HNS Member News 2004
|
Are you a Historical Novel Society member with literary news to announce? Please e-mail us to see it posted here!
Spring
2004 News:
CORINNE BROWN announces WritingtheWest 2004 - a Colorado literary workshop, to be held July 8-12, 2004 in Gunnison, Colorado. Sponsored by Western State College and Western Writers of America, this unique literary gathering provides writers of every age and skill level an opportunity to learn about craft, the western literary genre, how to preserve our western heritage, and how to get into the publishing world. For registration information, concert tickets, and more details, please go to www.writingthewest.com or email lmeredith@western.edu or Corinnejb@aol.com. Full brochure available by request. JOANNA CATHERINE SCOTT's latest novel Cassandra, Lost is based on the true story of a nineteenth-century Maryland heiress. It traces her tumultuous life from her elopement with a lieutenant from General Rochambeau’s French army to her slaughter by the New Orleans pirate Jean Lafitte. Booklist calls it: "A spellbinding tale brimming with romance, intrigue, and adventure." (St. Martin's, May 2004) Kirkus Reviews called Betrayal at Cross Creek, KATHLEEN ERNST's third historical mystery from Pleasant Company, "a grand read." Set in colonial North Carolina, it focuses on a family of Scottish immigrants targeted by both sides during the Revolutionary War. For more information about Kathleen's historical fiction, see the author's website, http://www.distaff.net. JULIAN STOCKWIN's fifth book in the Thomas Kydd series of historical naval adventure fiction, Quarterdeck, will be published in October by Hodder & Stoughton. Julian is currently working on his sixth Tom Kydd novel. Visit www.JulianStockwin.com for more details.AMANDA GRANGE's historical romance, Titanic Affair, will be out in June. Her next adventurous Regency (1793) will be out in August. For more details,including extracts, see her website http://www.lorien48.freeserve.co.uk SHANNON DONNELLY's Regency, A Proper Mistress, published by Kensington/Zebra, is a finalist in both the Colorado Romance Writer's Award of Excellence and the Wisconsin Writer's Write Touch Award for Best Regency. LOUISE HAWES will publish her first historical novel this fall with Houghton Mifflin. The Vanishing Point is a story about Lavinia Fontana, arguably the most famous female painter of the Italian Renaissance. Louise, who teaches in the Vermont College MFA in Writing Program, is offering bookstores and libraries her promotional presentation, "I Am Woman, Hear Me Purr: The Quiet Triumph of Lavinia Fontana." For more about Louise and her work, see her website, www.louisehawes.com. STEVEN L. WIGGINS' novel, Streets of Warsaw -- a novel set in Warsaw, Poland, in World War II -- was published for Spring 2004 by Wiinggs Publishing Company. STEVEN PRESSFIELD's upcoming novel about Alexander the Great, The Virtues of War, is due out from Doubleday in fall 2004. Visit www.stevenpressfield.com for more details. Winter 2004 News: DEBRA TASH's novel Challenge The Wind (Amber Quill Press, 1-59279-116-6 Electronic, 1-59279-922-1 Paperback) took the prize for Best Historical in the fifth annual EPPIE Awards from the Electronically Published Internet Connection (EPIC). Synopsis: Matthew Smith seizes Sarah Lloyd and her family as prisoners on a clear autumn day. Leading a party of British deserters he now holds the family hostage north of Saratoga, New York. The Americans have just won a decisive battle, the turning point in their revolution, but Matthew's turning point is yet to come. On another battlefield in Pennsylvania the Lloyds' oldest son struggles to find meaning in this war while his twin sister remains trapped inside the British-occupied, rebel-capital of Philadelphia. The fate of each one of these people will be forged together that brutal winter of 1777. ANN PARKER's historical mystery Silver Lies (Poisoned Pen Press, September 2003) has received nods of recognition from both mystery and western genres. In February 2004, Silver Lies was nominated for the Bruce Alexander Historical Award for best historical mystery of 2003 (other nominees were Mary Reed and Eric Mayer for Four for a Boy, also with Poisoned Pen Press, and winner Rhys Bowen for For the Love of Mike from St. Martin's). In addition, Silver Lies is a finalist for the Western Writers of America 2004 Spur Award for Novel of the West. Final results and winners for the Spur awards will be announced in April. Publisher Creme de la Crime has selected the manuscript of MARY ANDREA CLARKE's historical crime novel Paved with Good Intentions in a recent search for twenty new writers. She will be working with one of their editors over the next six months to develop the novel, with a view to possible publication next year. ANN TURNBULL's No Shame, No Fear – a novel of love and persecution set in 17th century Shropshire – was published in November 2003 by Walker Books. It tells the story of Susanna, a young Quaker girl, and Will, who defies his wealthy and influential father to become a Quaker. The book has received enthusiastic reviews and reader responses, and the publishers have commissioned a sequel. More about Ann’s books can be found on her website at www.annturnbull.com. Remember Wake, by TERESA R. FUNKE, was awarded an EVVY by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. In alternating chapters, Remember Wake tells the story of the Wake Island civilians who were captured alongside their military counterparts by the Japanese in the early days of WWII, as well as the story of the women they left behind. The novel is based on interviews with thirteen men and women who actually lived the experiences depicted in the book. Sandra Dallas, author of Alice’s Tulips, calls Remember Wake “a story of young lovers caught up in the events of wartime that will haunt you long after you’ve finished the book.” For more information, please visit the author’s website at www.teresafunke.com. Love and War by SANDRA WORTH, published in November 2003 by Metropolis Ink, was voted Number 2 in The January Preditors and Editors Internet Readers Poll of Best Books of 2003. Author website: http://www.sandraworth.com. SHEILA GEDDES' A Strange Alchemy, a novel that features women's contributions to WW2, is on sale at the Imperial War Museum in London (for their Women and War exhibition - open till 18th April 2004). The book is also available on Amazon UK, £9.99. NOBILIA PAEN's White Lion, Red Dragon tells the story of Owain Glyn Dwr's fight for freedom, 1400-1413, as seen through the eyes of Sir Edmund Mortimer and Catherine of Glyn Dwr. The book was reviewed in the Historical Novels Review, Issue 26 - "Ms Paen has a gift for storytelling and an ability to recapture lives. With a deep local knowledge of the mists and terrain of Wales and a feeling for the period, the atmosphere of the Middle Ages is captured and rises tantalisingly from the pages... It is absorbing and moving by turns... Read it, you will enjoy it." The book is available on Amazon, £6.99. SIMON LEVACK’s historical mystery, Demon of the Air, is published by Simon & Schuster (UK) Ltd. Set in Aztec Mexico on the eve of the Spanish conquest, it is the first in a series featuring wily slave Yaotl. The first chapter won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger Award, and the novel was described by Paul Doherty as “A marvellous read and an outstanding introduction for a first-time writer.” For more information about this author please go to http://www.simonlevack.com
Following the publication of JANET WOODS's historical saga, A Dorset Girl,
in August 03, Simon and Schuster (UK) will release the sequel, Beyond the
Plough, on March 15th 04. A HANDFUL OF ASHES will complete the trilogy on
its publication in September 04. Set in the time of the Tolpuddle trials, the
saga is a rags to riches tale of a destitute peasant girl who is forced by
circumstance to care for her younger siblings, and tells of her trials and
triumphs. JON EDWARD MARTIN's first historical novel, In Kithairon's Shadow, was just published by iUniverse Publications. The novel begins in 480 B.C., when Xerxes I, king of the Persian Empire, leads a vast and uncountable army intent on the domination of Europe. Only a tiny collection of Greek city-states stand in his path. At Thermopylae the Persians annihilate a small holding force commanded by King Leonidas of Sparta, then quickly march on to Athens, reducing the city to ruins. Outnumbered and beset by treachery, Sparta, Athens and their allies gather near the small town of Plataea for one final battle. The future of Western Civilisation will turn on the outcome. In Kithairon's Shadow is the story of five men from ancient Greece and the part they would play in determining their future, and ours. GERALDINE HARTNETT's first historical novel, Reluctant Queen, is to be published by Robert Hale in March 2004. This novel sheds light on the life of Mary Tudor, younger sister to Henry VIII, a little known royal figure manipulated like so many others by the despotic Henry. Mary Tudor discovers a less than loving side to her elder brother, Henry VIII, when she refuses to marry the aged King Louis XII of France. Mary is in love with Charles Brandon and longs to marry him. But after being alternately cajoled and threatened, Mary gives in to Henry's wishes. In France, Louis's heir, Francis, ardently pursues Mary. But when Louis dies, Mary, in widowed seclusion, is at the mercy of a Francis heedless of the dangers of fathering his own usurper. Then Henry plans another match for her... ISBN 0 7090 7561 8. Under the name Geraldine Evans, the author also writes the Rafferty & Llewellyn and Casey & Catt series crime novels. For more information and to read an excerpt, the author's website is at: http://www.geraldineevans.com. ANN PARKER's historical mystery Silver Lies (Poisoned Pen Press, September 2003) was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the year's best mysteries. (See PW's November 17 issue, which includes "year's best books" lists.) PW's starred review of Parker's novel, which is her first, calls it an "excellent debut," and adds " Drawing on historic facts and figures of 1870s Colorado, Parker tells a gripping tale of love, greed and murder in the Old West, with a cast of convincing, larger-than-life characters, including a brief appearance from Bat Masterson himself." More information about Silver Lies can be found at http://www.annparker.net.
JUNE GADSBY's When Tomorrow Comes will be published by
Robert Hale in March 2004.
Synopsis: When war is declared in 1939, Hildie Thompson has more on her mind
than that bloody Mister Hitler. With a marriage that is less than exciting and
four grown children who all seem to be fighting their own personal battles,
it's all Hildie can do to keep smiling. However, she is a born optimist and
even when things are on rock bottom she can always be relied upon to liven
things up. This is a humorous, feel-good story with one or two tear-jerking
moments, so keep the box of tissues handy. (June's first full-length novel -
The Iron Master - received a very good review and was sold out within a
fortnight of being available. When Tomorrow Comes can be pre-ordered
now from Amazon.) Fall 2003 updates: ALAN FISK's latest novel "Cupid and the Silent Goddess" will be published by Twenty First Century Publishers at the end of December 2003. It is a fictional account of the creation of a famous painting "Allegory with Venus and Cupid" that hangs in the National Gallery in London. Giuseppe, the teenage apprentice of the painter Bronzino, is the model for Cupid, and finds himself becoming the protector of the autistic young woman who is made to model for Venus. Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/alanfisk/ JULIET WALDRON's Genesee, a novel about the Revolutionary War in New York State, is the winner of the 2003 Eppie award in Historicals. It also garnered five stars (highest rating) from Affaire de Coeur. The six novels in ROBERTA GELLIS' Roselynde Chronicles will be republished by Harlequin for their new line, Harlequin Classics, in 2005. Her historical mystery novel featuring Lucrezia Borgia as detective, Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons, is out now from Forge. ANN PARKER's novel Silver Lies, a historical mystery set in 1879 Leadville, Colorado, was published this fall by Poisoned Pen Press. MELINDA HAMMOND'S latest historical novel, The Dream Chasers, is published by Robert Hale on 28th November 2003. This is her seventh historical novel published by Hale and is an entertaining romance, very different from her swashbuckling adventure Lady Vengeance, published by Robert Hale in the Spring of 2003. Details of all these books can be found on her website. AUDREY BLANKENHAGEN announces publication of The Curse of Kali (1stBooks Library, 2003). Set in exotic mid-nineteenth century India, her diverse population ruled directly or indirectly by the powerful Honourable East India Company, The Curse of Kali is a story of love, passion, intrigue and demonic possession. DAVID GARRETT IZZO's A Change of Heart is about the lives and times of select British authors from 1929-1933 including Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, W.H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and many more. From Gival Press in October 2003. MARGARET JAMES announces the publication of her time-slip novel Elegy for a Queen, to be released on 1 November 2003 by new independent publisher Solidus. Set in contemporary and Anglo-Saxon England, Elegy for a Queen is the story of Susannah Miller, who is haunted by a recent tragedy and echoes from the distant past. The ghost of a Saxon queen, whose story unfolds with the discovery of documents in a cathedral library, brings Susannah close to madness and death. But the power of love can prove stronger than the most malevolent destiny, and when Susannah summons up the courage to face demons that have chased her and her alter ego down the centuries, she finds an unselfish love that was missing in her former life. (£7.99, paperback, ISBN 1-904529-03-8) ROBIN MADERICH's novel Promises of Honor, Book II in the Honor Trilogy, will be released in December 2003 from Blue Shutter Books. Synopsis: Reunited as the War of Independence draws nearer its close, Faith and Fletcher have fled her home with their son in search of a new start together. While in Philadelphia an act of callous brutality plunges the pair into a desperate battle for Fletcher's life as well as the restoration of Faith's once proud spirit. IRENE BENNETT BROWN's novel The Plainswoman, about love and small-town politics in 19th century Kansas, was re-released by IUniverse in May 2003. It was originally published by Ballantine. SANDRA WORTH's debut novel Love and War, the first book in the Rose of York Series, is due to be released November 1st, 2003, by Metropolis Ink. Synopsis: Marked a villain by Shakespeare, Richard III is also the king who gave mankind the Presumption of Innocence. Against the sweep of England's fifteenth century Wars of the Roses, Love and War unfolds an authentic tale of honor, friendship and betrayal, and Richard's love for Anne Neville, the traitor's daughter he made his queen. The third novel in MICHELLE BLACK's series of mysteries of the Victorian West, The Second Glass of Absinthe, was published by Forge in September 2003. Visit her website at http://www.michelleblack.com. TAMARA MAZZEI announced that Ellen Ekstrom's Legacy, a historical novel of political power and family ties set in 14th century Florence, will be published in 2003 by Trivium Publishing. In addition, Brian Wainwright's historical novel Within the Fetterlock will be published later in 2003 by Trivium. It is based on the story of Constance of York, daughter of the first Duke of York. Spring/Summer 2003 news:
New Zealand member GEOFF BOXELL of
Wendlewulf Productions
announces a new CD software product, '1066 and the Norman Conquest.' ELIZABETH CHADWICK’s The Winter Mantle, a medieval historical based on the true story of William the Conqueror’s niece, was published in the U.S. by St. Martin’s Press in April 2003. It has already been short-listed for the Parker Romantic Novel of the Year Award (UK). Her latest novel, The Falcons of Montabard, will be published in the U.K. by Time Warner in May 2003. Merlin of the Oak Wood, the second volume in ANN CHAMBERLIN's Joan of Arc Tapestries (ISBN 0765344998), was released in paperback by Forge in April 2003. PAUL CLAYTON’s novel Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam is now available in paperback. For more details: http://www.booklocker.com/books/1136.html LYNNE CONNOLLY's upcoming novel Venice is set in the mid-18th century and concerns the development of a relationship from initial passion to a more settled marriage. Her other recent publication, Vanessa, is an e-book about the goings-on at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. It received a four-star review in the March 2003 issue of Romantic Times. BERNARD CORNWELL'S new Sharpe novel is coming in April 2003 in the UK and US. Sharpe's Havoc is set during the French invasion of Portugal in 1809 and Sir Arthur Wellesley's devastating counter-attack. Patrick Harper is back, as is Captain Hogan. The book will slot between Sharpe's Rifles and Sharpe's Eagle. Read The First Chapter on Bernard's site: www.bernardcornwell.net Marrying Mozart, the latest novel from STEPHANIE COWELL, will be published in hardcover by Viking in January 2004. Synopsis: When Mozart was a struggling young composer who couldn't make a living, and no longer a prodigy, he met a family of four lovely musical sisters. One he wrote great music for, one broke his heart, one was his best friend and one he married -- but he could have married any of them. How a marriage ever took place at all between his possessive family and their crazy mother is the story of the novel. MARY DE LASZLO's novel The Best-Kept Secret will be published May 30, 2003 by Robert Hale. In the 1960s Cornelia, a young naive girl, leaves the shelter of a strict boarding school and a home in Scotland to go to finishing school in Paris under the wing of her risque yet charming Aunt Flavia. She works in the S.O.E. in the war and has many friends in France. In Paris Cornelia meets Laurent and learns about love, life and sadness. Her life is never the same again. "Touching, evocative and funny. A lovely, tender book." - Katie Fforde.
Winner of the Arizona Book
Publishers' Association 2003 Glyph award for best adult fiction,
Dear Heart, How Like You This? has been described as
'Seriously one of the best novels ever written about Anne Boleyn's life.'
Dear Heart's author,
WENDY J. DUNN, is also the on-line editor of Suite101.com’s respected
Tudor England site.
INDIA EDGHILL's novel Queenmaker, called "a majestic debut" by People Magazine, was released in trade paperback by St. Martin's Press in January 2003. ALAN FISK will the tutor on a weekend residential course on "Writing Historical Novels" to be held at Belstead House, near Ipswich, Suffolk, from 6th. - 8th. February 2004. The course will take the form of a series of discussions about the problems and opportunities in writing historical novels. The cost is £101, including accommodation and all meals, and the brochure is available from Belstead House belstead.house@educ.suffolkcc.gov.uk
AMANDA GRANGE's
Regency novel, The Silverton Scandal, is out on 31st May 2003 from Robert
Hale. Carisbrooke Abbey, a Regency Gothic, is out on 30th September 2003.
Visit her website at
http://www.lorien48.freeserve.co.uk for
extracts from her Regency novels. Across the Sweet Grass Hills by GAIL JENNER won the 2002 WILLA Award for Best Original Paperback. Awarded annually for outstanding literature featuring women's stories set in the West, the WILLA Literary Awards are chosen by a distinguished panel of twenty-one professional librarians. CATHERINE KARP’s award-winning novel, Gilded, set in 1897 New England, has been re-released by historical fiction publisher Coachlight Press. To find out more about this suspenseful tale of love and liberation during the rise of the women's rights movement, please visit: http://www.coachlightpress.com/gilded/ PATRICK LARKIN, a best-selling novelist specializing in historical and military fiction, announces the publication of The Tribune, out in June 2003 from Signet. A historical thriller, The Tribune is the first in a new series set amid the power, glory, and brutality of imperial Rome. The paperback edition of GILLIAN LINSCOTT'S latest Nell Bray novel Dead Man Riding is just out in the UK (March). One of the earlier Nell Bray novels won the CWA Ellis Peters award in 2000 and Dead Man Riding was on last year's short list. It takes suffragette detective Nell back to the start of her career, as an Oxford student in the summer of 1900. Published by Timewarner, £6.99. A new Nell, Blood on the Wood, will be out at the start of July. JAMES CONROYD MARTIN self-published Push Not the River in 2001, and it was given a sparkling review by the Historical Novels Review. Teresa Eckford called it a Gone with the Wind set in Poland. It generated other reviews and wonderful word of mouth, so much so that St. Martin's Press bought it in April of 2002. When the company president, Sally Richardson, read it, she personally took it under her wing and has designated it one of St. Martin's big fall books. They're sending Martin to Book Expo America at the end of May, where he will sign advance reading copies of his story, based on the actual diary of a countess who lived through the rise and fall of Poland's Third of May Constitution in the 1790s. Push Not the River is set to be published September 3rd. Translation rights have been sold for the German and Polish editions, with others pending. If you're at the Expo, stop by the St. Martin's booth and say hello. Visit his website at www.PushNotTheRiver.com. TAMARA MAZZEI, Managing and Editorial Director of Trivium Publishing LLC (www.triviumpublishing.com), recently announced the publication of Gillian Polack’s Illuminations, a literary fantasy set both in Arthurian times and in the modern day. PAT MATTAINI MESTERN's fourth work of historical fiction, Magdalena's Song, was released by High Country Publishers of Boone, North Carolina in April 2003. It is enjoying strong sales and good reviews in both Canada and the US. KIM MURPHY's first novel, Promise & Honor (ISBN 0-9716790-2-9), is a romantic historical set during the U.S. Civil War. It was released by Coachlight Press in December 2002. Synopsis: At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Amanda Graham's husband dies a hero's death. Left with no source of income, she smuggles medical supplies for the Confederacy. Torn by grief and loyalty, Amanda struggles with the harsh reality that her way of life has been altered forever by the growing storm. SARAH NESBEITT, U.S. Coordinating Editor for the Historical Novels Review, will be compiling Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre for Libraries Unlimited's Genreflecting series of readers' advisory books for libraries. Publication is expected in 2005. BORIS RAYMOND announced the release of his historical novel The Twelfth Vulture of Romulus: Attila and the Fall of Rome by KLYO Press, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Visit his web site at http://is.dal.ca/~braymond. WENDY ROBERTSON’s The Long Journey Home, a novel set in Singapore during the Second World War, is newly out in paperback from Headline. “This is a terrific read. It’s a world on the cusp of change, and we experience it intimately. What impressed me most was the sense of hope in the newness of the world.” – Historical Novels Review M.A. SCHWEITZER's novel The Steadfast was recently published by BookSurge/American Biblioverken. The story involves a talented English country house architect who must use all his wits and talent to wind his way through a dangerous maze of murderous anarchists, spies, and arms merchants in 1895. LINDA SOLE’s latest novel Bridget, the first in a new trilogy that spans from the early twentieth century through to the "twenties," was published by Severn House in December 2002. As ANNE HERRIES, Linda has had a “Twenties” novel published by Mills & Boon. Her next book for Mills & Boon, a Regency, will be out in November 2003. DEBRA TASH announces the publication of Challenge the Wind (Amber Quill Press), a historical novel set in upstate New York and Philadelphia during the brutal winter of 1777. CINDY VALLAR, author of The Scottish Thistle, is teaching a course at SuiteUniversity entitled "The Last Charge: Culloden and the 'Forty-Five" between July 14 and August 16, 2003. For a course overview, see: http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17151/overview/98799. Cindy is also offering a contest to celebrate the anniversary of her debut novel. Visit her web site, Thistles & Pirates, at http://www.cindyvallar.com, through June 2003 for more details. JULIET WALDRON's novel Genesee is the 2003 winner of the EPIC (Electronically Published) award for Best Historical. (http://www.jacobytebooks.com)
DEREK WILSON has two spring publications. All The King's Women - Love, Sex
and Politics in the Life of Charles II is available in the UK from
Hutchinson on 17 April. Derek offers a new take on the king and all the
remarkable women who featured in his life - his mother, his nurse, his sisters,
the loyal royalist ladies who helped him escape Cromwell's clutches, his devoted
wife, the stars of his theatre company, the bluestockings who bravely ventured
into print, challenging male dominance of the media, and, of course, his
bedfellows. DEREK WILSON is also organizing the Cambridge History Festival, which will host the society's annual conference this year. (See Annual Conference)
|