My Mr. Rochester 1 – New Cover Reveal
So … I think the cover for My Mr. Rochester 1 might be a little too bondage-ish
It actually does depict a scene in Episode 1 – the infamous Red Room incident. However, judging by one review at Goodreads (yes, only one, but it makes a good point), some people might expect more kink with a cover like this.
There’s a tiny bit of kink in the Red Room scene. Tiny. You have to get to the episode with the gray mask on the cover (episode 4) for more.
So here’s a more appropriate cover for My Mr. Rochester 1. It evokes the romance of Jane Eyre, but there’s still something a little off, a little futuristic and dystopian about it that I love. Someone recently told me she thinks of My Mr. Rochester as a historical romance set in the future. I like that!
My Mr. Rochester 5 Is Live – The Jane Eyre Retold Serial is Complete
Hurray! My Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre Retold) has been told.
The serial is complete!
If you’ve ever wanted to read Jane Eyre, but you found the 19th century language just too daunting, this serial might be just for you. This BBC-type miniseries in book form takes place in five episodes. In print, the books are 184, 140, 148, 140, and 232 pages.
Find links to the ebooks and descriptions of the episodes on this page.
My Mr. Rochester is a retelling of Jane Eyre set in an alternative reality – a future two generations after the red state/blue state divide has brought on a second civil war ~ this time, north and south go their separate ways, and the “red” states form the country of New Judah based on biblical principles and a simple, low-tech lifestyle.
In the 2080s, Jane lives in New Judah. She grows up in Idaho then moves to the state of Jefferson to take a job as a private governess where her occasional glimpses of the world outside make her question New Judean rigidity as she struggles to understand her growing love for her emotionally damaged employer, Edward Fairfax Rochester.
My Mr. Rochester 5 is in production!
A few more days… !
I’m so happy with this. It’s been such a pleasure to write My Mr. Rochester ~ every time I reread Jane Eyre, I learn more about it. Rewriting it has made me think deeper and wider about so many more aspects of the story.
Jane Eyre is loaded with contradictions and contrasts and tales within tales which shine the light on the main actors’ characters. In episode 5 one of the obvious contrasts is between Blanche Ingram and Rosamond Oliver. Brontë’s reason for these two ladies being in the story usually gets left out of film and tv treatments of Jane Eyre. (But Rosamond at least shows up in the 2005 BBC miniseries.) A shame – but you get it with My Mr. Rochester!
Blanche Ingram, as everyone knows, is considered a perfect match for Mr. Rochester. She’s beautiful, accomplished, well-connected. What else does a man want in a wife? But there’s only one small problem. Mr. Rochester doesn’t love Blanche. We could argue that he sees the nasty, mean girl qualities beneath her candy-coated shell – therefore she deserves not to be loved. It’s what I’ve always believed.
I love Christina Cole (she was perfection in He Knew He Was Right) – but she nearly turns Blanche into a caricature in the 2005 BBC version.
I have a new idea about Blanche Ingram. I think Mr. Rochester’s lack of love came first, and her bitchiness is in reaction to that. Blanche is as much a victim of society’s expectations as anyone else in Jane Eyre.
In contrast to Blanche, Rosamond Oliver is a sweetie pie no matter what. She is rich, yet she pursues St. John Rivers, a poor clergyman, because she loves him. In contrast to Rochester’s rejection of Blanche, Rivers rejects Rosamond ~ because he loves her! He can’t be distracted from his Great Work by something so all-consuming, so wonderful, and so trivial as the mad passion he feels for her.
Whereas Rochester would risk all, ignore all, forfeit all for the mad passion he feels for Jane Eyre. Sigh.
Add My Mr. Rochester 5 to your Goodreads pile now!
My Mr. Rochester Update and #5 Cover
Episode 5 – coming soon …
Utterly betrayed by the man she loves, Jane flees Thornfield and runs toward an idea: the hope of a family connection in a remote area.
Be careful what you hope for, Jane! St. John Rivers is an overpowering force: beautiful, good ~ and utterly convinced of his own righteousness.
For me, this is the section of Jane Eyre that gives meaning to everything that came before. It’s the section that makes clear why Edward Fairfax Rochester is indeed a hero ~ and not a boorish, overbearing, self-centered villain.
In Episode 5, Jane finds the independent life she’s always wanted ~ but her connection with Mr. Rochester endures over distance and time and won’t let her go. Pursued by St. John Rivers, set truly free by a surprising turn of events, Jane must choose between society’s values and her own ~ but she may be too late.
Cover Reveal: My Mr. Rochester 4 (Jane Eyre Retold)
The fourth episode of My Mr. Rochester is just about here. In this episode, Jane falls deeper in love with Mr. Rochester ~ and his obsession with her drives their relationship to disaster.
Fun fact: Episode 3 ended on Midsummer’s Eve. In the tradition of Midsummer Eve/Day, in My Mr. Rochester, Thornfield’s tenant farmers light bonfires to frighten away dragons and everyone eats wild strawberries in the morning.
Cover Reveal – My Mr. Rochester 3
I love this cover for My Mr. Rochester 3. Can you guess which scene it’s for?
Most movie/tv versions leave out the visit from the fortune-telling gypsy, but I love that scene because it’s all about one of Mr. Rochester’s bad-boy flaws: he’s a trickster!
And not a particularly kind one.
In My Mr. Rochester, both Jane and Rochester are flawed heroes, both damaged by their pasts. It’s fun seeing how the damage has kinked them up a bit – and how they try to iron out those wrinkles.
(Click on the <– cover to add My Mr. Rochester 3 to your Goodreads to-read list.)
Twittermas – a free short story for you
This story came into my head one day last week, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it!
So here it is for you – free at Smashwords
It will be available at Amazon and B&N shortly for 99¢ – but it’s “only” 5200 words.
Merry Christmas!
Triptych – Jane’s Drawings
Jane Eyre is a feast of clues, symbols, allusions – all kinds of writerly stuff. Many of Brontë’s messages and subtleties get left out in movie and tv adaptations, and I’m having a blast incorporating some into my retold version.
When Rochester “interviews” Jane right after he shows up at Thornfield, his questions are abrupt and to the point as he determines the extent of her capabilities and gets an idea of what sort of person she is. Everyone remembers Rochester dissing Jane’s piano-playing, but I think the conversation about her drawing is more interesting.
Rochester singles out three paintings: A shipwreck in the ocean, a mystical woman in the sky above a mountain, and a floating head wearing a turban with a ring of fire circling the temples. They’re all clues to other aspects of the story.
According to Peter Bolt at the Victorian Web, the shipwreck alludes to the effect Blanche Ingram could have on Rochester. A carrion bird perched on the sinking mast holds a jeweled bracelet in its mouth, hovering above the bare forearm of a dead body in the water. Blanche has come to Thornfield not because she loves Rochester but to marry into security – feasting on the wreckage of Thornfield.
Jane calls the second painting The Evening Star, but Rochester will hear none of that. He’s sure the woman is the moon, and the mountain is Latmos. In Greek mythology, Latmos is where the shepherd Endymion has fallen into eternal sleep because Selene, the moon, fell in love with him and asked her father Zeus to preserve Endymion’s beauty. In this light, Rochester is Endymion, frozen in suspended animation by Bertha’s (Selene’s) selfish entrapment.
The third painting, according to Polk, is a scene from the bible, Job 24. “I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame.” It foretells the end of the story, when Jane will be Rochester’s eyes and crutch after the fire.
The paintings are also significant in contrasting Jane to Blanche Ingram. (Almost everything in Jane Eyre is about contrasts and oppositions.) We learn that Jane’s paintings are inartfully done, lacking in trained technique – yet they possess a truth in vision and passion. Everything Blanche does appears to be perfect, but all is lacking in spirit or a sense of meaning.
Mrs. Fairfax tells Jane at one point: I heard him say her execution was remarkably good. From Rochester, this is damning with faint praise.
Fire and Ice (My Mr. Rochester 2, sneak peek)
Episode 2 of My Mr. Rochester will be out in the next week or 10 days. Here is a sneak peak – one of my favorite scenes in the whole Jane Eyre story.
Love, Murder, and Everything Else …
This is one of the more exciting promotional sales I’ve been involved with ~ I’m excited to post about it!
Love, Murder, and Everything Else …
There’s a wonderful and eclectic selection of books on sale for the obligatory 99¢, as well as gift cards worth from $25 to $100. Good luck!
My Mr. Rochester – Jane Eyre Retold
My Mr. Rochester – Jane Eyre Retold One of my more useful traits as a writer is one of my biggest flaws as a professional author:
[To see how it all turned out, click here.]
Like fairies, I’m easily distracted by shiny objects.
<– original cover
One day when I took a break from War of the Wyrd and The Goblin Ball (Tethers 3 and 4), I started fooling around with a project I’ve been wanting to do for years – since before Space Junque! even (wow).
I love the novel Jane Eyre. If you follow my website, you know I’ve written about my frustration with all the film versions. Each has its virtues and definitely its flaws. No one has ever told the St. John Rivers part of the story well.
Current cover –>
So I was messing around with it … and it grew and grew and … took over. I’m going to be I’m now well into putting out a serial of Jane Eyre, retold. It’s set in a future dystopia (or utopia, depending on your point of view, I guess!) after the red states and blue states in the United States finally crack up and go their separate ways. My Mr. Rochester is set in New Judah, the country formed by the red states after the Great Secession. After all, we need a world where divorce and birth control are illegal and the “keeping” of women is a virtue in order for the basic plot of Jane Eyre to work.
Jane Eyre is perfect for the serial form when you include all of the book. I think of it like a BBC miniseries. As you can see by the covers, there are five episodes, each from 23K – 40K words.
Episodes available now:
1 2 3 4
I feel SO guilty about setting the fairy books aside yet again! Mr. Rochester just swooped in and took over. I have been powerless to resist him.
Come As You Are by Theresa Weir
.jpg)
I was among the lucky ones to get an advanced reader copy of Theresa Weir’s first New Adult contemporary romance, Come As You Are.
When Molly Young’s father dies of a heart attack, she struggles to resolve her conflicted feelings. Everyone admired Professor Young, a teacher at the University of Minnesota, but only Molly really knew the monster.
Then Ian shows up for the funeral from out of state. He tries to help her through her grief, but trust isn’t big on Molly’s to-do list. Not even if Ian’s the most gorgeous guy she ever met. Especially.
From the beginning, Molly and Ian are strongly attracted to each other, but what’s great about their love story is their relationship grows as they find out they truly like each other. I fell a little in love with Ian myself – a good guy who refuses to be a doormat, but doesn’t run at the first sight of trouble either.
Weir’s characters always step outside the mold, and I wasn’t sure how the relationship was going to play out. A threat of suicide hangs in the air, and though Cobain’s chilling lyric is never quoted, it’s always in the background: No, I don’t have a gun…
But don’t worry. Come As You Are delivers a sweet and lovely ending and left me hoping there will be a sequel for Rose, Molly’s roommate and fellow waitress at the Mean Waitress Cafe.
[NOTE – the book is live at Amazon now and will be available at B&N, Kobo, and iTunes as soon as it gets through processing]