Jenny Kane & Jennifer Ash

Jenny Kane: Coffee, cupcakes, chocolate and contemporary fiction / Jennifer Ash: Medieval crime with hints of Ellis Peters and Robin Hood

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Short Story Competition…Tiverton Literary Festival 2016

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On March 5, 2016

In Blog, Books For Children, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, crime, Fiction, Historical fiction, News, Romance

This morning, in the Devon town of Tiverton bestselling children’s novelist, Angie Sage, launched the Tiverton Literary Festival’s short story competition.

Angie Sage signing books

Angie Sage signing books

For those of you who were unable to attend- I can now announce that the theme for the competition is…

‘Kings and Queens’

The theme can be interpreted in anyway you like, and all genres (apart from erotic) are accepted. The competition is free to enter and open to anyone from the age of 4 upwards, with categories for all school year ages groups, as well as for those over 16. You don’t have to be local to enter, or even a UK resident to enter.

Each story has to be 400 words or under. It should be typed as a word.doc and sent to info@tivlitfest.co.uk by 30th April 2016. This will give us time to judge the winners and get all the best stories published in an anthology in time for this years festival, which will run from 8th-12th June. If you have no internet access, please hand them into your local school or Tiverton Library.

Tiv logo

Last year I had the privilege of judging the competition, and was blown away by the high standard of entries from children and adults alike. This year I am joined in the judging process by Angie Sage herself.

The winning stories will be published in a book, which will be available to purchase at the festival in June. There will be prize giving ceremony for the winners in Tiverton on 11th June – more details to follow.

We very much look forward to reading your entries.

Happy writing,

Jenny x

Tiv Lit comp 2016

 

My First Time: Grace Lowrie

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On March 2, 2016

In Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Interview

Today I have the lovely Grace Lowrie visiting to tell us all about her very first story writing and publishing experience.

First Time

My First Time

Can you remember writing the first story you actually wanted to write, rather than those you were forced to write at school? What was it about?

The Dream Cats is a story about two children, James and Jane, who are whisked away in the middle of the night on the back of a black cat. When they wake in the morning they find themselves lying on a knitted blanket beside a pond (as illustrated). The talking cat offers to carry them to a village full of cats, where they are greeted so enthusiastically that James almost falls off his mount. The children are given a cottage to live in, while they make the difficult decision of which cat to adopt and take home…

TheDreamCats

I’m not sure how old I was when I wrote this story, and sadly I never finished it, but I do recall writing it in the back garden, during the summer holidays (almost certainly whilst sitting on a knitted blanket). Reading it back my childhood obsession with cats is obvious, but what most appeals to me now, is that it is James who falls and Jane who catches him. Girl power.

TheDreamCats2

What was your first official publication?

My first official publication was Kindred Hearts, in March 2015. In all honestly I’d never been brave enough to try to get published prior to that, despite having penned hundreds of poems and short stories over the years. I wrote because I enjoyed it, but never suspected I was any good. Now I wish I’d been braver sooner.

KindredHearts

What affect did that have on your life?

My life has changed significantly since getting published. Timing wise it coincided with moving to a new area and changing career, but being published gave me the confidence to return to what I love; make time for my writing and be proud of it. I can honestly say I’ve never felt more content.

Does your first published story reflect your current writing style?

Kindred Hearts is a sexy, contemporary romance novel, exploring the complex relationship between three individuals who have known each other since childhood. It is set in glamorous parts of London but deals with love, loss and loneliness as much as lust. I am currently working on a series of three novels in the same genre. However, I am a bibliophile – I suspect that I am influenced by every book I read and that my writing style is changing and evolving with each new book I write. I hope so anyway.

What are you working on at the moment?

A three-book series of standalone, contemporary, romance novels. Whilst each book focuses on a different relationship, the stories are linked by the fictional setting of Wildham and a cast of reoccurring characters. Themes of isolation, longing and the healing potential of love, weave throughout the series, complemented by a healthy dose of sensuality 🙂

Buy links

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindred-Hearts-Grace-Lowrie-ebook/dp/B00SMRLCA0

http://www.amazon.com/Kindred-Hearts-Grace-Lowrie-ebook/dp/B00SMRLCA0

 Grace Lowrie+

Author Bio and links

Grace Lowrie was born and raised on the outskirts of London and spent her student years in the eclectic seaside town of Brighton. Since then she has utilised her creativity as a collage-artist, sculptor, prop-maker and garden designer. In March 2015 her debut novel, Kindred Hearts, was released by Cardiff-based publisher, Accent Press. Spurred on by this success, a lifelong passion for reading and a supportive family, she continues to write novels from her Hertfordshire home.

http://www.facebook.com/GraceLowrieWriter

http://www.twitter.com/gracelowrie1

http://www.pinterest.com/grace_lowrie

https://www.goodreads.com/Grace_Lowrie

***

Many thanks Grace,

Great interview. The Dream Cats looks amazing!

Happy reading,

Jenny x 

 

 

Short Story Competition…Tiverton Literary Festival Event

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On February 23, 2016

In Blog, Fiction

On the 5th March, in the Devonshire town of Tiverton, myself and my fellow festival organisers will be welcoming in this year’s Literary Festival with the help of the brilliant, Angie Sage.

Although the main festival doesn’t start until 8th June (running until 12th June), we are kicking off proceedings on 5th March with our annual short story competition!

Tiv Lit comp 2016

Why not come along to St George’s Church on 5th at 11am to meet Angie, hear how to enter, and discover what this year’s competition theme is!

Last year the standard of entries was very high. I judged them alone- and it was a tough assignment! This year Angie is helping me with the selection process- I can’t wait to see what you can all come up with!

You don’t need to attend the launch to take part, nor do you need to live locally. This competition is open to everyone.

If you are unable to attend Angie’s launch, I will let you know what the story theme is- and all the rules- on the 6th March.

In the meantime, I can tell you that there are age related categories for everyone from 4 years old to adult, the word limit is 400 words, and the closing date is 30th April.

More information soon…

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Interview with Rebecca Hall: Girl Gone Greek

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On February 22, 2016

In Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

I have a brand new visitor to my blog today, the lovely Rebecca Hall. Not only is Rebecca a travel writer, she has also written a novel about her adventures in Greece.

Why not grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, and put your feet for five minutes, and join in our chatter…

coffee and cake

What inspired you to write your book?

I lived in Greece for a while, teaching English. Now I divide my time between this beautiful country and the UK.  At the time (about 2010), Greece was going through a lot of negative press (and still is, to a certain degree).  It made me angry because what was being represented was not the Greece I knew, and not a true representation of the people I knew.  It insulted me to hear my adopted countrymen being accused of being lazy, insolent and the root of all the problems in the E.U. And so I set about writing, in novel format, my experiences of the Greece and her people.  I wanted to make it humorous and bring the characters to life, for people to see another side to Greece…one very much absent from the press.

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Do you model any of your characters after people you know? If so, do these people see themselves in your characters?

Absolutely! Girl Gone Greek is ‘faction’ really (fact in fiction format) and is based on my first year living in a remote Greek village as an EFL teacher.  The head of the school, the other teachers and the protagonist’s best friend all have character traits of people I’ve met, interacted with and developed friendships and relationships with.

Kaliopi, the best friend, was certainly modeled on my best Greek friend. And the real Kaliopi doesn’t mind at all.  She actually thanked me for highlighting elements of her character and psyche she never realized existed! (I hurriedly told her it was fiction so an element of poetic license was involved, but she seemed pleased nonetheless).

What type of research did you have to do for your book?

Much of Girl Gone Greek was taken from my own personal experiences.  I also included historical references to Greece’s past, especially about the (only quite recent) dictatorship in the 1970’s, a couple of references to specific events in Athens during World War II and recent events during the current troubled economic times.

For recent events, I was in Greece myself so I could ask my Greek friends to help me understand. The specific Dictatorship and World War II references are common knowledge to all Greeks, young and old so first hand accounts were quite easy to come by, luckily.  I was lucky to be able to get primary research.

Do you prefer to plot your story or just go with the flow?

Definitely the latter – just go with the flow. I am not a ‘rigid’ person generally and find following strict guidelines and rules in general in life very restricting (hence why I love the semi-chaos of Greece). Although maybe I should actually try to set myself a timeline and plot in advance because it took me a long time to write, learn about and then self-publish Girl Gone Greek.  And it’s also taking me a long time to get into the groove of writing my follow up novel.  Maybe if I had a deadline, this’d help me to discipline myself.

What excites you the most about your book?

The fact that it seems to excite others to want to come and experience another side to this wonderful country, with its aesthetic beauty and kind hearted people.   Lovers of Greece had left me reviews and / or emailed me personally to thank me for what I’ve written and for showing the humane side.  Greeks have thanked me for showing their country in a different light and for understanding their quirks.  It excites me to feel I can offer this to my adopted countrymen: make a difference to the way people view Greece, at least to the small percentage of people who read and like my book enough to want to explore more.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

Girl Gone Greek is a humorous fictional, yet honest account of one woman’s experience in a small Greek village. The Greek people encountered every day in this country are enough to write a novel in itself! Drama is originally a Greek word – and there is enough drama in Greece to write many novels, even non-fiction!  But the Greeks know how to survive, and with it, offer philotimo (not a word, but a concept, meaning offering friendship to strangers).

I hope you’re encouraged to visit Greece and create your own Greek story.

***

Links

Website: www.lifebeyondbordersblog.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorRebeccaAHall

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LifeBeyondBordersBlog

Twitter: www.twitter.com/BeyondBex

Instagram: www.instagram.com/BeyondBex

Google +: https://plus.google.com/+BexHall

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/BeyondBex

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Bio

Girl Gone Greek is Rebecca Hall’s debut Contemporary Women’s Fiction Novel – available on Amazon.

After extensive global travels, Rebecca left the UK to return to the country she fell in love with—Greece, where she teaches English, writes and wryly observes that the chaotic nature of her adopted country actually suits her personality very well. All travel experiences, & particularly living in versatile cultures, have helped to shape who she is today. She is a Rough Guide co-author (Greece & The Greek Islands and Portugal) and has contributed to numerous publications including Apollo Business Class Magazine for Cyprus Airways and Let’s Go for RyanAir, the Daily Telegraph Travel Section and her container ship voyage from Athens to Hong Kong caught the eye of NPR National Radio in the United States, where she was interviewed twice.

When not writing, you’ll usually find her drinking coffee with friends, or sourcing a new place to eat baklava.

***

Many thanks Rebecca. Excellent interview.

If you are in the South West, and want to meet Rebecca in person, she will be talking at this year’s Tiverton Literary Festival (8th-12th June)- details coming soon.

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny x

 

Tackling the Marketing Resentment Loop

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On February 19, 2016

In Blog, Fiction, writing tips

Tackling the Marketing Resentment Loop

One of the major hurdles in modern day publishing- particularly in relation to the rise of self published books- is marketing.

Often it isn’t the marketing itself that’s the problem, but finding the time or inclination to do it in the first place.

Most writers, whether they tackle short stories, novels, scripts or poems, are not natural marketers. Let’s face it, marketing means sticking your head above the parapet and shouting ‘Hey, look at me! Look what I’ve done!’ And while not all authors are shy and retiring, many have confidence issues and live far more comfortably in the world of make believe than in the ‘real’ world of commerce.

Okay, so I’m generalising, but the point is, most writers want to write. They (we!) resent the time required to market their existing books when they’d far rather creating a new one.

12_hrs

In a world where the majority of authors squeeze writing time in between working, looking after families, and doing all the other things that everyone has to do, it is hard not to resent the time spent writing blogs, or on social media, thinking up new ways to advertise our wares.

Once you start marketing it is so easy to get to go to extremes. Paranoia is only a footstep away- as you reach the point where you are afraid to stop marketing!

We all know that books are invisible if you don’t market them- but how much PR is the right amount? If you go an hour without tweeting about your latest epic will all your hard work become suddenly pointless?

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This is how the marketing resentment loop begins-

You write a book-

You discover it doesn’t sell by magic-

You want to write another book but the first needs marketing….but you only have 2 hours a day to wrote- so you market and don’t write-

You start to resent the marketing-

You start to lose the joy of writing-

You throw your hands in the air, and give up-

Six weeks later you are desperate to write-

You write a book-

You discover it doesn’t sell by magic…AND ROUND YOU GO AGAIN.

break-the-cycle

So how do you break the loop?

  1. Set aside a small fraction of your writing time each day to market. Don’t go over that time period.
  2. Cheat. Use systems like HootSuite on Twitter to automatically put out tweets for you through the day without you having to do very much work at all.
  3. Take you mobile phone to the bathroom! Yes- I know- but you’re just sat there- tweet/post on Facebook while you’re unable to do anything else anyway! Basically use any dead time in your day to your advantage, from being sat on the loo, to waiting for the kettle to boil.
  4. Immediately after you have finished your novel/script bite the bullet and use your precious writing time to create a series of guest blogs. Once you have them done you can simply adapt and rewrite them as required, saving you time in the long run. Blog tours are an excellent marketing tool, and if you don’t know enough bloggers to ask to host you, then a large number of services exist to provide this service, such as http://www.writermarketing.co.uk/
  5. If you find marketing is killing the joy of creation for you, then don’t do it. Remember, writing is supposed to be fun. If you’re only in it for the money, then I strongly advise you to try your hand at something new instead!

marketing

If you’d like more advice about all elements of writing work- including marketing ideas- why not check out www.DevonWriters.com

Happy marketing,

Jenny x

My First Time: Tom Williams

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On February 17, 2016

In Blog, Fiction, Historical fiction, Interview

My new fortnightly blog series, talking about authors first publishing experiences, continues today with a geat interview from historical novelist, Tom Williams.

First Time

My First Time

I can’t remember the first story I ever wrote. For this blog we’re not supposed to include stories we were made to write at school, but I loved writing stories at school. I wrote stories, poems, essays … I wrote anything and everything. I’ve always enjoyed writing.

When I was a teenager I decided I’d like to write short stories for publication. I bought loads of women’s magazines and read them and then tried to write something that would fit their market, but I never cracked it. This was in the days before word processing so I got individually typewritten rejection letters. I remember they were often on very small sheets of paper. Presumably they sent so many of them out that using small sheets meant a real saving.

That was when I started my world-class collection of rejections. I’ve still got a lot of them, hidden in a box in the loft.

Eventually I grew up (more or less), got a job, got married, and got a life (not necessarily in that order). I’ve always been incredibly jealous of people who can organise their writing round work/marriage/hobbies. I’ve never been able to. I think it’s even harder when, like me, you do a lot of writing in the course of your work. I more or less gave up writing fiction for years but then decided that I would take time out and try and produce the novel I had always dreamt of. It took me almost a year and it attracted the interest of quite a well-known agent who sent me to an editor. I was still very young and had absolutely no idea of how lucky I was to get that far. Instead of persevering, I got increasingly frustrated until the editor suggested that I should rest the book, do something else, and come back to it. I rested it for over twenty years before I decided to have a crack at another novel. When I thought about what I wanted to do, I realised that I could take the story that I had tried to tell all those years ago and twist it round to tell it from another direction. This is the book that eventually became The White Rajah. Yet again, it did find an agent, but, though he sent it to several major publishers all of them politely declined it. It was, they said, a “difficult” first novel. Why not write something more commercial and then tried to sell The White Rajah once I was established?

The White Rajah2

I obediently went off to write something “more commercial” (it eventually became Burke in the Land of Silver) but I was beginning to think that I would be cold in my grave before The White Rajah ever saw publication. Then I saw that a tiny US indie publisher, who specialised in novels for the gay community, was looking for historical works. I had a suspicion that one of the things that made The White Rajah “difficult” was that it featured a love story but also a pronounced absence of any female characters. I decided that a niche indie publisher was probably the way to go so The White Rajah finally saw publication.

[Scrabbles desperately around and finds Jenny’s interview questions. Tries to pull himself back on track.]

What effect did that have on your life?

In practical terms, not a lot. I think everybody imagines that their first published book will change their lives, but it’s very rare that it does. It got some nice reviews and enough people bought it for JMS to ask me to produce a sequel so I did. That was Cawnpore. For what it’s worth, I think it’s the better book, but I’m happy to have written both of them.

Cawnpore_edited-1

Does your first published story reflect your current writing style?

Yes and no. I finally took the advice I had been offered years earlier and tried to write something more commercial. So I’ve written three books about a (very) heterosexual spy in the time of Napoleon and am working on a fourth. Apart from the fact that these are historical novels, they have practically nothing in common with the first two books. At the same time I produced another book in the original series, Back Home, which will be published by Accent in April. That’s totally in the style of the first two. It was never originally conceived as a trilogy, but it has worked out very naturally. The three books have different subjects but they are all seen through the eyes of John Williamson. We meet him first as a young man setting out from England for adventures in the Far East and then, in Cawnpore, as an established figure in British colonial administration who sees everything he has worked for being destroyed in the Indian Mutiny. The final book sees him back in England, closing the circle of his life. It’s fair to say that they’re not cheerful, but I honestly think they’re worth a read.

What are you working on at the moment?

Another book about my spy, James Burke. This time he will be fighting in the Peninsular War.

Tom Williams

Bio

Tom Williams used to write about boring things for money. If you wanted an analysis of complaints volumes in legal services or attitudes to diversity at the BBC, then he was your man. Now he writes much more interesting books about historical characters and earns in a year about what he could make in a day back then. (This, unfortunately, is absolutely true.) He also writes a blog (http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.co.uk/) which is widely read all over the world and generates no income at all. Besides making no money from writing, Tom makes no money out of occasionally teaching people to tango and then spends all the money he hasn’t made on going to dance in Argentina.

Please save Tom from himself and buy the bloody books.

 

Here are links to the published stories about John Williamson.

The White Rajah:  myBook.to/WhiteRajah

Cawnpore: myBook.to/Cawnpore

Back Home will be published in April.

TW1Burke at Waterloo

And here are the stories about James Burke.

Burke in the Land of Silver: myBook.to/LandofSilver

Burke and the Bedouin: http://mybook.to/Bedouin

Burke at Waterloo: myBook.to/BurkeWaterloo

Burke in the land of silver

Many thanks Tom. Great interview!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

 

 

The Magic of Reading: Blog Tour Post from Mary O’Sullivan

By

On February 16, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, crime, Fiction

I’m delighted to welcome Mary O’Sullivan to my site today as part of a Blog Tour to celebrate the release of her brand new novel, Thicker Than Water.

Over to you Mary…

tourbutton_thickerthanwater

The Magic of Reading

The cover was shiny hardboard, red, measuring twelve by eight inches. On it was depicted a woodland scene with towering trees , bluebells , sun rays slanting through branches, Red Riding Hood skipping along , and the evil wolf peeping from behind a tree trunk. When I opened the first page, a kitchen popped up. It was a cosy scene, Red Riding Hood packing a basket of goodies to bring through the woods to her Gran. The four year old me felt I was walking into that kitchen and onwards through the woods, as page after page popped up and invited me in. Yes, I was afraid of the Big Bad Wolf – I still am – but my pop-up fairy tale book introduced me to everything that is magic about reading.

Maybe you read factual books to inform yourself. Tracts and theses on everything from the half-life of Uranium 238 to the feeding habits of the lesser spotted dogfish. Or self-help books to improve the quality of your life. Or perhaps biographies and autobiographies to examine the lives of the rich and famous. I do too, but my passion is fiction. I read to escape. Not that my life is so awful I need a respite from it, but books can bring you to places you would never otherwise visit and into situations totally outside your experience. You and the author of the fictional work form a pact as soon as you read the blurb on the cover and decide you need to know more. You travel the fictional journey together, from page one through to the end. I have taken that road with many authors since I began reading. Some I have forgotten, some disliked and some I have loved so much I have read them again and again.

What a difficult task it is to say which books of the hundreds I have read, I liked best. The World According to Garp by John Irving always comes to the top of the pile when I think of works of fiction which have had a big influence on me. The main character in the book, TS Garp, had a very unusual upbringing. His mother wanted a child, but not a husband. She chose a brain-damaged soldier as the sperm donor. The only word this soldier could say was Garp so that is what she named her child. A radical feminist, she worked as nurse in an all-boys school. As he grew, Garp developed a love for wrestling, writing and Helen, the wrestling coach’s daughter. While he struggled with his writing his mother penned a novella which became a bestseller and made her a feminist icon. Garp continued to write and look after his sons while his wife went out to work. There you have a bare outline of the story, which goes nowhere near describing how brilliantly Irving carves the characters out of beautiful prose. He sculpted such unique people – Garp himself, Jenny, his mother, Roberta Muldoon, the transsexual ex-football player. What I learned from this novel was that acceptance of difference in others enriches life. I also learned never to take life or love for granted. There will be no spoilers here but the ending of this novel shook me to the core. I have re-read the book five times and yet I get emotionally swept up in the ending every time. The World According To Garp is also a film (1982) starring Robin Williams, whom I thought was brilliant in the role, even though he did not match the mental image I had forged of Garp.

After that comes A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole – one of the funniest books I ever read. For humour I would put it up there with P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster ;Somerville And Ross , Experiences Of An Irish RM. ; All Creatures Great And Small by James Herriot (Alf Wight). Humour is particularly subjective but these books always make me laugh. They take a poke at pretention and that I enjoy. Confederacy of Dunces is as entertaining as the others – in fact the main character Ignatius J Reilly , a lazy , unemployed thirty year old , an intellectual snob, still living with his mother but yet imbued with a totally overblown confidence in his own genius , is a fantastic comic creation . It is the real life story of Ignatius’ creator, John Kennedy Toole which makes this book very special to me. Confederacy Of Dunces was published in 1980 – eleven years after the author’s suicide. O Toole had submitted his manuscript to many publishers and was rejected by all. Who is to say that those rejections led to his suicide, but at 31 years of age he took his own life. The book was eventually published through his mother’s perseverance and with the help of Walker Percy, a tutor at Loyola University. It won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction 1981. Such a tragedy that John Kennedy Toole wasn’t there to reap the rewards. I think of him when I get rejections and remind myself that while things might look bleak now, good luck might be just a breath away. An interesting fact is that several attempts have been made to adapt the book for film – all of which have ended in tragedy, leading people to think the book/film is ‘cursed’. Given my own superstitious nature, I suspect that John Kennedy Toole does not want his book adapted and is influencing the outcome from beyond —-maybe.

That is just the tip of my book list. There are all the Dicken’s books , especially Great Expectations ; Jane Austen from Sense And Sensibility through to Northanger Abbey; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – I fell in love with Heathcliff at ten years old and I still feel the same ; the novels of Walter Macken , Leon Uris , Beatrice Coogan ; the short stories of Frank O’Connor ; the poetry of Ogden Nash and Wilfred Owen. And on and on—.

I am so grateful to my parents who gave me the gift of reading appreciation and to the authors with whom my reading journey continues and who never, ever fail to entertain, uplift and facilitate my glorious escape from the routine of daily life.

Thank you to Jenny for hosting me on her blogspot today and to Lucy Felthouse for organising my visit here

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Excerpt

Excerpt from Thicker Than Water

Here, in Rainbow Cottage high up over Ballyderg town, Jan had found relaxation. Ever since she could remember, possibly since she had been born, she was driven by an inner spring of energy that constantly bubbled up. She was always on the go. Tasks to be completed, decisions to be made, energy to be burned up. It was these hills, the still and brooding giants with wispy cloud hair, which first soothed her into sometimes slowing down. Changes swirled around them, the seasons, the weather, light and dark, but their core stood firm against outside influence. Eventually she had absorbed that lesson.

From the   plate glass window of the lounge she watched a car wind its way up from the valley. She went into the kitchen and switched on the kettle, knowing from experience that the green tea they both enjoyed would be brewed by the time he arrived at the cottage.

Gerard Shannon parked in his usual place ten minutes climb on foot to Jan’s cottage. He stood and inhaled deeply before striding out. He always enjoyed the exercise but today he felt breathless, tormented, an iron band of tension squeezing his chest. If only the success and control he had in his business life applied to his private life also. If only he had been honest all those years ago. If only he could be honest now.

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Blurb

Blurb for Thicker Than Water :

When local teenager, Keira Shannon and her father, business man Gerard Shannon, go missing, the town of Ballyderg unites to search for them.

As the search continues rumours of domestic violence, extramarital affairs and criminal behaviour are rife. The crisis causes families and lifelong friends to doubt each other.

The only certainty left is that the town has been visited by evil. Or has it? Could it be the evil one has always lived there sharing history, laughter and tears? And if so, who could it be?

Buy Links

Amazon buy links :                http://authl.it/3st

Tirgearr   Publishing :           http://bit.ly/1J6E7ZV

Amazon Author Page:           http://amzn.to/1RpGnhf

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Author Biography:

Mary worked many years as a Laboratory Technician. Her hobby, her passion, has always been writing. Busy with family and career, she grabbed some moments here and there to write poetry and short stories. She also wrote a general interest column in a local newspaper.

As the demands on her time became more manageable she joined a local creative writing class. It was then, with the encouragement of tutor Vincent McDonald, that the idea of writing a novel took shape. She began to expand on a short story she had written some years previously. It was a shock for her to discover that enthusiasm and imagination are not enough. For the first time she learned that writing can be very hard work.

Mary now has six traditionally published novels, nine eBooks and hopefully more to come, inspiration permitting.

Social Media Links

Please visit my web page at :   http://www.maryosullivanauthor.com

Chat to me on Facebook at :   http://www.facebook.com/authormaryosullivan

Follow on Twitter at :                 https://twitter.com/authorosullivan

*****

GIVEAWAY!

Make sure to follow the whole tour—the more posts you visit throughout, the more chances you’ll get to enter the giveaway. The tour dates are here: http://www.writermarketing.co.uk/prpromotion/blog-tours/currently-on-tour/mary-osullivan/

ENTER HERE!!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/8b9ec5be150/?

***

Many thanks for such a fabulous blog!

Jenny xx

 

Happy Valentine’s Day: Robin Hood Style

By

On February 14, 2016

In Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Historical fiction

Valentines

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share a little of Romancing Robin Hood– my part romance/part medieval mystery novel- with you.

RRH- new 2015

Blurb

Dr Grace Harper has loved the stories of Robin Hood ever since she first saw them on TV as a girl. Now, with her fortieth birthday just around the corner, she’s a successful academic in Medieval History, with a tenured position at a top university.

But Grace is in a bit of a rut. She’s supposed to be writing a textbook on a real-life medieval gang of high-class criminals – the Folvilles – but she keeps being drawn into the world of the novel she’s secretly writing – a novel which entwines the Folvilles with her long-time love of Robin Hood – and a feisty young girl named Mathilda, who is the key to a medieval mystery…

Meanwhile, Grace’s best friend Daisy – who’s as keen on animals as Grace is on the Merry Men – is unexpectedly getting married, and a reluctant Grace is press-ganged into being her bridesmaid. As Grace sees Daisy’s new-found happiness, she starts to re-evaluate her own life. Is her devotion to a man who may or may not have lived hundreds of years ago really a substitute for a real-life hero of her own? It doesn’t get any easier when she meets Dr Robert Franks – a rival academic who Grace is determined to dislike but finds herself being increasingly drawn to…

***

Romancing Robin Hood is a contemporary romance is based on the life of Dr Grace Harper, a medieval history lecturer with a major Robin Hood obsession. So much so, that instead of writing a textbook on medieval life, Grace is secretly writing a novella about a fourteenth century girl called Mathilda, who gets mixed up with a real outlaw family of the day, the Folvilles. As you read Grace’s story, you can read the medieval mystery she is writing alongside!

The problem is, Grace is so embroiled in her work and passion for outlaws, that real life is passing her by.

RH- E Flynn

 

With her wedding approaching fast, Grace’s best friend Daisy can’t help wishing a similar happiness to her own for her Robin Hood loving friend…

Extract

…Daisy hadn’t grown up picturing herself floating down the aisle in an over-sequinned ivory frock, nor as a doting parent, looking after triplets and walking a black Labrador. So when, on an out-of-hours trip to the local vet’s surgery she’d met Marcus and discovered that love at first sight wasn’t a myth, it had knocked her for six.

She’d been on a late-night emergency dash to the surgery with an owl a neighbour had found injured in the road. Its wing had required a splint, and it was too big a job for only one pair of hands. Daisy had been more than a bit surprised when the locum vet had stirred some long-suppressed feeling of interest in her, and even more amazed when that feeling had been reciprocated.

It was all luck, sheer luck. Daisy had always believed that anyone meeting anybody was down to two people meeting at exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, while both feeling precisely the right amount of chemistry. The fact that any couples existed at all seemed to Daisy to be one of the greatest miracles of humanity.

She pictured Grace, tucked away in her mad little office only living in the twenty-first century on a part-time basis. Daisy had long since got used to the fact that her closest friend’s mind was more often than not placed firmly in the 1300s. Daisy wished Grace would finish her book. It had become such a part of her. Such an exclusive aim that nothing else seemed to matter very much. Even the job she used to love seemed to be a burden to her now, and Daisy sensed that Grace was beginning to resent the hours it took her away from her life’s work. Maybe if she could get her book over with – get it out of her system – then Grace would stop living in the wrong timeframe.

Daisy knew Grace appreciated that she never advised her to find a bloke, settle down, and live ‘happily ever after,’ and she was equally grateful Grace had never once suggested anything similar to her. Now she had Marcus, however, Daisy had begun to want the same contentment for her friend, and had to bite her tongue whenever they spoke on the phone; something that happened less and less these days.

Grace’s emails were getting shorter too. The long paragraphs detailing the woes of teaching students with an ever-decreasing intelligence had blunted down to, ‘You ok? I’m good. Writing sparse. See you soon. Bye G x’

The book. That in itself was a problem. Grace’s publishers and colleagues, Daisy knew, were expecting an academic tome. A textbook for future medievalists to ponder over in the university libraries of the world. And, in time, that was exactly what they were going to get, but not yet, for Grace had confided to Daisy that this wasn’t the only thing she was working on, and her textbook was coming a poor third place to work and the other book she couldn’t seem to stop herself from writing.

‘Why,’ Grace had forcefully expounded on their last meeting, ‘should I slog my guts out writing a book only a handful of bored students and obsessive freaks like myself will ever pick up, let alone read?’

As a result, Grace was writing a novel, ‘A semi-factual novel,’ she’d said, ‘a story which will tell any student what they need to know about the Folville family and their criminal activities – which bear a tremendous resemblance to the stories of a certain famous literary outlaw! – and hopefully promote interest in the subject for those who aren’t that into history without boring them to death.’

It sounded like a good idea to Daisy, but she also knew, as Grace did, that it was precisely the sort of book academics frowned upon, and she was worried about Grace’s determination to finish it. Daisy thought it would be more sensible to concentrate on one manuscript at a time, and get the dry epic that everyone was expecting out of the way first. Perhaps it would have been completed by now if Grace could focus on one project at a time, rather than it currently being a year in the preparation without a final result in sight. Daisy suspected Grace’s boss had no idea what she was really up to. After all, she was using the same lifetime of research for both manuscripts. She also had an underlying suspicion that subconsciously Grace didn’t want to finish either the textbook or the novel; that her friend was afraid to finish them. After all, what would she fill her hours with once they were done?

Daisy’s mobile began to play a tinny version of Nellie the Elephant. She hastily plopped a small black guinea pig, which she’d temporarily called Charcoal, into a run with his numerous friends, and fished her phone from her dungarees pocket.

‘Hi, Marcus.’

‘Hi honey, you OK?’

‘Just delivering the tribe to their outside quarters, then I’m off to face the horror that is dress shopping.’

Her future husband laughed, ‘You’ll be fine. You’re just a bit rusty, that’s all.’

‘Rusty! I haven’t owned a dress since I went to parties as a small child. Thirty-odd years ago!’

‘I don’t understand why you don’t go with Grace at the weekend. It would be easier together wouldn’t it?’

Daisy sighed, ‘I’d love to go with her, but I’ll never get her away from her work more than once this month, and I’ve yet to arrange a date for her to buy a bridesmaid outfit.’

‘Well, good luck, babe. I’m off to rob some bulls of their manhood.’

Daisy giggled, ‘Have fun. Oh, why did you call by the way?’

‘Just wanted to hear your voice, nothing else.’

‘Oh cute – ta.’

‘Idiot! Enjoy shopping.’

As she clicked her battered blue mobile shut and slid it back into her working clothes, Daisy thought of Grace again. Perhaps she should accidentally invite loads of single men to the wedding to tempt her friend with. The trouble was, unless they wore Lincoln Green, and carried a bow and quiver of arrows, Daisy very much doubted whether Grace would even notice they were there…

***

RH- Ros 1

If that extract has whetted your appetite for more, Romancing Robin Hood is available in paperback, and e-formats from all good retailers- including-

Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romancing-Robin-Hood-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00M4838S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407428558&sr=8-1&keywords=romancing+robin+hood

Amazon.com- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romancing-Robin-Hood-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00M4838S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407428558&sr=8-1&keywords=romancing+robin+hood

Nook – http://www.nook.com/gb/ebooks/romancing-robin-hood-by-jenny-kane/9781783754267

Kobo- https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/romancing-robin-hood

***

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Jenny x

Romantic Reads For Valentine’s Day: With Coffee and a Smile

By

On February 11, 2016

In Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, crime, Fiction

Have you got that special reader in your life a Valentine’s gift yet? No? Well, don’t panic!! Here are a few book ideas to help out.

Valentines book

All of these Rom Com’s have enough romance to hit the required ‘Romantic Gesture’ button- but are satisfyingly short of being twee or sickly sweet!

 Another Cup of Coffee

Another Cup of Coffee - New cover 2015

Thirteen years ago Amy Crane ran away from everyone and everything she knew, ending up in an unfamiliar city with no obvious past and no idea of her future. Now, though, that past has just arrived on her doorstep, in the shape of an old
music cassette that Amy hasn’t seen since she was at university.

Digging out her long-neglected Walkman, Amy listens to the lyrics that soundtracked her student days. As long-buried memories are wrenched from the places in her mind where she’s kept them safely locked away for over a decade, Amy is suddenly tired of hiding.

It’s time to confront everything about her life. Time to find all the friends she left behind in England, when her heart got broken and the life she was building for herself got completely shattered. Time to make sense of all the feelings she’s been bottling up for all this time. And most of all, it’s time to discover why Jack has sent her tape back to her now, after all these years…

With her mantra, New life, New job, New home, playing on a continuous loop in her head, Amy gears herself up with yet another a bucked-sized cup of coffee, as she goes forth to lay the ghost of first love to rest…

Amazon UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Cup-Coffee-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783751126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377605533&sr=8-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee

Abi’s House
Abi's House new cover
Newly widowed and barely thirty, Abi Carter is desperate to escape the Stepford Wives lifestyle that Luke, her late husband, had been so keen for her to live. Abi decides to fulfil a lifelong dream. As a child on holiday in a Cornwall she fell in love with a cottage – the prophetically named Abbey’s House. Now she is going to see if she can find the place again, relive the happy memories …maybe even buy a place of her own nearby?
On impulse Abi sets off to Cornwall, where a chance meeting in a village pub brings new friends Beth and Max into her life. Beth, like Abi, has a life-changing decision to make. Max, Beth’s best mate, soon helps Abi track down the house of her dreams …but things aren’t quite that simple.
There’s the complicated life Abi left behind, including her late husband’s brother, Simon – a man with more than friendship on his mind … Will Abi’s house remain a dream, or will the bricks and mortar become a reality?
Romancing Robin Hood
RRH- new 2015

Dr Grace Harper has loved the stories of Robin Hood ever since she first saw them on TV as a girl. Now, with her fortieth birthday just around the corner, she’s a successful academic in Medieval History, with a tenured position at a top university.

But Grace is in a bit of a rut. She’s supposed to be writing a textbook on a real-life medieval gang of high-class criminals – the Folvilles – but she keeps being drawn into the world of the novel she’s secretly writing – a novel which entwines the Folvilles with her long-time love of Robin Hood – and a feisty young girl named Mathilda, who is the key to a medieval mystery…

Meanwhile, Grace’s best friend Daisy – who’s as keen on animals as Grace is on the Merry Men – is unexpectedly getting married, and a reluctant Grace is press-ganged into being her bridesmaid. As Grace sees Daisy’s new-found happiness, she starts to re-evaluate her own life. Is her devotion to a man who may or may not have lived hundreds of years ago really a substitute for a real-life hero of her own? It doesn’t get any easier when she meets Dr Robert Franks – a rival academic who Grace is determined to dislike but finds herself being increasingly drawn to… 

Amazon.com- http://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Robin-Hood-love-story-ebook/dp/B00M4838S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409936409&sr=8-1&keywords=romancing+robin+hood

Hope this has given you a few ideas.
Happy almost Valentine’s Day!!
Jenny x
PS- sorry for the awful spacing of this blog- WordPress is not playing nicely today! x

Interview with Cheryl Rees-Price: The Silent Quarry

By

On February 9, 2016

In Contemporary fiction, crime, Fiction, Interview

It’s put your feet up time. Why not grab a cuppa and join crime writer, Cheryl Rees-Price, and myself for a cake break and a chat?

coffee and cake

What inspired you to write your book?

The inspiration for The Silent Quarry came from walking the dog up a footpath that runs alongside a disused quarry. It can be quiet, shadowy and eerie along this route and more often than not you don’t pass a living soul.  Like most writers I have a vivid imagination and as I walked I would start at every snap of a twig, glancing around to see if anyone was lurking behind a tree. I wondered what would happen if I didn’t arrive home. Would my family know where I was? Would they send out a search party? From this spark of an idea I began to formulate different scenarios in which a woman out for a walk alone could disappear. From this I developed the plot for The Silent Quarry.

Do you model any of your characters after people you know? If so, do these people see themselves in your characters?

Yes, I quite often use people I know as a basis for a character. I inflate their personalities and give them a different career and family life. I also get requests from family members to write them into a book. This isn’t always easy as I write crime and someone has to be the victim or killer. I do try to disguise people’s identities but it doesn’t always work. It is my mother’s favourite game to guess the true identity of the characters in my book.

The Silent Quarry (2)

What type of research did you have to do for your book?

As The Silent Quarry is my first crime novel I had to do a lot of research into police procedures. This proved quite difficult as most of the information available applies to the larger forces such as the Met and not to a small market town stations. While the procedures are fairly standard the resources available differ greatly. Next I had to research the grisly details of the post mortem and the ways in which to kill a person. I dread to think what would happen if someone saw the search history on my computer! My favourite part of the research was going back to the 80’s, it was my teenage era and lots of fun to be reminded of the songs in the charts from that time period and the news articles. Not all the research was used in the book but it helped to set the scene in my mind.

Do you prefer to plot your story or just go with the flow?

I prefer to plot a story before I start the first draft. I start with the cast and each character is given a profile including description, career and family background. Some of the information is superfluous but it helps me to get to know the character. Next comes the research which is filed into easy reference. The longest process is the chapter outlines, this is where I work out the plot, timelines and suspects. I use a red font to highlight information that must be conveyed in each chapter. Quite often I come up with a plot twist when I’m over half way through the process and have to start again. When all this is done, it is printed and becomes my guide for the first draft. Even after all the preparation I still find the story takes a different direction when I write.

If you were stranded on a desert island with three other people, fictional or real, who would they be and why?

I would choose someone who made me laugh, some eye candy, and a girly friend. I think Billy Connolly would be a great companion. He has travelled extensively and would have some wonderful stories to tell as well as making me laugh until I cry. The eye candy would have to be Sam Winchester (Supernatural); tall, strong and good looking. Very handy to fight off any threat and I’m sure he could build a great tree house. For the girly friend I would take Samantha (Sex in the City). I think she would provide hours of gossip. But all fantasy aside I would take my husband and two daughters as they are the people I couldn’t be without.

***

Here’s the Blurb to The Silent Quarry-

The Silent Quarry is the first in the DI Winter Meadows series by Cheryl Rees-Price.

In 1987 a quiet Welsh village was devastated by a brutal attack on two schoolgirls, Bethan Hopkins and Gwen Collier. Only Gwen survived, with horrific injuries and no memory of the attack. The killer was never caught.

Now, nearly thirty years later, Gwen has gone missing and DI Winter Meadows is assigned to the case. Charismatic and intuitive, he has an uncanny gift for finding the truth. But in this small and close-knit community, the past is never far away, and those who have secrets will go to any lengths to keep them. Tensions run high as old feelings and accusations are stirred. And DI Meadows has to battle his own demons as he uncovers a truth he wished had stayed in the past …

Links

The Silent Quarry Amazon

Website

Facebook

Bio

Cheryl Rees-Price was born in Cardiff and moved as a Young child to a small ex-mining village on the edge of the Black Mountains, South Wales, where she still lives with her husband, daughters and two cats. After leaving school she worked as a legal clerk for several years before leaving to raise her two daughters.

Cheryl returned to education, studying philosophy, sociology and accountancy whilst working as a part time book keeper. She now works as a finance director for a company that delivers project management and accounting services.

In her spare time Cheryl indulges in her passion for writing, the success of writing plays for local performances gave her the confidence to write her first novel. Her other hobbies include walking and gardening which free her mind to develop plots and create colourful characters.

***

Many thanks for dropping by today Cheryl,

Happy reading,

Jenny x

 

 

 

 

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