Why is it that, when you're teaching genres to children, you go through historical, fantasy, science fiction, adventure... and so on... and then... non-fiction. You go into detail about all the wonderful types of fiction, and then non-fiction gets lumped in together. Perhaps because there are too many genres of non-fiction to count. I can't even name them all. So, with that in mind, I will attempt to write a single blog post about non-fiction. What is the most challenging aspect of middle grade non-fiction? For me, personally, the most challenging part is making the facts fun and engaging for children. It's a different skill writing facts for children rather than adults. Think back to when you were a child. If you picked up a dry wall of text, it might have put you off non-fiction for life. So, what can we do to ensure our non-fiction books grip children's attention? Fun Language Think Horrible Histories. Some of the facts in those books might not interest some kids, bu...
It is an absolute delight to announce the launch of To Wear a Heart So White: An Anthology of Historical Short Stories About Crime and Punishment. Seven stories, spanning almost eight hundred years, take readers on a journey into the crimes of yesteryear and the punishments they evoked. These stories come from the writers of the Historical Writers' Forum, and include a broad range of subgenres and styles, including a story for everyone.
So let's meet the book...
A cost for every action, and a price for every deed.
The Historical Writers’ Forum proudly presents seven stories of Crime and Punishment, from across the ages. From an anchoress to a war hero; from Italy to Missouri; this anthology has a story for everyone.
Included stories are:
The Ignoble Defence - Virginia Crow
Agatha’s Eyes - Rachel Aanstad
A Pact Fulfilled - Eleanor Swift-Hook
Carte de Viste - Ronan Beckman
A Dish Served Cold - Brenda W. Clough
Shadows of the Adriatic - Tessa Floreano
A Dangerous Road - D. Apple
To Wear a Heart So White is available here on #KindleUnlimited
Now, let's meet the authors...
Virginia Crow is an award-winning author of historical fiction. Her writing borders on the edge of reality, challenging the beliefs and superstitions of bygone days.
She lives in Caithness, where her life is dictated by Orlando and Jess, her two spaniels.
Rachel Aanstad
R. K. Aanstad is a writer, artist, and historian. She lives in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by books, cats, and silly little dogs. She has a dollhouse kit company called Tilly Valley Miniatures and writes books about Shakespeare’s plays. She is currently writing Shakespeare’s Influences for Pen and Sword to be published in 2025.
Eleanor Swift-Hook enjoys the mysteries of history and fell in love with the early Stuart era at university when she re-enacted battles and living history events with the English Civil War Society. Since then, she has had an ongoing fascination with the social, military and political events that unfolded during the Thirty Years’ War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. She lives in County Durham and loves writing stories woven into the historical backdrop of those dramatic times.
Her six-book series, Lord’s Legacy, traces the story of Philip Lord, a mercenary commander with a reputation for ruthlessness gained in the wars raging across Europe, who has returned to England at the opening of what will become the First English Civil War. But he returns with a treason charge hanging over his head and in search of his identity and heritage. The truth about that lies in the hands of a mysterious cabal calling itself the Covenant, and their secret conspiracy which began a century before.
The story is largely told through the eyes of Gideon Lennox, a young London lawyer who has some growing up to do. He is honest, and intelligent, struggling with the changing reality as war overthrows the things he values. His worldview is broken apart and remoulded by the extraordinary people he is thrust into contact with and the demands made on him.
You can learn more about Eleanor and her books on her website: eleanorswifthook.com
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Ronan Beckman is a retired American educator who has lived in the UK for over 30 years. He often writes historical fiction based on the lives of real people that he has discovered through his genealogical studies of the family tree. The character of Sergeant Sven Stenander is the story of Ronan’s great-great-great grandfather. Many of the events in Sven’s colourful life were outlined in a poem written in Swedish that was handed down by a distant cousin, and several news articles that Ronan discovered in his research.
Brenda W. Clough
Brenda W. Clough is the first female Asian-American SF writer, first appearing in print in 1984. Her latest work is a novelette, ‘Clio’s Scroll’, which appeared in Clarkesworld in July 2023. A historical novel A Door In His Head won the 2023 Diverse Voices Award. Her novella ‘May Be Some Time’ was a finalist for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards and became the novel Revise the World. Marian Halcombe, a series of eleven neo-Victorian thrillers appeared in 2021.
Her complete bibliography is up on her webpage brendaclough.net
Tessa Floreano writes historical tales about Italians—by moonlight or candlelight—set in Europe and the Pacific Northwest.
Her first romantic mystery, SLAIN OVER SPUMONI, set in post-WWI near Venice, was published summer of 2022 and won First Place in the Novella category by the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Her debut nonfiction book, ITALIANS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, about early settlers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington from 1880 to 1950, was published in fall 2023. It is a Finalist for a Nellie Bly Award for Journalistic Nonfiction by Chanticleer International Book Awards.
Every few weeks on her Substack, she posts in-depth stories about Italian Americans and Italian Canadians in the Pacific Northwest. There’s a project in the works over the next several years to create both a documentary as well as a traveling exhibit based on her nonfiction book and work as a community historian of Italians in the Pacific Northwest.
Her next romantic mystery, set in northern Italy in 1899 in a castle at Christmas—involving matrimony, murder, and mayhem—will be published in the fall of 2024.
Visit her website and sign up for Tramblings, her occasional newsletter, to get all the latest on her writing www.tessafloreano.com/newsletter
D. Apple
When she’s not pursuing research bunny trails, Danielle is reading. Her happy place is cozying up on the couch with her dog and a 19th-century gothic mystery novel, but you’ll also find her hiking and exploring ghost towns and forgotten graveyards. An avid photographer and language learner, Danielle finds it difficult not to see the story potential in every place or turn of phrase. Sometimes the muses are humorous, and sometimes they are dark, but they always come from an integral place.
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