posted on September 26, 2017 by Deb Marlowe

To Costume or Not to Costume?

Costumes.  It seems like an innocuous topic, especially at this time of year.  But I’ve found that it can be a polarizing subject.  People tend to fall strongly in favor or against the idea—for themselves, at least.

I’ve always fallen firmly in the costume camp.  I love Halloween parties.  I was the mom who dressed up along with her kids to go Trick or Treating.  Luckily, I’ve found plenty of company in the writing/reading world!

For the Eye of the Ninja Chronicles, the Young Adult Fantasy series I write as D.M. Marlowe, I meet a lot of fun and super-enthusiastic cos-players at Cons like Animazement and DragonCon.  I love the passion and energy they put into their creations!  It’s a fun and positive environment that I enjoy.

Even with my Regency Historical Romances, I get to occasionally indulge.  There are costume parties and events at conferences like the Romantic Times Book Conference and the Historical Romance Retreat, where authors and readers alike get to dress up.

I was recently, thrilled, then, to find costuming when I was doing research for my new release, Charmed at Christmas.

Many of you may be familiar with the anthology series I took part in last year, The Haunting of Castle Keyvnor series.  It’s a twelve story series set in a haunted castle in Cornwall, and it mixes the reading of a will with romance and passion and ghosts, ghouls, witches gypsies and pixies.   We had great fun with it and it was such a hit we decided to go back to the Castle and do a Christmas series!  There’s a double wedding taking place on Christmas Eve, and we have twelve new stories releasing today!

I was researching Christmas traditions in Cornwall for my story, Lord Locryn and the Pixie’s Kiss, when I discovered guise dancing.  It is a Cornish tradition at the holidays.  Folks dress up in elaborate costumes and gather to have processions, to put on plays and performances and sing carols.  Elaborate masks are constructed, some made of lace or leaves an others fashioned to look like animals.  Beautiful period costumes are often worn—and they are sometimes tattered and torn.

I was thrilled to include a guise dancing scene in Lord Locryn and the Pixie’s Kiss.  Lord Locryn and Lady Gwyn were thrilled to use the custom to help them evade the forces working against them.

When is a kiss actually a curse? When an irate Pixie forbids you to kiss the wrong girl—ever. Unfortunately, Lord Locryn Pendarvis has no idea why girls are falling all over themselves not to kiss him. He only knows that after a certain point, the risk of humiliation outweighs desire.

Until he meets Lady Gwyn Hambly again. She’s witty, charming and beautiful—and just as interested in him as he is in her. They’ll do anything to ensure their future together—even fight the supernatural forces aligned against them.

So, where do you fall?  In the costume camp or out of it?  Do you have any pics to share?

And please, connect with me on FB, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to find out more about Charmed at Christmas, my Half Moon House series and other books—and to see my next fun costumes!  🙂

debmarlowe.com

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CHARMED AT CHRISTMAS 

Available Now!

The Earl and Countess of Banfield cordially request your attendance at the wedding for their daughters: Lady Tamsyn Hambly to Mr. Gryffyn Cardew, and Lady Morgan Hambly to Harold Mort, Viscount Blackwater, on the 24th day of December, 1811, at Castle Keyvnor, Bocka Morrow, Cornwall.

CHARMED AT CHRISTMAS includes:

Claire Delacroix’s A Duke By Any Other Name
Deb Marlowe’s Lord Locryn and the Pixie’s Kiss
Erica Monroe’s The Daring Duchess

   

 

Deb Marlowe

Deb Marlowe

Deb Marlowe loves History, England and Men in Boots. Clearly she was meant to write Regency Historical Romance! Deb grew up in Pennsylvania with her nose in a book. Luckily, she'd read enough romances to recognize the true modern hero she met at a college Halloween party---even though he wore a tuxedo t-shirt instead of breeches and tall boots. They married, settled in North Carolina and produced two handsome, intelligent and genuinely amusing boys. Though she spends much of her time with her nose in her laptop, for the sake of her family she does occasionally abandon her inner world for the domestic adventure of laundry, dinner and carpool. Despite her sacrifice, not one of the men in her family is yet willing to don breeches or tall boots. She's working on it. Deb loves to hear from readers! You can contact her at [email protected].

https://www.debmarlowe.com

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