Diamonds Tales

Following the advent season, Discovering Diamonds is running Diamond Tales from December 3rd through to December 23rd, featuring a new short story or excerpt a day from Indie and traditional published authors. I’m really excited to have been invited to contribute to Diamond Tales. My short story “The Diamonds of Sint-Nicholaas” features James and Elizabeth from Traitor’s Knot in a new chapter in their lives. Discovering Diamonds is a brainchild of Helen Hollick, a site that reviews mostly Indie and small press historical fiction (and all the sub genres). Helen has brought her passion for Indie authors from managing the…

An Alternative Historical Tale

November 28, 2017November 29, 2020 Categories: Author Spotlights · historical fictionTags: Alison Morton · Alternative Historical Tale · Alternative history · althist · Carina · Republic of Quebec · Roma Nova · Roman Empire3 Comments

Alternative historical fiction has become a growing interest of mine. Every fiction writer, at one time, will ask themselves, ‘what if’, but what sets apart alternative fiction is that it takes this question one step further, exploring new trajectories for the world that might have been. The possibilities are only limited to the author’s imagination, and they do make you look at historical events in a new light. When I hear alternative historical fiction, I immediately think of the acclaimed Roma Nova series and its architect, Alison Morton. The series is an alternative historical thriller, based on the premise that instead…

Author Spotlight: Vanessa Lafaye

November 22, 2017August 19, 2019 Categories: Author SpotlightsTags: Distant Echoes · Fire on the Water · HNS 2016 short story contest · HNS Short Story Contest · Vanessa Lafaye7 Comments

This final author spotlight on some of the authors featured in the HNS anthology, Distant Echoes, wraps up with the winner of the HNS 2016 contest, Vanessa Lafaye. “Fire on the Water” is the story of Grace, a Haitian woman, who migrated to Florida with her husband and daughter so that he could get work on the railway project stretching from Miami to the Florida Keys in 1909. The story is about changing fortunes, and a woman’s struggle to protect her daughter. It’s truly a wrenching story, impossible to not turn the page as Grace narrates the conditions of her…

Author Spotlight: Lorna Fergusson

November 15, 2017August 19, 2019 Categories: Author SpotlightsTags: Herring girls · Herring girls in Yarmouth · HNSLondon14m · Lorna Fergusson · Salt · short story award9 Comments

Voice is one of those secret sauces that make a story special. The characters leap from the page and speak directly into your ear. They grip you by the throat and won’t allow you to turn away. Lorna Fergusson’s short story “Salt”, has such a presence. This is the story of Ina, one of the herring girls, who makes her living in Yarmouth gutting fish. She and her sister are far from their home in Scotland during WWI. It’s a compelling story with a strong sense of character and setting. “Salt” is the winner of the 2014 HNS London Short…

Author Spotlight: Elizabeth St. John

November 8, 2017August 19, 2019 Categories: 17th century · Author SpotlightsTags: 17th century · By Love Divided · Elizabeth St. John · English Civil War · Historical Novel Society · Lydiard Chronicles · Lydiard Park · The Lady of the Tower2 Comments

I first met Elizabeth St. John after one of the sessions at the 2015 Historical Novel Society Conference in Denver. We were waiting to meet the speaker, the lovely Jenny Quinlan (aka Jenny Q) of Historical Editorial, when we struck up a conversation about what we were writing. You should realize that when you’re at a historical fiction conference, you can skip the genre question and go straight to, ‘What period are you writing in?”. We both answered 17th century England, and this pretty much sealed it for us. Elizabeth is blessed with a closet-full of famous relatives from which she…