Marilyn Brant's Blog, page 30

Happy Friday!!

Today on Austenprose, there is a wonderful slideshow of the Regency Costume Promenade at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath (currently in progress). Definitely take a peek, if you have a chance.

Also, Book Junkie's contest ends today; NovelWhore's contest ends tonight at midnight; and The Book Girl's contest runs until Saturday at midnight. So, if you haven't yet entered these and would like to, you've got a teeny bit more time. Thanks, ladies, for the great book reviews and for ho...

In the past few days, mostly to aid my strained memory, I've compiled a list of places involved so far in my Online Book Tour. (And, FYI: quite a few more links will be added soon...) I've posted them in the right sidebar. So, if you've missed an interview, book review, guest post, article or giveaway--and you're curious about any of these--that's the one-stop spot for everything.

Today, there are a couple of very exciting, week-long events in the Blogsphere, and I'm thrilled to be a part of...

It's starting to get very exciting around here...and not *only* because we celebrated my latest trip around the sun with lots and lots of chocolate cake and orange chocolate-chip ice cream! (And, no, I'm not saying exactly when that was or exactly how old I am. Some of you already know the answer to both... :)

However, I have a few other fun tidbits to share and will happily spill every detail: I've been interviewed for two wonderful sites by two lovely people, and both interviews just went up...

It's my pleasure to have fabulous mystery writer and GCC pal Hank Phillippi Ryan here today! She's an award-winning investigative reporter, currently on the air at Boston's NBC affiliate, where she's broken big stories for the past 22 years. Along with her 26 Emmys (WOW!!), Hank has also won dozens of other journalism honors, including 10 Edward R. Murrow Awards, and highest honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors and The National Association of Science Writers. Hank's been a radio r...

Over at GoodReads last week, in the Jane Austen group, we were talking about this movie. I'd heard about it for several years (it came out in 2003) but just hadn't gotten around to seeing it. Well, as part of my plan to (1) complete my Everything Austen Challenges and (2) step away from my endless hours at the computer for awhile, I rented it and made my husband watch it with me.

One-minute analysis? We thought it was cute. It was faithful in many ways to the original, although updated to fea...

It's an absolute pleasure to have fellow women's fiction author and Girlfriends Cyber Circuit pal Joanne Rendell here today, and to celebrate the release of her second novel, Crossing Washington Square (NAL trade, September 2009). Joanne was born and raised in the UK, but she now lives in New York City with her family. She also writes fabulous articles for The Huffington Post. (Here is a link to one of my faves. ;)

Of the new novel, Booklist said: "Rendell's second novel is thoughtful and ope...

I'm happy to say, I finally got to enjoy a few "Everything Austen Challenges" in the past week! I'd wanted to watch (again, but it's been a while) the Keira & Matthew movie version of "Pride & Prejudice" from 2005. Love the energy! That was something I'd noticed the first time I saw the film: the cast and the director really captured the energy and youthfulness of Darcy, Elizabeth and all the characters in the book. Much as I adore the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle version, that was a more sedate p

Everyone has been asking me lately how I've been doing, with the expectation that I must be positively glowing with delight over the upcoming release of According to Jane (in 29 days) and that, really, no time in my life should be more exciting than this.

Yeah...um, those of you who've had a baby or two, remember how you were nauseous for months? How 1/3 of the time you were thrilled and a 1/3 of the time you were kinda nervous and 1/3 of the time you were panicking beyond all reason? How you ne

It has been truly a delightful journey for me getting to share this fun Starbucks VIA™ taste-testing experience with so many of you. Thanks to you all! Thanks for your time, your willingness to try out some new coffee, your enthusiasm and creativity (there were some WAY cool recipes :) and, mostly, for simply popping in here to comment or even just read my posts and the responses of others. You've made me want to seek out new ways to make my tiny corner of the Blogsphere even more enjoyable for

First and foremost, thanks to everyone who took part in my very first taste test! This has been an exciting process, getting to share my coffee addiction with the Blogosphere :). For all of those who tried the two flavors of the new Starbucks instant coffee--whether you got the VIA™ packets as part of an AustenFest prize, were handed a couple of them by me in person during the RWA conference or here in Chicago or signed up for the taste test on my blog--ALL of you are welcome to share your thoug