Christy English

Guest Post with Helen Hollick

Friday, July 15th, 2011 | Guest Posts, Helen Hollick | 6 Comments

Continuing the week of Helen Hollick, the USA Today Bestselling author…Today I am fortunate enough to have Helen on my blog, answering the first question that was on my mind after reading her fabulous novel, SEA WITCH:

What drew you to pirates in the first place?

“Why, I wonder, do people read historical fiction – or science fiction, adventure stories, thrillers… romance novels? To be entertained, certainly, but also for “escapism” perhaps? To explore other places, other worlds, past present or future. To experience fear, awe, love, excitement, humour. Maybe to explore things they could never experience in real life? Novels open a doorway into other worlds, worlds that become real as each page is turned and the reader ventures deeper and deeper into the narrative. And it is up to the author to create that illusion of believability, even in unbelievable settings. Up to the writer to bring the characters to life; to describe scenery, detail, action, dialogue – and the whole, wide, range of emotions. To paint pictures with words.

A second question. Why do writers write? Ask a mountaineer, “Why do you want to climb Everest?” You’ll get the response: “Because it’s there.” The literary equivalent is; “Why do you want to write?” Response: “Because it isn’t there.”

Writing is compulsive – at least, it is for me, but most authors will tell you the same. It’s not about wanting to write, its about having to write.

For me, my characters exist. They are not made-up entities, its just that they live in a different dimension, in the World of Imagination.

For historical fiction, do we write about characters who were once alive because somehow we “connect” with the memory of an individual person, or with the whisper of a particular era? I have no interest in Tudor or Victorian England, for instance (although my daughter is passionate about Queen Elizabeth I – no idea where she got that from!) Roman Britain, the Saxon period – and the Golden Age of Piracy I have an affinity with. It is a link that I cannot fully explain.

Go into any old place and most people will “feel” a presence of the memory of the past. Sense the whispers of ghosts and departed souls. Special places even more so – battlefields, or where some great event happened.  For me, this unexplained empathy has manifested itself many times – on top of Glastonbury Tor, at the battlefield where Hastings was fought in 1066, in very old houses. I felt nothing, though, when walking through one of the old Redwood forests in California. The huge giants of the Sequoia trees were awesome (there is no other word to use!) It was hot, you could smell the sun baking on the timber and the dry earth. Some of those trees have stood there, like sentinel guards, for hundreds of years, but there was no “presence” of the past. No echo, no whisper or murmur. No ghosts. It was a most peculiar feeling – like suddenly not being able to hear or see. Something, eerily, was missing. I came to the conclusion that there are no lingering spirits for there were no people living or dieing there. The land then – way back when – was empty. Too much land, not enough people; the Native Americans lived on the coast and in the plains and valleys where there was plentiful hunting – not among those passive redwoods.

Writing historical fiction also has the attraction of unravelling facts and weaving into them theory, logic and imagination. As a novelist it is exiting – and challenging – to take a few known events and interpret why and how they happened. Of putting faces to names, and giving new life to the ghosts.

So why did I decide to move away from straight historical fiction and write what has become a series of historical adventure stories with a dash of fantasy? What attracted me to pirates?

Initially, it was Johnny Depp’s creation of Jack Sparrow. I saw the first movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl and fell for Captain Sparrow (who didn’t! *laugh*). I wanted to read something similar, a story that was action-packed with a dashing hero and a beautiful heroine. Something that skilfully blended fact with fantasy. I found plenty of straight nautical tales – Hornblower, Patrick O‘Brian’s novels, Frenchman’s Creek – but none of these had that extra element of the ethereal or the supernatural.

I researched real pirates (not at all like those in Pirates of the Caribbean, the real lot were not very pleasant men – or women.) The facts, as I read, just leant themselves to writing fiction – storms at sea, shipwrecks, sea battles. Overflowing treasure chests and adventure by the shipload. I realised that the only way to obtain the book I wanted to read, was to write it myself.

The lure of escapism and excitement appealed to me. The opportunity to write something that was light-hearted fun… and the chance to create my own – my – own character.

Brave, bold, handsome. A charmer to fall in love with. Sexy and capable – but with that little bit of vulnerability about him. The sort of guy we look for and know we will never find because he only exists in novels or movies. Sharpe, Jack Aubrey, Jack Sparrow, James Bond and Indiana Jones all rolled into one.

I “met” my Jesamiah Acorne on an English beach. I was walking in the rain, thinking up the plot to what would end up as Sea Witch, the first Voyage in the series. I looked up and there he stood, in full “pirate” regalia, complete with cutlass, pistol, blue ribbons fluttering in his hair and a gold acorn earring. He touched his tricorn hat in salute.

“Hello Jesamiah Acorne,” I said.

Imagination? A glimpse of someone from the past – an echo of a memory passed down in my DNA? Who knows? All I knew, then, was that I had to write his adventures – and I’m thoroughly enjoying doing so!”

You are welcome to visit my website www.helenhollick.net

join me on Facebook -

www.facebook.com/helen.hollick

or come aboard the Sea Witch page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-Hollick-Author/101822116574750

Thank you so much for joining us Helen! And for those of you who have not signed up for the give away of a copy of SEA WITCH, visit my review of Helen’s book and give away on Wednesday, July 13.

Anne Easter Smith and QUEEN BY RIGHT

Monday, May 9th, 2011 | Anne Easter Smith, Guest Posts | 3 Comments

I am very pleased and honored to welcome Anne Easter Smith, author of the new novel of the Wars of the Roses, QUEEN BY RIGHT.  The official launch date is tomorrow, May 10, but we are fortunate enough to find her novel in some stores today.

Who was Cecily Neville, the protagonist of Queen by Right?

Thanks for asking and for letting me tell your readers about her on your blog, Christy.

Cecily Neville, duchess of York, was last child of Ralph, earl of Westmorland and his second wife Joan Beaufort (daughter of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt). Cecily was known as The Rose of Raby in ballads of the period because of her fair-haired beauty, and in later life, she was also called Proud Cis for her regal bearing, intelligence and no-nonsense demeanor. She had the good fortune to grow up with her intended husband, Richard, duke of York, who was one of Ralph’s wards, and when she married she became the second highest-ranked lady in England. Other than one rumored incident, she remained steadfast to her husband and bore him 13 children, several of whom died young and two of whom became kings of England.

When did you first get hooked on history?

Being English helped a lot! I grew up with 1,000 years of history all around me (in the London area) and whenever I was in a castle or gothic church I always got the feeling that it was where I belonged. But my more in-depth interest came from a history teacher I had at boarding school in my teens, who turned me on to the people of history, not just the dates, battles and politics.

 Why the Wars of the Roses?

First of all, thanks for putting the “s” on Wars. Who knows why but that’s what it is called. When I was 21, my godmother gave me a book called “Daughter of Time” by the 1950s mystery writer, Josephine Tey. It was about a London detective laid up in a hospital bed who decided to try and solve the mystery of the disappearance of the princes in the Tower. Tey sifted through all the research and decided the usual suspect, the boy’s uncle Richard III, could not have bumped them off. I was fascinated, because we had always been taught that he was a really Bad King, and so I started to read everything I could about Richard, and, to put it bluntly I became a groupie!! It meant I became very steeped in 15th century English history, and of course I had to tell my version of Richard’s story.

As well as book research, how much on-site research do you do?

To be honest, I cannot write about a place unless I have seen it, so yes, traveling to all these castles, towns and villages constitutes a huge part of my research. Once in a great while, I have to resort to the internet, but I can count the places on the fingers of one hand. Some of the highlights were Belgium (for “Daughter of York” and “The King’s Grace”), Lisbon for “The King’s Grace, and Ludlow Castle for “Queen By Right,” where I really felt Cecily’s presence the most.

Who is your favorite character?

All of my protaganists hold a special place in my heart for very different reasons, but I have to say that Fortunata in “Daughter of York” stole my heart while I wrote that book! Oddly enough Richard of Gloucester in “A Rose for the Crown” ought to have been my favorite leading man because of fascination with him over 40 years, but he isn’t. That honor goes to his son, John of Gloucester in “The King’s Grace,” followed closely by Tom Gower in the same book.  There was just enough “bad boy” in John to make his loyalty and honorableness interesting! My least favorite characters are Henry VII in “The King’s Grace” (a weasly man!) and Jacquetta of Bedford in “Queen By Right” (a sly, manipulative woman if ever there was one!). Oh, and Charles the Bold’s nasty bastard sister, Marie de Charny in “Daughter of York,” was right up there too!

Which book do you think is your readers’ favorite?

If the letters and emails I get from them constitute a good sampling, then I would say “A Rose for the Crown” gets that honor. I did pour a lot of my heart into that book because I was not expecting it to be published and so I put an awful lot of work into it and took my time. Now I am under contract, I don’t have that luxury. But if you ask me the same question, Which do I think is the best book? I would have to say “Queen By Right,” because I think I am a better writer now. I loved writing Margaret’s story in “Daughter of York,” and my sister thinks that’s my best, and I am very proud of “The King’s Grace” because it was very complicated to tell two different stories at the same time and then have them mesh at the end.

Is there a fifth book in the offing?

There is, Christy! It will tell the rather dramatic tale of Edward IV’s “merriest” mistress, Jane Shore, with whom Edward took up late in his life and whom, the contemporary chronicles say, he loved the most. She was a silk merchant’s daughter who married another mercer and as she was attempting to divorce him on the grounds of impotency (a very unusual case in this period, but definitely legal grounds), she caught the eye of Edward’s chamberlain and best friend, Will Hastings. By the way, I am sure “Queen By Right’s” Cecily would not have approved of her!

 Thank you so much for joining us, Anne. To see more about QUEEN BY RIGHT, follow one of these links…

http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Right-Anne-Easter-Smith/dp/141655047X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304940629&sr=1-1

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Queen-By-Right/Anne-Easter-Smith/e/9781416550471/?itm=1&USRI=queen+by+right

Crusading: For the Holy Land or For the Crown

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 | Eleanor of Aquitaine, Guest Posts, Richard the Lionhearted, The Writing Life, To Be Queen | 1 Comment

In medieval fiction, someone is always crusading for something. Cecily Neville supports husband and her son as they struggle to gain the crown in the War of the Roses (QUEEN BY RIGHT by Anne Easter Smith). Eleanor of Aquitaine crusades first to be Queen of France and then to free herself from the noose of  her first marriage in TO BE QUEEN.  Richard the Lionhearted leads his troops and brother kings on the Third Crusade to set Jerusalem free in LIONHEART, Sharon Kay Penman’s latest tour de force, and Elisabeth rides on Crusade in Nan Hawthorne’s novel BELOVED PILGRIM.

As a writer, I feel as if I am always crusading for my characters, either on the page, helping them in their struggles against their foes, struggles they do not always win, or as I work to get the word out about my own particular vision of Eleanor. I wonder if it is simply human nature to strive for what we do not yet have: Eleanor, for the Crown of France and then freedom from it, Cecily, for the crown of England for her husband and later her son, Elisabeth, for the freedom to live her life as she chooses, even in the confines of medieval Europe. I suppose that is one of the great joys of fiction and of story-telling…we get to suffer and triumph along with the characters we read about, and to think in turn of  our own lives, and what we are crusading for.

Please join us on Friday for an excerpt from Nan Hawthorne’s medieval novel, BELOVED PILGRIM.

And on Monday, I have the honor of hosting an interview with Anne Easter Smith about her new novel, QUEEN BY RIGHT.

Nan Hawthorne and Beloved Pilgrim Give Away

Monday, April 18th, 2011 | Give Away, Guest Posts | 5 Comments

I am happy to welcome Nan Hawthorne to my blog today. She has written a novel set during the  Crusade of 1101, BELOVED PILGRIM. Nan has generously opened up a GIVE AWAY for her latest novel. Please leave a comment at the end of this post for a chance to win a copy of BELOVED PILGRIM. One copy of  the trade paperback to a North American winner,  or a copy of the ebook to an international winner.  The winner will be announced Monday, May 2nd.

Nan Hawthorne is a historical novelist who lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and doted-upon cats.  She has been in love with history and historical fiction since, at four, she discovered the Richard Greene “The Adventures of Robin Hood” television series.  She wrote her first short story at seven, then launched into the letters and stories with a teen friend that ultimately became her first novel, AN INVOLUNTARY KING: A TALE OF ANGLE SAXON ENGLAND (2008).  The author of one nonfiction work on women and body image, she now concentrates primarily on historical novels set in the Middle Ages.  Her latest novel, BELOVED PILGRIM, looks at gender identity and self-realization during the chaotic and doomed Crusade of 1101.  She writes several blogs on historical themes, owns the medieval-novels.com catalog and also Internet radio station, Radio Dé Danann.

And now, for a look into the mind of BELOVED PILGRIM’s author, Nan Hawthorne… Thank you for joining us, Nan.

Writing Battle Scenes for Fun and Profit

Well, maybe not profit… but it has been rather fun.  There’s something primal about writing battle scenes, and something satisfying about the primal.  But not being a fighter, the know how to write about swords and archers and destriers did not come easily to me.

Sometimes the wisest thing a person can do is recognize that someone else can do something you can’t, and then ask them.  When I was writing my first novel about an Anglo Saxon king I realized that just reading Bernard Cornwell’s Uhtred novels with their long, involved and pitiless shield wall battle scenes was a good start but I needed more.  I got the bright idea to find a discussion group for the Society for Creative Anachronism and ask for help.  It turned out you can learn a lot more there than just what a bliaut is and what it is constructed from.  You can find people who know about medieval warfare and are passionate about it, and even have done it.  That is how I found Jack Graham, and the rest is historical fiction.

Jack has been a student of military history and practice all of his life.  He served as an officer in Vietnam where he saw plenty of combat.  He therefore understands battle planning.  It was his fascination with medieval warfare that took him from reality now to reality past.  He has a particular interest in the Crusades era, but he knew all about shield walls and seaxas and other Saxon matters as well.  Better even than that, he knows horses and how they were used in different military situations.  I knew enough about this to know a real expert when I saw one, and recognize one who knew enough not to lump all eras and locations into one inaccurate amalgam.

Jack and I quickly formed a mutual admiration society.  I enjoyed his enthusiasm and willingness to help me plot and choreograph battle.  He came to enjoy how I could take all that and turn it into something that was being experienced by actual participants.  He told me what would happen, and I illustrated it.  It was a literary marriage made in heaven.

Let me stop here and say that one thing I learned early in my career is that if you want to know something, ask an enthusiast.    That does not just mean hobbyist, but also actual accredited experts.  So many people with obscure interests and knowledge are delighted to find someone who cares to learn about it.  I have found this to be true of amateur fighters and university professors alike.  They say that necessity is the mother of invention.  I have adapted my own research style to my visual disability, unable to read hundreds of pages of scholarly works or, even less accessible, primary sources, I have learned to find those who have already done all that.  By asking intelligent questions and showing my appreciation, I get some quality information.  That, again, is where Jack Graham comes in.

Let me give you an example of how we worked together.  In Beloved Pilgrim which takes place during the Crusade of 1101, Jack not only knew how the Crusader knights and men at arms fought, he knew what they would face from the Turkish warriors, who were largely mounted archers.  The Europeans were unused to this sort of strategy, dozens of men on horseback who loosed a flight of arrows and rode away, only to loop back and do the same again and again.  The Crusaders were mighty fighters but jack told me how they typically fought, heavily armored, heavily armed, and heavily mounted, one on one.  When in the Crusades they could fight like this, they were virtually unstoppable, but they did not have a way to respond to the Turkish tactics.

Those heavy mounts I mentioned, the huge horses called destriers, did not just carry their knights but were taught to fight as well.  Jack told me how the famous Lippizaner stallions were originally fighters themselves, and when my protagonist went into battle her horse, Gauner, was an effective partner.  In one scene outside Ancyra, Gauner acts on his long training and uses his hooves to fend off and injure both other horses and men.  Jack wrote on my Facebook page “Gauner is the real hero of the novel.”

The fact that Jack lived in Turkey and knew the land, the terrain, and had visited many of the sites from the Crusade just added to his ability to describe for me what my characters had to contend with.

I think the most surprising and revealing thing that Jack was able to do is look at some of the scholarship about battles in the Crusade of 1101 and challenge conclusions.  More than once he corrected Steven Runciman’s assumptions about the why and how of a battle tactic.  My book may be fiction, but there are moments in it when it may well be more accurate than the scholarly interpretation, thanks to Jack.  In fact, when noted novelist, Sharon Kay Penman wanted to understand a battle scene from history, Jack was able to take the historical details and turn them into something that made sense to a layperson.  It was then Penman’s, and in my own case, my job to drop the human personalities into the scene and make history into an experience.

I happen to be a believer in showing battle as the hell it is.  Perhaps I get that from being such a fan of Cornwell, who does not hesitate to describe spilling entrails.  Jack, who is deeply religious, believes that young people should learn about war, but that they should see it for what it is, blood, pain and stink.  I agree.  What would be wrong is to let young people believe in the sanitized glory that older war novels and movies show.

Jack Graham is a writer, though for a living he is a high school geometry teacher.  He has been involved in NaNoWriMo for the past few years, and I enjoy his writing.  That helps our partnership greatly as we can speak a common language.  I am so impressed by and grateful to Jack that I dedicated Beloved Pilgrim to him.

Nan Hawthorne’s latest novel, Beloved Pilgrim, about a woman who chooses to live and fight as a man in the doomed Crusade of 1101 is available on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.

Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Beloved-Pilgrim-Nan-Hawthorne/dp/098339850X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302744275&sr=8-1

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/47882

Medieval Festival Friday

Friday, April 15th, 2011 | Eleanor of Aquitaine, Guest Posts | 4 Comments

I am happy to revel in medieval happenings here on this website. Today in the UK, another novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine hits the shelves: DEVIL’S CONSORT.  Please check out the first chapter here on the lovely Anne O’Brien’s website.

http://www.anneobrienbooks.com/queen-defiant-devils-consort/

And good news for us here in the US…this novel will come out here in June under the title of QUEEN DEFIANT.  I can never get enough Eleanor…

And tune in Monday on this site for a guest post from the brilliant Nan Hawthorne, author of BELOVED PILGRIM. She will tell us about the First Crusade in 1101, the setting for her novel. So please join us again Monday…the medieval festivities will continue…