The AIA News-Herald: vol 1, iss 4

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Alright, it was a sadly anticlimactic end to last week, as I found myself rather sick, and thus was week 3 curtailed. But I'm all better now — well, who am I kidding? I'm not. But I'm a solid 65% better and ready to get back at it! So let's start the week with your morning afternoon paper, shall we? It's all the Austen news that's fit to print!




We'll be playing a little bit of catch-up, since I was sick towards the end of last week. So expect a chock-full schedule of Austen amazingness, including:

• A think piece on isolation in Austen's leading ladies, from Lona Manning, along with a giveaway!
• Not one but TWO! Janeite Conversations with this year's crop of Austenesque authors, this time on the transition to full-fledged "Janeite," and on dream-casting Austen for this week's Dinner & Movie night!
• Speaking of our weekly Dinner & Movie night, it'll be a double feature this Friday, to make up for last Friday's lack of Janedate night, with recipes from Beth for shrub (a weirdly named but delicious sounding drink) and Scotch eggs!
• We'll get our 3rd peek at Maria Grace's A Proper Introduction to Dragons, as part of this month's ongoing series (don't forget, you can enter to win both it and another book from the series here and here!)
• A guest post from Melanie Rachel on Austen canon and "fanon," along with a giveaway!
• Michi does that thing we all do, and judges Austen's books by their covers
• Sometimes Twitter is a funny place...
• A brief guest post & excerpt of Being Mrs Bennet from Alexa Adams, again, with giveaway!

You may have missed:

• An excerpt & giveaway from Leigh Dreyer (yes, she of the hilarious Menfolk post...)
• A lunch date with yours truly, while I discuss a unique continuation I *heart*
• Week 2 of our special excerpts from Maria Grace's A Proper Introduction to Dragons
• A compelling conversation with Maria Grace on a surprisingly divisive, I thought totally-beloved, Austen man
• Another thought-provoking piece, this time from Christina Boyd, on Austen's heroines' brush with feminism — and another giveaway!
• My thoughts on another unique take on P&P (this time, with dragons), and, you guessed it, another giveaway!
• An Austenesque FREEBIE for all, designed by yours truly!

In need of some Austenesque reads to get you in the mood for AIA? Here are some personal faves and current bargains to feed your reader -- and fill that Jane Austen shaped hole in your heart -- with! Some of these are even free on Kindle Unlimited, but some of these are just flat-out free!
If you've read any of them, let me know your thoughts or recommendations in the comments!

    

    

    

    

Not enough Janery going on for you in this first week of AIA? Don’t worry, we’ve got 8 previous years to plunder for awesome Austen posts, In Case You Missed It! Take a stroll through and discover (or rediscover!) things like:

• I had totally forgot about this, but one year, we had a Twitter fanfic contest, and OMG THIS IS BRILLIANT, we definitely need to do it again!
• We chatted about Austen's 10 Most Frustrating Characters — and yes, I still want to shake them until their teeth rattle.
• I talked about a book billed as a mashup between Pride & Prejudice and Veronica Mars, and I still think this is a genius pairing.
• Maria Grace took on Harriet Smith in this short story, shared for AIA.
• Laurie Viera Rigler talked about Emma and the "conspiracy of cluelessness"
• Beth defended Fanny Price and her underappreciated wisdom
• We watched Love & Friendship, and LOLOLOLOL
• Karen Cox ranked Austen's novels, "definitively" -- the nerve! ;)
• We found out what our own Regency persona would be... (the widowed Maria de Bourgh, at your service...)
• and Amanda Grange gave us dueling Darcys

* a selection on newsy bits and bits and bobs for the truly discerning Janeite *

Lots of interesting home bits for you this week. This week, I'm sharing some things that definitely need to be in my collection (*looks at "society for obstinate, headstrong girls journal*) — oh, who am I kidding? Everything showcased in every single newsletter needs to be added to my collection!

    

      

    

Next week AIA comes to a close! I know, I know — I can't believe it either! But before we go, we'll be taking a look at some Austen read-alikes, potential new JAFF settings (and upcoming JAFF books), ice cream in Austen's day, one last Eat Like Austen recipe, a few other posts here and there, and a plethora of giveaways to cap them off!



What are your favorite Austen tropes? What draws you back, time and again? Is it the Darcy/Lizzie hate-to-love element? Lost love refound in Persuasion? The biting humor and wit? 
Sing Austen's praises in the comments!

Click here to return to the master list of Austen in August posts!