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Spring 2007 News:
DOLORES GORDON-SMITH's Mad About the Boy?, a Jack Haldean murder mystery set at a Sussex country house during the summer of 1923, is published on 29th May by Constable & Robinson (UK) and Soho Constable (US). http://www.doloresgordonsmith.com CHRISTOPHER M. CEVASCO writes: The latest issue of Paradox Magazine (Issue #12, Spring 2008) features a wide range of short historical fiction in both its mainstream and genre forms--tales with settings spanning ancient China, Elizabethan England, the antebellum U.S. South, Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and an alternate American West. The issue also includes historical poetry, reviews of current historical novels and films, and a complete index of the magazine's first twelve issues. For more information, visit http://www.paradoxmag.com. Winter 2008 News: KAREN HARPER's Mistress Shakespeare, the story of Anne Whateley, who was recorded to wed Will Shakespeare shortly before his "shotgun" wedding to Anne Hathaway, will appear from Putnam in January 2009. SANDRA WORTH's The Rose of York: Crown of Destiny is a finalist in the 2008 North Texas Book Awards.
JUDITH JAMES's novel Broken Wing will be
released in November 2008 by Medallion Press. It's a dark and compelling
historical adventure and romance "set against the colorful tapestry of
England, France, and North Africa in the turbulent years of Napoleon's rise
to power." (Laura Leone) ALISON STUART's English Civil War novel By the Sword was the winner of the 2008 Eppie Award (Historical Romance). For more details please visit Alison's website http://www.alisonstuart.com
Restoration Lady - the concluding part of SUE
ALLAN’s New World Trilogy - will officially launch on May 3rd 2008 at Stow
Minster, Stow in Lincolnshire, England - where the opening chapters of this
novel are set. This time Bessie, the heroine of The Mayflower Maid
and Jamestown Woman, relates the harrowing finale of her life and
adventures in 1600s England in her own words. OCTAVIA RANDOLPH's short fiction, "Ride," a re-telling of the story of Lady Godiva, has just been published in Narrative Magazine. Narrative appears in both print and electronically, and the on-line version is available (free registratioon) at http://www.narrativemagazine.com. ANDRÉ ROMIJN's novel Vive Madame La Dauphine, book one of the Marie Antoinette trilogy, will be released in October by Roman House Publishers. www.ma-trilogy.com RUTH DOWNIE's Ruso and the Demented Doctor / Terra Incognita (US title, second in a historical mystery series set in Roman times, will be published this March by Penguin UK and Bloomsbury USA. BEVERLE GRAVES MYERS' fourth novel in her Baroque Mystery series will be released in March 2008. The Iron Tongue of Midnight takes Tito Amato to an isolated villa to rehearse a new opera. Music soon gives way to murder, and Tito must confront a notorious figure from his past before he can put an end to the midnight attacks. www.beverlegravesmyers.com MARY FREMONT SCHOENECKER's Finding Fiona, a contemporary novel with a turn-of-the-century twist, will be published this July by Five Star. http://www.maryschoenecker.com SARAH BOWER's The Needle in the Blood was selected by Susan Hill as her novel of 2007. http://www.snowbooks.com/author_Bower.html ALISON STUART's second novel, By the Sword, set in the English Civil War, is a finalist in the 2008 Eppie Awards in the Historical Romance section. The winner will be announced in March. www.alisonstuart.com HNS member Dr Ted Townsend writes as EDWARD CHARLES. His first novel, In the Shadow of Lady Jane was reviewed in issue 39 of Historical Novels Review and was published in paperback in August 2007. His second, Daughters of the Doge was reviewed in issue 41 and appears in paperback in May 2008. Both are published by Macmillan New Writing. Edward Charles' website is at http://www.edwardcharlesnovels.org. From DEBRA TASH: I thought the HNS members would like to know about a lecture at the Getty Villa. Tickets are not online yet, but will be soon. March 6, 2008 Authors Steven Pressfield (The Afghan Campaign, Gates of Fire) and Steven Saylor (Roma, The Judgment of Caesar) join local commentator Patt Morrison to discuss the art of writing historical fiction set in antiquity and the challenges of interpreting the classical past for modern audiences. Reservations available beginning February 21. Autumn 2007 News:
Russian translation rights to SANDRA WORTH's Lady of the Roses,
coming from Berkley on January 2, 2008, have been sold.
www.sandraworth.com
DAVID BLIXT's "Varnished Faces," the first of the Verona short stories, is available as an Amazon Short. SARAH BOWER's The Needle in the Blood has been longlisted for World Book Day Spread the Word, an award determined by reader votes. Sign up to vote (UK and Ireland residents only) and you could win £100 worth of National Book Tokens. SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM's novel Hugh and Bess is now available. As the eldest daughter of the new Earl of Salisbury, young Bess de Montacute is anticipating a suitable match. When King Edward III and her father choose Hugh le Despenser, the son and grandson of disgraced traitors, as her husband, she is aghast. Meanwhile, Hugh must give up the woman he loves in order to marry the reluctant Bess. http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/hugh_and_bess.htm The Illuminator author BRENDA RICKMAN VANTREASE's No Season for Grace, exploring a young woman's attempts to smuggle English Bibles into Henry VIII's England under the vengeful eye of Sir Thomas More, sold again to Hope Dellon at St. Martin's, for publication in fall 2009, by Harvey Klinger. www.brendarickmanvantrease.com KAREN MERCURY's Strangely Wonderful was published in November by Medallion Press. Along with his pirate crew, captain Tomaj Balashazy rules the Madagascar coast from his tropical plantation—a fortress built to defend against the enemies he’s made cruising the Indian Ocean. But when the American naturalist Dagny Ravenhurst falls into Balashazy’s lagoon during an expedition seeking a dreaded and mystical species of lemur, it spells the end of the temporary peace on the island. Ravenhurst is beholden to the French industrialist Paul Boneaux—who enjoys a monopoly over the island's manufacturing and commerce—and needs his patronage to survive. When the two adversaries, Balashazy and Boneaux, are pitted against each other, the island boils with blood, and only one will emerge triumphant. www.karenmercury.com ANN PARKER's novel Iron Ties has won the Colorado Book Award for Popular Fiction. Iron Ties is the second in her Silver Rush historical mystery series featuring saloon-owner Inez Stannert in the 1880s silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado. www.annparker.net HNS Member SANDRA WORTH's first book with Penguin/Berkley, Lady of the Roses, will be released January 2, 2008. Pre-orders are available through www.sandraworth.com.Watch for the HNS review of the book in February. The first book of PETER COOKE's The Glassmaker Series, The Glass Dagger, launched in November 2006. The second book of the series, The Crystal Ship, is due to be launched in November 2007. www.theglassdagger.co.uk CHRISTOPHER CEVASCO writes: The latest issue of Paradox Magazine (Issue #11, Autumn 2007) features an abundance of short historical fiction in both its mainstream and genre forms--tales with settings spanning the mythic past of the Aztec culture, the war-torn jungles of Vietnam, an empress' garden in Byzantium, the U.S. Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg, a quiet beach town in 19th-century Michigan, a room in France where Ben Franklin plays chess against the automaton known as the Turk, and beyond. The issue also includes reviews of current historical novels and films. For more information, visit http://www.paradoxmag.com. Lord Thurston's Challenge, a Regency romantic adventure by FENELLA-JANE MILLER, was recently published by Robert Hale. (See reviews on RomanceJunkies, singletitles, and MyShelf.) ROSEMARY POOLE-CARTER was recently interviewed in ForeWord Magazine about her new novel Women of Magdalene. Summer 2007 News: KATHLEEN CUNNINGHAM GULER is thrilled to announce her Arthurian novel, The Anvil Stone, has won its third award, taking a bronze medal in the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY's). The book is the third volume in the four-part Macsen's Treasure Series. http://kathleenguler.com JAMES DUFFY's The Fight for Rome, book 2 in the Gladiators of the Empire series, is now available from McBooks Press. Book 2 picks up where Sand of the Arena left off. Quintus and his mates are back in Pompeii, bringing more fame and glory upon themselves in the arena. Meanwhile, the evil Lucius rots away in a squalid prison-ludus in North Africa. But knowing Lucius as we do, do you see him staying locked up there for long? The action in The Fight For Rome soon moves outside the arena and onto the battlefields of the Empire, as Quintus, Lindani, Amazonia, and the others are forced to fight alongside the legions of Rome during the civil war of AD 69. http://www.jamesduffy.info MICHELLE MORAN's Nefertiti: A Novel debuted on the LA Times Bestsellers List for August 19th. DAVID BLIXT writes: The Master of Verona is in stores now, and the first of the foreign translations is done. Dante, Shakespeare, and history all combined for a "rollicking debut." Please stop by www.themasterofverona.com for more. Cheers! ROSEMARY GOODWIN's first historical novel, The Dragonfly, A Bury St. Edmunds Historical Time-Travel Novel, was published July 2007 by the Whiskey Creek Press. A history professor, Cathy White, is in a car accident that delivers a traumatic blow to her head. She wakes to find herself in a 620 A.D. Anglo-Saxon village, where her knowledge of the future confuses the villagers. http://www.rosemarygoodwin.com SHIRLEY TALLMAN's latest novel, The Cliff House Strangler (St. Martin's Press, July) received a starred review from Library Journal. SANDRA WORTH writes: I am delighted to announce that the Spanish edition of my historical novel on King Richard III will be released in Spain in September 2007 under the title Las Dos Rosas. The Spanish translation rights to the second title in the trilogy have also been sold. JULIE ROSE's historical novella, Simon's Relics, was a semi-finalist in the 2007 Faulkner-Wisdom writing competition. Spring 2007 News: 'St. Stephen's Day,' a short story featuring ALANA WHITE's Italian Renaissance detective-lawyer, Guid'Antonio Vespucci and his nephew, Amerigo, is in the JAN/FEB 2007 issue of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine. SUSANNE DUNLAP's short story, “Miss Lind Sang Here,” has been posted at www.pipesandtimbrels.com. FRANCES BURKE's third historical novel Dragon Wind Rising is being published on 31st May by Hale Publications. It's the story of Lea Stafford, a fledgling overseas correspondent trapped by Boxers during the siege of the legations in Peking. The wind of rebellion is raging across China, bringing blood and fire to the hated foreign devils and threatening the tottering dragon throne of the Manchus. AMANDA GRANGE writes: I'm delighted to say that the paperback of Mr Darcy's Diary is now available. It's exactly the same as the hardback, Darcy's Diary, which came out in 2005, except that the title has changed. Darcy's Diary is also available as an audio book, which is much cheaper if ordered from the publishers at http://www.isis-publishing.co.uk rather than other online sellers or book shops. I'm also delighted to announce that Captain Wentworth's Diary, a retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion from Wentworth's point of view, will be out at the end of June. For more details, including extracts, see my website at http://www.amandagrange.com JOHN CONRADIS writes: I am delighted to say that I have a historical novel coming out tentatively in June or July 2007. The Willing War: A Novel of Maryland in the American Revolution (Volume One of the Old Line Chronicles) will be published by Heritage Books, Inc. www.heritagebooks.com MELINDA HAMMOND writes: Book number twelve, The Belles Dames Club, is published at the end of April. Published in the UK by Robert Hale, The Belles Dames Club was an extremely enjoyable book to write, featuring a group of ladies who are determined to enjoy themselves, even within the restrictions of their Georgian society. The redrosesforauthors blog review calls it "a sparkling read." www.melindahammond.com MARY ANDREA CLARKE's novel The Crimson Cavalier will be published in August 2007 by Creme de la Crime (978-0-9551589-5-7). Regency London is a dangerous place, especially for an independent, outspoken young woman. When a prominent but unpopular citizen is murdered, Georgiana Grey has good reason to know that the infamous highwayman known as the Crimson Cavalier is not to blame. She sets out to track down the real culprit - but her quest for the truth is obstructed on all sides and soon her own life is at stake. A picturesque Regency romp with darker undertones! KATHLEEN GULER is pleased to announce her historical, The Anvil Stone, has placed as an Honorable Mention in the 2007 Eric Hoffer Book Awards in the fiction category. The book is the third in the four-part Macsen's Treasure Series set in Arthurian Britain, and this award is the third that the series has garnered. http://kathleenguler.com ROSEMARY POOLE-CARTER announces the April 2007 release of her young adult historical novel Juliette Ascending from Top Publications, ISBN 1-929976-41-0. Romance and suspense combine at an 1874 Mardi Gras ball when fifteen-year-old Juliette Carondel meets her forbidden love, Union Private Roland Montgomery. Juliette's narrative of her dangerous courtship weaves details of ballroom, wedding, and burial customs with a touch of voodoo, as Juliette defies her family's prejudices and finds a way to live for love, not die for it. Book 1 of SUZANNE ADAIR's historical suspense series, Paper Woman, has won the 2007 Patrick D. Smith Literature Award, given by the Florida Historical Society (www.florida-historical-soc.org). The award will be presented to her on Thursday 24 May in Clearwater, FL. Winter 2007 News: BARBARA PASSARIS announces publication of her novel Through Tempest Forged, ISBN 978-9790878-5-1, published by Community Press. The Royal Colony of Virginia is seething with partisan politics in the year 1775. Paul Rogers, a wealthy planter, makes a choice that will impact the future of the Rogers family, with what could be grave consequences for all of them. This is a stirring tale of love, lust, honor and dishonor, treachery and deceit, with shocking twists and unsettling turns--where life and death are constant companions, where nothing and no one will ever be the same.
HELENA SCHRADER has just re-released her novel
The English Templar. The destruction of the Knights Templar by Philip
IV of France is the focus of this novel. Sir Percival "Percy", an English
Templar travelling through France, is caught up in the unexpected mass
arrest of the Templars. Tortured until he confesses the 'truth' of the
allegations against the Order, Percy manages to escape. He is given refuge
by an old nobleman and his grand-daughter. This book received very good
reviews when first released in the UK in 1999. CORDELIA FRANCES BIDDLE's The Conjurer received a rave review from the Philadelphia Inquirer's Edward Pettit, who wrote: "Biddle successfully uses 19th-century Philadelphia, mining the landscape for the kinds of jewels that illuminate a good mystery, and shaping characters that ring true to the elements of their creation. The Conjurer is a worthy inclusion in the genre, and I hope there are many more Martha Beale mysteries to come." www.cordeliafrancesbiddle.com MARGIT LIESCHE's Lipstick and Lies will be published in April by Poisoned Pen Press. Kirkus Reviews called it "a sharply written adventure/mystery debut with a fine feeling for the period," and Elizabeth McIntosh, former OSS agent and author of Sisterhood of Spies, wrote, "This is an exciting, beautifully written documented adventure story that combines fact and fiction into an engrossing drama of spy work and the actual infiltration of Nazi agents into mid-west America." www.margitliesche.com
The LANGUM CHARITABLE TRUST announces changes
in its David J. Langum, Sr. Prize In American Historical Fiction: McBooks Press in April will launch The War of Knives, the second book in the Matty Graves series of American naval adventures by BROOS CAMPBELL. In the spring of 1800, Matty gets caught up in a particularly vicious civil war, crosses swords with a sect of assassins, and thwarts the founding of an empire while he investigates a rumor that Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture plans to export his slave rebellion to the United States. Publishers Weekly calls it “entertaining . . . a colorful cast of shady characters [in] an elaborate swashbuckling tale that will appeal especially to fans of high historical adventure.” http://www.brooscampbell.com. SANDRA WORTH writes: I just got picked up by Penguin Putnam in a two book deal! Lady of the Roses, the love story of John Neville and Isobel Ingoldesthorpe (the medieval ancestors of both FDR and Winston Churchill) is coming out in 2008, to be followed by Roses for a Queen, the story of Elizabeth of York who closes out the last book in The Rose of York trilogy. CHRISTOPHER CEVASCO writes: The latest issue of Paradox Magazine (Issue #10, Winter 2006-2007) features an abundance of short historical fiction in both its mainstream and genre forms--tales and poetry with settings spanning ancient mythic Crete, the 5th-century BC Battle of Marathon, 4th-century Persia, Arthurian England, 15th-century Rouen, France, the late 18th-century high seas, an alternate 19th-century New Orleans, and post-WWI Germany, among other settings. The issue also includes reviews of current historical novels and films. For more information, visit http://www.paradoxmag.com Book 2 in JAMES DUFFY's Gladiators of the Empire series, Fight for Rome, will be published in May by McBooks Press. The story follows Quintus, Amazonia, and Lindani as they and their fellow arena fighters are conscripted to wage war alongside the legions during the Roman Civil War of AD 69. The action is hot and furious, both in the arena and on the battlefield, as Quintus and his troupe work covertly to thwart the efforts of two pretenders to the throne. http://www.jamesduffy.info SANDRA WORTH writes: The Spanish translation rights for The Rose of York: Love & War have just been sold to a publisher in Spain! I would also like to announce that The Rose of York: Fall from Grace will be released in May 2007. The Rose of York: Fall from Grace, standing alone from its two siblings in Rose of York series, won the 2003 1st Place Prize in the Francis Ford Coppola-supported New Century Author Awards for best unpublished and emerging writers, selected from over 490 entries. The final judges of the contest included top industry producers, directors, film marketing professionals, fiction writers, playwrights, film editors, screenwriters, executive producers and literary agents. Standing alone, The Rose of York: Fall from Grace also won the fifteen hundred dollar Grand Prize in the Bay Area League's 2003 Open Manuscript Competition, judged by a panel of University of Houston professors. www.sandraworth.com ERROL BURLAND's The Fall Line was published November 1, 2006, by Dorrance ($28, 512pp, ISBN 0805971939). The book treats Bacon's Rebellion (1676-1677), a Colonial Virginia uprising against Royal Governor Sir William Berkeley which Thomas Jefferson considered a prototype of the American Revolution. There are three main characters: Nathaniel Bacon, the Rebel; Elizabeth "Lyn" Duke Bacon, his wife; and fictional John Grey, an attorney. The book depicts the early life of each character in Suffolk and London; their voyage to Virginia; life in Jamestown and the Virginia frontier at the fall line; an Indian uprising; the ensuing civil war during which Jamestown was razed to the ground; and Lyn's journey back to Suffolk. MARY ANDREA CLARKE's historical crime novel, The Crimson Cavalier, set in the 18th century, will be published by Crème de la Crime in August 2007. MARY SHARRATT's The Vanishing Point was highlighted in the UK Guardian Book Review of 30.12.06 as a top book for 2006, as selected by readers. Diane Shipley of Sheffield wrote: "...I also loved Mary Sharratt's The Vanishing Point (Mariner Books), the story of two sisters who emigrate to America years apart and spend the rest of their lives looking for each other."
Standish by ERASTES (Gay Fiction
/ Historical Drama / Romance) was published in
November 2006 by PD Publishing.
Autumn 2006 News: MALCOLM ARCHIBALD writes: Following Whale for the
Wizard and the Selkirk trilogy, my latest novel, Pryde's Rock is due
to be published in December 2006 by Severn House. Based in Northumberland and
Kent during the Napoleonic Wars, it is based around Matthew Pryde, a young
engineer who searches for his real identity amidst a welter of wreckers, women
and woe. Although the story is fiction, many of the events are based on reality.
Pryde's Rock ISBN: 978 7278 6459 8 is priced at £18.99 hardback from
bookshops. SALLY ZIGMOND writes: My novella Chasing Angels
is now available from Biscuit Publishing (www.biscuitpublishing.com).
It can also be ordered from bookshops: £7.99 (including condensed audio version
CD), ISBN 1-903914-29-9. On September 4th 1838, Henriette d'Angeville, at
44yrs old stood on the summit of Mont Blanc. She was not the first woman to do
so but the fact that an aristocrat, whose grandfather had been guillotined and
father imprisoned during the French Revolution, should even contemplate it in an
age when women did not do such things and mountaineering for men was still in
its infancy is incredible. So what influences shaped her decision? Where did her
hardiness come from? Was she the self-seeking, unloved spinster as many
commentators have claimed? Who exactly was Henriette d'Angeville? Chasing
Angels blends fact with fiction to help put flesh on the bones of this
remarkable woman. ANNE WHITFIELD is pleased to announce the sale of
her Australian historical, A Noble Place, to Robert Hale Ltd UK.
http://www.annewhitfield.com DOLORES GORDON-SMITH's novel A Fete Worse than
Death, a detective story set in the 1920s, will be published next June
by Constable Robinson.
FAYE L. BOOTH's Cover the Mirrors, a
Victorian-set piece, will be published by Macmillan New Writing next year,
with a projected release date of 2 November 2007.
http://www.fayelbooth.co.uk
JEAN FULLERTON writes:
Cutlasses and Caresses is a romp through the
Pirate Capital of Port Royal and the high seas in the volatile Caribbean of
the 1680s, with a sensual, romantic adventure with Prudence Stone and Nathan
Frazer at its centre. It will be published as an e-book, by Triskelion
Publishing
http://www.triskelionpublishing.com/ on the 1st December
2006.
LEA WAIT's newest historical novel, Finest Kind,
was published in October 2006 by Margaret K. McElderry Books at Simon &
Schuster (US). www.leawait.com
MARGARET MUIR writes: I'm pleased to announce that my
third novel has just been accepted for publication by Robert Hale, London.
The Black Thread is a dramatic tale set on the Leeds and Liverpool
canal in the year 1898. Summer 2006 News:
MARGARET MUIR writes: On 31 August, Hale
published my second historical novel. The Twisting Vine is a saga set
in Yorkshire between 1895 and 1920. The story threads are loosely connected
by the unobtrusive presence of a French Bru doll. Margaret was pleased to
sell the large prints rights to this book before the first print was
published. Cruel Music, the third novel in BEVERLE GRAVES MYERS' baroque mystery series, is scheduled for release on September 30, 2006, by Poisoned Pen Press. In 1740 Rome, the impending death of Pope Clement XII heralds ambition, intrigue, greed... and murder. To snare the ungodly killer, castrato soprano Tito Amato must learn to spy as well as he sings. The preceding novels in the series, Interrupted Aria and Painted Veil, are now available in trade paper. Visit Bev's website for more information: http://www.beverlegravesmyers.com. HNS reviews editor MARY SHARRATT is the co-editor of Bitch Lit, a fiction anthology celebrating female anti-heroes and intended to be a refreshing and subversive antidote to chick lit. It will be published in September by Crocus UK. http://www.commonword.org.uk/sections.asp?section_id=3 HELENA SCHRADER's most recent novel The Lady in the Spitfire, about the love affair between an American B-17 pilot and an English woman pilot of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during WWII, has been released this month (August 2006). http://www.helena-schrader.com LINDA HENDERSON writes: I am pleased to announce that my short story, 'Gudrid' set in the Isle of Lewis in the 13th Century, has won the inaugural short story competition run by Books from Scotland. Please visit www.booksfromscotland.com and click on 'competition' in the side menu to read the full story.
ANNE WHITFIELD has a number of new historical
fiction titles appearing shortly. JUDSON ROBERTS' novel Viking Warrior, book 1 in the 9th century historical fiction series The Strongbow Saga, was published on June 13, 2006 by HarperCollins. His author website is www.judsonroberts.com, and he is developing an educational site about the Vikings and the 9th century at www.strongbowsaga.com. SUSANNE DUNLAP's Liszt's Kiss, a novel about a young pianist caught in a triangle with Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult in Paris during the 1832 cholera epidemic, will be published by Touchstone (Simon & Schuster) in April 2007. SARAH BOWER, former UK coordinating editor for the Historical Novels Review, has signed a deal with Snowbooks for publication of her first novel, The Needle in the Blood, which is a tale of sexual obsession and the redemptive power of love set against the making of the Bayeux Tapestry. The book will come out in summer 2007. CHRISTOPHER M. CEVASCO writes: A lengthy interview with novelist and short story writer Connie Willis headlines the latest issue of Paradox Magazine (Issue #9, Summer 2006), just released. As always, the issue features an abundance of short historical fiction in both its mainstream and genre forms--eight tales with settings as wide ranging as late 4th-century Olympia, feudal Japan, late 17th-century London & the Caribbean, 19th-century Boston, and the U.S. Antebellum South, among others. The issue also includes historical poetry and reviews of current historical novels and films. For more information, visit http://www.paradoxmag.com. RUTH DOWNIE's Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls will be published on 3 August by Michael Joseph. Synopsis: A doctor's life is never easy. Particularly, when the breakthroughs of medical science lie centuries in the future and desperate personal circumstance has driven you to a distant, damp and depressing outpost of the Empire. And for Gaius Petreius Ruso, medicus to the Twentieth Legion in Chester, things are about to get downright impossible. For one thing, rescuing injured slave girls is never a wise idea, no matter how attractive their eyes might be. For another, sharing a house with a lazy colleague who's far too handsome for his own good is never going to be peaceful. And finally, getting dragged into a situation that suggests a serial killer might be stalking your local bar is only ever going to end badly. Ruso's gods are not smiling on him in Britannia, so what's a poor doctor to do? Set aside his "Concise Guide to Military First Aid", persuade his slave girl, Tilla, to cook - and inadvertently track down a murderer... With wonderful comic timing and an irresistible sense of humour, Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls is a beguiling and unique novel - the first in the "Medicus" series - and introduces in Ruso and Tilla the hottest detective pairing to come out of the Roman Empire. KATHLEEN CUNNINGHAM GULER is delighted to announce that her historical novel, The Anvil Stone: Book 3 of the Macsen’s Treasure Series, has taken third place in the fiction category of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association Book Awards (“Evvy” Awards) for 2006. Set in fifth-century Britain, in the period preceding King Arthur’s rise to power, the book continues master spy Marcus ap Iorwerth’s ongoing quest for freedom along with his wife Claerwen. The story intertwines the search for Excalibur with the continuing need to unite Britain’s many factions and teach them to stand together against the increasing encroachment of Saxon settlement and revolt. “...an outstanding tale and highly recommended…” says Midwest Book Review. And Library Journal says, “...Guler creates a pair of memorable characters in the resourceful trickster Marcus and his farseeing wife.” Available from bookstores and online. For more reviews and information, visit http://kathleenguler.com. Spring 2006 News:
The next in ANN PARKER's Silver Rush historical mystery series, Iron Ties,
is scheduled for release at the end of June 2006 by Poisoned Pen Press.
Iron Ties received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which
says in part: "Set in the summer of 1880, Parker's outstanding second Silver
Rush mystery (after 2003's Silver Lies ) finds her heroine, Inez
Stannert, corset-deep in the intrigues of Leadville, Colo. ... Plenty of
convincing action bodes well for a long and successful series." Booklist
adds, "This sequel to the critically acclaimed Silver Lies (2003)
will not disappoint Parker's fans. The characters have depth, their
motivations are subtle, and their pain very human. Add carefully researched
and fascinating period detail, and one has a well-crafted novel that will
appeal to readers of mysteries, historical fiction, and genre westerns."
Silver Lies, which won both the Willa Award for Best Historical Fiction
and the Colorado Gold Award for Best Mystery, will be released in trade
paperback. More information and a list of appearances can be found at her
website:
http://www.annparker.net
HELENA SCHRADER has just published Sisters in Arms, a comparative study of women pilots in the US and UK during WWII with Pen & Sword Books. A novel about women pilots, The Lady in the Spitfire, is scheduled for release in August. KATE DOLAN is celebrating the release of her second historical novel, Restitution, from Cloonfad Press. Set in colonial Maryland, the story examines why ordinary citizens might - or might not - choose to start down the path to revolution. http://www.katedolan.com MELINDA HAMMOND writes: I am delighted to have TWO new publications for June! Gentlemen in Question is published by Robert Hale on 30th June. Set in 1792, Madeleine Sedgewick finds herself plunged into a world of intrigue and danger as the terror of the French Revolution spreads across the channel. Fortune's Lady is my first e-book, published now by Belgravehouse.com. In this Regency comedy of manners, Lady Rosalyn Tremayne returns to London as a wealthy woman. She has no intention of marrying, but when she meets the hopelessly ineligible Rake Hellborn she is prepared to turn convention on its head to get her own way. Stuart E. Prall, Ph.D. (Columbia University), who for over 40 years has researched and published scholarly works on British history, has found S.H. POST's historical novel, samsara moon, eminently worthy. Author of History of England, a two-volume work renowned in academia, Dr. Prall writes: "...a fascinating story...S.H. Post's characters, based on real historical figures, in many cases, come through honestly and realistically. Mr. Post's research was thorough and carefully relates the immediate story...with the wider historical background. All this includes a detailed knowledge of Ireland, South Africa and India...Well done!" samsara moon will be available after its July 15th publication date. Call for submissions! Pipes & Timbrels is interested in history-themed travel. If you have an interesting adventure of your own to share (750 words or less), either for research or pleasure, please let us read about it. It can be either expository or reflective -- as long as it's a good story! C.W. GORTNER is pleased to announce that he has signed with Two Bridges Press in San Francisco for the late summer / early fall publication of his second novel, The Last Queen, about the tumultuous life of Juana of Castile, daughter of Isabel the Catholic and older sister of Katherine of Aragon. The result of seven years of research and writing, The Last Queen uncovers the secrets of this enigmatic princess, whose courageous struggle to claim her throne mesmerized her world and immortalized her in legend as the Mad Queen of Spain. FENELLA-JANE MILLER writes: My second Regency romance, A Suitable Husband, published by Robert Hale, was released on March 31st and has since sold large print to Thorpe. My third Regency, The Dissembler- set in and around the area I live- Frating and Great Bentley, Essex- is due to be released in August. I am delighted to report that I have just sold a fourth to Robert Hale, A Mesalliance, due out in 2007- this is also local to me. I have used the magnificent St Osyth Priory as the setting. LISA JENSEN writes: My short story "Proserpina's Curse" will be published in the June, 2006, issue of Paradox Magazine (on newsstands in the US June 15). The story is an extract from my alternative Captain Hook novel, "Alias Hook." "Proserpina's Curse" imagines the fall from grace by which a witty, educated, Restoration-era privateer-turned-pirate finds himself condemned to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys for all eternity.
MARY SHARRATT'S new novel,
The Vanishing Point,
will be published by Mariner on June 2, 2006. Set in 17th-century England
and colonial Maryland, this is a literary novel of dark suspense, love, and
betrayal, telling the tale of two star-crossed sisters, one lost and the
other searching.
Acclaimed
historical fiction writer and Historical Novel Society member HELEN HOLLICK is
set to launch her latest novel, Sea Witch.
Set in
the early 1700s, the golden age of piracy,
Sea Witch
follows the first voyage of Captain Jesamiah Acorne with breathtaking action
and fantastic characterisation. After escaping the clutches of his bullying
elder brother, Jesamiah sets out to become a pirate, but his life is to change
after suffering an attack on a merchant ship off the coast of South Africa.
Jesamiah befriends a white witch, but their happiness together is threatened
as Jesamiah’s enemies seek revenge, and he must choose between his life as a
pirate and the woman he loves.
Previously published by
Random House, Helen’s increasing frustration with mainstream publishers led
her to self-publish through BookForce UK. SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM's 2005 novel, The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II, won the silver award in the Historical Fiction category of ForeWord Magazine's 2005 Book of the Year Awards. For ordering information, reviews, excerpts, further reading, and more, please see http://www.susanhigginbotham.com. Historical Novel Society member Sheila Anne Holman Finch's historical novel The Mantua-maker's Beau by ANNE HOLMAN is to be published on 2 June 2006. The publisher is Five Star Expressions Thomson Gale USA.
SARAH PARK RANKIN writes:
The April issue of Pipes &
Timbrels is online, with two new stories by Pat Tompkins and Terry
Sanville, plus discussion for writers on the challenges of working with
history in fiction. Also, the submission guidelines have changed -- Pipes
& Timbrels now has a rolling deadline.
CHRISTINE
ECHEVERRIA BENDER has been awarded a project grant by the National Endowment
for the Arts and the Idaho Commission on the Arts to assist in the research of
her next historical novel, which will tell the story of the first Basque
whalers to set foot in North America. Preliminary research indicates that the
Basques may have arrived as early as 1372, and Christine will explore this
possibility and other recent finds when she travels this summer to Red Bay,
Labrador to visit the site where four ancient but well-preserved whaling
galleons have been found just offshore. She will also journey to Grand Manan
Island, New Brunswick to study right whales, the same whales hunted in small
boats before the dawn of the Renaissance. For more information about Ms.
Bender and her writing, please visit
www.christinebender.com. HNS member SHERRIE SEIBERT GOFF just won both First Place and Honorable Mention in the Mainstream/Literary Fiction category of the 13th annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards. Goff's winning historical novels, The Arms of Quirinus and The Scent of Hyacinth, are the first two books in her Seven Kings of Rome series. Visit her author's website at www.sherriegoff.com to read the reviews and learn more about her novels set in the early regal period of ancient Rome.Winter 2006 News: SUSAN
HIGGINBOTHAM writes: I'm delighted
to announce that my 2005 novel, The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of
Edward II, has been named one of 15 finalists in the Historical Fiction
category of ForeWord Magazine's 2005 Book of the Year Awards. The awards were
established to reward "excellence in publishing from independent presses." SARAH PARK RANKIN writes: The March issue of Pipes & Timbrels is online, featuring new short fiction, plus an interview with HNS member Mary Sharratt and an excerpt of her forthcoming novel The Vanishing Point. http://www.pipesandtimbrels.com KAREN MERCURY
writes: I'm pleased to announce my
third historical novel set in Africa has been accepted by Medallion Press.
(The) Strangely Wonderful (Tale of Count Balashazy) will be released in
June 2007. In Madagascar in 1828, a refugee from Jean Lafitte's band has built
a pirate colony that he rules through a bitter opium haze until the arrival of
an American naturalist and her two eccentric brothers tears his utopian
paradise asunder. With the King's death, the psychotic Queen begins a rampage
of anti-European persecution. ALANA WHITE's nonfiction article, "Florence, the City of Flowers," is featured in the Winter 2005-2006 edition of Mystery Readers Journal: The Journal of Mystery Writers International, "Mysteries Set in Italy (Primo)." S.H. POST's historical novel samsara moon will be published in June 2006 by Kirk House Publishers. samsara moon takes the reader on an epic journey to far-off corners of the globe, as tragedy befalls Captain Stephen Hamilton and he seeks his renewal across the vast British Empire. Set during the grandeur and pageantry at the end of the Victorian Era, samsara moon is full of heartfelt emotion, colorful characters, and descriptive settings, as this family saga plays out on the grand stage of world events, war, and the changing landscape of the new millennium. ARAM SCHEFRIN writes: My novel Consider the Elephant: The Life and Death of John Wilkes Booth as told by his brother Edwin is now being podcasted. It can be subscribed to at and downloaded from iTunes and most other podcast aggregators, and can be downloaded directly (chapter by chapter) at Podiobooks.com and booth.libsyn.com. CINDY THOMSON's first novel, Brigid of Ireland, will be released in the UK by Monarch Books in March and distributed by Kregel in the US and Canada in April. Set in the 5th century and based on Irish legends surrounding St. Brigid, Brigid of Ireland is the story of a girl who is separated from her mother. Seeking love and acceptance, she embraces the new religion taught by Patrick--and the miracles start. But so does the opposition from rulers and druids who oppose her growing popularity. As she seeks to find her mother, can she overcome the obstacles? More can be found at www.brigidofireland.com. MARY SHARRATT has started a new blog dedicated to historical novelists who are rewriting women's role in history. Visit Sphinx Rising at http://sphinxrising.blogspot.com. KATE ALLAN's Perfidy and Perfection (ISBN 0709080166) will be published by Robert Hale in April 2006 (UK) and July 2006 (US). "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young lady of no fortune must be in want of one. Sophia Grantchester was one such lady. She sought to end the painful worries about how all the tradesmen would be paid not by finding a husband, rather by being a lady novelist …" No Quarter by BROOS CAMPBELL follows the fortunes and follies of Matty Graves, a 17-year-old midshipman in the early U.S. Navy. In 1800, during the undeclared naval war with France, Mr. Graves wryly recounts his run-ins with a drunken captain, a scheming first lieutenant, and cutthroat picaroons off the coast of Hispaniola. No Quarter will be published in April 2006 by McBooks Press. It may be ordered (at a discount!) from Amazon. Publisher website: http://www.mcbooks.com/Historical/historical.html JEANNIE JOHNSON's latest novel, Forgotten Faces, was recently published by Orion. Author website: http://www.jeanniejohnson.net/books.html
HNS Member DIANA MAYER is happy to announce the
publication of Evrémonde. This project completes the story of Charles
Dickens’s beleaguered Evrémonde family in A Tale of Two Cities. The second novel in SANDRA WORTH's Rose of York series, Crown of Destiny, will be published on June 15th by Metropolis Ink. Synopsis: "Richard III is said to have murdered his nephews for their throne. But this second historical novel in the Rose of York series - winners of a remarkable ten awards - tells a different, well-documented and dramatic story: A man of conscience, Richard is a reluctant king chosen by destiny to save a nation from bloody civil war." HNS member JOHN SHORS reports that The Penguin Group has bought the paperback rights to his novel, Beneath a Marble Sky. Penguin's NAL division will release a trade paperback of Beneath a Marble Sky in June of 2006. The trade paperback will feature a new cover and a detailed reading guide. Beneath a Marble Sky is based on the remarkable story behind the creation of the Taj Mahal. The novel won a ForeWord Magazine "Book of the Year" award (for historical fiction) and is being made into a major motion picture in Hollywood. For more information on Beneath a Marble Sky, please visit www.beneathamarblesky.com. From SARAH PARK RANKIN: The February issue of Pipes & Timbrels (http://www.pipesandtimbrels.com) is online, featuring two new stories plus an improved discussion forum. Coming soon: the Pipes & Timbrels print anthology.
MARGARET MUIR writes: Since publication of Sea Dust
in December 2005, my second novel, The Twisting Vine, has been
accepted by Hale Books, London. It will be published in hardback in 2006. I
am also pleased to advice that Sea Dust will be published in large
print by Thorpe Publishing. TONY JUNKER published his historical sea novel, Tunnell's Boys, a tale set among deepwater pilots in the closing days of sail. Themes of war and peace are paramount. The book takes place during the US war with Spain in 1898, which historians call the first US venture in globalization and imperialism. After declaring quick victory, the US had to fight a 3 year insurrection in the Philippines, killing thousands of native people and committing numerous acts of torture--sound familiar? The novel uses battles with the elements and internal struggles for fast paced action, avoiding the blood and guts emphasis of popular sea novels. See www.tonyjunker.com.
Society members LEANNE BURROUGHS and DEBORAH MACGILLIVRAY have a 28th January 2006 release of No Law Against Love
- an anthology that is the debut book launching Highland Press. Burroughs
bought Highland Press last year, and this book will showcase the small press
publishing firm dealing in strong Historical and Contemporary Romances. They
soon shall offer novels, novellas and anthologies to please everyone's
tastes, with an eye to strong historical works.
JEN BLACK writes:
My first novel, The Banners of Alba, will be published as a
paperback by Cambridge Books in May 2006 (ISBN 978-1-59431-325-7). The
e-book is available now (ISBN 1-59421-325-3) from
http://www.ebooksonthe.net AMANDA GRANGE writes: A group of ten UK historical romance authors including Nicola Cornick, Amanda Grange, Melinda Hammond and Jane Jackson have launched a website and blog for lovers of historical romance. The website http://www.regencyauthors.co.uk runs a competition every month - January's prize is a signed copy of Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange (closes 20th Jan), so please come and enter! - and provides details of new and forthcoming books, personal appearances, book signings etc.The blog is a chatty forum for talking about your favourite books, and historical romance in general. It also contains interesting snippets from our research, including discussions about historical costume, manners etc. Come and chat to us about your favourite books or your favourite time periods, and get additional extracts from Miss Bridget Jane's Diary! MARTIN BERTRAM's Vanity of Vanities will be released on the first week of February, 2006. Set in 12th century Europe, Vanity of Vanities is the tale of great kingdoms reduced to nothing by the warmongering of selfish men; and of one man raised up to stand against the onslaught as he attempts to save the land from complete self-destruction. Good and evil crash head-on in this heroic saga of honor and sacrifice. Website: http://www.vanityofvanities.name MARY SHARRATT's novel The Real Minerva is now available in paperback from Mariner Books. http://www.marysharratt.com SARAH JOHNSON wrote the cover story, "Masters of the Past: Twenty Classic Historical Novels and Their Legacy," for the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of Bookmarks Magazine. See if you agree with the 20 novels that were chosen! Autumn 2005 News: CHRISTOPHER CEVASCO writes: A new short story by historical novelist Jack Whyte headlines the latest issue of Paradox Magazine (Issue #8, Winter 2005-2006), just released. As always, the issue features an abundance of short historical fiction in both its mainstream and genre forms, this time with settings as wide ranging as Bithynia circa 182 BC, Roman Jerusalem, Columbus’s New World, Shakespeare’s England, early 19th-Century Gambia, and World War II-era Ireland. The issue also includes an interview with writer/editor Darrell Schweitzer, historical poetry by Jane Yolen and others, an essay on the winners of the Sidewise Awards for Alternate History, and reviews of current historical novels and films. For more information, visit http://home.nyc.rr.com/paradoxmag. FENELLA JANE MILLER writes: My first Regency, The Unconventional Miss Walters, Robert Hale, was published on 30th October. The second, A Suitable Husband, is due out in March 2006. The Return of Lord Rivenhall, D C Thomson, is coming out in December 2006. A Country Mouse, also DC Thomson, does not have a publication date yet. For more information please visit my website www.fenellajanemiller.co.uk. SHAUNA SINGH BALDWIN read from her latest novel, The Tiger Claw, at the Heliconian Club in Toronto and at GritLit in Hamilton, Ontario. She also gave a reading and participated in panel discussions at Kriti, the literary festival of Desilit.org in Chicago, IL. Shauna has a new website at ShaunaSinghBaldwin.com. JAMES DUFFY's Sand of the Arena, the first book in the Gladiators of the Empire series, was released the week of November 14th. Sand of the Arena is an unflinching, realistic look at life and death in the gladiator training camps and arenas of ancient Rome. The story follows the life of Quintus Honorius Romanus as he overcomes the loss of his family in a shipwreck, and the loss of his identity to a scheming slave, to turn his life into one of the most celebrated in Rome. For more information on the novel and series, visit the website at http://www.gladiatorsoftheempire.com. BROOS CAMPBELL's first historical novel, No Quarter, about an American midshipman in 1800, is due out in hardcover from McBooks Press in spring 2006. Publisher website: http://www.mcbooks.com/Historical/historical.html MARINA OLIVER's Writing Historical Fiction, a Studymates Writing Guide, will be published at the end of October. http://www.marina-oliver.net SARAH PARK RANKIN writes in to announce: The new issue of Pipes & Timbrels is online, featuring a story by HNS member Susanne Dunlap, author of Emilie's Voice. Also, novelist Paul Anderson (Hunger's Brides) talks about the relationship between past and present in fiction. http://www.pipesandtimbrels.com Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre, by SARAH JOHNSON, garnered a starred review in Booklist, which called it an "outstanding reader's advisory reference work... an essential tool for understanding the genre, developing collections, and advising patrons." It received a second starred review in Library Journal and was called "highly recommended" by CHOICE. Sarah serves as American coordinating editor for the HNS book review magazine Historical Novels Review. Website: http://www.libraryjobpostings.org/AboutMe.htm DEBORAH ANNE MACGILLIVRAY writes: Busy month for me. I sold two historicals to Kensington at the first of the month. I am very excited to announce a second contract with Dorchester Publishing now. Invasion of Falgannon Isle and Riding the Thunder were sold to them, the first two books in a series of paranormal contemporary romances. http://www.deborahmacgillivray.co.ukBEVERLE GRAVES MYERS wants everyone to know that Interrupted Aria, her first novel in the Baroque Mystery series, will be available in a trade paperback edition in September 2005. Interrupted Aria introduces Tito Amato, an 18th-century castrato singer whose opera debut is upstaged by a murder. Many of Tito's family members and fellow singers who appear in later installments of the series make their first appearance in this book. For more information, visit Beverle's website at www.beverlegravesmyers.com.Summer 2005 News: DEBORAH ANNE MACGILLIVRAY writes: I am delighted to announce the sale of my Scottish Medieval Romances to Hilary Sares at Kensington Books. The first book, originally titled "Challon's Lady", has been re-titled A Knight in Black and will be released in July 2006. The second book currently called Ravenhawke's Lady will be an autumn 2006 release. Website: http://www.deborahmacgillivray.co.uk
HILARY GREEN writes: I am very happy to announce the publication on my
first historical novel, entitled We'll Meet Again. It was published in
hardback by Hodder and Stoughton in July and the paperback is due out on Oct
24th. Set in the Second World War, it tells the story of Frankie, a young
Liverpool girl of Italian ancestry, who is recruited through a chance meeting
into the elite ranks of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and finds herself
working for the Special Operations Executive. SOE is charged with sending
agents behind enemy lines to encourage resistance and Frankie progresses from
coding and decoding messages to the point where she volunteers to be dropped
behind enemy lines to rescue the man who first recruited her. It is a romantic
adventure which also looks at the class structure of wartime Britain and the
changes brought about by the war. MELINDA HAMMOND's tenth book, Dance for a Diamond, will be published in October 2005 by Robert Hale. A new dance is sweeping Europe - the waltz. In Bath Antonia Venn is persuaded to take the beautiful Isabella Burstock as a pupil, a decision that puts her on a collision course with the young heiress’s autocratic brother... http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/melham/
In May 2005,
SHAUNA SINGH BALDWIN gave a speech Writers in a Time of Terrorism
for
Annual General Meeting of The Writer's Union of Canada, and a reading from The Tiger Claw at the Toronto Public Library. She taught a fiction seminar at the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension in Edmonton in June, 2005. In July, she gave a reading from the US edition of What the Body Remembers and discussed her writing process at a bookclub in Milwaukee. Also in July, Shauna's latest novel, The Tiger Claw was released by Vintage Canada in paperback. In August, Shauna read at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Arts in Sechelt, BC, and traveled to Amsterdam for the release of the Dutch translation of The Tiger Claw by Uitgeverij De Geus. In September, she will head to Germany to give readings at the Berlin Literary Festival. Also in September, Vintage Canada will complete a second printing of The Tiger Claw. MARY SHARRATT's novel The Real Minerva took home the 2005 WILLA Literary Award for contemporary fiction. The Real Minerva, Mary's second novel, explores the theme of female outlaws in a 1920s Minnesota town. The WILLAs are sponsored by Women Writing the West, a literary organization dedicated to promoting fiction and nonfiction about the women's West. Mary is a reviews editor for the Historical Novels Review. http://www.marysharratt.com SARAH PARK RANKIN would like to announce that the inaugural issue of Pipes & Timbrels is online, featuring original fiction by Linera Lucas and Bridget Whelan, as well as an interview with the Historical Novel Society's Sarah Johnson. http://www.pipesandtimbrels.com ELIZABETH CHADWICK will be giving an author talk at Ludlow library on Thursday 22nd September at 7.30pm. It's by ticket only, with tickets available from the library. Website: http://www.elizabethchadwick.com HARRIET ROCHLIN, social historian and author of Pioneer Jews in the Far West, will be participating on a panel at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Lexington Ave and 92nd, on September 15th at 8pm: "HBO's Deadwood and the Western Jewish Experience in the Old West." Tickets are $25 for all sections. For details and to order tickets online, visit http://www.92y.org/shop/event_detail.asp?productid=T-BL5LC02. JULIAN STOCKWIN's new historical naval adventure novel Tenacious is scheduled for publication by Hodder & Stoughton in October to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. The book paints a thrilling portrait of naval life under Admiral Nelson and is the sixth in the Thomas Kydd series, one man's journey from pressed man to admiral in the great age of fighting sail. Julian also tells us that McBooks Press, the largest publisher of nautical fiction in the US, will be bringing out a hardback edition of Quarterdeck, his fifth book, in the same month. Julian is currently at work on the next in the series, Command, due for publication in October 2006. Website: http://www.julianstockwin.com OCTAVIA RANDOLPH writes: Readers will find, free and complete on my site (http://www.octavia.net), The Circle of Ceridwen, a historical novel set in 9th century Britain during the worst of the Viking incursions. Newly illustrated by Marta Roselló. Also on my site is "Ride," a re-telling of the story of Godgyfu of Mercia, known today as Lady Godiva, along with scores of essays about Anglo-Saxon and Viking life. All are welcome in my Great Hall. SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM announces the publication of her novel, The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II. Set in fourteenth-century England, this is the story of Eleanor de Clare, favorite niece of Edward II. When tragedy shatters Eleanor's comfortable world, she must rebuild her life amid a regime that is as corrupt as the one it replaced--and far more vicious. The Traitor's Wife is available as a trade paperback or as an e-book. See www.susanhigginbotham.com for more information. AMANDA GRANGE's latest historical romance, Darcy's Diary, will be published by Robert Hale in August. Synopsis: Pride and Prejudice is the most popular romance of all time, and in this enjoyable retelling, Amanda Grange allows us to see the events of Jane Austen's famous novel from Mr Darcy's point of view. Darcy writes of his horror at discovering his sister's plans to elope with George Wickham, his efforts to separate Charles Bingley from Miss Jane Bennet and his disgust at having to arrange a marriage for Miss Lydia Bennet. But, most satisfying of all, he records the story of his courtship with Elizabeth, from initial hostility to their eventual love, before revealing a tantalising glimpse of their early married life. Author website: http://www.amandagrange.com PAMELA CLEAVER's Regency romance The Reluctant Governess will be released in a print edition from Earthling Press in August of 2005 (ISBN 1-588749-530-9). Synopsis: It is 1812 and smuggling is rife in Suffolk. Belinda finds being a governess to the Sheldon family difficult. Her charges are a handful, their brothers are a trial. Gorgeous Clive thinks she's irresponsible. Debonair Mark wants her as his mistress. Frank Yardley, the customs officer, wants her to spy for him. The harum-scarum boys, Will and Simon, get her into scrapes. She must discover which of the Sheldons is the Master-smuggler before she can find happiness. But this is a difficult task for a girl whose besetting sin is jumping to wrong conclusions! Author website: http://www.eidolonstudios.com/pamelacleaver/ SUSANNE DUNLAP announces that her second novel, Liszt's Kiss, will be published about a year from now by Simon & Schuster's Touchstone Books. They also published her first novel, Emilie's Voice. She'd also like to announce the existence of her blog, http://emiliesvoice.blogspot.com, where she is trying to encourage writers of historical fiction to post short excerpts for public comment and critique.
SARAH PARK RANKIN would like to announce Pipes &
Timbrels, a new online magazine devoted to short historical fiction.
We hope to publish two new short stories a month, plus reviews, recommended
reading, and discussion on historical fiction. In addition to the online
magazine, we hope to publish a quarterly print anthology of the stories
featured online. Pipes & Timbrels will feature short stories that are
well-crafted and elegantly written, where setting (both time and place) and
character intersect in interesting, unpredictable ways. Spring 2005 News: ALANA WHITE's short story, "The Lady's Not for Dying", has been nominated for the Macavity Award, given by Mystery Readers International, in the Best Short Story category. Set in Renaissance Italy, the story introduces Tuscan lawyer Guid'Antonio Vespucci and his nephew, Amerigo Vespucci, as they pursue investigations in Medici Florence. The Macavity Awards will be announced at the Bouchercon Convention in Chicago in September CHRISTOPHER CEVASCO announces that Issue Seven of Paradox Magazine (Summer 2005) has been released. This issue features an abundance of short historical fiction in both its mainstream and genre forms with settings as wide ranging as ancient Alexandria, Roman Britain, WWI Germany, and the US Civil War South. Also featured is an essay on history in the works of Robert E. Howard, reviews of current historical novels, and a lengthy review of the film, Kingdom of Heaven. For more information about the magazine, visit http://home.nyc.rr.com/paradoxmag. MAISIE HAMPTON's second period romance, Love's Measure, was published by Robert Hale Limited on 29 April 2005. The Rose of York: Love & War by SANDRA WORTH won its 10th award, the 2005 Glyph Award for Best Book Fiction - General, on May 14th. This prize is awarded by the Arizona Book Publishers Association once every two years. http://www.sandraworth.com God's Hammer, a novel by new member ERIC SCHUMACHER, was recently released in the UK by Paul Mould Publishing. The novel tells the true story of Hakon Haraldsson, the youngest son of Norway's greatest king. The story takes Hakon from the Christian court of Athelstan, where he is fostered as a child, to the far North, where he must defeat the tyranny of his ruthless brother, Erik Bloodaxe, to gain the High Seat of his native land. If he succeeds in his quest, Hakon will do more than just overthrow the kingdom’s blood-thirsty king; he will change the course of Norway's history forever. God's Hammer is scheduled to release in the States in September, 2005. Please visit www.film-buff.com for more information.
Masters of the Air by DEBRA TASH is a
semi-finalist in the historical/military category in the ninth Annual
Independent Publisher Book Awards. Michael Ryan, born in a Chicago
brothel, with a mother who turned him out at the age of eleven, is a
barnstorming pilot. There is only one thing he wants, an untroubled home.
Meeting Jake Stimpson, the prodigal son of a powerful family, Michael becomes
one of the Masters Of The Air—first by rum-running across the Mexican
border, to later founding one of the country's first airlines. Michael,
however, never wins that untroubled home. It's his granddaughter, Rachel,
haunted by her own secret, who must solve the puzzle of her family's
despair... SARAH JOHNSON's reference book Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre was p ublished in April 2005 by Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of the Greenwood Publishing Group. Focusing on English-language novels published since the mid 90s plus the perennial favorites commonly available in libraries, this book will guide you to more than 3,800 books set in times prior to the mid-20th century and in which historical events play an integral role. Chapters are organized according to subgenre and type, i.e., traditional, epics, romance, sagas, westerns, crime, adventure, thrillers, literary, inspirational, time-slip, alternate histories, and fantasy. More details and to order: http://www.greenwood.com/books/BookDetail.asp?sku=LU129XNew member MARY SHARRATT is the author of two historical novels (Summit Avenue, Coffee House, 2000, and The Real Minerva, Houghton Mifflin, 2004). The Mariner Paperback publication of The Real Minerva will come out in January 2006. Her third novel, The Vanishing Point, will be published by Houghton Mifflin in Spring 2006. Editorial Suma de Letras have recently purchased the World Spanish Rights for The Vanishing Point and intend to publish it as their lead title in 2006. Website: http://www.marysharratt.com HELEN HOLLICK's novel A Hollow Crown, about England's Queen Emma, is now out in paperback from Arrow. Her website at http://www.helenhollick.net also has many new features. AMANDA GRANGE's new Regency romance, Lord Deverill's Secret, is out at the end of April. A simple trip to Brighton turns into a summer of adventure for Cassandra Paxton when she encounters the enigmatic Justin, Lord Deverill. Justin is hiding a secret, and as Cassandra finds herself in danger, she must ask herself whether she can trust him, and whether he can save her life. To win a copy of Lord Deverill's Secret, and to read an extract, visit Amanda's website at http://www.lorien48.freeserve.co.ukDL LARSON's novel Memories Trail was recently published by Helm Publishing. Synopsis: For Elizabeth Kincaid, her innocence as well as her ignorance of frontier ways spell danger when she is captured by a band of savages and taken into the wilds of the Ohio Territory. Except one of those savages, the leader named Tecumseh, is not the heathen she thought he was, especially when she realizes they share a common gift, visions of things to come. Tecumseh asked Elizabeth for a vision, and after several days pass, she tells him of a man who will come to their village in friendship. No one is more surprised than Elizabeth when the man appears with the morning sun just as she envisioned. But evil lurks even in the most tranquil of settings. Tecumseh's brother accuses the man of her vision, Will Douglas, of being the devil. To defend his honor and hers, Will must run the gauntlet. His life or death will decide her own. http://www.dllarson.com Winter 2005 News: KAREN MERCURY's The Hinterlands, newly released by Medallion Press, tells the story of the 1897 British Punitive Expedition to Benin City in what is now Nigeria. Brendan Donivan is an American trader and leopard hunter for the Oba, the "second in command to the gods" figurehead of the ancient Benin kingdom, land of human sacrifice, advanced bronze artwork, and juju fetish worship. He's been balancing his commerce in Benin with the whiteman's world until the arrival of Elle Bowie, New York anthropologist who shakes up his existence. Is she in cahoots with the British who scheme to do away with Benin in order to gain control of the palm oil trade? Mixed up in the waterway politics are their guide Mateus, a scheming gnome, Elle's husband Rip, whose sole attire consists of a cowboy hat and boots, and a passel of bumbling consular appointees. General Ologboshere, in command of thousands of warriors, has a yen for Elle. The lives and loves of many hang in the balance in...THE HINTERLANDS. http://www.karenmercury.com SIMON LEVACK's second Aztec Mystery, Shadow of the Lords, is published by Simon & Schuster UK. The sequel to Demon of the Air takes up the story where the first novel left it, pitching wily slave Yaotl straight into a second tense, complex adventure. Once again the setting is Mexico on the eve of the Spanish conquest - a city haunted by omens and visions of gods. This time Yaotl's efforts to save his son from a squad of brutal warriors lead him into the mysterious, closed world of the featherworkers, the Aztecs' foremost craftsmen. For more details visit http://www.simonlevack.com. SHAUNA SINGH BALDWIN's new novel, The Tiger Claw inspired by the life and times of Noor Inayat Khan, the Sufi Muslim woman who worked as a radio operator for the French resistance was a finalist for Canada's 2004 Giller Prize. The Globe and Mail says, "...Baldwin finds a Muslim woman who has much to teach our own time...deliberately turning the [spy novel] genre inside out and giving it a good shake, in order to explore the interplay of racism, sexism and imperialism...[Baldwin] becomes more ambitious with every book...Years of careful research on three continents, as well as extensive contact with her subject's extended family, result in a portrait of Noor Inayat Khan that explains why she did what she did in compelling, convincing ways. It's a noble undertaking and a considerable achievement." The Tiger Claw was also released by Penguin India at Canada House in New Delhi on January 21, 2005. A Dutch edition is expected later this year. ELLEN EKSTROM's The Legacy, newly released from Trivium Publishing, takes place in 14th century Florence and Tuscany, and begins in the autumn of 1328. Francesco Romena is a disinherited nobleman fighting with his uncle, Tommaso da Porciano, for control of the Romena patrimony, a holding of rich lands, castles and roads leading to Florence, then a small town of wool merchants and bankers rising to prominence in international trade and politics. Francesco's constant battle for control of what is rightfully his is compounded by insecurity, inner demons, an unhappy past, and a girl named Serafina, whose own murky past is linked to his by a series of events he has never been aware of until he arrives in Florence and begins the struggle of his life. An earlier version of the story was a screenplay entitled "Warriors for the Working Day," which won Second Place out of a field of 400+ entries in the 1991 Writer's Digest Writing Competition. Website: http://www.ellenekstrom.net ANN TURNBULL's young adult novel No Shame, No Fear, shortlisted for the Guardian prize last summer, has also been shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Fiction Award. No Shame, No Fear is a story of love and persecution set in 17th century England at a time when the early Quakers were seen as a threat to both church and state.
HOMER HICKAM's latest novel, The
Ambassador's Son, is out in March. It is the second in the series
that began with The Keeper's Son, a national best-seller. Set
during World War II, The Ambassador's Son is a roman-a-clef with
Jack Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and James Michener along with Homer's hero, Josh
Thurlow, in the South Pacific. Based solidly on historical fact, we
anticipate it to be another best-seller. CANDACE ROBB reports that the third book in her Margaret Kerr trilogy, A Cruel Courtship, is published in the UK this month. She is presently at work on the 9th Owen Archer mystery, The Guilt of Innocents. Back home in Washington state, she is lecturing at Centralia College in February as part of the Women in Mystery program, part of Lewis County Reads. Candace will be speaking on the links she finds between the Mystery Plays in the Middle Ages and the mystery novels today. She will be lecturing on the same topic at the University of Vermont in early March. CHRISTOPHER CEVASCO announces that Issue Six of Paradox Magazine has been released and is now available. Each issue features short historical fiction (both mainstream historical and genre historical such as alternate history, historical whodunits, time travel, and Arthuriana). The current issue also features an interview with novelist Bernard Cornwell, historical poetry, and reviews of historical novels and films. For more information about the magazine, visit http://home.nyc.rr.com/paradoxmag. HNS member JOHN SHORS reports that the movie rights to his book, Beneath a Marble Sky: A Novel of the Taj Mahal, have been sold. After receiving significant interest from multiple parties in Hollywood, Shors and his publisher, McPherson & Company, sold the film rights to Humble Journey Films. Eriq LaSalle of "ER" fame heads up Humble Journey Films, and upon sealing the deal, flew to India to visit the Taj Mahal and scout locations. Shors, whose novel was also just selected as the "Favorite Debut Novel of 2004" by ReviewersChoice.com, is about to start shopping the paperback rights to his novel. For more information on his book, please visit www.beneathamarblesky.com.Autumn 2004 News: SANDRA WORTH announces that her novel The Rose of York: Love & War has won the 2004 Royal Palm Literary Award for Published Historical. Website: http://www.sandraworth.comMember JOHN SHORS' first book, Beneath a Marble Sky: A Novel of the Taj Mahal, continues to do well out of the gate. Besides getting wonderful reviews and hitting bestseller lists, a major Hollywood production company just made an offer for the film rights. Several other production companies are expected to follow suit. For more info on Beneath a Marble Sky, please visit www.beneathamarblesky.com.LINDA BELL announces that the Medieval and Renaissance critique YahooGroup is seeking 2 or 3 new members that are CURRENTLY writing novels set between 475-1600. Any Genre. Any country. Active participation is required. Details on the list is available at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MedievalandRenaissanceNovelists/JANET MARY TOMSON's ninth novel, The Midwillow Martyrs, will be published by Robert Hale at the end of October. The idea for this novel was based on the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. HNS member JOHN SALES announces the release of his debut novel, Koyli: Burdens of Guilt (PublishAmerica Sept 2004). From 1910 Sheffield through to Dublin then on to Mons and Antwerp, Albert John Wheeler journeys into manhood through a web of guilt, deceit, betrayal, murder and revenge, all mixed in with the Irish troubles, the British secret service and the opening battles of World War One. Along the way, he discovers true love (as well as how to hate). Binnacle Press' review said, "I believe the second in the series is in the pipeline as I write - bring it on!" Read the full review at: http://johnssales.tripod.comJANE GUILL's debut novel is Nectar from a Stone (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, March 2005). In 1351 Wales, a land still reeling from the effects of the Black Plague, a vision-prone young woman tries to escape her violent past but falls prey to misogyny and superstition even deadlier than the horrors she has already faced. HNS member and author CHRISTOPHER (C.W.) GORTNER announces the release of The Secret Lion, an novel of suspense in the Tudor court of Edward VI, published by Heliographica Press. The first book in "The Spymaster Chronicles," The Secret Lion introduces Brendan Prescott, a foundling squire who must unravel a treasonous web of betrayal and murder to save the Princess Elizabeth Tudor from a vengeful opponent, and discover the secret of his own mysterious birth. The author can be visited at: www.leonibus.comSANDRA WORTH's novel The Rose of York: Love & War has been selected as a finalist for this year's Norumbega Fiction Awards. Award website: http://www.mediadarlings.org/norumbega/ |
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