A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Monica Fairview, author of The Other Mr Darcy, was gracious enough to answer a few questions allow me to share her answers. Her book was released on October 1st and is now in stores. I reviewed The Other Mr. Darcy on my blog last month on September 23rd.

Drawing:

I’ll be giving away one copy of The Other Mr. Darcy. The winner will be chosen from those who have commented on this post and live within the US or Canada. The winner will be chosen from those who comment on October 16th.

Interview with Monica Fairview:

What drew you to Caroline Bingley? She’s not a very sympathetic character in Pride and Prejudice and most follow on books center on the P&P main characters, what was it about Caroline that called to you to give her a chance at happiness?

I see Caroline as an underdog in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth waltzes in and steals Mr. Darcy from right under her nose, and to add insult to injury, everyone gets to hate Caroline because she wanted Darcy in the first place. I kept thinking about Caroline and the kind of labels people attach to her such as “evil” and “witch” and other less polite terms, and my feminist instincts came to the fore. Why is Caroline the scapegoat in this story? She doesn’t do anything that Darcy doesn’t do. Darcy snubs Elizabeth and makes snide remarks about her family (“I’d sooner call her mother a wit,” he says), separates Bingley from Jane, and has plans to marry well. Caroline doesn’t do anything worse than that. Yet Darcy is forgiven, because he comes to love Elizabeth, but Caroline isn’t. There’s a much worse villain in Pride & Prejudice: Wickham. And yet you don’t hear people call him names.

So I wanted to give Caroline a voice. It’s as simple as that.

I was a bit surprised that Mr. Robert Darcy was American. It can be assumed that there are European D’Arcys, so why put a branch of the family in American?

I didn’t even think of the European D’Arcys because I was looking for a specific type of hero. Robert Darcy’s father left England because he was an odd person out. He couldn’t live with the expectations of being a gentleman. He was a businessman, and since engaging in trade wasn’t quite respectable, he needed to go elsewhere. Robert Darcy, too, is a sort of rebel. He does his own thing, even though as a Bostonian whose mother comes from a Brahmin background (though that word wasn’t used until later), he’s been raised very much like an English gentleman. So he’s capable of seeing two sides of the coin. Because of that, he can help Caroline see what’s wrong with her own lifestyle. Plus, he won’t look down on her for being in “trade.”

In addition, I have an underlying theme in the novel about “otherness” and how easily one can become alienated from society. Britain is at war with America at the time the novel takes place. Robert is caught behind enemy lines, so to speak, although the English at the time were more interested in the war with Napoleon than what was happening in the former colonies. But it forces him to examine his own identity. As a Darcy, he is part of the upper class in England. But as an American, he has supposedly moved away from such distinctions. It was fascinating to explore the contradictions inherent in the social systems. Through Robert I was able to look at the differences between the New World and the Old, and to explore the question of the newly established American identity of the time.

Because Robert is actually trying to define his own identity, his journey of self-awareness runs in a way parallel to Caroline’s, who also learns some hard lessons about her own role in society, both from a class perspective and as a woman.

One of the main problems of writing a follow on book from any of Jane Austen’s works, is “how true must I stay to the characters she developed as I bring them into a new adventure.” Did you feel that keeping the main character traits caused you any problems in moving in the direction you wanted to go? Did it cause any problems in your filling out Caroline’s growth and change?

Yes, it’s very hard – you do have to stay true to the characters. And you have to be very disciplined. I found it very restrictive, in some ways, but I also found I learned so much about the craft of writing from Jane Austen. She’s amazing, really, not only because of Darcy or Elizabeth but because she’s so very subtle. And then trying to adopt Jane Austen’s characters and move them into the new context was a huge challenge. I enjoyed it tremendously, though. Some Austenesque writers solve the problem of keeping the characters true by using actual quotes from P&P. I couldn’t do that, because I wasn’t presenting things from the same angle. I did use a lot from P&P to fill in Caroline’s background, but by the beginning of The Other Mr. Darcy Caroline had already changed in some ways. She’d been in love, and she’d been badly hurt. I was therefore able to have her stay true to her character, but at the same time I was able to show her as vulnerable, too, for two reasons: 1) because of the pain she went through and 2) because Robert Darcy has watched her fall to pieces, and she feels almost in his power.

I think when it comes to the other characters, the Bennets, for example, I’ve stayed as true to P&P as I could while at the same time putting them into different contexts. I studied the speech patterns of each of the characters very closely, and tried not to have them say anything that didn’t seem to fit. I’ve known P&P since I was about thirteen, and have read it so many times I have sections of it memorized. That definitely helped.

When not reading or researching the Regency period for your books, what type of books do you like to read — what are the last five books you read just for fun?

I noticed that you featured Connie Willis on your site. I just (re)read Passage, which I think is brilliant, though probably the word “fun” doesn’t apply here. I love her writings. I also love Cherryh’s Foreigner series, because I love the way she deals with cultural issues. For fun, to get out of the Regency world I seem to eat, drink and breathe, I read SF, especially by women writers, though I don’t read as much of it these days as I used to since it seems to have gravitated towards horror, which is not my genre, even though it’s enormously fashionable. I’ve been reading some British romantic comedy writers such as Julie Cohen’s Girl From Mars, Phillipa Ashley’s Decent Exposure, and Jill Mansell who is now being published by Sourcebooks. I read veraciously.

Most people are interested in writers and their lives, so what’s a typical writing day like for you?

I dream of something to write, then I wake up and start scribbling frantically onto bits of paper. Actually, not true, though sometimes that does happen. Not the dreaming part, but the bit where I wake up with a dialogue or scene in my head that I have to write down or I lose it. But otherwise, my working day is quite mundane. I usually turn on my computer when I wake up to give it a chance to do all the updates and come up with all the delays it possibly can, then do school drop-off. Next I procrastinate by checking e-mails, facebook, twitter, etc. When I have no more excuses left, I have to start writing. It’s really like any job, except it’s a lot more fun. I have to take into account my child’s schedule. I usually stay up late to write because that’s a quiet, peaceful time with fewer interruptions.

Has the reaction to The Other Mr. Darcy held any surprises for you? Anything you didn’t expect?

Not so far. I’m sure there will be some surprises, though. The Other Mr. Darcy is a bit different from many of the Austen-inspired novels out there.

Thanks for your time!

Thank you! I’m delighted to have had this chance to share my thoughts and books with you and your readers.

The Other Mr. Darcy—in stores October 2009!
Did you know that Mr. Darcy had an American cousin?!

In this highly original Pride and Prejudice sequel by British author Monica Fairview, Caroline Bingley is our heroine. Caroline is sincerely broken-hearted when Mr. Darcy marries Lizzy Bennet— that is, until she meets his charming and sympathetic American cousin…

Mr. Robert Darcy is as charming as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is proud, and he is stunned to find the beautiful Caroline weeping at his cousin’s wedding. Such depth of love, he thinks, is rare and precious. For him, it’s nearly love at first sight. But these British can be so haughty and off-putting. How can he let the young lady, who was understandably mortified to be discovered in such a vulnerable moment, know how much he feels for and sympathizes with her?

About the Author:
As a literature professor, Monica Fairview enjoyed teaching students to love reading. But after years of postponing the urge, she finally realized what she really wanted was to write books herself. She lived in Illinois, Los Angeles, Seattle, Texas, Colorado, Oregon and Boston as a student and professor, and now lives in London. To find out more, please visit http://www.monicafairview.co.uk/

My Little Polar Bear is written and illustrated by the author, Claudia Rueda. Published by Scholastic Press in hardcover with a dust jacket which has nice sparkles like falling snow everywhere but the words, the bears, and the snow. The book is aimed at 4-8 year olds. At that age they may be able to read it to themselves as the words are very simple and very, very few — many that repeat. However, it can be read to children much younger.

There is no plot per se, the baby polar bear wants to know if he or she is a polar bear. The parent bear assures the child that indeed that’s what he/she is — a polar bear. The inevitable “Why?” elicits a list of polar bear traits that the baby shares with polar bears. The child is concerned because she/he doesn’t meet all those traits. It ends with the parent expressing an “I love you”. Simple affirmation of who you are and that you are loved for who you are–what all children should expect and receive–unqualified love. Just because you exist, you are loved.

I can see reading this snuggled up with a young child, and can almost imagine the questions the parent will get about polar bears and why can’t “I” be a polar bear. Parents will understand how the simplest story or homily will and often does turn into a philosophical discussion preceded by “Why?”. But its simplicity makes it a good cuddle down with me for five minutes book.

My only problem –and it’s a problem of my preferences in children’s art books–the art is very lovely in pale blues, white, and grey. I would have liked more contrast for young eyes. These older eyes prefer contrast too — while very stylistic and beautifully uncluttered I miss the contrast that could have been done with the dark sky of the winter polar region. But that’s only my preference.

However, I do love polar bears and thought as long as I’m talking about polar bears, here’s the National Geographic site which has some polar bear wallpaper that might just go along with the book, My Little Polar Bear. This particular photo shows what I mean about a stronger contrast between the blue and white–just saying.

With Jane, Elizabeth, and Lydia married, Mrs. Bennet has set her sights on marrying off Mary and Kitty. Since Kitty is currently away visiting her sisters, Jane and Elizabeth, Mary is taking the brunt of Mrs. Bennet’s efforts. While Mary is willing to meekly follow Mrs. Bennet’s instructions to smile and dance, she has no intention of marrying as she firmly believes that it is not a state she wishes to enter, having observed her sister’s marriages.

Ward has chosen to focus on Mary, the least understood and most overlooked of the Bennet sisters– in fact, in some movies based loosely on the original Austen story, they leave Mary out altogether. In A Match for Mary Bennet, Mary is very much as she was in Pride and Prejudice. She studies and reads but does not always get from the reading what most people would expect. She sees only the surface and assumes that what you see is all there is to a person. She doesn’t lie herself, and assumes everyone tells the truth. In a society based so much on hiding a person’s true emotions, Mary’s character leaves her ill prepared to deal with the world as it is. Luckily for Mary, she is somewhat protected by her family.

Mary also believes that people with authority are voices of reason; I believe that this is why she has been so taken with Mr. Collins. Her mother tells her Lizzie married Mr. Darcy to make up for refusing Mr. Collins and it was a huge sacrifice on Lizzie’s part. Mr. Collins tells Mary to never speak of Lydia again–to pretend she died. If authority says something, Mary doesn’t question–until she meets the new minister Mr. Darcy has chosen for Kympton, Mr. Oliver.

Without her sisters, Mary finds she’s asked to dance at the assemblies and that she also has to take part in conversations. We find that she’s not shallow. Mary has a good head on her shoulders, she just assumes that people are what they appear to be and when they ask a question — that is the question they are asking. As readers we find that Mary gives good advice. After meeting Mr. Oliver, she begins to pay more attention to the people around her and learns that she has often missed seeing the true person. Mary grows.

Her sisters’, Jane and Elizabeth, and their husbands, are aware that Mary doesn’t wish to marry and they manage to assist her in finding security in case she doesn’t change her mind.

There’s a lot going on in this book besides Mary finding herself and new inner strength to stand up for herself. Many of the original characters from Pride and Prejudice appear and continue their lives in concert with the way they were set in motion in that original book. Life goes on in the world of Pemberly and the people live their lives. Ward has fashioned an interesting story and has given us an interesting take on a Mary Bennet. It may not be to everyone’s taste as religion is a large part of Mary’s life and thus is a large part of her moving forward to become a more independent person. It’s not preachy and it’s totally in character.  And as it shaped Mary in Pride and Prejudice it shapes her thoughts and actions in A Match for Mary Bennet. And as readers, we come to know her better for spending some time with her.

Mr. Darcy has married Elizabeth Bennet. Caroline Bingley is devastated and mortified by this turn of events. After the ceremony, she finds an empty room and gives way to her heartbreak and sorrow. Imagine her surprise when she realizes that her blatant display has been witnessed by a gentleman who had been in the room before she entered. They agree to never mention it again. Carolyn believes that is the end of the matter until months later when she is introduced to Mr. Darcy’s American cousin, Mr. Robert Darcy, the man who witnessed her loss of decorum and who, because of his station and relations, will be thrown into her company as he waits out the war before returning to America.

Most of the follow on books that continue the story of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, deal with the lives of Elizabeth and Darcy. Monica Fairview has chosen to focus on Caroline Bingley. In Pride and Prejudice, Carolyn was depicted as a proud, jealous, status seeking, snarky, conniving woman who had set her sights on Mr. Darcy. In the very first scene, Fairview changes our perception of Carolyn by showing us that she didn’t just want Darcy’s fortune and status–she actually loved him. We can’t help but feel for her loss and sorrow–but can we come to like her? How will she take this loss — will she accept it and move on to try again, or harden her heart and become the woman we all thought she was?

It doesn’t take much effort to guess that Robert Darcy is smitten with Caroline Bingley. He was privy to her outpouring of emotional tears and had been touched by the depths of her feelings. He wants to get to know her better and perhaps take his cousin’s place in her affections, or at least gain her good will. We don’t get into his head, so we can only guess at his motives and wishes. However, it’s obvious that the two of them come from different backgrounds even though their status might be equal. So, there’s plenty of misunderstandings and cultural differences to add to the mix.

The major stumbling block is that Caroline is a woman of her times. She’s been trained from a young age in how to behave and what is acceptable and what is not. Over time she has had to give up almost everything she loved in order to become the woman that society expected her to be. But underneath, Caroline still remembers bits of what she lost and it’s only now, with the loss of Darcy to Elizabeth Bennet that she wonders if it was worth it. Caroline begins to question all her assumptions about society, her way of life, her status, and reputation. She’s beginning to see herself, her family, her sister, and her friends with some new insights. When Robert Darcy comes to the rescue of her reputation it just adds to her confusion.

Over time Robert Darcy and Caroline Bingley have their own dance of approach and avoidance and pride and prejudice. Some of the best and wittiest dialogue is during the fights these two have over their perceptions of right and wrong, society, reputation, and trust. You find yourself wishing you could reach within the pages of the book and give a shake or whisper in an ear — as with Pride and Prejudice, we can only sit and continue reading and hoping that these characters will eventually work out their differences and realize their true feelings for each other.

Along the way, Caroline reclaims herself, finding that many of the preferences and talents that she’d suppressed in order to be deemed “proper” are ones that if she’d had any say she’d never have abandoned. As she examines her life and her future, she becomes a person that this reader, at least, found she actually liked.

Fairview gives us a Caroline Bingley that has history, which in turns gives her depth. She allows us to see that there is more to this character than we could ever have guessed from the pages of Pride and Prejudice. Yet, she doesn’t do anything that would take away from the original presentation of the character; she only puts it in a different light and gives us background to understand Caroline a bit better.

Indeed, this is a worthy addition to the growing body of works that continue the stories begun in Pride and Prejudice.

Publishing Info: The Other Mr. Darcy. Did you know, Mr. Darcy had an American Cousin? by Monica Fairview. ISBN: 978-1402225130. Published by Sourcebooks Landmark, October 1st, 2009.

I was reaching for a book to take it off the shelf and got a pretty bad gash from the dust jacket. That got me thinking that most of the cuts on my hands have been paper cuts. Should books and paper be reclassified as dangerous weapons? Should those TSA people start making us put newspapers, magazines, and books in our check through? I remember that they did forbid books for a while in flights from Britain to the US when there was an incident that had nothing to do with books a while back.

Sometimes, it makes you rethink things, but could it be that they were afraid people would read something scary or incendiary and throw a fit? Do people get passionate about their reading material anymore?

I know that I’ve burst out laughing while reading a passage or been sniffling back sobs and tears and had people step away from the crazy person. Friends have told me that they often react to what they’re reading by laughing, crying, or getting emotional in other ways.

But with my throbbing paper cut, I’m thinking maybe ideas aren’t the only danger that books possess.

What do you think?

I’ve known for a while now that Connie Willis had agreed to be a Capclave 2010 Guest of Honor but hoped that the official website would be up by now. But as you know one thing leads to another and the WSFA Small Press Award and the reviving of WSFA Press sort of took over web design and update time but we’re working on the 2010 site and it should be up soon.

So, since I’m so excited by this I wanted to announce it here so you’ll all be as excited and anxious for October 2010 to get here as I am. I’m particularly excited because this is my first time as a convention chairperson. There’s a lot of work to be done and I’m pulling together my committee and developing my time charts and milestones. I’ve just received the emails for the other two guest and will be sending out the invitations tomorrow so stay tuned in case they say yes — should I have a plan B? I didn’t for Connie and she said, “Yes.”

If you haven’t read any of Connie Willis’s works give yourself a treat and try one. I’ve always liked her books and short stories. She manages to pull me in and get me to suspend belief and live in the world she creates along with her characters for the length of whatever form she’s writing in. She can be serious, silly, and penetratingly observant of the human psyche but always entertaining. Some random novel titles to check out: Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Passages, Bellwether, Lincoln’s Dreams, and Remake. There are also several collections of short stories too: Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, Impossible Things, and The Winds of Marble Arch. (Besides you’ll want to have read some of her works before October of 2010 now won’t you).

Capclave is the annual convention of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA). It’s usually held in October and the 2009 Guests of Honor are Harry Turtledove, Sheila Williams, and Rob Balder. It will be held from October 16th to the 18th, 2009.

I’ll occasionally post updates on what’s happening with Capclave 2010 here in my blog and on the official Capclave blog.

The Washington Science Fiction Association is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2009 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction (for stories published in 2008):

“Drinking Problem” by K.D. Wentworth, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008).

“Hard Rain at the Fortean Café” by Lavie Tidhar, published in issue 14 of Aeon Speculative Fiction Magazine, edited by Bridget McKenna.

“His Last Arrow” by Christopher Sequeira, published in Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Jeff Campbell and Charles Prepolec, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, (October, 2008).

“Silent as Dust” by James Maxey, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing, January 2008.

“Spider the Artist” by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008)

“The Absence of Stars: Part 1” by Greg Siewert, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing, December 2008.

“The Toy Car” by Luisa Maria Garcia Velasco, (translated from Spanish by Ian Watson) published in April 2008 edition of Aberrant Dreams, edited by Joseph W. Dickerson.

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2008). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org) and will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 16-18th in Rockville, Maryland.

Marsha Altman was gracious enough to make A Curious Statistical Anomaly a stop on her Blog Tour and talk about her newest book, The Plight of the Darcy Brothers. We’ll be giving away 1 set of Marsha’s two books: The Darcy’s and the Bingleys and The Plight of the Darcy Brothers (must have a mailing address in the US or Canada). I will pick a random person who as posted a comment on this blog post as the winner. Winner will be chosen on August 19th.

I’m the author of The Plight of the Darcy Brothers, a sequel to The Darcys and the Bingleys, which is a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. And it is a series; book 3 (Mr. Darcy’s Great Escape) is due out in Feb 2010. Gayle asked me to talk about the problems of remaining true to the original characters once I’m beyond the scope of the original Austen book, and in book 2, about four years have passed since the wedding, other people are married too, and there are kids. I would say I’m pretty past the scope.

The real answer, as I see it, is that there is no way to remain true to the original characters because there is no one set of “original characters.” Every person who reads Pride and Prejudice comes away with a different impression of how the characters acted and how they would like them to act in a sequel. I have my own interpretation; at times it’s wild and at times it’s pretty straightforward. As an author, my job is to make it presentable, so even if the reader doesn’t agree with it, the reader is at least willing to accept it.

A prime example is the first book, which got a lot of criticism for having Darcy be a lush and therefore the butt of several jokes while in college. I didn’t think making Darcy a lush was at all negative to his character. You work up a tolerance for alcohol by drinking a lot, and Regency gentlemen drank more than a lot. The idea that Darcy has a lower tolerance means that he is very conservative in his alcohol consumption, perhaps fearing that a slovenly image would harm his family name (which is so clearly important to him in Austen’s work), and as a result he doesn’t have much of a tolerance compared to his peers, so when he does drink, he gets very drunk quickly. Since Darcy lives on his high horse, his college friends (and Wickham, of course) take any advantage they can get to knock him off it. In other words, he’s so virtuous that people enjoy seeing him knocked down a peg, albeit in a friendly way. I felt it was an amusing way to soften Darcy, but some readers didn’t agree, as Darcy is not supposed to be ridiculous. I can see their point, but it’s the story I wanted to write, so I wrote it.

Much less controversial methods of maintaining a tone involve simply expanding a character, keeping the old ideas in place but implying there are other facets of a character’s personality we haven’t seen before. Bingley is still overly sweet and has bad handwriting, and knows his judgment when it comes to assessing relationships can be flawed, something he learned in Pride and Prejudice, which is why he went to Darcy for help vetting Caroline Bingley’s suitor in my first book. On the other hand I felt no need to make him a complete idiot. His father was massively successful in trade, so Bingley is good with numbers and languages. He’s not experienced running an estate but he’s a fast learner. Caroline and Louisa show the same qualities; Caroline’s knowledge of Italian was what put her so constantly in Dr. Maddox’s presence that she married him. In Pride and Prejudice, Caroline Bingley was a snob, obsessed with fashion, stature, and putting other people down. Adding intelligence doesn’t contradict that. Even after she marries someone arguably below her station (though he was born well above her station), she maintains a certain edge absent in Jane and even Elizabeth. The important thing is that it isn’t directed at her husband and doesn’t bother him, and being married and settled predictably makes her a bit softer, as most of her cattiness in Austen’s work was due to trying to woo Darcy and shun Elizabeth, something she no longer has to do.

I’m supposed to end these guest blog posts with a question to start a discussion pertaining to my novel, but as this is the last stop on my blog tour, so I’ll ask this instead: Chicken or fish?

About the Author

Marsha Altman is a historian specializing in Rabbinic literature in late antiquity, and an author. She is also an expert on Jane Austen sequels, having read nearly every single one that’s been written, whether published or unpublished. She has worked in the publishing industry with a literary agency and is writing a series continuing the story of the Darcys and the Bingleys. She lives in New York.