Judith Redline Coopey - Guest Post

Writing a Trilogy – Why or Why Not

A word of advice from a slow learner:  never announce that you intend to write a trilogy before you’ve actually written the trilogy.  Mine, The Juniata Iron Trilogy, started out as what will eventually be Volume Three.  Actually it started out as a desire to write something inspired by the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.   I loved that book for its array of eccentric and memorable characters.  So with that in mind, I started to develop my own set of strange beings, delving into my memory of the 1950s in rural western Pennsylvania.  A gun enthusiast who shot out of his upstairs window at targets across the road as cars whizzed by.  An eastern European immigrant whose command of English was just about non-existent raising three kids on his own after his wife died.  A crazy dare-devil kid trying to wring every last thrill out of his young life before tuberculosis took him down. A kind unmarried woman dedicating her life to caring for her father and two bachelor brothers, finding joy in her collection of African Violets.  For these and other characters I turned for further inspiration to a place near where I grew up in rural Pennsylvania.

The place was Mt Etna, a lost soul of a community when I was growing up more than fifty years ago, and barely a distant memory now.  In the 1950s, Mt Etna was a collection of run down former workers’ houses strung out along the Juniata River, remnants of a once prosperous and energetic iron plantation.  As a youth, I passed through Mt Etna every day, not even curious as to its origins and former glory.  All I knew was that the place was derelict and the people who lived there were poor.

Mt Etna in the 1950s was fertile ground for a collection of eccentrics, so I started there and went my merry way, writing a little from memory and a little from imagination.  What happened along the way to divert me from a single volume to a trilogy was curiosity. What had Mt Etna really been like back in its nineteenth century heyday?  How and why had it come along at all? For an historical novelist those how and why questions are the essence of why we write.  Our curiosity leads us down roads we never imagined existed to destinations far from where we thought we were going.

So to answer the how and the why, I began researching Mt Etna.  Now this was a tiny hamlet, never more than about 300 to 350 people, and it’s been nothing more than a ruin for  the past thirty or forty years. So where was I going to find out anything about it?  Enter the internet.  That’s right.  Amazing as it seems, I found a treasure trove of information about Mt Etna’s history at the Historic American Engineering Record, HAER No. PA-224.  There it was, all laid out before me – narrative, maps, drawings, a solid historical account of The Mt Etna Iron Works.

Add to that local historical societies:  Blair County Historical Society, Huntingdon County Historical Society, and local newspaper archives.  I love local historical societies.  They preserve so much that would be lost, simply by collecting, cataloguing and keeping.  Someone has to do that!  And they do it without compensation for years.  So, armed with plenty of historical fact and what is still left of the buildings, including the furnace itself, the manor house, now undergoing restoration, the company store, a tenant house, three log workers’ cabins and a huge stone bank barn, I became familiar with the place again.  Only this time I paid attention.

For me, the story always emerges out of the research.  I read and study and think about the time and place until I think I know it, and then I wait for the story to make its way out of the jumbled mass.  Once I’d familiarized myself with the actual history of Mt Etna, I knew there was more than one book here.  I’ve always loved family sagas, where the reader gets to follow the ebb and flow of a family’s fortunes, so I opted for a trilogy about the MacPhail family, purely fictional, but true to time and place.

So that’s how I got to writing a trilogy from the wrong end.  The first volume, The Furnace, came out in the fall of 2014.  Volume Two, tentatively titled The Brothers, is due this fall, and Volume Three should follow in 2016.  Writing the first volume came fairly easily once I’d studied the history of the place, and when launched in October 2014, it quickly claimed its place among readers.  The only problem was, once they read volume one, they clamored for volume two, and I hadn’t even written it yet.  Having done such extensive research, and having established time, place and a cast of characters, it should have been easy to slip right into volume two. Well, it was, but…  The pressure was on.  Could I keep up the tension?  Could I shepherd this family through another generation?  Could I keep my readers happy and looking forward to volume three?

 Who knows?  All a writer can do is write.  And hope.  So I jumped into volume two, and at this writing the first draft is simmering on the back burner.  I’ll leave it there for a month or two before I begin the revision process.  It feels pretty good right now, but that will be for the readers to decide.  Volume three is already half written.  I know where this is going, and where it ends, but the pressure is still on to produce a good story well told – my ultimate goal.

Which brings me back to where this blog began.  If I’ve learned anything from this experience, it’s this.  Don’t ever tell the world you are writing a trilogy until you’ve written a trilogy.  The pressure can be deadly, and I’m up for it, but after this, I think I’ll go back to writing one book at a time!

About the books

The Furnace (Juniata Iron Trilogy, #1)
Publication Date: October 1, 2014
Fox Hollow Press
*Formats: eBook & Paperback
Pages: 336
Series: Volume One, Juniata Iron Trilogy
Genre: Historical Fiction

READ AN EXCERPT.

Elinor Bratton, young, beautiful, and privileged is pregnant and cast aside by her lover, the wealthy and spoiled scion of a eastern Pennsylvania family. As a result she is forced by her father into an arranged marriage to a man she barely knows. Adam MacPhail, a common iron worker whose only wish is to become an iron master agrees to the match as a means of realizing his dream. Ellie’s father, Stephen Bratton, well to do, well connected and determined to save his daughter’s reputation, orchestrates the union — not as Ellie would have it, but as he sees fit. So begins a marriage in a time when a woman had no voice, no rights, no say in matters directly pertaining to her. Ellie, exiled to the wilderness of western Pennsylvania with a man she would not have considered three months before, declares her intention to make Adam’s life miserable and make her father pay for his high-handed disregard for her rights. Adam, unschooled in dealing with women, chooses to focus his energy and attention on turning a down and out iron furnace into a profitable, well-ordered producer. Through the first half of the nineteenth century, the couple struggle to establish a life, disentangle an ill-conceived marriage, and make a success of a derelict furnace through the ups and downs of an unpredictable industry. Volume One of The Juniata Iron Trilogy, The Furnace chronicles Ellie and Adam’s efforts to find a balance and build an enterprise worthy of Pennsylvania’s iron industry, producing Juniata Iron, the finest in the world.

Buy The Furnace

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Looking for Jane
Publication Date: December 21, 2012
Fox Hollow Press
Formats: ebook & Paperback
Pages: 238
Genre: Historical Fiction

READ AN EXCERPT.

“The nuns use this as their measuring stick: who your people are. Well, what if you don’t have no people? Or any you know of? What then? Are you doomed?” This is the nagging question of fifteen-year-old Nell’s life. Born with a cleft palate and left a foundling on the doorstep of a convent, she yearns to know her mother, whose name, she knows, was Jane.
When the Mother Superior tries to pawn her off to a mean looking farmer and his beaten down wife, Nell opts for the only alternative she can see: she runs away. A chance encounter with a dime novel exhorting the exploits of Calamity Jane, heroine of the west, gives Nell the purpose of her life: to find Calamity Jane, who Nell is convinced is her mother.
Her quest takes her down rivers, up rivers and across the Badlands to Deadwood, South Dakota and introduces her to Soot, a big, lovable black dog, and Jeremy Chatterfield, a handsome young Englishman who isn’t particular about how he makes his way, as long as he doesn’t have to work for it. Together they trek across the country meeting characters as wonderful and bizarre as the adventure they seek, learning about themselves and the world along the way.

Buy Looking for Jane

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Waterproof: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood

Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Fox Hollow Press
Formats: ebook & Paperback
Pages: 266
Genre: Historical Fiction

READ AN EXCERPT.

Fifty years after an earthen dam broke and sent a thirty foot wall of raging destruction down on the city of Johnstown, PA, Pamela McRae looks back on the tragedy with new perspective.
When the flood hit, it wiped out Pam’s fondest hopes, taking her fiancé and her brother’s lives and her mother’s sanity, and within a year her father walked away, leaving his daughter
—now the sole support of her mother—to cope with poverty and loneliness.
The arrival of Katya, a poor Hungarian girl running away from an arranged marriage, finally gives Pam the chance she needs to get back into the world; Katya can care for her mother, and Pam can go to work for the Johnstown Clarion as a society reporter.
Then Davy Hughes, Pam’s fiancé before the flood, reappears and, instead of being the answer to her prayers, further complicates her life. Someone is seeking revenge on the owners of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the Pittsburgh millionaires who owned the failed dam, and Pam is afraid Davy has something to do with it.

Buy Waterproof

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Redfield Farm: A Novel of the Underground Railroad

Publication Date: April 2, 2010
Formats: ebook & Paperback
Pages: 280
Genre: Historical Fiction

READ AN EXCERPT.

Ann Redfield is destined to follow her brother Jesse through life – two years behind him – all the way. Jesse is a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and Ann follows him there as well.
Quakers filled with a conviction as hard as Pennsylvania limestone that slavery is an abomination to be resisted with any means available, the Redfield brother and sister lie, sneak, masquerade and defy their way past would-be enforcers of the hated Fugitive Slave Law.
Their activities inevitably lead to complicated relationships when Jesse returns from a run with a deadly fever, accompanied by a fugitive, Josiah, who is also sick and close to death. Ann nurses both back to health. But precious time is lost, and Josiah, too weak for winter travel, stays on at Redfield Farm. Ann becomes his teacher, friend and confidant. When grave disappointment disrupts her life, Ann turns to Josiah for comfort, and comfort leads to intimacy. The result, both poignant and inspiring, leads to a life long devotion to one another and their cause.

Buy Redfield Farm

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Judith Redline Coopey, born in Altoona, PA holds degrees from the Pennsylvania State University and Arizona State University. A passion for history inherited from her father drives her writing and a love for Pennsylvania sustains it. Her first book, Redfield Farm was the story of the Underground Railroad in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The second, Waterproof, tells how the 1889 Johnstown Flood nearly destroyed a whole city and one young woman’s life. Looking For Jane is a quest for love and family in the 1890s brought to life through the eyes of Nell, a young girl convinced that Calamity Jane is her mother. Her most recent work, The Furnace: Volume One of the Juniata Iron Trilogy, is set on an iron plantation near where she grew up and tells the story of an ill conceived marriage of convenience as it plays out over a lifetime. As a teacher, writer and student of history, Ms Coopey finds her inspiration in the rich history of her native state and in stories of the lives of those who have gone before.

For more information please visit Judith Redline Coopey’s website. You can also find her on Facebook,Twitter, and Goodreads.

Visit other blogs on the tour--Tour Schedule

Twitter Hashtag: #JudithRedlineCoopeyBlogTour #Historical

Twitter Tags: @hfvbt 

Kathy Fischer-Brown - Spotlight and {Giveaway}

Lord Esterleigh’s Daughter: Book 1, The Serpent’s Tooth trilogy
Publication Date: June 13, 2012
Books We Love Ltd.
Formats: eBook, Paperback

As a child, Anne Fairfield dreams of the father she never knew, the hero who died fighting the French and their Indian allies in a land across the sea. Her mother’s stories, and fantasies of her own devising, sustain and nurture her through a poor and lonely existence. Until one winter night, a strange man comes to call, and the life she has known comes crashing down like shattered glass.

Forced to confront sordid truths, secrets and lies, the headstrong young woman begins to learn that, like generations of women ruled by their hearts, she is destined to follow in their footsteps.

Set against the backdrop of 18th century England, Lord Esterleigh’s Daughter is the first book in “The Serpent’s Tooth” trilogy, which follows Anne from the rural countryside, to London society and into the center of the American Revolution.

Praise for The Serpent’s Tooth
4 Stars “Jane Austen showed us the gentle side of 19th century England; Kathy Fischer-Brown sets her work a century earlier and shows us how envy, revenge, and greed can work to effect long-term changes on one young woman…. The author does a wonderful job of showing all these complications clearly, with apt description, and I could easily see this series as a movie-maybe one day I will. So, if you are a fan of dark gothic themes, enjoy seeing the underbelly of British society and what goes on behind the scenes, as it were, I highly recommend you buy this trilogy.” — Long and Short Reviews

4 ½ Stars “…This is a dark novel that deals with the resentment and anger of a girl who has been misled and cannot seem to get past her grief …. While not a typical romance, this is a fascinating, complex story that I completely enjoyed. It is well written and entertained me with mystery, suspense, scandal, sinister characters and first love.” — Romantic Historical Lovers

Must Read “… the first book in ‘The Serpent’s Tooth Trilogy’ [is] a very well written plot filled with romance, suspense and danger. The author’s characters were developed well and believable…. Recommended for all suspenseful historical romance fans.” — My Cozy Corner Reviews

Buy the Book
Amazon US Kindle
Amazon US Paperback
Amazon UK Kindle
Amazon UK Paperback
Amazon Australia Kindle

Courting the Devil: Book 2, The Serpent’s Tooth trilogy
Publication Date: August 31, 2012
Books We Love Ltd.
Formats: eBook, Paperback

Four years after a near fatal blunder uproots her from her home and inheritance, Anne Darvey, daughter of the Marquess of Esterleigh, finds herself an indentured servant on a farm near Fort Edward in New York, as the British army advances toward Albany. Driven by guilt over the pain she has caused her father and grief over her lover’s death, she sets out to deliver a message. The consequences lead to the discovery that all is not as it seems, and sets in motion events that lead to love and danger.

Set against the backdrop of the American Revolution, Courting the Devil is the second book in “The Serpent’s Tooth” trilogy, which follows Anne from her childhood in the rural English countryside, to London society, and into the center of the American Revolution.

Praise for Courting the Devil
5 Stars “I liked this book even better than the first, perhaps because there were more kind, decent–even funny–characters than were in the aristocratic snake pit depicted in the first novel. The author’s knowledge of this theater of the American Revolution is accurate; she knows the period well. Her characters are three-dimensional, proper 18th Century people in a well-researched setting….” — Juliet Waldron, author of Mozart’s Wife

… a high caliber historical drama. I commend Ms. Fischer-Brown on her research and attention to detail. It moves well with interesting characters and story lines….Two thumbs up for Courting the Devil.” — Writer Wonderland

4 ½ Stars “…kept me in suspense and filled with anticipation of what was to come. This book was written with gentle reminders and hints of the past without rehashing the original story and the scenes were descriptive and engaging….I like the Anne of this book a lot more than the previous book. It is clear she has grown up a bit and sees things differently.” — Romantic Historical Lovers

Buy the Book
Amazon US Kindle
Amazon US Paperback
Amazon UK Kindle
Amazon UK Paperback
Amazon Australia Kindle

The Partisan’s Wife: Book 3, The Serpent’s Tooth trilogy
Publication Date: February 6, 2013
Books We Love Ltd.
Formats: eBook, Paperback

Faced with an impossible choice, Anne Marlowe is torn between her husband’s love and the hope of her receiving father’s forgiveness. As American forces follow up on their tide-turning victories over the British at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights, Peter is drawn deeper into the shady network of espionage that could cost them both their lives.

Is his commitment to “the Cause” stronger than his hard-won love for Anne? Will her sacrifice tear them apart again…this time forever? Or will they find the peace and happiness they both seek in a new beginning?
The Partisan’s Wife follows Anne and Peter through the war torn landscape of Revolutionary War America, from the Battle of Saratoga to British-occupied New York and Philadelphia, and beyond.

Praise for The Partisan’s Wife
5 Stars “In The Partisan’s Wife, the last book in the trilogy, the author picks up where the second book left off. I have to admit that I am totally impressed with the author’s research into the time period her books are written in, everything was just perfect. With more twists and turns, the author finishes off the trilogy with an unexpected ending. I would Highly recommend the trilogy for all suspenseful historical romance fans, but be sure to read them in order so your not missing out on anything.” — My Cozy Corner Reviews

5 Stars “This is the last book of the trilogy. The historical research is outstanding. Kathy does a great job with the characters and story, everything is very believable. The whole trilogy is a read I would recommend to any one that loves historical fiction.” — Goodreads Review

4 Stars “The story itself was wonderful. It was beautifully told with lots of detail and exciting pace. I found myself staying up late at night just to see what was going to happen next, and in the moments that I couldn’t read I was always thinking about it. The Serpent’s Tooth Trilogy is an excellent read that you shouldn’t let pass you by!” — Unabridged Chick

4 Stars “…the author wrote such descriptive details of the surroundings that I was able to paint a vivid picture of what each of our characters endured. Overall this was a very different type of romance story. The author had a unique idea and created a compelling story around it…. I really enjoyed these books and am glad Anne finally understood what it is she wanted and was able to move on.” — Romantic Historical Lovers

4 Stars “I absolutely loved this book! The attention to detail was incredible…. From the actions and speech patterns of her characters to the way the settings were depicted, I could feel like I was living during the Revolutionary War, watching the story as it unfolded….” — Once Upon a Book

Watch the Book Trailer

Buy the Book
Amazon US Kindle
Amazon US Paperback
Amazon UK Kindle
Amazon UK Paperback
Amazon Australia Kindle

Winter Fire
Publication Date: November 6, 2010
Books We Love Ltd.
Formats: eBook, Paperback

When Ethan Caine pulled the unconscious woman from the half-frozen creek, he had no idea that his world was about to explode. Dressed in quilled doeskin of Iroquois design, she stirred up dark secrets from his past. At the same time, she was everything he desired. But she was more Indian than white, and on the run for murder. He needed to know the truth. He needed to find it within himself to trust her.

Banished by the Seneca Indians who adopted and raised her, ostracized by the whites in the settlement, Zara Grey wanted only to be accepted. “Ethancaine” treated her with kindness and concern. It was easy to trust him. But her Indian ways disturbed him, and in her heart she would always be Seneca.

Praise for Winter Fire
5 Stars “This historical story will take you back in time and capture your heart in an era of hard times, of family ties and of a love that is meant to be. I can’t say enough how great this story is. It is well plotted and flows so easily that before you know it… You can’t put it down. You have to see what will happen next. I “HIGHLY” recommend this book!! You can’t go wrong on this one.” — Amazon reader review

5 Stars “I liked this book so much, I read it twice. Moves along well and keeps your interest. Would recommend it.”— Amazon reader review

4 Stars “Kathy Fischer-Brown recreates the terror of the Indian wars and vividly evokes the wonder of newfound love.” — Faith V. Smith, Romantic Times

“Winter Fire is a beautifully written, well-researched novel of passion and honor…If you’re looking for an adventure, a history lesson, and a touching romance, you’ll find it wrapped up in Winter Fire. I highly recommend this wonderful tale.” — Jani Brooks, Romance Reviews Today

4 Stars “Kathy Fischer-Brown … does an excellent job of weaving in the cultures clashing against each other, the unfounded prejudices of societies that don’t understand each other, while still keeping the focus on the romance. This is a touching story, the characters are vivid, the history is accurate, and the details really give the story a sense of place.” — The Romance Studio

Watch the Book Trailer

Buy the Book
Amazon US Kindle
Amazon US Paperback
Amazon UK Kindle
Amazon UK Paperback
Amazon Australia Kindle

About the Author
As a child Kathy wanted to be a writer when she grew up. She also wanted to act on the stage. After receiving an MFA in Acting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts and playing the part of starving young artist in New York, she taught theater classes at a small college in the Mid-West before returning home to the East Coast, where over the years, she and her husband raised two kids and an assortment of dogs. During stints in advertising, children’s media publishing, and education reform in the former Soviet Unions, she wrote whenever she could.

Her love of early American history has its roots in family vacations up and down the East Coast visiting old forts and battlefields and places such as Williamsburg, Mystic Sea Port, and Sturbridge Village. During this time, she daydreamed in high school history classes, imagining the everyday people behind all the dates and conflicts and how they lived.

Claiming her best ideas are born of dreams, Kathy has written a number of stories over the years. Her first published novel, Winter Fire, a 1998 Golden Heart finalist in historical romance, was reissued in 2010 by Books We Love, Ltd., which also released Lord Esterleigh’s Daughter, Courting the Devil, and The Partisan’s Wife.

When not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, photography, playing “ball” with the dogs, and rooting on her favorite sports teams.

For more information visit Kathy Fischer-Brown’s website. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Visit other blogs on the tour--Tour Schedule

Twitter Hashtag: #KathyFischerBrownBlogTour 


Giveaway
To win a $20 Amazon Gift Card please complete the Rafflecopter giveaway form below. Giveaway is open internationally.
Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on June 30th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
Winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter on July 1st and notified via email.
Winner have 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

21 Aldgate by Patricia Friedberg

Introducing 21 ALDGATE by Patricia Friedberg:

21 ALDGATE set in pre-WWII London’s Jewish East End and fashionable Chelsea, is a story of the relationship between the artist, Paul Maze and its lasting effect upon the life of his young married assistant, Clara, during and after the writing of his memoir of the Great War, Frenchman in Khaki, Heinemann, London 1934.

It is a story of love and war that bears witness to the prejudice, bias, aggression and propaganda that influenced British society during the buildup to WWII; contrasting the political climate of Mosley’s fascists, the brutal attacks and police protected march through the Jewish East End culminating in the infamous Cable Street Riot - to the charade of the Upper class societies denial of the impending Nazi threat.


21 Aldgate is an address in the East End of London. It is home a working class Jewish family, the Levys, and in particular their married daughter Clara and her husband Sidney.

A few miles away in Chelsea is 14 Cheyne Walk, home to the wealthy, successful and charismatic Paul Maze. The distance only a few miles, yet in 1930’s England it was a social divide virtually impossible to imagine, let alone cross. And so begins a journey for Clara, every day a few miles on the bus, every day a little further from Aldgate and her family and the husband she loves.

Clara is introduced to the society Maze moves in, the privilege he enjoys and despite the prejudice she encounters, a passion grows between she and Maze.

We learn of Maze friendship and support of Churchill during the period that has come to be known as the Appeasement. Clara travels with Maze, first to France and later on a dangerous undercover mission to Germany where she witnesses first-hand the Nazis thwart upon the Jews. Even as she ventures further from 21 Aldgate, attacks on her East End community by Mosley’s fascists and her strong family ties cause her equal consternation.

Maze largesse, regardless of his elitist place in society, undertakes dangerous war assignments during WWII, engages Clara in the recording the placement of mines along England’s southeastern coast with the German forces only miles across the channel; and during the war, asks her to assist at his London gallery which fronts for the French Resistance.

Caught between two worlds and the two men she loves, Clara is forced to choose between tradition and class distinction, love and duty and ultimately between passion and responsibility.

21 ALDGATE is about a place in time, a place that no longer exists except in rapidly fading memories. It tells a story of social classes, people and their traditions, a family and its fate, a country and its fight against fascist and a woman with a secret she must take to her grave.

Patricia Friedberg’s screenplay based on her novel 21 ALDGATE, Rainbow Books, Inc., Highland City, Florida, USA. 2010 is in development in the UK to become a major feature film.

The RAVEN and the WOLF: Chronicle I - Blood Oath By Christopher Spellman

The RAVEN and the WOLF: Chronicle I - Blood Oath By Christopher Spellman
ISBN-13: 9781609101855
Publisher: Booklocker.com
Date: April 2010
Page Count: 460

The Raven & the Wolf is an epic saga-like tale of dark-age conflict, oaths, brotherhood and betrayal, set in the throes of a divided and tumultuous 10th century Britain.


Chapter One

Bitter was that smoke across the span of night, the screams

competent to curdle blood, the blade-song pealing and unmelodious.

Thatch burned and crackled in flicking tongues of flame, sweeping  over narrowed lanes, one rooftop to the next and sending hot ash glowing and swirling into the night. Dogs barked, yowled and bayed. Women wailed and wept, cradling infants to their breasts surely as mothers must. The old cowered and shrunk back, dismayed. Men slow to their weapons died.

 Peace had ended in that town.

Synopsis:
It is early in the 10th century. England has crowned a new king - Æthelstan the Faithful of Wessex - who has endeavored to unify all the realms of the isle under one rule.

But unity is not always won through bloodless means.

For Wulfric and Hereric, brothers of dubious descent who have fled their native kingdom of Northumbria under circumstances they shall not fully grasp for many years, the prospect of unity is as strained as that of England itself. Forced to endure a bloody, timeless pact, they are sworn as protectors of one another. But the gods and Norn-maidens of their pagan faith have another fate in store for the two kinsmen.
Their oath in jeopardy, the brothers embark upon diverging paths that by fate will force them to decide where their loyalties are strongest. As a coalition of discontented Scots, Britons and an opportunistic Viking kingdom in Ireland gather to challenge the authority of Wessex's overlordship, the paths they have chosen are destined to draw them into the upheaval that shall become England's greatest struggle.

The Norns are weaving the black threads of doom, ravens are circling low above fallowed fields and the gods are set to unchain the wolves from their dens.

The Raven & the Wolf is a tale of Dark Age betrayal, of kingdoms in conflict and the destiny that shall turn the fields of Britain into a sea of blood. This is the first book in a series of novels detailing the tumultuous relationship between kinsmen in Dark Age England.

Also spotlighted at Historical-fiction.com

Available now for Purchase At Amazon or B & N

GIVEAWAY! Review: The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

The Burton Review has reviewed Philippa Gregory's new release which has been duplicated here. There are two separate giveaways going on here and at The Burton Review. See the end of this post for more details.

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster Ltd (August 3, 2010 in USA; August 19 in UK)
ISBN-13: 978-1416563723 & 978-1847374578
Review copy provided by Simon and Schuster, thank you!
The Burton Review Rating:

Heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her house is the true ruler of England and that she has a great destiny before her. Her ambitions are disappointed when her sainted cousin Henry VI fails to recognize her as a kindred spirit, and she is even more dismayed when he sinks into madness. Her mother mocks her plans, revealing that Margaret will always be burdened with the reputation of her father, one of the most famously incompetent English commanders in France. But worst of all for Margaret is when she discovers that her mother is sending her to a loveless marriage in remote Wales.

Married to a man twice her age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy. Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty, she names him Henry, like the king; sends him into exile; and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth of York’s daughter. As the political tides constantly move and shift, Margaret charts her own way through another loveless marriage, treacherous alliances, and secret plots. She feigns loyalty to the usurper Richard III and even carries his wife’s train at her coronation.

Widowed a second time, Margaret marries the ruthless, deceitful Thomas, Lord Stanley, and her fate stands on the knife edge of his will. Gambling her life that he will support her, she then masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of the time—all the while knowing that her son has grown to manhood, recruited an army, and now waits for his opportunity to win the greatest prize.

In a novel of conspiracy, passion, and coldhearted ambition, number one bestselling author Philippa Gregory has brought to life the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history.

The Red Queen The Red Queen is the story of Margaret Beaufort who is the mother to Henry Tudor, who later becomes Henry VII, who begins the popular Tudor rule. The novel opens to a very pious and somewhat haughty nine year old Margaret who learns that even though she feels destined to be an abbess she is instead to be used as the Lancastrian pawn. She was cousin to the Lancastrian King Henry VI who offered her his half-brother Edmund Tudor to wed. It was at this point that I thought that I disliked Margaret. And unfortunately, when I dislike a main character, I tend to dislike the book, such as part of my issue with The Other Queen. Warning bells went off. Thankfully, I read further.

What I wanted from this book is entertainment value. Although I have read a few Wars of the Roses books, both fiction and non-fiction, I have not read anything focused on Margaret and I wanted to learn more about her. What made her promise her only son, the precious Lancastrian heir, to the enemy Yorkist Elizabeth Woodville's eldest daughter? What propelled Margaret to continually strive to get her son on the throne? In my Tudor novels, she is often portrayed as the elderly mother to Henry VII, and as being overbearing and obnoxious to Elizabeth of York. So, who really was Margaret of Beaufort? Gregory gives her a voice with this novel, and I was not disappointed.

Gregory portrays her as an annoying child who feels superior to everyone and wants to be noticed as such. Since this is stressed over much with the Joan of Arc theme, it gets a little tiresome. But, after awhile, Margaret grew up into her twenties and thirties and she in turn grew on me. Even though she continued to feel destined for greatness and never doubted herself or Joan of Arc, the story evolved in such a way that Margaret's destiny was something that I could not wait to see how she fulfilled it. If anything, Gregory makes the reader admire Margaret's tenacity. I hated her, liked her, hated her..Perhaps the most intriguing thing for me was that she was devious, yet still pious. Odd combo, eh? Twenty-eight years of waiting for her son to take their family's rightful crown, and the story followed Margaret as she helped to make it happen. And as I have been a Yorkist-in-training with my previous reads, I had always had the lingering impression that the Tudors were a grasping bunch, and that the Beaufort boy was pretty darn lucky to have wound up on the throne like he did all because of a single battle. What a different view this paints! I almost believe that the Yorkists never had a right to be up there at all! (ducks head swiftly..)

And oh, the dear prodigal son Henry.. I have always had him pictured as miserly and almost frail in comparison to his boisterous son, Henry VIII. Gregory shows his character as being a darling brown-headed child that Margaret misses very much during his childhood that he spent with Jasper. The fact that he understood his calling, and that the Lancastrians were so patient before they finally pounced on the Yorks... I was awed. Of course, in order for Lancaster to have a leg to stand on, they needed French backing, and Henry was always looking around for his protector Jasper during the fight.. but still.. very intriguing. I have read books that focused on the York view, from Richard of Gloucester to Elizabeth Woodville, that this Lancastrian view from Margaret Beaufort was really intriguing for me. And Lord Stanley, Margaret's third husband, I do believe he is the epitome of the term "turncoat". Another one of those characters you love to hate. Always an enticing topic, the mystery of the ill-fated princes in the tower was also well played in this telling. Even though it still saddens me when I think of it. How would history be different in they had lived?

I really enjoyed how Gregory wrote this story, and the fact that I am being pleasantly entertained is all that I need when I am settling in to read a novel such as this. Being a casual Wars of the Roses reader, historical inaccuracy was not something that leaped out at me with this read, although again there will be many things that are debatable for all time. I love this era, I love this point of view, and I am so glad that I had a chance to read this novel and get another facet to an important historical event. (ducks again..)

As mentioned in other reviews, the letters that were exchanged between Margaret and her husband or Jasper were so far fetched that their appearances brought the plausibility of the novel to a lower level. Another annoying nagging thought I had while reading this was regarding the title. Who exactly was the Red Queen? Margaret was not it, although perhaps she wanted to be, and supposedly the publishers wanted her to be. The book ends in 1485 with Henry's success and with Margaret once again saying she should be treated as royalty as the king's mother. I can only applaud Margaret's success as well (leaving the horrifying fact aside that she may have had something to do with the murder of innocent children...but we'll never know..). She was only a ruler during her brief regency after her son died in 1509 and a young Henry VIII came to the throne. I wish the publishers had attempted to market this series with titles that would intellectually work for each book. Just because The White Queen title was accurate with the last one doesn't mean the same is true for The Red Queen. The ending sequence with the shift away from Margaret and then a quick obligatory zoom in on her to finish it off was too much of a difference from the rest of the novel, making a good book end in a somewhat corny way which unfortunately takes away from the overall feel of the novel.

With that being said, I believe that anyone with the casual interest in the Wars of the Roses and how they had affected the chain of events that ultimately lead to a successful Tudor rule will find the newest Gregory novel to be an insightful read. And most of the current Philippa Gregory fans know ahead of time what they are getting with her novels, so I doubt they would be too disappointed with this one.

This review has been cross-posted at The Burton Review, where there is a giveaway for both of the current books in The Cousins' War series The Red Queen and the newly released paperback of The White Queen.

Other reviews of The Red Queen:
Historical-fiction.com
Medieval Woman
My Fluttering Heart
Historically Obsessed

Followers of HF Connection are welcome to enter for the two-book-giveaway at The Burton Review, as well as the giveaway for a brand new Hardcover of Philippa Gregory's The Red Queen offered here at HF Connection.

To enter:
Become a follower of HF Connection. Please comment on this post with your email address.

+3 entries Post the Giveaway on your sidebar, linking to this post.
+2 entries: Facebook, tweet; leave me a link to the post.
You must include your email address so that we can contact you if you win.

USA only! Contest ends August 20, 2010.

GIVEAWAY! Today's New Release: FOR THE KING by Catherine Delors

Most of you know of the Historical Fiction Bloggers Round Table site. They have already featured the author Catherine Delors with interviews and guest posts and reviews, and one of them is reprinted below.


To celebrate Catherine's release day, HF-Connection is hosting a giveaway of this beautiful hardcover book! Interested? Read the review and see for yourself, and see the rules for the giveaway at the end of the post.

For the King by Catherine Delors
July 8th 2010 by Dutton Books
Amazon USA
Hardcover, 352 pages
isbn 9780525951742

The Reign of Terror has ended six years earlier, and Napoléon Bonaparte has seized power, but shifting political loyalties still tear apart families and lovers.

On Christmas Eve 1800, a bomb explores along Bonaparte’s route, narrowly missing him but striking dozens of bystanders. Chief Inspector Roch Miquel, a young policeman with a bright future and a beautiful mistress, must arrest the assassins before they attack again. Complicating Miquel’s investigation are the maneuverings of his superior, the redoubtable Fouché, the indiscretions of his own father, a former Jacobin, and two intriguing women.

For The King takes readers through the dark alleys and glittering salons of post-revolutionary Paris. It is a romantic thriller, a tale of love, betrayal and redemption.

I am not as historically in tune to French politics as I am with Tudor politics. With Catherine Delors' newest novel that is focused on French politics, there is no preamble to the upheaval that France is facing after the pacification set in place by Bonaparte. The French Revolution had just ended and the novel begins in 1800 with a police officer called Roch Miguel who is investigating a bombing on the streets of  Paris that was a failed assassination attempt on Napoleon Bonaparte. There were several police agencies or ministries that were at odds with each other who were slightly hard to follow; along with who was Royalist, Jacobin or Chouan. If I had previously read a novel that dealt with the Republic and the aftermath of the French revolution I would probably have felt a bit less lost, but the writing of Catherine Delors pulled me through the story itself very quickly.

Written to be a historical mystery, the focus of the story is the investigation of the bombing in the Rue Nicaise. Roch, the investigator, is the main protagonist and is portrayed as a strong man with morals, and gets put in a bad situation when his father, affectionately known as Old Miguel, is suddenly arrested. Was he arrested to spur Roch's investigation in another direction? Between the several different factions of the police government it is hard to tell if Roch should trust anyone in the fearsome political times. And he has to move fast otherwise his father will meet a torturous fate meant for traitors.

Napoleon crossing the Alps (1800)~Jaques Louis David

One of the mentions in the novel is of a painter known as Jaques Louis David, who painted the famous portrait of Napoleon on the magnificent white horse. I loved how Delors included these small details of history into her novel which helped me experience France and their culture more than I ever have. And I took five years of French! Catherine Delors helped to reawaken in me the spirit of France for which I had fallen in love with long ago as a child. She surrounds the novel in historic details that really help shape the atmosphere and the turmoil of France at that time.

Catherine Delors' previous novel, Mistress of the Revolution (2008), was written in memoir fashion telling of a Frenchwoman exiled in England. This new novel departs from that point of view as it is told in third person allowing for multiple views to be presented. Using this narrative allows the reader to get an entire circumspective view from all parties involved which is very helpful in this thriller/mystery setting. It also helps to lend a greater understanding of a complicated period of time that could easily befuddle the unaware reader, like I was at first.

I found the story to be fast paced and I felt empathy for the character of the investigator Roch Miguel, and Delors was subtle with the added romantic undercurrents that we are treated to. Some of the other characters shifted over time, becoming more ominous as the story wore on and the mystery of who was behind the attack unfolded. Although the reader knows the names of the three who are responsible for the attack from the very beginning, the unfolding of the multiple aspects that lead to the attack and their hopeful apprehension was expertly presented. Lovers of France and those eager to immerse themselves in its historic setting following the revolution will definitely love this book. I love the fact that Delors is focusing her next novel on another mystery setting and I will definitely be reading that one as well.

Reprinted with permission from The Burton Review.

Catherine Delors blog: Versailles and More
Catherine's website.
Purchase Catherine's books.

Giveaway Rules:
One hardcover of FOR THE KING to USA or Canada residents only.
Comment here with your email address.
+1 entry for tweeting or facebooking this post.
Good Luck!

'Christopher Columbus, Revised' by Mitchell James Kaplan, author

Please welcome Mitchell James Kaplan, author of By Fire, By Water which released May 18, 2010 to rave reviews.

Christopher Columbus, Revised

Every age needs its good guys and bad guys. In our day, the bad guys par excellence are the colonizers of times past who exploited indigenous peoples and extended empires. Who could fit the bill better than Christopher Columbus, who changed his name, upon moving to Spain, to "Colón" ("the colonizer") and proceeded to infect the virginal western hemisphere with European lust, aggression, and greed?

In recent decades, a spate of revisionist historians have attempted to knock the Genoese discoverer from his timeworn pedestal. In Christopher Columbus and the Conquest of Paradise, Kirkpatrick Sale portrayed him as deluded and morally flawed, suggesting he was partially to blame for the subsequent annhilation of Native American peoples. Howard Zinn, in his People's History of the United States, carried the demonization of Columbus further, misleadingly invoking Columbus's contemporary, the morally lucid Bartolomé de las Casas, in support of his re-evaluation.

Last Spring, the faculty of Brown University voted to stop honoring Columbus Day, renaming the federal holiday "Fall Weekend" for purposes related to university affairs. For similar reasons, in Berkeley, California, Columbus Day is now Indigenous Peoples Day.

I support honoring indigenous peoples, but I object to the effort to reduce as complex, fascinating, and in some ways inspiring a man as Christopher Columbus to a caricature. Columbus was ambitious, greedy, proud, and, as governor of Hispaniola, inept. He was also an insatiably curious autodidact, a man of deep and unshakeable convictions, and a brilliant navigator who utilized previously unknown wind patterns to make an extremely challenging voyage feasible with very limited resources. His routes from Europe to the West Indies are used by shipping enterprises to this day.

When Columbus first landed on the shores of the New World, he was impressed by the gentleness of the natives. "I recognized," he wrote in his diary, "that they would be better free and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force." He instructed his sailors not to take anything from them without offering something in return. This is not to say that Columbus was a saint, or that he wanted to engage in fair exchange practices. But he saw the natives as human beings, and that was already quite an accomplishment for a man of his time.

It was not yet firmly established, in the Spanish mind, that pagans belonged to the same species as Christians, Jews, and Muslims. A theological debate fueled this confusion: How could a just God have created human beings who had never heard the name of Christ, and were thus born into a world where salvation was impossible and damnation, inevitable? As late as 1550, Juan de Sepulveda argued at Valladolid that the "Indians" Columbus had discovered were not rational beings. Native Americans, in this view, did not deserve to benefit from the protections of law or judeo-christian ethics. They did not deserve to be free. Their lives were of no value to God. In contrast to Sepulveda and later Spanish governors and explorers,Columbus showed admiration, if not respect, for the Taino Indians he initially met.

Using gestures and sounds, speaking through Columbus's "interpreter" (the Jew Luis de Torres) these gentle natives described for Columbus (or seemed to describe) other tribes in the vicinity, fearsome warriors who hunted and ate human beings. De Torres and Columbus concluded that the tribe they had discovered lived in mortal fear of their neighbors, the Caribs, from whose name our words "cannibal" and "Carribean" derive. Columbus and de Torres forged a personal bond with the Taino chieftain, Guacanagari.
In part to help protect Guacanagari and his tribe, Columbus left behind a colony of some forty European sailors, including de Torres. When he returned a year later, he found their fortress burned to the ground. Many of the Europeans had been murdered. Others had fled. Enraged by what he perceived as treachery, Columbus began to view the natives in a less favorable light.

On this second voyage, Columbus had brought a priest, Friar Buil, who advised him to execute Guacanagari in retribution for the destruction of the fortress and the murder of its European residents. Columbus refused to do so, but took Indian prisoners. Under the European rules of warfare of that day, unransomed prisoners were sold as slaves.

Columbus wanted to govern the lands he discovered, and to convert the natives to Christianity. According to his contract with the monarchs of Spain, he and his heirs were entitled to a tenth of all the goods produced in the lands he discovered. The king and queen, who had not imagined he would find an entire hemisphere, soon recognized that Columbus stood to become immensely wealthy and powerful. They could not tolerate a potential threat to their sovereignty. On trumped-up charges, they had Columbus arrested, deprived of his governorship and other contractual rights, and, for a time, jailed. They also did their best to sully his reputation. He was a bad governor, they maintained, who horded wealth, treated nobles like commoners, and abused his subjects. In his trial, Columbus was not permitted to utter a word of self-defense.

There was some basis to the monarchs' claims. However, it was not Columbus but his successors that imposed the brutal encomienda feudal system, under which the natives were worked to death. Those natives who survived the hard labor were decimated by diseases imported from Europe -- measles, mumps, diptheria, typhoid, and smallpox. The legacy of Spain in the New World is not Columbus's legacy.

We need not romanticize Columbus or try to transform him into a modern hero. He was as much a man of the middle ages as of the renaissance, motivated by religious zeal and divine inspiration as well as greed and thirst for knowledge. "God made me the messenger," he wrote in his Book of Prophecies, "of the new heaven and the new earth, of which he spoke in the Apocalypse of St John after having previously revealed it through the mouth of Isaiah. He showed me where to find this new heaven and new earth." To judge Columbus by the standards of our day, when the connotations and the very meaning of the word "colonizer" have changed, is simplistic and intellectually dishonest.

Reprinted with permission from Mitchell James Kaplan. His blog can be found here. By Fire, By Water is available for purchase here.

Why the Howards? by D.L. Bogdan, author of Secrets of The Tudor Court

Please welcome D.L. Bogdan, a debut author of Secrets of The Tudor Court which released May 1, 2010 from Kensington Books.

The Tudor era brings many images to mind. Most of the time, we think of the main cast: young Henry VIII, dashing and golden (or old Henry VIII--not so dashing and golden), vivacious Anne Boleyn, devout Catherine of Aragon, and the many figures that make the Tudor saga come to life. But what of the supporting cast? Those that turned the gears in the great medieval machine that has become as compellingly epic as the Arthurian legends? My goal in SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT (Kensington Books) was to bring some of these more peripheral personas to life. I chose Mary Howard as my subject; the daughter of the ambitious and cruel 3rd Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, and the wife of Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII's illegitimate son. She proved to be a challenging and unique window into a familiar tale and was tough to research.

 Any information I could gather was included in the story to authenticate my work but my job as an entertainer came into play as I creatively filled in some gaps to make for a fast paced, character driven study of a father and daughter's love-hate struggle in a time where living beyond the shadow of the executioner's axe was quite an accomplishment. When writing SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT I became fascinated with the antagonist Thomas Howard and delved into researching him in more depth. This led me to writing a companion piece, tentatively titled RIVALS IN THE TUDOR COURT, which will be released in roughly 9 months to a year by Kensington Books.

RIVALS IN THE TUDOR COURT focuses on Thomas, his fiery wife Elizabeth Stafford, and vulnerable mistress Bess Holland. This book was derived from a wealth of research, as there was a great deal more information about the duke available to me than his young daughter Mary. Both books were a joy to write and I am thrilled to share them with The Historical Fiction Connection. SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT is available on amazon.com and at your local booksellers. If you'd like to know more about me and my upcoming works, please feel free to follow my new blog at http://www.dlbogdan.blogspot.com/


Thanks so much to D.L for providing us with this post. You can visit reviews of her first novel, Secrets of The Tudor Court here:

Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner
Manic Readers
All Things Royal
The Burton Review
Historical-Fiction.com
History Undressed (interview and review)

Book Review: A Cottage by The Sea by Ciji Ware: Jenny of Jenny Loves to Read

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Landmark

Genre: Fiction, Romance
Trade paperback, 544 pages
Book Source: ARC Sourcebooks
JennyGirl's Rating: 95/100

"All the romance of the beautiful Cornish coast and a wealth of local color add richness to a story that crosses the centuries…. When a Hollywood scandal leaves her life and her marriage in ruins, Blythe Stowe escapes to the wild coast of Cornwall and a cottage by the sea. There she finds herself both physically drawn to her handsome neighbor, Lucas Teague, and literally drawn into a haunting 200-year old love story as an elaborate family tree on his study wall sends her rushing back into the past. As Blythe struggles to make sense of what is happening and discovers family secrets that have been long concealed, she realizes Lucas holds the key to both her past and her future… "

Jennygirl's Thoughts:

Blythe decides to spend her summer, alone in Cornwall, in order to sift through her thoughts and emotions regarding her recent public divorce and humiliation at the hands of her now ex-husband (the cheeky bastard). Blythe picks Cornwall because her Grandmom always said she had roots there. Turns out to be true and apparently things did not go well with Blythe's ancestors either. They also had some trouble in the love department, to put it mildly. Without giving the story away, Blythe realizes you can learn from the past to correct present difficulties. It's all about forgiveness and acceptance.

Blythe embarks on a passionate relationship with Lucas Teague, and although he seems like a rebound guy, he is exactly what she needs and vice versa. Lucas has experienced tragedy in his past and needs to forgive and accept himself and past events. It's not worth it to stay angry at the past. No use crying over spilled milk, right? Lucas is a doll and a hot one to boot, so Blythe has it made. Ah romance!

With respect to the secondary characters they are fun and well placed. Ware's descriptions and dialogue enhanced their roles in the story, and I was able to picture them with ease, the ex-husband, Blythe's sister, and especially the godmother.

The time travel element is executed well in the story. I like the explanation that Ware employs when Blythe tries to seek some answers regarding her "experiences". I thought it was plausible considering the circumstances, and it's quite creative. As to the setting, Ware represents Cornwall in all it's splendor with descriptions of the coast, the surrounding foliage, and village life. Yes, Cornwall is now on my list of places I must visit some day.

This book was a good read, and I think it is unique as opposed to other time travel romances I have read. It's different. For those of you, who have read Island of the Swans, at the end of the story you will recognize some of the names and places that are mentioned. I thought that was a great touch, and pretty creative. Don't worry if you haven't read Swans, you'll still know what's going on. Ware just gave a nod to her other book, which I would highly recommend.

To read more about this book and the rest of Ware's work, please stop by her website: http://www.cijiware.com/

Thanks to Jennygirl for allowing us to republish this review here. Visit Jennygirl and read more of her book reviews at her website Jenny Loves To Read.

Compare prices of the book here.

Other book reviews of this title:
The Burton Review
Broken Teepee
BookRack
Blog of the Irish
Pudgy Penguin Perusals