GUEST POST JOAN FALLON-COOK

This week’s guest also lives in Spain and her books tell us more about the rich history of this fabulous country.  I’m so glad I asked her as I’m delighted to learn she was also a teacher and then moved career. We have a lot of common.  In her own words:-

Thanks for inviting me to your blog, Lucinda. I’m a great fan of yours, so feel doubly honoured to be here.

Well, I suppose you want to know something about me and what has influenced my writing. If you have read any of my books, you can see that I’m very much a feminist at heart (although that’s a term that has been abused over time), and strongly believe that women should have equality in all things. In 2020 this may now seem to be a given, but I grew up in the sixties and seventies, in a time when it was harder for a woman to gain recognition in a man’s world. So it’s not surprising that all my books have strong female characters who manage to succeed against the odds. By that I don’t mean they are all Boadiceas, driving chariots and brandishing swords, but ordinary women who have been dealt misfortune or disappointment, and managed to overcome it.

The other strong influence on my books is perhaps more obvious. I have lived in the south of Spain for twenty-five years and Spanish history and culture have always fascinated me and have provided some of the most exotic settings in my historical novels. Here in Andalusia, we are surrounded by the art and history of the Moorish occupation, and I have incorporated that into two series of historical

fiction: The al-Andalus trilogy, set in Córdoba in the 10th century and The City of Dreams trilogy,  which follows on from that, with the protagonists now living in Málaga. There’s plenty of action and romance in the series, but it’s not all fiction. The historical part is based on hours of research, so for readers that know the area, it should make interesting reading.

I haven’t always been a writer, although for as long as I can remember I have wanted to be one. As with many people, retirement—or early retirement in my case—gave me the opportunity to fulfill a long-held dream. Writing about the caliph’s harem in 10th century al-Andalus is a long way from teaching primary children—my first occupation—or being a management training consultant, as I was at the end of my career, but just as fulfilling.

Sometimes I find myself labelled as a writer of historical fiction, but I don’t think of myself in that way. I write books about something that has inspired me and it may turn out to be a historical novel or it may be set in the 21st century. One day a few years back I read a short article about children who were sent to Australia as child migrants during WWII. I’d never heard about it before, and because I was intrigued I investigated further and the result was a very popular novel called The Only Blue Door. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and sometimes it is in the form of an unanswered question. The al-Andalus series came from a visit I made to Madinat al-Zahra, some ruins just outside Córdoba. The guide book told how it had been the most wonderfully rich, powerful and cultured city in the land, but had lasted only seventy-five years before it was completely destroyed. My immediate question was ‘How could that have happened in such a short space of time?’ There was only one way to find out: more research.

My latest novel, The Prisoner, will be available at the end of the summer. It is book three in the City of Dreams trilogy and will probably the last book I shall write about Moorish Spain. I have a yearning to try my hand at a crime novel, and already have a dead body in mind.

I love Joan’s books and highly recommend them. Here are a few more you might like to check out.

And the links to where you can find more about Joan’s books.

www.joanfallon.co.uk

 www.facebook.com/joanfallonbooks

www.linkedin.com/profile/

If you would like a guest post on my blog, just drop me an email lucinda@lucindaeclarke.com   or you can pm me on messenger.

Stay safe and happy reading.

Lucinda

GUEST POST TOM BENSON

You will be hearing more from me about Tom Benson in the next few weeks as he’s putting a book of short stories together and he’s included one of mine.

I don’t think this is Tom’s first guest post, as we have been virtual friends for years and it’s thanks to him I have a web site. He helped me so much in the early days.

Soldier, Retailer, Author

Saying that you spend your time telling tales is akin to admitting you have an illness.

“Hello … my name is Tom … and I’m a … writer.”

“Hello, Tom.”

Yes, it isn’t easy to be open at first, but when a writer’s work earns a few great reviews, it lends legitimacy. No longer are you one of those strange creatures who spend their time living in another world. You are an author, envied by others. You’re earning money from months of toil—perhaps not a lot, but for authors like me, the real reward is knowing from the positive feedback that you have entertained.

There is a widespread notion that writing is an exclusive, even exotic activity. Still, like many things, you can join the club if you’re prepared to put in the time and effort to learn your craft, plus, of course, accept criticism of, as well as credit for your work.

Consider a cake with elaborate decorations. Anyone can gather ingredients and lay them out on a clean surface. It’s the choices of quantity, how those items are blended, and how the mixture is processed, which creates the basic cake. Only with the foundation can the decoration be added; the edible ingredients with which will make it appealing.

Whether it be a short story or novel, there is a sense of fulfillment when you start with a blank screen and with god-like power, create a world from imagination. It must be a believable world with characters, dialogue, and imagery, supported by narrative, a plot, and subplots.

An author can make a book sound exotic. Among my published titles are Ten Days in Panama and Amsterdam Calling.

Continuing with international intrigue, one of my next books will be Czech Mate. In crime thrillers, I can offer such titles as A Taste of Honey set in the USA, or the Beyond The Law trilogy set mainly in Scotland.

I left Glasgow in 1969 aged seventeen and headed to England to join the British Army. While in training, I thought it might well be a short career. During the next twenty-three years, I patrolled streets in Belfast, manned a helicopter-borne camera over Londonderry, and operated a radio in the military train travelling through East Germany from West Berlin. I worked radios all over West Germany, trained young recruits in the UK, and served throughout the first Gulf War.

At the age of forty, I tackled fresh challenges when I became a retail manager. After six months of training, once again, I was in a uniform. I wore a badge and had a team of people who, sometimes with a bit of gentle persuasion performed as I asked.

I changed jobs a few times, going from food and supermarkets to car accessories and then on to stationery which is where I finally settled. Pens, pencils, paper, binders, staplers, punches, printers, laminators and much more besides and I was happy at work for the first time in a long time. As an artist and calligrapher, I was at home. After gaining experience, I spent five years roaming around the UK. I opened new stores and closed failing stores. I had responsibility for hiring, firing, training, disciplining and developing staff, so I enjoyed my second career, which lasted twenty-five years.

I’d always enjoyed reading, and while still in retail, my thoughts turned to a personal dream—to write a book. I’d tried to produce my military memoirs back in the mid-90s, but the writing was awful. By 2010, having read a lot more, I figured I was ready to try creative writing again. I first read several textbooks on the subject.

My poetry online got lots of good reviews. I moved on to short stories and won prizes, both national and international. My first novel was a crime thriller, but the literary creativity was like a drug, I had a burning desire to write for hours every day, at every opportunity.

It was several years and a few books down the line when I revisited those military memories of mine, and I tried again. I describe the tale as fact-based-fiction, but A Life of Choice is a five-ebook series based on my military career. In effect, I researched it over many years but wrote about it only when I had earned my stripes in writing. The story is my top-selling title.

My latest experiment isn’t doing too badly, my post-apocalyptic survival story Light at The End. Thanks to some great feedback, it’s now the first book in a trilogy.

Perhaps I’m biased in believing that to write convincingly you must have experienced highs and lows in life. I always gave my best effort as a soldier and retailer. I still do.

Tom Benson–author.

Now is a great time to pick up one of Tom’s books as he’s reduced them all to $/£0.99 during the Covid crisis – links below:

Website: www.tombensonauthor.com

Blog: www.tombensoncreative.com

Ten Days in Panama: mybook.to/Ten_Days_in_Panama

Amsterdam Calling: mybook.to/Amsterdam_Calling

A Taste of Honey: mybook.to/A_Taste_of_Honey

Light at The End: mybook.to/Light_at_The_End

Beyond The Law – Box Set: mybook.to/BTL_The_Trilogy

A Life of Choice – Box Set: mybook.to/ALOC_BoxSet

Thank you, Tom.

If you would like to be a guest on my blog, post in the comments below, or drop me a message on Facebook.

Lucinda

GUEST POST REBECCA BRYN

I am a massive fan of this week’s guest and I can only shout GET HER BOOKS!  I’ve read all but one, I have her latest on pre-order, and I’m thrilled I asked her to be my guest this week as I see one book I’ve not read – how did that slip through the net?  Over to Rebecca in her own words.

Thank you, Lucinda, for letting me loose on your blog. According to my document recovery pane, this version was created on January 1^st 1601 at 1 o’clock in the morning. I don’t remember being up at 1am, but it was New Year, and the 17^th century was pretty boisterous, so maybe…

As you know, I live in West Wales with my husband and rescue dog and love walking and painting in watercolour. Living close to the sea, painting it in all its moods has become second nature. I love the wild beaches and moorlands of Pembrokeshire.

I began writing some fifteen years ago, although I didn’t published my first novel until 2014. So much has happened since then, I can’t believe it has only been six years. I write mainly historical fiction though I’ve dabbled in mystery and post-apocalyptic. I’ve always loved history and am fascinated by the way our past has shaped our present. At school, I studied British history, mainly from the Plantagenet kings to James II of England although the Anglo-Saxon era and the Tudor period were my favourites. As I’ve grown older, it’s been more recent history, especially social history that has drawn me in. It began with me deciding to try to discover if there was any truth in a family story about a poacher who murdered a gamekeeper and was transported to Van Diemen’s Land, and my addiction grew from there.

The tale about the family my mother called ‘loose-knickered, murdering thieves’ was true, the research fascinating, and it spawned an epic love story set in 1841, the trilogy For Their Country’s Good.

From there, I researched my grandfather’s army career and his own love story. He and his horse were sent to Egypt and Palestine during WW1. Again, the research blew me away, taught me much about myself, and gave his wartime mementos – his army fork and two cowrie shells that I treasure – a special significance. The Dandelion Clock was born.

Not wanting to ignore my father’s family, I researched for Kindred and Affinity and a marriage that went against church law and risked damnation to eternal hell. Surely that must have been true love for people of strong faith to risk damnation?

With any research for a novel, you discover a lot you didn’t suspect and much that shocks – that’s the joy of writing for me, learning something new that increases my understanding of who I am and how my world got where it is. In the time periods about which I’ve written, social injustice, the inequality and lack of rights of women, poverty, and oppression were subjects so ingrained in the periods I couldn’t ignore them, so it’s no surprise that my stories embrace these everyday challenges of the ordinary working people who built Britain by the sweat of their labour. I don’t write about the aristocracy, or royalty, or those in power, just about the lives and loves of the life blood of the country: the farm labourers, the boot makers, the lace makers, the common soldier, the women interred in Auschwitz, the girl left at home looking after the children, the poacher, the doctor, the schoolmistress, the quarry worker, and most recently, the women chainmakers of the Black Country.

Touching the Wire was inspired by a TV news report about Nazi war criminals and my latest book, The Chainmakers’ Daughter, was similarly inspired by a TV article on Flog It!

Can I tell you a bit about the chainmakers? In the early 1900s, women, and girls from the age of about four, full-time from the age of ten, made dog chains, cow chains, and horse traces working in backyard forges. They lived in abject poverty, literally on the bread line as bread was all they could afford. They worked ten or twelve hours a day to earn about four shillings a week – that’s 20p in decimal money. It was enough to buy about twelve to sixteen loaves of bread a week depending on whether the bread was at summer or winter prices. Can you image working some fifty-four to sixty hours for a dozen loaves of bread? I found that shocking. The Chainmakers’ Daughter is Rosie’s story, a girl who joins the fight against the rich chain masters for a legal minimum wage that ended in one of the most important strikes of the 20^th century and paved the way for the National Minimum Wage that we enjoy today.

“Some make chains. Some wear them.” Rosie Wallace survives on three slices of bread a day. Scarred by flame and metal, she makes her life as her ancestors have: making chains for the rich chain master, Matthew Joshua. There is no hope for a better future. No hope even for a green vegetable on the table. Her life will be making chains, marrying Jack, the boy she loves, and babies every year. But when an assault by the chain master’s son threatens the very fabric of her tenuous existence, Rosie finds the courage and the reason to fight for her very life and the lives of her family and neighbours. Set in the first decade of the 20th century The Chainmakers’ Daughter is a haunting portrayal of abject poverty, ever-present death, and modern day slavery.

This lovely review was sent me from one of my beta readers, Rachael Wright, author of the Captain Savva Series.

‘Rebecca Bryn’s The Chainmakers’ Daughter is not only the most vivid and haunting portrayal of the 20th century struggle for workers and women’s rights but it is also timely and a mirror to our own modern struggles. Bryn’s novel is to be lauded for its attention to historical detail and its sharp depiction of true and crippling poverty but it is first and foremost a love story. Rosie Wallace is a woman both out of time and very much in time. Bryn has managed to produce a heroine that is recognizable as a feminist to modern readers and yet not a unicorn to the early 1900s. The Chainmakers’ Daughter is quite simply one of the most compelling and haunting works I have read in years. Characters, vices, and even steel comes alive under Bryn’s fingers and the chain of love she creates is nothing short of miraculous.’

To say this made my day is an understatement.

The Chainmakers’ Daughter is available as an e-book now for pre-order at http://mybook.to/ChainmakersDaughter and will be released on June 28^th 2020. It will also be available as a paperback.

In a moment of madness, I also wrote an illustrated step-by-step how-to book, Watercolour Seascapes as my alter-ego, Ruth Coulson. Available in paperback only.

Books by Rebecca Bryn: all as e-books and paperbacks.

Historical fiction

http://mybook.to/TouchingtheWire – the women and children of Auschwitz and a man who tied to save them. – ‘Outstanding storytelling.’ IAN Book of the Year 2019. Also available as an audiobook.

http://mybook.to/DandelionClock – war changes everything. Lovers torn apart by WW1. Can their love survive the horrors of war and five years apart? – ‘Totally compelling and unmissable.’

For Their Country’s Good series – three young poachers are convicted of killing a gamekeeper and exiled to Van Diemen’s Land. Ella is the girl who wouldn’t be left behind. – ‘Truly exceptional trilogy from one of the finest writers of our time.’

http://mybook.to/OnDifferentShores

http://mybook.to/BeneathStrangeStars

http://mybook.to/OnCommonGround

and the box set of For Their Country’s Good

http://mybook.to/FTCGboxset

http://mybook.to/KindredandAffinity – When the man you love marries the sister you hate. Annie Underwood lets faith and family bigotry get in the way of love, and lets Edwin go to prevent escalating their families’ war and to save his heart. She is distraught when she loses him to her estranged sister who has no such qualms. ‘Gritty and realistic.’

Mystery

http://mybook.to/SilenceoftheStones – Can Alana discover the secret written in the stones before her daughter is sacrificed by an eccentric old lady? Perjury, wrongful imprisonment, and a tissue of lies. – ‘Beautifully choreographed tale of murder, deceit, and redemption.’

Post-apocalyptic

http://getbook.at/WhereHopeDares – When a young healer is kidnapped to fulfil an ancient prophecy, her husband heads into peril to rescue her and discovers that prophecy can be dangerous. ‘Holy cow!! – What an amazing book.’

Non-fiction by Ruth Coulson

http://mybook.to/WatercolourSeascapes – a how-to book with six detailed step-by-step demonstrations to paint seascapes in watercolour. Tackles the difficult subject of using masking fluid. ‘A lovely book. The techniques work well.’

Website: www.rebeccabrynblog.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rebecca.bryn.novels

Twitter: www.twitter.com/rebeccabryn1

IAN: www.independentauthornetwork.com/rebecca-bryn

Amazon: http://author.to/RebeccaBryn

Thank you for reading, and if you pick up one of my books, I’d love to know what you think of it.

Thank you so much Rebecca for being my guest this week and for such an interesting chat.

If you are an author and would like a guest spot, then leave a comment below, or pm me via Facebook, or through my email, and you can find this on my website.

Lucinda

DON’T MISS THIS ONE!

News of an exciting box set now out on pre-order and the royalties got to charity so it’s well worth supporting.

These are never before published stories! 21 Novels, not short stories, All in one AMAZING SET!!!!

This is a Limited Edition Collection of Romantic Suspense, Mystery & Thrills and it is available for pre-order right now for $0.99 on all sales channels.

We are raising money for Pets For Vets! Have you grabbed your set yet?

Please, Help Us Help Vets!

WHEN LOVE SPARKS DANGER, GET READY FOR AN EXPLOSION!

Twenty-one Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and other bestselling authors bring you a heart-pounding collection of 21 BRAND NEW, NEVER-BEFORE PUBLISHED stories all in one amazing romantic suspense limited time boxed set.

From around the edges of every day existence lurks mystery, betrayal, greed, and death.

With every turn of the page, feel the heat of adrenaline as fear lights up the night. Fight alongside the tenacious heroes and heroines as they battle for survival. They’ll put everything on the line to thwart the evil coming after them.

They want to trust in the power of love. But is it enough?

Click to buy and let the adventures begin.

EVERY SALE HELPS a VETERAN get a PET!!!

____________________________________________________________________________

The authors who have contributed.

Judith Lucci – RUN for your life
“Besieged by threats and haunted by memories, can Alex and Jacob survive another fiery attack?”

Stephany Tullis – Blue Lady’s MISSION UNDER FIRE
“The mission changed. Her cover is blown. With no where to run and nowhere to hide, what can she do to survive?”

Fiona Quinn – Cold Red
“Undercover, under fire, under arrest, it’s hard to save a special agent’s life while handcuffed.”

Anna Celeste Burke – Lily’s Homecoming Under Fire
“When Lily returns home to California’s wine country, sparks fly amid a hail of bullets as she and US Marshal Austin Jennings take cover. Who wants Lily dead?”

Margaret A. Daly- Monsters in my Closet
“No one knows her secrets, not even her best friend. Can she keep her secrets and her monsters at bay long enough to give love a chance again?”

Linda Watkins – The Witches of Storm Island, Book I: The Turning
“In 1685, a forbidden love catapults young Maude Prichard into a life fraught with danger….”

Tamara Ferguson – Two Hearts Under Fire
“Will Two Wounded Hearts Under Fire Survive LOVE?”

Suzanne Jenkins – Running with Horses
“Moving horses to the high country comes just in time when Mindy and her coffee date witness murder at a Mojave Desert cafe.”

Inge-Lise Goss – Diamonds and Lies
“When murder upends a diamond heist, can the jewel thief trust the mark who vows to protect her?”

S.R. Mallery – Tender Enemies
“When Lily sets up a spy trap, she faces great danger–of falling in love.”

Jinx Schwartz – Baja Get Away
“Sometimes love is… Murder.”

Uvi Poznansky – Virtually Lace
“Michael creates a virtual reality simulation of the murder. Can he solve it in time, before the killer turns on the woman he loves?”

Kathryn Knight – The Haunting of Hillwood Farm
“A dangerous ghost brings them together…but will they survive long enough to find happiness?”
 
Stephanie Queen – Ace Under Fire 
“Can this bad boy make a come back to save an old flame?”

Casi McLean – Reign Of Fire
“Lies, Corruption, and Murder… exposing the truth leads to love–and a ghostly encounter. ”

Valerie J. Clarizio –The Code Enforcer
“Can they overcome their painful pasts–and a murder investigation–to find happiness together?”

Chris Patchell – Deception Bay
“She’s armed. He’s dangerous. Together, can they stop a killer from tearing a small island community apart?”

Aaron Paul Lazar – The Asylum: A Carmen Garcia romantic suspense novel
“Carmen has a secret, and his name is Dr. Micah Worthy.”

Alyssa Richards – Chasing Secrets
“Her husband’s secret is priceless, her attempts to retrieve it could be deadly.”

K.M. Hodge – Summer of ’78
“Susan Evenbright, pledges to make her last summer in Texas a killer one.”
 
Pamela Fagan Hutchins – Buckle Bunny

“The last guy to call Maggie a buckle bunny didn’t make his eight seconds.”

Click your link below and let the adventure begin!

#Kindle: http://smarturl.it/LOVEUNDERFIRE

#Apple: http://smarturl.it/LUFAPPLE #Nook: http://smarturl.it/LUFNOOK Go To The Official Website for a Free Gift : www.loveunderfire.net Get Your Sampler of Love Under Fire here: https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/RJ8VOOh3

Not only a great read – it has to be with so many talented authors but you will be supporting our furry friends at the same time.

Till next time, take care.

Lucinda