novel – Page 12 – Jenny Kane & Jennifer Ash

Guest Interview with K.A. Hambly: Danny Hallows

On October 30, 2015

Who better to interview so close to Halloween, than K.A.Hambly, who has just released the second book in her The Town Halloween Forgot?

So why not grab a weird looking pumpkin drink, put your feet up, and join Kelly and myself for a chat.

What inspired you to write your book?

Danny Hallows and the Stones of the Aurora is the second book in the The Town Halloween Forgot series. I had only intended to write the one but after I had re-written the ending to the first book I realized there was an opportunity here for a series of books. So now I have four planned; the second out on the 29^th October. For this particular book I took inspiration from the Northern Lights, otherwise known as the Aurora Borealis. I’ve always been fascinated with it, although never seen it, so as I was pondering on ideas for the second part, I got to thinking that my character’s magic had to come from somewhere and so I took the Aurora and based this particular story around that.

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

Well Danny, the main character is named after my six year old son. I wouldn’t say my character’s traits are similar to him as Danny in the book has just turned sixteen but if my son ever turned out like him, I think I would be very proud. Yet, if he starts showing signs of being a wolf, I think I’d be very concerned, of course. There are no wolves in my family that I know of and no magic stones or books.

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

In the beginning when I normally just have a title and very little else, I’ll start writing, not thinking too much about plot or anything and just go with the flow and see where it takes me. More often than not this has played to my advantage. So when I have a substantial piece of work, I’ll then start planning. It’s probably the hardest way to work, but it works very well for me. But I don’t always stick to the plan. I think the best ideas come spontaneously.

What is your writing regime?

I do try and write every day, whether on paper or on the PC, I’ll try and get something down, even if it’s just jotting down an idea. Usually I write better at night.

What excites you the most about your book?

The fact that it’s being published ha-ha. The one thing that excites me the most is my son has been looking forward to seeing his name on the book cover. When I’m stuck for names or ideas, I usually get my children involved so they have been a big part of this process also.

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

Elvis Presley because I adore him and he can sit and play us some tunes. The second would be Dracula. I love that book and being a vampire fan, he would be a great person to talk to – so if we starve to death he can make us all immortal ha-ha. And the third would be Shakespeare. Being a writer I think there would be a great opportunity here to learn something.

***

You can buy Kelly’s latest book from all good retailers, including- http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0171L4CRM/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_afmmwb16S3Q8E

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Bio

K A Hambly lives in Swansea, South Wales with her husband and two children. She studied English and Media, where she wrote a thesis on Dracula (From Novel to Cinema), Vampires and Gothic Horror have always been an interest of hers so it is no surprise that she began writing her own vampire series in 2011. She states music and movies play a huge part in her inspiration.

Twitter – @celtic_nimueh

***

Many thanks Kelly.

Happy Halloween reading everyone!

Jenny x

Guest Post from Gilli Allan: Drawing a Naked Male Model can be Challenging

By Jenny Kane

On October 27, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

It’s my great pleasure to welcome Gilli Allan back to my blog today. As well as being an engaging, entertaining, astute and erudite writer, Gilli is an excellent artist, and (as I had the good fortune to discover at a recent conference), one of nicest people you could ever wish to meet.

Over to you Gilli,

All my books have grown out of the “What if…?” question. LIFE CLASS is no exception. Initially I had the title but no story, so I began to reflect on the accumulated experience of attending life drawing lessons over many years, and there was one incident that cried out to be revisited.

Before I arrived at art school, aged sixteen, I knew no boys, apart from my cousins. For me – a shy, gauche and inexperienced kid – becoming an art student was a very big deal. I’m sure it was a big deal for all of us in First Year Foundation. Within days, however, we’d relaxed with one another enough to become noisy and brash, and to show off. Then we had our first life class.

We all knew this weekly lesson was a part of the curriculum, so at least we weren’t taken by surprise. But knowing that something is going to happen does not necessarily make it easier to deal with. Imagine us, not yet entirely comfortable with one another, suddenly confronted by a very ample naked woman who we were expected to draw. The lesson passed in a stunned silence from the mixed class of very young students. The teacher made up for our unusual hush by raising his voice, as if suspecting we’d all turned deaf as well as mute.

“Observe the landmarks of her body and how they relate to one another,” he boomed. “Her crotch … her belly … her navel … her nipples!”

In retrospect, it was funny. At the time it was more agonising than amusing. I found it a challenge to even look at her without blushing, let alone to closely study those parts of her body I was too bashful to say out loud!

Despite the initial embarrassment I swiftly became used to studying a naked stranger. In fact, the life class rapidly became my favourite part of the week. I was captivated by the challenge of trying to interpret the human body in a drawing. When I left college I was unable to find a job in the art world, and for the next few years I was a depressed sales assistant in various London department stores. The aspect of art I missed the most was the life drawing, and I signed up for an evening class at the London School of Printing. I continued with this for a year, but slogging over to the Elephant and Castle on public transport after a day’s work, became a bind and I gave it up.

Although, at the time it felt like my life was trickling away, it wasn’t so long before I managed to secure my dream job as an illustrator in an advertising design studio. For a while I was very happy earning my living doing what I’d always wanted to do, but, as I became more accomplished, the work became more demanding and stressful. The workload was always erratic, and when a new commission did come in, it was typically wanted first thing the next morning. So when I had my son, I was content to take a break from commercial art. Now at home full-time, I revisited my teenage hobby of writing, and I also signed up for another life drawing class. Baby-sitting responsibility was my husband’s for one night a week, enabling me to do something just for me.

On that first evening I set out, feeling excited and tense. I had the directions and, as I drove over to the school in Wandsworth, I rehearsed in my mind what faced me. I knew that my life drawing skills would be rusty, I’d not employed them for years, but there was something else on my mind. ‘Life’ models are predominantly female. The male model is a far rarer species, although not unknown. At college, over a decade earlier, we’d occasionally had a male model but, maybe to spare the blushes of the very young class, they’d always worn boxers or posing pouches. (One old fellow always wore his black beret, as well!) Surely these days, in an adult class, a male model would be stark naked, I reasoned. My tension about the evening ahead ratcheted up a few more notches when I couldn’t find the school. I must have been ten or fifteen minutes late when I eventually burst into the studio.

Everyone turned to look at me. The teacher was male. All the students were male. And – lying stretched out sideways on a mattress, his head on his hand – the entirely naked model was male. Wanting to disrupt proceedings as little as possible, I grabbed the first empty spot I saw. I didn’t think about the position I’d chosen until I’d sat down on the donkey (a wooden bench with an adjustable front flap), unwrapped my drawing pad, and raised my head. Everyone else had arranged themselves in a semi-circle behind or to the sides of the model. I was the only one with a totally full-frontal view. I looked at him, and he looked at me……….

You will find a fairly accurate account of what happened next at the start of Chapter Three of LIFE CLASS. I have given the experience to my heroine, Dory, who is a novice artist attending her first life drawing class. She is no shrinking violet but she finds it an unsettling experience. It unsettled me at the time, but I didn’t allow the incident to put me off.

I attended this particular class for a couple of years and we never had the same model again. Then I changed to another, a daytime class with a crèche. And throughout the years since, I’ve continued to attend life classes wherever I’ve lived. I don’t do life drawing because it’s easy. Sometimes it is, but often it’s hard. It can feel almost impossible – particularly if there’s a weirdo model! But, thankfully, they’re the exception not the rule. Despite the failures and the frustrations of the discipline, I am drawn back , again and again, trying to capture the mass, the angles, the points of balance, the fall of light and shade on that most intriguing of all subjects – the human body.

Here’s the blurb to Life Class-

Four people hide secrets from the world and from themselves. Dory is disillusioned by men and relationships, having seen the damage sex can do. Her sister, Fran, deals with her mid-life crisis by pursuing an on-line flirtation which turns threatening. Dominic is a lost boy, trapped in a life heading for self-destruction. Stefan feels a failure. He searches for validation through his art alone.

They meet regularly at a life-drawing class, led by sculptor Stefan. All want a life that is different from the one they have, but all have made mistakes they know they cannot escape. They must uncover the past – and the truths that come with it – before they can make sense of the present and navigate a new path into the future.

***

LINKS

LIFE CLASS

http://myBook.to/LifeClass

https://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/13659/Life-Class

Connect to Gilli

http://twitter.com/gilliallan (@gilliallan)

https://www.facebook.com/GilliAllan.AUTHOR

http://gilliallan.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1027644.Gilli_Allan

(If you want them, I’m including the links to TORN & FLY OR FALL)

TORN: http://mybook.togilliallansTORN

FLY OR FALL: http://mybook.to/GilliAllan

***

Biography

Gilli Allan started to write in childhood, a hobby only abandoned when real life supplanted the fiction. Gilli didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge but, after just enough exam passes to squeak in, she attended Croydon Art College.

She didn’t work on any of the broadsheets, in publishing or television. Instead she was a shop assistant, a beauty consultant and a barmaid before landing her dream job as an illustrator in advertising. It was only when she was at home with her young son that Gilli began writing seriously. Her first two novels were quickly published, but when her publisher ceased to trade, Gilli went independent.

Over the years, Gilli has been a school governor, a contributor to local newspapers, and a driving force behind the community shop in her Gloucestershire village. Still a keen artist, she designs Christmas cards and has begun book illustration. Gilli is particularly delighted to have recently gained a new mainstream publisher – Accent Press. LIFE CLASS is the third book to be published in the three book deal.

***

Many thanks Gilli- another brilliant blog!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

Meet Jack- Another Cup of Coffee

By Jenny Kane

On October 10, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

With the release of Christmas at the Castle, the fourth story in the Another Cup of… range only weeks away, and then the final novel in the series, Another Glass of Champagne, coming out next year, I thought it would be nice to go back to the beginning, and share a little extract from the very first book, Another Cup of Coffee.

First of all however, here’s the blurb for you-

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 was 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 bucket-sized cup of coffee, as she goes forth to lay the ghost of first love to rest…

***

Let me introduce you to Jack. It has to be said, that Jack does not start off as the nicest man in the world- a real bad boy. And yet- perhaps for that very reason- he has become the most popular character in the series. This extract comes from very early on, and we find him in the shower, very much wishing he hadn’t sent an old fashioned mix tape to his ex-girlfriend, Amy…

****

The power shower thundered, sending a searing-hot cascade of water down onto Jack’s head. Squeezing far too much shampoo into his hands, he began to viciously scrub his short hair. What the hell had he been thinking? Well, actually, he hadn’t been thinking, had he? He never looked beyond himself. The moment. The day. He was so stupid. So angry with himself.

Why had he posted that tape? And more immediately, where was he? And how soon was he going to able to get away from whoever it was he’d spent the night with? Jack could feel the familiar sensation of suffocation closing in on him as he abandoned his hair and began to furiously soap his torso.

He was a shit.

But then you have to be good at something.

And now Amy was coming here. It hadn’t crossed his mind that she’d even visit, let alone move her entire life back south. And not just south, but bloody London. Being back in touch, and hopefully forgiven, was one thing when she was safely tucked away in Scotland. But here. Face to face. Jack hadn’t banked on that at all.

He really didn’t want to see Rob today. It was his fault this had happened. Rob had come into work one day, back in the summer, going on about how worried he and Paul were for Amy. How she seemed to have placed herself completely off the emotional scale. The combination of bright sunshine, happy reminiscences, and the weight of a conversation he and Amy had never had, had brought his buried guilt racing to the surface.

Then, a few days later, Paul had visited Jack and Rob’s bookshop, passing through on one of his rare visits between his archaeological digs. He’d been sorting out some of his university mementos, and had come across a load of photographs.

They were all there, at university, more years ago than was acceptable if Jack was still going to pass himself off as thirty at the clubs he frequented. Amy, Rob and Paul huddled together in a muddy ditch, laughing. Rob, Paul and him, pints of Tiger lager in hand, outside their favourite pub. Paul, Amy and him, all cuddled together on Rob’s battered and suspiciously stained brown sofa. Amy and him. Amy and him together. Smiling. Together.

That had been the killer. That was the photo that had made him think. Her eyes had shone at the camera. If Jack was honest, so had his. So, in a state of happy but unrealistic nostalgia, he’d gone home, dragged a box of assorted junk out from under his bed, and pulled out the tape.

He had weighed the clear plastic box in his hand. It was time to explain. If Amy was half the girl he used to know then she’d forgive him. And suddenly, from nowhere, Jack had found that he really, really needed to be forgiven.

That was why he’d put Unfinished Sympathy on Amy’s tape. He wanted her to understand that he knew he’d hurt her. That he, himself, had been hurt by having to leave her. But for reasons he hadn’t totally understood at the time, he’d felt he had no choice. A fact which had led him to the record the unbearably twee, but wholly accurate, I Will Always Love You. It seemed to say how sorry he was. It said everything he’d wanted to say then, but couldn’t. He was sorry, really he was. But for Amy to turn up here! Bloody hell.

Stepping out of the shower, Jack began to dry himself with a suitably punishing rough brown towel. Now he was going to have to tell Rob he’d returned the tape, and have another go at talking to Kit.

He hadn’t deliberately failed to tell Kit about Amy. Specific conversations about individual exes had never come up. Jack was pretty sure that Rob hadn’t mentioned Amy to Kit either. Amy had been part of their old life, and Kit was part of their current one. Simple.

Jack knew he had to see Kit soon, before someone else filled her in. He wasn’t sure why he’d walked out on her now he came to think about it. At least she’d understand. Kit always understood. After all, they’d remained friends. Great friends. They had moved on smoothly.

‘Talk about my past catching me up,’ he muttered to his sleep-deprived reflection as he dragged a borrowed razor over his chin. ‘It’s pretty much tripped me up, into a pile of shit, and it’s entirely my fault. Bloody sentimental tape!’

Approaching his bookshop, Jack peered up at the sign which swung, pub-like, from its low eaves, and silently thanked his grandfather for the money he’d left him.

Even though he’d attained a first degree in Ecology, Jack had never had any intention of taking up a career in that arena. The idea of running a bookshop had started as a faint possibility; an option amongst many. It had developed into a dream, and then, when he’d accidentally come across the empty premises in Kew, it had blossomed into an exciting and challenging project.

Now Reading Nature was a source of real pride, and despite his self-inflicted gloom, Jack got a kick of achievement from seeing its single bay-windowed frontage ahead of him. Through the glass Jack could see Rob’s cropped ginger-haired head bent over the counter. He was busy sorting the mornings post into to do, to send out, bills to pay, and junk to recycle, piles.

‘Morning,’ Rob smiled up at his friend as he came in, but adjusted his expression as he saw the cloud hanging across Jack’s face. ‘What’s up? Club no good last night?’

‘It was fine, busy, you know.’

‘Not really, mate, but then I’m a boring old married fart.’

Jack attempt at a smile failed, ‘I’ve done something stupid. I think.’

Rob pulled a face that clearly said, “No change there then,” but simply said, ‘Go on.’

‘I’ve got in touch with Amy…’

****

If you’d like to read the first novel in the series, it is available as an eBook, and as a paperback from all good online stores and bookshops, including…

Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Cup-Of-Coffee-ebook/dp/B00EVYZC7M/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377952210&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee+jenny+kane

Amazon US- http://www.amazon.com/Another-Cup-Of-Coffee-ebook/dp/B00EVYZC7M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1377952266&sr=1-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee+jenny+kane

Happy Reading,

Jenny xx

Recharging with Champagne

By Jenny Kane

On September 16, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

Every now and then I have a moment when I sit down in front of my computer, black coffee to hand, and I wonder what the hell I’m doing. Why do I sit in my café corner everyday and write books when I could be out doing a proper job? I could be earning a reliable wage, and saving my body from the hazards of a caffeine overdose.

These moments don’t happen that often, and are usually the direct result of a large unexpected bill coming through the post. These temporary issues are often solved with a brisk walk or a chat with other – equally mad- writers. Lately however, I will confess to having felt a little bit flat. I bit aimless if you like. My body and brain have been screaming at me to take a break, to put the pen down and leave it all for a while so my brain could unfog.

I tried to do that- I really did. I lasted three days before I drove myself bonkers and had to pick up a pen again. But then came a new problem, what on earth should I write next? At least four novels are knocking at the inside of my brain- but which to do first?

I needed advice, and so I emailed my lovely editor, Greg, and arranged to have a face to face chat about my writing direction.

I had no idea of course that, in between making the appointment and actually heading into Wales to visit my publishing house, my latest novel, Abi’s House, was going to do the unimaginable, and hit the top of the Amazon UK Romance chart. It got as high as no. 6 in the overall fiction chart on Monday! (If you were one of those lovely folk who purchased Abi’s House over the weekend, then THANK YOU!)

Hazel Cushion, myself, and Greg Rees at Accent

As a result, when I got to Accent, I was greeted with the pop of a champagne cork!

Hazel, and the Accent team, treated to me to a lovely buffet lunch with champers in the beautifully bookish board room. We raised our glasses to Abi’s House.

I was already feeling reenergised by the time the coffee had been poured. Once I’d chatted business plans with Hazel, had the thumbs up for my marketing from Bethan, and talked writing plans with Greg, I was ready to start drafting the next novel on the train back to Devon…which I did… (News of that soon!)

Dinner in Cardiff with my dear writing friend, Lily Harlem, put the final flourish to my recharging day in Wales.

Now- only twelve hours since I got home- I’m back! The buzz is re-buzzing (and I’ve only had one coffee so far today!!)

So, if you’ll excuse me, I have a novel proposal to write….

Happy reading,

Jenny x

An Autumn Bargain: Romancing Robin Hood is ONLY 99p/99c!!!

By Jenny Kane

On September 2, 2015

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

What better way to wave in autumn, than by curling up with a good book and enjoying a contemporary summer wedding in the beautiful Hardwick Hall, a budding romance,…and a medieval mystery….?

I’m delighted to be able to offer you my full length, timeslip novel, Romancing Robin Hood, for the bargain price of either 99p or 99c for the entire month of September!!!

Here’s the blurb to whet your appetite…

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…

***

Praise for Romancing Robin Hood…

“This book had my heart from the start – how I loved Robin of Sherwood back in the 80’s! Grace is stuck in the middle ages – well not really – but she might as well be – living, breathing, teaching and ever so slightly obsessed by one of the great British stories – Robin Hood. I loved the idea of having the book Grace is writing in the story – I was just as keen to see this story wrapped up as I was the modern day romance…”

“This was one of the most original romances I’ve read. I just loved the addition of the mini medieval crime story within Grace’s quest to find a love in the modern world – a love to rival her affection for her outlaw heroes of literature and TV!”

“I really, really, really liked this story! …. Grace is a REALLY BIG Robin Hood fan and her life is revolved around him. She is supposed to be writing a textbook for her college but she is coming up with her own novel instead and of course you know what it is going to be about. One sad thing about Grace is that she compares everyman she meets to Robin. Is she ever going to find a man like him? Well she just might in this story but things do get a little hairy. How will it end you ask? Sorry I can’t tell you but I DEFINITLY recommend you read this story. Go on a little medieval journey with Grace to see what kind of Robin Hood story she comes up with. I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed. I received this book as a gift from the author.”

“…Jenny Kane must have spent so much time on her research. I loved Grace’s story. I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen between her and Robert. Robert understands her love for Robin Hood and her academic passion and it was great to see her with a potential soulmate. Mathilda’s story is really good as well…It’s a great mix….it’s a fast paced story that has a few unexpected twists.”

“Lovely engaging take on an old, old story. Terrific heroine and very intelligently written dual narrative. I loved it.”

***

If you fancy trying Romancing Robin Hood for yourself, then now is the perfect time!

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

ONLY 99p or 99c!!!!!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny x

Guest Blog from Kathryn Joyce: A for Author, B for Book, and C for Challenge.

By Jenny Kane

On August 27, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Fiction

One of the most wonderful things about my job as a writer is that I get to meet a huge variety of amazing people. A few weeks ago I was at a book and art sale in Taunton, when I me an artist who concentrates on the painting of cows- yes, cows! We got chatting, and during the course of our conversation I discovered that her mum had started to write. So, please let me introduce you to the talented Kathryn Joyce…

Thank you very much, Jenny, for inviting me to be a guest on your blog and talk about my writing journey.

The novel started in earnest about seven years ago when I was having coffee with a friend. I was, frankly, in a bit of a rut. We (my husband, David, and I) had just returned from a year long placement doing voluntary work in Pakistan (with VSO, [Voluntary Service Overseas]) and wondering if another placement was to be on the cards.

The coffee friend is a natural problem solver; she can’t resist solutions. ‘Get a job,’ she suggested then changed tack as she saw my look of incredulity. ‘I know what you should do’, she said, ‘Write a book – you’d be good at that’ (note, challenge number one).

Her idea that I ‘might be good at that’ came from pre-blog newsletters that David and I had been writing about our time in Pakistan and during a previous placements in West Africa. I’d loved writing them and I suddenly realised they were great sources for a book. The first question (of many, I was to find out) was what would I write about? Well, it wouldn’t be about me, that was for sure. I’d heard many people say they’d write a book one day – the first word, it seemed, would be ‘I’ and the last, ‘me’! If I was going to write a book, I decided, it would have to be one I would want to read, which meant realistic fiction written in good, poetic prose (challenge number two), and it would have to explore real issues, genuine dilemmas and unexpected solutions.

Seven years later the book has evolved. Set partly in England and partly in Pakistan it tells the story of a young couple, a catastrophic mistake and a disastrous misunderstanding. And, I’ve been told, there are some memorable lines. The fact that it’s a now real book – as opposed to a manuscript – continues to be a great surprise to me. As is the discovery that people appear to like it. Wow!

Now I’ve got the writing bug a second novel is in the air (challenge number three), and in the meantime, I’m writing short stories. Whilst the sun shines (metaphorically if not actually) I’m a star! Well, a very minor one. I’ve a story shortlisted in The Eyelands International competition that is to be published in an anthology in January, and I’ve ‘appeared’ on radio, in newspapers, in blog interviews, at book groups, community groups, and book-signing engagements (note challenges four to nine). I wonder how many authors have done a book signing at Waitrose. It surprised me how many people wanted to treat themselves to an author signed book to cheer a chilly Saturday morning. How did I get to do a book-signing at Waitrose (challenge number ten)? I asked them!

If short stories are your thing, there’s a taster on my blog: http://www.kathrynjoyceauthor.co.uk/#!follow-the-author/c112v

And if novels are more you, here’s the back-cover blurb for Thicker Than Soup:

Focussed on their careers, Sally Lancing, the daughter of a Pakistani immigrant and English mother, and her partner John Sommers, the much-loved son of adoptive parents, are equally committed to a child- free future.

Then a surprise pregnancy – and doubts about the paternity – hurls them both into new, but separate, lives. Left devastated by the loss of her job, her partner, and her home, Sally and her baby son embark on a journey to Pakistan to meet her father’s distant family. Once there, Sally’s’ eyes are opened to a world that challenges her deepest beliefs.

Meanwhile, John hides his vulnerability behind his increasing success as a restaurateur. But the baby has rattled skeletons, and unable to avoid his past, he too embarks on a journey – to find his birth parents.

As their horizons broaden and their views are challenged, the child, Sammy, is an innocent but enduring link. This story of love, loss and discovery explores the concepts of morality and independence as Sally and John attempt to build separate futures. Until, that is, providence stirs life’s mixing bowl once more, and Sammy is again the crucial ingredient.

A moving tale of relationships, set against a backdrop of both Thatcher’s Britain and a beautifully evoked Pakistan, the novel explores the serious issues of cultural integration and diversity as well as the ‘who am I’ of adoption and the devastating shock of HIV.

Thicker Than Soup is available direct from the publisher, or by following the links to your favourite retailer:

www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=3206

You can find me at:

www.kathrynjoyceauthor.co.uk/

www.facebook.com/Kathryn.Joyce.Author

https://twitter.com/KathyAnnJoyce

Author Bio: It’s been a few years since I left Hull as a teenager, but it was in this city of my birth and education that an English teacher at Wolfreton Comprehensive School, Miss Wilson, cultivated my childhood love of reading and writing. I wonder if she’s still around! For her, I wrote essays with verve!

But, a few years passed after school and life got seriously grown-up. As a mum with a full time career there was little time for literature other than reading a chapter or two before sleep took over.

Then came a change of direction. My children went off to university – and so did I. After three years of reading psychology at Leicester I had new choices and inspired by a daughter who had worked in Vietnam, my husband and joined VSO. Firstly we worked in West Africa, then Pakistan, and later, Viet Nam too. VSO had an advertising slogan around that time which said ‘What did you do last year, and will you remember it for the rest of your life?’ For us, immersion in these cultures brought exciting new experiences almost every day and the urge to record and share them with loved ones led to a new phase of writing that has continued beyond expectations. And the newsletters are still around. Maybe, one day, they’ll emerge again, in another book or two. After all, I’ve got the bug.

***

Many thanks for visiting today Kathryn. I’m so glad you listened to your wise coffee drinking friend.

Good luck with Thicker than Soup and all your future stories!

Jenny x

Happy Birthday Romancing Robin Hood!

By Jenny Kane

On August 25, 2015

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

Believe it or not, Romancing Robin Hood, is a year old!

I had SO much fun writing this novel, which was largely based on my own obsession with Robin Hood and the work I did on my PhD – far too many years ago to mention!!

To celebrate Romancing Robin Hood’s birthday, I thought I’d share a little of the novel with you. Here’s the blurb to help set the scene.

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.

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…

***

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

I’m off to blow out Romancing Robin Hood’s birthday candles now!!

Happy reading

Jenny xx

Guest Post from Jan Ruth: Wild, Dark and Silent

By Jenny Kane

On August 20, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

It is with great pleasure that welcome Jan Ruth to my blog today, to talk about her book, Wild Water, which is set in the beautiful splendour of on of my favourite places in Britain, the Welsh Hills.

Over to you Jan…

Wild, Dark and Silent: A testimony to the Welsh Hills.

The close of July saw the re-release of WILD WATER.

Although this is the second title Accent Press have released, it’s actually my first novel, a book which has endured the longest journey of all to arrive fully polished and published. It began as a humble paper copy – remember those? – and went through several transformations before arriving in a much less frazzled state.

This is the story of Jack Redman, the wronged alpha male who’s trying to make the best decisions for his family but more often than not, gets kicked in the teeth. How often we read novels in the contemporary genres which consistently root for the female character – nothing wrong with a strong woman of course – but no one seemed to be telling these stories from the male viewpoint, at least not twenty years ago when I began my quest. Divorce still seems heavily weighted towards the partner with the children, and the mother is usually awarded custody unless there are extenuating circumstances which can be proved. Most of the time this is all well and good, but there are a great number of cases where our ancient system is fully exploited. Sadly, a lot of the initial storyline was prompted by real-life experience but there’s no better starting point than this for fiction in the family-saga genre. Jack Redman is a victim not only of the court system injustices but of its inability to deal with the speed and complications of contemporary family life.

The Wild Water series is strongly rooted in Conwy, a medieval town in North Wales. In the main I’ve used real places, and I do love the mix of historical buildings as a backdrop to a modern tale. Links to Welsh history and heritage are unavoidable in Wales and it’s the visible remains of quarries, castles and farmsteads which give the area a strong sense of the past. And there’s richness in the landscape here which has certainly inspired my writing. St. Celynin’s seventh century church in the hills for example, is an evocative piece of living history and a landmark which is included throughout the series. It’s exactly the sort of place Anna, with her natural spiritualism, might seek sanctuary. Nestled in the hills 927 feet above the sea, its pretty inaccessible and best approached on foot, but this is no hardship.

Some of the area is chocolate-box pretty, a lot of it isn’t. The struggle to make a living in this community is mostly based on farming or tourism, although the mussel industry is alive and well. Since I know little about these subjects, Jack Redman emerged as an estate-agent. I like to be slightly unconventional with my characters because another great killer of readability is sameness, and cliché.

It was both daunting, and a pleasure to write the follow-up, Dark Water; to be republished by Accent Press on October 8th.

The story picks up three years after the end of Wild Water , and Jack is in for another bumpy ride. Dark Water is, as the title might suggest, a darker story partly because my writing style has changed over twenty years, but also because I introduced an element of crime. It’s too easy to become lazy with a sequel and repeat much of what has gone before. The resurgence of Simon Banks created plenty of tension, and a fresh challenge for me to write some of the story from his perspective. New characters such as Clarissa Harrison-Smith and Peter Claymore, breathed new life into the original cast. When I brought Claymore into the story, he had to have a purpose and a passion, and his persona took root in one of the most fascinating buildings in Conwy – sadly in a state of disrepair – but the real life situation fitted perfectly with what I had in mind for the plot.

This house was built in 1589 by the vicar of Conwy. Since then it’s been a pub, a tearoom and an antique shop. It’s full of spooky atmosphere with cellars, trap doors and secret passages, and apparently there used to be an escape tunnel which led to the quay. Haunted? Most certainly!

It’s exactly the sort of place someone like Claymore would want to renovate and bring to life, and the perfect setting for Anna to develop in her own right as a serious artist. Her portrait of Llewellyn the Great is the centrepiece of her launch but of course, this is fiction and nothing goes to plan! The comedy and tragedy of Jack’s life rumbles on. In his own words: ‘Raping and pillaging is still rife, even in the modern world.’

You can find the buy links for Wild Water at – Mybook.to/wildwater

****

ABOUT JAN RUTH

Jan was born in Cheshire and moved to North Wales in 1998, although she has always maintained a strong connection with the area from a much earlier age. Her feel for the Welsh landscape is evident in all of her work.

The real story began at school, with prizes for short stories and poetry. She failed all things mathematical and scientific, and to this day struggles to make sense of anything numerical.

Her first novel – written in 1986 – attracted the attention of an agent who was trying to set up her own company, Love Stories Ltd. It was a project aiming to champion those books of substance which contained a romantic element but were perhaps directed towards the more mature reader and consistently fell through the net in traditional publishing. Sadly, the project failed to get the right financial backing.

Many years later Jan’s second novel, Wild Water, was taken on by Jane Judd, literary agent. Judd was a huge inspiration, but the book failed to find the right niche with a publisher. It didn’t fall into a specific category and, narrated mostly from the male viewpoint, it was considered out of genre for most publishers and too much of a risk.

Amazon changed the face of the industry with the advent of self-publishing; opening up the market for readers to decide the fate of those previously spurned novels. Jan went on to successfully publish several works of fiction and short story collections. Jan is now pleased to announce that throughout 2015, she will be re-published with Accent Press.

ABOUT MY BOOKS

Fiction which does not fall neatly into a pigeon hole has always been the most difficult to define. In the old days such books wouldn’t be allowed shelf space if they didn’t slot immediately into a commercial list. Today’s forward-thinking publishers – Accent Press being one of them – are far more savvy.

As an author I have been described as a combination of literary-contemporary-romantic-comedy-rural-realism-family-saga; oh, and with an occasional criminal twist and a lot of the time, written from the male viewpoint.

No question my books are Contemporary and Rural. Family and Realism; these two must surely go hand-in-hand, yes? So, although you’ll discover plenty of escapism, I hope you’ll also be able to relate to my characters as they stumble through a minefield of relationships, family, working, pets, love …

I hesitate to use the word romance. It’s a misunderstood and mistreated word in the world of fiction and despite the huge part it plays in the market, attracts an element of disdain. If romance says young, fluffy and something to avoid, maybe my novels will change your mind since many of my central characters are in their forties and fifties. Grown-up love is rather different, and this is where I try to bring that sense of realism into play without compromising the escapism.

Jan Ruth. 2015.

Discover more about Jan Ruth: Jan writes a variety of posts – funny, serious, informative – about Snowdonia and it’s landscapes. Horses and history, her inspiration to write fiction set in Wales and her publishing journey so far.

BLOG: https://janruthblog.wordpress.com/

Connect with Jan:

FACEBOOK:https://www.facebook.com/pages/JAN-RU…

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/JanRuthAuthor

Find her books:

WEBSITE: http://janruth.com/

AMAZON: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jan-Ruth/e/B0…

***

Many thanks Jan. What a fantastic post. It reminds me how long it’s been since I explored the beauty of the Welsh countryside.

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Guest Interview with Lynne Shelby: French Kissing

By Jenny Kane

On August 18, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

When I was at the Romantic Novelist Association Conference a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet quite a few fellow Accent authors. One of them was the delightful Lynne Shelby, who kindly agreed to be interviewed.

So go and grab a quick cuppa and a nice slice of cake, put your feet up for a moment, and have a little read…

What inspired you to write your book?

I was travelling back to London from Paris on the Eurostar, and a Frenchman sitting across the aisle spent the journey telephoning his English friends telling them that he, François, was coming to London and suggesting they meet up. Unfortunately none of his friends wanted to see him. By the time we reached Kent, I was feeling very sorry for François, and I’d also had an idea for a story about a Frenchman who comes to England and is met off the train by an English girl who is very pleased to see him. These characters became Alexandre and Anna in French Kissing.

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

I don’t model the characters on people I know, but some of the incidents in French Kissing have happened to people I know – I do make sure that I’ve disguised them enough that no-one recognizes themselves!

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

As French Kissing is set in contemporary London and Paris, most of my research was things like checking street names, and making sure I put well-known buildings in the right places! The most enjoyable bit of research was going to Paris for a few days – it’s one of my favourite cities – and visiting the places that my hero, Alexandre, takes my heroine, Anna.

Which Point of View do you prefer to write in and why?

I write in the first person because I find this lets me really get inside the head of my heroine.

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

When I start writing, I know the beginning and end of my story, but go with the flow in the middle. There seems to be a moment when the characters take over! Sometimes I do plot a chapter, if I know I need to get in a twist in the story at that particular point.

Lynne Shelby

What is your writing regime?

I’d like to say that I get up at 6.00 am, and after going for a run, write 2,000 words before breakfast. In reality, I do usually sit down at my desk by about 9.00 and aim for about 1,000 words before a late lunch.

What excites you the most about your book?

French Kissing is my debut novel, and I’ve found everything about getting published, from the moment I won the Accent Press and Woman Writing Competition, incredibly exciting. The thought that my story is being read is wonderful – it really is a dream come true.

You can buy French Kissing from all good retailers including-

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_14?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=french+kissing+lynne+shelby&sprefix=French+Kissing%2Caps%2C177

***

Bio

Lynne Shelby writes contemporary romance, because that’s what she likes reading the most.

In January 2015 she was thrilled to win the Accent Press & Woman Magazine Writing Competition, and her debut novel ‘French Kissing’ is published by Accent Press.

She has worked in a variety of ‘day jobs’ from stable girl to legal administrator, and is inspired to write by the many wonderful foreign cities that she has visited and explored with a camera and writer’s notebook in hand: Rome, Barcelona Reykjavik Venice, New York, Copenhagen, Berlin and of course Paris, the city which inspired her to write ‘French Kissing.’

Website: http://www.lynneshelby.com/

Twitter: @LynneB1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LynneShelbyWriter

***

Many thanks for stopping by for a coffee Lynne- great interview.

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Guest Post from Kirsten McKenzie: The Hand of Publishing Fate

By Jenny Kane

On July 20, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

I am thrilled to have the wonderful Kirsten McKenzie visiting my blog today. This is a fantastic blog, which has winged its way through the email ether from the distant shores of New Zealand.

Over to you Kirsten…

My first book has just been published by Accent Press – ‘Fifteen Postcards’. A novel traversing three continents and two centuries. A blend of ‘The Far Pavilions’, with a touch of ‘The Time Travelers Wife’, rolled together with a smidgeon of the ‘Antique’s Roadshow’. If it wasn’t for my father dying, it would never have been written.

I had a pretty standard upbringing in New Zealand in the 70s. Dad had his own business – an antique shop, and worked long hours. Mum raised my younger brother and I. She was the one who went on all the school trips, picked us up after school, and took us to our after school activities. In the school holidays, my ideal day was helping Dad at the shop, Antique Alley – a literal treasure trove, and described as an Auckland icon. A shop heaving with stock, which invariably overflowed onto the floor, and filled the corridors, very much like how I described ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ in ‘Fifteen Postcards’.

Initially I was allowed to sit in the corner and sell postcards. As I got older I was promoted to serving behind the counter, helping customers choose gold bracelets for gifts, or give advice about which dinner service looked better. I worked off and on at the shop, and at antique fairs up and down the country, right through school and university. By osmosis I picked up a small amount of knowledge about a lot of things.

Then in 2005 Dad died.

My brother and I both quit our jobs (I was a Customs Officer), and started working at the shop. Ostensibly to provide our mother with an income, but it was also a job I had once loved, and although I’d never pursued it, I was more than happy to stand behind the shop counter and carry on where I’d left off in my late teens.

Working at the shop was a way to reconnect with my father. Antique Alley was such a part of his personality that walking into the shop became a way to keep his memory alive. Even today, nine years after his death, when I unlock the front door, and close the world off behind me as I sprint inside to turn off the alarm, I’ll murmur “Hello Dad”. Often followed by a little “Let this be a good day Dad!”. That may make me sound slightly nutty, but it gives me a sense of connectivity with my father, whom I miss everyday.

Writing ‘Fifteen Postcards’ in 2013 was part homage to my father, and part the realisation of a long held desire to write a book. Scattered throughout the book are snippets of his life and his quirks. My parents really did live above the shop before I came onto the scene, just like ‘Sarah’s parents in the book. My grandmother papered the lounge room upstairs in an appalling mixture of prints and floral paper (as described in the book), which Mum still detests to this day (there’s so much stock in that room now that it would be a marathon effort to strip it all back!). It was amusing remembering all of Dad’s foibles and fantastic sayings, weaving them into a plot worthy of his knowledge and expertise in the antique industry. It also became abundantly clear that my ‘small amount of knowledge about a lot of things’ wasn’t at all sufficient for a historical fiction novel, but that’s the basis of another blog post!

They say finding a publisher is one of the hardest parts of writing a book. I had rejections, five to be precise, but one of the publishers I submitted to, Accent Press, offered me a publishing contract. Which I signed. Why did I submit my manuscript to them? That was partly to do with Dad. He was born in Wales, moving to New Zealand when he was three. As an adult he returned to Wales to work and to reconnect with his extended family. I like to think Dad had a small part to play in me choosing Accent Press, who are based in Wales, and in them choosing me.

This is where it starts getting slightly more ‘Twilight Zone’. Bear with me as I talk you through it… David Powell was the incredible editor who worked on ‘Fifteen Postcards’. Without him, my book wouldn’t be anywhere near as awesome as it is. Weirdly, my father’s name was David. Fate? Coincidence? It keeps going. Accent Press released my book on the 21st of May, Mum’s birthday. Yes, yes, a strange collection of coincidences, but as someone still living with the grief of losing my father unexpectedly, these coincidences have given me some measure of solace, a belief that there has been a higher power at work, helping and guiding me.

The only time I haven’t felt Dad’s presence at work, was when I was held up at gunpoint in 2009. With a gun to my head, I was forced to sit on the ground whilst two men stole the jewellery from our cabinets. When Dad was alive, he’d always counseled that nothing in the shop was worth my life, and if anyone tried to rob the shop, I wasn’t to fight back. With that counsel firmly imprinted in my brain, I did just that. I sat there. I screamed a few times, hoping to attract the attention of someone outside, but stopped when they told me to stop screaming or they’d shoot me. I shut up after that. The armed robbery also made it into the pages of ‘Fifteen Postcards’. Writing that part of the manuscript was more difficult than I initially imagined, but also cathartic. I’ve never watched the CCTV footage of the robbery although I can give you a frame by frame playback, as the memory is still so vivid. Putting it down on paper has helped me get over it. Many, many bottles of red wine have also helped…

I am in the wonderful position of loving my job, as my father did, selling other people’s treasures. Everything in the shop was once loved and desired, all just waiting for their new home. It’s the ultimate in recycling. But isn’t that what writing is? The recycling of memories?

The writing of ‘Fifteen Postcards’ has captured some of my memories, hidden amongst the fictional plot and a cast of nefarious characters. And for that I am truly grateful to the hand of fate, or the confluence of coincidences.

****

Many thanks to Kirsten for such a wonderful, and very moving, blog. You can find out all about Kirsten and her work by following these links-

twitter.com/kiwimrsmac
facebook.com/KirstenMcKenzieAuthor
www.kirstenmckenzie.com
goodreads.com/KirstenMcKenzieAuthor

You find the buy link to Fifteen Postcards here– myBook.to/FifteenPostcards

Happy reading,

Jenny x

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

Tag: novel Page 12 of 17

Guest Interview with K.A. Hambly: Danny Hallows

Guest Post from Gilli Allan: Drawing a Naked Male Model can be Challenging

Meet Jack- Another Cup of Coffee

Recharging with Champagne

An Autumn Bargain: Romancing Robin Hood is ONLY 99p/99c!!!

ONLY 99p or 99c!!!!!

Guest Blog from Kathryn Joyce: A for Author, B for Book, and C for Challenge.

Happy Birthday Romancing Robin Hood!

Guest Post from Jan Ruth: Wild, Dark and Silent

Guest Interview with Lynne Shelby: French Kissing

Guest Post from Kirsten McKenzie: The Hand of Publishing Fate

Tag: novel Page 12 of 17

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