It’s my launch day for Fitzwilliam Darcy Rock Star! To celebrate, I’m giving away three signed copies of my book and a fourth prize of my homemade Lavender Soap. To enter, leave a comment. You have until 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 to enter. And because it’s my first book and I want to celebrate- I will mail one book worldwide. If you are in a country other than the US or Canada, please mention it in your comment, so you can get in the special worldwide drawing. (The other 2 books and soap will be US & Canada addresses only.)

 

I joined Austen Authors when it started a year ago, and I’ve spent most of this year apologizing for not having a book I could donate and feeling a little bit like the poor relative amongst all these accomplished and published ladies (and Jack). But no more! Today I’m so very happy to talk about the release of my first book, Fitzwilliam Darcy Rock Star. Look, there’s the cover. Isn’t it pretty?

Fitzwilliam Darcy Rock Star (here after known as FDRS) is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, in which Darcy is a world famous guitarist for the group Slurry.  Charles Bingley (vocals & bass) and Richard Fitzwilliam (drums) make up the rest of the group. While they are highly successful, they’ve had troubles with concert tours. Their current tour just finished the Asian leg and is ready to hit North America, but they’ve lost their opening act and rumors are going around about how difficult they are to work with.

Darcy ends up hiring an up and coming girl group called Long Borne Suffering, made up of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and Charlotte Lucas. These women are serious, talented artists and are hoping this tour will be their big break. But will it break them?

Since this is an Austen blog, I probably don’t need to tell you much more about the plot. You all know about proud, aloof Darcy and headstrong, determined Lizzy. We can skip that, so instead lets talk about some stuff you might not know:

5 Lesser Known Facts about Fitzwilliam Darcy Rock Star

 5: This sounds kinda familiar, did you published this before?

I originally post this story as Slurry on the Hyacinth Garden many years ago. In fact many of the random characters that pop up are people from the garden who let me ‘borrow’ them. It was also on my page on Austen Interludes for a long, long, long time.

4: Wasn’t there songs?

Yes, there were. When I wrote Slurry, I used popular songs in the story. When it was published, I was unable to include them, and wrote lyrics of my own. However, there is a published playlist titled ‘Fitzwilliam Darcy Rock Star’ on itunes, where you can find the missing songs.

 

3: Tell something you haven’t been asked about yet on your blog tour.

 Can we talk about Wickham a bit? When I was plotting out FDRS I asked myself “Why did Wickham seduce Lydia in Pride and Prejudice? Was it simply because it she was there (the lazy answer) or was it to get back at Darcy? (Figuring if he sullied her Darcy would never be able to marry Elizabeth) I’m still not sure, because Austen doesn’t tell us. Clearly Darcy believes it was to get back at him, but Darcy’s not an unbiased source.

For FDRS I went with the ‘he’s getting back at Darcy’ answer, and have him target Elizabeth, because it will hurt Darcy way more than Lydia, who’s hardly in the book.  (Sorry, Lydia) In P&P Wickham motivates Darcy to step out of his comfort zone, in FDRS he’s forces Darcy to face some hard facts about himself.

 

2: You know a bunch of random facts about the characters that didn’t get into the book, right?

Oh, yes.

Spill

 Lets see, Darcy’s left handed. Richard’s personal worth is higher than Darcy’s. Charlotte’s actually a better drummer than Richard. Richard has an apartment suite in Trump Towers, but he mostly lives in Darcy’s loft. Darcy only drinks green tea and never coffee. Georgiana is going to major in software design and programming. Wickham … no, I’ve talked about him enough.

 

1: What other stuff can you tell us?

 I’m blogging all over the Internet this month about FDRS. Please join me on my blog tour and I promise to share more fun and interesting stories. I’m thinking about having Slurry Grind Tour t-shirts designed and made up, if there’s an interest.

Finally, I want to thank all the people who helped me write my story and become a published author. This is such a huge milestone in my life, and I could not have done it without a fantastic community providing information when I needed it, and supporting me all the way. Thank you!