“Pure filth, constant coarse sex talk, bestiality jokes, heroine attempts to seduce a married man, etc.”

This review of Ladies in Waiting just tickles me. Take a look. I'll meet you right back here in a minute.


Will that sell books or what! Not so thrilled about the average-killing effect of a one-star rating, but hey, such is life. Can you imagine any better endorsement for curious teens than that headline? I wrote the dang thing and I want to re-read it.

Setting aside for the nonce that some of us don't think sex is filthy... (A friend of mine says if it's not filthy you're not doing it right, but she might have been talking about cooking, or gardening, or even child-rearing, I forget.)

Here's the thing – in Ladies in Waiting, no one has sex! Three young women who are relatively innocent, fairly smart, and have a pretty good idea what they want out of life (though they sometimes despair of achieving it) are thrust into a competitive, highly sexualized world where they make choices about whether to cling to their ideals.

The English court in 1662 sounds an awful lot like high school, right?

They are tempted, constantly, by sex and status, but stick to their guns. There is plenty of bawdry in Ladies in Waiting, but the heroines need something to resist, after all. Filth, pure or otherwise (and I do prefer mine pure) was a la mode in the Restoration, as evidenced by the poetry of Johns Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, by the plays of Wycherley and Etheredge, and by the example of King Charles II himself.

So apparently Ladies in Waiting is “...an excuse to have lots of sexual talk and to get to roll around in the muck.”

Hmm... well, I don't need much of an excuse, do you? I think people should talk about sex. I think people should talk about everything. Talk about sex all you want, teen readers, just think hard before you do. (I'm a mother now, I have to say that.) Think, argue, joke, explore. Talking about things is safe. Reading about things is safe. Ladies in Waiting might titillate, but it won't corrupt. No book corrupts a thinking mind.

Life is mucky at the best of times. Ladies in Waiting has plenty of muck. Sex, sure, but death and greed and ambition and disease and obsession and maternal devotion and betrayal and true love. All very mucky.

Of course you're dying to know about the bestiality jokes, right? I couldn't remember a single one, then I did a few searches for various farm animals and came up with this blasphemous bit:

“You know what these peasant louts mean when they say a dance, don’t you? They dance in the haystacks, they dance behind the hedgerows, they dance with their sheep if there’s no skivvy about.”

Laws, I clutch my pearls!

XO my lovelies,


Laura
 

My Old Kentucky Home

I saw the first butterfly of spring today, a white butterfly, so according to local custom I'll have good luck all year long. (If I lived in Devonshire, apparently, I'd have to kill the first butterfly I spied or face a year of bad luck.) I like living in a place with folk customs. Here in rural Kentucky, where I've lived the last few years, I can tell exactly what kind of winter it will be by looking at the wooly bears, and know if there's thunder in February there will be frost in May. If I brush my hair outside and a bird gathers it to use in a nest, I'll go crazy. Florida, my homeland, where I'll be returning in a few months, for good, doesn't have many folk customs. Of course, most things in Florida are transplanted exotics these days, retirees from New York, pythons from Burma. There's not a lot I'll miss about Kentucky, but I think I might pine for its sense of perpetual prophesy.

 

I'm selling my house. If you want a rural retreat, surrounded by woods, with deer and turkey and bobwhite and arrowheads in the fields and good neighbors who check on you before the tornadoes, let me know.
 
XO
Laura
 

My Historical Crush



Rousseau -- love the scruff



Admit it – you have a historical crush too. You've drooled over a bust of Caligula even though you know what a rotter he was. Maybe you have a secret thing for Jean Jacques Rousseau or save your ten dollar bills just to keep hottie Hamilton in your pants pocket. (If you're like me, you also have crushes on actors of the 1930s and 40s, who are not only long dead, but frequently gay. Ah, love... Sometimes all the better for being unobtainable...)

My historical amour is King Charles II of England. Here he is, looking a little weary after years of exile and poverty:

And a little snappier here -->

Charles was absolutely not the beau-ideal of his day. Men (and women too) were supposed to have small, neat features, rosebud lips, blue eyes, light hair, fair skin, delicate hands and feet. Charles' sensuously curling mouth, strong nose, bedroom eyes and black hair might make him a leading man today, but in the seventeenth century he was considered positively ugly.

Charles was also HUGE for the time, at about six foot two, perhaps even taller. Which is great for a potential love interest for me (I'm five foot ten) but awkward for Charles when he was being hunted by Cromwell's forces after they'd beheaded his father. As one of the tallest, darkest men in England, he was easy to spot, and just barely escaped his father's fate.



Maybe its my maternal instincts that draw me to Charles. His father (King Charles I) was executed, his kingdom ripped from him. He had to beg and gamble at foreign courts just to survive. After he was restored to the throne, Parliament blocked nearly every good thing he tried to do. His wife couldn't have children, his mistresses had too many children, his best friend schemed to betray him, plague and fire ravaged his kingdom... I just want to cuddle and comfort the poor king.

Another big thing in his favor, Charles really seemed to love women – not just sex, but women, their company, their minds. Which is rare enough in any age.

Tell me about your historical crush!

(Oh, and congrats to Hallie for winning a copy of Ladies in Waiting. Hope you love it!)

You'll meet Charles II – the lover, the scientist, the bitter king and the loyal friend – in Ladies in Waiting, out in May.

XO
Laura

A Swell Review of Brightwing

Thanks, Booksie, for your great review of BRIGHTWING!

Booksie says: "Sullivan Lee has written a quirky crime novel with engaging characters.  Against all odds, readers start to have sympathy for Lucy and Edgar, and by the end of the book are hoping they can find a way to live their dreams.  Along the way, the reader learns about the Everglades ecosystem, and the techniques the Indians used to survive in this hostile environment.  This book is recommended for suspense readers."

If you'd like an e-copy of BRIGHTWING to review, drop me a line at lauraleesullivan //at// hotmail //dot//com and tell me what format you need. (Amazon and Goodreads reviewers too!)

And don't forget to enter HERE for a chance to win a signed ARC of my bawdy YA historical, LADIES IN WAITING.

XO
Laura

WIN a signed ARC of LADIES IN WAITING

You -- yes, YOU! -- have the chance to win a rare signed LADIES IN WAITING ARC. Do you want to find out why Eliza is dressing in drag and pretending to keep notorious actress Nell Gwynn as a mistress? Do you yearn to know whether sweet Beth escapes her mad, syphillitic mother's clutches? And most important, will Zabby bed King Charles? Yes, we are deep into the YA world now, and anything goes, especially when I can use 17th century slang for obscene acts and body parts. (I personally can't think of any that count as obscene, but you know the censors...)


Use this handy-dandy entry form to enter. (This is my first time using a google doc form, so I hope it works!) The contest runs from now until January 15th. Good luck!

My Future is History!

We turn our attention from fairies (and sociopaths in the swamp) to history. Next year, I'll have two historicals coming out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and so this blog will be taking on a decidedly antiquarian slant. Fear not! Though fairy magic will be gone (until you convince enough of your friends to buy the first two Green Hill books so I can write another sequel) there is plenty to titillate you in Seventeenth Century England, the setting of my upcoming Ladies in Waiting.

You'll meet King Charles II, the merry monarch more famous for his mistresses than his governance. There will be plagues and fire, murder and seduction, bosoms, codpieces and cross dressing, and perhaps the most peculiar incident of fellatio in history, involving a countess and a mummified saint.

As you can see, this blog is also becoming decidedly PG-13. Prepare for ribaldry!

Book giveaways soon!

XO

Laura

Me: I'm back!

The Rest of the World: You were gone?