I'm happy to be welcoming author Elizabeth Adams here to chat with me about rational creatures in general, and in particular Persuasion's Anne Elliot, the character in Elizabeth's story. There's a fantastic giveaway accompanying the blog tour too. Let's read the blurb, and then we'll move on to my interview with Elizabeth Adams.
Book Description
Jane Austen: True romantic or rational creature? Her novels transport us back to the Regency, a time when well-mannered gentlemen and finely-bred ladies fell in love as they danced at balls and rode in carriages. Yet her heroines, such as Elizabeth Bennet, Anne Elliot, and Elinor Dashwood, were no swooning, fainthearted damsels in distress. Austen’s novels have become timeless classics because of their biting wit, honest social commentary, and because she wrote of strong women who were ahead of their day. True to their principles and beliefs, they fought through hypocrisy and broke social boundaries to find their happily-ever-after.
In the third romance anthology of The Quill Collective series, sixteen celebrated Austenesque authors write the untold histories of Austen’s brave adventuresses, her shy maidens, her talkative spinsters, and her naughty matrons. Peek around the curtain and discover what made Lady Susan so wicked, Mary Crawford so capricious, and Hettie Bates so in need of Emma Woodhouse’s pity.
Rational Creatures is a collection of humorous, poignant, and engaging short stories set in Georgian England that complement and pay homage to Austen’s great works and great ladies who were, perhaps, the first feminists in an era that was not quite ready for feminism.
“Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will become good wives; —that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.” —Mary Wollstonecraft
Stories by: Elizabeth Adams * Nicole Clarkston * Karen M Cox * J. Marie Croft * Amy D’Orazio * Jenetta James * Jessie Lewis * KaraLynne Mackrory * Lona Manning * Christina Morland * Beau North * Sophia Rose * Anngela Schroeder * Joana Starnes * Caitlin Williams * Edited by Christina Boyd * Foreword by Devoney Looser
Book Trailer
Rational Creatures –
Elizabeth Adams Interview
* * *
The phrase “rational creatures” is actually in Persuasion, said by Sophia Croft to her
brother Captain Wentworth:
"But I hate to
hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine
ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth
water all our days."
Elizabeth’s story focuses on a character from Persuasion; the heroine, Anne Elliot,
who is one of my favourites of all of Austen characters.
*
* *
Ceri: How
would you define what a ‘rational creature’ is? Do you think Austen saw being a
‘rational creature’ as a positive characteristic?
EA: I think a
rational creature is someone with a good head on their shoulders. A rational
person, just as we would think of it today. A rational woman doesn’t need to be
put in bubble wrap and protected from life’s storms and sorrows. She can face
the day and the future with clear eyes and logical reasoning.
I do think Austen
thought of it as a positive trait. The more rational characters in her books
are lauded and the silly constantly made to look ridiculous. Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice is not rational at
all, and she is not held up as a model to emulate, but someone to poke fun at,
as is Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion.
Austen’s books are filled with people acting irrationally—out of anger, pride,
passion, stupidity, or sheer silliness. It inevitably leads to a catastrophe of
some sort. The happy endings almost always belong to the rational, people of
good character.
It seems the logical
conclusion that Austen valued rational people and characters for themselves and
valued irrational people and characters for little more than entertainment.
Ceri: Anne’s
decision to give up her engagement was entirely rational – it was the sensible
course of action for both her and Wentworth – but it was a decision she
regretted. What do you think are the negatives of behaving rationally?
EA: I think the
biggest downside to being rational is that the heart and human emotions are
entirely irrational. Your head can
tell you all day long that you need to walk away from that friend, family
member, partner, etc who is behaving badly and treating you wrongly, but your
heart might still miss them. It might be rational to get a steady job with good
benefits, but you might long for the creative but badly paid work you did
before. The heart doesn’t always listen to the head, as Anne finds out the hard
way.
Of course, it’s a
little crazy for a nineteen-year-old girl from a wealthy family to marry a
headstrong, danger-seeking naval officer who cannot currently afford to keep
her in the life she is accustomed to. Many people, even today, would see the
facts and advise similarly. Or at least advise waiting.
But if you take into
account the human heart, especially one as steady and unchanging as Anne’s, you
might think differently. When you are miserable, lonely, and ignored by your
own family, knowing you made the rational choice is cold comfort.
Anne says at the end
of the book that if a young person were to ask her for advice on a similar
situation, she would advise them very differently than she had been advised.
Telling, indeed.
Ceri: I
feel that modern readers sometimes judge Anne Elliot harshly by applying modern
standards to her choice to break off the engagement. How do you view it? Do you
think it was faithless of her to draw back, or was it just prudent?
EA: This is where
it gets interesting. I personally go around and around about Anne’s decision. I
think it was rational at the time, to an extent. She did not know the future,
so she couldn’t know that her life would become so terribly dull and
unfulfilling and that the pain of losing him would not recede as everyone
promised her it would. Nor could she know how bitter and unhappy her decision
would make Frederick (an unintended consequence, because she had convinced
herself it was to his benefit).
She says near the end
of the book that she had made the right decision. I wonder if she is convincing
herself a little. After all, the decision has already been made, she is now living this life, and all had
come right in the end. I think the fact that she regretted it is very telling.
We seldom regret making a right decision, though we might regret that it had to
be made at all. I think she might be saying that there simply was no other
decision to be made at the time.
A large part of this
is her nature. She is not designed to openly rebel. Imagine Lydia Bennet in
that situation—she would have no trouble telling her family to stick it and
running off with a sailor. Anne’s sister Elizabeth Elliot would marry whomever
she felt was best for her with no regard for anyone else’s feelings or thoughts
on the matter. But Anne is dutiful, responsible, and unselfish. She loves her
family, whether they deserve it or not, and she is deeply attached to Lady
Russell, who though a kind person, has very specific ideas about rank and is
horrified at the prospect of a baronet’s daughter marrying a sailor who doesn’t
even have a ship yet.
Anne’s eyes eventually
open to the faults of Lady Russell, and she is able to love her and value her
while making her own decisions independent of Lady Russell’s prejudices. But at
nineteen, Lady Russell’s word was highly prized. And to a young woman with no
family support, no mother, losing the only family she could rely on—her mother
figure, would have seemed impossible and out of the question.
But back the question
of prudence: Lady Russell’s adamant insistence that she was throwing herself
away at nineteen struck a chord. Anne is nothing if not intelligent and I think
she would have realized, even then, that she was young and inexperienced and
that it might be wiser to listen to someone with more knowledge of the world.
Even Sir Walter had not put his foot down entirely, though he was clearly
against the match, as was her sister Elizabeth. For a girl like Anne was, not
long out of school or out in society, with limited family and no mother, it was
perfectly reasonable for her to rely on Lady Russell.
I think a happy medium
would have been to have a private engagement. Don’t announce it, allow them to
write to each other as long as they are discreet, and if he or Anne change
their minds before Wentworth rises in the ranks and earns his fortune, no harm
done.
Alas, it was all or
nothing, and we know the story from there.
She was both faithless
and prudent. It was the prudent thing to do to give him up, but it did show a
lack of faith in both their feelings and in his ability to be successful and
provide for her in future. I see why Wentworth was angry. If she thought it was
such a bad idea to marry him, why encourage him? Why fall in love with him? Why
not shut it all down at the beginning if she knew it was impossible?
The answer can only be
that she didn’t think it was impossible. She (wrongly) thought her family would
support her and that they could be together, if not immediately, at least
eventually.
The only other option
is that she was simply so caught up in her feelings that she knew it was wrong,
but she continued on regardless, swept up and unthinking. But that doesn’t
sound like Anne, not for more than a moment. I can’t see her carrying on an
entire relationship over several months, and agreeing to an engagement, if she
knew she would break his heart in the end. It’s simply not her style.
No, she loved him, and
she naively thought it would all work out. But it didn’t and she was left
holding the bag.
Ceri: In
Georgian and Regency times, most women didn’t have much power over their
fortune or many of their actions. An unmarried woman would be directed by her
father or guardian, and a married one by her husband. The women with the most
independence would probably have been rich widows. How do you think Austen
might have felt about this power imbalance?
EA: I think she
was aggravated by it, though perhaps not as much as we are today. Though maybe
more, because it was affecting her life in very tangible ways. Sense and Sensibility is all about
unfairness to women, from inheritance laws to societal strictures. Her books
are filled with women getting the short end of the stick (sorry Mary Crawford),
being displaced for men (stinks for Mrs. Bennet), being treated as baggage or
secreted away (poor Jane Fairfax), and sinking further and further into poverty
with no respectable ways to lift themselves out of it (I’m looking at you, Miss
Bates).
I don’t think it’s a
stretch to say that Austen saw these things as injustices and sought to
illuminate them in writing. She is so witty and her stories so engrossing that
it is easy to overlook the underlying (or overarching) themes of her books.
Yes, they are about social commentary and the ridiculousness of the times and
class. Yes, they are terribly romantic (in a way). But they are also about
finding one’s path in life; about finding a way out of a situation that seems
impossible; about knowing your own hopes and desires and not being afraid of
them or scared to go after them.
She writes her fair
share of silly women, but they are overshadowed by heroines of all types. Witty,
beautiful, plain, quiet, steady, vivacious, prejudiced and humble.
She may not have been able to change the power balance in
her world, but she could change it in her books. Her female characters take center stage; they craft new
lives for themselves and rise above what appear to be insurmountable
challenges.
I think she is telling
us, in her subtle way, that women are strong enough for whatever comes their
way, and perhaps even stronger than the men in their lives. After all, it is
the women we see changing and growing, the women who rise above their
circumstances, the women who, against all odds, persevere. There are some
noblemen in her books (Col. Brandon, Mr. Darcy), but they do not outnumber the
strong women, nor do they face as many obstacles.
Ceri: Although
the idea of feminism is a more recent concept, do you think that Anne Elliot
had any feminist tendencies? What about other characters in Austen’s writing?
Do any of them stand out to you as having the potential to be early feminists?
EA: Anne doesn’t begin with feminist
tendencies, but she certainly ends with them. She refuses to go with her father
to see their noble relations and chooses instead to visit with a sick friend in
reduced circumstances. She chooses Capt. Wentworth even though her family still
disapproves of him, and now as a grown woman, she can love them and disagree
with them at the same time. Coming into your own and realizing your own agency,
your power to choose, is a feminist thing to do, though we’ve been doing it so
long now it doesn’t seem new to us.
I’ve always thought
Mary Crawford has the makings of a feminist. Also Elinor Dashwood. She’s too
practical not to. Same for Charlotte Lucas. Oddly, I think Miss Bates might be.
If she could get a job and live in better circumstances, I think she’d be
thrilled. Lydia Bennet might be—I could see her passionate nature being turned
towards suffrage if she met with the right person and ideas. Lady Susan is
definitely a feminist—the dangerous kind!! Caroline Bingley for sure. Jane and Elizabeth
Bennet—after all, Jane could be stubborn when she knew she was right. Fanny
Price probably, Marianne Dashwood after she’s had her heart broken, Emma after
she turns thirty.
I think all of the
mothers could potentially be. What is their desperation to see their daughters
married well but ambition for success? I could see Mrs. Bennet pushing her
daughters to go to medical school if she was modern. Yes, she was boy crazy,
but she was also money hungry.
Ceri: Please
can you tell us a bit about your story in the anthology?
EA: I thought the
parts of Persuasion I was most curious about were the break up between Anne and
Capt. Wentworth, their courtship and engagement prior to that, and their lives
between breaking up and getting back together.
I started three years
after the break up, when Anne is being courted by Charles Musgrove. The story
is told in that time period with a series of flashbacks to her time with
Frederick.
We see how they met,
what made them like each other and eventually fall in love, the engagement and
subsequent breaking of it. That was probably the hardest scene to write. The
first draft came quickly, but then I went back and redid it over and over
again, trying to get it exactly right. I acted out the motions in my dining
room to make sure they made sense. I saved no fewer than 3 alternate versions.
I read it out loud.
If you’re going to
break up one of literature’s favorite couples, you have to do it right.
I wanted to show the reader why Anne made the choices she
did, which of course meant I had to
know why she made the choices she did. Seeking out her motives was a long
process, but I think it all worked out in the end. We’ll see if the readers
agree!
Thank you so much to Elizabeth for the answers she gave to my questions! I hope you all enjoyed reading them as much as I did.
Author Biography
She writes romantic comedy and comedic drama in both historic and modern settings.
She is the author of historical books The Houseguest, Unwilling, Meryton Vignettes, and On Equal Ground, as well as Green Card, a modern comedy.
You can find more information, short stories, and outtakes at elizabethadamswrites.wordpress.com
Buy Links for Rational Creatures
Rational Creatures is due out on 15 October. I don't have a buy link just yet but you can add it to your Goodreads shelf, and keep in touch with the project by liking the Facebook page for the anthologies.
Giveaway Time!
The giveaway to
accompany the blog tour is fantastic! Comment on the blog posts to enter, and at
the end of the tour a name will be randomly picked from all the comments on all
the blog tour posts. This person will win all 21 prizes!
 |
| Mahoosive prize bundle! |
The prizes are:
- Winner’s choice of one title from each authors’ backlist (that’s 16 books, ebooks, or audiobooks)
- Our bespoke t-shirt/soap/candle
- A brick in winner’s name to benefit #BuyABrick for Chawton House
- The Quill Collective anthologies in ebook or audiobook
Rational Creatures Tour Schedule
* * *
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That was an intriguing interview, Ceri, and such a pleasing post!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I love all your work, and ‘An Unnatural Beginning’ is no exception. I enjoyed hearing about your process of finessing the break-up—redoing it over and over, acting out the motions, reading it aloud. As you said: “If you’re going to break up one of literature’s favourite couples, you have to do it right.” You did! Brava!
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it! I've been fretting about it. :-)
DeleteGlad you enjoyed it, Joanne! I'm looking forward to reading this anthology, and finding out which rational creatures you are writing about :)
DeleteOh-my-goodness!! This was a delightful post. As I read through it... I kept replaying the delightful music that accompanied the video. That was an amazing video, by the way. I am anxiously awaiting the release of this work. Man... I keep hearing amazing things about it and since I know so many of the authors already... it is like anticipating the birth of a child. Such excitement and then the joy of finally getting to meet that which we have been awaiting. Whew! I can hardly talk about it I am so excited. Thanks Ceri for hosting. This was a fabulous post. Blessings to our author Elizabeth Adams.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope you like the collection!
DeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed the post, Jeanne! I loved reading Elizabeth's replies to my questions so I was hopeful that visitors to the blog post would enjoy it too.
DeleteWonderful interview, ladies! I loved the video as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm SO excited about this book! So many of my favorite authors...I can't wait! Thanks for such a wonderful giveaway!
This book seems like a box of chocolates, doesn't it, so many goodies!
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the video too. Christina shared it on Facebook and I thought I would put it in the post :)
I love how this interview--and this entire anthology--highlights the more intellectual side of Jane Austen's works that fan fiction writers mostly ignore. Elizabeth's answers demonstrate how well Austen portrayed and rewarded the more "rational" women who had to deal with the limitations under which they suffered during the Regency era. MUCH more going on than just fluffy love stories!!
ReplyDeleteYes! So much more!
DeleteAbsolutely, Debbie! I think it's easy for a modern reader to miss just how remarkable some of Austen's characters were for the times, because so many things have changed. So much more than fluffy love stories!
Delete“Anne doesn’t begin with feminist tendencies, but she certainly ends with them. She refuses to go with her father to see their noble relations and chooses instead to visit with a sick friend in reduced circumstances. She chooses Capt. Wentworth even though her family still disapproves of him, and now as a grown woman, she can love them and disagree with them at the same time. Coming into your own and realizing your own agency, your power to choose, is a feminist thing to do, though we’ve been doing it so long now it doesn’t seem new to us.” What a thoughtful exchange of ideas! And I love how this defense of Anne Elliot making rational decisions fully sets us up for Elizabeth Adams’ story. I think the readers will love it! I hope so anyway. Thank you, Ceri, for hosting Elizabeth and “Miss Anne Elliot” today. Hope you enjoy the collection.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Christina. I am glad you enjoyed Elizabeth's thoughtful replies to my questions. I am really looking forward to reading this anthology.
DeleteThanks for hosting, Ceri! Your questions were certainly thought-provoking. I could go on and on, but I endeavored to trim it up a bit, though it's clearly still long-winded. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Elizabeth. I loved reading your replies. It made me reflect that younger Anne and Wentworth are a real balance of passion vs prudence. If they'd had more faith in each other things could have been so different - her having more faith in his future success, and him having more faith in her love for him and not giving up on her, so much separation could have been avoided.... but it did give us THAT LETTER in Persuasion so perhaps all their pain was worth it!
DeleteYES! "I am half agony, half hope..." It doesn't get better than that.
DeleteThat was a fantastic interview, Ceri and Elizabeth. My favourite of Elizabeth's books has to be On Equal Ground - oh, I needed tissues several times during my listen. Just a good job I wasn't driving at certain significant points in the story.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that's not been mentioned yet (I think) is that at nineteen in Regency times, Anne was technically still a minor, as the age of majority has only dropped from 21 to 18 within my own lifetime. This means that marrying without her father's consent would have been well-nigh impossible unless she and Frederick had eloped to Scotland. I dare say the Royal Navy might not have looked kindly on that!
Would Frederick have been so successful if he'd had to constantly consider a wife and, most likely children, back at home, rather than being the bold naval officer we know hime to have been?
I'm looking forward to Elizabeth's part of the anthology especially, as Anne Elliot is one of the Rational Creatures I identify very closely with.
Thanks, Anji! I'm glad you liked OEG. It's my favorite of my book babies.
DeleteAnne was still a minor, but her father had not outright refused, just frowned on the whole thing. I don't think Sir Walter had the chutzpa to refuse his daughter. He would just look down his nose at them for the rest of his life. Elizabeth was the only daughter he was actually interested in.
I don't think Frederick would have been as successful with a wife and kids, but maybe he would have. We'll never know. I think his anger in many ways fueled his success- he was more reckless and took more risks, and luckily they paid off.
I hope you enjoy the story and the book as a whole. :-)
Hi Anji! This is the thing, isn't it, we see what happened to Wentworth without the ties of wife and family, and what a success he made of it, but if he had married and had a family to provide for he may have made different options and Anne could have ended up with a big family and no money, like Mrs Price in Mansfield Park. If you are a rational creature, would you be blithely tripping into marriage without considering the potential risks?
Delete"I wanted to show the reader why Anne made the choices she did, which of course meant I had to know why she made the choices she did. Seeking out her motives was a long process, but I think it all worked out in the end. We’ll see if the readers agree!"
ReplyDeleteI do! I love your Anne! And great post. Your point about Austen using writing to address injustice is insightful. Given the power and popularity of Austen's books, then and now, I'd say her writing played an important role in changing the way society views women.
Thank you! i'm so glad you liked it! I think Austen was incredibly insightful, and the more you read, the more you find.
DeleteHi Christina, thanks for stopping by. I think Austen highlights things she perceives as unjust through her writing too, often it's a subtle undercurrent; a comment here or there, or things that happen to a minor character, etc.
DeleteRiveting interview, Ceri and Elizabeth. I enjoyed how thoroughly Elizabeth got inside Anne's mind and how a woman of her era thought. Good points about both Anne and Jane Austen, Elizabeth. I think you wrote a stellar breakup and I felt it to my toes.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I agonized over that scene!!!
DeleteGaaah! Although I'm looking forward to reading Elizabeth's story, I'm also dreading it! I fear heartbreak awaits me.
DeleteYou guys are killing me with all those teasers! Still at least two weeks before I can read the book!
ReplyDeleteI am so looking forward to reading this one, Arjanne!
DeleteBeautiful interview, Ceri and Elizabeth! I so enjoyed reading it and I can't wait to read this new anthology!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the post, Maria :)
DeleteEnjoyed the interview and agree with much that was said over Anne and her decision. Look forward to reading the story.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with so much of it too, Darcybennett.
DeleteThank you for your wonderful interview. I love your books. My favorite so far has be On Equal Ground. I also enjoyed the Audible version of Houseguest. I look forward to reading this collection.
ReplyDeleteI still have OEG to read, SChilds. Have heard good things about it.
DeleteThank you! I'm so glad you liked them, and I hope you like this one as well. I loved the audio of The Houseguest even more than the written book. I told my editor that I chose Brigid to narrate because she was telling the same story I was telling, and telling it better.
DeleteCeri, when you feel brave, open On Equal Ground. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. :-)
How did Anne cope without her Frederic, I hope to soon find out!
ReplyDeletePoor Anne! Bless her.
DeleteAnne must have become a rational creature over time. Being half agony and half hope herself at many occassions.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid that it probably took Anne a good while to get up to as much as half hope. She would have had a good share of pain, and the knowledge that it was her choice that brought her such unhappiness. It makes me sad just to think of it :(
DeleteWow, what a great interview! I own the other two anthologies and can't wait to get my hands on this one!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to it too, Susan!
DeleteI have always loved Anne Elliott. Loved the Q&A
ReplyDeletedenise
I have always loved her too, Denise. I always felt that Anne and I would have been friends :)
DeleteVery insightful interview into Anne. I also think a 'rational creature' is also one with 'common sense'. I, too, am looking forward to the release of this collection. Such an amazing line-up of authors! Loved the video and the paintings selected for each of Jane's characters!
ReplyDeleteThe paintings were good, weren't they! Some I liked a lot, others not so much. I think my favourite was Harriet Smith; I didn't recognise the painting, but the face was adorable, and very Harriet!
DeleteLoved this interview! And I love Anne Elliot! This is one of the stories I haven't gotten to yet, and now I'm itching to read it :) Thanks, Elizabeth and Ceri.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Karen! I hope you enjoy the story when you read it
DeleteWow, such a great interview! Loved it! I think you're spot on about Jane Austen's view of rational/irrational people, Elizabeth. It's clear too that you've thought a great deal about Anne Elliot and why she made the decisions she did.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you about Jane Austen enabling women to speak and act in ways that they might not have been able to in real Regency life. I definitely think she was an early feminist - and she's written some brilliantly unlikely feminist characters.
I look forward to reading your story!
Thanks! I did give a lot of thought to Anne. I agonized over her for many weeks! I even made my neighbors watch the movie with me in a desperate bid for inspiration. (It worked, incidentally.)
DeleteI hope you like the collection!
Hi Elaine, thanks for commenting. I think one of the things that Austen did that was remarkable for her times was to allow her female characters to act like women in real life; many of her contemporaries didn't allow their female characters to be realistically flawed, as they were trying to put over a moral message. Luckily for us, pictures of perfection made Austen 'sick and wicked' so she decided to give people everywhere real women instead of impossible standards. Hurrah!
DeleteMs Adams- Your books consistently capture Elizabeth Bennet's fun-loving, youthful and vivacious aspects extremely well. Your Lizzys do silly things,play games, enjoy life with exuberance... And so it is especially interesting for me to see how you write a mature and thoughtful character like Anne. Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel, thanks for stopping by. It hadn't occurred to me, but as everything I have read by Elizabeth Adams has been P&P-based I have never seen her take on Anne. I am looking forward to reading it!
DeleteI love Anne Elliot, can't wait to read this story ☺
ReplyDeleteI love her too!
DeleteI am so excited for this book, the others were WONDERFUL!!!
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read Rakes and Gentlemen Rogues, but I really enjoyed The Darcy Monologues. I'm looking forward to reading this one too.
DeleteGoodness, Cheri. You haven’t read Rakes and Gentlemen Rogues yet? Can get you a copy?? XO
DeleteThat is so kind of you, but I already have it. I hope to read it soon, but I have been struggling for reading time. I have only read the first story so far, but it's very good :)
DeleteThanks for coming up with all these questions, Ceri. And what a wonderful response too, Elizabeth. Readers like me would love to know what's going on inside Anne Elliot's mind when she decided to end the engagement with Captain Wentworth. Besides she's also one of my favourite heroines.
ReplyDeleteWe have a winner for our #RationalCreatures blog tour giveaway!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Schilds.
Thank you to all who participated. (Please claim before November 20 or we will have to draw for another winner...and that would be disappointing for all...except the new winner.) https://www.thequillink.com/blog/rationalcreatures-epic-blog-tour-ends-announces-grandprize-winner