Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from May, 2024

#HistFicThursdays - Teaching Gothic Horror to the Next Generation

Of course, when I volunteered to write a blog for #HistFicThursdays, it was bound to be Gothic-based. All the pupils at school know now that, if they get me for English, they will be studying some Gothic Horror at some point! I have just taught my first full year of National 5, and the text I selected for the pupils’ Critical Essay (worth 20% of the overall grade) was A Warning to the Curious by the great M. R. James. There are so many fascinating things which can be said about the text: Paxton as a tragic hero; the setting of the First World War and how that is woven in throughout the text; the themes of revenge and respect for beliefs; the many examples of foreshadowing throughout… But teaching a group of teenagers to love (or, more realistically, to understand) M. R. James is not without its challenges. He writes in that wonderfully lyrical style which is key to the Gothic genre and, even for his time, he was using language which was perhaps slightly old-fashioned. Therefore, some ...
Post a Comment
Read more

#HistFicThursdays - Just a Little Thank You: You Are Awesome!

 I can't believe we are almost at the end of #HistFicMay! I have had a fabulous time and feel like I have made many new discoveries in the realm of Historical Fiction. Finding your place as a writer can be really difficult, but when you have a great network behind you it is a hundred times easier! If you have found this blog you will know that my family - a family full of writers! - are my closest team, but I could not have achieved all I have today without the support and help of the fabulous Historical Writers Forum . I created #HistFicMay because I wanted to give something back to my network of fellow historical writers. I hope I have done just that! So, please have a look at the #HistFicMay tag across social media. We're on Twitter/X - Facebook - BlueSky - Instagram - Threads - and perhaps other platforms which I'm not a part of. I promise you that you will find fabulous writers with incredible books. Writers, there is a fabulous network for historical fiction. I c...
Post a Comment
Read more

#HistFicThursdays - Their Castilian Orphan - Anna Belfrage - Guest Post

   For this week's #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm thrilled to be welcoming Anna Belfrage  back to the blog with a guest post about her latest book  Their Castilian Orphan ,   as part of her  Coffee Pot Book Club  tour. In her guest post, Anna explores the character of the contentious Edward I and shares his role in her story. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb It is 1294 and Eustace de Lamont is back in England after five years in exile. He will stop at nothing to ruin Robert FitzStephan and his wife, Noor d’Outremer. Robert’s half brother, Eustace de Lamont, has not mellowed during his absence. He is more ruthless than ever, and this time he targets Robert’s and Noor’s foster son, Lionel. Lionel is serving King Edward as a page when Eustace appears at court. Not only does Lionel become the horrified witness to Eustace’s violent streak, Eustace also starts voicing his suspicions about Lionel’s parentage. The truth about Lionel’s heritage is explosiv...
2 comments
Read more

#HistFicThursdays - Things to Inspire - Rules and Regulations

 Yesterday, the #HistFicMay prompt asked what was the trickiest thing about a setting. There were some great answers from Historical Fiction authors, which you can read here . For my part, the answer was this: When I write a book, I inevitably fall in love with one of my characters. But then there is that nagging annoyance that they are (well, not real, for a start) almost certainly influenced by their time and society. And those days were filled with adventure, but they were certainly not filled with justice and fairness. Not all rules applied to all people, of course, and my "things" which I have collected for this topic are actually as much linked to the military nature of my Family Saga as they are to rules and regulations. These are from the Napoleonic era and relate to the advancements made by the Duke of York - yes, he was the Grand Old one! But, while your characters might have to abide by the laws of the land, remember there have always been people who stand up for ...
Post a Comment
Read more

#HistFicThursdays - A Silent Romance Amongst Words - Free Short Story

I don't often write romance, but this short story is perhaps the exception to prove the rule. A Silent Romance Amongst Words  was written for the Books and Borrowing  project, and did rather well 😊 It was inspired by the loan sheet from Innerpeffray Library - a venue which held one of my book launches way back in 2017! If you would rather, you can read it in-situ here !  A Silent Romance Amongst Words It had been a long winter. Kitty Duff’s hand rested on the books in her lap, willing herself to believe in them. It had been almost four months since Mister Grenville had recommended them to her. She could still remember his expression. He had smiled, a squint smile which had allowed it to remain hidden from Kitty’s chaperons. That week, they had been her guardian’s gardeners, who had as little interest in books as any men could. She had picked out volumes for them, recommending books with enough pretence of interest to satisfy them. But her books had been chosen very caref...
Post a Comment
Read more

#HistFicThursdays - Lost Landscapes - Ravenser Odd

 Be honest, who does not  love the stories of Atlantis or Brigadoon or any other disappearing and disappeared world? World mysteries have always fascinated me, wondering what people imagined from these lost communities and - even more so - what they wanted them to be and represent. The Destruction of Ravenser Odd I stumbled across the history of Ravenser Odd entirely by chance. But what a chance! Here was a setting for a story, one which was almost Biblical in its existence and destruction. Unlike Dunwich, which gradually succumbed to the sea, Ravenser Odd was swallowed in a very short space of time, the final straw coming in The Great Drowning of Men  on Saint Marcellus' Day 1362. As well as this, the town was in the Humber, an area with which I was very familiar, having lived in Barrow-upon-Humber for ten years and being an alumnus of Hull University. Could there be a better setting for a historical fiction tale which was to be laced with horror? Well, I didn't think so...
Post a Comment
Read more