Dangerous to Know
Page 43
Woe to the man who ever tries to seduce them or even to trifle with their hearts! I may be older now, perhaps even losing a bit of my bloom, but my vigour has not left me, and I still enjoy the notion of a good duel. I shall happily run through any rake or rogue who dares to make an advance on my darlings!
AMY D’ORAZIO is a former scientist and current stay-at-home mom who is addicted to Austen and Starbucks in equal measure. While she adores Mr. Darcy, she is married to Mr. Bingley and their Pemberley is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She has two daughters devoted to sports with long practices and began writing stories as a way to pass the time spent at their various gyms and studios. She firmly believes that all stories should have long looks, stolen kisses, and happily-ever-afters. Like her favorite heroine, she dearly loves a laugh and considers herself an excellent walker. She is the author of The Best Part of Love and the soon-to-be released A Short Period of Exquisite Felicity. Click to connect with: Amy D'Orazio
Acknowledgements
By Christina Boyd
“Which of my important nothings shall I tell you first?” —Jane Austen
I quote important nothings because they are important only to me and maybe those I wish to thank. I beg you, indulge me a moment longer…
After publishing The Darcy Monologues in May 2017, murmurings began about another project. Jane Austen’s masterpieces are littered with any number of unsuitable gentlemen—Willoughby, Wickham, Churchill, Crawford, Tilney, Elliot—adding color and depth to her plots but often barely sketched out to the reader. I always wondered about her rakes and gentlemen rogues. Surely, there's more than one side to their stories. I thought it might be a titillating challenge to expose the histories of Jane Austen’s anti-heroes.
Titles were bandied about: everything from “Consequently a Rogue” taken from the Jonathon Swift quote “He was a fiddler and consequently a rogue” to “Rakes and Rogues” to “Jane Austen’s Gentlemen Rogues”. “Mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” the very phrase used by Lady Caroline Lamb to describe Lord Byron, married the previous suggestions and—voila! A title was born.
As an editor, I have been extremely fortunate to work with some incomparable authors. This project is a testament to my providence. It has been a pleasure to have several authors from The Darcy Monologues anthology including Karen M Cox, J. Marie Croft, Jenetta James, Beau North, Sophia Rose, and Joana Starnes join Amy D’Orazio, Lona Manning, Christina Morland, Katie Oliver, and Brooke West in creating this current collection of stories. The intent: write short stories, each told from one of Austen’s male antagonists’ eyes—a backstory and, or parallel story from off-stage of canon. As in The Darcy Monologues, these authors can turn up the heat with but the turn of a phrase! This Dream Team certainly upped their game taking on this challenge by undertaking characters that few even like and make the reader sympathize, if not all out adore—all the while remaining steadfast to the characters we recognize in Austen’s masterpieces. Thank you, ladies, for entrusting your words to me.
Again, Shari Ryan from MadHat Books created the gorgeous book cover from a rough sketch I sent her, and she quickly and professionally took my suggestions—and there were a lot—to make it the beauty it is today. And then she formatted all the interiors for the e-book and print. Such quality work!
Thank you, Janet Foster, for proofing the stories and catching those cosmetic errors, missing punctuation, tricky homonyms, unnecessary commas, necessary commas, plural possessive apostrophes ... all those details that need to be perfect before the book is ready for the world. She was thorough, prompt, and concise! A must for a deadline zealot like myself.
Author Beau North came through again with creating the stunning individual short story promotional graphics. She took one look at the ones I tried to fashion and she graciously, generously, sympathetically said, “Let me do it.” She is quite an accomplished woman.
Claudine from Just Jane 1813 kindly agreed to write the Foreword. She has been instrumental in supporting the project from the inception with ideas, advice, beta reading, and even creating Google Forms. (If you know me and computers, you can appreciate my enthusiasm and gratitude for that help!)
My heartfelt thanks to all the bloggers and readers who supported The Darcy Monologues with their posts and reviews and then readily bought into this venture with announcements, cover reveal, early reviews, blog tour, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. You make the Jane Austen community friendly, inspiring, and one of my greatest daily diversions! And a special thank you to Meredith Esparza of Austenesque Reviews for supporting Hurricane Relief via Austen Variations—and permitting us to write you into one of the stories.
I find strange comfort knowing Jane Austen self-published three of her first four books. I must thank those indie publishers, editors, and authors who have shared their expertise with me as I make my way in this Wild West that is modern-day publishing. “There, I will stake my last like a woman of spirit. No cold prudence for me. I am not born to sit and do nothing. If I lose the game, it shall not be from not striving for it.” —Mary Crawford to William Price, Mansfield Park, Chapter XXV.
Last May, while on my epic pilgrimage through London, Chawton, Bath, and like Lizzy Bennet, day-tripping through the great houses of the North, I frequently thought it a wonderful idea to one day let a Great House or a castle for a week with my Jane Austen authors and dearest friends. As a firm believer of manifesting your dreams to reality—I am using this space as a vehicle to put that thought out into the world!
As always, my thanks to my family and friends who support and love me, just the way I am.
CHRISTINA BOYD wears many hats as she is an editor under her own banner, The Quill Ink, a contributor to Austenprose, and a commercial ceramicist. A life member of Jane Austen Society of North America, Christina lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her dear Mr. B, two busy teenagers, and a retriever named BiBi. Visiting Jane Austen’s England was made possible by actor Henry Cavill when she won the Omaze experience to meet him in the spring of 2017 on the London Eye. True story. You can Google it. Click to connect with: Christina Boyd
Mature Content Guidelines as per Editor
1. None: possible kissing and affection
2. Mild: Kissing
3. Moderate: some sexual references but not explicit
4. Mature: some nudity and some provocative sex
5. Erotic Romance: explicit, abundance of sex