I’m delighted to have Maria Grace as a guest on Diary of an Eccentric today to showcase her latest novel, Pemberley: Mr. Darcy’s Dragon, the first in a new series. Please give Maria a warm welcome as she answers my question: Why Dragons?
I was chatting with Anna one day and she asked, “So what’s a nice regency romance writer like you doing with a book like that? Dragons? Seriously?”
Ok, that’s not really what Anna asked me. (We all know she is much too sweet and well-mannered to say anything like that.) But she did ask me to talk a little about how I ended up writing a Pride and Prejudice variation about dragons. So, same thing more or less, right?
But I digress.
I suppose I could wax philosophical and say that it began back in the dark ages of middle school when I first read Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Flight. My imagination was captured by her dragons. Seriously, in the midst of middle school angst, who wouldn’t want an enormous, fire-breathing friend who was entirely devoted to you? I certainly would have welcomed that. Middle school—shudder!
Seriously though, I’ve loved fantasy from the very beginning and only recently wandered into the realm of the regency era and Jane Austen’s world. The first stories I wrote were science fiction fan fiction and the first original novel I wrote was a fantasy. And yes, I still have it, and no, I’m not letting it out of the box where it safely resides. (I ONCE thought about resurrecting it, but yeah, it was written by a fifteen year old, and there was no getting away from that.)
Writing took a back seat to college, graduate school, adult life and kids. Somehow, when I wandered back into the authorial realm, I landed in regency era England.
My husband and boys were thrilled that I was fulfilling a long held passion and totally supportive of my efforts. But… (you knew that was coming, right?) They were also science fiction/fantasy fans. Knowing about my prior dabbling in those genres, they really, really REALLY wanted me to write something they would want to read. (Ok, to be fair, my Mr. Darcy actually does read ALL of my books, romance, history, fantasy… all of them.)
So, one day, at the local pizza buffet, I was knocking around story ideas with my boys, something we’d often done before. We were getting a little silly and just tossing stuff out there, when an idea landed with a resounding, deafening thud. A dragon sized one.
What if there were a secret society of dragons living alongside people in Regency England.
I suddenly had their attention. Ideas were flying fast and furious: ideas for how the species would interact, what government would look like, the economics of it all—and boy could I tell they’d been paying attention in their history and government classes! In the span of way longer than we should have spent eating pizza, we had an entire dragon world built, just screaming for a story to live in it.
And really, as a mother, and an author, how could I possibly walk away from something that my kids helped me build? Seriously? I had to write something for that world. It was about that time that I encountered Pride Prejudice and Zombies—which was an interesting experience and we’ll leave it at that.
But it did get me thinking, which is a dangerous thing. As much fun as zombies might be (ok, not really, I’m not a zombie kinda gal), dragons had to be better right. So the gauntlet was thrown, and Mr. Darcy’s Dragon was born.
To be entirely honest, I have never had as much fun writing a series as I have with these dragon books. I’m currently half way through the second book and into plotting the third book. With any luck book two should be done this quarter and I’d like to have the third one done by the end of the year. I know it’s a big leap for regency romance readers, but I hope that some of you will grab the dragon by the tail and join me in a dragon world where Darcy and Elizabeth must prevent the outbreak of a new dragon war (and maybe fall in love in the process) with a little help from their dragon friends.
Thank you, Maria, for sharing your inspiration with me and my readers. I can’t wait to delve into this world of dragons!
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About Pemberley: Mr. Darcy’s Dragon
England is overrun by dragons of all shapes and sizes. Most people are blissfully unaware of them and the Pendragon Treaty that keeps the peace between human and dragon kind. Only those born with preternatural hearing, like Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are able to hear and converse with dragonkind.
When the first firedrake egg laid in a century is stolen from Pemberley, the fragile dragon peace teeters on collapse. Darcy has no choice but to chase down the thief, a journey that leads him to quaint market town of Meryton and fellow Dragon Keeper, Elizabeth Bennet.
Elizabeth shares a unique bond with dragons, stronger than anything Darcy has ever experienced. More than that, her vast experience and knowledge of dragon lore may be the key to uncovering the lost egg. But Elizabeth can’t stand Darcy’s arrogance and doesn’t trust him to care properly for a precious baby firedrake. After all, he already lost the egg once. What’s to prevent it from happening again?
Can he win her trust and recover the stolen egg before it hatches and sends England spiraling back into the Dark Ages of Dragon War?
Check out Pemberley: Mr. Darcy’s Dragon on Goodreads | Amazon (Kindle) (Paperback) | Barnes & Noble (Nook) (Paperback) | Kobo
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About the Author
Though Maria Grace has been writing fiction since she was ten years old, those early efforts happily reside in a file drawer and are unlikely to see the light of day again, for which many are grateful. After penning five file-drawer novels in high school, she took a break from writing to pursue college and earn her doctorate in Educational Psychology. After 16 years of university teaching, she returned to her first love, fiction writing.
She has one husband and one grandson, two graduate degrees and two black belts, three sons, four undergraduate majors, five nieces, is starting her sixth year blogging on Random Bits of Fascination, has built seven websites, attended eight English country dance balls, sewn nine Regency era costumes, and shared her life with ten cats.
Connect with Maria Grace via email at author.MariaGrace@gmail.com | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Pinterest | Random Bits of Fascination | Jane Austen Variations | English Historical Fiction Authors
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Giveaway
Maria is generously offering an ebook copy of Pemberley: Mr. Darcy’s Dragon. To enter, please leave a comment with your email address. This giveaway will close on Sunday, March 5, 2017. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced in the comments section of this post. Good luck!
I loved P&P&Zombies and this sounds right up my alley since I am a huge fan of dragons 🙂 Can’t wait to read it 🙂 Thanks for the entry and the article! Erika Messer, hopefuldelights1 (at) yahoo (dot) com
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Thanks, Erika! I look forward to reading the book soon myself.
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I love all Maria Grace’s stories! Can’t wait to read this one!
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Me, too! Thanks for stopping by!
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Well I can’t say I had ever thought of reading a story about dragons (apart from fairy stories when I was little) but I must say that the addition of Darcy and Elizabeth is a major draw for me. I have seen an excerpt from this book and liked it so much that I added it to my wish list. Therefore I would love to win a copy and thanks Anna and Maria for the opportunity. I enjoyed reading about how the idea for these books came about, who knew pizza could be so inspiring?
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Just goes to show that inspiration can happen anywhere! I’m not big on fantasy stories either, but I will definitely read them when I enjoy the author’s writing and D&E are involved. 😉
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Ohhh dragon wars!
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Exciting!
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I jumped at the chance to ride the dragon and it was fabulous!!!! The details involved, the dragons and story line captured my imagination! Bravo to you and your family, Maria! Don’t enter me in the giveaway as I already own the e-book!
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Oh, Carole, I’m so glad to hear you loved it, as I will be reading it soon. Thanks for stopping by!
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I’m always up for a fun series, and this one sounds fun. Maybe Cat from book club would like it.
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This does sound fun! I can’t wait to read it.
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Sounds great. Thanks for the giveaway. jadseah4 (at) yahoo
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Thanks for stopping by, darcybennett!
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I’ve read Pemberley and am eagerly awaiting for Maria to publish the second in the series.
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So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Priscilla!
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I’ve loved all the chapters I’ve read so far.
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Glad to hear it! Thanks for stopping by, Suzanne!
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I truly loved this book! I cannot wait for the next installment. I cannot even imagine Pemberley all grown up. Don’t enter me in the drawing as I’ve already read the book. Thanks!
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Comments like these make me even more excited about reading the book!
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Wonderful guest post! Thank you for this giveaway as well. I will add it to my blog’s sidebar. 🙂
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Thanks, Suko!
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I love Maria’s stories so following her into the land of dragons is a must. Thank you for the giveaway. Cherringtonmb at sbcglobal dot net
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My thoughts exactly! Thanks for stopping by, Becky!
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Delightful story and she has posted chapters of a sequel. I did read it.
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Glad you enjoyed it as well, Sheila! I will have to look for your review.
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Sounds intriguing. Fantasy storyline with Darcy and Elizabeth – can’t wait to read this one
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I agree! It’s among the most creative ideas for D&E I’ve seen thus far.
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Personally, I’m of the opinion that ANY book would all the better with the addition of dragons! Like Ms. Grace, my first major encounter with them was through Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. I heard a radio interview with that late, great lady many years ago and she said that the words “Lessa woke, cold” (the opening line of Part 1 of Dragonflight) had changed her life forever and she gave daily thanks for it.
So, P&P & dragons? Oh yes! I loved the first book and the second is promising to be equally as good. As you can tell, I don’t need to be entered in the giveaway.
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I’m glad to hear you loved it! After seeing so much praise, I really am looking forward to finally sitting down and delving into this new world.
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Thanks to everyone who stopped by to check out Maria’s post. The winner is Erika Messer! Congrats and happy reading!
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Congratulations to Erika. Enjoy.
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