Regency List Addendum & Gallery

Our Riley flew out to Chicago to help her boyfriend drive back to Stetson (Deland, FL), where school started this week. On the way they stopped at a zoo and were in the process of taking a selfie when . . .

 Below, a real stunner, and unlikely it's fake. I once looked out my window in suburban Venice, FL, and saw a bobcat trotting across my backyard. This pic of a bobcat holding a good-sized iguana was taken in Ft Myers Beach by "Madge M."  (Ft. Myers is about 40 miles south of the Venice/Sarasota area on Florida's South-central Gulf Coast.)

And while we're in Florida, someone put together a list of the many names that linger from the original inhabitants (though a remarkable number of Florida Native Americans were newcomers—exiled to the swampy Seminole tribal lands by the federal government in the 19th c. Hmmm . . . somehow that has a familiar ring to it. Whatever the political implications, the names are fascinating and well deserve to be preserved in modern-day towns, rivers, lakes, etc.

Ending with a pic to make you smile . . .

 

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LIST OF REGENCY SUB-GENRES - 2025

With Expanded Descriptions 

 

From 2011-2020 this blog was primarily devoted to advice on Writing and Editing, aimed at newbie and wannabe authors. Continuing that tradition, I am adding an Addendum to the Regency Sub-genre series in order to add a few details about each sub-genre for the benefit of those who love the Regency Era but are still struggling to find their niche in this special market. Or for Regency authors interested in "breaking out" into a new twist on writing Regency.

  1.   Regency Romance - Traditional

Light stories of Romance with emphasis on family, social life; sparkling characters and clever dialogue; quiet humor; squeaky clean; settings—primarily London or an English country house.

  2.   Regency Romance - Trad/Comedy

Same as the above, but with more emphasis on humor, both in plot situations and dialogue. 

  3.   Regency Historical Romance - Action/Adventure

Longer and more serious than Trad Regencies, settings far-ranging; plots include dramatic situations, frequently featuring the long war with Napoleon. Sex ranges from behind-the-bedroom door to hot.

  4.   Regency Historical Romance - Gothic

Gothic novels have a few special rules:  the heroine needs to be isolated, to be threatened or think she is threatened. For that reason, many Gothics are written in First Person so readers see the story only through the heroine's eyes. Among other common Gothic nuances:  heroine fears the threat comes from her husband; a young child is involved. Sex levels the same as Action/Adventure.                                    

  5.   RHR - Paranormal 

My take on Regency Paranormal—this sub-genre includes ghosts, witches, and werewolves. And is frequently combined with Gothic or Action/Adventure.  

  6.   RHR - Inspirational

Emphasis on family, the challenges of life, service to others, religion. Squeaky clean to behind-closed doors.

  7.   RHR - Fantasy

Add fairies, elves, leprechauns, and other magical creatures to the Regency, and you have Regency Fantasy. Sex level from Squeaky Clean to Hot.             

  8.   RHR - Time-travel

We all understand the concept of Time-travel. I would only point out that for a Time-travel to be a Regency, the traveler needs to be dropped into the Regency world from another time. A person from the Regency Era traveling to, say, modern-day NYC, would qualify as Time-travel but NOT a Regency.

 9.   RHR - Darkside

This Sub-genre defies many of the basic precepts of the Regency Romance novel, its main characters taken from London's underbelly or from the lives of ordinary young women who did not get that precious Season in London, suffering forced marriages, abuse, etc. 

 10.  RHR - Steampunk

 Yes, it's possible to write a Regency featuring the very early days of Steampunk. (I only wrote one, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.) Research is required to make certain you don't put full-blown Victorian Steampunk into a Regency. (Yes, I know it's Alt History, but . . .)

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This week's featured book:

 Once again, Blair Bancroft's Regency finale, The Stone Soldier and the Lady. (Big announcement next week of what I'll be doing next.)

 

When the uncle of a six-year-old marquess threatens to take him from his widowed mother, as well as urge her to marry his rakish son, Victoire, Marchioness of Brynthorpe, hires a war-weary band of ex-soldiers as bodyguards. The resulting clash reverberates from Wiltshire to London as Captain Fox, the Stone Soldier, turns out to be far more than his military rank implies.
Violent conflict, an unexpected and rocky romance, close-held secrets—all to the tune of comments and advice from five resident phantoms. Yet even when our hero and heroine see sunny skies at last, one more problem rears its ugly head.

 ~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Archives, see the menu on the right. 

 For recent blogs, scroll down. 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft) 

 

Regency Fiction's Many Sub-genres, Part 2

 

Stonehenge & a Meteor

That this photo above should pop up on Facebook just as I was publishing The Stone Soldier and the Lady seemed so providential that I had to headline it on this week's blog. Photo believed to be by John Davis, taken during photo shoot to show the Milky Way looming behind Stonehenge.

 

No caption needed

  

Sent to me by my son

More than ten years ago, my oldest granddaughter, Hailey, turned camera-shy, making it almost impossible to get a decent picture of her. This week, her mother outfoxed her by stealing a photo from Instagram. (Evidently, Hailey only objects to being photographed by family!) All I can say is "Wow!" Naturally, I, in turn, stole it for my blog. And no, she's not a social butterfly. She's been interning at Lockheed Martin for over a year. Her upcoming college degree will be in Astro-engineering.

 ~ * ~

 And now, at long last . . .

I have been struggling with the promised list of Regency Sub-genres, even during the final edits and formatting for The Stone Soldier and the Lady. It felt like I had a hundred pages of notes (probably no more than 10) that had to be boiled down into some sort intelligible summary. (Not sure I managed it.) Thoughtful comments and suggestions will be much appreciated, as I hope to post the list to that arbiter of all Regency writings, Regency Fiction Writers.

 

REGENCY FICTION'S

MANY SUB-GENRES, Part 2 

 
Short Recap of Part 1

Regency Romance Fiction can be divided into two primary categories:

1. Regency Romance - Stories based on the actual history, manners, and customs of the times.

2. Regency Romance - Alternate History (or Regency Re-imagined). Stories that use Settings and Costumes similar to the Regency Era, but play with historical accuracy, customs, and/or the speech of the times; for example, adding dragons to the fight against Napoleon; using words that had not yet joined the English vocabulary.

Grace Note: Another example - Julia Quinn’s original Bridgerton novels are Regency Romance - Historical (# 1 above). The TV series based on Julia Quinn’s novels are Regency Romance - Alternate History or Regency Re-imagined (#2 above).

* * * * *

A Different Regency Divide - Jane Austen is considered the founder of what we now call Regency Romance, writing stories of the world she knew—England’s gentry and upper middle class. Alas, except for English classes, her depictions of life in that era fell into semi-obscurity until the mid-20th century when Georgette Heyer took the concept to a whole new level, creating main characters who were from England’s upper class—the dashing ladies and gentlemen of society, from their glorious garments to their magnificent dwellings, their exquisite manners to their foibles, sorrows, and triumphs. All well sprinkled with the “cant” of the day. And, suddenly, the Regency Era (called the Georgian Era in England) was the newest craze in Romance, many authors, as well as readers, jumping on the bandwagon.

Some authors, however, including me, wanted a bit more “meat” with the froth, particularly acknowledgment of the existence of the very long war with Napoleon that involved so many young men of all classes. Which is how my first book was the 140,000-word, The Sometime Bride, a seven-year-saga of The Peninsular War. So, basically, the burgeoning craze in the mid-late 20th c. for everything Regency can be divided into two categories:

1. Regency Romance - Traditional
    Settings: Primarily Upper Class London & English Country Houses. (Some        Trads, however, still featured middle-class and “village” characters.)
    Plots: In general, an emphasis on family, social life, clever dialogue. Almost all, squeaky clean.
    Length: 70-85,000 words. Novellas: c. 40,000 words

2.  Regency Romance - Historical
    Settings: Anywhere the British went at that time, from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland to the Continent, the Med, and India.
    Plots: Adventure & mystery, as well as romance. Sex ranges from mild to hot*.
    Length: used to be c. 100,000; less in more recent times.

*I am not including Regency Erotica here. There was a big surge of erotica in the early 21st century - back when most Trad authors lost their jobs. Fortunately, that craze seems to have passed. Yes, there may be some Regencies with just enough plot to string the close-to-porn scenes together, but I’m going to cap the current gauge at Hot. 

Grace note: Erotica swept the market with such gusto that those of us writing Trads (squeaky clean) got a lovely farewell dinner, followed by an invitation to write “biographies”! And were then kicked aside. THANK YOU, E-PUBLISHING (both e-publishers & indie) for providing a new outlet for our work! (Believe me, when you’ve had eleven books in print, one after the other, it’s a shock to be shown the door.)

* * * * *

I have struggled over the list below. I invite additions & corrections in Comments, as I would really like to develop an up-to-date list to post to Regency Fiction Writers.

Special Note: Many Regency novels feature two or more sub-genres. (Ex: Regency Historical Romance - Adventure/Paranormal) Most can be set in either a factual or a “re-imagined” Regency world. 

LIST OF REGENCY SUB-GENRES - 2025

 1.   Regency Romance - Traditional

 2.   Regency Romance - Trad/Comedy (emphasis on humor)

 3.   Regency Historical Romance - Action/Adventure

 4.   Regency Historical Romance - Gothic (frequently written in 1st person)

 5.   RHR - Paranormal (primarily ghosts & witches)

 6.   RHR - Inspirational

 7.   RHR - Fantasy (fairies, elves, etc.)

 8.   RHR - Time-travel

 9.   RHR - Darkside* (featuring characters & situations from England’s underbelly)

10.  RHR - Steampunk* (featuring the beginning of the Victorian Steampunk Era)

*Invented by me for my Aphrodite Academy series & my “early Steampunk,” Airborne—the Hanover Restoration 

 ~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Archives, see the menu on the right. 

 For recent blogs, scroll down. 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft) 

 

The Stone Soldier and the Lady

  

Available at last!

 

When the uncle of a six-year-old marquess threatens to take him from his widowed mother, as well as urge her to marry his rakish son, Victoire, Marchioness of Brynthorpe, hires a war-weary band of ex-soldiers as bodyguards. The resulting clash reverberates from Wiltshire to London as Captain Fox, the Stone Soldier, turns out to be far more than his military rank implies.

Violent conflict, an unexpected and rocky romance, close-held secrets—all to the tune of comments and advice from five resident phantoms. Yet even when our hero and heroine see sunny skies at last, one more problem rears its ugly head.

 A Peek at the Evolution of 

The Stone Soldier and the Lady

 

The Stone Soldier began life as Gothic #13, the title:  The Phantom Voices of Lark House; the setting, one of my favorite places—Stonehenge. But somewhere—perhaps a quarter of the way into the book—I realized the story I was writing didn't match the criteria. The heroine was not isolated. The only threats to her life were the possible kidnapping of her son and a forced marriage. And, as often as she quarreled with her hired protector, she never suspected him of an intention to harm her. Oops. Bye-bye, Gothic. Even though the story was far from the glitter of London ballrooms, I was writing a Regency Historical Romance with strong elements of Adventure and the Paranormal (while somehow maintaining those comedic touches we all enjoy in lighter Regency Romances).

So, I plunged into a search for a new title, and amid all the lame ones I scribbled on a legal pad, The Stone Soldier and the Lady leaped out a me. I also realized featuring the hero in the title was particularly apt, as I was strongly influenced by a need to redeem the tragic character of the Major in The Abandoned Daughter. Hopefully, I have managed that in The Stone Soldier and the Lady.

The Stone Soldier and the Lady is available at Amazon and most e-book vendors (or will be shortly). I hope you'll take a look and, of course, write a review! Thank you, gracias, merci, grazie, danke, spasiba!

 ~ * ~

Grace note:  Hopefully, the oft-postponed list of Regency Sub-genres will make it to Mosaic Moments in my next blog. 

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Archives, see the menu on the right. 

 For recent blogs, scroll down. 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)