Summer 2010 RNA
Conference
Ebooks I’ve made my own first tottering steps in this direction by uploading my early Mills & Boon historicals on to Smashwords. The first two were written on a Lettera 22 typewriter. Those were the days. It took 3 weeks just to type out a fair copy, with much use of Tippex. Remember those little pieces of white paper and tiny messy bottles? I then progressed to an Amstrad 9512, that clunky dedicated word processor which I thought was the bee’s knees. It had a spell check, and a daisy wheel printer. Heady days, Mr Sugar. I remember David selling our BT shares in order to buy one, because he believed in me. What more can a man do? Well, scan them, that’s what. The poor love has spent weeks scanning these books on to the computer, and I spent several weeks more editing them. After that they needed to be formatted in a most precise fashion before publishing them. They include: Madeiran Legacy; A Proud Alliance; Rhapsody creek; Whispering Shadows and Outrageous Fortune. Smashwords make them available for the Sony Reader, ipad, Nook, Barnes and Noble, etc., in various formats from rtf and pdf to mobipocket. They can be downloaded and read on your computer if you don’t have an e-reader, and are only 1.99, so won’t break the bank. I plan next to upload these titles on to Kindle, which may take a little longer as it’s another steep learning curve. To sample or purchase click here: My Out of Print
Sagas Facebook Blogs I also blog on http://www.historicalsaganovels.blogspot.com/ and on http://historicalbellesandbeaus.blogspot.com/ which is exclusively about historical fiction. Look forward to seeing some of you there.
New Title
Sixteenth-century France. Gabrielle d’Esrées’ one wish is to marry for love, but her mother sells her as a mistress to three different men before she catches the eye – and the heart – of Henry of Navarre, King of France. Henry promises to marry her, but Gabrielle’s difficulties have just begun . . . for Henry’s wife will only divorce him if he promises not to marry Gabrielle. Is the love of a king enough to secure her both the happiness and respectability she craves and a crown for their son as the next dauphin of France?
As this is the 400th anniversary of Henry IV’s death, there’s even a film out about Margot, in French with sub-titles, called La Reine Margot. You’ll understand it much better after you’ve read Hostage Queen! (chuckle-chuckle) More News The large print edition of Trapped is now out. As is the Audio in cassettes and CDs of Lonely Teardrops. Prize Draw Congratulations Martina! Don’t forget that the next Prize Draw takes place on 1 August to win a mystery parcel of 3 signed paperbacks. So if you haven’t already, send me an email with I love a mystery Freda as the subject heading.
May
2010 There are also some marvellous caves at Nerja. Discovered in 1959 by children playing, they are absolutely massive. One chamber alone is 100 metres long by 50 metres wide, with a height of 30 metres. The main part of the caves comprise seven chambers: the Christmas Crib, the Elephant’s Tusk, the Cascade or Ballet Chamber, the Phantoms, the Cataclysm, the Cavern and the Mine Chamber. The Ballet Chamber is used for just that purpose, holding ballet and musical events, fitted out like an auditorium. The chambers are filled with the most amazing rock formations and geological phenomena. The stalactites and stalagmites are the largest in Europe, and you can also see the tallest column (32 metres) where both have joined together. There are cave paintings and archeological remains from as early as the Paleolithic Age (an amazing 25,000 years ago! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We then drove up into the hills, to see Frigiliana, but were disappointed to find it somewhat overbuilt. I prefer my own small village of Bedar, which is far less touristy and more typically Spanish. You can see a picture of us here, in the caves. Not sure it does justice to either us or the caves but you enter the caves and get snapped.
Historical Fiction A recent novel I’ve enjoyed is Wife to Charles II, Hilda Lewis. This was originally written in 1965 but still reads well. Lewis has a good narrative style and you really feel for Catherine of Braganza. She was sweet and naïve, excited at the prospect of marriage, but soon becomes hurt and bitter. Her misfortune was to fall in love with Charles, but not be able to produce the required heir, while his many mistresses produced a bevy of beautiful healthy babies. Royal Harlot by Susan Holloway Scott is the story of Lady Castlemaine, mistress to Charles II. She was what my mother would have described as a trollop – no better than she should be – I love that phrase. Scott gets over her adventurous, greedy character very well, yet despite the fact she is completely amoral you nonetheless feel you’re on her side. Most entertaining and compulsively written in the first person. If you’re interested in historical fiction, here are some review sites you might like to try out: You can see more reviews on my blogArchive:
If you are interested in having me do a talk at your library or club, please drop me an email and I'll do my best to fit it in during one of my regular visits to the UK. What do readers have to say about my books? Email me if you have a comment to make.
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