The Debutante Ball is thrilled to welcome Delilah Marvelle to take a spin around the dance floor. Deb Tawna is particularly excited, since she’s had the opportunity to meet Delilah in person through Rose City Romance Writers, and can assure everyone Delilah is as funny, sweet, smart, and gorgeous as you might guess from her words and pictures.
Delilah Marvelle is a two-time Golden Heart finalist, an RT Book Reviewer’s Choice Nominee and a double finalist in the Bookseller’s Best Award. You can visit her at her website at www.delilahmarvelle.com or visit her blog, which explores the naughtier side of history, at www.DelilahMarvelle.blogspot.com
Naughty, you say? Oh yes! Here’s what Delilah writes about:
The word “scandal” is used quite a bit in historical romance and I’m hoping to redefine what scandal means to readers. The Scandal Series showcases three couples touched by scandal in three unusual ways. Some are of their own doing. Some are the doing of others. But what they all have in common, aside from scandal itself, is a book by an Unknown Author.
Sounds positively delicious! Prelude to a Scandal hit shelves earlier this month to rave reviews. Once Upon a Scandal comes out in February, followed closely by The Perfect Scandal in March. Deb Tawna had the supreme pleasure (heavy emphasis on pleasure) of reading Prelude to a Scandal so she’s extra excited to announce that Delilah will be giving away a special, signed copy of it to one lucky commenter. Woohoo!
Delilah agreed to take The Deb Interview with us and you’re all in for a very big treat. Take it away, Delilah!
Share something that’s always guaranteed to make you laugh.
Any episode from South Park. I can laugh and laugh almost every single time, no matter what episode is on. And yes, it says everything about my humor and what people can expect from me and my books, lol.
What is your advice for aspiring writers?
Always listen to your gut when it comes to your writing and your career. Know the difference between intuition and your ego, and above all, never ever give up. Every writer’s journey is different. You can’t expect to be published in a certain amount of time. It may take a year or it may take 15. My journey included 11 long years, over 200 rejections, and having to write over 40 books to see my first book in print. Through it all, I kept writing and believing. And that’s about all you can control.
Do you have any phobias?
Heights. Holy cow, am I ever afraid of heights. Long staircases, in particular freak me out. I think in a past life, someone pushed me down a set of stairs or something…lol.
There’s been so much buzz surrounding the release of your Scandal Series. What are the pros and cons of that?
Buzz is good because it creates an awareness that the Scandal Series does in fact exist. But the con of it is creating such high expectations, they expect heaven knows what. I like to tell people I write historical romance….on crack.
You’ve become quite an expert on disreputable ladies through the ages, giving talks on the topic and blogging about the scandalous side of history. How did you become interested in the subject, and how do you conduct your research?
It all started with my first book, Mistress of Pleasure, and the reader responses that included “They didn’t have dildos in 1830.” Little did these people know that the oldest dildo is over 20,000 years old! It made me realize that most readers, especially of historical romance, have a very warped view of what history is, basing it off of their own assumptions because of the books they’ve read and movies they’ve seen.
In honor of those assumptions, I started A BIT O’MUSLIN. Every first of the month, I post a blog relating to sex in the context of history in the hopes of sharing all that I’ve learned in a fun, cheeky way. What sets me apart, I feel, both with this blog and in my writing is that I heavily research taboo topics. I’ve always enjoyed reading and learning about the grittier aspects of humanity. It also makes for some great stories!
The whole idea behind A BIT O’MUSLIN is basically to re-educate the historical romance genre into realizing that people back then weren’t any different from the people of today. Only the environment and the mores have changed. Many people who complain about historical inaccuracy in historical romance forget that history and all of the books from within that period were CENSORED. So even we aren’t getting the true side of the story, which means there was quite a bit left unsaid. I’m simply filling in the blanks using my imagination and it doesn’t mean it’s historically inaccurate. It’s simply a different take on history.
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Wow, is it hot in here? Thanks so much to Delilah for joining us at The Debutante Ball. Shall we all swoon in unison now?
If you’d like a shot at winning a signed copy of Prelude to a Scandal, leave a comment. We’ll pick one lucky winner to announce next Sunday, January 23. Good luck to everyone, and thanks for reading!
Oh, my! Now, these sound like just my kind of historical romances. Pick me, pick me! 🙂
Hello Linda! Thanks for posting and good luck! 🙂
These covers are GORGEOUS.
And you, Delilah, are clearly a great example of good things happening when you perservere! Thank you for coming by the ball!
Hi Eleanor! You’re right. In this business it’s all about sticking with it. Thank you so much for having me!!!
Thanks so much for coming to The Ball, Delilah! I’m so excited for the next Scandal book to hit shelves!
Tawna
Hello Tawna darling! Thank you for having me! Loved answering all the questions!
Wait wait wait — I totally want to know more about the 20,000 year old dildos! What were they made of? Everything that I can imagine leads me to think… OUCH!
Awesome post, Delilah. I’m bookmarking your blog right now — COMPLETELY fascinated by the naughtier side of history!
Hi Elise! The first dildo was made of silestone. Ouch and crazy, I know. I can only imagine what it was like being on the receiving end of a stone or wood dildo…*shudder* And very cool about bookmarking my blog. I always post everything I research, so I’m sure you’ll always find something to chuckle about…or cringe about, lol. Thanks for posting!
I’m loving it. Now I know I’m not alone. It’s what I read and what I write, though I favor the grittier side of the 19th century American West. As my grandma always said, “Where men were men and gals were glad of it.”
By that, I always hoped she didn’t mean they were all insensitive bastards.
Hello Bonnie! Hey, I’m totally with grandma. She knows what the heck she’s talking about, lol.
Is this contest international? Because I so want to win!
I’ll answer this one for Tawna 🙂 Yes, I’ll ship it out internationally. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for the interview! good luck to everyone. I run contests at Age of Autism all the time. And I laugh like heck when readers type, “Please enter me,” as their comment. I suppose in this case…. (Lord, Tawna is rubbing off on me!)
KIM
lol, you had me sold at 20,000 year old dildo’s 🙂 Would love to read this book. Thanks so much for the chance
Sounds like a fun series. AND I love research into history. Looking forward to reading this one. I’m pretty sure I met you at RWA in Orlando (at Eli N’s book launch- you gave me an aspirin-LOL!) and you were very charming and kind. So glad these books are coming out in the world. Jillian
Love the interview – isn’t research fun, it’s like solving history’s mysteries…
Michelle
I’m still a newby writer but I’ve realised recently that no matter what I’m writing it will always be something-romance. I’ve played around with different genres but somehow there was always a romance element involved… Anyway, how does one research 20,000 year old dildos? Do you just chat up your local librarian, asking for books on the history of dildos?
Also, Kim S., what does it say about me that I didn’t think anything of your “Please enter me,” comment until I read the name Tawna Fenske?
I feel strangely proud 🙂
Tawna
Notjana, I can’t say for sure. But it makes me smirk every time I read it on our site. I commented back once as Managing Editor: “Folks, let’s come up with a better request than ‘Please enter me’ shall we” and got a lot of laughs. Tawna writes Romance. I can barely spell kiss. 🙂
Well, I just read comment #15 and spilled hot chocolate down the side of my white t-shirt… And I’m in a coffee shop. I don’t really care about that though cause I’m still giggling at that comment (and fleece jackets come in handy to cover up spills)!
Humor is the key — to everything! Delilah you’re one tough trouper.
the covers of all of these books caught my attention…
Love Delilah’s work, and I’ve been so excited for this new series. Mistress of Pleasure captured my fancy, not just because of the way that Delilah approaches romance and sex, but because of the whole premise of an exclusive class to teach men how to pleasure a woman. When I heard Delilah explain that there was a real person who inspired the Madame… I knew I would inhale everything she wrote!
So happy for you Delilah, thank you for approaching the “untouchable” subjects with such grace and humor.
I’ve known Delilah for seven years now and can attest that she’s utterly awesome. No one is more deserving to be an “overnight success”. Her topics might be considered unconventional through history, but she’s bringing them into the spotlight! About damn time. Loved her presentation on the history of “rubbers” and all the things they were made of long before rubber was invented.
Oh yeah – DON’T ENTER ME! – I prefer not to WIN a copy of her book. I BUY them. They are SO worth the investment of my time and cash. And she signs them for me. 🙂