Author – Page 2 – valerie holmes, author

A Woman’s Options in Regency England.

Published on January 19, 2024January 18, 2024 by valerieholmesauthor2 Comments

1811-1820

“It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.”

Jane Austen, Emma

When George III was declared unfit to function as monarch his son, the Prince of Wales, became the Prince Regent. George the younger had little interest in politics, leaving the wars with France to the politicians, whilst he indulged his friends and himself with a lavish lifestyle of elegance and fashion. The Ton – from the French phrase ‘le bon ton’ meaning ‘elegant style’ represent the fashionable society of London – an elite group. The divide between the extremes of the rich of Mayfair, London, and the poor of St Giles, living in the city slums, could not have been more dramatic.

In Parliament seats in the House of Lords were inherited and in the House of Commons could be corruptly bought, so the working and fighting man and the women who relied upon them, who made up most of the population, had little representation to improve their lot. My stories are set in the north of England away from the Ton and Parliament, but life was influenced by their wars, laws, and taxes.

In the above quote Jane Austen expressed a commonly held view, because women of the time had few legal rights as their lives were basically controlled by men.

Upper- and middle-class single females, under the age of twenty-one in England and Wales, were usually dependent upon their father or nearest male relative. If their male relatives were honest, caring, and loving family members then amicable matches secured the future of both parties, in hopefully wedded bliss, once the dowry, pin money, inheritance and jointure, in the event of death of the husband, had been legally agreed.

Book 2 http://getbook.at/ForRicher — Book 2

However, fiction requires drama and conflict to spark a good plot, driven by engaging characters. It also reflects the unpalatable truth of the past.

If their male relative were greedy (For Richer, For Poorer), an irresponsible gambler (The Baronet’s Prize) or an overbearing parent (Hannah of Harpham Hall) then the young woman would have few options, left to her own devices unless they had the help of a hero, or a woman of independent means.

When Ellie (Discovering Ellie) is faced with a marriage match, she tries to diplomatically decline her aunt’s intentions without causing further conflict…

“I am not worldly, Aunt. I cannot think how I could make such a man happy…”

Mrs Hemming laughed. “Well, we agree on one point at least, you cannot think!”

Ellie ignored the insult and continued in her conciliatory tone. “I fear I would only annoy him. Therefore, I wish to politely decline this marriage proposal, discreetly of course, before it is made public. I do not want to cause further embarrassment to anyone. Then he would be able to find a more suitable companion, equal to the task.”

Ellie is completely dependent upon her aunt’s charity until she turns twenty-one. This dependency drives the plot, as Ellie must discover who she is, why she has a recurring nightmare, and how she can avoid a match that is being arranged ‘for her own good’ before it is publicly announced. This latter point is especially important because once it was made public, to break such a legal proclamation would be considered scandalous. Ellie is naïve and knows little of the law, or of the greater world, as many young women of the time.

In a situation where an engagement is made between two people if broken, then it could result in a legal action of ‘breach of promise’. At the very least a reputation could be tarnished or destroyed as happened with Lucas Huntley – In Sickness and in Health.

In England, the Marriage Act of 1753 declared both parties had to have their parents’ consent if under 21. However, in Scotland this was not the case, hence the rush for elopements to the nearest place to wed north of the border, such as the famous, Gretna Green, which provided a reason for a mad dash in For Richer, For Poorer.

betrayal front (2) — Friends & Foes Book 1

It is often claimed that fact is often stranger than fiction, but with historical facts the trigger for dramatic fiction is constantly there. Although women were ruled by the law, deemed unable to run their own lives, own their own wealth or children when married, deny their husband sex, or have rights to defend themselves when employed, there would have been plenty who questioned why this was so, such as:

“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Lydia Fletcher in Betrayal was so influenced. Heroines need to have obstacles to overcome, situations that are a mystery, and the realisation that not all men look upon them in the same light.

Being single by choice was not really an option for a woman, no matter how much she desired to be the arbiter of her own fate. Unless her social status and personal income had been legally entailed and could support her, like the independent Miss Parkes of Penny Manor who befriends Ellie, she would be dependent upon others.

If young women were sufficiently educated, they could try to earn a living as a companion or a governess/teacher, but these were lonely situations with no long-term security. Uneducated or poorer women had less desirable options such as going into service, leaving the cottage to work within the factory or working the land to feed their families. In, To Love, Honour and Obey, Beth is an orphan who has no family or male relative to protect her from the system that was supposed to protect her.

Prostitution was an option for the truly desperate. Few climbed the social ladder to a happy and long life even as a rich man’s mistress. Although some beauties and actresses managed to acquire rich patrons, such as the exceptional Harriett Mellon, born a pauper in Cork, Ireland but who ended up married to Thomas Coutts of the banking family, who successfully inherited and managed a fortune..

Servants were supposed to be chaste and could be dismissed without reference or notice if they fell pregnant. They were also open to abuse from their employers, as happens to the kindly Georgina in Betrayal. Again, as I write love stories that are aimed to provide adventure and uplift rather than depress, Georgina’s future is much brighter than many a maid who found themselves pregnant and thrown out on the streets without a reference, through no fault of their own.

Thank you for taking time out to read my blog and visit my website. Please like or leave any comments or questions below or contact me directly via the form on my Manuscript Appraisal page. If any of the above themes appeal just click the title or cover to be directed to the Amazon page.

Good News!

Published on January 16, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Now in Large Print in Commonwealth Libraries or direct from FA Thorpe Publishing

Good news! I do like to share good news… In Sickness and In Health, published in eBook and print by SapereBooks is now available as a traditional large print paperback from @Ulvercroft. Copies can be ordered via Commonwealth libraries. Our libraries have had a hard few years, but there are people who find it difficult to manage an eReader so it is lovely to see this market niche is still catered for.

Welcoming in 2024 with Margaret James!

Published on January 16, 2024January 9, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Thank you, Margaret, for taking time out of your busy schedule as a novelist, journalist and teacher of creative writing to chat to me and share some of your New Year news!

It must have been exciting to end 2023 as a ‘hot new pick’ with your Charton Minster Trilogy, published by Joffe Books. What was the inspiration behind this wartime trilogy?

Thank you for inviting me to be your guest, Valerie. I’m very happy to be here!

The inspiration for the first novel in the Charton Minster Trilogy was the famous Red Cross recruiting poster for nursing volunteers to serve alongside the professional nurses working in the various theatres of operation during World War One. This image has reproduced thousands of times, so I’m sure it must have inspired plenty of other novelists, too.

First World War VAD Recruitment poster | British Red Cross

Are there plans to release more of the series in 2024?

Joffe has acquired the rights to all my novels originally published by Choc Lit, so there are four more books in the pipeline, to be released either individually or as sets.

Creative Writing Matters seems to go from strength to strength. What events and competitions do you have lined up for this year?

At the moment, the Creative Writing Matters team is reading its way through nearly 400 entries for the latest Exeter Novel Prize, which will be awarded in April this year.

Gang of Three

The CWM team: Sophie Duffy, Cathy Hartigan and Margaret

Can you give some tips on what makes a competition entry stand out?

Try to open the entry at a point which will get readers asking questions – for example, whose story is this, what does the central character want, how might the central character go about getting what he/she wants?

Let this central character face some kind of challenge.

Be wary of starting a story with a description of the scenery or an account of the central character’s life to date.

If the competition asks for a synopsis of a novel, novelette or even a short story, make sure the synopsis covers the entire story and explains how it ends. Anything else won’t tell the organisers/readers if the entrant can construct a satisfying story. It’s (comparatively) easy to start a story. It’s much harder to develop it and to offer readers a great ending that will live on in these readers’ memories – and also encourage to read the authors’ next stories or books.

What would you say is your perfect writing/teaching balance in life now along with other pursuits?

I shall never achieve a perfect balance in life! Right now, as I explained above, my energies are focused on reading competition entries, some of which are going to need reports. I’ll catch up with my magazine work later this year. As for other pursuits – if you mean hobbies, I’m determined to get my garden into shape this spring. But I say this every year, and it hasn’t happened yet.

The publishing industry has changed vastly over the span of your career to date. Are you optimistic about the dramatic and dynamic current trends?

I suspect AI is going to become a really mixed blessing for writers of fiction. But digital publishing has made it easier for new writers to get in on the action, and commercial publishers are no longer the only gatekeepers, which is good for those who prefer to self-publish.

Thank you for chatting to me, and all best wishes for your continued writing success in 2024!

The New Year often provides opportunities and challenges – if you are an author what are your writing goals this year?

If you have always wanted to write a novel/novella/short story, but feel daunted or lost as to where to start, then check out CWM or my manuscript appraisal page where you can submit a query.

All best wishes for a happy and healthy 2024 to all!

Smuggling, treason and espionage.

Published on December 26, 2023January 12, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Smuggling in Regency times was rife in the rugged and isolated ‘bay towns’ of what was the North Riding of Yorkshire. Although the skill and daring of those involved in the trade can be admired, there was a dark and far-reaching side to their activities.

In my books there is a recurring element of smuggling showing how it could have affected the lives of those within the region and, inadvertently, helped Napoleon in his war against our own nation.

Being an island, smuggling had been prevalent for many years within the coastal communities nationwide. With a much smaller population than today, most of the inhabitants of these places would be either involved, or at least aware, of contraband being stored or moved through their communities.

This extract from Rudyard Kipling’s’ poem A Smuggler’s Song captured it beautifully:

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,
Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn’t told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

The reasons the trade existed were complex but huge import taxes applied to certain consumables made brandy, tobacco, tea, silk and many other desired goods far too expensive for most people, instantly creating opportunity to fill a demand illegally.

Napoleon Bonaparte had no wish to lose the income France received from this illicit trade. So, he ordered the French Channel ports be kept open for business. This also created wealth for the organiser of the smuggling gangs’ pockets, some of which were part of the British landed gentry. Their subordinates lower down the chain of command were often unaware of the identity of the ‘top man’ who could only be known by a select few.

This trade was open to being used for further nefarious purposes, as free traders earned even more money by selling government secrets. This shared intelligence could cover troop deployments/movements/logistics, coastal patrols and the names and responsibilities of important people. This information had its value in coin, which Napoleon desperately needed to fuel his war effort. It was aiding treason.

Government agents tried to uncover such traitors. In Phoebe’s Challenge Rev. Matthew Fenton provides information to uncover the local gangs. In The Friends and Foes series, Lord Farrington is a semi-retired Intelligence Officer who has been given the task of unearthing a traitor in Betrayal, but his role is concerned with insurgence and threats to the government at home too. This is a time of hardship and much perceived threats, externally from France and her allies and internally from those deeply affected by the loss of livelihood and the industrialisation, which was bringing huge wealth to a new ‘middle-class’ and displaced communities from the countryside to town and mills.

Revolution on our shores was a fear.

Lord Farrington discusses the situation with Dr. Samuel Speers, in Betrayal…

“I already know they are involved in the business of financing the trade in contraband. But what else? Lord Bagby has influential friends who he meets in his clubs – does he pass on information to our enemies as well as coin? Is he a traitor through and through? These facts I must seek out.”

Samuel looked up, quite shocked. “You think they are traitors. Many people locally dabble in smuggling to eke out their meagre livings…”

Farrington leaned forward. “Stop my friend if you wish to remain so. Smugglers give coin to Napoleon’s war effort – they help our enemy and our men die. I do not debate the taxes set, but the way they fund our enemies for selfish gain. Do not be so naïve. I shall bring down the Bagby’s and this man Jed Webb who eludes our Riding Officers.”

Villagers could earn some coin to supplement their meagre incomes by hiding contraband in amazingly inventive places or help to convey goods on arrival from larger vessels at sea in their own fishing boats to hide them on land. Tubmen were men paid to convey the goods from delivery to their next destination. They needed to be strong, often landsmen, who knew the area and walked the trods and snickets that linked the bay towns and crossed the open moors.

The northeast coast leant itself perfectly to this. Many of these coastal villages have long, flat beaches of fine sand, where the local ‘cobles’, the shallow draught fishing boats could be easily drawn up and the villagers knew how to avoid the scars, the vicious fingers of rocks that extended from the shore. Fishing was the main source of employment on the coast. Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay are well known for their smuggling links but the coast between Saltburn and Redcar was almost as notorious towards the end of the eighteenth century. The bay towns in my books of Ebton and Allunby are fictitious villages based on the sweeping bay of Saltburn to Coatham, where I grew up and hold a strong affection for.

Three organisations were created to try and stop this trade. The Revenue Cruisers, the Riding Officers and the Preventive Water Guard.

Revenue Cruisers patrolled offshore in ships that with full sail could often overtake smaller vessels once located. The problem they faced was locating ships amongst the many who sailed along the German Ocean, and also the honesty of the crews who were on occasion known to work with some of the smugglers in exchange for a cut of the goods, made discerning their whereabouts even harder.

Riding Officers were based around the coast, living near the suspected communities and riding the coast to try and prevent the collusion between land and sea. A nearly impossible task.

The Preventive Waterguard was established in 1809. They had houses around the coast – Watch Houses, and smaller boat crews which would patrol their stretch of coastland.

Between all three branches the tide was slowly turning in the governments favour. In 1822 they were incorporated into one force, The Coast Guard, charged with stopping the import of these highly taxed goods. They employed ex sailors, strong, tough and knowledgeable who needed employment after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

This led to a gradual decline of demand and consequently causing the amount of smuggling that was committed throughout the first half of the nineteenth century to dwindle.

Before this happened though the battles fought to catch the smugglers and traitors lay the seed of many a good tale, some yet to be told.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my page. If you like the article please hit the like button and share where you are visiting from in the comments below.

Best wishes

Valerie

The Yorkshire Saga standalone series published by Sapere Books

Regency Christmas celebrations

Published on December 13, 2022December 10, 2023 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Christmastide in Regency times was a prolonged period of celebration, compared to our modern holiday, for those who could enjoy it. Public holidays did not exist so for the working class it was not a given that the day would be given

It began on December 6th, Saint Nicholas’ Day. This was marked by exchanging small gifts.

Christmastide ended on January 6^th, otherwise known as ‘Twelfth Night’, marking Epiphany.

For those who could celebrate Saint Nicholas’s Day, it was a period for parties, suppers, and balls to be held. But for all who had them it was a time for family and friends.

This period did carry the feeling of ‘goodwill’ so it was expected that charity would be given to the poor, particularly on December 21^st, Saint Thomas’s Day when the widows of soldiers who had died in the Napoleonic wars would go ‘Thomasing’, calling at the kitchen doors seeking alms or food parcels.

On Christmas Eve holly and evergreens would be gathered and brought into the house to decorate and bring in the fresh small of nature. Garlands and wreaths would be woven with rosemary, bay, and laurel, and then embellished with apples, oranges, ribbons, and holly berries.

Mistletoe brought its own added spice to the festivities as kissing balls or boughs were made from it, a tradition that still lingers today. With each exchanged kiss a berry was plucked, once all the berries were gone then the kissing had to stop.

A candle was lit on Christmas Eve and the Yule log was brought in wrapped in hazel twigs and custom stated that it should be lit with a remnant of last year’s log. The fire would then be kept burning as long as possible and be at the heart of family gatherings; a small piece being saved for the next year.

On Christmas Day people attended church and then the gentry had a celebratory dinner of turkey, venison, or goose for the gentry, followed by plum pudding. Much of the seasonal food could be prepared ahead of time with a favourite being cold, brawn pies.

The next day, Saint Stephen’s Day, was a day for charity. Richer people gave servants and tenants their ‘Christmas boxes’, usually gifts of money, hence it becomes known as ‘Boxing Day’.

Finally, on the twelfth night there might be a party held with much dancing and singing. Hot spiced, mulled, wine was offered, and a special cake made to share amongst all the members of the household.

Games such as ‘bobbing for apples,’ and ‘snapdragon’ – a game where raisins were soaked in a brandy in a large shallow bowl, were enjoyed. A more challenging one involved candles being blown out and the brandy lit, people then had to try and grab a raisin and eat it without burning themselves – health and safety was yet to be implemented!

Men’s names were put into a hat so that ladies could then pick a name out to be her partner for the night.

A C17 yew wood wassail bowl.

A wassail bowl was often carried from house to house, filled with warmed ale, mulled wine, or punch, sometimes accompanied by the singing of carols.

The feeling of goodwill to all humankind was the message of the season. It depended on where you were on the social scale from impoverished to rich as to how much you could be a part of the tradition, but the feeling and love shared at this time was priceless then, just as it is today.

Merry Christmas and season’s greetings to all my readers!

Ellie encounters a handsome stranger, when escaping the claustrophobic presence of her widowed aunt, Mrs Hemming in The Old Hall. She is initially distressed and annoyed, until he introduces himself as Mr. Montgomery Cookson causing Ellie’s dark clouds to instantly lift, for she knows they will formally meet again.
Mrs Hemming homed the deserted Ellie, whilst bringing up her two cousins, Dorcas and Sybil, despite the ruinous reputation of her mother for deserting her husband and child.
Ellie had been shocked and scared, when infirmed she was expected to marry Mrs. Hemming’s own cousin, Mr. MONTGOMERY COOKSON.
But has Ellie met her match in Mr. Cookson?
Will her future be as grim as she envisaged?
When Fate has cast a shadow over her life for so long, can destiny shine a light into Ellie’s world?
Will Ellie finally discover who she really is?

Available on: iBook Kindle Kobo Smashwords

Catching up with M.A. Nichols!

Published on October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Welcome back, Melanie!

Headshot (Official) - Cropped

Since your Sept 2020 interview, when the UK thought Covid was on its way out – we have had two further lockdowns – how did you fare in the States?

I live in a sparsely populated state, so my experience is certainly different from a lot of others. My city had a couple of lockdowns, but at this point, it feels like a lifetime ago.

Did you make it back to the UK for your research trip?

I did! I recently made the transition to full-time author and said goodbye to my day job. A few weeks after that, I flew out to the UK and spent two months traipsing around the country. I’ve visited a couple of times before, but I really wanted to spend a lot of time there, immersing myself in the history. There are so many amazing estates to tour and museums to see, all of which have information and experiences I can’t get from studying books.

Congratulations on making this the full-time day job. What lovely historic sites did you visit?

I spent one month based in London, but then hopped the train out for day trips to Bath, Bristol, York, Plymouth, and a handful of other places. Then, I spent the second month moving all over the place, spending time in the West Country, the Midlands, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

What in particular inspired you?

If I were to share all the things that inspired me, I’d end up writing an essay. This was my second major research trip to the UK, and every time I find so many details and historical titbits that spark ideas. If I had to list some of the most inspiring things I did, I would say the Plymouth Historic Dockyards, the Royal Opera House Tour (and going to see a couple of performances there), the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane Tour, the London Canal Museum (and tunnel boat tour), the National Railway Museum, and…if I don’t stop now, I’ll end up listing every museum I visited.

And all the amazing ruins… *sigh*

Of course, the historic estates, houses, townhouses, and the like are super important for my research. I took over 11,000 photos and hundreds of pages of notes, most of which are all the little details I find when I’m wandering those historic properties. The sights, sounds, smells, and all the other possible descriptions that can later be used. I’m not a very visual person when I’m imagining my stories and don’t generally see clear, vivid pictures in my head, so I use those photos to help me design and describe my books’ locations.

Oh, and in a very real way, that trip inspired a scene in my latest book, “To Have and to Hold.” I needed a picnic scene, and I had visited quite a few ruins on this trip. I ended up creating a fake one (since the area in which my book is set didn’t have any readily available ruins that suited my needs), which was an amalgamation of two ruins I’d visited.

I love the new cover designs – what was their inspiration?

Honestly, part of the inspiration was that I wanted a style that would be easy to manipulate. Swapping out the model’s head or hands or some other feature can look weird if not done right, so adding the watercolour style over the top makes it easier to Frankenstein an image together from different bits and make it look uniform. Not to mention, finding male historical stock photos can be difficult, and even when you do, I think they often look slovenly or not period accurate. With this style I can use historic paintings for their bodies. For example, on “The Shameless Flirt,” the male torso is actually from a painting and the head is from a stock photo.

8 JAT

But also, I just really love it. I spent months playing with different ideas and styles, and one day, I stumbled upon some stock photos that someone had manipulated into looking like a painting. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to do it, experimented a ton, and came up with the style.

Have they proved successful?

Depends on what you define as successful. Financially, they haven’t helped my sales, and in some ways, I worry that they may have hurt them a little. While being unique seems like a good thing, a common bit of advice to cover designers is that you don’t want to do that. If a book looks too different from the rest of the genre, it may turn off readers. So, yeah. I worry about it.

Artistically, I love them, and I’m so proud of the work I did on them. It was a massive effort to get them to where they are, and I have no interest in changing them again. And while some fans say they like the old ones better, most love them, too.

And they definitely fulfil the original purpose that inspired me to make the change in the first place. They’re more work, but I have a lot more artistic freedom when it comes to the base photos I use.

I think they look fresh and attractive!

I was recently at the Historical Novel Association conference in the ancient city of Durham and the question of how much time authors spend on social media came up. Do you think of social media as a friend or foe?

A bit of both. Personally, I’m not a fan of social media. I don’t use them in my personal life at all anymore because I prefer personal contact. But as an author, I use it all the time. I don’t view it as a marketing platform in which I can find new readers but as a place in which I can connect with my readers and fans. One of my favourite things to do is sharing behind the scenes info or research titbits. All those little things that are interesting to me an author but never made it onto the pages of my books.

It is a bit of a chore for me at times to come up with content, but I’ve developed a system that works for me.

How do you split your time between research/writing/ marketing?

I write every work day. Or I try to. I need an outline before I can write, and that isn’t always ready when I’m sitting down to start for the day. Generally, that takes up 3-4 hours a day. Then I spend the afternoon editing, outlining, researching, and any other prep work so that the next day I can sit down and write.

Generally, I do my marketing in the evening. A lot of it is stuff I can do while watching TV, so I’ll take my laptop down to the couch and relax while I input stats, work on my ads, or create social media content. This isn’t something I do every day. I’ve always heard that the best marketing is putting out a new book, and I ascribe to that mentality. I do a few traditional marketing things, but I try to keep it to a minimum and focus on creating new stories.

Researching is something I try to fit in wherever I can. Sometimes it happens as I’m writing or creating an outline, when I realize I need to know something. But often, I’m just always trying to watch documentaries, read books, listen to podcasts, and learn stuff I don’t know that I don’t know. You can’t learn it all, but I try to keep learning new things because I never know what’s going to spark an idea.

4 H&R

What are you currently working on?

I’m writing my first Christmas novel, “The Christmas Wish.” It’s part of my Victorian Love series, and I’m outlining my next project, which will be my first novella. I’ve wanted to try my hand at shorter stories because I have some ideas that just won’t work in a longer format, and I think now is the time to do it. I’m not entirely sure what it’s going to be because I have a lot of ideas right now, but we’ll see. I don’t always know what I’m going to write next until right before I need to start writing the 1st draft.

What is next?

Now that I’m writing full-time, I’ve put together a pretty amazing publishing schedule. I’m alternating between novels and novellas, and the plan is to publish 4 novels and 4-5 novellas in 2023. While I am focused on Regency & Victorian right now, I would like to branch into historical western romance sometime in the near future. And maybe a bit of historical paranormal romance maybe…

What can I say? I’m an eclectic reader, and I like writing in different genres. I started off in fantasy and would love to do more with it.

You are certainly inspiring. I wish you every continued success with all your projects.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do the interview.

5 ASK

Meet poet, blogger and author Wendy Van Camp!

Published on November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

I am delighted to welcome a writer, poet and blogger based in Orange Country, California, as my guest this month. We share a mutual love of Jane Austen’s work, an affinity with notebooks and pens, as well as a keen interest in Celtic designed jewellery. There are other aspects of Wendy’s talents and career, which I am keen to discover.

Welcome, Wendy!

Orange County sounds a fascinating place to live, is that a fair comment? Is it the place you moved to, or has it always been your home?

I have grown comfortable here in Southern California. I am close enough to the beach to go for an afternoon visit, but far enough away that I am not in the path of tourists. We have a wide range of concerts, public fairs, and outdoor activities to choose from. The white sand beaches are a world-wide travel destination and a mecca for surfers.

I did not start out in Orange County. I always moved around most of my life. My father transferred often when I was a child, and I have lived in many cities. I moved to Orange County when my husband and I got married. A few years later, we purchased our current residence only a mile away from our original condo. My house is modest, but it allows me a home office and a small garden where I can grow roses and sit in the sun. Can a writer ask for more?

ocean-g090a07a9a_1280 (1)

No, I don’t think so, it sounds lovely!

As an author of Regency romantic adventures I want to ask about this aspect of your work first. What is it that appeals to you about Jane Austen’s work?

I had not read Austen until my early forties. I sought her out because of the desire to read more classic literature. The only Austen novel available at the local library at the time was “Persuasion” and this is the first of her books that I read. I fell in love with this book about second chances and read all of Austen’s work. “Persuasion” was my favourite of them all and eventually I felt the need to write a story based on these characters because they haunted me.

How challenging was it to take The Curate’s Brother from NaNoWriMo to published eBook?

The Curates Brother Book Cover (1)

It has been an incredible challenge. I am normally a science fiction writer and poet. Writing a Regency era historical was a huge undertaking for me. I had never read romance novels and had little idea of the amount of research a historical novel needs. My first attempt was a complete failure. I trunked the manuscript for a full year.

After that first NaNoWriMo attempt, I read around eighty romance novels to better understand the romance genre as I researched the time the story took place. My second NaNoWriMo attempt went easier, but I discovered the story had grown and would need more than a single book to complete.

As I was revising the book, I realised that the first chapter was the only one told from Edward Wentworth’s point of view. He is the brother of Captain Wentworth and merely mentioned in Austen’s original novel. I removed the chapter from the book for that reason, but the ideas in that chapter would not let me go.

I took the chapter to my science fiction writing critique group for help, thinking it might work as a short story. The men refused to read it because it was “romance”. Most of the group hated the story, except for one, who was a professor of literature. She wrote what she understood of my outline to make it clear to me and to show my story followed a standard beat structure. She ended her critique with “it needs another ten thousand words”. I took her advice and over a two-week period, I wrote those ten thousand additional words. I took the new revision to a different critique group, one that was multi-genre, and they loved the story, urging me to publish it as is. That is how “The Curate’s Brother” was born. It has garnered good reviews on Amazon and has sold many copies down the years.

Were you ever daunted at the prospect of adapting characters from such a well-known classic as Persuasion?

At the time I started this project, I was an inexperienced novelist. Writing was still a hobby. I had little idea about the hard work and dedication needed to bring a novel to publication. I saw hundreds of Austen fanfictions online and figured the world could use one more Austen inspired author. Now that I’ve been writing and publishing for over a decade, my viewpoint has changed. I realise what a tremendous task I have undertaken. But I still have love for Jane Austen’s work, and I want to finish this project that I began so long ago, creating a story that ‘Janeites’ will love.

Will there be sequels?

I have three more books semi-drafted in my Austen Regency series. As I complete revisions, new characters pop up, along with connections that enrich the story. I am far behind schedule on finishing the final three books (I apologise profusely to my readers for this), but I have been making progress. Book two of this series, “Christmas in Kellynch”, is close to completion.

Regency is far removed from your favoured genres of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Please share your interest in them and how your blog No Wasted Ink came into being?

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I have always been a hard-core science fiction and fantasy reader. The first “science fiction” I read was Edgar Rice Burrough’s “A Princess of Mars”. I loved the strong female characters of this series. I got hooked on Robert A Heinlein’s juveniles and Anne McCaffery’s Pern in middle-school. Later favourite authors were Elizabeth Moon, Ursula Le Guin, and Andre Norton. I still read a steady diet of science fiction and fantasy books. I love to look into the future and see what humanity may become. I tend to be an optimist. I feel through technology and science we can solve whatever problems we as a people may face and that there are fantastic lives ahead of us all.

No Wasted Ink started not long after I published my first short story. I realised that this writing hobby of mine may turn into something more. I had always had a website for my jewellery business. It was a no brainer I would need a website for my writing business too. Over the years, No Wasted Ink has taken on its own life. It holds my writing clips, appearances, and links to my books, but it has grown into its own publication with a large following. I interview authors of science fiction and fantasy, have a top-ten writing article link page twice a month, host guest posts about the craft of writing, and the occasional article or essay I write on my own. You can also see illustrated poetry art featuring my scifaiku poems.

Your interest in these genres has evolved into two forms of poetry: Scifaiku and Astropoetry, which has gained you acclaim. When did you discover your poet’s voice and is this something you intend to continue publishing in the future?

It is funny, being a poet is the last thing I expected to happen to me as a writer. I had a few negative run-ins with poetry as I was growing up and during my years as a television producer/director. One day in my forties, I was at a small science fiction convention and needed to kill time for two hours. I sat on a bench and a sign next to me said: “Scifaiku Workshop”. I did not know was scifaiku was, but there was cold water in the room and I could get out of the heat for an hour. So I went in. I ended up being the sole student of a poetry workshop, attended by a cadre of national level poetry magazine editors who came to support the instructor. I wrote my first poem in over twenty years that afternoon. I was told to read the science fiction haiku out loud to “the class” and I did…my only audience, that group of poetry editors. After my reading, one of them leaned over and whispered into my ear, “I loved your poem. I’d like to publish it in my magazine. I’ll pay you.” That was the moment I became a poet!

I suppose I have a distinctive “voice” in my poetry. To paraphrase, a critic described my voice as “poetry coming in undulating waves, like a white lily under a blood moon. Pure ideas surrounded by dark tension, but always reaching for the light.” I write from the gut and am self-taught. This is how the words come out for me and have since the beginning.

My debut poetry book “The Planets” has been nominated twice for the Elgin Award for Best Speculative Poetry Book of the Year. You can also find my poetry in magazines such as “Far Horizons”, “Starlight Scifaiku Review”, and in the anthology series “Eccentric Orbits” among many others.

Do you write in pen & ink first in a lovely notebook or on the computer?

It depends on the project. I compose poetry in a paper bound notebook with a fountain pen. It is portable and I can take it out to coffeeshops or to the park. It also allows me an excuse for my fountain pen collecting hobby! Novels are different. I keep story ideas in notebooks, but I outline in Scrivener and set up my chapters there before the writing process. I create rough drafts on an AlphaSmart typewriter or via dictation with my Olympus Recorder.

Do you think your background in TV and the film industry has helped you to structure your plots and create credible characters within your novels?

Not at all. It was my dream to be a Hollywood filmmaker. creating stories for the screen. What I ended up being was a television producer/director who handled events such as parades, city council meetings, and other municipal activities. I also directed hundreds of multi-camera talk shows, and two series. One called “Musician Discoveries” which was a band showcase program, and the other “Cofeehouse Poetry” which featured poets reading their work in a coffeehouse setting. Returning to writing novels and short stories was my way back to the original dream of telling stories. While I loved working in television and wouldn’t trade a day of it, I don’t miss the pressure and dealing with all the negativity of Hollywood. I’m far happier as a writer and poet, working from home on my own schedule.

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Do you create jewellery to relax, or is it still very much your profession?

Believe it or not, I still run an occasional jewellery table, but I don’t consider myself an artisan jeweller any longer. Over the years, I have gradually made the shift from selling handcrafted Celtic jewellery to being a full-time author and poet. I do not make jewellery for fun. After thousands of earrings, bracelets and necklaces, I have hung up my pliers.

What triggered the Celtic design connection?

I am half Scottish/English and always had a love of the Celtic designs from my heritage. These designs are also very popular on the science fiction convention circuit. It was a profitable choice of theme for my work.

What is next for Wendy?

I’m in completion mode. I have two series that are drafted due to my years in NaNoWriMo, but in revision. One is my Austen Regency series, of which “The Curate’s Brother” is the first instalment and the other is a Steampunk Alice in Wonderland adventure.

Poetry has become important to me in a way that is quite unexpected, but an art form I have embraced. I have two more scifaiku poetry collections, plus a hybrid poetry/essay book about a rare illness that I experienced and recovered from, in development.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions.

Wendy Van Camp is an Elgin-finalist poet, writer, and artist. Her work has received Honorable Mention at the Writers of the Future Contest and she is a graduate of the Ad Astra Speculative Fiction Workshop. Her short stories and poems have appeared in magazines such as: “Starlight Scifaiku Review”, “Scifaikuest”, “Quantum Visions” and “Far Horizons”. She is the poet and illustrator of “The Planets: a scifaiku poetry collection” and the editor of the speculative poetry anthology “Eccentric Orbits 2”. You can hear Wendy as a semi-regular panelist on Sci-Fi Roundtable Podcast. She is the Con Coordinator for the SFPA.

LINKS

No Wasted Ink – http://nowastedink.com

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/author/wendyvancamp

Medium – https://medium.com/@wvancamp

Twitter – https://twitter.com/wvancamp

Instagram – https://instagram.com/nowastedink

Esty Print Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoWastedInk

Meet award winning author, USA Today bestseller, Evie Dunmore!

Published on September 30, 2021September 30, 2021 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Welcome, Evie!

When did your love of novels, especially of the romance genre, begin?

My love for novels began when I could read, so, age five. I fell into the romance genre in my mid-twenties when I was working and commuting very long hours and was very receptive to the escapism romance novels offered. I noticed that no matter how dramatic the novel, as long as I could rely on there being a happy ever after, I could just switch off for a few hours. I never looked back.

What is the attraction of the Victorian era that so appeals to you?

It was a time of great economic, social, and technological changes, which gave rise to social movements such as the women’s rights movement and the labour movement that we still benefit from today. It means I could write heroines who are authentic and plausible for the era all while I can still find myself relating to them 140 years later. In a way, it allows me to explore how far we have come, and which issues remain that some people have already tried to change for more than a century.

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Bringing Down the Duke is the first engrossing novel in The League of Extraordinary Women series. The attraction between the two main characters is undeniable and absorbing. The protagonist attends Oxford against her family’s wishes, by being offered a scholarship from the Suffragettes. Is the series based upon the unsung heroines who paved the way for women today?

It is not based on any woman in particular but is certainly inspired by the first group of women students at Oxford and by the early suffragists, and their many allies whose names we will never know. The fight to access higher education took women decades; even after women had enrolled at Oxford for the first time in 1879, it should still take another 40 years before they could sit the same exams as the male students. The fight for women’s rights, especially the right to vote, was even longer, going back to the 18^th century to Mary Wollstonecraft if you will. We hear quite a lot about the suffragettes, the militants of the Edwardian era, but countless women before them laid the groundwork for the charge and I loved learning more about them and their tactics while I wrote the novels.

Which three of the many ‘extraordinary women’ from the past do you admire the most and why?

Looking at the late Victorian era/early Edwardian era, it would be Annie Kenny, Christabel Pankhurst, and Cornelia Sorabji.

Annie Kenney was the only working-class suffragette to ever hold a leadership position in the suffragette movement after working her way from a Northern factory up to travelling the world and talking to heads of state for the cause. She was responsible for the incident that turned some suffragists militant and caused them to form the suffragette branch. She was also very likely bisexual. Her autobiography was fabulously insightful and stayed with me for a long time. She came across as incredibly loyal, brave, and funny.

Christabel was the strategic head and in some ways the heart of the suffragette movement. She held a law degree from Manchester University though as a woman she was not allowed to practice law at the time. What impresses me about her is the mix of both fanatic grit as well as level-headedness which she displayed for the entire duration of the movement.

Cornelia Sorabji was the first woman of colour and first female law student at Oxford University in 1889. When she arrived at Oxford, she already held a first-class degree from Bombay University, and she successfully fought tooth and nail to be treated like her fellow male students at Oxford. Back in India, she was not allowed to practice law for over a decade, but she found her own niche to assist women and girls in legal matters and had over 600 female legal wards and several successful pro-women social policies under her belt by the time she returned to Britain in her later years.

You have a personal connection to Oxford University having studied for a master’s degree there and an advanced creative writing course. From your experience, would you say that women academics have achieved equality there alongside their male counterparts?

A lot of brilliant women are hard at work at Oxford and fill important positions; since 2016, we even have a female Vice chancellor (Louise Richardson). My heroines would love to see it. However, personally I think female academics won’t achieve real equality in the workplace as long as they are compelled to choose between family and an academic career, or have to somehow juggle both, as this is something their male counterparts still don’t really have to worry about unless they are committed to fully sharing the care-work out of principle. The statistics still show a sharp drop in female academics from third year PhD to actual tenure, and we can already see that the pandemic disproportionally affected the output of female academics. Successful academic work requires you to think original thoughts and to write cutting-edge papers. It’s harder to do that amid years of sleep-deprivation and a mind loaded with other people’s needs and schedules. Without fathers stepping up or affordable external assistance, we’ll always have shining examples of some women having it all, but the overall statistics will probably continue to tell a different story.

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How challenging was and how did you go about writing the perspective of Queen Victoria in Bringing Down the Duke?

I had read her letters to her acquaintances where she raged about women’s rights activists and called for them to be whipped. Her official stance was also anti-suffrage and minced no words. Her close friendship with Disraeli and her behind-the-scenes meddling in politics when she was younger, is also no secret. It therefore wasn’t challenging as I put words into her mouth she herself had either written down verbatim or were very much in the spirit of her position. I guess it helped that I always had her actual photographs before my mind’s eye rather than the TV version played by the lovely Jenna Coleman.

Did it surprise you that such a prominent female monarch did not support women’s rights?

Not really. The queen saw herself as set apart from regular humans, and the dividing line between progressive people and those who want to keep things as they are does not neatly run along gender lines, it never has. A lot of women back then felt more comfortable with upholding the structures that suppressed them and harnessed the narrowly defined power allocated to the role of mother and wife instead. And sometimes, women’s reasons to be anti-suffrage were simply due to clashes with their other interests. For example, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was founded and run by women in the late 19^th century, and they were anti-suffrage. Why? Because the suffragists and later suffragettes continued to use plumes as accessories.

How have you kept mentally and physically fit during the recent pandemic?

Unfortunately, I didn’t do a good job on either front, so I’m afraid I have no valuable tips to share here…

When life returns to the new ‘normal’ what do you look forward to doing when not writing or researching?

I look forward to the brain fog lifting. An end to this limbo of being unable to plan anything with certainty, all while we can’t really be spontaneous, either. I look forward to not having to worry about schools shutting down again and how the kids are affected by the situation; or about loved ones falling ill. I’d love to ditch the mask, and to hop on a train or plane to see family and friends I haven’t seen in nearly two years. I would like to offer my readers an in-person book signing. And I want to go to the movies and eat popcorn and not flinch when someone in the row behind me coughs.

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When and where did your affinity with Scotland begin?

I think it began when watching nature documentaries about the Highlands when I was a child. It was sealed when I moved to Britain and dated a mountaineer from St Andrews. The first time we entered Glen Coe around 15 years ago, it literally took my breath away. I felt moved to tears, it felt like coming home, when I had no prior connection to the place. Odd how that happens sometimes. Before the pandemic, I would regularly go up to Scotland a few times a year to stay with friends and to go hiking. Edinburgh is my favourite city in the world. I have been invited to RARE, a big romance author event, in Edinburgh in 2022, and I can’t wait to go and meet readers and colleagues.

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The Portrait of a Scotsman (Published 7^th September) has a Scottish hero, when and where did the inspiration for this novel begin?

Inspiration for the story sparked during my research for my debut Bringing Down the Duke, where I came across photographs of Victorian women in trousers. The women in question were pit-brow lassies—they worked on the coalfields and frequently underground. Their existence was entirely at odds with the ideal Victorian image of women as the dainty Angels in the House, and I knew I wanted to highlight these remarkable women in one of the books in the series.

This, and my love for the Hades and Persephone myth, come together in the hero, Lucian Blackstone, a successful self-made Scotsman who he began his journey underground in a Scottish colliery.

Scotsman

What is next for Evie?

I’m currently trying to finish the fourth and final book in the series, and I for the last year I have been playing around with an idea for a fifth book. We’ll see what comes from that.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule. I’m looking forward to reading Portrait of a Scotsman!

Catch up with Sunday Times bestselling, award winning romance author, Sue Moorcroft!

Published on August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Welcome back, Sue!

Thanks very much for inviting me, Val.

The last time we chatted was back in 2016 when you had made some monumental decisions as to what you were doing with your writing/tutor time.

You were setting out new goals for the future. Now the future is here: what has worked and, if anything, what did not?

Things have gone very well. I have to pinch myself, sometimes. Since I began working with my agent, Juliet Pickering of Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, everything has taken off. I’ve been with Avon HarperCollins for ten books, with more in the pipeline, and I’m published in about fourteen other languages and territories. I’ve been to number 1 in the Kindle UK chart, I’m a Sunday Times bestseller, and I’ve been in the Top 100 US Kindle chart and the Top 50 in Germany.

There have been challenges and setbacks along the way, of course, but I can’t think of anything that ‘didn’t work’. Although I continue to write a few short stories and two-parters, I’ve achieved my ambition of living on the earnings from my novels.

Huge congratulations, but also it is success that is well deserved!

Covid has affected everyone, directly or indirectly. How have you coped with lockdowns and keeping healthy?

I’m lucky that I have a garden and I live near a park. I’ve been able to continue writing because it means going to another place in my head every day, where people hug and kiss and mix freely. That’s not a bad state of mind in which to spend fifty or sixty hours each week. I’ve stuck to the guidelines and kept healthy, thank you. On the downside, my classes at the gym have collapsed, I haven’t seen some of my best friends for ages and I haven’t been able to go abroad. But I’ve been much more comfortably circumstanced than many so I live the best life I can.

What are you working on now?

I’ve just completed the edits for my winter book, Under the Mistletoe, which is set in ‘my’ village of Middledip and features Laurel who left the village when she was sixteen but now has to go back. The reason she left is still living in the village. I’m also in the middle of the first draft of my summer 2022 book. It’s set in France, which I chose because I’ve set a book there before and have my photos and memories for reference. A big park features heavily which, funnily enough, bears quite a resemblance to the one I walk around several times a week. The book’s about blended families and cybercrime. The cybercrime element is stretching my powers of understanding …

What goals do you have for the next five years?

Keep writing, keep selling – and hope I can sell more!

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Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times bestselling author, has reached the #1 spot on Kindle UK and top 100 in the US. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award and the Katie Fforde Bursary. Published by HarperCollins in the UK, US and Canada and by other publishers around the world.

The beautiful abbey ruins of North Yorkshire…

Published on August 2, 2021August 2, 2021 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Now a ruin, but once a thriving community, beautifully set against the forestry with the moorland above.

The beautiful abbey ruins of North Yorkshire

Henry VIII is perhaps most infamously remembered for his treatment of his six wives. However, this king changed a nation by separating his country from the power of the Roman Catholic church and proclaiming himself head of the Church of England, in 1534. Two years later the Reformation in England took a more profitable turn for Henry as a destructive and brutal phase began with the dissolution of the monasteries.

North Yorkshire has many majestic reminders of the magnificent abbeys that once served and dominated local rural life: Rievaulx, Whitby, Fountains, Byland, Ampleforth and Mount Grace Priory to name a few.

These are fascinating ‘places of interest’. They inspired many during the years they were inhabited and – in a non-pandemic year – are visited by many people now who soak in their history and sense of peace that their lovingly tended sites exude.

Life in days gone by can be easily imagined; both harsh and cold and yet their lives encouraged selfless devotion whilst supporting their local community.

Often constructed in beautiful rural surroundings of agricultural land, woods and moors. They would grow crops and raise animals to feed themselves and create profit from a trade, the land they owned and tenancies. The monasteries owned a quarter of the cultural land within the country – a vast wealth and Henry was a man who needed to fund his own lifestyle and wars.

Their majestic ruins have influenced and inspired some of the scenes with in my novels such as Georgina’s escape in Betrayal, Beth’s and Willoughby’s earnest discussion under the arches of Whitby Abbey in To Love Honour and Obey or Wilson’s hiding place in Dead to Sin.

In my most recent novel ‘Betrayal’ Lydia Fletcher is part of a rescue of her friend within the grounds of one such building:

The monastery’s stone walls slowly emerged before her – a testament to their ancestors’ achievements and faith. This sanctified place once filled with holy praise, was now losing the fight against the ravages of time as they crumbled back to the earth. Encased within the lush undergrowth it had not been revered for centuries.

In the novel the ruins are being used by a band of smugglers who dress as the monks of old to keep the superstitious locals away.

Between the old arches of the ivy clad fallen parapets, moving smoothly through the distant mist, was the distinctive figure of a monk, the ghostly habit covered by a dark hooded cape. Kell looked to see what had caught Jeremiah’s attention.

“Souls of monks, long gone… they got no truck with us… so dig!” he ordered. Kell stared at him. Both Lydia and Jeremiah watched the monk disappear once more into the forest. The boy’s mouth hung open as the shovel fell from his hand.

The Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 consisted of 30000 strong rebel army from the north demanding that the abbeys be reopened. They were promised a pardon and a parliament on York, but once they disbanded their leaders were executed. In 1539 the larger monasteries also fell. Those monks who would not conform were also executed.

The abbeys were hugely important to the life of the people in the area. Their battered walls and fallen arches are now preserved for all to discover and admire.

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“It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.”

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