A cruise on the Hudson River By Mary Jo Some cruises are glamorous, like seeing the Mediterranean, others are adventurous like cruising the North Atlantic in the wake of the Vikings. And some are simple and homey, like our last week Hudson River Fall Foliage cruise. The Mayhem Consultant has been interested in this American Cruise Line itinerary for years. ACL operates small ships in American waters. We've cruised with them before and it's always interesting fun, with no passports, intercontinental flights, or money changing. The Hudson cruise is particularly easy since it starts and ends in New York City,... Continue reading

Mitteleuropa by Mary Jo I'm still locked in mortal combat with the current book, so I'm offering another classic travel blog: a riverboat cruise on the Danube. Rivers were the interstates of the past, and so much of European civilization developed along the waterways. How better to explore than in a boat holding maybe 150 friendly, intelligent passengers and serving lots of really good food? Like a plot element, the idea of a riverboat cruise simmered in my lizard brain for years, and in 2006, I thought it was time to do a cruise in Southern France. Except that all... Continue reading

The Christmas Tart Stands Alone! By Mary Jo I have a weakness for writing Christmas novellas, but many people never read the original anthologies. This is why I love publishing older novellas independently because good stories deserve a second chance at life. Because I love writing novellas, in an excess of enthusiasm in the early '90s, I agreed to do two novellas the same year. Ooops! For the Signet Victorian Christmas anthology, I wrote my Beauty and the Beast story, The Black Beast of Belleterre, which had to be written really fast! Then I had to write another story really... Continue reading

by Mary Jo Islands of Ice and Fire Our North Atlantic cruise was so interesting that I'm breaking it into three parts. (I could go on much longer, but I'll spare you. <G>) I've already written about Norway, and now I'm writing about some of the other wonderful places we visited. The Mayhem Consultant and I both selected the same cruise from a fat Viking Ocean catalog, and the reason was the itinerary. In the Wake of the Vikings was scheduled to go to all kinds of fascinating places that are hard to get to. I mean, really, how many... Continue reading

by Mary Jo I really enjoy writing novellas because the whole process of "Inspiration! Disillusion! Panic! Frantic finishing! then, Success!" is compressed into a much shorter time span. It's also possible to explore story ideas that aren't complex enough for a full length novel, but will still be fun. So I was happy when Kensington invited me to be in a Christmas anthology with two other Kensington historical authors, Madeline Hunter and Sabrina Jeffries. Seduction on a Snowy Night was published in 2019 in a trade paper edition, and the next year in a mass market size. Now Kensington has... Continue reading

Because...Dragons! Mary Jo I'm been under the deadline hammer for far too long, and even missed the fact that the audiobook edition of my novella, The Dragon and the Dark Knight, had gone live in July! (The time it takes for audio platforms to approve projects various greatly.) The narrator is the ever wonderful Siobhan Waring. Since time is in short supply, I decided to rerun the blog I did in 2020 when the e-book version was released. The Dragon and the Dark Knight! I've written a number of novellas and shorter works because they're an enjoyable change of pace... Continue reading

By Mary Jo Today I'm happy to have my long-time friend and fellow cat lover Kathy Lynn Emerson here to talk about making an old book new again, and why she's done that in this case. It's a delicious insight into how authors think, and why we do the things we do. As for the cats, note the author photo, plus the candid snap below of Kathy and kitty napping together. <G> First, about Kathy: Kathy Lynn Emerson (aka Kaitlyn Dunnett and Kate Emerson) has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others. She won the Agatha Award... Continue reading

by Mary Jo Our Word Wench WWR posts are always popular, and our July reads start with Nicola Cornick: Nicola here. My favourite read this month was Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson, which is set in London in the 1920s in the glittering and criminal world of the Soho clubs. I picked it up because the story, about the Croker family and their entertainment empire was inspired by that of the infamous nightclub owner Kate Meyrick, several of whose daughters married into the aristocracy, including the Craven family. The book perfectly captures the complicated and glamorous world of 1920s... Continue reading

Hi! Mary Jo here. Since our blogging platform didn't let me include book covers with Diane Gaston's post, I'm going to see if I can show them here. MJP Continue reading

An Interview with Diane Gaston By Mary Jo Diane Gaston and I are both long-term members of Washington Romance Writers and sister Regency addicts, so it's a pleasure to welcome her to the Word Wenches! Yesterday was the release of her newest book, The Lady Behind the Masquerade. Diane, will you tell us something about the story? Diane Gaston: The Lady Behind the Masquerade, Book 2 in a two book series, A Family of Scandals, tells the story of Marcus Wolfdon, “Wolf,” who is the younger brother of Eliza, the heroine of Book 1, Secretly Bound to the Marquess. When... Continue reading

This is an oldie but goody post from 2016 because I was just in the mood for lions and elephants! by Mary Jo September 8th, 2016, late in the evening, I pressed "Send" to email the manuscript of Once a Rebel to my editor. And the next morning we flew to Africa. I wrote 7K words that last day in order to have a semblance of an ending. I do not recommend this. <G> But the safari in Botswana was wonderful. Nothing like going off the grid when you've just finished a book! I'd had no particular awareness of Botswana... Continue reading

by Mary Jo When I was a kid in Western New York, tomatoes were just another vegetable. I didn't grow them in my garden, and while there were plenty of farm stands with great produce, I don't remember tomatoes as being especially prominent. (Picture: Hyzeyfe Turcan)) Now I live in Maryland, where it is warmer and a there's a much longer growing season, and tomatoes are treated as almost a religious experience. People (justly) rhapsodize about the heavenly taste of perfectly ripe Eastern Shore tomatoes and swap tips on where to buy the very best tomatoes. Which is important because... Continue reading

by Mary Jo The Story: Shattered Rainbows, book #5 in my Fallen Angels series, is currently free on most ebook platforms and will continue to be free for about another week. I'm writing this blog partly to talk about the book, but also explain some of the marketing decisions that go into why a book might be free. Shattered Rainbows is a favorite book of mine. (For the record, Romantic Times gave it a 4 1/2 star GOLD rating and it was a RITA finalist.) I could probably say that almost anything I've written is a favorites, but that's especially... Continue reading

The Marriage Spell by Mary Jo Finally The Marriage Spell is available as an ebook! Because the story has fantasy elements, it's listed as by "Mary Jo Putney writing as M. J. Putney." I intended for the book to be first of a new series, but Ballantine didn't want that or me, so The Marriage Spell ended up being a standalone Regency historical with magic. and I went to a different publisher, Kensington, where I've been ever since. That's life in the book business! I've been independently releasing my backlist books since 2011. Production and cover development take time, which... Continue reading

by Mary Jo This Ask A Wench blog was inspired when we started talking about furniture in our private Word Wenches email loop, and we found out that we all had stories about favorite things! Here is the question I asked: "Do you have a particular piece of furniture that you cherish? Tell us its story!" And here are the replies: From Pat Rice: I HAD wonderful pieces that I cherished—the Victorian sofa my stepfather reupholstered in lovely wine and cream to match my Tudor-style dark oak living room; the dark oak dining table that was our very first piece... Continue reading

Mary Jo: Today I'm interviewing my Regency writer friend, Alissa Baxter. She lives in South Africa so we first met online, but she inspired me to travel to South Africa twice to visit with her and her family, and once to speak to ROSA, the wonderful South African Romance Writers group. Yes, romance really is everywhere! Alissa is having a very busy year, and will have four new Regencies published in 2023-- and ALL FOUR of the heroines are scientists! Her first book of the year was The Baronet's Lady Biologist, the third in her Linfield Ladies Trilogy. And that... Continue reading

The Peace of Amiens Mary Jo Most Regency readers and writers are generally aware of the Peace of Amiens, a 15 month period of peace from March 1802 until May 1803. It's the marker between the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and was the only period of general peace in Europe until 1814, when Napoleon abdicated his throne. (1815 was when he returned from exile, reigned for the Hundred Days, and was responsible for the slaughter of masses of men at Waterloo.) The Treaty of Amiens had a lot of provisions about returning conquered territories and economic issues.... Continue reading

Travel Scarves By Mary Jo I'm not sure when I first fell in love with scarves and shawls, but I suspect it was related to long hours at a computer and not liking to have a cold neck. Besides being warming, scarves add color and a bit of dash to someone like me who is a pretty casual dresser. I have a lot of scarves of different weights, sizes, and textures. On a cold day, I want something cozy and may even layer a couple of different scarves. In warmer weather, I wear something lighter. And when I'm traveling, I... Continue reading

by Mary Jo There is a lot of cachet in saying that one has been vacationing on the Amazon! It sounds impressive even if one is traveling on a safe, comfortable ship as we were. I once counted and I think we've been on 13 different cruise lines and all have been good, but Viking is perhaps our favorite for a number of reasons. Besides taking care of passengers really, really well, they really honor their Viking roots, and that includes a small heritage display just outside the entrance to the main dining room. There are historical costumes and other... Continue reading

A Return to the River Sea By Mary Jo The Mayhem Consultant likes a good warm weather winter getaway, so when I studied some possibilities, I saw that Viking was doing cruises between Manaus, Brazil and San Juan, Puerto Rico. (The picture at the left was taken as we took a tender out to the Viking Sea when we arrived in Manaus at sunset.) Manaus is on the mighty Amazon river, a thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean. In 2014 we did a cruise of the Upper Amazon coming from Peru and it was great. We were on a very... Continue reading

Lady of Fortune: Anne Gracie interviews Mary Jo Putney Anne: Mary Jo, I've just finished reading Lady of Fortune, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I'm not the only one. Here's a snippet of a current review: "A story which captivated me from the first page and I devoured in no time, eager to see how everything will come to its end." Here's the set-up for Lady Of Fortune: Christa, the young half-French half-English Comtesse D'Estelle, narrowly escapes execution in the French revolution, but during her escape her English half-brother, Charles, Lord Radcliffe and her mother... Continue reading

Water Wise Bermuda by Mary Jo Anne Gracie found this interesting article from Atlas Obscura which describes how the island of Bermuda has managed to survive and flourish with absolutely NO natural sources of fresh water: no streams, lakes or rivers. Since the Mayhem Consultant and I spent a brief honeymoon there, Anne suggested that I might revise the original travel blog with an emphasis on how how the island has managed with no natural sources of drinking water. Except one: Rainwater. On our previous visit, our guide pointed out the white limestone roofs of all the buildings and explained... Continue reading

By Mary Jo Taming fire was surely one of the most significant developments in human history. Probably the discovery happened numerous times and numerous places, but the results were profound. Fire provided warmth, hot food, the ability to venture out into darkness, fire pottery and bricks. It could also be a tool for long distance communication. There's a marvelous scene in The Return of the King, the third Lord of the Rings movie, where signal fires are lit to summon the troops to battle. It's breathtaking to watch the fires catch on distant peaks. But fire is also a dangerous... Continue reading

The Bûche de Noël by Mary Jo Yule logs have a long tradition in Northern European winter festivals, probably a fusion of winter solstice customs with Christian Christmas celebrations. Traditionally a large log would be dragged into the house and lit on Christmas Eve and it was supposed to burn for at least three days, or better yet, till the New Year. This made a great deal of sense when household gathered around a hearth, but as times changed and hearths were replaced by wood burning stoves, what became of the Yule log? Why, it became a cake! In 19th... Continue reading

By Mary Jo I'm not a great lover of shopping, but every holiday season, I make sure to visit Kenilworth Bazaar, a small friendly mall near me. Every year, volunteers create a wonderful train garden with multiple trains and lots of different scenes. This year's train garden covers all eras from cheery dinosaurs to a cow napping space ship! The garden is large and there is always a crowd around the plastic walls as people of all ages delight in the whimsy and spectacle. And watching the people is as much fun as watching the trains! Have you ever seen... Continue reading