Christy English

Lovely Review of The Queen’s Pawn

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 | Princess Alais, Reviews, The Queen's Pawn | No Comments

Lisa Sanderson was kind enough to give a lovely review of  THE QUEEN’S PAWN on Suite1o1. I am always thrilled when someone understands what I am trying to do with my work, as Lisa did, but I love it even more when a reader or reviewer tells me something about my book that I never saw before.

http://www.suite101.com/content/review-of-the-queens-pawn-by-christy-english-a314344

Lisa mentions that Alais is a soul divided between the light and the dark, and that Alais’ relationship with Henry reflects the dark aspects of her personality, and her relationship with Richard reflects the light. I thought that was a very compelling statement and a true one. But more importantly, it was something I had never seen in my own novel.

Thank you for the review, Lisa and for teaching me something about my own book…

Eleanor and Alais in Germany & Turkey

Friday, September 3rd, 2010 | Eleanor of Aquitaine, Princess Alais, Selling Your Work, The Writing Life | 3 Comments

I am thrilled… The Queen’s Pawn has been picked up not just in Germany, which is amazing enough, but now it will be available in Turkey. I love that both Germans and Turks will soon read a bit about Eleanor. She rode through both the Empire of Germany and through Constantinople (now Istanbul) on her way to the Second Crusade.  Eleanor was not much of a crusader..she and her lords from Aquitaine and Poitou spent most of their time avoiding battle, but she was a huge fan of Turkish baths, as we will see in To Be Queen.

Alais, as far as we know, never got farther from Paris than Windsor and Bath, but no doubt Eleanor will look after her as they travel to beautiful and exotic foreign lands.

In my next blog entry, I will explain how foreign sales happen, and how mine took place. A little information for the curious, and for those of you working to be authors who will someday have this experience yourselves. So tune in Monday…and we will explore how my foreign sales happened, and what you can expect when your agent gets you a foreign deal.

From Darkness into Light

Friday, August 13th, 2010 | Eleanor of Aquitaine, Princess Alais, The Writing Life | No Comments

When darkness rises, from our very bodies in the case of illness or from the burdens of life, as it must for all of us, what is it that keeps us going? For Alais, it was a faith in God and in her duty, her absolute certainty that whatever she did, she always acted to serve her father and the throne of France. For Eleanor, it was faith in herself, a complete and total certainty that whatever happened in her life, whatever or whoever she lost, she would always find within herself the strength to go on.

This act of courage, facing the darkness and walking on in spite of it, is something all of us do at least a few times in our lives. To face the darkness and to step forward into it, with the certainty that beyond it lies something else, if not freedom from darkness,  hope that light will shine on us once more. That is heroism. To step forward into the dark, not knowing what will come next, only knowing that you have to keep walking.

The Chapel Where Henry and Alais First Met

Friday, June 11th, 2010 | Princess Alais, The Queen's Pawn, Video Blog Entries | No Comments

Ok, in my novel, they actually meet in a stable, but they have their first real conversation in  a chapel very much like this one…

Alais’ Favorite Cloister

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 | Princess Alais, The Queen's Pawn, Video Blog Entries | No Comments

Here I am at the Cloisters Museum in Manhattan, this time showing you Alais’ favorite…