Guest Mary Lydon Simonsen: Mr. Darcy Grows Fur!

Linda Banche here. My guest today is Mary Lydon Simonsen and Mr. Dacry's Bite, her paranormal take on Pride and Prejudice. Here she tells us why she made Mr. Darcy a werewolf instead of a vampire.

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win the copy of Mr. Darcy's Bite which Sourcebooks has generously provided. Mary will select the winner. Check the comments to see who won, and how to contact me to claim your book. If I cannot contact the winner within a week of selection, I will award the book to an alternate. Note, Sourcebooks can mail to USA and Canada addresses only.

And the winner Mary selected is Calisa Rhose! Congratulations, Calisa, and thanks to all who came over.

Welcome back, Mary!

Mary Lydon Simonsen:

Hello Linda! It’s so good to be back at Historical Hussies!

You have asked me to write about why I chose to transform Mr. Darcy into a werewolf in my novel, Mr. Darcy’s Bite. Actually, it all started as a lark. I had been reading a werewolf story on a Jane Austen fan fiction site. With Halloween 2009 approaching, I decided to write a short story called “Mr. Darcy on the Eve of All Saints’ Day.” It received such a positive response that I kept writing. Before I knew it, I had a full-length novel, and Sourcebooks wanted it for my fourth novel with them.

You also asked why a werewolf and not a vampire? Despite the enormous success of the Twilight series, I did not choose to make Mr. Darcy a vampire because that would have required dealing with a lot of blood, and I am a bit squeamish in that department. Because I eat very little meat, and what I do eat cannot remotely resemble the animal it came from, I should have had the same problem with werewolves. But I left the situations where Mr. Darcy is out in the wild hunting for his food to the imagination of my readers. If you are looking for scenes of the werewolf Mr. Darcy tearing apart a deer, you won’t find it in Mr. Darcy’s Bite. However, he does smack his lips after a satisfying hunt and a particularly tasty kill.

Mr. Darcy was not born a werewolf. Rather, he became one as a result of a bite he received in the Black Forest when he was 14. Because of his dual nature, he always thought he would marry a she wolf. You know, keep things simple. But that was before he met Elizabeth Bennet. Stalking and bringing down a buck is a piece of cake compared to telling the woman he loves that he grows fur, fangs, and a bushy tail once in every moon cycle.

At first Lizzy is horrified. Although she wishes Mr. Darcy well, she wants no part of his world. But after seeing him in his altered statement and noting how much his sister and cousin, Anne de Bourgh, love him and how much his servants respect him, she softens and eventually realizes that her love for the master of Pemberley is so great that she must share his life no matter what. Besides, what’s a little fur between two people in love?

You also asked if being a werewolf “confers power and privilege?” Yes and no. Because he is the alpha member of his small pack, he does have power, and he is supremely confident in both his manifestations. However, if his lupine nature were to be discovered, he would be killed. As a result, there is no privilege associated with his being a werewolf. Everything the Darcys do must take into consideration the danger of being exposed.

I loved writing this story because I love wolves. This goes back to the time when I was a kid reading Jack London’s stories. I was fortunate to have watched a wolf in Yellowstone Park doing his/her best to kill field mice in a meadow. I don’t know if he/she was young, but the mice were winning this day. Even so, there was something primal in watching an animal hunt.

I would love to know what your readers think about Mr. Darcy as a werewolf. Personally, I’ll take him anyway I can get him.

Thanks again. This was fun.

MR. DARCY'S BITE BY MARY LYDON SIMONSEN
Mr. Darcy has a secret...

Darcy is acting rather oddly. After months of courting Elizabeth Bennet, no offer of marriage is forthcoming and Elizabeth is first impatient, then increasingly frightened. For there is no denying that the full moon seems to be affecting his behavior, and Elizabeth’s love is going to be tested in ways she never dreamed...

Darcy has more than family pride to protect: others of his kind are being hunted all over England and a member of Darcy’s pack is facing a crisis in Scotland. It will take all of Elizabeth’s faith, courage, and ingenuity to overcome her prejudice and join Darcy in a Regency world she never knew existed.

Praise for The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy:

“Simonsen spins off another superior Jane Austen homage.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Engrossing and delightful…Simonsen takes quite an intriguing approach.”
—Rundpinne

“A fast-reading, engaging style…brings a new and enjoyable immediacy to Jane Austen’s most popular novel.”
—Linda Banche Romance Author

“Creative, well-paced, and definitely diverting.”
—Austenprose

About the Author
Mary Simonsen
Mary Lydon Simonsen’s first book, Searching for Pemberley, was acclaimed by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times. She is well loved and widely followed on all the Jane Austen fanfic sites, with tens of thousands of hits and hundreds of reviews whenever she posts. She lives in Peoria, Arizona.

Guest Lydia Dare: Werevolves in Regency England

Linda Banche here. All you historical werewolf fans take note! Today I welcome Lydia Dare, whose latest book is the Regency paranormal, A Certain Wolfish Charm.

Leave a comment for a chance to win one of the two copies of A Certain Wolfish Charm which Sourcebooks has generously provided. Lydia will select the winners. Check the comments to see who won, and how to contact me to claim your book. If I cannot contact the winners within a week of their selection, I will award the books to alternates. Note, Sourcebooks can mail to USA and Canada addresses only. The winners are catslady and rm2h. catslady, I already know your address. rm2h, please contact me at linda@lindabanche.com so I can mail you your book. If I don't hear from you by May 5, I'll select an alternate.

Welcome, Lydia. Or should I say, Lydias?

We (yes, there are two of us!) were asked why we chose Regency England as our setting, because by the time of the Regency, all wolves/natural predators had been killed off.

Or had they? It depends on which world you’re speaking about, doesn’t it?

While, historically speaking, wolves and other natural predators were eradicated prior to the Regency period, our werewolves fit so nicely into Regency Society, we couldn’t resist. Historical details are integral to the tone of the novel, but our world is also steeped in the fantastical. Lycan’s weren’t killed off in our world, even if the Canis Lupus were no longer found in the area. Lycans are in existence in the hearts and minds of the readers. In fact, there’s a society dedicated to them. We know there is because we created it. The Westfield Lycans and their friends weren’t in danger of being killed because they were a threat to livestock or humans. Or because they were nuisance creatures. Well, perhaps William Westfield made a bit of a nuisance of himself in A Certain Wolfish Charm and Tall, Dark and Wolfish. But that’s another topic all together.

The Regency period is famous for the very common appearance of the alpha-rake. The dukes, the barons, the viscounts, and other gentlemen are commanding by their general nature. Add wealth, a sense of entitlement and striking good looks and you have the makings of a romantic hero. The men of the time period already have a very wolfish demeanor even without being placed into our fantastical world. But, when you add that world, and put the alpha-rake into a pack of his very own, you allow him to adopt some of the characteristics of fabled Lycans and you can make him multi dimensional.

There are always reasons why the hero and heroine can’t or won’t come together. It’s what romance is all about. All of that tension, heartache and strife makes for a story that can captivate a reader.

In A Certain Wolfish Charm (in stores now!), Simon Westfield, the Duke of Blackmoor, has convinced himself that he has to avoid women when the moon is full, that he can’t be part of society because of his sheer wolfishness. It’s not until a lovely woman calls to him more loudly than the moon that he is forced to rethink his point of view.

In Tall, Dark and Wolfish (in stores May 2010), Benjamin Westfield, the youngest Westfield brother, wants more than anything to find his Lycan side when it’s suddenly lost to him. He wants to return to his pack so badly that he seeks out a healer to help him get back to his former, wolfish self.

In The Wolf Next Door (in stores June 2010), William Westfield revels in the light of the moon, and has found a woman who loves him, but in his mind, it’s conditional and depends on the time of the month. If only she knew it was him she scratches behind the ears under the light of the full moon, his life would be perfect.

The fact that our characters are Lycans creates one more incredibly obtrusive reason the hero and heroine cannot be together. That’s why we put Lycans in Regency England. That and just because they’re just so darn much fun to write. We can add some animalistic traits to our heroes that make him even more masculine, even more troubled, even more easy to love than the average Regency hero.

There’s some element of doing the impossible when you try to place an animal into society. The time period makes that even more fun, even more engaging and, yes, even more ludicrous in some situations.

Lycans can cause all sorts of mischief just because they are what they are. We hope you enjoy the Westfields as much as we enjoyed creating them and their world.

A CERTAIN WOLFISH CHARM by LYDIA DARE

He gets crankier and crankier as the moon gets full…

The rules of society can be beastly—especially when you’re a werewolf and it’s that irritating time of the month. Simon Westfield, the Duke of Blackmoor, is rich, powerful, and sinfully handsome, and has spent his entire life creating scandal and mayhem. It doesn’t help his wolfish temper at all that Miss Lily Rutledge seems not the least bit afraid of him, and in fact, may be as untamable as he is…

A woman whose charm is stronger that the moon…

When Lily’s beloved nephew’s behavior becomes inexplicably wild, she turns to Simon, the boy’s cousin and guardian, for help. But Simon’s idea of assistance is far different than hers, and Lily finds herself ensconced in his house and engaged to the rogue.

They both may have bitten off more than they can chew when each begins to discover the other’s darkest secrets…

About the Author
Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2010! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.