Research-Solar Eclipse

 On Saturday April 30, 2022 (Or Sunday May 1, depending on where you live) we witnessed a partial solar eclipse. Well, witnessed if you lived parts of Antarctica, the southern tip of South America and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. I do not, so I 'witnessed' via photos.

Omens, portents, signs (good or bad), eclipses have a long and varied history. They're still pretty cool, what with the way our solar system works, moving planets and moons into position

EclipseWise - Eclipses of History: Part 1

just so. Pretty darn cool.

Predicting the Emperor's Future

Surviving records have shown that the Babylonians and the ancient Chinese were able to predict solar eclipses as early as 2500 BCE.

In China, solar eclipses were thought to be associated with the health and success of the emperor, and failing to predict one meant putting him in danger. Legend has it that 2 astrologers, Hsi and Ho, were executed for failing to predict a solar eclipse. Historians and astronomers believe that the eclipse that they failed to forecast occurred on October 22, 2134 BCE, which would make it the oldest solar eclipse ever recorded in human history.

Precious Records of Eclipses in Muslim Astronomy and History - Muslim HeritageMuslim Heritage

Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0001 to 0100 (nasa.gov)

NASA - Solar Eclipses of History

Solar Eclipses in History (timeanddate.com)

Tidbit Tuesday-Carriages

 It should really be titled carriages, coaches, hired hackneys, or any mode of transportation. But that was a bit of a mouthful.

In One Day with You, the first in my free short story series about Malcolm and Louise, Malcolm uses a private hired coach to take him and a family from London to Dover. $$$$$ right there. Since he wanted privacy, he paid for it.

Hired coaches typically took on as many paying customers as possible. The more the better, even if the passengers had to hang off the back of the carriage. Money brought privileges! Or should that be bought...

Here are a couple sites on travel in Georgian/Regency England.

Introducing ‘Passengers- Life in Britain during the Stagecoach Era’ – Georgian and Victorian Britain (wordpress.com)

Your 1816 Stagecoach Journey, part two; when it all goes to plan… – Georgian and Victorian Britain (wordpress.com)

Historical Hussies: Carriages and Coaches in Regency England

A Regency Era Carriage Primer - Kristen Koster

Coach Travel in Regency England: Stage and Mail Coaches - Donna Hatch

Regency Fashion: Carriages, Coaches and the Barouche – Regency Reader (regrom.com)

Self Help Monday-One Day at a Time

 I alternate between taking things a day (or hour, sometimes minute) at a time and thinking I'm wasting my life doing so. We only get so many days and I hate that I wish them away because my day job sucks my soul dry.

I know things don't change overnight but come on! A little change? Please? Positive--I should be clear here. Positive change please.

How do you get through your days?

Research-Extinct Surnames

 In Smuggler's Captain, The Woodbead Foundling Chairty are the bad guys. That's no spoiler, I promise! Those sorts of "charities" were about as common as the scams we see today. But where did the name Woodbead come from?

First, let me tell you the difficulties I have in naming--anything! Everyone needs a name and they all have to be different! Please don't get me started on how I have to force myself to use different beginning letters. Can't all begin with the same letter, it gets confusing. For everyone, especially me!

So, being the writer I am, I keep notes. (I use a sticky note, don't judge!)

But Woodbead. It's unusual, which is cool. I found it by a simple search: "extinct British surnames".  I found a couple sites on that, there are so many more resources about last names, their rise and fall, and their prevalence. It's pretty cool.

10 Rare English Surnames About to Go Extinct - Ancestry Blog

Woodbead Name Meaning & Woodbead Family History at Ancestry.com®

Not Smith and Jones – Rare British Surnames On The Cusp Of Extinction - MyHeritage Blog

Tidbit Tuesday-British Citizenship

In Smuggler's Captain, Nadia is neither a natural born British Citizen nor a naturalized one. As an unmarried woman, she does not have her husband's protection and her father has ever sworn allegiance to King George III.  

From the very long but informative Wiki article:

Individuals born in the dominion were citizens regardless of the status of their parents: children born to visitors or foreigners acquired citizenship (see Jus soli). This reflects the rationale of natural-born citizenship: that citizenship was acquired because British-born subjects would have a ‘natural allegiance’ to the crown as a ‘debt of gratitude’ to the crown for protecting them through infancy. Therefore, citizenship by birth was perpetual and could not be, at common law, removed or revoked regardless of residency.

By the same reasoning, an ‘alien’, or foreign born resident, was seen as unable to revoke their relationship with their place of birth. Therefore, at English common law foreign-born individuals could not become citizens through any procedure or ceremony.

So yes, Nadia's father could have sworn allegiance to the British Crown, becoming a British denizen (subject but not citizen) and unable to hold office. Doing so required the king to grant him a patent. Or he could have petitioned Parliament to grant him (and therefore Nadia) naturalisation, but frankly, neither Nadia nor her father really wanted the attention. Nor did those bringing her into the country, Kaya and Paul for their own reasons. 

Other resources: British National Archives and The British Home Office. 

Self Care Monday- keep going

I found this in my photo memories. Not sure where it's from, which social media I found it on originally. But it's true. Keep on!

Cover Reveal!

 Here's my new cover for Smuggler's Captain. Let me take a moment to squee! I adore it!

This is book 1 in Nadia & James's series, as currently plotted a 3-book series all with a HEA. (Promise!) There was a lot to tell for their journey and one book didn't do their romance justice. This series is part of the Conrad Chronicles, an overarching series that started with Husband of Convenience and Sins of a Rogue, Kaya and Paul's journey, and will continue with many more stories throughout the Napolean Wars.