The Female Author and the Dime Novel by Becky Lower

Do you remember how you reacted when you found out that poet George Sand was a woman? You were probably in high school and astounded by the revelation. I certainly was. I then decided to name my first girl George. Fortunately, I never had a girl child, but the father of my Cotillion Ball siblings is named George. 

How about Harper Lee? Come on, show of hands. How many of you were misguided into believing the author of To Kill A Mockingbird was a man? Or, more recently, do you remember when J.K. Rowling morphed into Robert Galbraith in a reverse of the phenomenon?

Women in the publishing world have been attempting to level the playing field for hundreds of years by creating ambiguous or misleading pen names. When dime novels—the first form of mass marketed books—came into existence in the 1800s, the odds were stacked even higher, as the topics in these books normally contained tales of swashbuckling heroes, gunslingers, gold miners or explorers, and generally harsh surroundings. Things that refined ladies would never know of, or ever experience, much less be able to write about.

The Dime Novel, or the Penny Dreadful, as these books were referred to in England, were the precursor to today’s paperbacks and e-books. Although these dime novels didn’t have as their primary focus the world of romance, they did set the stage for the romance industry, as they were responsible for introducing reading for pleasure to the masses. These books were printed in a four by six inch format, and were about a hundred pages in length, with a die-cut cover image that usually contained a spot of color. And thanks to the advancement of the printing industry at the same time the growth of education in America was happening, the dime novel was able to take advantage of both and become a major force in publishing. They filled a void in American literature for several decades, as the education of the working class created a need for reading material. They were published as frequently as every two weeks, and the characters developed in them often went from one tale to the next.

Dime novels in America were rough-and-tumble books, mostly about the Wild West. The plots were sensational and melodramatic, making for great reading among the streets of relatively tame east coast cities.

The first known dime novel in America was written by a woman—Mrs. Ann Stephens—and was entitled “Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter.” Risque, tantalizing reading in 1839, to be sure.

With millions of dime novels being printed each year, the search for quality authors and stories grew. The fertile imaginations of women molded from the same cloth as Mrs. Stephens led to the formation of many memorable characters, such as Harry Hawk, the hero in the dime novel I created for my book, The Duplicitous Debutante. The author of the Harry Hawk series is a well-bred young lady, Rosemary Fitzpatrick, who invents the name, F.P. Elliott, to disguise her true identity.

The Duplicitous Debutante is the sixth book in the Amazon best-selling Cotillion Ball series, and was re-released in a new format on March 28, 2019. 

New Release — The Duplicitous Debutante (Cotillion Ball Saga Book 6) by Becky Lower

As the long-anticipated Cotillion Ball approaches, debutante Rosemary Fitzpatrick’s fertile mind is about to land her in all kinds of trouble—with no way out! Rosemary’s debut at the ball is the last thing on her mind—because for the past few years, Rosemary, one of New York society’s beautiful young ladies, has led a double life as that of a dime novel author. In her wild west stories, her handsome hero, Harry Hawk, lives a dangerous life filled with unexpected adventures that her readers believe to be written by a man—F. P. Elliott. The catch is, so does her publisher.

When Henry Cooper takes over the publishing enterprise in New York from his father, he insists on meeting with each author in person. Rosemary must protect her clandestine career by posing as the enigmatic author’s secretary. But during their meetings, Henry begins to fall in love with Mr. Elliott’s “secretary”, and her duplicity in their dealings begins to be a bigger burden than she ever imagined as she loses her heart to him, as well.

When her deception begins to unravel at the Cotillion Ball, will Henry forgive her—or has deceit cost her the man she loves?

EXCERPT

     “What are you doing, Screaming Eagle?” Harry tried to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

     “Her father is running the railroad through Sioux land.”

     “And by kidnapping his daughter, you think he’ll sit down and smoke a peace pipe with you?”

The Indian tossed back his long, straight, black hair and tightened his hold on the woman. Harry’s grip on his gun tightened as well when her whimper reached his ears.

     Rosemary rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. She whimpered, much as her heroine had done in the passage she’d just written. She was to meet with her new publisher in a matter of hours, and she still had no solution other than to confess there was no Mr. Elliott. She was aware of the Brahmin Bostonians, and their ways. They traced their roots back to the original founding fathers of the country, and considered themselves “enlightened” in the arts. She huffed. Even in their “enlightened” states, she highly doubted they’d welcome a female author into their midst. Whatever was she to do?