Medieval Me

by Joanne Rock

I forgot all about my blog posting today because I'm fixated on an upcoming visit to The Cloisters, one of the museum branches of The Metropolitan Museum in NYC. I'm visiting the city next weekend for BookCon and plan to take this side trip while I'm there.

I've been totally fascinated by my research since the museum that houses medieval art is also built from remnants of medieval chapels and monasteries brought over from Europe. How cool is that, to build a new structure of older pieces? It looks amazing.

A book I set at Poitiers

And for those of you who might be newer to my stories, you might not know that I've written for Harlequin Historicals in the past-- all medieval books. For Blaze, I did  a Viking era story too. But mostly my historicals are set in the Middle Ages. The Knight's Courtship was set at the Eleanor of Aquitaine's court in Poitiers, and I remember I had an image based on the keep at Poitiers as a screensaver the year I worked on that one. And... one of the cool things I discovered today in my research is that The Cloisters has the original work on site for me to see with my own eyes next week! I'm way too thrilled about all of this. They have the Unicorn Tapestries there too, which you might recognize.

My bookshelves are full of medieval stuff... and castles!

I love museums though... I could spend tons of time browsing and reading. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's a rocking good time. When my husband took me to see a Waterhouse exhibit in Montreal in 2010, it was one of my favorite days ever. I came home with a huge commemorative poster of one of Waterhouse's Lady of Shalott paintings that is a favorite item in my office. I'm not sure what I'll be able to get for a keepsake next weekend since I'll have to cart it home on a train, but I'm looking forward to the museum gift shop too.

To make up for my slowness getting my blog posted today, I'm going to offer up two copies of my April Desire, Expecting a Scandal, to random commenters! Just share with me what you think of museums. Are you a fan? Do you have a favorite exhibit or place to visit? Or does the idea of staring at tapestries give you hives??

Happy Samhain...er...Halloween....er...All Saints' Day Eve.....er BOOK BIRTHDAY!

October 31 is a busy day around here. 

Halloween, of course, comes to mind first. And the original Celtic celebration of Samhain. The religious holyday of All Saint's Day is also in the mix. 

I try each year to not think about or look forward to the Christmas holidays until long after Halloween. I don't care if the stores have already brought out their holiday merchandise or if the Christmas shopping adverts have begun. . . I ignore the whole Christmas business until its time.  

Um. . . until this year, that is! Yes, in a small way, I've been thinking about Christmas for some months now. I've been living in the Highlands with the winter snows swirling around me as I wrote a lovely Christmas story about the magic and hope of the season. In my defense, the Christmas festivities in the medieval Highlands is completely different from the way we celebrate them now.

And now, the true conflict happens today -- my Christmas book is available on Halloween! Yes, I have to begin celebrating the Christmas holidays today. I mean, there's nothing more exciting than when a book is released and gets into the hands of READERS! Book birthdays are THE BEST day! 

This story - A Highlander's Hope in CHRISTMAS IN KILTS - is very special to me. 20 years ago, while writing my first series - the MacKendimen Clan series - I always wanted to give a particular character her own happily-ever-after. But, for many reasons, I never wrote that story. Then, a few years ago, I planned out the novella for Robena MacKendimen, and again, never got the chance to write it. So, when St Martins Press/Swerve (then) editor Lizzie Poteet asked me to write a holiday story, it was this one I really wanted to tell. I'm thrilled that they gave me this chance to tell this emotional, sexy story of a man who knows what/who he wants and a woman who deserves happiness and hope in her life.  I hope that readers will enjoy it as much as I did.

As a reader, I always glommed the Regency Christmas anthologies each year. For me, they were the perfect length for the busy times when I had little bits of time to actually read. I could read a novella in a few hours and enjoy a complete story. Rinse, repeat over and over throughout the crazy, busy end-of-year festivities. How about you - do you like to read Christmas stories now? Or do you save them for closer to the actual holidays? Do you like full-length or the collections of shorter works better? 

Post a comment and I'll pick 3 people to receive a digital copy of ONCE FORBIDDEN, the story that leads into A HIGHLANDER'S HOPE... 


 Terri is working on new stories for Harlequin Historicals and a few surprise projects, too. You can always find news and updates about her stories and events on her website or connect with her on Facebook.