Books 2 and 3 are now both available for pre-order on Amazon.com
The Plight of the Darcy Brothers (August 2009)
Mr. Darcy's Great Escape (Feb 2010)
Book 1 is availabe on Kindle!
If you want to review book 2 and you have a review blog of some sort, shoot me an email and I will try to nab you a review copy.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Review from "Church of Nu-Topia"
The Darcys and the Bingleys, Marsha Altman
I had read this on the ride home from Lunacon, hoping it would serve as a palate cleanser for Twilight. While it was certainly funny in a way Twilight could never be (ie deliberately), with a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments, I was fairly disappointed.
In which I recount the ways Darcy is transformed into someone else.
This book starts several days before the Bennet sisters' double-wedding. Usually, the P&P sequels start the day of or the day after the wedding, and only show the days leading up to the ceremony as a reminiscence if they're shown at all. However, the chapter opens with Bingley trying to ask Darcy for advice--which, on its own, is not terribly surprising. However, what Bingley's looking for is advice about sex, as he doesn't want to disappoint Jane. While I thought Darcy's initial reaction was fairly apt (ignoring the moderately unlikely premise that Bingley would ask him about that in the first place) with him getting all stuffy, his secondary reaction fell a little short of the mark. He races off to London to purchase Charles a copy of a sex manual translated from India. Now, the back cover calls it the Kama Sutra, but that’s a publisher’s error, not the author’s. You can go back and check the text; nowhere does she specify that it is the Kama Sutra. However, the Ananga Ranga makes an appearance later on, which won't be translated and printed until '85, but everyone seems to be pig-piling on a mistake that was not Altman’s.
Chapter One ends with Bingley getting ready to tell a story about a party he and Darcy attended back when they went to Cambridge together. However, instead of just telling the story, Chapter Two opens with the date: 1795. I can't explain how much that annoyed me. It's like on fanfiction.net when people use ==Darcy's POV== to indicate a point of view switch (which, I was not-entirely-surprised to discover was a more apt comparison than I'd assumed at the time, but I'll get to that). If I can't tell that you've switched POV's without you announcing it and interrupting the flow of your story, YOU HAVE PROBLEMS. Anyway, I felt that the entire sequence was clumsily handled. At other points, she has characters remembering things they had done previously without too much of a problem; but then other times she'd feel the need to cut to a flashback. In this flashback, we see what will be a common theme throughout the book: Darcy's inability to handle alcohol. Just for ha-ha's, I started keeping track of how many times Darcy was depicted as drunk. I gave up after five, cause I just didn't want to know any more. It was like trying to count the number of times 'perfect,' 'angel[ic],' or 'dazzling' was used in Sorry, forgot, saving my snark for my review of that book--although I bet you could guess what book I was gonna say, couldn't you?
After that flashback, we skip forward to page 93 and Darcy pitching Wickham out a second story window into a pile of manure (why there was a manure pile up next to the manor is beyond my guess). And all this before the wedding!
I could go on and on, but there are a few things that Altman got right, and I feel she deserves credit for them. As OOC as she had Darcy acting, she certainly got his voice down. Elizabeth's, too, as well as the tenor of their relationship. Oh, and also Mr. Bennet's. Basically, she made sure there was enough Austen-ian wit in there to keep me amused. As I said, there were some perfectly lovely lines in the book:
[After Darcy has related a story about (drunkenly!) punching Wickham in the face in university over a nickname]: "So, you are saying that if I call you 'Fitzers,' you will strike you wife?"
"No, of course not. I will politely say in a very respectful and quiet voice, 'Dearest Lizzy, love of my life, if you call me that again, I will have no recourse but to annul our marriage and send you to a nunnery in Ireland.'"
and: "I say, my daughters seem to be in some kind of competition. The first husband I must pay; the second I have no obligations to; and the third pays me. Mary, if this pattern is to continue, I will consent to you marrying a man of no less than twenty thousand pounds a year. And Kitty, nothing less than royalty will do. I perhaps will settle for Scottish royalty, but only if he truly loves you."
She also has Elizabeth continue to call her husband 'Darcy' after the wedding. This is purely a personal thing, but I prefer 'Darcy' to 'Fitzwilliam.' Fitzwilliam is just too long, doesn't break down into nicknames very well, and lacks the feeling of romance. I mean, it's easy to say, "Oh, Darcy." But, "Oh, Fitzwilliam"? I don't think so. Go ahead, say it. Okay, now try it again without Fitzwilliam sounding stupid. Ha! I told you.
The second quarter of the book passes fairly uneventfully (wedded bliss, believable voice, Darcy gets drunk, Jane and Lizzy breed, etc etc), until Charles is called away to give his consent to Caroline's soon-to-be-fiance. Uneasy with the man and unsure why, Bingley sends for Darcy, and they play private eye in London. Grumpy about being left out of the action, Lizzy convinces her father to go on an excursion to Scotland (the prospective groom's homeland) to do a little digging of her own. Of course, the man turns out to be a blackguard; there's a thrilling scene where Darcy is nearly murdered, saved at the last minute by Bingley and Elizabeth who somehow manage to sneak into the guy's lodgings, I don't even know anymore; and Caroline Bingley ends up marrying a doctor--the same doctor who has been called in to treat Mr. Hurst's gout.
Caroline Bingley marries a man in trade. True, he was born into a respectable family, but his elder brother wasted the estate on gambling and drink (Darcy, are you paying attention?!) and so now he has to work to support himself. Clearly, Darcy isn't the only one who got tapped by the OOC-fairy. And, it turns out, underneath her cold and bitchy exterior, is the heart of a warm and kind woman. Or something.
And then everyone gets locked into their rooms at Pemberley while the blackguard and the doctor's brother team up to exact revenge, and the book ends with Darcy getting drunk.
The end.
All that nonsense aside, this book is actually going to get a decent grade. It amused me, which was its main purpose, and, like I said, Altman somehow manages to get the characters completely right even as she gets them completely wrong. It's a fast read, and would be a decent book with (some better editing) and her own Regency characters. I believe a lot of my harshness stemmed from (what I saw as) the juxtaposition between their nigh-perfect voices and their OOC actions. I do find it telling that this book has its origins on fanfiction.net, which I discovered at the end of the book. I'm not saying that to be impugn it or the author (hell, I'm on ff.net), but it clarified why I had certain problems with the book. She makes a lot of the same mistakes that fanfic authors often do (painful transitions, inserting drama for drama's own sake, OOC characters...).
2.5 stars (Mostly cause I LOL'd a few times.)
Of the two, that was the better book.
I had read this on the ride home from Lunacon, hoping it would serve as a palate cleanser for Twilight. While it was certainly funny in a way Twilight could never be (ie deliberately), with a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments, I was fairly disappointed.
In which I recount the ways Darcy is transformed into someone else.
This book starts several days before the Bennet sisters' double-wedding. Usually, the P&P sequels start the day of or the day after the wedding, and only show the days leading up to the ceremony as a reminiscence if they're shown at all. However, the chapter opens with Bingley trying to ask Darcy for advice--which, on its own, is not terribly surprising. However, what Bingley's looking for is advice about sex, as he doesn't want to disappoint Jane. While I thought Darcy's initial reaction was fairly apt (ignoring the moderately unlikely premise that Bingley would ask him about that in the first place) with him getting all stuffy, his secondary reaction fell a little short of the mark. He races off to London to purchase Charles a copy of a sex manual translated from India. Now, the back cover calls it the Kama Sutra, but that’s a publisher’s error, not the author’s. You can go back and check the text; nowhere does she specify that it is the Kama Sutra. However, the Ananga Ranga makes an appearance later on, which won't be translated and printed until '85, but everyone seems to be pig-piling on a mistake that was not Altman’s.
Chapter One ends with Bingley getting ready to tell a story about a party he and Darcy attended back when they went to Cambridge together. However, instead of just telling the story, Chapter Two opens with the date: 1795. I can't explain how much that annoyed me. It's like on fanfiction.net when people use ==Darcy's POV== to indicate a point of view switch (which, I was not-entirely-surprised to discover was a more apt comparison than I'd assumed at the time, but I'll get to that). If I can't tell that you've switched POV's without you announcing it and interrupting the flow of your story, YOU HAVE PROBLEMS. Anyway, I felt that the entire sequence was clumsily handled. At other points, she has characters remembering things they had done previously without too much of a problem; but then other times she'd feel the need to cut to a flashback. In this flashback, we see what will be a common theme throughout the book: Darcy's inability to handle alcohol. Just for ha-ha's, I started keeping track of how many times Darcy was depicted as drunk. I gave up after five, cause I just didn't want to know any more. It was like trying to count the number of times 'perfect,' 'angel[ic],' or 'dazzling' was used in Sorry, forgot, saving my snark for my review of that book--although I bet you could guess what book I was gonna say, couldn't you?
After that flashback, we skip forward to page 93 and Darcy pitching Wickham out a second story window into a pile of manure (why there was a manure pile up next to the manor is beyond my guess). And all this before the wedding!
I could go on and on, but there are a few things that Altman got right, and I feel she deserves credit for them. As OOC as she had Darcy acting, she certainly got his voice down. Elizabeth's, too, as well as the tenor of their relationship. Oh, and also Mr. Bennet's. Basically, she made sure there was enough Austen-ian wit in there to keep me amused. As I said, there were some perfectly lovely lines in the book:
[After Darcy has related a story about (drunkenly!) punching Wickham in the face in university over a nickname]: "So, you are saying that if I call you 'Fitzers,' you will strike you wife?"
"No, of course not. I will politely say in a very respectful and quiet voice, 'Dearest Lizzy, love of my life, if you call me that again, I will have no recourse but to annul our marriage and send you to a nunnery in Ireland.'"
and: "I say, my daughters seem to be in some kind of competition. The first husband I must pay; the second I have no obligations to; and the third pays me. Mary, if this pattern is to continue, I will consent to you marrying a man of no less than twenty thousand pounds a year. And Kitty, nothing less than royalty will do. I perhaps will settle for Scottish royalty, but only if he truly loves you."
She also has Elizabeth continue to call her husband 'Darcy' after the wedding. This is purely a personal thing, but I prefer 'Darcy' to 'Fitzwilliam.' Fitzwilliam is just too long, doesn't break down into nicknames very well, and lacks the feeling of romance. I mean, it's easy to say, "Oh, Darcy." But, "Oh, Fitzwilliam"? I don't think so. Go ahead, say it. Okay, now try it again without Fitzwilliam sounding stupid. Ha! I told you.
The second quarter of the book passes fairly uneventfully (wedded bliss, believable voice, Darcy gets drunk, Jane and Lizzy breed, etc etc), until Charles is called away to give his consent to Caroline's soon-to-be-fiance. Uneasy with the man and unsure why, Bingley sends for Darcy, and they play private eye in London. Grumpy about being left out of the action, Lizzy convinces her father to go on an excursion to Scotland (the prospective groom's homeland) to do a little digging of her own. Of course, the man turns out to be a blackguard; there's a thrilling scene where Darcy is nearly murdered, saved at the last minute by Bingley and Elizabeth who somehow manage to sneak into the guy's lodgings, I don't even know anymore; and Caroline Bingley ends up marrying a doctor--the same doctor who has been called in to treat Mr. Hurst's gout.
Caroline Bingley marries a man in trade. True, he was born into a respectable family, but his elder brother wasted the estate on gambling and drink (Darcy, are you paying attention?!) and so now he has to work to support himself. Clearly, Darcy isn't the only one who got tapped by the OOC-fairy. And, it turns out, underneath her cold and bitchy exterior, is the heart of a warm and kind woman. Or something.
And then everyone gets locked into their rooms at Pemberley while the blackguard and the doctor's brother team up to exact revenge, and the book ends with Darcy getting drunk.
The end.
All that nonsense aside, this book is actually going to get a decent grade. It amused me, which was its main purpose, and, like I said, Altman somehow manages to get the characters completely right even as she gets them completely wrong. It's a fast read, and would be a decent book with (some better editing) and her own Regency characters. I believe a lot of my harshness stemmed from (what I saw as) the juxtaposition between their nigh-perfect voices and their OOC actions. I do find it telling that this book has its origins on fanfiction.net, which I discovered at the end of the book. I'm not saying that to be impugn it or the author (hell, I'm on ff.net), but it clarified why I had certain problems with the book. She makes a lot of the same mistakes that fanfic authors often do (painful transitions, inserting drama for drama's own sake, OOC characters...).
2.5 stars (Mostly cause I LOL'd a few times.)
Of the two, that was the better book.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Review from Library Journal Reviews
Short Takes: 13 Jane Austen Variations
Altman, Marsha. The Darcys & the Bingleys: A Tale of Two Gentlemen’s Marriages to Two Most Devoted Sisters. Sourcebooks Landmark. 2008. 424 p. ISBN 978-1-4022-1348-9. $14.95.
Picking up right where Pride and Prejudice left off, Altman’s debut novel commences just two days before the double wedding of Darcy and Bingley to the Bennett sisters. When Bingley confides some misgivings about the upcoming wedding night, Darcy presents him with a special wedding gift: a magnificently illustrated edition of The Kama Sutra. This light, humorous return to Austen’s key characters is an engaging read, but it may take too many liberties for Austen purists.
Altman, Marsha. The Darcys & the Bingleys: A Tale of Two Gentlemen’s Marriages to Two Most Devoted Sisters. Sourcebooks Landmark. 2008. 424 p. ISBN 978-1-4022-1348-9. $14.95.
Picking up right where Pride and Prejudice left off, Altman’s debut novel commences just two days before the double wedding of Darcy and Bingley to the Bennett sisters. When Bingley confides some misgivings about the upcoming wedding night, Darcy presents him with a special wedding gift: a magnificently illustrated edition of The Kama Sutra. This light, humorous return to Austen’s key characters is an engaging read, but it may take too many liberties for Austen purists.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Noontime Book Chat This Week!
All this week two different blogs will be alternately hosting a noontime book chat about my novel, which seems to mean you post on the blog starting at noon and after. I'll be popping in when I have something to say, but otherwise people will just be discussing what they thought of the book, so it's a good way to have your say or read someone else's somewhat live reviews.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Holiday Stress
Between moving and the High Holidays, it's been a crazy two weeks. Not a lot of time to work on getting book 2 revised, as the deadline is coming up on that. Hoepfully I'll have time over Sukkot to organize my books so I can start reading the ones I need to look things up. Chag Sameach!
If you're having trouble getting the book in other countries, email me. Amazon international sites seem to under-order a lot and sell out rather quickly (it has to do with the cost of shipping). I'd be happy to help you out.
If you are a book reviewer and would like a free book, email me as well.
If you're having trouble getting the book in other countries, email me. Amazon international sites seem to under-order a lot and sell out rather quickly (it has to do with the cost of shipping). I'd be happy to help you out.
If you are a book reviewer and would like a free book, email me as well.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Interviews!
Shana Tova! (Happy Jewish New Year!)
I've been interviwed a couple places. It gets increasingly difficult/fun as I come up with new things to say, sometimes to relatively the same questions.
Jane Austen Today Interview
Good Clean Reads Interview
Risky Regencies Interview
Jane Austen in Vermont Interview
Also I thought it was impossibly cool that someone did a radio review of my book.
If you're living in a country without access to my book and want to buy a copy, email me. I'll be offline for a few days due to the holidays, but then I'll be back.
I've been interviwed a couple places. It gets increasingly difficult/fun as I come up with new things to say, sometimes to relatively the same questions.
Jane Austen Today Interview
Good Clean Reads Interview
Risky Regencies Interview
Jane Austen in Vermont Interview
Also I thought it was impossibly cool that someone did a radio review of my book.
If you're living in a country without access to my book and want to buy a copy, email me. I'll be offline for a few days due to the holidays, but then I'll be back.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Review from "For Immediate Release" Reviews
http://www.forimmediatereleasereviews.com/
The Darcys & The Bingleys: Pride and Prejudice Continues; A Tale of Two Gentlemen's Marriages to Two Most Devoted Sisters
Marsha Altman
Sourcebooks $14.95 US
Can Jane Austen be improved on? Does Pride and Prejudice REALLY need to be continued? This charming period piece by debut novelist Marsha Altman proves that yes, you can never have too much Darcy and Elizabeth!
'Tis only three days until the double wedding of the Bennet sisters and best friends Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley, lacking... experience, quizzes his (presumably much more knowledgeable) friend for certain helpful information relating to the honeymoon soon to come. Mr. Darcy, ever helpful, rides in a pouring rain to find a volume to help Bingley out of a certain predicament.
This delightful novel reintroduces us to old friends and acquaintances, and even shows different sides to the irrepressible Caroline Bingley and the fragile Anne de Bourgh. We again meet the charming and devilish Wickham, and my favorite part of the book is the following excerpt from page 93:
"(Wickham said)'Come now, Fitzers, we are finally brothers-' Bingley raised his hand to shield himself from Darcy's rage, but Darcy's voice, after a pause in which undoubtedly numerous emotions were suppressed, was surprisingly light-hearted.'And I suppose as your brother, I must be the mischievious pest. And as the youngest of the three, Bingley must be my partner-in-crime, the immressionable young lad that he is. Right, Mr. Bingley?'
'Um... yes.' Bingley had no idea as to where this was going, but he was hardly going to contradict Darcy.
Darcy began to pace the room, circling Wickham. 'For example, I could be an annoying older brother and for no reason whatsoever, hit you with this walking stick.' And then, suddenly, he took Wickham's walking stick and smacked him on the back of the head, causing Wickham to double over. 'Then, because the youngest brother inevitably follows his senior, Bingley could help me toss you out the window. Bingley?'
Bingley opened his mouth to put up a protest, but Darcy gave him a look that told him resistance would be indefensible. And so, oddly enough, he hellped Darcy heave Wickham out the window. They did not hear the cracking of bones, of even an audible thud, but it was not a long drop from the second story window.
'Will he be all right?'
'Oh yes,' Darcy said as he closed the window. 'The manure pile there surely broke his fall.'"
The rest of the book is by turns serious, hilarious, and sweet. Although the back cover mentions much about a certain book purchased by Mr. Darcy, the book is not overly graphic, rather having just enough sweetness to make the reader fall in love all over again with the Darcys and the Bingleys and their families and friends. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of Pride and Prejudice.
The Darcys & The Bingleys: Pride and Prejudice Continues; A Tale of Two Gentlemen's Marriages to Two Most Devoted Sisters
Marsha Altman
Sourcebooks $14.95 US
Can Jane Austen be improved on? Does Pride and Prejudice REALLY need to be continued? This charming period piece by debut novelist Marsha Altman proves that yes, you can never have too much Darcy and Elizabeth!
'Tis only three days until the double wedding of the Bennet sisters and best friends Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley, lacking... experience, quizzes his (presumably much more knowledgeable) friend for certain helpful information relating to the honeymoon soon to come. Mr. Darcy, ever helpful, rides in a pouring rain to find a volume to help Bingley out of a certain predicament.
This delightful novel reintroduces us to old friends and acquaintances, and even shows different sides to the irrepressible Caroline Bingley and the fragile Anne de Bourgh. We again meet the charming and devilish Wickham, and my favorite part of the book is the following excerpt from page 93:
"(Wickham said)'Come now, Fitzers, we are finally brothers-' Bingley raised his hand to shield himself from Darcy's rage, but Darcy's voice, after a pause in which undoubtedly numerous emotions were suppressed, was surprisingly light-hearted.'And I suppose as your brother, I must be the mischievious pest. And as the youngest of the three, Bingley must be my partner-in-crime, the immressionable young lad that he is. Right, Mr. Bingley?'
'Um... yes.' Bingley had no idea as to where this was going, but he was hardly going to contradict Darcy.
Darcy began to pace the room, circling Wickham. 'For example, I could be an annoying older brother and for no reason whatsoever, hit you with this walking stick.' And then, suddenly, he took Wickham's walking stick and smacked him on the back of the head, causing Wickham to double over. 'Then, because the youngest brother inevitably follows his senior, Bingley could help me toss you out the window. Bingley?'
Bingley opened his mouth to put up a protest, but Darcy gave him a look that told him resistance would be indefensible. And so, oddly enough, he hellped Darcy heave Wickham out the window. They did not hear the cracking of bones, of even an audible thud, but it was not a long drop from the second story window.
'Will he be all right?'
'Oh yes,' Darcy said as he closed the window. 'The manure pile there surely broke his fall.'"
The rest of the book is by turns serious, hilarious, and sweet. Although the back cover mentions much about a certain book purchased by Mr. Darcy, the book is not overly graphic, rather having just enough sweetness to make the reader fall in love all over again with the Darcys and the Bingleys and their families and friends. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of Pride and Prejudice.
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