Guest Blog: Suz deMello: What's the Deal With Historical Romance?

Why do many of us enjoy writing or reading historical romance? I don’t know about anyone else, but I started by reading historicals—Georgette Heyer, to be specific. Once I discovered one of her books in our family cabin as a thirteen-year-old, I couldn’t be stopped from obsessively reading every word Heyer wrote, including the dubious non-Regency works.

Despite the weaknesses of Simon the Coldheart and My Lord John, Heyer is still my favorite historicals author. Her depth of knowledge of Regency-era English society adds greatly to my enjoyment of her novels.

I’m most interested in how people lived, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, the homes in which they lived. The art of the time, including the decorative arts—everything from snuffboxes to forks to drawing room tables.

A visit to a museum in Britain showed me how beds were constructed, which shows up in my forthcoming Desire in Tartan, part of the Clan Kilborn Vampires series from Ellora’s Cave. Sequel to my bestselling Temptation in Tartan, Desire in Tartan is about an innocent English governess who finds herself working in a castle full of vampires.

In this clip, the heroine hasn’t ridden a horse since childhood, and she’s trying to secretly practice before she must mount a mare on the morrow:
“...she went upstairs and changed into her nightwear before taking the small, flat pillow off her bed. Then she rolled up the bedclothes. Not everything, not the rope bedcords beneath the flat reed bed mat, or the bock and feather mattress. Just the sheets and blankets. Using a belt, she strapped them to the stool, trying to imitate the barrel-like shape of a horse.”

Hope you enjoy! I’ll keep everyone posted about the pub date, especially if you befriend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sueswift

BIO:
Best-selling, award-winning author Suz deMello, a.k.a Sue Swift, has written over sixteen romance novels in several subgenres, including erotica, comedy, historical, paranormal, mystery and suspense, plus a number of short stories and non-fiction articles on writing. A freelance editor, she’s worked for Total-E-Bound, Ai Press, Liquid Silver Books and Etopia Press. She also takes private clients.

Her books have been favorably reviewed in PW, Kirkus and Booklist, attained the finals of the RITA and hit several bestseller lists.

A former trial attorney, her passion is world travel. She’s left the US over a dozen times, including lengthy stints working overseas. She’s now writing yet another vampire tale and planning her next trip.

Find her books at http://www.suzdemello.com
For editing services, email her at suzswift@yahoo.com
She tweets her book picks @ReadThis4fun