The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
To ensure that my 1812 London was as accurate as possible, I relied upon The A to Z of Regency London, published by the London Topographical Society. It is a series of maps based on a survey taken by Richard Horwood from 1792 to 1799, which was then updated by William Faden in 1813. A truly fabulous find.
I’ve listed the newspapers, magazines, books, films, documentaries, and exhibits that I used to create Helen’s Regency world in the research section on my website at www.darkdaysclub.com. You can also see some pictures of me in my Regency garb. Prodigious good fun!
—Alison Goodman, January 2016
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Ron, my brilliant husband, for his steadfast support and belief, and his excellent research, scientific, engineering, philosophical and cooking skills. Huge thanks also to my best friend, Karen McKenzie, who is my trusted first reader and whose insight and writing knowledge are invaluable to me, as is her friendship. And I am always grateful to my loving and beloved parents, Doug and Charmaine Goodman.
I feel very lucky to be working alongside some wonderful people who are friends as well as business associates. At the top of that list are my fabulous agent, Jill Grinberg, and my rock star editor/publisher, Sharyn November: a big thank you to them, and to their hard-working, enthusiastic teams.
I am a big believer in the value of a writing group as a way of refining work and surviving the ups and downs of the strange life that is fiction writing. Big thanks to my two gangs: The Y. & J. Writers, and Clan Destine, a group of madcaps who lighten the load. I’d like to give a particular shout out to Chris Bell, who generously read and commented on a large section of the book while moving house. My thanks also to Sean Williams for his kindness, generosity, and wise words.
I did an enormous amount of research for this book and loved every minute of it. One of my most favorite research moments was attending the Jane Austen Festival of Australia (JAFA) where I learned to dance the Regency quadrilles and country dances that appear in the book. A big thank you to John Gardiner-Garden for his excellent dance instruction and historical dance books, and to Aylwen Gardiner-Garden, who organizes the fun, dance-filled JAFA every year.
Recreating Regency London was both a challenge and a delight, and I was privileged to have Jen Kloester, author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World, read my manuscript and check my Regency world. Jen also generously and promptly answered some very strange questions on the hop, for which I am very grateful.
My sincere thanks also to the two back specialists who kept me upright while I wrote the book: my chiropractor Dr. Warren Sipser, and my physiotherapist Natalie Szmerling.
Finally, I must acknowledge the sweet hound from hell, Xander. His loud snoring, stubborn Jack Russell demands, and random barking are an integral part of my writing workday.
ALISON GOODMAN is the author of the internationally bestselling and award-winning Eon/Eona duology, as well as the YA science fiction thriller Singing the Dogstar Blues and an adult novel, A New Kind of Death (originally titled Killing the Rabbit). She was a D. J. O’Hearn Memorial Fellow at Melbourne University, holds a Master of Arts, and teaches creative writing at the postgraduate level.
She is online at www.alisongoodman.com.au and on Twitter @AlisonGoodman, and has a treasure trove of Regency goodies at www.pinterest.com/alisongoodman.
Alison Goodman and her husband live in Victoria, Australia, with their irrepressible terrier, Xander.
Visit her website at www.darkdaysclub.com.
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Alison Goodman, The Dark Days Club