Being Mrs. Bennet Published!

Not much fanfare on this one as life is in super baby mode, but my latest book is out for Kindle! Eventually, I'll get around to the paperback as well. Please check out the first three chapters here and download the novel from Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FDFDZZB/ref=sr_1_10?s=amazon-devices&ie=UTF8&qid=1531242295&sr=8-10&keywords=alexa+adams

Four Year Anniversary Giveaway: Holidays at Pemberley

Wow! Four years ago today, Holiday at Pemberleys, or Third Encounters: A Tale of Less Pride & Prejudice Concludes, was published, completing my first "What if?" conception. To celebrate, all three books in the trilogy are free for Kindle at amazon.com tomorrow. I just realized today was my book anniversary, or I would have been on top of this and had the giveaway scheduled for today. C'est la vie.

I'm also marking the occasion by announcing my intention to rerelease the entire series as a single volume next year. I've been meaning to do this for sometime. First Impressions, particularly, has some grievous editing problems that I've never bothered correcting. The whole thing is going to be polished up and chronologically ordered into a single tale. Not sure what the new title will be, but my money's on simply Tales of Less Pride & Prejudice, which will hopefully make it crystal clear that this is, at the end of the day, the same story, with only minor alterations. Of course, the whole project is predicated on me actually being productive postpartum (little Jack is due on January 4th). Fingers crossed I'm more focused than after Eliza's birth.

Be sure to take advantage of this offer while it lasts!
https://www.amazon.com/Alexa-Adams/e/B003HSCV6S/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Posey and Parody

My 7/14/17 post for Austen Authors! Check out the original to join the conversation:  http://austenauthors.net/poesy-and-parody/

My new book, Darcy in Wonderland, come out tomorrow! Well, the ebook does (paperbacks to follow soon). Next month we'll have a giveaway and release party, but today I just want to step back and reflect on how much fun I had writing this book! Though the book is both a Pride and Prejudice sequel and an Alice in Wonderland mashup, I've filled it with references to other Austen novels, some more obvious than others. In particular, I had an amazing time taking the poems that occur throughout Alice in Wonderland and parodying them with a twist of Austen thrown in. Lewis Carroll's poems are parodies themselves of verses that would have been quite familiar to his Victorian audience, so it felt like a very natural place to go a bit wild. Here is a couple of my favorite. Do you recognize the references? Also get a glimpse of some of the original illustrations by K. Wiedemann featured in the book. Share your thoughts and insights on both in the comments!

‘Tis the voice of the Lobster: In tones not muted,
‘Take no pleasure in novels? Intolerably stupid!’
Like a lady when shopping for muslins and lace,
Our minds shout agreement, even as our hearts race.
‘Little boys and girls should be tormented,’ he said,
But only so long as it is good for their heads:
‘To torment or instruct: words found synonymous.’
All precision of language has now simply gone amiss.

I passed by his garden, and to my surprise,
Something shocking indeed was happening inside.
‘Indeed! Of what nature!’ The questions were fret.
‘More horrible than anything we’ve met with yet.’
‘Good heaven! A riot? Give me peace of mind!’
‘I expect murder and everything of that kind.’
 Laughing, ‘The riot is only in your own brain!
The confusion there might drive anyone insane.’

Know the scene and place? Well this one is a bit more tricky:

They told me you had writ to her
And mentioned me to say,
Good things about my character:
That she should hear me play.

She then sent word that I should come
And be her governess.
The offer like a cherry plum.
Refusal, stubbornness.

I gave her one, and then two more,
And yet three more in time,
Excuses, each that she ignored,
And yet I still opined.

We learned through hearsay, during tea,
Just after I gave in,
A sickly woman ceased to be   
To no one’s great chagrin.

This obstacle now done away,
He only needed come,
To Mrs. Suckling’s great dismay,
I passed the cherry plum.

In wedded bliss I soon shall bask,
At Enscombe, a few miles hence.
Not of you shall I ever ask,
Nor give you recompense.

And let's wrap up with an easy one. Everyone should get this:

“You are old, Lady Catherine,” the young girl said,
“And your hair has become very white;
Yet you improved Rosings alone, you swellhead!
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

“In my youth,” Lady Catherine said to the girl,
“I’d command someone else to do it;
But since the first time that I gave it a whirl
I know no one more equal to it.”

“You are old,” said the girl, “as I mentioned before,
And your bones have become quite brittle,
Yet you goad your relations, prompting uproar —
Don’t you fear it will end in committal?”

“In my youth,” said her ladyship, a frown on her face,
“I’d lambaste you for speaking so shrill;
But now that death and I shall so soon embrace
I’ll simply write you out of the will.”

“You are old,” said the girl, “and your jaws are too weak
For little else other than pudding
Yet you told off the Rector, the Cook, and a Sheik —
Why so disagreeable, woman?”

“In my youth,” said the Dame, “I knew it my call,
And argued with all and sundry.
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw
Allows me to keep speaking bluntly.”

For more fun, order the book from Amazon today: https://www.amazon.com/Darcy-Wonderland.

And check out more of my sister's amazing artwork as www.wiedemannillustrations.com and katywiedemann.com.

Emma and Elton: Something Truly Horrid, Free Kindle Download

Come by Amazon today to get your free copy of Emma and Elton: Something Truly Horrid!

https://www.amazon.com/Emma-Elton-Something-Horrid-Twisted-ebook/dp/B009ZEJ2C4/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Jane and Bingley Now Available on Kindle and Nook!

Halloween is behind us, but the fun continues! Jane and Bingley: Something Slightly Unsettling is now available for purchase on your Kindle or Nook, or you can always read it for free right here (check the page tabs above), or download a pdf of the story from Goodreads, also a freebie. It was great fun. Thanks to all who participated, and good luck to everyone who entered the giveaways. They are all open until November 8th, so there is still time to enter and win!

Emma & Elton eBook available on Goodreads

Take that Amazon! It's not the ideal solution, but it does make me feel a bit better to be able to offer Emma & Elton: Something Truly Horrid for download someplace "official". You can now download it for free on Goodreads (here) and on this blog (here). If you do so and enjoy the story, I would greatly appreciate it if you went over to Amazon and posted a review. If you despised the story, on the other hand, perhaps you might confine your review to a less public forum, like this blog? I'm always anxious to get feedback, good and bad, but I admit that nothing hurts quite so much as being torn to shreds on Amazon. Thanks!

Kindle Edition of Emma & Elton: Something Truly Horrid Available Now

I had intended to announce the publication of Emma & Elton: Something Truly Horrid on Kindle with a great deal of pomp, it being a surprise I saved for after the final post of the story, but my glee was been tampered upon learning that I can't offer it for free. If anyone knows how to get around the mandatory pricing limits Amazon imposes on Kindle books, please let me know and I will change the current price, which I was forced to set at $0.99. I really wanted this to be a freebee and am very disappointed that it seems impossible to do. To make some amends, I am posting the story here on its own page. I hope this accommodates those who want to read or revisit the story for free, but who don't care to go jumping about from post to post. Alternatively, here is a link to a PDF of the story:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxlKzARQccxhUjdGUU1XZkpSVmc

Again, I am so sorry that this didn't work out as I intended. I am all ears if anyone has other suggestions as to how I can make the story easily available. Thanks to all who read Emma & Elton, and particularly those who commented! I trust everyone had a happier Halloween than poor Miss Woodhouse, of whom I really am very fond.

First Impressions Now Available on Kindle!

For all those who have been asking me about this since the publications of First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice (and there have been several of you), I am very pleased to announce that you can now buy the book in Kindle format from Amazon. I am sorry about the delay, but as my final drafts of the book were written in InDesign, a publishing program, I needed to transfer the text back into Word before I could upload it to Amazon. This proved easier said than done, but with the help of my good buddy the designer, the task was eventually accomplished. Enjoy!