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Showing posts from July, 2023

#HistFicThursdays - Inspirational Series: Alexander the Great

I honestly can’t remember what inspired me to write about Alexander the Great. I think it was probably the Horrible Histories song , but I could be wrong about that. I suddenly just wanted to know everything there was to know about him, and to put it into story form. I actually started the story before I knew much about him and his campaigns at all so, still in its first draft condition, the opening chapter of the book has some rather hilarious mistakes and inferences. By the second chapter, I had eased into the story a little more and, by the fourth chapter, the research was there to support it too. This story was unique among my historical fantasy because of the sheer quantity of research which I did for it. I devoured anything and everything I could find about Alexander the Great. There was a wonderful blog called The Second Achilles, and I spent hours poring over archived posts, reading as much as I could about different theories and stories about the great conqueror. The blog disa...
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#HistFicThursdays - Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (1st Earl of Minto) - The Burden of Bridging Eras

 While the technological advancements of the past century have been so rapid we've all been left with a bit of whiplash, the late eighteenth century was also a time of significant change in western Europe. For many in that generation who lived across events such as the French Revolution, they saw their understanding of the world upturned, and had to quickly learn to adapt to this new world. Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound was one such individual. At first glance, Elliot appears to have been one of those members of the upper class for whom everything naturally fell into place. Born to a baronet, educated to the highest standard, given post after post by those in power. But, delving a little bit deeper, there was more to him than first meets the eye... Friendships he formed in his youth were to be shattered in later life, and he became the champion of failed attempts. The French Revolution saw him torn between early friendships and patriotic duties, and his attempts at command were ...
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#HistFicThursdays - Life and Death in Ephesus - Finlay McQuade - Book Excerpt

 There's a real treat for you here this week for #HistFicThursdays! I'm once again teaming up with  The Coffee Pot Book Club  for author  Finlay McQuade 's blog tour! Today, I'm sharing an excerpt from his exciting book,  Life and Death in Ephesus ! First of all, let's meet the book... For over a thousand years, Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of what is now Turkey, was a thriving city. It was the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Wonders of the World, and a destination for religious pilgrimage long before the advent of Christianity. In the first century CE, St. John and St. Paul introduced Christianity to Ephesus, where it survived its turbulent beginnings and, in the fifth century CE, hosted the God-defining Council of Ephesus. Life and Death in Ephesus is a collection of stories about major events in the history of Ephesus. Characters appearing in these stories include Herostratus, first to commit a “herostratic crime”; Alexander, the warrior king;...
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#HistFicThursdays - COMING SOON: The Folly at Raighvan Park - Judith Crow - Guest Post

Today, I'm so excited to introduce a book which is being launched next week at Sutherland Show (22nd July):  The Folly at Raighvan Park   by Judith Crow! Here's a little sneak peek at this upcoming release and a couple of its characters... First of all, let's meet the book... Blurb Desperate to escape memories of a devastating railway accident, Lord Stretton accepts an invitation to Raighvan Park, the home of his childhood friend, Sir David Joyce. But Stretton discovers that Raighvan Park is not the safe haven he had been seeking. The ghosts which have haunted him since the accident seem to have followed him, and the situation grows darker when human remains are discovered at Sir David’s proposed folly. Are the ghosts of the accident still stalking him? Or is there something more sinister at work at Raighvan Park? Guest Post All the Gothic Horror I've written features - to different extents - an unreliable narrator. In The Devil's Servant , Reuben Fancroft is an ol...
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#HistFicThursdays - Under His Spell - Luv Lubker - Book Excerpt

 This week for #HistFicThursdays, I'm delighted to once again be teaming up with  The Coffee Pot Book Club  for author  Luv Lubker 's blog tour! Today, I'm sharing an excerpt from her gorgeous book, Under His Spell ! First of all, let's meet the book... A beautiful love story between the Princess Royal Victoria and Fritz Wilhelm, Frederick III of Prussia A lonely young man attends the first World’s Fair – the Great Exhibition of 1851 – and meets a family who changes his life forever. Follow the young Prince Fritz – later Friedrich III – of Prussia and his wife, Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Vicky, (parents of Kaiser Wilhelm II) through their courtship and the joys and struggles of their first four years of marriage.  Fritz and Vicky dream of a peaceful united Germany, but Fritz’s uncle Karl has his own dreams of power… Discover often hinted at but unrevealed secrets of the Prussian Royal court… You can buy Under His Spell  via this  Universal ...
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