Author: Vanessa Riley
Located in: Atlanta, GA
Submitted: May 01, 2013
Tell us a little about yourself. I am a very southern girl who loves to stay busy. I have an active eight-year old artist and wonderful active duty husband. We live in Georgia and from my porch, I get the best views of trees and pollen.
What was your motivation behind this project? Madeline's Protector was a dream I had in high school. I remember having Regency overload. I had just watched Lawrence Olivier's and Greer Garson's black and white movie version of Pride and Prejudice, wrote a paper on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and read some new marriage of convenience novel. The dream was vivid, and I wrote it as a short story. Years and years later, I picked up one of my old writing diaries, found the story, and started rewriting it.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? It's all about faith. I hope to challenge my readers by placing my characters in distressing situations and showing how God can leads them to fulfillment. God is available to help and make you a better angel.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? My faith has deepened as I see God growing my abilities and creating a wonderful story.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? My favorite Regency authors are Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. I love their wit and how they test the societal norms while staying true to how people thought and acted during those times. Now for Miss Austen, it was easier. She lived during those times. All the Regency writers that have followed must do a lot of research to master the culture. I applaud them.
Current day authors that I adore are Debbie Raleigh (A Proper Marriage, A Convenient Marriage) and Laurie Alice Eakes (Lady in the Mist, Necessary Deception, and A Flight of Fancy) and Linda Winsor (Wedding Bell Blues and The Knight and the Raven).
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: I will say at least one character in each book has the tendency to use a Biblical allusion, which is something I love. Growing up I loved bible stories, the older the better. So, if you see something like the Prophet and the Courtesan, it's probably a Regency take on Hosea and Gomer.
