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Showing posts from May, 2020

#HistFicThursdays - Lady of Lincoln by Rachel Elwiss Joyce - Guest Post

  For several years, Lincoln was my county town and, for centuries before that, it was the county town for many of my ancestors. So, today, for the #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm delighted to be hosting  Rachel Elwiss Joyce  with a guest post about her book  Lady of Lincoln ,   as part of her  Coffee Pot Book Club  tour! Read on to find out more about the woman who inspired this book and where her place in history is secured forever. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb A true story. A forgotten heroine. In a time when women were told to stay silent, could she become the saviour her people need? 12th-century England. Nicola de la Haye wants to do her duty. But though she’s taught a female cannot lead alone, the young noblewoman bristles at the marriage her father has arranged to secure her inheritance. And when an unexpected death leaves her unguided, the impetuous girl shuns the king’s blessing and weds a handsome-but-landless knight. Harshly fined by...

Book Review - Ashes and Blood

I'm thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour for "Ashes and Blood" by Katie Zaber. BLURB “I’ll start at the beginning. Long ago, before roads, before we built structures, before medicine was discovered, before the government was created, before man gained any knowledge, there were The Five. Independent from each other, The Five had a mutual respect for one another. They knew their roles in the world and their duty. They were gods…” An adventure begins when an otherworldly tree captures the attention of Megan and her friends. The environment morphs around them, transferring them to an exotic planet. Stuck in a rural town still maimed by the plague, a chance encounter with a familiar face gives Megan and her friends some security during their adjustment period. While settling into new, promising lives, they are attacked and stalked by planet Dalya’s humanoid inhabitants, who focus on Megan. One dark night, after an epic, magical attack, the Fae King’s ...

Thank You and Goodnight - an #AuthorOfTheWeek blog

It's been great sharing this week with you all. I haven't missed a day with my blogging, although they tended to be pushing a little bit close to midnight, and I've loved sharing writing advice as well as my upcoming books with you. Time's a funny thing, isn't it? While I'm sitting here typing, I've lost track on the number of days and weeks since the lockdown began. In some ways it seems to have been an age ago, in others last year seems just like yesterday. My decision to make Time the evil character in Caledon was in part a product of this cruel trick. There's a writing-world adage, telling authors they should write what they know. It's when I look back at time, and realise all I've done in the last 35 years, that I see how fortunate I am. I'm not going to lie and say things have always been perfect, they haven't. But life has. It's been utterly inspirational! And there is no doubt in my mind that, if I didn't believe in ...

What's Next? - An #AuthorOfTheWeek blog

This is my penultimate (one of my favourite words!) blog as #AuthorOfTheWeek, but I hope you've enjoyed my tips about inspiration and writing. Today, I'm making an offering to the reading community, and giving you a small sample of four novels which are up-and-coming from me over the next couple of years. At the moment, two of them are still nameless and, although the other two already have covers, I'm sworn to secrecy about them! Allow me to introduce you to them! The third book in the Tenterchilt family saga Beginning on the field of Waterloo, this third instalment (although it was actually the fourth one I wrote!) follows the Tenterchilt sisters in a period of peace. But peace is a luxury which is denied to the family, partly owing to ghosts of the past, partly owing to the cruelties of outside forces. Among These Dark Satanic Mills This is a totally new style of writing for me -set in the here and now, which is way out of my usual comfort zone! This boo...

When The Inspiration Runs Out - an #AuthorOfTheWeek blog

During my #AuthorOfTheWeek interview, I mentioned (amongst a lot  of other things) that the lockdown has challenged my focus with writing. I've begun several things which have been fated to end up on the back-burner or just completely discarded. My #AuthorOfTheWeek interview! The truth is, when all those other things I'm mentioned so far this week fail to inspire me, there's one last-ditch attempt I have of getting writing. And that rests with a very significant group of people: my characters. I have a terrible - but incredibly rewarding - habit of allowing my characters the gift of Free Will. Sometimes they resist, sometimes they run wild, and then on other occasions they actually dictate the next development. I have utmost respect for each one of them, goodies and baddies, men and women, human and inhuman. Why? Because when I've completely run out of steam, they're the ones who make the story their own. I've had some great feedback on my characters,...