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Showing posts from May, 2023

#MGMonday... Middle Grade Settings

 Middle Grade Settings: An Introduction Having photos in front of you can help you write about your settings I’m going to make a confession. Settings are not something I often spend time planning. Perhaps my stories are the poorer for it, but the settings come as I’m writing or editing. The Glass Room, in Taking Wing, is not something I planned before I started writing. Personally, I’m a very visual writer, seeing my characters as though they are a video in my head, and I write what I see. As such, the setting just happens! There are benefits and drawbacks to this. The main benefit is that the writing process is more interesting. Not everything is set, and my story can still give me surprises. The drawback is that, similar to AI, I cannot know that I’m not stealing settings from films and books I’ve seen/read previously. I certainly don’t mean to plagiarise but the concern is a real one! With that in mind, I have started to at least have a vague idea of my settings before I start t...
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#HistFicThursdays - Alternate Endings - Various Authors -~- PLUS: Vercingetorix: All the Greats Die Young

 Today is very exciting! I'm pointing a spotlight on a great book, Alternate Endings . This book is enjoying a tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club at the moment, and I'm delighted to be hosting my fellow Historical Writers Forum  authors on the Crowvus Book Blog. After the spotlight, you can have a read through my (very) short post about Vercingetorix, who features in my story. But first, let's meet the book... We all know the past is the past, but what if you could change history? We asked eight historical authors to set aside the facts and rewrite the history they love. The results couldn’t be more tantalizing. What if Julius Caesar never conquered Gaul? What if Arthur Tudor lived and his little brother never became King Henry VIII? What if Abigail Adams persuaded the Continental Congress in 1776 to give women the right to vote and to own property? Dive in to our collection of eight short stories as we explore the alternate endings of events set in ancient Rome, Britain, t...
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#HistFicThursdays - Death in Sensible Circumstances: A Sense and Sensibility Mystery - Riana Everly - Book Excerpt

This week for #HistFicThursdays, I'm delighted to once again be teaming up with  The Coffee Pot Book Club  to welcome author  Riana Everly 's blog tour! Today, I'm sharing an excerpt from her book  Death in Sensible Circumstances ... First of all, let's meet the book... A Jane Austen-inspired mystery, set in the world of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility , being the fourth novel in the Miss Mary Investigates series. When Mary Bennet befriends Elinor Dashwood, she expects to become part of the young lady’s circle and be introduced to her friends and relations. She does not expect that one of this circle should die, far too young, and in most unfortunate circumstances. Worse, Elinor is secretly in love with one of the suspects, Edward Ferrars, and he is inconveniently engaged to somebody else. When an investigator is called in to assist, Mary is more surprised still. Alexander Lyons expects to find death and deceit in his line of work, but he does no...
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#HistFicThursdays - The Queen’s Scribe - Amy Maroney - Guest Post

  It's #HistFicThursdays, and I'm super-excited to be welcoming back  Amy Maroney ,   as part of her  Coffee Pot Book Club  tour. Find out about the setting for her fabulous new book, The Queen's Scribe , in the guest post below. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb A broken promise. A bitter conflict. And a woman’s elusive chance to love or die.   1458. Young Frenchwoman Estelle de Montavon sails to Cyprus imagining a bright future as tutor to a princess. Instead, she is betrayed by those she loves most—and forced into a dangerous new world of scheming courtiers, vicious power struggles, and the terrifying threat of war.   Determined to flee, Estelle enlists the help of an attractive and mysterious falconer. But on the eve of her escape, fortune’s wheel turns again. She gains entry to Queen Charlotta’s inner circle as a trusted scribe and interpreter, fighting her way to dizzying heights of influence.    Enemies old and new rise from...
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#HistFicThursdays - Muskets & Masquerades - Lindsey S. Fera - Book Excerpt

  This week for #HistFicThursdays, I'm delighted to once again be teaming up with  The Coffee Pot Book Club  for a returning author  Lindsey S. Fera 's blog tour! Today, I'm sharing an excerpt from her book Muskets & Masquerades ... First of all, let's meet the book... Jack and Annalisa are married only five months when, enroute to France, a shipwreck separates them. On different shores, each believes the other dead. But when Annalisa learns Jack is alive, she returns to America and discovers much has changed. After a betrayal, she flees town as her alter ego, Benjamin Cavendish, and joins the Continental Army. Unbeknownst to Annalisa, Jack has also joined the Continentals, harboring shameful secrets from his days in mourning. Against the backdrop of war with Britain, façades mount between Jack and Annalisa, and the merry minuet of their adolescence dissolves into a masquerade of deceit, one which threatens to part them forever. You can buy  Muskets ...
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