Saturday, August 4, 2012

Steampunk Saturdays with Mary Wine of A Lady Can Never Be Too Curios (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Hello lovelies and welcome to Steampunk Saturdays here at Reading Between the Wines! Every Saturday during the month of August we will be featuring some fabulous steampunk authors and books. For those who are unfamiliar with steampunk I would like to welcome historical romance author, Mary Wine. Mary is dipping her toes in the Steampunk genre with her new release, A Lady Can Never Be Too Curios, and has a wonderful post for those new to the genre!


A lot of readers ask me what ‘Steam Punk’ is. In fact, when I first started hearing the term for this gene, I was curious myself. In short, it’s Victorian Sci-fi. A historical setting and characters which has the added element of advanced technology. Not anything that you would find in today’s world, which would ruin the historical nature of the book.

The historical setting was essential to my plot. Writing a ‘Steam Punk’ means understanding your historical setting. I think the biggest challenge was making sure I didn’t introduce too many modern ideas. I wanted to have my secret society to be the opposite of Victorian society in their view on equality and that took a little doing to make sure I didn’t have my heroine sounding like a city girl from 2012.

The Victorians did enjoy their secret societies. Reaching the Masons and other orders was a great deal of fun. For my book, I decided to create a fictional order called the Illuminist. These would be my ‘Steam Punkers’. The people who devoted themselves to science while shunning illogical social niceties which got in the way of expanding understanding. I gave them the very controversial custom of allowing women into their order which is in conflict with the Victorian idea of ‘The gentle sex’. It made for a few conflicts and forced my heroine to choose because the Victorians were very clear on one point…you did not cross class lines. By joining the Illuminists, the upper crust of society was no longer willing to accept my heroine.

I do love writing historical. In the case of ‘A Lady Can never be too Curious’, it was great fun being able to place my characters in the Victorian era. I’ll admit that I adore wearing a bustle. It’s true. Here is a picture of me in my newest ‘Steam Punk’ dress. Lots of people seem to be enjoying incorporating  touches of Victorian attire into their dressing. Yes, I’ve gone all out but that’s just the insane historical costumer in me. She likes to have her way.

I hope you enjoy my little journey into Victorian Steam Punk.


Cheers!
Mary Wine




On the outside, Janette Aston appears to be a proper young lady; however, the people of England have no idea that this poised young miss secretly studies the scientific discoveries of the mysterious Illuminist Society. Janette soon grows hungry for more secrets about this Society, and she finds herself impersonating an Illuminist to discover more information. As she is exposed to secrets and dangers she never could have imagined, she begins to wonder if she's finally gone too far. But when she runs into gorgeous Illuminist Guardian Darius Lawley, she finds that, while her life is in danger, her sense of curiosity is most certainly piqued...





~*GIVEAWAY*~
Sourcebooks is giving away one copy of A Lady Can Never Be Too Curios to one US or Canadian reader. To enter, just leave a question or comment on this post for Mary and then fill out the rafflecopter below. Additional entries are available but not required. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway



17 comments:

  1. I haven't tried steam punk yet though have read historical books in the past, how do they compare?

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  2. Steam punk is a new to me genre but I love the premise of your book. It looks great! Carin
    mawmom(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. Hi Mary! I first "met" you at Zina's Blog Seawitch Reviews From the Bookshelf. We share a love of costuming and Highlanders ;-). Thanks for the insight into your steampunk book ~ I love the imagination of taking history and twisting it a little with the "what if...". So much fun. I can't wait to read your take on it. I've been in love with steampunk since I was a kid watching "Wild, Wild West" on TV.

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  4. I too am new to Steam Punk have been thinking about trying it. This book looks really good. Is there much action? I love a great story with some great action! Thanks

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  5. I am new to steampunk but I would love to read it. What other generes have you wrote? Tore923@aol.com

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  6. I haven't had a desire to read steampunk...till now. This sounds like a great read!

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  7. thanks for a fun post! and congrats on the new release!!!!

    I love steampunk :) Not enough to wear a corset so kudos to you! I love the mix of prim and proper Victorian England w/ steam powered Scifi tech. And how wonderful authors can blend the two seamlessly.

    Thanks for the giveaway! I've had major book lust for this book ever since I saw the awesome cover and great blurb :)

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  8. What made you decide to write a steam punk story?
    I haven't read any steam punk yet, I do have a few books. I enjoy looking at the covers, they are very intriguing.
    luvfuzzzeeefaces at yahoo dot com

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  9. I love steampunk and since I already like Mary Wine's books, I'm definitely going to pick this one up.

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  10. I love Mary Wines books. I have never read a steampunk book so Im looking forward to this one. What a great blog post. Thanks Mary.
    lorimeehan1@aol.com

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  11. I have read a couple steampunk books and enjoyed them. I love the cover of this book. thx for giveaway.

    blinkysthebest at aol dot com

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  12. I have not read much Steampunk but this sounds really good. I would love to win it and give it a try. Thanks

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  13. I love steampunk! Thanks for this awesome giveaway!

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  14. I've always been curious about the Steam Punk genre. Thank you for enlighting me on the subject. I do want to give your book a try. Thanks for this giveaway.

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  15. I've always been curious about the Steam Punk genre. Thank you for enlighting me on the subject. I do want to give your book a try. Thanks for this giveaway.

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  16. I am curious to know what motivates the heroine to risk rejection by the upper crust. And does the language of the novel have a historical flavor?

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  17. What a great costume and I have only read a couple of steam punk stories but they are very enjoyable.

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