#BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn / #QandAs : Murder on Oak Street – I. M. Foster @IMFosterMystery #HistoricalMystery #CozyMystery

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Murder on Oak Street Tour Banner 2

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Murder on Oak Street’ blogtour, organised by The Coffee Pot Book Club.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing an interview between the author and me, but first I have some information

About the Author :

I. M. Foster authorI. M. Foster is the pen name author Inez Foster uses to write her South Shore Mystery series, set on Edwardian Long Island. Inez also writes historical romances under the pseudonym Andrea Matthews, and has so far published two series in that genre: the Thunder on the Moor series, a time-travel romance set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Borders, and the Cross of Ciaran series, which follows the adventures of a fifth century Celt who finds himself in love with a twentieth century archaeologist.
Inez is a historian and librarian, who love to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogically speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science and enjoys the research almost as much as she does writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. Inez is a member of the Long Island Romance Writers, the Historical Novel Society, and Sisters in Crime.

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About the Book :

I. M. Foster authorNew York, 1904. After two years as a coroner’s physician for the city of New York, Daniel O’Halleran is more frustrated than ever. What’s the point when the authorities consistently brush aside his findings for the sake of expediency? So when his fiancée leaves him standing at the altar on their wedding day, he takes it as a sign that it’s time to move on and eagerly accepts an offer to assist the local coroner in the small Long Island village of Patchogue.
Though the coroner advises him that life on Long Island is far more subdued than that of the city, Daniel hasn’t been there a month when the pretty librarian, Kathleen Brissedon, asks him to look into a two-year-old murder case that took place in the city. Oddly enough, the case she’s referring to was the first one he ever worked on, and the verdict never sat right with him.
Eager for the chance to investigate it anew, Daniel agrees to look into it in his spare time, but when a fresh murder occurs in his own backyard, he can’t shake his gut feeling that the two cases are connected. Can he discover the link before another life is taken, or will murder shake the peaceful South Shore village once again?

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This title is available to read with #KindleUnlimited.

Universal Link

And now it’s finally time for the

blog-q&a

Hi

First of all thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it. Here we go! 🙂

Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but becoming an author was a bit more gradual. For years, I wrote stories whenever I had a spare moment, and even tried the traditional publishing route, but I had a job and a family to raise, so needless to say, the books were put on the back burner. Then a few years ago, I decided to get serious and published my first book, a historical romance under the pen name of Andrea Matthews. That was it. I was a published author, and for me, there was no turning back. I love the whole process. OK, maybe not the editing so much. But after writing two romance series, under the pen name Andrea Matthews, I decided to dig out the historical mystery that I’d been working on. After a few edits and revisions, I felt it was where I wanted it to be and published it under the pen name, I. M. Foster. Why two pen names? As a librarian, I noticed that patrons sometimes became annoyed when they picked up their favorite mystery author, only to find out the author’s latest book was a romance or vis a versa. And so, I decided to avoid that pitfall and write under the two pen names. It’s a little more work, but I think it’s worth it.

Which books did/do you love to read as a child/now as a grown-up?
Whatever I read must have two aspects: history and romance. That being the case, I love historical romance as well as historical mysteries that have a bit of romantic tension in them. The first book I fell in love with was Pride and Prejudice. Who doesn’t love Mr. Darcy? Today I read authors like Victoria Thompson, Andrea Penrose, and C. S. Harris to name a few. At the moment, however, I’m reading a book by a friend, author Griffin Brady, entitled the Hussar’s Duty. It’s packed full of history, with a lovely romantic story too. Right up my ally.

Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?
There are so many wonderful writers, it would be hard to choose. Perhaps J.K. Rowling. I love how she worked so much detail and mythology into her Harry Potter series and captured the hearts of children and adults alike. I’m also interested in how she managed to switch gears to create a successful adult series writing as Robert Galbratih. For marketing and productivity, I’d love to chat with James Patterson and Adriana Trigiani. As for my own genres, I’d like to sit down with the great mystery writers like P. D. James, Agatha Christi, and Conan Doyle, as well as a few more current ones, like those I’ve listed above.

If you could, which fictional character (from your own book(s) or someone else’s) would you like to invite for tea and why?
From someone else’s it would definitely be Mr. Darcy. I don’t think any explanation is needed there. And from my own? That really is a hard one. Can I just give a party and invite them all? If I had to choose, probably Daniel O’Halleran and Kathleen Brissedon, since that’s the book I’ll be working on next. It would be interesting to have a real conversation with them and not just the one that takes place in my head.

Do you have some rituals or habits whilst writing?
Not really. I write whenever I can. Sometimes the tv or radio is on. Sometimes it’s not. I have breakfast in the morning and start writing. I do fall down a lot of rabbit holes in the process as I tend to go off on research tangents in-between, but I don’t have any real habits.

Where do you come up with your idea(s)? Do people in your life need to be worried? 😉
No one needs to worry. My characters are all combinations of qualities, personalities, and traits. They may be gathered from a variety of people I’ve come across or simply be characteristics I either like or dislike in a person. None, however, are anyone in particular. In fact, I go to great lengths to make sure they’re not. I also never create perfect characters. Everyone has their faults, even my heroes. I think it makes them more realistic.
As for ideas where my story ideas come from, that could be just about anywhere. I’m a daydreamer, so I’m usually conjuring up stories for any given situation. I’ve actually have dreamed some of them, and keep a pad and pencil by my bed for just such an occasion. I’ve also stumbled across an idea or two while doing genealogical or other research. Some have even occured to me while sitting in my backyard listening to the birds sing and being carried away to another time or place – in a daydream, not in reality. lol

Are you a plotter or do you go with the flow, as a pantser?
Both. Writing historical mysteries, and romances, just by their very nature, require that there be a certain amount of plotting involved. To begin with, the period needs to be thoroughly researched before you even start. With the mysteries, clues need to be planted, suspects decided upon, and motives established as well. All that goes up on my “murder board” and in my series binder. However, once that is all planned out, and I start writing, I let the characters lead the way. Sometimes, after falling down a research rabbit hole, I may even discover an extra little tidbit that would work great in the story, and I let the characters run with it.

Can you give novice writers some tips (do’s/don’ts)?
Be open to advice, but you don’t necessarily have to take it. There are as many opinions out there as there are books. Use the ones that work for you, the ones that come from sources you admire, and disgard the others.
As for critiques, read them with an open mind, but don’t let them determine how you feel about your writing. Even the great novelists have their detractors. Use them to learn from and improve your writing, but always remember, you’re never going to please everyone.

What are your future plans as an author?
The good Lord willing, I hope to continue writing. For the moment, I’ve finished up my Thunder on the Moor series, which I write as Andrea Matthews. I say at the momoent, because I don’t have another story worthy of the tale at the moment, but should one hit me, there might be other books. My Cross of Ciaran series, also by Andrea Matthews, still has stories to be told, so I hope to continue writing that. The next installment is scheduled to be released in a few weeks. And as I. M. Foster, I’ll be starting on the second book in the South Shore Mystery series next week, which will hopefully be out this fall.
As for other plans, I’ve got a few tales floating around in my head, but it’s just a matter of finding the time to put them down on paper and make some sense of the plots etc., but you can be sure, they’ll all include history and at least a bit of romance.

Last, but not least : Can you give my readers one teaser from your book, which is featured here on my blog, please?
Tagline: Can the doctor and his self-appointed librarian assistant discover the link betweetn the murders before another life is taken, or will murder shake the peaceful south shore village once again?
Teaser line from Book: Kathleen was closing the door behind them when a shot rang out and Daniel staggered, doubling over and clutching his side.

Isn’t that a great reason to pick up the book and read it?!
Thanks once again, I. M. Foster, for this lovely interview!
Thanks so much for interviewing me! I really enjoyed talking with you.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #GuestPost : Claimed By The Viking Chief – Sarah Rodi @sarahrodiedits @MillsandBoon @HarlequinBooks

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Claimed by the Viking Chief

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Claimed By The Viking Chief’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a guest post written by the author, but first I have some information

About the Author :

My mugshot (1)Sarah Rodi has always been a hopeless romantic. She grew up watching old, romantic movies recommended by her grandad, or devouring love stories from the local library. Sarah lives in the village of Cookham in Berkshire, where she enjoys walking along the River Thames with her husband, her two daughters and their dog.
She has been a magazine journalist for over 20 years, but it has been her lifelong dream to write romance for Harlequin/Mills & Boon. New for 2023, she is the New Writers Scheme Coordinator for the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
Sarah believes everyone deserves to find their happy ever after.
You can visit her on her

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About the Book :

Claimed My mugshot (1)(1)She can be his lover
…but never his wife!
Forced into servitude, Wren is quietly miserable…until Jarl Knud arrives at her settlement, seeking an alliance through marriage. Despite their initial sizzling attraction Wren despises everything the Jarl represents—and he needs a high-status bride to save his people, not a servant like her. As Wren uncovers the man beneath the fierce Viking chief she’s tempted to claim one forbidden night of passion…but will it ever be enough?

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK
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And now it’s finally time for the

blog-guest post

Thank you for the opportunity to share the inspiration behind my latest Viking historical romance novel for Harlequin Mills & Boon, out this week! The idea for this story came about when I was researching the Vikings and whether or not they used wood ash to dye their skin…
In all of my books so far, my characters have scars or dye on their skin, which assist in telling their stories and explaining their personalities. These physical marks always reveal something about them that makes them stand out from the crowd.
But it got me thinking… what if someone had a mark on their skin, like a brand, but they didn’t know what it meant… My heroine, Wren, has always despised the Danes of the north, since they seized her and took her captive in battle when she was just a girl, tearing her from the arms of her mother. Gifted to the enemy chieftain’s daughter to be her companion and servant, she is now the thrall of Earl Ingrid, the ruler of Boer. Wren has vowed that one day, she will be a free woman. But she doesn’t know where she came from and what the mark on her shoulder means…
Jarl Knud knows he must make a marriage alliance with Earl Ingrid to keep his stronghold safe from attack, and yet he is instantly attracted to her servant, Wren… When Boer is attacked and Earl Ingrid is injured, Jarl Knud stays with Wren to help. As they attempt to escape their enemy and make their way to Nedergaard on a perilous journey, they grow closer.
Here’s the scene where Wren tells Jarl Knud about her brand:

‘No, Earl Ingrid never branded me, if that’s what you’re asking. But I do have this.’ She tugged the neckline of her tunic down a little to esxpose the pale curve of her shoulder. At the top of her back was a black circle of ink and inside was a little knotted triangular shape.
Lifting his hand, he smoothed his thumb over the mark and she shivered.
‘What is it?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve had it since I was little. I’m unsure what it means… I wondered if you might know?’
‘In our lands, that symbol means family. Perhaps it means the same where you come from?’ But this peculiar symbol, the way it was done, with its intricate knotwork, triggered a memory. He was certain he’d seen it somewhere before, but he couldn’t recall it at this moment.

Jarl Knud knows Wren is forbidden, but as Wren uncovers the man beneath the fierce Viking chief, she’s tempted to claim one night of passion… she can be his lover but never his wife, yet will that ever be enough? And what secrets will they learn about the mark on her skin?
I had a great time watching my characters grow, develop and change throughout the story as they discover who they truly are, so they can achieve their happy ever after. I hope you enjoy getting to know them as much as I did.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #Excerpt : Her Unforgettable Knight – Melissa Oliver @melissaoauthor @MillsandBoon @HarlequinBooks

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Her Unforgettable Knight

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Her Unforgettable Knight’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing an extract, but first I have some information

About the Author :

A Stolen - Melissa Oliver picMelissa Oliver is from south-west London where she writes sweeping historical romance and is the winner of The Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Joan Hessayon Award for new writers 2020 for her debut, The Rebel Heiress and the Knight.

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About the Book :

Her Unforgettable KnightShe never forgot him…
Can she ever forgive him?
Part of Protectors of the Crown. Marguerite never expected to see Savaric again—let alone to have to help him when she finds him outnumbered in a fight. He’s the brooding knight she fell for two years ago, until he left her unexpectedly. Now Marguerite is a hardened spy, and wary of trusting him again. But how long can she resist their connection when they must work together to protect the Crown…?

Purchase Links:
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Books2Read

And now it’s finally time for the

blog-excerpt

In this excerpt Savaric Fitz Leonard and Marguerite Studdal meet at a London tavern to discuss how they could work together, as demanded by the liege lord Hubert de Burgh, despite both of them wanting very little to do with one another…

Marguerite’s eyes glittered, clearly delighted that he had deferred to her.
‘I am very glad you have asked me this question for I have been pondering on this since de Burgh made his demands.’
‘Have you, now?’
‘I have. And I would propose that we commence collating information on our own but then share our findings with one another and form a strategy on how to proceed with the mission.’ She took a deep breath. ‘That way we can contain the amount of time we spend with one another.’
Marguerite omitted saying that she would rather it was as little as possible but the implication was there all the same.
‘Am I to understand that you would prefer to be in your own company, while collating information, as you put it, rather than have the pleasure of mine?’
‘As I mentioned earlier, I do seem to work better on my own. I find it less distracting.’
‘Well, then I am shocked and outraged.’
‘No, you are not.’ She chuckled softly, surprising both Savaric and mayhap even herself. God, but when was the last time he had made a woman—rather, this particular woman—laugh?
‘Ah, so you claim to know me, mistress?’
‘Not in the least.’
‘But you do find me distracting?’
The laughter dried on her lips as she snapped her head up to meet his gaze. He noted the flush of her cheeks, which seemed to spread down her neck and along the expanse of her chest before disappearing under her clothing. His whole body was now taut, his tunic a little too tight as he pondered where the delectable pink blush might have spread to.
‘I do not believe I said that you were distracting, sir.’
He clasped his chest with both hands. ‘You wound me.’
‘I rather doubt it.’
‘Do you?’
She glared at him. ‘You are being intentionally vexing, Savaric.’
‘Along with many other epithets.’
‘I merely meant that working alongside anyone would prove to be a distraction for the both of us, which neither of us need. Besides, you shall be gathering information around the city while I shall be doing so at court.’
‘True.’ He shrugged.
‘In view of that, I would also ask you not to question the methods I might deploy in gaining information.’
‘I would never dream of doing so.’
‘Good, I am glad to hear it. After all, we are both sensible, and pragmatic. Indeed, there should be no reason why we cannot attempt to work together…despite our reservations.’
‘Indeed,’ he muttered wryly.
‘Then I take it that you are in agreement with these terms.’ She leant across the table again. ‘I for one will not adjust any of this, whatever Hubert de Burgh demanded.’
‘Oh, I rather doubt you would refuse him anything. After all, he is the key for you to obtain all that you seek. Is he not?’ He took a sip from his mug and inclined his head. ‘But I admit your terms seem acceptable…reasonable even.’
‘Then you agree to them?’
‘I do.’
Her shoulders visibly sagged in relief. ‘Very good.’
Except that it was not good. Except that Savaric was somewhat uneasy about Marguerite’s safety while she went about gathering information on her own in a manner of her choosing. And although he could acknowledge that she must excel at her “work to be in de Burgh’s employ, he remained apprehensive. Not that he could readily voice this, since the termagant would view it as interference. Yet he needed to consider how best to protect her, and as discreetly as possible, now that she was back in London.
‘On one condition, Marguerite. That if you ever need my assistance in any matter, however big or small, you will get word to me through the tavern here or through the chapel we met at earlier. I will then come to you, at any time, or at any place, mistress.’ He also leant in towards her. ‘I warn you that I too am immoveable on this. So, what say you?’
She did not say anything for a moment, mayhap turning over his terms. But then she nodded, evidently coming to a decision. ‘Very well, I accept.’
Savaric held out his hand. ‘Then let us shake on it.’
Marguerite reached out and clasped his hand and that was when everything changed. That was when the moment stretched, as everything and everyone around them in the tavern seemed to melt away. It was as though there was only him and her and no one else. They continued to stare at one another, unable to move away…

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #RandomThingsTours @RandomTTours / #QandAs : Bastard Verdict – James McCrone @jamesmccrone4

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Bastard Verdict BT Poster

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Bastard Verdict’ blogtour, organised by Random Things Tours.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing an interview between the author and me, but first I have some information

About the Author :

_new-headhshot22 copyJames McCrone is the author of the Faithless Elector series—Faithless ElectorDark Network, and Emergency Powers—“taut” and “gripping” political thrillers about a stolen presidency. Bastard Verdict is his fourth novel. To get the details right for this thriller, he drew on his boyhood in Scotland, and scouted the locations for scenes in the book while attending Bloody Scotland in 2019 and again in ’22.
His short stories have appeared in Rock and a Hard Place; Retreats from Oblivion: The Journal of NoirCon, and in the short-story anthology Low Down Dirty Vote, vols.2 and 3.
He’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, Int’l Assoc. of Crime Writers, Philadelphia Dramatists’ Center and he’s the vice-president of the Delaware Valley Sisters in Crime chapter.  A Pacific Northwest native (mostly), he lives in South Philadelphia with his wife and three children. James has an MFA from the University of Washington, in Seattle.
Bastard Verdict has been calling out to be written for a number of years, and it’s finally ready. He’s also continuing work on the next book, a gritty thriller set in rural Oregon, called Witness Tree.

About the Book :

9780999137741You don’t have to win, just don’t lose.
High stakes and low politics combine with deadly effect in the new thriller, Bastard Verdict, by James McCrone.
A second referendum on independence looms, and a Scottish official enlists elections specialist Imogen Trager, a by-the-numbers, if rarely by-the-book investigator, to look into irregularities in the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum. Imogen uncovers a trail of criminal self-dealing, cover-ups, and murder leading to the highest levels of power. None but a very few know the truth. And those few need it to stay hidden at any cost.
Imogen will risk what’s left of her standing, her career–and maybe her life–to get at the truth.

Amazon

And now it’s finally time for the

blog-q&a

Hi

First of all thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it. Here we go! 🙂

Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
Thank you very much! I’m excited to talk about the book.
I’ve always told stories. It’s how I make sense of the world. When I was younger, I’d see things happen—someone crying on the bus, an argument between two people, a toddler rapturously chasing a pigeon—and I’d wonder what came before, what led to the moment I saw? I’d wonder whether the part I witnessed was the beginning, the middle or the end of the story. I’d find myself inventing either what led up to what I saw, or contemplating what came next. As a young boy, I was shocked to find out that not everyone did that.
When I was 14, my English composition teacher (Ms. Baer!) in Iowa City suggested I enter a short story I’d written for her class in a competition that the Univeristy of Iowa held for young writers. It was accepted and published in an anthology. Seeing my name and the words I’d created in print was thrilling, and I was hooked. Interestingly, even then, my SciFi-inspiered work was political. (The story that was accepted was a cautionary tale about chlorofluorocarbons—CFC’s—which were a big deal back then).
But how did I become an author? I think I was a reader, a story-teller, and then I wanted more. I wanted my stories to be part of a broader conversation. When I was a sophomore at university, the uni’s daily newspaper ran a special fiction section one Friday that included one of my stories. I heard from a friend at lunch that day that she’d overheard two other students reading it aloud to one another and loving it. That kind of thing will never get old!

Which books did/do you love to read as a child/now as a grown-up?
As a very young child, I loved the books that my parents could do voices for—Wind in the Willows, The Book of Three/Black Cauldron, the Jungle Books. (As a side note, I remember noting the biography line for the author of The Black Cauldron: it read, simply, “Lloyd Alexander is a Philadelphian.” Now that I’m also a Philadelphian, I sometimes think about shortening my bio to just that :).
Particularly during the difficult teenage years (and, if I’m honest, before that), my father and I communicated mostly through books. Around the time I was 12 years old, he started bringing home SciFi books, like the anthology First Contact, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, the Foundation trilogy, or Dune. He’s a better used-bookstore sleuth than I’ll ever be, and among the sun-bleached, yellow pages and torn paperback covers he’d bring back, he would press on me books like The Forever War, The Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22, A Confederacy of Dunces, Brave New World, and 1984.
Later, he’d lend (or I would “appropriate”) books from his collection—Le Carre, Greene, Len Deighton, William McIlvanney. Interestingly, as a crime writer, I devoured McIlvanney’s Docherty long before I got to Laidlaw.

Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?
Only one? I’d have loved to meet and speak with William McIlvanney. His gift for writing and incorporating important themes felt both easy and hard won. He weaves poetry and philosophy into his work, and he seems to know when and where it will be most effective at advancing the story or creating tension. As a young man, I’d read Neil Gunn’s Highland River and Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Scots Quair trilogy, and I wanted to write a Scottish novel. Having spent time in Scotland as boy, I still heard the cadence and idioms of my schoolmates, their parents and our neighbors in my head. My brother and I often drop back into it without even noticing. (We call the summer we came back to the States, “the summer of what?” To our Scottish friends we sounded completely American, but back on the plains of Iowa, we found ourselves largely unintelligible.) I wanted to tell a story that brought that together, and Imogen, my protagonist, is both in and outisde that world. When I read Docherty, that desire became much, much stronger.
If you’ll allow me one more, I’d love to speak with Marian Evans (George Eliot). Her Middlemarch is one of my favorites. Her voice, her narrative control, wit, irony.

If you could, which fictional character (from your own book(s) or someone else’s) would you like to invite for tea and why?
George Orwell and Oscar Wilde – Together!
I think their dismay over politics writ large and small came from different places, but I think they shared an outsider’s view, and they might find they didn’t disagree. They are alike in their dismissals of bad writing and love of good writing. On the face of it, you might think Orwell would regard Wilde as frivolous, but I don’t think so. I’d love to see how they got on. I also wonder if I’d get a word in, or whether I’d just sit there like someone at a tennis match watching the banter and ideas zing across the table.

Do you have some rituals or habits whilst writing?
I’m afraid I’m rather dull that way. I get up at 4:45am, make some tea or coffee, and I set to work. At about ten past eight I make notes for where to start and what to work on for the next day, and then I switch gears and head to my day job.

Where do you come up with your idea(s)? Do people in your life need to be worried? 😉
Ha ha! Yes, and no. Certainly I mine lived experience for details, and as I mentioned earlier, I register stories that jump out at me. But I try not to take other people’s lives. At least not in a way they might notice or recognize. 🙂
Inpsiration can come from anywhere: a newspaper article, a conversation, a moment in the street. I’m particularly drawn to ideas and stories where the official version (whether it’s political or self-justifying) feels thin, or open to other interpretations. I’m interested in people/characters who feel a need to set things aright, either because they feel guilty, or due to some innate, offended sense of justice. The character of Imogen certainly qualifies there.

Are you a plotter or do you go with the flow, as a pantser?
I’m a little of both, actually. I’ll have an idea for a story, and at first, I often don’t know whether it’s a short story or a novel. It will kick around in my head for some time, until I start to see characters—or at least the main character—clearly. Then I’ll sit down and write about 25-30 pages.
By the end of those 25+ pages, I’ll have a pretty good idea of the story, of who wants what, and why they can’t get it. And I’ll start to see the obstacles, the antagonist, and I’ll see an ending. Which is the moment that I begin plotting the story out. Often, those first pages never make it into the finished book, but they’re necessary because it isn’t until I make a start that the characters and story come into sharp focus. Typically, I’ll make a rough outline and begin again.
But something happens as I get to about the halfway point of the first, rough draft. The arc of the story I outlined at the beginning, and the arc of the story I’m writing often don’t match up. At that moment, I look at the draft and decide whether the course I’m following is some self-indulgent tangent, or whether this is really where the story wants to go. I feel that you must listen both to your characters, and what they want, and to what the story wants.

Can you give novice writers some tips (do’s/don’ts)?
Don’t rewrite within the first draft. It does not have to be perfect. Too many novels are abandoned because the writer tinkers with what’s already there rather than finishing. Obviously, if you’re making huge changes in your outline (see above), it might be a good idea to make some notes in the earlier pages about changes you’ll need to make for the second draft. But write the first draft. It doesn’t even have to be very good. But it’s nothing until it’s finished.
Be ready to “kill your darlings.” Often, there’s a passage or a description that really pleases you. But in the second or third draft, if it isn’t helping the story forward, if it doesn’t reveal something important about character, cut it. If it makes you feel better, create a “cut file” where you dump the things you think you might want later. (In my experience, you never use it, but it’s nice not to feel like you’ve totally killed something beautiful 🙂
Do create a schedule for yourself. Despite what I said about letting a story kick around in my head for a while, I’m always writing something. I’m not waiting for inspiration, but rather waiting to see which story will push its way to the fore. I work a full time job, and I tried to have a writing schedule after work, but I found that I wasn’t getting good writing done, so I joined the #5amwritersclub. It’s not really a club. Its only membership requirement is that you get up and write. I get up most mornings at 4:45 am, and I’m in the chair by 5am. I can get 3 hours in before I have to switch gears and get to work. It took some real adjusting on my part. I’m not a morning person—certainly not so early! But I’ve found it worthwhile, and it keeps me writing. I get cranky and distracted when I’m not producing.

What are your futureplans as an author?
I’m writing my next book, and I have notes (and those 25+ pages) for two others beyond that, plus some short stories I want to work on. This next book will be the first without Imogen Trager in it, but it’s still animated by a sense of aggrieved justice. In the work-in-progress, called Witness Tree, a young man, fresh out of prison sees a murder, but given his past, no one will take him seriously. As he works to find out who committed the murder, and why, he’s confronted with systemic corruption that feels like what he hoped he’d left behind inside prison. It’s set in rural Oregon in amongst the vineyards there. I’m calling it a (pinot) Noir! As well as this character’s journey, I’m interested in the dichotomy between great wealth and poverty.

Last, but not least : Can you give my readers one teaser from your book, which is featured here on my blog, please?

BastardVerdict Graphic4

Isn’t that a great reason to pick up the book and read it?!
Thanks once again, James McCrone, for this lovely interview!

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #GuestPost : The Mystery of the Homeless Man – Gina Cheyne

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

The Mystery of the Homeless Man

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘The Mystery of the Homeless Man’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a guest post written by the author, but first I have some information

About the Author :

The Mystery - Gina Cheyne selfie copyGina Cheyne is a retired helicopter pilot who has lived and worked in many countries. At present she Lives in Chaos, although she originally came from Erehwon. Her schooling was so bad she had to be re-schooled by animals. She loves to laugh. Plays tennis badly, bridge slightly better, golf even worse. She is exceptionally good at walking, unless it is muddy, then she is good at reading.

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About the Book :

The Mystery - Gina Cheyne selfie copyWhy would an airline pilot exchange a world of comfort for life on the streets?
In 2006, Miranda meets an itinerant in the wood, she takes him home. He refuses to stay, desperate to return to the streets. Miranda gives him some money and forgets the incident.
Fifteen years later, the SeeMs Detective Agency is investigating an abandoned house and discovers a homeless man was found there: murdered.
No one knows who the dead man is or how he died, and, with one hundred and fifty unidentified street deaths per year, no one has time to find out.
But, the SeeMs Detectives have both time and a client.
Their investigation takes them into a surprising world of aviation, night-clubs and the homeless.
What they discover threatens one of their team. Can they save their colleague before the homeless man’s killer strikes again?

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And now it’s finally time for the

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Most of my books in the SeeMs Detective Agency series I wrote from an idea, but the Mystery of the Homeless Man is different. I wrote it as a dedication to a man. A man I knew. A man who ended his life homeless. His name was Keith and he was once a successful airline pilot.
A quick disclaimer. The book is not the story of his life. It is fiction and I don’t know the truth of his life. This is how I imagined the story of what could have caused him to end his life living on wet and cold streets, drinking from a brown paper bag.
I became a pilot in the early 1980s and started to earn my living in the late 1980s. At that point most incumbent fliers were men, and they were not all happy to share their space. Apart from Keith, who was extremely kind and welcoming to all women and in particular to women pilots, whom he encouraged.
We both had other aviation jobs (Keith worked for BA and I was a helicopter pilot) but he and I worked together flying the Tiger Moth biplane. Our job was corporate entertainment and we flew punters for short flights that included low G-force aerobatics. As colleagues we often had dinner together but we never became close. Consequently, I knew little about him other than his kindness and his love of aeroplanes.
Then, after we’d been working at Goodwood for several years, he asked the boss to consider employing a friend of his. She was an airline pilot but wanted to increase her aerobatic skills. She came over but before she could join the group something happened and she moved away.
It was then I discovered Keith had been engaged to her twice, and that each time she had broken it off to marry someone else. Nonetheless, Keith still loved her and was happy to get engaged a third time.
After she left, Keith started drinking. The guy we worked for took a dim view of this: flying and drinking alcohol are not a good mixture. Keith got much less work and I saw him less often. Although we did have dinner together a few times it was difficult to find places to meet where he wouldn’t have to drive afterwards. In fact, and I feel very guilty about this, he did once leave my house totally pissed and got into his car to drive away. I should have prevented him.
He stopped flying the Tiger Moth and, I was told, was sacked from BA after he arrived at work still over the alcohol limit from the night before.
I did not see Keith for many years, but then one day I was manning a ‘Learn to Fly’ booth at a trade show when a colleague approached me.
‘I think you remember Keith?’
‘Yes? Do you still see him?’
He shrugged. ‘Just once. I saw a homeless man drinking on the streets in High Wycombe. It looked like Keith so I called his name. He turned away and I left it.’
How had Keith come to that?
After the show, I drove up to High Wycombe and combed the streets looking for him, but he had clearly moved elsewhere. Perhaps one meeting with an ex-colleague was enough.
For almost a year, I heard nothing more about him. Then the guy who had employed us both on the Tiger Moth called me.
‘You remember Keith?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m sorry to tell you he’s dead.’
I don’t know if I was surprised, but I asked how it happened.
‘No one’s really sure. He was found dead on the streets in High Wycombe. No one in authority knew who he was. So, eventually they put his picture in the local papers, hoping to identify him. His father saw the picture, called the newspaper, and said he thought it was his son.’
I put the phone down and cried. Poor father. Poor Keith.
We all let him down.
This book my friend and colleague Keith is for you.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn / #PromoPost : A Matter of Faith – Judith Arnopp @JudithArnopp #HistoricalFiction #Tudors

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

A Matter of Faith Tour Banner

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘A Matter of Faith’ blogtour, organised by The Coffee Pot Book Club.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a

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About the Author :

Judith ArnoppWhen Judith Arnopp began to write professionally there was no question as to which genre to choose. A lifelong history enthusiast and avid reader, Judith holds an honours degree in English and Creative writing, and a Masters in Medieval Studies, both from the University of Wales, Lampeter.
Judith writes both fiction and non-fiction, working full-time from her home overlooking Cardigan Bay in Wales where she crafts novels based in the Medieval and Tudor period. Her main focus is on the perspective of historical women from all roles of life, prostitutes to queens, but she has recently turned her attention to Henry VIII himself.
Her novels include:
A Matter of Conscience: Henry VIII, the Aragon Years. (Book one of The Henrician Chronicle)
A Matter of Faith: Henry VIII, the years of the Phoenix (Book Two of The Henrician Chronicle)
The Beaufort Bride: (Book one of The Beaufort Chronicle)
The Beaufort Woman: (Book two of The Beaufort Chronicle)
The Kings Mother: (Book three of The Beaufort Chronicle)
The Heretic Wind: the life of Mary Tudor, Queen of England
A Song of Sixpence: The story of Elizabeth of York
Intractable Heart: The story of Katheryn Parr
The Kiss of the Concubine: A story of Anne Boleyn
Sisters of Arden: on the pilgrimage of Grace
The Winchester Goose: at the court of Henry VIII
The Song of Heledd:
The Forest Dwellers
Peaceweaver
Her non-fiction articles feature in various historical anthologies and magazines and an illustrated non-fiction book, How to Dress like a Tudor will be published by Pen & Sword in 2023.

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About the Book :

Judith ArnoppFinally free of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, is now married to Anne Boleyn and eagerly awaiting the birth of his son. In a court still reeling from the royal divorce and growing public resentment against church reform, Henry must negotiate widespread resentment toward Anne. He places all his hopes in a son to cement his Tudor blood line, but his dreams are shattered when Anne is delivered of a daughter.
Burying his disappointment, Henry focuses on getting her with child again, but their marriage is volatile and as Henry faces personal bereavement, and discord at court, Anne’s enemies are gathering. When the queen miscarries of a son, and Henry suffers a life-threatening accident, his need for an heir becomes critical. Waiting in the wings is Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting who offers the king comfort and respite from Anne’s fiery passions.
But, when Anne falls foul of her former ally, Thomas Cromwell, and the king is persuaded he has been made a cuckold, Henry strikes out and the queen falls beneath the executioner’s sword, taking key players in Henry’s household with her.
Jane Seymour, stepping up to replace the fallen queen, quickly becomes pregnant. Delighted with his dull but fertile wife, Henry’s spirits rise even further when the prince is born safely. At last, Henry has all he desires but even as he celebrates, fate is preparing to deliver one more staggering blow.
Henry, the once perfect Renaissance prince, is now a damaged middle-aged man, disappointed in those around him but most of all in himself. As the king’s optimism diminishes, his intractability increases, and the wounded lion begins to roar.

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The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #GuestPost : The Viscount’s Daring Miss – Lotte R. James @lottejamesbooks @MillsandBoon @HarlequinBooks

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

The Viscounts Daring Miss

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘The Viscounts Daring Miss’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a guest post written by the author, but first I have some information

About the Author :

The Viscount LJames23Lotte James trained as an actor and theatre director, but spent most of her life working day jobs crunching numbers whilst dreaming up stories of love and adventure. She’s thrilled to finally be writing those stories, and when she’s not scribbling on tiny pieces of paper, she can usually be found wandering the countryside for inspiration, or nestling with coffee and a book.

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About the Book :

The Viscounts Daring MissMay the best Viscount or Miss…
…win!
When her best friend and employer is injured, groom Roberta ‘Bobby’ Kingsley feels compelled to help him. She agrees to step into the saddle and compete in an endurance horse race to help secure his ancestral home. Yet the minute Bobby comes face to face with her opponent—arrogant yet infuriatingly charismatic Lawrence, Viscount Hayes—it’s clear that it won’t just be the competition that has her heart racing!

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The quickest love story I’ve ever written

Now, what do I mean by ‘the quickest love story I’ve ever written’? Some part of me wishes I could say I mean: the romance novel which took me no time at all to write. The part of me which is continuously bursting with new ideas, new stories I want to write, really wishes I could say The Viscount’s Daring Miss took me no time at all. That it just flowed out of me in a night, like some character in a movie. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
I say unfortunately, but not really. I’m quite used to my own process by now, and do improve and finesse it, but I have learned to accept that I’ll always need about two to three months to get a solid draft down for one of my Historical Romances. I really admire writers who are incredibly prolific, but I don’t know if I’ll ever personally get to a point where I can release upwards of five books a year – let alone more.
In truth, The Viscount’s Daring Miss took me a bit longer than expected, and in part it was due to a (somewhat) complete change of pace in terms of storytelling, and atmosphere, but it was also in large part…the characters’ fault. I know, I know… Cheap shot, really, an author blaming it all on their characters. But I promise, it’s true.
See, with The Viscount’s Daring Miss, one of the many challenges I set myself, was to write ‘the quickest love story I’d ever written’. In that, the characters have a very short time to fall in love with each other, and decide to make a go of a life together. Seven days, to be exact. In all my other books, the characters have had weeks or months. Seven days??? A challenge indeed.
Particularly for someone who admittedly is not a fan of instalove – not yucking anyone’s yum, it’s my own personal preference, and I do admire writers who can pull it off successfully and credibly. So I knew I wasn’t going to write a love at first sight; in fact I already knew I was writing a dislike at first sight. Then how to bring these two together? Make it credible, and natural, for these two seeming opposites, to come together and decide to have a life together?
The key, I found, after a while of trial and error, was just giving myself as much time to get to know the characters, as they needed to get to know each other. I grew to know them, as they did each other, whilst spending evenings by the fire in the wilds of Southern England, or in the ballrooms of a Mayfair mansion. Every day, I would merely ask myself how two people on this incredible journey they embark on, can and would spend time together. Then, I just…let them spend time together, and went along for the ride. It may sound simple – and it is to a degree – but it was one of the most difficult exercises in letting go I’ve done.
In the end, I hope you’ll find in The Viscount’s Daring Miss, a natural, credible, and engaging love story, that proves sometimes, you just have to take a chance. Try something new, and be open to what you’ll find in the process.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#PublicationDayPush #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #Excerpt : Bound By A Sicilian Secret – Lela May Wright @LelaMayWight @HarlequinBooks

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Bound by a Sicilian Secret

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Bound By A Sicilian Secret’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing an extract, but first I have some information

About the Author :

Bound Author Photo Lela May WightLela May Wight grew up with seven brothers and sisters. Yes, it was noisy, and she often found escape in romance books. She still does, but now she gets to write them too! She hopes to offer readers the same escapism when the world is a little too loud.
Lela May lives in the UK with her sons and her very own hero, who never complains about her book addiction – he buys her more books!

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About the Book :

1933The proof of their passion: she’s carrying the Sicilian’s child! Read this thrilling secret baby romance from Lela May Wight.
When their worlds collided…
They became tied forever!
Flora Bick once strayed from her carefully scripted life and lost herself in the uninhibited kisses of a stranger. Overwhelmed, she fled his bed and returned to her risk-free existence. Now, he’s found her and together they discover the unimaginable—she’s pregnant!
Demanding Flora accompany him to Sicily, Raffaele Russo finally reveals his vast wealth—and his determination to give their child the stable upbringing he never had. But for the time being, their secret remains theirs alone, and it will bind them even closer than their ever-present desire…
From Harlequin Presents: Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

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Introduction to book & characters:
Raffaele and Flora’s love story and journey to a happily ever after is a road full of tearing down the walls they’ve built around themselves…
Flora has lived a sheltered life, and a night in London opens her world to a whole new host of feelings and revelations!
Raffaele is a mountain! A one-man band in charge of protecting everything and everyone. Until he meets Flora, and she is resolved to show him he can let down the security fences, all the alarms he has in place, and let someone else protect him.

Tropes and themes!
*Never been kissed
*Cinderella
*Tortured hero
*Surprise baby
*One Night with Consequences

Introduction to scene:
Grief can come in many forms and for a multitude of things, people, and relationships. Grief is powerful. It gets into the bloodstream and keeps flowing until we recognise it and give ourselves the time and space to reflect on those feelings.
Flora and Raffaele haven’t given themselves a chance to do that, but they are now in this scene. And I’ve chosen this scene because I think it’s powerful. Intense. They are both grieving for different ‘things,’ but allowing themselves to recognise it, gives them the opportunity to allow something special to be born.
I hope (if you need it) you take away from this snippet the permission to give yourself space and time to grieve for the small things, and the big things. You might not meet a tall and dark stranger on a rooftop, but something special inside you might be born.
Enjoy! Xxx

Extract:
‘Who do you grieve for?’ Raffaele asked.
Because he truly wanted to know. Curiosity pushed against his consciousness, demanding to understand why on this night the fates had seen fit to throw his grief against hers. To slam their worlds together.
Her slender shoulders dipped. ‘Myself…’
He frowned. ‘For yourself?’
‘Yes,’ she said, making small continuous dips of her head.
Her answer pressed against something inside him. Something buried deep.
‘Why?’ he asked.
‘Because—’
She sucked in a breath and he watched. Mesmerised. He itched to find the hardened peaks of her breasts pushing against the fabric of her dress. His hands would bury them—they were so small. He would be able to encase them fully in his palms…
Stop.
He rolled his shoulders. The leather jacket was too heavy on his skin. Too tight.
‘Why do you grieve for yourself?’ he forced himself to ask. Because she was not here for him to bury his grief inside her body. She was here for herself, to find a moment, some quietness, in a city that never slept. To find a place away from the noise. As he was.
‘Because tonight,’ she replied, ‘I realised that the woman I was raised to be is someone else’s idea of who I should have become.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘The woman I might have been wasn’t ever given a chance to live.’
‘How can you grieve for someone who never lived?’
‘I’m allowing myself to grieve for all the things I wasn’t allowed to have. I’m grieving for the woman I could have become. For the life I could have had…’

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn / #GuestPost : Pagan Warrior (Gods and Kings #1) #PaganWarrior – M.J. Porter @coloursofunison #TalesOfMercia #TheSeventhCentury

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Pagan Warrior Tour Banner 2

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Pagan King’ blogtour, organised by The Coffee Pot Book Club.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a guest post written by the author, but first I have some information

About the Author :

Boldwood M J Porter Amazon A+MJ Porter is the author of many historical novels set predominantly in Seventh to Eleventh-Century England, as well as three twentieth-century mysteries. Being raised in the shadow of a building that was believed to house the bones of long-dead Kings of Mercia, meant that the author’s writing destiny was set.

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About the Book :

217From bestselling author, MJ Porter comes the tale of the mighty pagan king, Penda of Mercia.
Britain. AD632.
Penda, a warrior of immense renown, has much to prove if he is to rule the Mercian kingdom of his dead father and prevent the neighbouring king of Northumbria from claiming it.
Unexpectedly allying with the British kings, Penda races to battle the alliance of the Northumbrian king, unsure if his brother stands with him or against him as they seek battle glory for themselves, and the right to rule gained through bloody conquest.
There will be a victor and a bloody loser, and a king will rise from the ashes of the great and terrible battle of Hædfeld.

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Penda of Mercia (c.600-15th November 655)

Penda of Mercia is famous for many things, including killing two Northumbrian kings throughout his life. He’s also famous for being a pagan at a time when Roman Christianity was asserting itself from the southern kingdom of Kent. But who was he?
Penda’s origins are unclear. We don’t know when he was born or where he came from, although it must be assumed he was a member of a family from which the growing kingdom of Mercia might look for its kings. He’s often associated with the subkingdom of the Hwicce, centered around Gloucester.
The later source, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written at least two hundred and fifty years after his life records,
626 ‘And Penda had the kingdom for 30 years; and he was 50 years old when he succeeded to the kingdom.’ ASC A p24
626 ‘And here Penda succeeded to the kingdom, and ruled 30 years.’ ASC E p25
Knowing, as we do, that he died in 655, this would have made Penda over eighty years old at his death, a fact that is much debated. Was his age just part of the allure of the legend? A mighty pagan warrior, fighting well into his eighties? Sadly, we may never know the truth of that, but it is disputed, and there are intricate problems with the sources that boggle the brain.
Suffice it to say, we don’t know Penda’s age or origins clearly, but we do know that he was involved in three very famous battles throughout the middle years of the seventh century, that at Hædfeld in 632/33 fought somewhere close to the River Don, in which King Edwin of Northumbria was killed. That of Maserfeld, in 642 in which King Oswald of Northumbria was killed, close to Oswestry, not far from today’s Welsh border. And Penda’s final battle, that of Winwæd in 655 in which Penda was killed while fighting in the north, perhaps close to Leeds. While these are the battles we know a great deal about, thanks to the writings of Bede and his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a Northumbrian monk, with an interest in Northumbria’s religious conversion, who completed his work in 731, Penda was a warrior through and through. He fought the kingdoms to the south, the West Saxons, or Wessex as we might know it. He fought in the kingdom of the East Angles. He allied with Welsh kings. He meddled in affairs in Northumbria, and had he not died in 655, it is possible that Northumbria’s Golden Age would have ended much sooner than it did. His son married a Northumbrian princess. His daughter married a Northumbrian prince. Penda was either brokering an alliance with Northumbria or perhaps using marriage as a means of assimilating a kingdom that he was clear to overrun.
Our narrator of Penda’s reign, is sadly a Christian monk writing up to seventy years after the death of Penda. His commentary is biased, and his story is focused on the triumph of religion and Northumbria, probably in that order. And yet, as Bede’s work was coming to its conclusion, even he understood that the Golden Age of Northumbria was coming to an end. A later king, Æthelbald, related not to Penda, but to his brother, Eowa, killed at the battle of Maserfeld, although whether fighting beside his brother or for the enemy is unknown, was the force in Saxon England at the time. How those words must have burned to write when Bede couldn’t skewer the contemporary narrative as he might have liked.
But while Penda’s reign is so closely tied to the words of Bede, our only real source from the period in Saxon England, although there are sources that exist from Wales and Ireland, Penda’s achievements aren’t to be ignored.
Recent historians cast Penda in a complimentary light. D.P. Kirby calls him ‘without question the most powerful Mercian ruler so far to have emerged in the Midlands.’ Frank Stenton has gone further, ‘the most formidable king in England.’ While N J Higham accords him ‘a pre-eminent reputation as a god-protected, warrior king.’ These aren’t hastily given words from men who’ve studied Saxon England to a much greater degree than I have. Penda and his reputation need a thorough reassessment.
After his death, his children ruled after him, but in time, it was to his brother’s side of the family that later kings claimed their descent, both King Æthelbald and King Offa of the eighth-century Mercian supremacy are said to have descended from Eowa.

Penda_of_Mercia

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

 

 

#BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn / #PromoPost : Inceptio – Alison Morton @alison_morton #10YearsInceptio #RomaNovaSeries #AlternativeHistory

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

INCEPTIO tour banner 1

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Inceptio’ blogtour, organised by The Coffee Pot Book Club.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a

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About the Author :

Alison MortonAlison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her ten-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue. INCEPTIO starts the adventure…
She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading historical, crime and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.
Six full-length Roma Nova novels, including INCEPTIO, have won the BRAG Medallion, the prestigious award for indie fiction. SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO were selected as Historical Novel Society’s Indie Editor’s Choices. AURELIA was a finalist in the 2016 HNS Indie Award. The Bookseller selected SUCCESSIO as Editor’s Choice in its inaugural indie review. The Historical Novel Society recently selected JULIA PRIMA, the first Foundation story set in the 4th century, the accolade of Editors’ Choice.
Alison lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit. Oh, and she’s writing the next Roma Nova story.

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About the Book :

INCEPTIO tour banner 1“It’s about Roman blood, survival and money. Mostly yours.”
In an alternative New York, Karen Brown is running for her life. She makes a snap decision to flee to Roma Nova – her dead mother’s homeland, the last remnant of the Roman Empire in the 21st century. But can Karen tough it out in such an alien culture? And with a crazy killer determined to terminate her for a very personal reason?
Stifled by the protective cocoon of her Roma Novan family, deceived by her new lover, she propels herself into a dangerous mission. But then the killer sets a trap – she must sacrifice herself for another – and she sees no escape.
A thriller laced with romance and coming of age, this first in series is Roman fiction brought into the 21st century through the lens of alternative history and driven by a female protagonist with heart and courage.
This 10thAnniversary hardback edition includes bonus content: Three character ‘conversations’, two short stories and the story behind INCEPTIO.

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The Magic of Wor(l)ds