Lucia Brabante and Sir Percy Blakeney . . .
Well! Having asked to escort me to the Masked Ball and depositing a roll of white beaded silk georgette for my gown on the table, Ser Niccolo de Fleury has disappeared as if he had never been.
Well! Having asked to escort me to the Masked Ball and depositing a roll of white beaded silk georgette for my gown on the table, Ser Niccolo de Fleury has disappeared as if he had never been.
My other partner in crime in this jaunt through a costume drama toward the night of the Masked Ball has sent another post. Rebecca introduces her alter-ego, Sarina.
Dear Hugh,
I have much to disclose to you and little time in which to do it, so please forgive me if I neglect some of the usual niceties. You must arrange to be in Veniche on 1st May. I know how you dislike leaving your estates for what you term the frivolity of town life, but indeed, there is no choice.
My writing life has the capacity to be chaotic at the moment. Flittering from one direction is the fine-tuning of Paperweights, from another comes the continued creation of the story of The Shifu Cloth, from another direction still comes the writing of a short-story for Bo Press’s new limited edition Masked Ball box and book, and from the busiest corner of all, the development of the ‘virtual’ Masked Ball.
Whilst you all know me as Mesmered, for the night of the Ball you may call me Lucia Brabante and until today, I was excited to be attending. I was sure Ser Richard Armitage, an entrancing visitor to Veniche, would ask to escort me.
The invitation to the Ball. I hope you will all come. RSVP in your comments and be eligible to win a signed set of The Stumpwork Robe and The Last Stitch by author, Prue Batten.
For one point: describe your absolute ‘must have’ in your Ball reticule.
Building a Mask, Part Two by Pat Sweet, my inimitable guest blogger . . .
A letter from Signora Neroni!
“….my niece Vittoria, whose first season in Society was not the success her mother could have wished. Vittoria is an amiable child, but still hobbledehoy, and one of those girls who cannot dance a single quadrille without looking as though she has been pulled backwards through a hedge. Annietta has persuaded me to give her a season here in Veniche. We hope it will be like a greengrocer who pulls off the battered outer leaves of a cabbage to give it a crisper look. Vittoria is determined to appear at the masquerade costumed as a unicorn, a delicate compliment, as she sees it, to a youth in whose family coat of arms it figures, and with whom she is besotted. The mask she has ordered would instill a hearty respect in the bravest hero, for the horn’s an ell if it’s an inch, and the end of the animal’s nose extends a good two feet from her own.
I have a huge deadline of manuscript editing today for Paperweights if I want to truly stand a chance of publication. Thus I am unable to compile a competent blog, so to keep you entertained and no, I shouldn’t do it but I will anyway, I thought I’d share what blew into my email this morning. I really do think I shall ask RA to be my ‘virtual’ partner for the ‘virtual’ Masked Ball here in May! Sorry Ladies, beat you to it! Just don’t tell the love of my life . . .
It’s true! There is going to be a Masked Ball here in May. Held by the Museo Director and with a guest of honour, Dr.Tobias Google. It will be glittering and glamorous and I can’t help wondering if there will be an appearance by the Others, just like in The Last Stitch. I’ve heard there will be prizes during the evening and the most delectable supper . . . and of course we will have the pleasure of the company of our escorts, won’t we?
I have heard a whisper . . . have you? That there may be Masked Ball (virtual)on this site in April or May? It’s only a whisper, mind, and may not be true. But I heard the invitation was to come from the Directore of the Museo in Veniche, in Eirie .
“Often, a suggestion by the editor is a light-bulb moment, when you suddenly realise what’s wrong with the book. A light-bulb moment is a wonderful thing and even if the publisher later turns you down, you will have improved your book.