August Lady Jane’s Salon & June Recap

The August Salon welcomes five fabulous guest readers. Returning to the Salon stage: Dee Davis, Mingmei Yip, and Janet Mullany. Appearing for the first time will be Kathleen O’Reilly and Ken Salikof W/A Maxine Kenneth.

Event details are:

Monday, August 1st, 7-9 PM, Madame X (Top Bar)
Admission: $5 or 1 gently used romance novel. Proceeds support an end-of-year donation to a NYC women’s charity. Cash bar

Lastly but not least-ly, for those of you who were unable to join us in June for our special salon event welcoming The Romance Writers of America conference attendees to The Big Apple, you did indeed miss a treat! Laurie Kahn and crew, the Emmy award winning team of Blueberry Hill Productions, was on hand to film the event from start to finish for The Popular Romance Project, a documentary film project focused on romance fiction. The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Mass Humanities, Romance Writers of America, and the Tavris Fund at Brandeis University/Women’s Studies Research Center.

They couldn’t have chosen a better night. The house was packed to breathing room only status with writers, agents and editors, and romance readers from across the country. The program, extended by one hour, did not disappoint: six great guest readers including Popular Romance Project adviser, Fordham University professor of English, and New York Times bestselling romance author, Eloisa James. Please stay tuned for videos of a truly special night.

Super Special Readers at Lady Jane’s

Posted by Maya

Let’s be honest: ideas dreamed up in bars often don’t hold up in the light of day. But sometimes one comes up with greatness when scheming and plotting under the influence. It was over two years ago that Hope Tarr, Leanna Renee Hieber and Ron Hogan and I came up with the idea for Lady Jane’s Salon and we’re delighted that it’s still going strong with all kinds of romance authors reading every month to a crowd of readers, writers and industry types.

As one of the co-founders of the salon, I had read there before–twice, in fact. For my third appearance, I wanted to do something different. So I did not read from my new release, A Tale Of Two Lovers. Instead, I had the husband read the part of the hero, since he has so many heroic qualities, like a British Accent. For the part of Lady Julianna, my lady friend Denise did the honors as she has a degree in acting and more importantly was a bit of the inspiration behind the character. Both ladies are quite “forthright.”

Cute fact: Two Lovers was dedicated to these two!

I was so excited I forgot to bring my camera, which didn’t matter as I was too busy chatting with my friend Lisa :)

Salon go-ers were also treated to a reading from Alaya Dawn Johnson’s vampire novel, Moonshine, and Beth Anne Miller’s novel Into The Scottish Mist. Colleen Gleason sent goodies! So we covered vampires, the Scottish Highlands paranormal style and the Regency all in one evening–just another night at Lady Jane’s!

The salon has been running for over two years now (!) and we’ve got our biggest, awesomest, fantastical line up to date at our June/July salon. Save the date, kittens, because this is not one to be missed!

Lady Jane’s Salon~RWA Extravaganza

Date: June 27* (not the usual date, take note!)

Time: 7:00 until….oh, this one will go late!

Who’s reading:

Sarah Maclean

Dianna Love Snell

Leanna Renee Hieber

Karen Rose

Carrie Lofty

and….

Eloisa James!


First Comes Romance, Then Comes Cake

By salon reader and guest blogger Alisa Bowman

I spent weeks worrying about what passage of Project: Happily Ever After to read for Lady Jane’s Salon. One friend had suggested I read the love letter I’d written for my husband. I thought, “The love letter? People might fall asleep.”

Then I thought about reading from the very beginning of the book. But this section goes into great detail about how I’d once planned my very healthy husband’s funeral on the off chance he’d conveniently drop dead. It’s quite dark. I didn’t think it would fit in with what the other authors might choose to read. More important, I thought it might lead audience members to form an incorrect assumption about my character.

What to read? What to read?

Years ago, I’d once read an essay at Cedar Crest College about my first bikini wax. Some of the students had laughed until they’d cried—especially at the part that compared oral sex to road kill removal. A version of that essay had made its way into the book. I figured, “Hey, it was a hit before. It will be a hit again.”

The version that had made its way into the book, however, was much shorter, and it was missing some of the more risqué parts. For instance, I did not include the road kill removal line or any mention of oral sex in general. Still, it was about how a bikini wax saved my married sex life. How could I go wrong with that topic?

So I practiced it in front of the mirror.  The mirror stared blankly and asked, “So have you got anything better?”

Really? How could a piece about my vagina not be interesting? The mirror must be wrong!

Still, I continued to second-guess myself.

“What if someone in the audience is offended by vaginas?” I wondered.

“No, everyone loves vaginas,” I thought.

Still, I figured it would be safe to pick something else—something tamer and more romantic. So I settled on a section about this hugging exercise my husband and I had tried.

But when I read that one in front of the mirror, I felt bored and the mirror did, too.

What to read? What to read?

Even as I mingled with audience members and romance authors before the reading, I was still conflicted. I kept looking intently at various people and wondering, “Will she be offended if I read a piece about my vagina?”

In the end, I decided to read both pieces.

I started off with a bit of nerves. My knees shook, but I was pretty sure my long skirt concealed that.

And as soon as I said the word, “Vagina” everyone laughed.

That’s when I allowed the reading to take over and it all became fun.

Soon I was done and Leslie Carroll, dressed in a tiara and royal gown, took over to offer a historical account of the royals and a romance gone wrong. Lisa Dale read various sections of Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier and captivated us all with the sweet innocence of young lust.

Afterward, no one mentioned anything about being offended or embarrassed and everyone still seemed able to make eye contact with me. I figured all was good.

We mingled and enjoyed a beautiful cake made by Sossa Starshine of Starshine’s Sweets. The cake was shaped like a heart. It had a Band-aid on top and had a design that looked as if it had been broken and sewn back together. It represented the true epitome of romance in my opinion, and it tasted like heaven.