A while back I shared my favorite historic Zoom backgrounds. Thanks to The Great Dickens Fair (entirely online this year), I–and you–have a lot more Victorian backgrounds to choose from.

Here are a few of the luscious backgrounds offered:

All of these images are via dickensfair.com/dickens-fair-at-home/zooms.

Hey! Here’s my first ever attempt at animation. Just press the arrow to continue….

Author Linda Ulleseit is hosting a HUGE Flash Historical Fiction Giveaway TODAY ONLY (that’s Weds November 18) & I’m offering a paperback copy of FANNY NEWCOMB & THE IRISH CHANNEL RIPPER.

Sign up on Linda’s FB page here: https://bit.ly/32XHq2N.

Or get the scoop on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/AnaBrazilAuthor/

Ends at 10pm PST tonight.

Yep, you read that right. Jolabokaflod PDX, the annual Holiday Book Fair celebrated in Iceland, Portland (OR), and beyond, is just around the corner.

And I’ll be there (kinda, sorta, be there in Portland), weaving a tale about moonlight, magnolias, and how to make a long-ago historical setting come and stay alive.

Join Paper Lantern Writers Edie Cay, C. V. Lee, and me for Charm City: Historical Settings that Transport the Reader! on Sunday December 20th @ 3:30 pm PST.

And don’t miss Paper Lantern Writers Linda Ulleseit & Kathryn Pritchett at their Finding Women’s Voices panel.

See you there!

I hope you saw Friday’s PLW post where I shared historic holiday menus and recipes.

Not for the first time, I researched and wrote more content than I could include in that post. But in the spirit of holiday giving, today I’m sharing what I couldn’t include. Here goes…

Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861)

Although author Isabella Beeton was decidedly British and did not celebrate Thanksgiving (which became an official American holiday in 1863), she and other Brits (like Dickens’s fictious Scrooge) certainly celebrated Christmas with gusto.

“In December, the principal household duty lies in preparing for the creature comforts of those near and dear to us, so as to meet old Christmas with a happy face, a contented mind, and a full larder; and in stoning the plums, washing the currants, cutting the citron, beating the eggs, and MIXING THE PUDDING, a housewife is not unworthily greeting the genial season of all good things.”

Mrs. Beeton also recommends (at paragraph 1005) turkey for Christmas dinner: “A noble dish is a turkey, roast or boiled. A Christmas dinner, with the middle classes of this empire, would scarcely be a Christmas dinner without its turkey; and we can hardly imagine an object of greater envy than is presented by a respected portly pater-familias carving, at the season devoted to good cheer and genial charity, his own fat turkey, and carving it well.“

Perhaps the best part of Mrs. Beeton’s book were her glorious illustrations of 19th century dining, which I couldn’t resist sharing here.

*Hopefully, you know by now that lagniappe is New Orleans-speak for “a little something extra”.

Still looking for the perfect recipe for your Thanksgiving feast?

Today on Paper Lantern Writers, I offer some online recipes and menus of the 19th and early 20th centuries that could give your Holiday Season a little more vintage flair.

Join me on our Paper Lantern Writers YouTube Channel for Ana Brazil talks Fanny Newcomb.

To make the most of your experience, take a shot every time I say “ummmmmmmmmmmm.” 🙂

Thanks to C. V. Lee for putting the interview together!

And how about subscribing to our Paper Lantern Writers YouTube Channel? We’ve got lots more great info on writing coming up!

Happy October, the month of ghosties and ghoulies, long-leggetie beasties, And things that go bump in the night.

You know, Monster Month!

Today at Paper Lantern Writers I’m sharing lively links about some of the 19th century’s scariest monsters. And the woman and men who wrote their stories.

Join us!

To celebrate FANNY NEWCOMB’s new cover, my publisher has lowered the price of FANNY NEWCOMB & THE IRISH CHANNEL RIPPER on Kindle to 99 cents for the next fortnight (aka “two weeks”).

“FANNY NEWCOMB & THE IRISH CHANNEL RIPPER is a ripping good read. Author Ana Brazil brings the dark underbelly of Gilded Age New Orleans vividly to life as her trio of determined female sleuths seek out a Jack the Ripper copycat killer.”
—Ann Parker, author of the award-winning Silver Rush series

Independent Book Publishers Association 2018 GOLD for Historical Fiction

Hope you enjoy FANNY NEWCOMB!

I started a new Pinterest board today, which means that something new is happening in my world.

Because for me, a new board = a new book or short story that I’m writing.

Today’s reason for starting a new board is a little different, and I can’t announce the WHY yet, but I wanted to share the new board with you.

It’s called The Golden Age of Mystery and here’s one of my first pins:

Right now it’s just a baby board, but in the next month it’s gonna be a monster!

Got some Golden Age of Mystery pins to share? Send them my way!