English Historical Fiction Authors

Henry II and Thomas Becket

Monday, January 9th, 2012 | English Historical Fiction Authors, Henry II | No Comments

King Henry II

As everyone knows by now, I am a huge fan of Eleanor of Aquitaine and her second husband, Henry II of England. I was fortunate enough to write a blog post about one of my heros, Henry, and his famous conflict with Thomas Becket this week on English Historical Fiction Authors.

Did Henry have Thomas Becket murdered? Click the link below, and take a look…

http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2012/01/henry-ii-and-thomas-becket-by-christy.html

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Debra Brown Give Away

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 | Give Away | 9 Comments

The lovely Debra Brown was kind enough to be a guest blogger here on Monday, and I am happy to say that she has generously offered two copies of her novel THE COMPANION OF LADY HOLMESHIRE: A MYSTERY AND SWEET ROMANCE ~ Inspired by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens,  “An adult level early Victorian mystery and sweet romance, with back story into the Regency Era, appropriate for any age.”

Just leave a comment below to be entered into the give away. Debra is generously offering two copies of her first novel to winners from the US/CA/UK…international winners will receive an e copy. So everyone is eligible to win…just leave a comment below.

For a peek at the first chapter of Debra’s novel, follow this link:

http://authordebrabrown.blogspot.com/p/companion-of-lady-holmeshire.html

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Welcome, Debra Brown, Today’s Guest Blogger

Monday, December 26th, 2011 | English Historical Fiction Authors, Guest Posts | 5 Comments

he Books of Debra Brown


Countries with kings and queens and princesses are rich and colorful, full of beautiful, happy people and happy endings. Right? Of course. Everything moves along just wonderfully. If the one disturbing thing about a princess is that she sleeps for years, even decades, she still will not have aged nor developed body odor. You can tell by the fact that when wakened by a loving kiss from a charming prince, there would be no gasping or complaint of morning breath. She will not, of course, sit up and say that she must find the bathroom. No, instead, she will sit up and kiss the prince (that she has never laid eyes on in her life, and who is decades younger than her) lovingly, music will softly blend into their dialogue and birds will drop flowers on them and sing. They will dance away harmoniously into a lush flower garden, under a rainbow, with petals brushing across their faces in the breeze.

Fast forward to a time of inner city turmoil, drug abuse and near-complete economic breakdown. My own economics broke down and there did not seem to be a solution. For every job there were two hundred applicants. No worries, I thought; I will write a book and live happily ever after. So I did.

I did have to take some steps between Once-upon-a-time and Happily-ever-after. The first was a foregone conclusion- what I should write about. What else was there but castles, banquets and balls? Obviously, there was nothing whatsoever. See how easy that is? Secondly, I needed a starting point. I went to the library and checked out some humongous picture books of England. Indeed, there they were- castles, banquets and balls. At this point, they say you have to have an outline. Well, I am doing that on my second book. But you see, on the first one, I already had a beginning and an end, because I started with an ordinary life situation and just needed to fill in the details. How funny, I thought, that the ordinary little situation would be hidden for two hundred sixty nine pages, and then suddenly it would be sprung on people who would be completely shocked, even though it was an ordinary little thing.

I had wanted an impossibly sweet story that would cheer up the lady whose son had to walk through the dangerous ghetto every day to school. That was the whole point. Never mind that mean critics would pooh-pooh a newly-written fairy tale. I could write one, could I not, if Jane Austen could. I could have sweet Mr. Woodhouses and dear Mr. Knightleys and they could live happily ever after. Or better yet, I could have earls and countesses, dukes and duchesses and a queen. Why not have it all? What’s to stop me? Mean critics? So I plunged madly into this project, intending to cheer up that poor lady and turn a blind eye to reviewers. Ah, indeed, the first chapter introduces the reader to an unusually happy household where the countess sips wine with the servants. Pathetic. That is what the critics would say. Ok, so I had her say that “she doesn’t do what is done”. That fixed that.

Actually, I knew I was in trouble from the start. Who would want a pathetic story with absurd departures from reality- especially since it was not full of sex and violence? Oh, yes, that poor lady in East L.A. would, and so would her cousin. So, on I went. Now it seems that the four-year-old street urchin hits the jackpot. Who would buy into that? Will even my lady shake her head and put down the book? Oh my. Could she not just hold on till the end? I mean, it is not the typical ending. It is not just “walk off into the sunset” and you know, live happily ever after. Give it a chance! (She picks it back up.)

So, on I plundered, taking whatever I wanted and stuffing it into the middle of this book- and then I got to the end. That is where I shake my head and smile. That is where I got her. That is where she drops open her jaw, closes it long enough to say “No way,” and then starts thumbing through the book, rereading things and saying, “I never would have guessed.” Ha! She is just like all of my friends, whom I forced to read my book so I could find out if I had kept the secret well enough.

Well, I could not do it- the Jane Austen part. Well, of course I couldn’t write like Jane Austen. But I mean, I couldn’t do the happy little story with the birds dropping flowers or Hugh Grant. It just wasn’t realistic, and so I had to fall back on workhouses. Sorry. Sorry to myself and to Jane Austen, but my blog is full of the realities of life in poor England, and I just couldn’t leave them out of my book. Sorry to the mothers who read fairy tales to their kinderdaughters. So I had a countess who sipped wine downstairs, but it can’t happen throughout the book, can it. I’m sure you understand that Sleeping Beauty was not for real- and she was soooo predictable. Predictable is not where it is at. So take an ordinary life situation and tear it apart till nobody can believe that it happened, and you have The Companion of Lady Holmeshire. Please read it and agree with me. This far, the critics do. Thank you.

Debra Brown is an ordinary person who writes books. The first one is a fairy tale, and the second one, not yet in print, is more like therapy for the author, set in Regency England and with Miss Havisham on loan.

Deb’s blog: http://englishepochs.blogspot.com

Deb’s website: http://authordebrabrown.blogspot.com

Deb’s other blog: http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com

Mother Reading Fairy Tales to Her Children: Boston Public Library

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English Historical Fiction Authors: Alais, Forgotten Princess

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 | English Historical Fiction Authors, Princess Alais, The Queen's Pawn | No Comments

I have been fortunate enough to join a fabulous group, the English Historical Fiction Authors. This week, THE QUEEN’S PAWN is featured on our site both as a give away and in today’s blog post. Once more, I write these things for Alais.

The dead live on when we remember them, no matter how imperfectly.

My post about Princess Alais:

http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2011/11/alais-of-france-forgotten-princess-by.html

This week’s give away of THE QUEEN’S PAWN

http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/p/giveaways.html

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