We're happy to welcome Regan Walker back to the blog today. I recently read Regan's latest historical, AGAINST THE WIND, second in her Agents of the Crown series, and enjoyed it a lot. Regan joins us today to answer some questions about both this book, her Agents of the Crown series and other things going on in her life. Please join us!
Welcome
back, Regan! Congratulations on the
recent release of AGAINST THE WIND, the second book in your Agents of the Crown
series. Please tell our readers what
they can expect from this series and this book.
The idea for the trilogy came from my early love of
mysteries and spy stories and my knowledge that all branches of government have
their own agents. It wasn’t much of a stretch to conceive of the Prince Regent
asking a few of his subjects to take on “special assignments.” Kings have been
doing it for centuries. Hence my trilogy features heroes who have been asked by
the Prince Regent to take on unique tasks. First there was Racing With The Wind, and the British Lord who masqueraded as the
Nighthawk, the thief of Napoleon’s secrets. Next is my latest release, Against the Wind, the story of Sir
Martin Powell, the agent for the Crown in France who has come home to England
for one last assignment. The 3rd in the trilogy—Wind Raven—takes place on a schooner and in the Caribbean in 1817
and features a rakish sea captain and a pirate who plied the seas around Puerto
Rico at the time.
In Against
the Wind, Sir Martin returns from ten years in France during Napoleon’s reign
and before he begins his last assignment for the Prince Regent, he decides to
have one night of pleasure in the most elegant bordello in London, Willow
House. It is there he meets a beautiful redhead name Kit, never knowing she is
the daughter of an earl, and a dowager baroness. While still knowing little
about each other, he will sweep her away to the Midlands—and into the storms of
revolution.
I
fell in love with Martin and was firmly in Kit’s corner from the
beginning. What one thing do you want
readers to understand about these two characters?
Kit, the
beautiful redhead Sir Martin calls “Kitten,” is a wounded soul. When the story
opens she and her
sister have already lost their parents, and in the middle of
her first Season, Kit was forced to wed an old baron who, though he treated her
kindly, was more like a grandfather than a husband. The baron died two weeks
into their marriage and Kit went to live with her sister and her husband the
Earl of Rutledge. When Kit’s beloved sister dies, her brother-in-law, the earl
tries to take her by force. She flees to the only place she can think of…and runs
right into the arms of Sir Martin. In Martin, Kit finds a gentle man whose
lovemaking stirs her passions and whose words of comfort soothe her wounded
soul. But Martin is wounded too, as he saw his wife murdered on the streets of
Paris five years earlier. Together they will help each other heal as they
become embroiled in the Pentrich Rebellion of 1817.
What
one scene would you never cut from AGAINST THE WIND?
The scene in the bordello when Martin first makes
love to Kit. It is the point around which their relationship pivots and
essentially seals their fate.
I
love how you weave the fictional story together with both real historical
events as well as real people. It draws
me into the story and when I finish, it’s as if I’ve enjoyed a history lesson
without realizing it. Have you always
been fascinated by this period of English history? Are there other time periods and places we
might see in future books?
History and the people who lived long ago fascinate me.
The Regency period of history drew me because so much was changing. Wars were
ending, industrialization was coming and the common people were no longer
content to let the aristocracy decide their future. In the prequel, To Tame the Wind, which I haven’t yet
started writing, you will experience France in 1783 before the Revolution. And
I have a William the Conqueror medieval romance I started some time ago, The Red Wolf’s Prize, set in 1067. I
intend to come back to it when my trilogy is done. I am intrigued by how England
changed when the Normans conquered the land. We often forget how much French is
at the root of our English language because of that one event. For many years,
French was spoken at the English court.
Even
though our introduction to him was brief, I was intrigued by Martin’s
brother. I understand the third book in
the series is his story. When will that
be released and what can we expect from that book?
That would be Captain Jean Nicholas Powell, Martin’s
older brother, a rake, a former privateer and an English merchant sea
captain—named for his grandfather, a French pirate, Jean Donet. I’m writing
Nick’s story now. There is a lot of research involved in learning all the
nautical terminology for a schooner of the period and all that was going on in
the Caribbean. (My story will feature the pirate Roberto Cofresi as a character,
who was a real historic figure of the time.) The heroine is an American from
Baltimore who still remembers the English attacking her city in the War of 1812.
I hope it will be out late this year, but I’m moving this summer and that will
disrupt my writing.
Just
for fun, if you could host a dinner party for up to ten (real) historical
figures, who would you invite and why?
Oh, that is a challenge. Let’s see. Off the top of
my head, I’d say these: (1) Sir Winston Churchill (my hero), (2) the Apostle
Paul (the most quoted author by America’s founders), (3) Abraham Lincoln (not
just one of our greatest Presidents but a thoughtful man of faith and
integrity), (4) Germaine de Stael (an author and an amazing woman of her
time—and a character in Racing With The
Wind), (5) William Wilberforce (English statesman who fought against the
English slave trade and won), (6) Selina, Countess of Huntingdon (a member of the
nobility who became a committed Christian and did amazing work as a widow), (7)
C.S. Lewis, (8) Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (Irish born member of the
Protestant Ascendancy whose success as a British soldier earned him a dukedom),
(9) Queen Victoria and (10) King David (from the Old Testament). How’s that for
an eclectic group?
Wow, that's quite a group! Your
books sweep me away to another time and place.
If you could be swept away to any place or time for a romantic evening,
where and when would you choose?
Oh, this is fun! Well, it would have to be romantic,
and there would have to be stars above and a man, yes a man, who was handsome
and strong and who loved me. I think it might take place in a castle, perhaps in
Scotland with a Highland laird whose land was at peace (for the moment). There
is much to commend clan life where each person had a role and all were part of a
large family. If the laird was a good man and a generous leader, his people
could thrive. Being his mate could be very challenging—to help care for the
people and his lands. To stand on the top of a castle, looking out on a
moonlight-bathed loch and feel his arms wrapped around me, ah yes. That would
be romantic.
What
would people be surprised to learn about you?
I am actually a very serious lawyer, though I have
only practiced part time in recent years. My left brain is overdeveloped.
Another thing that might surprise people (especially those who know the first
thing) is that I am a rank sentimentalist—a complete and hopeless romantic.
I
never go anywhere without my camera.
What do you never travel without?
A book. Unless I’m looking at gorgeous scenery or
having a good conversation, I detest idle time just staring into space. I like
to think, of course, but I really like reading. Since my mother taught me to
read at age four, I have been an avid reader. And when people I’m meeting, say
for dinner, are late, I just whip out my book or my Kindle and I’m content.
What
are you working on now?
Wind
Raven. It’s the third in the trilogy and given all that
is going on in my life right now, and the amount of research involved, it’s
going a bit slow. I’m learning that Nick (Martin’s brother) and Tara (the American
heroine) are going to be a challenge. Two stubborn people fighting the
inevitable.
Thank
you, Regan! Do you have a question for
our readers today?
Yes! What would you like to see me include in Wind Raven? I’ve added a ship’s cat
because I know many of my readers love cats, but I’d be interested to hear of
any other things you might have in mind…a character’s name perhaps? Here’s your
chance to influence the book! If you do, I’ll give you credit in the
acknowledgements!
