Jenny Kane & Jennifer Ash

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

Tag: writing

Which Hat Today? Guest Post by Laura Wilkinson

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On March 31, 2014

In Blog, News

I’m chuffed to bits to have my lovely friend, and multi-talented author, Laura Wilkinson here today!

Over to you Laura…

Laura hat

Which Hat Today?

‘I myself have 12 hats, and each one represents a different personality.  Why just be yourself?’ Margaret Atwood

I’m here to talk literary hats or, more specifically, the wearing of different styles. Like Jenny, and many authors, (Robert Galbraith anyone?) I write under two names. In my case: women’s fiction and hot romance. Unlike Jenny, I began with contemporary fiction before exploring my steamier side.

This year, I have two novels out. Public Battles, Private Wars was published by Accent in March and the sequel to All of Me, All of Him, (Xcite) comes out in May. I’m trembling just thinking about the logistics of promoting both novels while embarking upon the penning of another, and, perhaps most importantly, remembering which hat I’m wearing at any given time.

To continue the metaphor – and yes, it’s well-worn but stick with me – Laura Wilkinson’s hat is a warm, colourful beanie; something familiar, comforting, hopefully fashionable and stylish, which can be quirked up with the addition of a funky broach or by wearing it at a jaunty angle.

L.C’s hat is a more exotic, sumptuous affair; veiled lace and satin, and horrifically expensive, it is the stuff dreams are made of. The kind of hat sex bombs with devastatingly handsome lovers wear. Not like me at all, basically.

It takes a certain confidence to wear most hats. At the start of her story, my lead, Mandy, lacks self-confidence. She’s a young, stay-at-home-mother in a functioning but lack-lustre marriage to a miner; she has curly, ginger hair and she’s not what you’d call skinny. She loves cakes. In one scene, during the winter of 1984, when her husband has been on strike for nine months and her children are cold and hungry, Mandy puts on a bobble hat and goes searching for coal. Unloved by her husband but loved in quarters she’s not even aware of yet, it is fittingly unglamorous head wear. I could tell you what kind of hat Mandy would choose at the end of her story, but that would spoil it, wouldn’t it, and I’d love it if you read all about her. She’s an unexpected heroine.

public battles draft

Public Battles, Private Wars is published by Accent Press on 27 March.

Yorkshire 1983

Miner’s wife Mandy is stuck in a rut. Her future looks set and she wants more. But Mandy can’t do anything other than bake and raise her four children. Husband Rob is a good looking drinker, content to spend his days in the small town where they live.

When a childhood friend – beautiful, clever Ruth – and her Falklands war hero husband, Dan, return to town, their homecoming is shrouded in mystery. Mandy looks to Ruth for inspiration, but Ruth isn’t all she appears.

Conflict with the Coal Board turns into war and the men come out on strike. The community and its way of life is threatened. Mandy abandons dreams of liberation from the kitchen sink and joins a support group. As the strike rumbles on relationships are pushed to the brink, and Mandy finds out who her true friends are.

Here are a few buy links:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Public-Battles-Private-Laura-Wilkinson/dp/1783755164/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393528368&sr=8-1&keywords=public+battles+private+wars

http://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/10497/Public-Battles-Private-Wars.html

You can find out more about Laura and the novel, including Book Group Questions, here: http://laura-wilkinson.co.uk

****

COMPETITION TIME!!!!

To celebrate the launch of this amazing book, Accent Press and Goodreads are running a competition to win a copy of Public Battles, Private Wars.

All you need to do to enter is follow this link!! Good luck- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21488069-public-battles-private-wars

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Thanks again Laura!!! I LOVE both you hats-  xxxx

Guest Blog by Jan Ellis: An Accidental Romantic Novelist

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On March 27, 2014

In Blog, News

I’m delighted to welcome the multi-talented Jan Ellis to my blog today! Writer, historian, Nobel prize winner, and pole dancer – apparently…

Jan Ellis2 small

 

Hello Jenny and thanks for inviting me to share my deepest darkest secrets on your blog. Okay. Confession time: when I said I was an ex-pole dancer and a Nobel prize winner, that was actually a fib. However, when I said that I have a PhD in early modern history, that was true. Which sort of explains how I got into writing fiction:

1) I like making things up.

2) It’s easier and more fun than writing about history.

I guess you could say that I became a ‘romantic novelist’ by accident. I was approached by digital publishers Endeavour Press to write a history book, but we couldn’t agree on a topic. ‘No problem,’ they said. ‘Have a go at some chicklit instead.’ Because the first rule of being self-employed is to say ‘Yes’ to everything and figure out how to do whatever it is afterwards, I decided to give it a go. Fortunately for me (and the publishers), I was able to come up with quite a jolly story that people have actually paid money for.

We called it An Unexpected Affair. In it my heroine – Eleanor Mace – is a 40-something divorcee who leaves London, buys a lime-green camper van and escapes to Devon to run a bookshop. Life is ticking along quite nicely for Eleanor until things take an unexpected turn, sending her on a journey across France on the trail of an old flame.

An Unexpected Affair small

Here’s an extract:

“You look miles away, El,” said Jenna, pausing from examining an array of straw hats in the local market. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, fine. I was just wondering how things were back at the shop.”

Jenna peered at her from over her sunglasses. “You always were an unconvincing liar.”

“Alright – I was thinking about Christophe. And about my life . . .”

“And what might have been if you hadn’t married Alan the Android?”

It was an open secret that Jenna had never really warmed to her brother-in-law and had not shed many tears when the marriage had eventually broken up. Eleanor opened her mouth to protest, but Jenna held up her hands in submission.

“Okay, okay. I know he was a good husband, a devoted father, blah, blah, but he was bloody boring El, you have to admit. All that running around squash courts with the lads and traipsing across golf courses . . . “

“Keith plays golf!”

“Kiff may play golf,” Jenna agreed, arranging a hat on her head, “but he doesn’t actually enjoy it.”

Eleanor couldn’t help laughing.

“Alan was always so earnest,” she added, handing over a handful of Euros to the stall holder. “Anyway, you are a free woman and your ex-husband is in a much better place.”

“You make it sound as though he’s died!”

“He’s in Canada with a dental hygienist, which I would say was much the same thing.”

****

French Kisses cover small

Flushed with success, I then wrote my second e-novella, French Kisses. In this story, my heroine Rachel has a happy life in rural France until her husband hits 40, discovers his inner love-rat and runs off with another woman. Determined to ignore her friends’ advice to up-sticks and move back to England, Rachel decides to turn their home into a bijou guest house. Romance comes in the form of local admirers and ex-husband Michael, who is never far away.

Like my first novella, the focus of the story is on family, fun and friendship. I don’t do soppy! Also, I am intrigued by the coincidences that run through all our lives, and I like to get these into my stories, so Rachel finds she has an unlikely connection to one of her guests, American academic Josh Perry.

Here’s an extract:

When she awoke the next morning she was naked apart from the pink fluffy bed socks. And she was not alone. She groaned inwardly as she looked at Josh and rolled over, hoping to creep out of bed before he woke. Too late.

“Well good morning, beautiful,” he said, turning around and wrapping himself around her. She felt him nuzzle into her neck and gently kiss the tops of her shoulders, his beard tickling her in a not unpleasant manner.

She turned back to face him, pushing him away when he tried to kiss her breasts. “No, we mustn’t.”

He pulled back and smiled at her. “I think you’ll find that we already have. Or was that just a particularly vivid dream I had there?”

Rachel wriggled away from him and hopped out of bed, grabbing her robe from the armchair by her bed.

“Nice socks.” Josh lay propped up on his arm, smiling at her. “Come back to bed Rachel,” he said, throwing back the covers and patting the place beside him. “It’s still early.”

“Damn, bugger, bollocks,” muttered Rachel, running around the room, collecting clothes and rejecting them again. “I’ve got to collect the kids at 9am and it’s already twenty-to.”

Josh sat up, attentive now. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Make me tea!”

“I’m on it,” he said, running towards the door.

Rachel looked back from the bathroom. “But maybe put your clothes on first?”

“Sure thing,” he said, coming over to kiss her. “God, last night was great Rachel.”

“Milk no sugar. Go!”

****

Autichamp small

At some time in the future I would like to bring Eleanor, Rachel, their families and assorted admirers together for one big party! Keep an eye on my website or follow me on Twitter to see how I get on.

Website: http://jlravenscroft.wix.com/janelliswriter

Twitter: @JanEllis_writer

An Unexpected Affair  and French Kisses are available to download from Amazon:

French Kisses

An Unexpected Affair
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Many thanks to Jan for taking time out from not really pole dancing, but definitely being a historian, to write a great blog, and serve up two such tasty extracts for us today.

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

Tiny Acts of Bravery…

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On March 21, 2014

In Blog, News

If you follow the ‘other’ me, then you’ll know that I am trying hard to be just that little bit braver this year. To stick the occasional toe outside of my comfort zone and do things I’m generally too nervous or shy to do.

This week, (and this is going to sound very feeble) for the first time ever I drove all on my own from my home to where my parents live. (I told you it would sound feeble!). Although I have done the journey a hundred times, I have always been firmly sat in the passenger seat, and I felt an almost ridiculous amount of pride in myself for making it all that way in my tiny little car. (Singing the whole way-out of tune- at the top of my voice!)

So why was I on this mid-week road trip?

RNA logo

On Wednesday evening I went to my very first Romantic Novelists Association meeting!!

As a writer I obviously spend a great deal of time on my own, and am very comfortable in my own company. I love spending time with friends, but I do get quite nervous when I meet new people.

Although I was really looking forward to my very first outing as Jenny Kane, as I got ready to head to a pub in gorgeous village of Lacock in Wiltshire, to meet fellow writers Rachel Brimble, Jane Lark, Nicola Cornick, and many others… I was experiencing more than a few butterflies in my stomach.

Lacock

Of course I need not have worried at all- what a wonderful group of folk!!

Welcoming and kind, we were all soon chatting writing, and confirming my long held belief that writers really do need writers. Only fellow addicts of wordage really “get” all our strange little hang ups, our inbuilt paranoia, and our “do we market too much or not enough” worries. It is always a relief to know I’m not the only lunatic in the asylum!

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Rachel Brimble for allowing me to come along and join in the fun.

Now it’s back to the writing- and planning my next mini adventure of course…

Happy reading,

Jenny xx

 

Accidentally plotting a murder…

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On March 17, 2014

In Blog, News

The last thing I expected I’d be doing during the drafting of my latest romantic novel, Romancing Robin Hood was plotting my first murder- and yet, that is exactly what I’ve been doing over the past few days.

dagger

Perhaps, with a legendary outlaw in the title, it isn’t so surprising that I have found myself sorting out the finer points of a murder mystery- and yet I didn’t see this coming.

Whenever I begin a new novel, I have plenty of ideas, sketch out a plotline, and cobble together a synopsis, but at the same time I very much like my characters to take hold of the story themselves. I enjoy travelling with them, and being as surprised (hopefully) as my readers will be when they read my finished work.

Although Romancing Robin Hood is a contemporary romance, it also contains a secondary story about a fourteenth century criminal gang- the Folvilles. This family, based in Ashby-Folville in Leicestershire, were a group who I researched in-depth when I was a student many moons ago. Of the lower nobility, they took crime (both violent and otherwise), as a way of life.

My latest novels Fourteenth century protagonist Mathilda, is getting to know the Folville family rather better than she would have liked… (you’ll see!!) As well as living with them, she suddenly finds herself under a very frightening type of suspicion…

history-of-ashby-folville

I must confess, I’m rather enjoying weaving this sub plot around the main romance of the modern part of Romancing Robin Hood.

I had no idea killing someone off could be so much fun!! It’s like doing a jigsaw from in the inside out, while having no idea where the corners are…I’m loving it- but whether you’ll work out who did it before Mathilda does…

I’m hoping not…but we will see…

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Comfort Reads – What’s Your Book Chocolate?

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On February 10, 2014

In Blog, News

I’ve always been a big reader, and it is rare for me to have fewer than four books cued up on my bedside table ready for me to get stuck into.

My literary tastes are wide and diverse- I adore Terry Pratchett. I love Scarlett Thomas, Katie Fforde, Judy Astley and Lisa Jewell. I can’t miss a Colin Dexter or an Elizabeth George, and Arianna Franklin’s work fascinates me- and all for very different reasons.

my books 1

Sometimes though, rather than tackling a brand new read, you just need some book chocolate. A story, which perhaps you’ve read twenty times before, but which is guaranteed to make you feel better. A book to curl up with on a cold winter day, after a bad day, or when you just need to read something that you don’t have to think about, because you already know everything is going to be okay!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My number one- “Oh hell it’s been a crap day I need to feel better book”- is The Rose Revived by Katie Fforde. My copy is in a pretty poor state of repair, and several of the pages are stuck back in with sellotape! I know exactly what is going to happen- and I love that fact. I love that I can read the pages with the feeling that I’m indulging in a coffee and an extra bar of chocolate with friends.

Rose Revived 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was a child my book equivalent of a comfy pair of slippers was Winnie-The-Pooh, and as a teenager it was The Hooded Man (Robin of Sherwood) by Anthony Horowitz (a fact that won’t surprise you in light of my current WIP- Romancing Robin Hood!!)

Hooded Man 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I decided to take the leap from writing erotica to contemporary romance, my main aim was to produce a book that would make people feel better. To write a story that would sit on a bookshelf, ready to be pulled out in a ‘I need cheering up’ emergency- but without being twee!

Costa ACOC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So you can imagine how delighted I was when I braved a look at Another Cup of Coffee on Amazon the other day to find this comment nestled inside a 5 star review- “…its like a hug in a book…” (The full review is available here- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Cup-Of-Coffee-contemporary-ebook/dp/B00EVYZC7M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1390980980&sr=1-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee )

Whether any copy of Another Cup of Coffee will ever get into such a loved mess as my volume of The Rose Revived remains to be seen- but I hope so!!

Do you have a favourite book to cheer you up, or relax you after a tough day? I’d love to hear about it.

Happy Reading

Jenny xx

Temporarily Going Cold Turkey

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On January 5, 2014

In Blog, News

I’ve had two weeks off!! Two whole weeks!

Sounds like bliss doesn’t it? And- it was. I had my first full fourteen days off since I started to write 9 years ago this Christmas. It was wonderful to have my little computer stashed away over the festive season and New Year, and to do what I’ve been promising my long suffering, and incredibly patient, family for years- leave my pen and pencil alone.

pen and paper

However, as any writer will tell you, leaving your stories behind for a while isn’t that straight forward. The fingers might not be hovering over the keyboard, the hand might not be gripping the pen, but turning off the imagination is a tougher proposition altogether!

Before the turkey had turned cold my head was at saturation point with new ideas dancing around my brain. I’ve lost count of the nights I have managed to sleep this Christmas without waking up with an idea nagging at my head to be scribbled down.

By Day 6 my fingers were actually itching for movement and the familiar hold of my pen, and I could feel my usual calm temper cracking. I felt a bit like a recently quitted smoker who yearns to hold a cigarette even if they don’t intend to smoke it!

On Day 7 I took action- away I went to the wool shop and bought some wool. I’ve never knitted so fast in my life! Every time I felt the urge to write I knitted a line of something- not sure what- probably a very long wide scarf- possibly a blanket…I’ll see how it looks when the wool runs out…

wool

By Day 12 I was sneaking ideas down in a notebook when no one was looking. By Day 13 I found I’d accidentally written the chapter plan for a novel I won’t have time to write until the end of the year at the earliest!

But thankfully- for the sake of my sanity and my families- today is Day 14- and my beautiful children are back off to school tomorrow. You probably think I’ll be cheering them off as they disappear with their bags and their lunch boxes, but I’ll really miss them. They however have decided that Mum is a lot nicer to have around if she has a pen in her hand!

Next Christmas I am definitely not going cold turkey writing wise- I think a week of slowly writing less and less each day until I take just one week off would be much more sensible!! It’s either that, or I break the world scarf knitting record!!

cold turkey

Coffee time I think- and on with my latest novel…

Happy Reading Everyone,

Jenny xx

 

 

Happy New Year!!

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On January 1, 2014

In Blog, News

Is it me, or did Christmas come and go with even more lightening speed than usual this year?

I hope you all had a wonderful break, and are kicking off 2014 with good health and wide smiles.

2013 was my very first year as Jenny Kane- and what a start I had!

ACOC- coverAnother Cup of Christmas

Another Cup of Coffee spent weeks in the Amazon Best Sellers, and it’s mini festive sequel Another Cup of Christmas hit the Amazon short stories Best Sellers lists!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what does 2014 bring for Jenny Kane???

Well- a new novel is on its way, and I’m planning a few story stories… watch this space…

2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for all your support in 2013!!

Happy Reading,

Jenny xx

 

 

A Very Potted History of Halloween and Trick-or-Treat

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On October 31, 2013

In Blog

Popping my historian hat on today- here is a whirlwind mini guide to the history of Halloween and Trick or Treat…

Halloween

Every 31st October we celebrate the night of Halloween. Pumpkins are carved into jack-o-lanterns, white sheets are ripped in half and turned into ghost costumes, and children go trick-or-treating. These activities are a very modern, rather commercialised, take on a festival steeped in history.

Halloween has its earliest originals in Celtic times, beginning life as a ceremony known as Samhain (pronounced sah-win). A pagan festival that was both a celebration and a thank you to the spirit world that marked the end of the harvest.

Traditionally in Gaelic culture, Samhain was a time when records were made of the harvest stocks, and the local population prepared their land and homes for the trials of the winter to come.

The pagan Gaels believed that during Samhain, on 31st October, the boundaries between our world and the world of the dead thinned and then overlapped. They thought that the dead would return, bringing sickness to infect the living, and disease to damage the crops.

In order to keep these evils at bay, the Gaels dressed up in costumes with masks, mimicking the evil spirits. It was this tradition that is reflected in the dressing up outfits worn during Halloween in the modern century.

bonfire

Whilst wearing their evil spirits outfits, the pagans would light bonfires to keep the bad forces at bay. It has also been speculated that the fires attracted insects, and therefore bats, who would come to feast upon them- giving us another symbol of Halloween today. Historians believe that the pagans prayed into the bonfires for the souls of the dead stuck for eternity in purgatory, in the hope that they’d attain release.

Another name for Halloween is All Hallows Eve. This dates from 835AD, when the Roman Catholic Church made 1st November All Souls Day; a happy celebration to honour all of their saints. The word for saint in old English is ‘hallow’, and so, the night before All Souls Day, became All Hallows Eve- and then, in time, Halloween.

trick or treat

Although the celebration of Halloween can be traced back to the time of the pagan Gaels Samhain festival, the tradition of trick or treating has its origins much later.

In the medieval period it became popular to dress up and go from door to door on All Hallows Eve (or Hallowmas as it was beginning to be known). The poor would knock on doors and receive gifts of food in return for prayers to the souls of the dead to be made on All Souls Day.

In modern times, it is the USA that is most associated with the celebration of Halloween, where trick or treating has become a multi-million dollar industry. However, it wasn’t until the 1900’s that there is any recorded evidence of this annual practise. It was in Britain, Ireland, and across parts of Europe where reports of alms being given in return for prayers for the peace of the souls of the dead were first recorded. Even Shakespeare mentions the custom in his Italian based tale, The Two Gentleman of Verona (written in 1593) – “puling [whimpering, whining], like a beggar at Hallowmas.”

Although Halloween is known to have been celebrated in America from c.1910, and many thousands of Halloween postcards were produced from around the 1920’s showing children celebrating, none of them show the act of trick-or-treating.

The term “trick or treat” doesn’t appear in America until 1934, and it wasn’t until after the end of post-war sugar rationing, that trick-or-treating began to become popular.

By 1952, however, the tradition was firmly established, and in that year Walt Disney even included it in one of his cartoons, the appropriately entitled “Trick or Treat.”

So there you are guys- a very simple guide to Halloween.

Happy pumpkin carving folks!!

Jenny xx

Twenty Questions With Jenny Kane

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On October 5, 2013

In Blog, News

Jenny KaneI have been neglecting this blog a little this week, and thought I should put that right! So, I asked a friend to pretend she didn’t know me, and ask me 20 quick-fire questions she thought my readers might want to know the answers to! Yes- I know that’s a little bit mad- but I’m a writer- insanity is only ever inches away!!

 

  1. 1.Why have you neglected this blog this week?

The other me- Kay Jaybee– has had a new novel released this week- I’ve been concentrating on promoting that. (The Retreat- Part 2 of The Perfect Submissive Trilogy)

  1. 2. Are you more like Kay or Jenny in real life?

Jenny

  1.  Do you love coffee as much as the characters in Another Cup of Coffee?

Even more than they do!

  1. How do you take it?

Black- nothing added- Americano for preference

coffee cups

  1. 5. How many cups do you drink a day?

Too many

  1. 6. Do you really write in cafes and coffee shops like JK Rowling?

I really do.

  1. 7.What is your favourite hot drink – apart from coffee?

Coffee is the only hot drink I like- I HATE tea, and I’m allergic to milk, so can’t have hot chocolate, latte etc

  1. Favourite colour?

Purple

  1. Boots, trainers, or heels?

Boots – I am not sporty, and I’d break my neck in heels. I am very clumsy!

  1. Are the characters in Another Cup of Coffee based on real people?

Some of them are.

  1. Which ones?

My lips are sealed.

  1. Spoil sport- give us a clue?

I knew three of them at University- although I obviously wrote exaggerated versions of them- and they are all still my friends and totally lovely.

  1. What did you study at University?

I did an Archaeology degree, and then a Medieval History  PhD.

  1. Ohhh-  like Amy did…?

Yes- just like Amy did- well, the archaeology bit anyway- I think I can guess the next question!

  1. So  are you Amy?

I am a little tiny bit, but only a little bit. I am more like Kit- but not too much!!!

  1. You feature Kew Gardens in the book, have you been there, or did you just research in on Google?

I’ve been there a few times. I really like just wondering around the various greenhouses- and sitting in the cafe of course!

  1. Jack and Rob run a bookshop in Another Cup of Coffee, is that based on a real place?

No, that I invented.

  1. What would you say always surprises people when they meet you?

That I wear hearing aids. I am 80% deaf.

  1. Do  you prefer being Kay Jaybee- Queen of BDSM Kink- or Jenny Kane- Writer of  book chocolate?

I love being both of them – it is wonderful to be able to create such different styles of work, and thus- hopefully- make more people happy when they read! (Well- that’s the plan!)

  1. What is Jenny going to do next?

I’m writing a Christmas spin off from Another Cup of Coffee– a novella length piece, which should hopefully get to you all in time for this year’s festive season.

 

I hope my answers made you smile! I am certainly smiling- for Another Cup of Coffee is still selling really well!

If you fancy seeing what all the fuss is about- then you can order your copy of Another Cup of Coffee here…

 

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

 

Amazon US – http://www.amazon.com/Another-Cup-Coffee-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783751126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377605667&sr=8-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee+jenny+kane

 

Thanks for dropping by!

 

Jenny xx

 

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