Censored Angel by Joan Koster: review

 It’s rare to review a novel as disquietingly relevant to our current problems as Censored Angel by Joan Koster. The central figure, Ida Craddock, was a writer, proponent of birth control, and mystic. Her opposition to Anthony Comstock, a postal inspector from 1873 to 1907, who used his position to prosecute anyone who published, advertised or sent through the mail anything he considered obscene, is the central theme of Koster's well-researched novel.

A religious zealot, he censored any mention of abortion, birth control, prostitution, gambling, free love, prevention of venereal disease, and gambling, among others. He was responsible for some 4,000 arrests and proud of having caused fifteen people to kill themselves by his persecution.  

Ida Craddock was forceful, brilliant, well-educated, and odd. It’s hard not to think of her as a 19^th century Joan of Arc. Needless to say, she and Comstock were natural enemies. Censored Angel is a fascinating read that should alarm all of us in the current drive by Comstock’s modern-day heirs to censor anything they disapprove of and remove books from libraries.

The last of the Comstock Laws was not repealed until 1971. Think about that as you read this book.  

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Writing Regency England: my new favorite research source

 I don’t usually review non-fiction but as Writing Regency England by Jayne Davis and Gail Eastwood (two of my favorite romance authors) is such a useful resource, I’m going to plug it.

 I’ve been doing research for my mid-eighteenth century books since 2013 and when I beta-read Writing Regency England, I knew I was going to buy a copy as soon as it came out.

I read a lot of historical romance and it’s a rare read that doesn’t make me grit my teeth, even when I love the story. Granted, not everyone is as compulsive about research as I am (except, apparently, Davis and Eastwood), but getting the basics of Regency life wrong (like noblemen’s titles) is just…wrong.

This book belongs on the research shelf of anyone who writes Regency period novels. A lot of it is equally useful for those of us who write in the Georgian period, and some would be relevant well into the nineteenth century.

Did you know skunks are not native to Great Britain? Neither did I.

It's Out!

 

By Sword and Fan is now officially out and I'm just as thrilled as I was at the worldwide release of the previous eight. Maybe even a little more, because this one took longer to write and revise. Like the others, it's set in mid-eighteenth century England. 

 Here's a brief excerpt:

“Gone!” Archbold’s low, furious voice left Margaret in no doubt that he would have cursed if he had been alone or only with a man. She rode forward to join him.Two ponies with sidesaddles were loosely tethered in a little clear space between the trees and the foot of the rise. Ackerley’s hack was missing.

Campbell said, “I’ll be having a look at the road.”

The children had been abducted. No one needed to say it aloud.

The Scots groom was back in a trice. “No sign of them. Horses stood a whiles. Sh—droppin’s. A few spilt aits.”

And here's an excerpt from The Historical Fiction Company's review:

"[T]hat the characters are older and have experienced life more than many characters in romance novels makes them much more realistic...Buckley does a fantastic job developing characters and using a character-driven plot to engage readers and evoke emotions within the reader...“By Sword and Fan” by Kathleen Buckley receives four stars from The Historical Fiction Company."   The Historical Fiction Company  https://www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/post/a-delightful-historical-romance-an-editorial-review-of-by-sword-and-fan

Yikes! my 9th traditional historical romance is available for pre-order

 By Sword and Fan, my ninth novel (can it really be the ninth?) is up on Amazon (release date is 10/18/23) for $3.99. Somehow that makes it real. This novel was a particularly hard slog for me.

Despite the slightly Freudian cover, your twelve-year-old or your great-grandmother could read this without embarrassment. 

Meanwhile, I'm about 5,000 words from completing the first draft of  Hidden Treasures. Then I've got a novella (I think) with a Christmas theme in progress.

After that, I have an idea for a mystery with one of the minor characters from By Sword and Fan, a magistrate, as the main character. Magistrates had a good deal of leeway in the 18th century. 

 How do you plan a road trip in mid-eighteenth-century England? If it’s to take place on the Great North Road, it’s not difficult, as that was the main road running north, and the modern A1 motorway parallels it. But if your characters venture elsewhere, it’s more complicated. For A Peculiar Enchantment, I needed to trace Adelaide and Gervase’s route from London to Northumberland in detail and it couldn’t be by way of the Great North Road (for fear of pursuit).

Searching 21^st century maps for eighteenth century routes is seldom helpful. The Tradesman’s Guide; or The Chapman’s and Traveller’s Best Companion by Charles Pickman (1727), lists the towns between London and the traveller’s destination (if it was a market town or held a fair), mileage, and places where coach routes cross. With that information, I was able to work out where my characters might stop for the night and how long the journey might take.  

At Carlisle, they went east on the Stanegate, the old Roman road running east-west south of Hadrian’s Wall, and turned north at Corbridge. The Roman roads crisscrossing England were better built than those built later with less engineering skill and are easy to research online.  

I made use of the extensive network of Roman roads in my upcoming novel, By Sword and Fan (worldwide release date 10/18/2023). 

Sometimes the fan is more useful than the sword.

   

My last post contained an error; here's the (important) correction

 It started out all right:

And who doesn't like free books? Here's the link to the reader sign-up:

https://www.facebook.com/kathryn.knight.1297/posts/pfbid02nBfsSVThPTjspTuYd6oPjXYdU4VPTWi5UzdjKyejWdXCuZ6xvLsDWnd5q3AZeAkKl

The Summer Fling does run from July 4 to August 4, 2023 but the book I'm offering is my second, Most Secret, not A Peculiar Enchantment. Lots of other authors are participating and they're giving away ebooks, too.  

Set at the outset of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, it involves treason, murder, romance, and arson. And it’s even occasionally funny:

 They rode north by the highway that ran from Kirkcaldy to Newport, where a ferry crossed the Tay to Dundee. Through the whole journey, some fifteen or eighteen miles, Alex tried to decide what to do. He was guarded by a corporal and several privates, making any attempt to escape a forlorn hope.

…

“It’s a fine, new building,” the corporal said chattily as they reined in before a great, steepled building fronted by an arcade. A number of men were idling there, talking in low voices. Even without being able to make out the words, there was an air of palpable tension. He’d sensed something very like it as they had ridden through the town: a sensation like that when amber is rubbed on silk.

 “They call this the Town House, and the official offices are here. I’m told the cells are not bad. As cells go,” Corporal Fisk added.

A chance to get free books for review

 And who doesn't like free books? Here's the link to the reader sign-up:

https://www.facebook.com/kathryn.knight.1297/posts/pfbid02nBfsSVThPTjspTuYd6oPjXYdU4VPTWi5UzdjKyejWdXCuZ6xvLsDWnd5q3AZeAkKl

The event begins July 4, 2023 and ends 8/4/23, and my book, A Peculiar Enchantment (no, not paranormal or fantasy, despite the cover), is one of them.