Parlor Poetry: A Victorian Versification Abecedary by Lori Alden Holuta Spotlight and Giveaway
To celebrate my guest spot here at Long and Short Reviews, I’m giving away a free Kindle copy of my book, Parlor Poetry: A Victorian Versification Abecedary.
Due to Amazon restrictions, this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only, and winners must have an Amazon.com account to receive their Kindle copy.
Giveaway Entry Instructions
To enter, simply subscribe to my once-a-month newsletter, Postcards From Industralia. It’s packed with Victorian trivia, steampunk surprises, and (if the rumors are true) the occasional hidden key to unlock a secret room in The Brassbright Chronicle. Subscribe here!
About the Author
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields in mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables, teas, and herbs when she’s not playing games with her cat, Chives. She loves activities from the past, including canning and preserving, crocheting, and reading her Kindle in the dark.
Her lifelong fascination with the Victorian era dovetails nicely with articles she’s written for The Primgraph, an online magazine focused on historical reconstructions in virtual worlds, as well as music and book reviews for Steampunk Magazine.
Her first novel, a young adult steampunk comedy adventure called The Flight To Brassbright, has endeared itself to teenage girls and a surprising number of grown-ups. Its sequel, Down The Tubes, seems to be in an eternal state of “nearly done,” but she plans to surprise readers when it publishes, possibly sooner than you think. Book Three: The Hidden Doors is in a delightful state of disarray, and Book Four: Off The Rails is currently in development.
Full Steam Ahead is a collection of short chapter stories for kids. Steamed and Steamy: Recipes from the Steampunk World of Industralia is a cookbook inspired by Industralia’s characters and their eating habits. Shredding It is a collection of family and friends’ recipes, which contains an alarming amount of cabbage (and there’s even a dessert section). And now, she has taken a poetic view of the Victorian era in Parlor Poetry: A Victorian Versification Abecedary.
Why Poetry?
I’ve written poetry since third grade, but only for my own amusement or to make my friends laugh. A few years back, I had the idea to write a poem for every letter of the alphabet as a personal challenge. I needed a theme, and choosing the Victorian era was no surprise to anyone who knew me — I just can’t get enough of that time in history!
While mentioning my project to an artistic friend, she volunteered to provide illustrations to help turn my challenge into a book. I gave her a list of topics, and she happily took to the task. There was no turning back — I was officially writing a book! Some topics were easy to tackle, others near-impossible, but isn’t that the point of a challenge?
After completing the last poem, I began arranging the artwork and poems into a manuscript. It felt like it needed something more, so I decided to include a short overview of each alphabetical topic for readers who might not know much about, for example, daguerreotype cameras, velocipedes, or the London underground tube rail system. This added bonus knowledge meant each topic spanned three pages. Books display two pages at a time, so I added a fourth page for each topic to create better flow and balance. That’s how Notable Quotables happened — bringing the words of famous people and news sources to the poetry party. Suddenly, I had a book!
Another artistic friend helped me create the cover. I wanted it to look like an old, embossed leather volume that could have existed in the Victorian era — and I think we did it!
I hope readers who pick up my book feel transported back in time and come away both educated and amused by the challenge I gave myself long ago.
In Closing…
Don’t forget — one lucky subscriber to Postcards From Industralia will win a Kindle copy of Parlor Poetry: A Victorian Versification Abecedary. Subscribe by September 19 for your chance to win — the giveaway closes promptly at midnight!
