This is also a reminder that several SFF mags *with* author-and-artist-friendly contracts are Kickstarting RIGHT NOW and backing/supporting THEM is a great way to show MRM that they will lose this argument.

Wanna hear me talk about clothes, demons, and all sorts of other things I decided were fun for a magical Gilded Age? Wanna pick up a copy of The Scarlet BALL? Come see me on tour!

And finally a dressing gown, perfect for relaxing with that demon husband that might or might not eat you.

Another evening gown. The Gilded Age never saw an embellishment it didn't like.

On to the evening gowns! They're beautiful, hellishly expensive, and often very restrictive to the point where the wearer couldn't much raise her arms. Notice how hard it'd be to run and kick in this one? Judith sure does!

This is an afternoon dress, perfect for entertaining and being entertained! Let's hope your entertainment doesn't involve severed heads, unlike some dark fantasy heroines (cough, Judith, cough).

The Scarlet Ball takes place in the winter of 1889. If you were a wealthy woman heading to the opera or a ball, you might wear something like this. Note the feathers at the collar, cuffs and across the chest. This era directy contributed to the need for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act!

Let's talk clothes! My dark fantasy novel, THE SCARLET BALL (now out!) has a lot to say about clothing in general, especially dresses. (Thanks very much to the generous online archive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where all these pics came from).

Bonus: the crevice where I almost dropped my book trying to get a nice shot.

Otherwise, catch me on tour all through October and a bit of November!

The MKe Central Library really influenced how i think about the Gilded Age and how i thought it might have felt to walk around in those spaces.

Libraries have always run reading events. This is two halves of the same picture taken from one, I'm guessing, maybe in the 1910s or 1920s.

It's full of these incredible details.

Here's the inside today. I love it.

This is how it looked back in the day. It's hard to emphasize how tall it is, and how imposing it is just to walk in.

If you ask the Person in Charge very nicely, they'll let you peek into the Forbidden Boardroom! (It's one of the original parts of the library!)

Wanna see one of the big inspirations for THE SCARLET BALL (now out!)? This is the Milwaukee Cental Library. It was built in the 1890s, and its size and scope really went into my understanding of the Gilded Age.