It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett’s teacher is assigning Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. From nowhere comes a quiet ‘tsk’ of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who’s teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author’s ghost has taken up residence in Ellie’s mind, and seems determined to stay there. Jane’s wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go – sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane’s counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham. Still, everyone has something to learn about love – perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie’s head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending.
Marilyn Brant has been told she writes with honesty, liveliness, and wit (descriptors she’s grown terribly fond of) about complex, intelligent women—like her friends—and their significant personal relationships. Although her favorite passion is undoubtedly books, she proves she’s not just a literary snob by confessing her lifelong fascination (read: obsession) with popular music, especially from the ’70s & ’80s, most flavors of ice cream and a variety of sensuous body lotions/oils…because, next to Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble and, well, Ben & Jerry’s…Victoria’s Secret is her favorite store.
In her books, she amuses herself by slipping in references to all of the above, a sneaky tactic intended to keep her mind alert at 1:00am when she’s supposed to be writing a big fight or love scene. Sometimes it takes including the ice cream, the lotions AND the music in her writing to effectively trick the muses into showing up. Sometimes it just makes her hungry, aroused and curiously obsessed with her iPod.
Marilyn lives in the Midwest where, before she became a full-time novelist, she worked as an elementary school teacher, a library staff member, a freelance magazine writer and a national book reviewer. She’s blessed to have a genuinely supportive husband and son, a loving family and a truly amazing group of friends, all of whom keep her grounded, sane and away from dangerous things like chocolate martinis (usually). She’d love to say she also has killer abs but—so far—this is still a fantasy.
I’m delighted to welcome women’s fiction author Marilyn Brant to The Dungeon this month to chat about her debut novel—that’s right, you heard me; it’s her very first book!—ACCORDING TO JANE.
Some of you may recognize Marilyn as one of our very own Darlings of The Dungeon…sometimes, anyway. 
Or you may remember my mentioning her after the RWA conference in D.C. this past summer, since she was kind enough to meet me—sight unseen, no less 
—before the Kensington cocktail party so I wouldn’t have to walk into the room alone. (Thanks, Marilyn. 
)
It’s going to be a fun month, I’m sure. Especially since, while she’s here, Marilyn has very generously offered to give away a fun set of prizes to one lucky winner. Her gift set will include an ACCORDING TO JANE t-shirt, a Victoria’s Secret Big Caramapple lip gloss, & a four-pack (20 flavors) of Tea Treasures tea packets. A name will be drawn at the end of her last visit, but everyone who comments throughout the full three weeks (one comment = one entry; U.S. residents only, please) will be entered in the drawing.
So have fun & let the chatting begin! And remember that you can learn more about Marilyn & her book at MarilynBrant.com any time you like. 
Welcome! Congratulations on your debut; I’ve seen it is very popular on Amazon! I can see where 80’s music can be inspiring…it’s my favorite as well. Maybe I can finally be Cyndi Lauper for Halloween. My mom wouldn’t let me spray my hair orange back in the day [but going to a Catholic school dance as a devil woman is a okay!]
Hi Marilyn!!! I’ve recently become, well let’s just use the word, “interested” in books based (in any way) on P&P. Maybe it would be a good idea to actually read P&P some day.
Your book sounds really good, so I’m off to add another book to my tbr pile.
Wow Marilyn, you sure do get around! You went from the Moonlight to The Dungeon!
The fact that your book has a ghost, makes it even more interesting!
Carrie
Morning Marilyn, did you decide on your characters names first or come up with the story and then the names evolved as you went along? I will look for your book. Barb
Congratulations on your debut! What an exciting time this must be for you.
What a fun premise for a story! I’m definitely going to have to read this book.
Ditto on the 80s…..I named my daughter Reagan after the President, and met my husband on a Duran Duran message board i the early days of the net! As I sit here listening to Ultravox, I admit the 80s never ended for me.
Good morning, all! Thanks for dropping in to welcome our guest author this month. I think we’re going to have a fun time talking Jane & ghosts & everything else.
Dee, congrats on snagging that shiny gold halo again. You’re really good at this.
The book sounds wonderful. I will and check it out. I love Jane Austin and the spin offs that come from her work. Congrats on the debut I’ll put it in my wish list on Amazon.
Marilyn! It’s always fun to “see” you — hopefully we’ll meet in person one of these days. I ordered you book way back when, but I stupidly put other books on the same order, and they must be slowing it down. I’m very excited to read it!
Good morning, Everyone!!
Thanks so much to Heidi (and Mistress Heidi) for inviting me to The Dungeon this month! BTW, every time I visit, this dancing chick makes me laugh:
Ha!! Love it…
Dee~I’m Catholic, too, so the idea of going to a school dance as a devil woman makes me giggle!
Laura~I loved P&P, but I only read it first because it was a h.s. reading assignment (and pre-Colin Firth films!), so don’t feel bad…
Carrie~It’s so nice to see you here, too!!
Barb~Oh, good question! In the case of my main character, Ellie Barnett, I wanted a name similar to Elizabeth Bennet, so I picked that one out before I started writing. The other important characters (Sam, Di, Angelique) I chose very carefully in the very early stages of writing. Some walk-on characters, though, I named spontaneously as I went along and changed so frequently that I can’t actually remember now all the different names they had.
Grace~Duran Duran and Ultravox!! We may be long-lost musical sisters! Was Pseudo Echo on your listening list, too? (I still have cassettes from all 3 of these groups somewhere…
Heidi~*hug*!
Jennifer~Thanks so much for the good wishes! It’s always wonderful to meet a fellow Austen fan.
Becke~Hi!!!!!! I’m STILL bummed that I didn’t know you were in D.C. this summer and I somehow missed you… That will NOT happen again! Nashville, yes?
Woo-hoo! How exciting. According to Jane is such a fabulous book and I’m not even talking about all of the Journey ballads she tosses in there. (Which are which ones? I *must* know!)
Thanks for a great October guest, Heidi!
MARILYN!!!! We are not sisters, we are twins…….I swear, no kidding, as I log back in to read new replies, I am listening to Pseudo Echo’s Living In A Dream! Whoa!
Marilyn-it was probably required reading in HS for me too, but I was one of those that didn’t like being told what I had to read and by a certain date. I think in all 4 years of hs I only read completely 2 books for required reading and part of a third.
I now have my copy of According to Jane (I had to go to Borders and pick up a book for my son, so there was no way I would leave without something for me *g*) and will be reading it very shortly and one of these days I’ll finally read P&P.
Pamela~Hi!! Seeing you anywhere in the Blogosphere, anytime, is a day brightener, Bon Jovi Girl! I also have you to thank for introducing me to Heidi. *mwah*
Grace~OMG, really?!!! That is just SO GREAT!! Okay, don’t go ANYWHERE! I’m coming over and we’re dancing…
p.s. I’ve *always* wanted a twin!
Laura~Thank you so much!! I truly hope you’ll like the book and would *love* to hear your thoughts on P&P whenever you finally get around to reading it!
Oh, it’s so incredibly fun to be here today! Thanks and big enthusiastic hugs to ALL of you for making me feel so welcome.
Hi Marilyn,
Congrats on your debut release. Which Mr. Darcy is your favorite? Is it Olivier, Firth or Macfadyen?
Hi Jane (great name!), what a question you’ve asked!! I’m going to start out sounding very diplomatic here–although it also happens to be true, IMO–but I really like them all. Each brings out a different side of Darcy, and it underscores for me how fascinating Austen’s characters could be.
That said, there’s something that pulls at my heartstrings when I watch Macfadyen, I think because of his very youth. The Darcy in the book is only 28, but he has the world of responsibility and obligation on his shoulders. I though Macfadyen conveyed this dichotomy of youthful longing for love vs. family duty so well… This appreciation does not in the least take away from how much I enjoy watching the other Darcys, though!
Dang, Jane–that was a great question!
Y’know, they never had us read cool stuff like Austen or Bronte in school. I got stuck with The Good Earth & junk like that.
Could this perhaps be why I’m clueless about Jane? Uh-huh. Gee, thanks, small town public education.
I did, however, read much Edgar Allan Poe & a bit of Jane Eyre. Hey, that’s a Jane! Does it count? Does it, Marilyn, does it?!?
Heidi – I get early during the work week only because it takes me so long to actually wake up.
Marilyn – Yup, I was a devil woman at the school dance and my pitchfork was borrowed by the “dance moms” to keep the kids away from the pizzas. My kindergarten graduation song was “Let’s Get Physical” – so either the nuns in charge were the most laid back nuns ever or we just got lucky…
Somehow I missed doing P&P in school, but I did like 3-4 papers over the years on The Scarlet Letter. I tell my younger cousin Sarah that if she or her friends need a paper on the symbolism in TSL, I’d give them a good discount.
I’m so excited about RWA coming to Nashville in 2010…I definitely have a few great recommendations for food and bars if any of you are interested. [Since I'm originally from the NY suburbs, it is very rare that I actually use the word ya'll].
Hi Marilyn!! i have read soo many great things about you! and im betting that they are all true!!
Heidi..i too didnt get the “good” books on my reading list in high school…i had siddhartha..ugh!!!
and Dee we have something in common…kind of…i too am from NY!! upstate though…but still NY!!!
Anyway….. I will be putting your book Marilyn on my TBB list! but i will move it up to the top!!
Which part, Hollie?
Hey, another up stater here, although I suppose technically I’m a western NYer. I’m in Rochester.
I went to a great Catholic high school who made us read EVERYTHING. Whenever somebody mentions a “classic” I can honestly always say “I had to read that.” I’m grateful to those nuns for many things, not the least of which is a love for reading and for wonderful friends I revisit frequently with surnames like Shakespeare, Austen, Clemens, Lee, London, Dickens, Barrie, Dumas, Fitzgerald, Miller, Hugo, Alcott and more.
This is not to say I liked it all……to this day I think Steinbeck is an overrated steaming pile I’d rather poke my eyes out than have to read. For me, he is surppassed on the “kill me instead” pile only by Faulkner. ::shudder::
Oh yeah, read Faulkner in college…I still cringe. I guess the pure vs evil quiz result has some truth because I could never get into Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
I’m originally a Westchester County girl myself. The high school I went to was a bit more Liberal minded than most schools. In addition to Shakespeare and Hawthorne, we also read the plays of August Wilson. The same thing in history class. We reenacted the Nuremburg trials and visited a traveling Holocaust museum. We even had an impromptu class in Gov’t on censorship after our teacher confiscated my friend’s Nine Inch Nails CD.
Hmmm. I find it amusing that so many grew-up-Catholics (lapsed? or did you run screaming? *vbg*) manage to find their way to The Dungeon, the most evil—or at least naughtiest—place on earth.
Do I sense a pattern? Is Mistress Heidi perhaps the lesser of two evils? Oh, how I’d like to think so.
I learned early on…if I’m going to hell anyway, I better make it all count.
I’m not lapsed and have my son in Catholic school already. That said, I went to all girls high school and nothing–NOTHING–parties like a “Naz girl”. I went to Nazareth Academy and the school has always been somewhat notorious in terms of the off campus behavior of allegedly repressed boy crazy girls.
I think I ranked so high on my evil score at age 40 because I has a reeeeeaaaalllllllly good time in high school and my 20s.
Dee, I hear ya……I always say when I kick the doors of hell open, I want the Devil to be assured I’m taking over!
When hell is used as a scare tactic, it goes one of two ways…you don’t care and do what you want…or you stifle all fun out of your life.
Whenever the nuns would tell us something we’d done would send us to hell, we’d comment to each other along the lines of “Hey……whoever gets their first, save good seats for the rest of us!”
LOL, Heidi~Sure! We’ll say Jane Eyre counts…
Dee, I now have this great mental image of a mom at the dance warding off a horde of eager, pizza-hungry kids with that pitch fork! Ha!! Looking forward to your Nashville recommendations.
Hollie, Thanks!!! Very nice to “meet” you here in The Dungeon
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Grace, LOL about Steinbeck and Faulkner! Not my favorites either, I’m afraid…
And, oh, Heidi, The Good Earth just about did me in. HATED it! And The Old Man and the Sea–I know writers are supposed to bow to Hemmingway, but UGH!
That is an accurate description.
Sorry to have dropped off last night w/o a final response, but the writing & the cats…not to mention three loads of laundry…did me in, I think.
Thank you SO much for joining us this month Marilyn, & for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us. It’s already been a blast & we’re just getting started! Can’t wait until we play 20 Questions next week.
Hi, Marilyn, just stopping by to wish you the best of luck on your tour!
Margay
HI hi…i lived in Fulton County….Gloversville to be exact…its right beside Johnstown…in the Adirondack Mountains. i lived there until 1976..then got dragged here to IN.
oh i’m a baptist! LOLOL
Margay!!
. And I’ll never turn down good luck–thank YOU!!
So nice of you to stop by
**Off now to read the comments about the songs people will strip to!!
Passivhaus is emerging as the aspirational darling or solution. ,