Jane Actually

can use modern vernacular if I surround it in quotes?”
    “Uh, sure. What do you want? Although I think I can guess.”
    “I want to be able to write something entirely new and be assured of it being published,” she said. “Something … something relevant today.”
    “Jane, I think I could get you almost anything you want, as long as you were willing to … to …”
    “Write a sequel to
Pride and Prejudice
? That I will not do. Lizzie and Darcy have had their day. But I will seriously consider
The Watsons
. Are we understood then?”
    “Perfectly. OK, let’s go upstairs and …” She stopped suddenly and Jane saw a spasm of pain flicker across her friend’s face.
    “Melody, are you all right? You look unwell.”
    Melody brought a hand to her mouth and belched as politely as possible when standing beside a famous author.
    “No, I’m fine, just a little indigestion. And you’re right, I am nervous. It just hit me again: I am Jane Austen’s agent. Enough to make anyone a little queasy.”

Ripples
The Austen world reacts
    – CHICAGO –
    A lice paused outside the door to the study room in which her graduate students awaited her. She could hear their raised voices quite easily and could see through the glass that they were all looking at Stephen’s iPad. Normally she’d be happy to see her students animated because young men and women embarking on a course of study of Jane Austen could be a little … well dull. They took it all so seriously and knew too much about the Corn Laws and Enclosure Movement and other capitalized nouns that sucked so much of the sheer fun out of Austen.
    It didn’t, however, surprise her that Stephen would be the source of whatever amusing viral video or app he’d found. Stephen was the only one of her students who seemed to find fun in what he was doing and his enjoyment was infectious. There were times when Alice found herself teaching to him and ignoring the others. He was the only one who seemed to genuinely enjoy Austen as a storyteller, even if he wasn’t necessarily an enthusiastic supporter of her conjectures about the Regency author. And this despite the fact that his thesis was about Corn Laws and the Enclosure Movement. 1
    She opened the door and the noise guiltily stopped.
    “Oh, hi Dr Davis,” Stephen said, as she walked to her chair and set her bag on the floor beside it. The other students scurried to their seats and resumed their serious looks, but Stephen kept a big stupid grin on his face.
    “OK, what is it?” she asked. In response, he got up and handed her his tablet. She saw a
New York Times
article about the publication of a … she sat down.
    The students resumed a low buzz of conversation at this remarkable display by their teacher.
    “Pretty exciting news, isn’t it?” Stephen asked.
    She looked up irritably at him, but the eager look on his face softened her response.
    “It’s … interesting, but you all know my opinion about anointing anyone as
the
Jane Austen.” They were quick to nod except for Stephen, who paused several seconds before so doing.
    “But legally she is Jane Austen, right?”
    Alice was about to agree, but then stopped. “Actually, I don’t know how legal it is. Certainly most people seem to accept the AfterNet’s word that so-and-so is who they claim to be. That’s actually a good project for you Stephen, and you can report back to us what you find. Now if we can return to Ashleigh’s question about … what was your question from last time?”
    “It was about Sir Thomas’ change of heart, but what I’d really like to know is if you’ve got an advance copy of
Sanditon
.”
    Alice looked at Ashleigh in surprise. She was the most obsequious student she’d ever had and never ventured an opinion. Like it or not, she had to admit that this pretender to the mantle of Austen had her students excited.
    “OK, OK, we’ll talk about it. I know we haven’t met since the announcement of … this woman’s identity. So Ashleigh, I assume you’re not asking whether I’ve received a review copy.”
    Ashleigh shook her head and then realized her affirmation might be confusing. “Yes, I mean I’m not asking that. I wanted to know if you had the leaked copy?”
    This comment started another buzz of questions so Alice intervened. “Why don’t you tell us what you know about the leaked copy? Actually, start at the beginning and its involvement in proving her identity. Assuming you know that part of it?”
    Ashleigh