a visit, to look up this or that.

Our Zoom event, though, offers us time to take questions from our readers. It’s fun for a number of reasons. We never know what subject will come up. Sometimes we get to debunk myths. Sometimes we find ourselves in that grey area of “it depends.” But being nerdy history girls, we love the challenge. In my case, it can get my brain out of the Work-in-Slow-Progress* and onto Something Completely Different. I hope you’ll join us. Here is some useful information:

Virtual - The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again!

Wednesday 10 January 2024 at 7pm ET

You’ll find event details here.

You can register here.

You can get in touch with Ashland Public Library via this email address.

One other Ashland Public Library note: Saturday 18 May 2024 brings Spring RomCon from 10-4pm. I will be there, along with a stellar cast of authors. If you think you’ll be in the area, you might want to mark your calendar. More info to come.

* Very nearly done!

Two Nerdy History Girls on YouTube

Corset maker fitting customer with a corset

La M. de Corsets, ca 1832, anonymous, after Numa, Rijksmuseum.

We talked about cleanliness and chamber pots. We talked about corsets. Yes, we always seem to talk about corsets. We talked about nursing mothers and wet nurses. We talked about getting from one place to another and the state of the roads in England and in 18th century America. We talked about other things.

Our listeners asked questions and helped us out from time to time when our nerdy brains failed to provide a detail. Susan Holloway Scott and I had fun, and the time passed quickly. All went smoothly because we have a terrific host in Meena Jain, Ashland Public Library Director.

Scene on London street of quarreling coachmen and general chaos.

Miseries of London by Thomas Rowlandson

You can watch the proceedings here at the Ashland Public Library’s YouTube channel.

Images: La M.de de Corsets, ca. 1832 : Cést de la vrai (...), anonymous, after Numa, c. 1832. Rijksmuseum.

Miseries of London, Jam of Coaches. Ackermann, Rudolph, 1764-1834 (publisher) Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, (printmaker). Published/Created:[London] : Pubd. Feby. 1st, 1807 by R. Ackeman [sic], No. 101 Strand, [1 February 1807]. Courtesy Lewis Walpole Library