Writers of Jane Austen fiction 

  cordially invite you to the

  One Year Anniversary Celebration  

of 

Austen Authors

  We look forward to the pleasure of your company

Monday, September 5 – Saturday, September 10 

Throughout the week there will be:

fun posts by AuAu writers,

contests, quizzes, games galore,

retrospection on the past year and a look into the future,

oodles of information, questions and answers,

new release parties,  entertainment, humour,

and giveaways of gifts and books from the authors and their publishers. 

Please join us, and be sure to post comments. 

I hope you’ll join me at Austen Authors.

J. Marie Croft (Joanne)

If you’re traveling by post today,

I hope you’ll make a rest stop at my website.

There’s an excerpt from Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge to read and a contest to enter.

Please visit the blog at my website for this important announcement.

The ‘Reviews’ page on my website has been updated should you care to peruse what has been written about my first novel.  Included are comments from those who did not appreciate an excess of the ‘lowest form of humour‘. Although the back of the book clearly states “This ‘PUN-filled‘ tale will certainly not be a PUN-ishment to read”, a few detractors certainly did consider the story a maltreatment.  Perhaps a more appropriate title would have been Pride and Prejudice and Puns rather than Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge.

My Muse

I’m currently doing research for new stories (some JA inspired and one not) as well as tweaking several old ones.  Oh, and I did manage to write another short story.  If you haven’t read A Little Whimsical in His Civilities, please visit either The Writer’s Block or the Derbyshire Writers’ Guild.  The puns in that tale may be few and far between, but they’ve been replaced by Elizabethan / Shakespearean-era insults.  I’d love to get your feedback on the story.   You can leave a comment at the site, here, or simply email me (jmariecroft@gmail.com).

Old News

If you’re interested in reading my blogs at Austen Authors, following are links to a number of personal posts I’ve written since that site began.

Muses, Museums, and Day Trippers - July 2011

Rules are meant to be broken. - June 2011

At Mr. Darcy’s Expense  - May 2011

A Fool’s Errand - April 2011

When Life Gives You Lemons - March 2011

Bosky, Bounder, Bit o’ Muslin, and Bombazine – February 2011

An Un-heated Topic – January 2011

Mummers, and Jannies, and Mimes, oh my! – December 2010

Words and Whirls in the Regency World – November 2010

Scroll down to second blog post on the page to find J. Marie Croft celebrates Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge – November 2011

Tragedy & Comedy – October 2010

Scroll down to about the middle of the page to find J. Marie Croft – September 2010

I lost my train of thought and was derailed for months; but I’m back on track now.  My loco-motive for reviving this blog is the new Austen Authors’ Mission Statement.

Another loco-motive is the up-coming month-long “Austenesque Extravaganza”.  The engineer of the event is Meredith Esparza of Austenesque Reviews, and this celebration of Austen-inspired novels includes fifty or so authors.  Mark your calendar, and I hope you’ll choo-choose to park your caboose right here with me for a while on Thursday, August 25.  You may be railroaded into reading an excerpt, entering a contest, and perhaps winning a prize.  Are you on board?

5.0 out of 5 stars

Light fun with lots of laughter (chuckling chatty)

November 9, 2010

by “chatty” (boston)

 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge (Kindle Edition)

The book starts off with a little light humor which continues on with hilarious scenes. The characters all have there own witty humor.I loved all the wittisism,the puns and the rhyming. Plus the author cleverly introduces key words and movie titles that any P&P fan will definitly find amusing. I could not stop laughing. If your looking for entertainment this book has plenty of it. I enjoyed it throughly!!!

 

In this continuation from Part 1, which is what Part 2 usually means, I’ll touch upon more of the books sitting on my shelves.  Perhaps those books should be touched upon more often … with a duster.  Dang!  I said I wouldn’t mention dust again.  Anyway, I went through a phase of reading volumes of bestsellers; but most of those novels were passed along for others to enjoy.  Very few (see below) remain on my shelf, although I took pleasure in them at the time.

I went through a science fiction phase and total obsession with all things Star Trek.  I have two, count ‘em, two bookcases (not just shelves) full of novels, non-fiction books, and technical manuals.  I am not ashamed to admit I was, and still am, a Trekker.  Once upon a time, family and friends knew not to bother me when reruns aired, even on my wedding day.  Now I’m more of a word nerd than a Trekker; but those novels and manuals remain … gathering dust.

Here are just a few other books and authors, in no particular order, that have a permanent place on my shelf:

• A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
• The Cry of the Kalahari (non-fiction by Delia and Mark Owens)
• Gondar and also Kala (Nicholas Luard)
• Bill Bryson’s works
• Janet Evanovitch’s ‘Stephanie Plum’ stories (a guilty pleasure)
• Ken Follett’s novels
• Wilbur Smith’s works (especially River God and its sequels)
• Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series (Oh, yeah!  My love of Jamie & Claire is only surpassed by my love of Darcy & Elizabeth.)
• Jane Austen’s six novels (My favourite is Pride and Prejudice.)
• I’m going to include Regency stories written by Austen’s fans amongst my favourite reading material.  There’s a wealth of Jane Austen fan-fiction out there, and I’m very happy to be part of that community.  By the way, Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge does not come with a dust jacket.

“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.”
~ Gilbert Highet (1906 – 1978) ~

Over the years many of the books I once enjoyed reading have disappeared from my shelves.  Certainly, the children’s stories, comics, Nancy Drew series, and Lucy Maud Montgomery novels have long been passed along for others to appreciate.  Yet particular favourites, even from childhood, remain in my possession.

Two works by local Nova Scotian authors have been boxed and moved from shelf to shelf as I changed address.  Beautiful Joe by (Margaret) Marshall Saunders touched me more than Black Beauty.  The works of author Kay Hill, my mom’s friend, include the title And Tomorrow the Stars: The Story of John Cabot.  Perhaps thorough enjoyment of that biography was the onset of my enduring interest in historical characters, whether real or fictional.

Eons ago, my Grade Six class was assigned a novel to read.  It was Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart, and I was instantly hooked.  I have remained a loyal fan of her work but was especially enchanted by Stewart’s The Crystal Cave and its sequels.  That enchantment with the Arthurian legends inspired me to seek out many other authors‘ works on the topic, and my fascination never waned.  The first book I’ve written (Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge) has a chapter in which its characters recite puns about King Arthur and his knights.  The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley still sits upon my shelf, and then there’s Jack Whyte.  I highly recommend Whyte’s Dream of Eagles / Camulod Chronicles series.  Start with The Skystone and then enjoy its many sequels.  For me, discovery of Whyte’s works was akin to stumbling upon treasure, and his books only leave my shelf to be reread … or when I have to dust.  I could fill several blog posts with my intense dislike of housework, but I won’t.

More favourite reading material will be revealed in Part 2 of A Bookshelf’s Shelf Life.  Dust will not be given further mention, except for a certain silky Maltese named Dust Bunny that appears in Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge.

Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge.

Here’s a link to Rhemalda Publishing’s blog post explaining the delay in distribution of Mr. Darcy Takes the Plunge and the other two titles scheduled for launch on November 1st.

Be sure to visit Austen Authors on November 2nd for my celebration.