Guest Post by Tony Morgan: What if the Gunpowder Plot had succeeded?

Categories: 17th century · Author Spotlights3 Comments

Today, I welcome Tony Morgan, another 17th century enthusiast. Tony writes historical speculative fiction set during the early Stuart era, specifically around the time of the Gunpowder Plot. Tony’s first book, Remember, Remember the 6th of November, was a reimagining of the 5th of November Gunpowder plot. If you are interested in learning more about his debut novel, check out this guest post, titled “The Gunpowder Plot” (click here).  Tony’s follow up novel, 1617, recently came out and picks up twelve years later. Join me in welcoming Tony Morgan who discusses how the history of England might have changed had the…

Author Spotlight: Christopher Cevasco and a new HNS anthology

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I had the pleasure of meeting Christopher Cevasco at the 2015 Historical Novel Society (HNS) conference in Denver. At that time, Christopher’s era of interest was Early Medieval, but I later learned that his literary interests are quite diverse and eclectic. During the following year’s conference in Oxford, Christopher’s story, “The Happy Island”, was short-listed for the 2016 HNS Short Story Contest. The story is set in the 1800s and deals with Shanawdithit, the last surviving member of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland. “The Happy Island” was selected to appear in an anthology titled Distant Echoes, published by Corazon books, which…

Ours To Know: Omniscient Voice and the Divine Arrogance of It

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Today, I welcome Gonzo author, A.B Funkhauser to the blog to discuss her favourite point of view style, the omniscient voice. For those who aren’t familiar with ‘Gonzo’, I like to think of it as Noir humour. If you’re a writer, you’ll know all about the point of view options we use to tell our story. The omniscient point of view was the mainstay of literature for centuries up until more recent times when it fell to the victim of the dreaded ‘writing rules’. Recently, writers have been challenging this ‘rule’, given that some of the best literature in history was written with…

From Ostler to Eventer: Guest post by Roland Clarke + #Giveaway

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I had the pleasure of virtually meeting Roland Clarke through the English Historical Fiction Authors Blog. Although his upcoming release, Spiral of Hooves, is not historical fiction, it does revolve around the world of competitive horse eventing and (bonus!) includes Canada as one of the settings. Naturally, I was intrigued. Today, Roland discusses the progression historically from ostler to eventer. At the end of the post is an opportunity to win a signed copy of his new release. Welcome Roland! The modern world of my mystery novel Spiral of Hooves, released in its second edition on August 7th, and the riveting…

Giving voice to women of the past

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A recent interview by Dame Hilary Mantel, of Wolf Hall fame, has generated a number of discussions in the historical fiction community on how women have been portrayed in the past. Dame Mantel went on to say women writers who write about women in the past “can’t resist retrospectively empowering them.” The discussion got me thinking about Æthelflæd, daughter of King Albert of Wessex, who led an army of Mercians into Wales. I first learned about Æthelflæd by reading the novel To Be a Queen, written by Annie Whitehead. I loved her portrayal of Æthelflæd and found her to possess…