Northanger Abbey Cosplay Pinup: Catherine Morland does…Catherine Morland

Hurray, another nifty Retro Lovely cover photographed by Marilee Caruso Photography (who also did the makeup and hair)! This time, it’s in Retro Lovely’s cosplay title, Masquerade No. 26!

You can grab a copy of the magazine or a cover poster via Magcloud, and use code BF25 to get a discount (on these or any Magcloud publication) through 11/28/2022 (the actual discount varies by publisher and issue, btw). Note that I don’t make any money off of purchases direct from Magcloud, just the Tiki issue and posters (I have one mag copy left and a handful of posters if you want to help feed my pinup addiction. I mean, support me as I pursue this noble hobby! Ha!).

This one’s kinda meta, because my nom-de-pinup is Catherine Morland and I’m actually portraying Jane Austen’s heroine from Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland, in the photo set. As she’s into gothic romances and horrid novels of all kinds, we have Catherine reading novels by candlelight in a spooky forestscape of her imagination. Eat your heart out, Emily St. Aubert!

Retro Lovely Masquerade Catherine Morland Cover
I cosplay as Northanger Abbey’s Catherine Morland…my pinup namesake!

More after the jump…

Continue reading “Northanger Abbey Cosplay Pinup: Catherine Morland does…Catherine Morland”

Anne Sharp’s presentation copy of Emma is now the “most expensive” Jane Austen work to date…

So apparently, Anne Sharp’s presentation copy of Emma recently re-sold for a record-setting £375,000. It’s now the “most expensive” Jane Austen work to date. The new owner is from the U.S., but has decided to loan it indefinitely for display at Chawton House (Jane Austen’s brother Edward’s home in Hampshire, which is now a center dedicated to research on women writers). Jane Austen’s most famous home, Chawton Cottage, is located on the estate and serves as a museum dedicated to the author’s life and works.

More on this sale, Jane Austen’s Emma, and early editions of and reactions to the work:

Still Moar Pinup: I’m on a cover for Retro Lovely’s 2022 Tiki Special Edition Volume 2!

Catherine Morland, Tiki pin up girl by Marilee Caruso

Tiki pinup incoming! I’m super-thrilled to share that I got one of the Retro Lovely Tiki special edition covers this year (Volume 2)! Marilee Caruso shot me at an amazing home tiki bar in the Sacramento area (Danger Island!). I’m so happy with these images and also grateful to see a few friends in the issue with me, including Miss Melody Noir!

Catherine Morland cover for Retro Lovely Tiki Volume 2
My Retro Lovely Tiki cover, shot by Marilee Caruso!

You can get signed copies of the issue and/or a 12×18″ poster of the cover art direct from me! Prices include USPS Priority shipping to US addresses. If you need international shipping, contact me! Buying these from me doesn’t make me much money, but it does help me defray the cost of bringing you pinup (which I love to do!)…

More images from the shoot (that do not appear in the issue) after the jump…

Continue reading “Still Moar Pinup: I’m on a cover for Retro Lovely’s 2022 Tiki Special Edition Volume 2!”

Happy Halloween: A Northanger Abbey/Haunted Mansion Fanfic

For Halloween, I give you a Disney Haunted Mansion-dusted Jane Austen Northanger Abbey fanfic. Maybe it’s crackfic, I don’t know.

Either way, it’s called The Terrors of Expectation and it deals with some of Catherine Morland Tilney’s favorite gothic fiction tropes, nightmares, and some other more mundane family stuff, too.

Leave me feedback and kudos and I’ll love you forever…

I have other fics, too, including an ongoing series based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, more Northanger Abbey, and my Emma allusion from way back.

Emma FanFic Remix: 20+ years later, Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill still know how to blunder through a secret engagement

A looooong time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I wrote a fanfic from Jane Fairfax’s and Frank Churchill’s perspectives, filling in the plot gaps in Emma by Jane Austen. Obviously, that negates the “mystery story” element of the novel, but I don’t care. It was a fun exercise to try to get into their heads and figure out what they were thinking, and what kinds of people they really were.

Frank fixes Mrs. Bates' spectacles
Frank fixes Mrs. Bates’ spectacles.

I came to the conclusion that Jane Fairfax really was a superior creature. One who was desperate to find love…and also desperate to not work for a living. Not judging – I totally understand where she was coming from. Here’s a beautiful woman with loads of talent and tons of accomplishments, and she’s on the cusp of spending the rest of her life (? – I mean, Mr. Weston sprung Miss Taylor out of Governess Jail at Hartfield…) as a glorified servant. For a woman who is the granddaughter and daughter of gentlemen (her grandfather was clergy and her father an army officer, two of the gentlemanly professions), it isn’t so unreasonable to expect she’ll be able to live a life that befits a gentlewoman. Obviously, genteel poverty was a thing (cases in point: Mrs. and Miss Bates), but as a young woman, Jane should have had a fighting chance at a decent marriage and living. Maybe not big-inheritance level like Frank ended up giving her, but something better than working for friends of Mrs. Elton for a pittance. 

In Jane’s shoes, I probably would’ve let Frank talk me into falling in love with him, too. Maybe. As for Frank Churchill, I decided he’s a self-centered ass, but not the villain some people make him out to be. He really, really does love her. I mean, here’s a guy with the looks, charm, and money to basically marry just about any well-bred girl he wants, and he picks the poor one. And not just for messing around. He proposes marriage to lock her down. Add all that to his fits of pique at Box Hill and you know he’s got it bad for her. Really bad.

Yeah, he makes fun of Jane’s hair to Emma, which isn’t just an affront to her looks – it’s also a dig at her poverty, as she and her aunt and grandmother can’t afford a lady’s maid to do it for her, but so many of the improper things that come up in Frank’s conversations with Emma aren’t actually suggested by Frank – they’re suggested by Emma. He certainly encourages the topic, but it’s Emma who goes full-Dixon, not Frank. Mmhmmmmm.

Anyway, I rewrote the fic to make it a little less Austen-y and restrained and a little more psychological. When I finished the original version, I wanted to continue the post-canon story of Jane and Frank with some plot ideas that struck me along the way. Unfortunately, life got stupid for a couple of decades and suddenly it’s not just the 21st century, it’s the third decade of the 21st century, and that scares the crap out of me. I’ve only begun to revisit the possibility of continuing with these ficbunnies again. Suffice it to say that some of my ideas will probably piss off the Austen purists, but whatever. Forget it, Jake (Jane?) – this is Fanfiction Town.

So here’s the new version, titled B-L-U-N-D-E-R, currently hosted at Archiveofourown.org. Please check it out and let me know what you think. 

Paul Gordon Emma coming to Streaming Musicals…

If you need a Jane Austen musical theatre fix, Streaming Musicals is apparently offering Paul Gordon’s Pride and Prejudice and Emma for rent or purchase! Thanks to Variety for the info!

I finally saw the new Emma – my initial thoughts, and…it’s coming to DVD & Blu-Ray on May 19! Order now!

So I finally got around to seeing the new Emma, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, and it was pretty good. You can stream it now, or pre-order it on Blu-Ray or DVD, both of which will drop on May 19:

So what did I think, exactly? Read on to find out…

Continue reading “I finally saw the new Emma – my initial thoughts, and…it’s coming to DVD & Blu-Ray on May 19! Order now!”

Emma’s gonna be available on demand starting FRIDAY!

Hey guys! Hope you’re all practicing social distancing and keeping safe. My school’s gone online-only, and so I’ll be teaching from home until Summer. That’ll give me time to, you know, maybe blog more.

The silver lining: the latest Emma adaptation is going to be available on demand starting THIS FRIDAY! Great news! Stay tuned!

Emma on demand
Emma to be on demand starting soon!

 

The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Emma Woodhouse and is directed by Autumn de Wilde. Other stars include Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightley, Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse, Mia Goth as Harriet, Miranda Hart as Miss Bates, Josh O’Connor as Mr. Elton, and Callum Turner as Frank Churchill. The screenplay is by Eleanor Catton.

Follow the production here:

My Emma Adaptation Pages coverage: