Do you remember the old Russian reversal jokes? You know, “In America, you find party. In Soviet Russia, party finds you!” Or: “In Soviet Russia, cold catches you!” And so forth.
In any event, I was trying to figure out yet another way to describe Unveiled for an upcoming blog post. Blah blah blah, I am so bad at telling people what my books are about! When I talk about Unveiled, I tend to say stupid things like, “this is a book about sexy, sexy bigamy!”
Not working so well. Or: “This is about this dude–and even though he is out for revenge he is totally cool–no, honest, I know it sounds like he’s vengeful, but he’s actually a total mensch, you know? He’s like…the Harlequin Presents mensch.”
And sometimes I sit down and spend half an hour constructing the following: “Margaret knows what all the rules are, and has followed every one… up until the point when she discovers that her father and mother weren’t really married, and she’s a bastard. By all the rules, she’s worth nothing.”
This, of course, is not even a description of the book; it’s a description of a tiny fraction of the events that happen before the book starts. Still, it leads me to the Best. Description. Ever. for Unveiled. Are you ready?
In America, you break rules. In Victorian England, rules break you!
Okay, fine. This still does not describe Unveiled, not at all, but hey, who cares? It’s fun!
So here’s the deal. You want to win a copy of Unveiled? Come up with a Victorian reversal. Post it in the comments below. One person will win randomly. One person who has the best reversal (as chosen by Mr. Milan, a sage and fair judge) will also win a copy. You can enter the skill portion as many times as you like, but you’ll only get one random entry per person.
This contest is open until the year 2011 hits the West Coast. 
In Victorian England, steam punks you!
Oh, nice!
In America, you lol cats. In Victorian England, the cats attribute amusing truncated verse to you, what?
I can’t hope to compete with the above, but I would like to mention that romance remains contemporary in 1830 or 2010…
Congratulations on your latest!
In the 21st century, you rule your clothing..In Victorian England, clothing rules you.
In Victorian England many things were kept veiled, but in 2011 Courtney Milan is unveiling some of them for us.
In Victorian England the term “boned” would not have set off uncontrollable snickers.
In the Victorian age, most parts of the body were covered. In the 21st Century, we *wish* more parts of the body of some people were covered (…instead of letting everything hang out).
*headdesk* And that would be “bodies”. *sigh*
In America, you go to war. In Victorian times, war comes to you.
In Victorian times, the Whigs became liberals. In America, people are liberal with their wigs. (Okay, okay. I was stretching this one a bit, LOL!)
In Victorian times, homes were gothic. In America, Goths live at your home.
In Victorian times, stage coaches were popular. In America, coaching on stage is popular.
In America, you know you’re in trouble when the punches come flying. In Victorian England, you know you’re in trouble when you are satirized in The Punch.
While I would love, love, love to get a copy, I totally suck at making things up.
Please count this as my ‘random’ entry, maybe later lightning will strike and something will occur to me for the skill part of the contest…
(don’t hold your breath)
In America, morals are Victorian. In 19th century England, Victorian are the morals!
(Btw, I don’t believe America is amoral–I used this just for the purposes of the joke!)
In Victorian England, Westminster houses Parliament. In America, Westminster houses a kennel club.
In Victorian England, Unveiled costs less than a pound. In America, Unveiled weighs less than a pound.
In Victorian England the “Carriage House” was filled with carriages and horses. In America the “Garage” (the carriage hourse of today)is often a place of relaxation and filled with a TV, a pool table, a dart board and beer!
In Victorian England, transportation waste product is horse manure. In modern America, transportation waste product is carbon monoxide, various acids, and microparticles.
Here’s a few more:
In Victorian England, a title is prized more than money. In America, money is prized more than a title.
in Victorian England, trouble follows a reprobate. In America, a reprobate follows trouble.
In Vitorian afternoon teas, wine was never served; In America, what is an afternoon drink but wine or alcohol?
In Victorian times, women loved a rake. In America, we usually let the men deal with the rake.
In America, you shape your clothes to fit your body. In Victorian England, you shaped your body to fit your clothes.
In Victorian England, men could have sex with prostitutes without being judged, but prostitutes were judged for having sex with men. In modern America… on second thought, this one doesn’t work as a reversal.
Do tell Mr. Milan! We are all very curious.