Jenny Kane & Jennifer Ash

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

Category: Fiction Page 61 of 71

Guest Interview with Catherine Hokin: Blood and Roses

By

On April 1, 2016

In Fiction, Historical fiction, Interview

I’m delighted to welcome historical fiction author, Catherine Hokin, to my site today. Why not pop the kettle on, fetch a cuppa, – maybe a slice of cake- and sit down for five minutes to read about Catherine’s latest novel? I have to say, it sounds fantastic.

coffee and cake

What inspired you to write your book?

Blood and Roses tells the story of Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482), wife of King Henry VI, and her pivotal role in the Wars of the Roses. As a child, my father ran a war gaming society (in the days when this actually involved a sand table and little soldiers) and the members were obsessed with the Wars of the Roses and the people involved – to the point where I started to think some of the characters were actually still alive. Among all the people they argued about (and they argued a lot), it was Margaret of Anjou who captured my imagination because they loathed her! Then I met her in the Shakespeare version which depicts her almost as a devil – as a contrary teenager, anyone who could engender this much fury (especially among men) was definitely worth my attention. Then at university, as part of my History degree, I wrote a thesis on medieval politics, witchcraft and propaganda and there she was again. She’s an itch I’ve long wanted to scratch!

CHokin- Blood

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

Not people I specifically know although I did draw on character traits from Claire Underwood in House of Cards and Alicia Florrick in The Good Wife who I would say are very modern Margarets. I don’t tend to use people in my life but I do draw on relationships. The dynamic between Margaret and her son Edward is key to the book – particularly from the viewpoint of how to raise a strong boy and then let him go, even if the path he chooses is dangerous. I have a son who was 18 when I was writing this and I really drew on our relationship. He thought that was great till he read the death scene…

claire

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

Detailed research is essential to give novels like this credibility – there are a lot of expert readers out there! So the research was extensive and took nearly 2 years – I read everything I could about the time period and the characters, including non-fiction books by other authors and contemporary chronicles written during/shortly after Margaret’s life. You have to read widely to get the different perspectives and find the gaps in the facts where the story starts to grow. I loved researching the really gory battles (the exploding teeth as a result of head injuries at Towton was fascinating) as much as the food and clothing! But you have to be careful not to overwhelm the reader – a lot of what I read came down to 2 or 3 words in the actual novel. And I can now pretty much calculate any distance in terms of how long it takes a horse to get there!

 

Henry VI - Part 3, Act 2

Henry VI – Part 3, Act 2

What excites you the most about your book?

Hopefully what has certainly gripped some of the reviewer’s imaginations! There has always been speculation about who was the father of Margaret’s son. Her husband Henry was essentially a monk and Prince Edward was born 8 years into the marriage. There have been candidates out forward but none of them are believable when you consider Margaret’s character – rather like Elizabeth I, I don’t believe she would have been foolish enough to have an affair that would have threatened her power. So, I looked for the gaps in the facts and found something: at a crucial point in the conflict, Margaret’s army was refused entry to London by her supposed friend, Jacquetta Woodville. The betrayal is stated everywhere but not explained – I had my story…

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

My first instinct was to say Richard Armitage, Tom Hiddleston and Bruce Springsteen but that’s not what I think you mean so…

I would have said Margaret so I could find out if my take on her life is as realistic as I wanted it to be but I think she would be terrifying so I’ll leave her behind. First of all, I need a good cook (I like to eat) so I’m going to choose the fabulous Julia Childs as long as she was played by Meryl Streep (I know that’s a 2 in 1 but it’s my fantasy). I imagine I might be there a long time so I need someone with a wealth of fascinating stories so I’m going to choose my favourite author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez – this hopefully means that I will also finally learn Spanish which I’ve been meaning to do for ages. And finally, I need someone who would add a bit of spice to the whole thing so I’m choosing Adam from my favourite film ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’. He’s a vampire which is a bit of an issue but maybe fish blood will be ok and at least he won’t eat the food stocks, he’s a great musician so there’s the entertainment sorted and he’s played by Tom Hiddleston…

Links:

https://www.catherinehokin.com/

http://catherinehokin.blogspot.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/cathokin/

Twitter @cathokin

CHokin

Bio:

Catherine is a Glasgow-based author whose debut novel, Blood and Roses was published in January 2016 by Yolk Publishing. The novel brings a feminist perspective to the story of Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482, wife of Henry VI) and her pivotal role in the Wars of the Roses, exploring the relationship between Margaret and her son and her part in shaping the course of the bloody political rivalry of the fifteenth century. Catherine also writes short stories – she was 3rd prize winner in the 2015 West Sussex Writers Short Story Competition and a finalist in the Scottish Arts Club 2015 Short Story Competition. She regularly blogs as Heroine Chic, casting a historical, and often hysterical, eye over women in history, popular culture and life in general. She is profiled in the March 2016 edition of Writing Magazine. For 2016 she has been awarded a place on the Scottish Book Trust Author Mentoring Programme to develop her second novel. In her spare time she listens to loud music, watches far too many movies and tries to remember to talk to her husband and children.

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Thank you such a wonderful interview Catherine.

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny x

 

 

 

Sunshine Dreaming: Returning to Abi’s House

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On March 27, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Romance

I’m delighted to say that the sequel to my Cornish friendship and romance novel, Abi’s House, is well underway, and will be out in the world in Summer 2017. (Yes- that is just over a year away!!)

Sennen

Abi’s Neighbour will follow on from where we left Max, Abi, Beth and their friends in the beautiful Sennen Cove, at the very tip of the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall. There will – obviously- be a new neighbour moving in next door to Abi on Miners Row…but I’m saying no more for now!

In the meantime, why not hide from the awful weather this Easter weekend, indulge in a little Cornish sunshine, and discover the world of Abi Carter, and her dream home.

Blurb

Newly widowed at barely thirty, Abi Carter is desperate to escape the Stepford Wives-style life 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 as a child 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, is new to the village. He 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?

Abi's House_edited-1

Here are some of the lovely review’s Abi’s House has received…

“A summer read as scrumptious as its Cornish backdrop. Brilliant!”

“This novel is a box of delights…the perfect escapist read…”

“Better than a Cornish Cream Tea…”

“Reading a Jenny Kane book is like opening a journal by a much loved friend…”

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To pick up your copy Abi’s House in either paperback or on Kindle visit any good book retailer or follow these links –

 
Happy reading,
Jenny xx

Nothing’s Forgotten: An Interview with #KOTA Producer Barnaby Eaton-Jones

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On March 26, 2016

In Blog, Fiction, Historical fiction, Interview, News

I’m delighted to be interviewing the producer of  the brand new Robin of Sherwood audio production today (The Knights of the Apocalypse #KOTA) – Barnaby Eaton-Jones- today!

Got your coffee and cake? Feet up for five minutes? Then let’s begin!

12717744_234351016902796_6660334745540057652_n

How did you get involved in #KOTA?

I was asked to co-produce by Simon Barnard, of Bafflegab Productions, as I’d been organising the 30th anniversary ‘Robin Of Sherwood’ celebration – The Hooded Man 2014, which made history by being the only event to have both Hooded Men together at the same time and on stage together being interviewed; Michael Praed and Jason Connery. It was I who liaised with Richard ‘Kip’ Carpenter’s estate and suggested we use the unproduced KOTA script, as well as asking all the surviving actors from the show whether they wanted to come on board. Sadly, Simon left the project in late 2015 and I become sole Producer and basically started the production again (re-casting, re-writing, booking new studios, finding a new audio company – Spiteful Puppet – and generally making sure that ITV and Kip’s estate didn’t pull the plug on it, which was very, very close to happening). It was all rather hectic but I think the production become stronger because of it.

Judi Trott and Nickolas Grace

Judi Trott and Nickolas Grace

Have you always like RH/RoS? You’re much too young to have watched RoS when it aired the first time around.

You flatter me! Ha. I am easily old enough to have watched it the first time round. When the show ended, I was hitting my teenage years, and so I recall it all with great clarity and loved every second of it. I think I’d always had a fascination with Robin Hood (I recall reading the ‘proper’ legend, which was anything but, that had been written by Enid Blyton – a simplified version of the most well-known tale – when I was young. But, Robin Of Sherwood was a different chalice of mead. It was rooted in the ’80s but yet seemingly tireless. It was rather ‘adult’ for a teatime adventure slot on ITV (there is talk in the first episode of Will Scarlet’s wife being raped by soldiers, hence his rather unhinged character and desire to fight the Normans). I eagerly awaited ‘Look-In’ (the TV guide for kids), that had a comic strip of the show in it and the odd article and I recall the confusion when Michael Praed’s Robin died and the next series saw the introduction of a new Hooded Man, in the form of Jason Connery’s Robert of Huntingdon. As I got older, I loved the fact that Kip had basically used the two most well-known legends for the outlaw – the first being a Saxon peasant, in the form of Robin of Loxley, and the second being a well-to-do song of an Earl, in the form of Robert of Huntingdon. Artistic leeway aside, with Kip’s interpretation featuring a regular Merry Man in the form of a Saracen called Nasir, I think his vision was pitch perfect for the show and I don’t believe there’s been one better before or since.

Recording of #KOTA

What’s your ‘real’ job?

My two little daughters will say it’s being a silly Daddy. I work from home, so I look after them. But, I basically do anything that’s creative. I’ve been a writer (documentaries on television, published book, published poet, etc), a publisher (Chinbeard Books Ltd), an actor (mostly on stage but a lot of voiceover work and the odd foray into the limelight), a director/producer (I just find projects easier to do if I sort them myself!), a musical tart (writing and performing comedy songs, not-comedy songs and, at one time, spending nearly a decade being Elwood in a 10-piece Blues Brothers tribute I managed), an improviser (my monthly comedy show has returned after a little break, to take a year-long residency in Cheltenham at The Playhouse) and an impressario (I have run The OFFSTAGE Theatre Group since 1993 and we’ve toured here and overseas with many original and ‘classic’ productions). It all sounds highly egotistical but, in a nutshell, my life has been geared to make people happy. I love that. It’s not for me, though of course it does make me happy too, but knowing an audience is having a good time – in comedy or in drama or in music – really fuels me. So, I try not to have an ego. If I do, I certainly keep it in my back pocket.

Colin Baker and Barnaby

Have you always been a ‘creative’ type?

Yes. See above. Ahem. At school, I was known for writing ‘too long stories’ (can stories be ‘too long’? I don’t think so). Often being given a subject and ending up finishing my exercise book and asking for a new one to end it in, as well as illustrating them too. I think that began as early as Infant School, as did my love of standing up and making people laugh. I was probably about 4 or 5 when I was cast as Grumpy in the school play and I only had one line – “I am Grumpy!” – but I still recall the roar of laughter when I said it and the feeling that I wanted to do that again and again.

Barnaby - radio

I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again

 What’s next for you after #KOTA has aired?

I’m currently putting together a tour for the revival of an old BBC Radio comedy series called ‘I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again’ (which starred John Cleese, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, et all). We did a one-off version for charity, to see how it faired and it seemed to work well and attract a big audience. So, we’ve been kindly granted a longer licence by Graeme and Bill to tour with it. Plus, I’ve finally got time to get my publishing company back on track a bit. We’ve got a lot of books finished and ready to be released but I just haven’t had the time. Of course, I also need to be beaten up by my little daughters and make them laugh by falling over a lot.

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Many thanks for such a great interview Barnaby- and for the exclusive photographs! I know you are extremely busy getting the #KOTA production ready in time for next months premiere!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny x

Interview with Tracey Sinclair: Romance and Fantasy

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On March 24, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Interview

I’m delighted to welcome Tracey Sinclair to my site today to tell us about her latest books. Why not grab a cuppa, a slice of cake, put your feet up, and join us for a chat! 

coffee and cake

What inspired you to write your book?

I know one of the most commonly asked questions for writers is, where do you get your ideas from, but the only honest answer is, everywhere! My romance, Bridesmaid Blues, was inspired by the fact that, as a single woman, I was bridesmaid to an awful lot of friends (I used to joke that the film 27 Dresses was my autobiography!) I was also the only bridesmaid at a wedding where my ex-boyfriend was best man, and though that worked out fine in real life, I saw the comic possibilities of it as a basis for a story.

For the Dark Dates urban fantasy books, it was a little different – I was sick of the wimpy, whiny heroines I was seeing in some books (naming no names, but sparkling vampires may have been involved!) and I wanted to create a series based around someone who wasn’t like that, but also wasn’t some kind of superwoman – just a normal, relatable woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances.

Bridesmaid Blues Final High res

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

I do, quite often, though usually I take a mix of characteristics from several people and combine them so as to protect the guilty! Funnily enough, I often combine siblings’ characteristics into one person. The glamorous Hali from Bridesmaid Blues is based on a brother and sister who were great friends to me when, like Luce in the novel, I first moved to London, while Katie in Dark Dates is loosely based on a couple of dryly funny, no nonsense sisters who are also good friends of mine. Sometimes people see it, but I try not to make them too much of a carbon copy, otherwise I think you worry too much about offending people instead of staying true to the characters.

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

I usually have an idea for the start of the book, and the end, but the middle is left to unfold as it will. It’s a bit nerve-wracking, and often ends up being quite surprising, but it works out – although I do a lot of advance notes, sketching out scenes, and an awful lot of rewrites.

What is your writing regime?

I write loose fragments and character sketches, to test or flesh out ideas, characters or scenes, then I do a first draft in longhand. Then, depending on how well it’s going, I’ll do another longhand draft and then at least a couple more on the computer.

In terms of routine, I tend not to write a lot over the winter as I have a lot of other commitments (I’m a freelance writer and editor, so I work around a lot of deadlines) but from March-October I usually write every day, depending where I am in the story.

What excites you the most about your book?

It’s different things for different books, I think. With Bridesmaid Blues, I relished the idea of writing a rom-com that was set in my home city of Newcastle, because you see so many books about women being whisked off to glamourous lives in New York or Paris, and I wanted a more down to earth setting. With Angel Falls, which is the latest in the Dark Dates series, it’s the thrill of writing about characters I’ve become familiar with, and that readers have become attached to – knowing you’re putting out a book that people are looking forward to, and that feature characters that readers have come to really care about is pretty much the biggest thrill I can think of!

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00027]

Links – darkdates.org

Facebook.com/darkdates

Twitter – @thriftygal

Books:

Angel Falls – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Angel-Falls-Cassandra-Bick-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B01AMOGRBY/

Bridesmaid Blues: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bridesmaid-Blues-Tracey-Sinclair-ebook/dp/B00M83Y3VO/

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/510122.Tracey_Sinclair

Author image

Bio

Tracey Sinclair is a freelance editor and writer, theatre reviewer, author and playwright. She has been published widely in both print and online magazines, and included in a number of print anthologies. Her play Bystanders was produced at Baron’s Court Theatre in 2011, and again at the White Bear, Kennington and Tristan Bates Theatre, London in 2015, and Dark Dates: An Audience with Cassandra Bick, which she co-wrote with Zoe Cunningham and Peta Lily, has been performed at the Tristan Bates Theatre and the Brighton Fringe. Her first two books were published by Kennedy & Boyd, and her latest series is the Dark Dates/Cassandra Bick novels. A Northerner by birth and temperament, after spending most of her life in Newcastle and Glasgow, she bailed for sunnier climes and now lives happily by the sea in Brighton, with only occasional yearnings for a stottie sandwich or a macaroni pie.

You can follow her on Twitter under the profoundly misleading Twitter name, @thriftygal, or keep up with Dark Dates via darkdates.org or www.facebook.com/darkdates

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Many thanks Tracey- great interview!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

 

Guest Post from Rachel Brimble: The Victorian Era…Why I Love It

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On March 18, 2016

In Fiction, Historical fiction, Romance

Today I’m delighted to welcome my friend, and fabulous romance writer, Rachel Brimble, to my blog to talk about her new novel.

Over to you Rachel…

Rachel Brimble- cover

The Victorian era…why I love it

Her One True Love is my fourth Victorian romance with eKensington/Lyrical Press. I adore the Victorian era because so much more than the potential for romance inspires me from that time.

All my Victorian romances are set in and around the famous city of Bath, England––which is just a short thirty minute drive from where I live. During the late 19th century, there were many social, economical, industrial and even sexual changes happening. The first whispers of the women’s revolution had begun to circulate…not that many men noticed until around 1903 when The Women’s Social and Political Union was founded.

The leaders and supporters of the group began to cause a stir––marching and petitioning for their right to vote. This is marked as a hugely significant and respected time for women. Men had no choice but to sit up and take notice.

But the actual change in women and how they were viewed started years before the press and public were forced to listen to what they had to say.

The battle for young women to have a happy home, work and social life was a hard one and it is the dilemmas they faced that I love to explore. Each of us is faced with temptations (or decisions) every day and I, for one, am guilty of too often making the easy, expected, even socially acceptable, choices.

My books tend to be about the women who do the exact opposite. What better way to earn a living than to create a woman you would like to be? Someone whom you admire and want to see succeed in her chosen vocation, romance or spiritually satisfying path?

Her One True Love centres around Jane, whose story began in my third Victorian romance, What A Woman Desires. Even though both books can be read stand-alone, whenever Jane appeared on the page, I knew she deserved her own story.

Jane has been a dutiful daughter to her overbearing parents for many years, but when the story opens they have both passed and the family’s estate is being ran by Jane’s sister and her husband.

The time for Jane to finally break free is now. With a raw, unrequited heartbreak fuelling her need to leave her small village of Biddestone, Jane heads to Bath to seek her true destiny…

Royal Crescent

I love writing flawed, complex but ultimately, deeply emotional women striving for more. I hope you like to read about them too!

Her One True Love Blurb:

She Can’t Forget Him…  Jane Charlotte Danes has loved the squire of her idyllic country town for as long as she can remember. He is good, kind, and alluring beyond words… and he chose to marry another. Tired of dwelling on her futile longings, Jane plans a move to Bath, where she dreams of a new beginning. But the man who has so imprisoned her heart is only a few steps behind… He Can’t Let Her Go… Until now, Matthew Cleaves has endeavoured to meet the responsibilities of his position with dignity and good spirits–including his dutiful marriage. But when his wife leaves him for another man, Matthew is at last free to pursue his one true love. Only one vital question remains: will the captivating, stubborn, beautiful Jane allow him the challenge, and the pleasure, of winning her back?…

Buy Links:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010JYVX66

http://amzn.com/B010JYVX66

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-one-true-love-rachel-brimble/1122226549?ean=9781601832771

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/her-one-true-love

Rachel Brimble - Mar 2013

Bio:

Rachel lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. Since 2013, she has had five books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and recently signed a contract for three more. She also has four Victorian romances with eKensington/Lyrical Press.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.

She likes nothing more than connecting and chatting with her readers and fellow romance writers. Rachel would love to hear from you!

Links:

Website

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Facebook Street Team – Rachel’s Readers

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Thanks Rachel- great blog. I love Bath!!

Happy reading,

Jenny x

 

 

My First Time: Maggie Cammis

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On March 16, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

It’s time for another instalment of my blog series, ‘My First Time’. Today I’m delighted to welcome Mggie Cammis to my site. Over to you Maggie…

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?

I have vague recollections of a torrid story concerning a stolen horse and a damsel in distress but to be honest, I can’t remember writing many stories except for homework. I was far too busy reading. When the writing bug finally bit, I jumped straight in with a novel, which had an incestuous relationship at its heart. (I have no idea where that idea sprang from, but the characters just took up the story and ran with it.) Perhaps a little ambitious for a first attempt. It languished at the bottom of a drawer for years, too embarrassed to show its face.

What was your first official publication?

About ten years ago I entered a Writer’s News competition for a personal memoir. Mine was about my experiences working as a teenager in a liquorice factory in the late 1960s. I was thrilled when it won! The article was later published in a local magazine and it’s now available to read on my blog: The liquorice fields of Pontefract                                                                                                                       

My first published fiction was my novel ‘No News is Good News’, published by Accent Press. It’s set in the exciting world of 24-hour rolling news, and concerns a young editor whose career is compromised by an intriguing storyline.

No News Is Good News(1)

Eleanor was gearing up for marriage when her boyfriend Daniel rejected her without explanation and disappeared. Four years later, she has thrown herself into her hectic career as a TV news editor. She is happy and successful and has definitely moved on.

That is, until Daniel returns with a brand-new fiancée on his arm and Eleanor’s golden chance turns to be not as shiny as she had first anticipated.

What affect did that have on your life?                

The competition win confirmed my suspicions – maybe I could write after all. The publication of the novel endorsed them.

Does your first published story reflect your current writing style?                                                                  

No. That first novel attempt was littered with purple prose! I’ve learned a lot in the intervening years and it’s taken a lot of practice to find my own style.

What are you working on at the moment?

As well as the final edit of novel number 2 – working title ‘Background Feature’ – I’m well into the third, which is a complete departure, covering very different subject matter. It deals with some of the issues surrounding women of a certain age. My age. With added humour, of course.

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Buy links to your first published story (if still available) and links to your latest book. http://maggiecammiss.com/non-fiction/the-licquorice-fields-of-pontefract/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-News-Good-Maggie-Cammiss/dp/1783757035/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452605212&sr=1-1&keywords=no+news+is+good+news

https://www.accentpress.co.uk/maggie-cammiss

 Maggie Cammiss1

Author Bio and links

Always an avid reader, the first years of my working life were spent in public libraries. Later, I moved into film archives, and in 1989 joined Sky News when the channel first launched. At the end of 2005, after more than ten years as Head of the News Library, I left London with my partner – now my husband – to see what life outside the M25 had to offer. We settled in Norfolk, I joined the Cutting Edge Writers group and started to write seriously.

I came away from the hectic environment of a 24-hour rolling news channel with a gift: masses of background material for a novel. No News is Good News was published by Accent Press in December 2014. In 2012 I entered the NaNoWriMo challenge to write a novel in a month and succeeded with the first 50,000 words of a second novel, with a similar setting, which is now in its final edit. A third novel, with a different theme, is in progress. I also write short stories, some of which I read on local radio, and our writing group has just published an anthology of our work.

https://www.facebook.com/maggiecammisswriter/

http://maggiecammiss.com/

https://twitter.com/maggiecammiss

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Great interview! Thanks Maggie.

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Guest Blog from Nell Peters: The Ides of March-ish

By

On March 15, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, crime, Fiction

I love having guests on my blog. Some visitors I particularly look forward to, and today I’m thrilled to have one of my favourite guests sharing a little writers wisdom. Please welcome back Nell Peters.

Over to you Nell…

Hello, Jenny – thanks for having me again!

Last time I was a guest blogger here Christmas was approaching fast, with sleigh bells ring-ding-a-ding-a-ling loudly in our ears. Now we are a matter of days away from Easter. Scary! Of course, chocolate eggs and the like have been in the shops since 26th December, possibly before – I wonder what days of the year that posh choc company designate to convert their gold foil-covered bunnies rather unconvincingly into reindeer, or vice versa?

Most of the Christmas break disappeared for me under various edits required for a 4/1 deadline and it will hereinafter be referred to the Swear Box Christmas. This in no way overshadows that of two years ago, which became the Bug Christmas. And I don’t mean those cute little ladybird creatures with innumerable legs and spotted backs.

A PW

On Christmas Eve 2013, the youngest boy was twenty-one and everyone and their dog was coming to stay for several days. In our infinite wisdom, the OH and I felt we should get the main bathroom tarted up a bit for the invasion. Big mistake. Work inevitably fell behind schedule and the self-imposed deadline (22/12) was getting perilously close, when OH managed to put his foot through the floor…which forms part of the dining room ceiling. Not a good look. When everyone arrived on 23rd (actually our anniversary, but mostly forgotten after #4 son gate-crashed the party a week before his due date on New Years Eve) we had rather too few – shall we say – functioning facilities to accommodate the gathered masses. Pioneering spirit to the fore (we are British after all, don’t you know), we could have coped with that, had someone not turned up brewing a tummy bug. I’ll let you join your own dots from there – it was a challenging few days, to put it mildly, with enough left-over food to keep us going until midsummer. Oh, in case you were worrying about it, we did get the ceiling patched up in time – though that was really the least of our worries.

That’s all a distant memory now, and one we may (or may not) find amusing at some time in the future – if we live that long.

I’m pleased to report that Pavlova the chicken survived her second Christmas with us without ending up in the roasting tin – as threatened by various horrid sons throughout the year, amid pointed ‘fattening her up for Christmas’ remarks. Poor Pav didn’t know what she was getting herself into, when she turned up on our land a couple of years ago and decided to stay…

chicken

Back to the here and now…or almost. All the necessary edits were done and dusted on time for Hostile Witness – just as well, as it was on pre-order for a 4th Feb launch, so there was little leeway. But most importantly, another little cutie entered our lives; GD #3 and our fifth Grand, arrived only a little late on 7th Jan, and of course she is just as beautiful as her big sister, Isla. The baby is called Indie, so the ‘I’s have it in that household! Sorry …

Today, 15th March, is the seventy-fifth day of the year (this being a Leap Year – I bet there’s some bright spark out there who knows exactly how many days there are until Christmas 2016. If you find them, please gag them) and was known to the Romans as the Ides – the middle of the month. It was the day in 44BC that Julius Caesar probably wished he hadn’t bothered to get out of bed, or had at least had the presence of mind to wear his dagger-proof Kevlar toga.

dagger

Anything Roman still reminds me of our Head of Latin at school, Miss Mackinder. She was a terrifying woman with protruding teeth and a passion for cats, if not her pupils. She had a glare that could kill at a thousand yards and like most of the staff at that very staid, traditional Grammar she was a spinster who seemed very old – as anyone over twenty does to a young teen. Miss Mack used to spend her holidays in Rome, rescuing stray cats (and quite possibly scaring the natives). The author Judy Astley and I somehow survived years of regulation indoor shoes, regulation outdoor shoes, summer boaters and winter felt hats (hat detention if seen outside school grounds not wearing the damned things), and flame-coloured summer dresses that suited no one and could be seen from outer space. All this amid wood-panelled walls, and an oppressive atmosphere where pupils (all gels, natch) should neither be seen nor heard, or be caught doing anything unladylike. There was a list of school rules as long as the M1 and woe betide anyone who stepped out of line – they still had the cane! Where was ChildLine when we needed it?

Anyway, I digress – fast forward to 15th March 1493, when Christopher Columbus docked in Palos, Spain after his first trip to the Americas. It was a disappointing voyage of discovery because neither Colonel Sanders nor Ronald MacDonald had opened for business and so CC was stuck with paella for another few hundred years. Or maybe I imagined that bit?

Continuing the boat/water theme, in 1927 (when my mum was about six weeks old) the first Oxford v Cambridge Women’s Boat Race was held on the Isis in Oxford. It took place at 1.15 pm, when heads of colleges hoped young men students would be too distracted by their lunch to go along to gawp. To call it a race is a bit of a stretch though, because the boats rowed separately downstream and judging concentrated mainly on style and deportment – perhaps keeping their knees together, balancing books on their heads and not showing their bloomers? When that resulted in a tie, the teams rowed against each other upstream and Oxford won by two points. Ah…those were the days – remember this was a whole year before all women over the age of twenty-one in Great Britain and Northern Ireland were finally given the right to vote. Enlightened times indeed.

Before I send everyone to sleep, perhaps I should plug the latest masterpiece and go, so that you can get on with whatever floats your boat.

newrel

Immaculately edited psychological crime novel Hostile Witness can be found at mybook.to/hostilewitness

Because it was previously self-published, the book comes complete with two 5* reviews – always handy:

‘Many twists and turns – and a cliff-hanger ending. Quite an enjoyable read, with a delightfully twisty plot. Ms. Peters kept me guessing till the end.’

And

‘Thoroughly enjoyed this book and will look forward to the next one from this author. Keeps you guessing till the end.’

Common theme there, as in being kept guessing until the end – I know the end, but I’m not telling. Both reviews come from Amazon.com and were posted on consecutive days three years ago – slightly bizarre, but I’m not complaining!

I’m off now, but remember – beware the Ides of March. Et tu, Jenny! J

***

How I remember my own Latin lessons. I was lucky enough to be blessed with a wonderful Latin master- the amazing Mr White. Amazing because he was so patient with me- I was not the best language student!!

Thanks Nell,

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Nothings Forgotten: The Robin of Sherwood Effect

By

On March 13, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, crime, Fiction, Historical fiction

It never ceases to amaze me how the small things in life ultimately have the ability to have such a massive impact on us later. Often we don’t even notice it happening until we suddenly look back and see that if “this hadn’t happened, then that wouldn’t have happened….” and on the chain goes, link after link, until you find yourself where you are right now.

For me the chain began with a single link thirty-ish years ago.

I was a very shy teenager- self-conscious- awkward- the stereotypical wall flower. (Part of me still is!!) When I was thirteen I became ill- nothing life threatening, but exhausting. As a consequence I was unable to go to school for several months. My parents- to whom I will always be grateful- went to the nearest Radio Rentals and hired one of those new fangled video recorders so I could watch television whenever I liked during the day.

User comments

The very day they signed that rental agreement, an episode of Robin of Sherwood aired on ITV (an HTV and Goldcrest production). That episode was called Adam Bell, and was the ninth episode of the third series- I watched it over and over again.

For the first time in my life I had fallen in love.

RH books 2

Not with any of the cast as such- I fell for the legend.  It truly wasn’t the tight tights that had captured my heart – it was the story. The whole story. All of it. I wanted to know everything- EVERYTHING- that could possibly be known about Robin Hood. No film, book (nonfiction or fiction), was safe from me.

RH- E Flynn

Errol Flynn- The Adventures of Robin Hood

My walls disappeared under posters of RH- any posters- from Errol Flynn, to Richard Greene, to the statue up in Nottingham, to the gorgeous Ray Winstone who played Will Scarlet (Okay- you have me there- I had – still do- have a soft spot for Ray Winstone- there is such a twinkle in those eyes!!!)

The interest became an obsession (In RH not Ray Winstone). When I was better my parents took me to Sherwood- I learnt archery, I read medieval political poems and ballads- I wanted to know the truth- did he exist or didn’t he?

I did a project on RH for my A’ level History. Then I went to university and did a specialist course in Medieval Castle and Ecclesiastical Architecture…I was a medieval junky!! It seemed only natural to do a PhD on the subject- and that is exactly what I did! And all because I’d watched an episode of Robin of Sherwood.

Robin Hood Statue- Nottingham

Robin Hood Statue- Nottingham

By this time (in my early twenties), I was pretty certain how and why the RH legend had begun- but I wanted to know who had influenced it into the form we know today, and how the real recorded crimes and daily life of the thirteenth and fourteenth century had effected those stories… (forget thinking RH was around with Richard I or King John- it ain’t happening!!)

It was my PhD that taught me to write- (a tome of epic proportions that is still knocking around my old Uni library gathering dust, while e-versions of it are scattered around many American Universities).

Rather than finish off my love of RH- my PhD polished it to perfection!! (Although nothing could make me like the Russell Crowe film- it made me want to scream it was so bad.)

Ray Winstone

Ray Winstone

I guess it was only a matter of time before I decided to write a novel about a Robin Hood obsessed historian.

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…

You can buy this crime/romance/modern/medieval novel from all good retailers, including-

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

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

Kobo link – http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/romancing-robin-hood
So here I am, 30 years from watching that initial episode- the parent of two children who also love Robin of Sherwood– and the story continues to have an effect.
Two weeks ago I had the good fortune- thanks to a fellow writer (bless you Fay!!!)- to come across a lovely chap called Barnaby Eaton Jones, who has managed the impossible. He has produced a brand new episode of Robin of Sherwood!! With the original cast (Jason Connery as Robin) he has put together (with the help of a brilliant cast and crew), an audio version of what happened next after the heart breaking end of series three.
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I’ll be blogging more about this new episode- The Knights of the Apocalypse (#KOTA)- in the near future. But if you want to check out what’s happening- and see some incredible cast pics- take a look here-
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/robin-of-sherwood-the-knights-of-the-apocalypse/x/13571561#/
– the Sheriff of Nottingham has a message for you!
One thing has always bothered me- I believe in the importance of saying thank you. I have always wanted to thank the cast, crew, and writers of Robin of Sherwood. They set me on a course that has taken me from a shy child to an adult who has learnt how to handle that shyness, and given me a career I love. It’s difficult to do this without coming across like a crazed fan or some sort of hyper fan-girl (I’m neither- just a regular fan!)- but now I have that chance.
Thank you all.
Perhaps if I hadn’t watched RoS, I’d be doing something totally different with my days!?
“Nothing’s Forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten.”
RH- RoS 2
Happy reading

Jenny

xxx

 

Novel Progress 9: Not quite finished….but…

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On March 9, 2016

In Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

You may remember that early last year, I wrote a series of blogs about the progress of the novel I was writing at the time- Another Glass of Champagne.

I finished the series with the warning that- although the novel was written- it wasn’t actually complete. http://wp.me/p75ZD9-o7

Since I wrote that last ‘Novel Progress’ blog, I have edited and published Abi’s House, and written and published Christmas at the Castle…the book trade stops for no man!!

But now- all these months later- it’s time to turn my attention back to the final novel in the ‘Another Cup of ‘ series- and I’m currently neck deep in the publishing edits for Another Glass of Champagne- which I am delighted to say, will be released this coming June!

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When any writer gets an editor’s edits back on their manuscript it is a rather nerve wracking experience. The first fear is that your editor will have hated your story! Then, you have to brace yourself for the list of suggestions for changes your editor will have made- then you have to take the bravest step of all, and open up the document to see how many red marks there are across your lovingly crafted lines.

20160308_090552

I have to admit, I am very lucky. I have one of those rare editors that actually does their job properly, and double and triple checks everything. Bless him- this time he had to grapple with my novel’s timeline in a very detailed way. As I have added 3 Christmas novellas into the time gap between the release of Another Cup of Coffee, and Another Glass of Champagne, far more years have passed than I had originally planned. So all the characters are rather older now than I had written them to be!

Fear not- adjustments have been made- and the coffee is once again flowing at Pickwicks Coffee House in Richmond…and perhaps the odd glass of champagne…

If you’ll excuse me I’d better crack on. This is only round one of the editors edits…the polishing process of this novel continues…

Happy reading,

Jenny x

 

Short Story Competition…Tiverton Literary Festival 2016

By

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

 

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