Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 93

Magic Regencies

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fantasy theme, not a Regency one. Wrede used this theme in her
earlier fantasy novels, especially in Daughter of Witches, whose
plot is sinular to Mairelon. More importantly, Wrede has left aside
the Regency focus on romance in favor of the fantasy focus on talent.
Kim's becoming Richard's ward is much less emphasized than her
becoming his magical apprentice. Mairelon is therefore more a period
fantasy than a full hybrid, though as Publisher's Weekly noted, it
will satisfy fans of both frameworks. Such usage is perhaps simply
another way of reclaiming England as a magic space while enjoying
Regency detail.
Teresa Edgerton's duo of novels. Goblin Moon and The Gnome’s
Engine (both 1991), also adapt Regency framework to fantasy
purposes. Seramarias Vorder (named for an alchemical jewel), cannot
help but despise foppish and mystical poet Francis Love Skelbrooke.
After all, she has seen what magical lore has done to destroy her
grandfather's career. Meanwhile, Jed Braun, bom to the servant class
but rapidly rising in the merchant guild, hojTelessly loves fragile and
sweet Elsie Vorder, Sera's wealthy cousin. Elsie's mother meanwhile
urges on her the suit of an unsavory dandy, Jarl Sogstra. So far, good
Regency plot. Yet it takes places in an utterly fantastical "Euterpe,"
in a city where men and gnomes live in mansions carved by dwarves
and the poor are additionally preyed upon by hobgoblins. Lord
Skelbrooke, described as "small, neat, and delicately scented" (182),
takes pinches of "sleep dust" instead of snuff, and dashingly acts as a
magical vigilante. Additional plots revolve around the finding of a
preserved body floating in a coMn, and the creation of a homunculus
from a mandrake root. Sogstra and his compatriot, Baron Vodni, are
excellent examples of Edgerton's merger of frameworks. They are
perfectly in character as unscrupulous rakes, but turn out also to hide
claws and hooves—in short, the unworthy suitors are half trolls who
seek a blood wedding to sustain their powers, not merely a wealthy
heiress.
Edgerton's second novel. The Gnome’s Engine, is less a sequel than
a completion of the plots launched in the first book, ranging from
fairy revenge to the question of hobgoblin intelligence. As in the first,
fantasy plot dominates Regency manners. In the last quarter of the
book, frank comments on sexuality completely exceed the discreet
Regency frame. In fact, the book ends not with the resolution of
romance but with the raising of a lost continent. One usage of Regency