Author Spotlight: Vanessa Lafaye

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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: Anne Aylor

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Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing a few of the contributors to the Historical Novel Society’s anthology, Distant Echoes. Today, I welcome author Anne Aylor, who contributed two stories to the anthology, “The Man With No Hands” and “The House of Wild Beasts”. The latter won the HNS Short Story Award in 2014, and it’s this story that I’ve asked her to discuss as it made an impression on me. “The House of Wild Beasts” takes place during the Spanish Civil War. An American reporter, Martha, visits the Madrid zoo, La Casa de Fieras, to write a newspaper article about the…

Author Spotlight: Anna Belfrage

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Continuing my conversation with the contributors of the Historical Novel Society’s anthology, Distant Echoes, I’ve invited author Anna Belfrage to chat about her short story, “The Sharing of a Husband“. Anna has somehow managed to tap into the magic elixir of being a literary powerhouse. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Graham Saga (8 books and counting), the King’s Greatest Enemy series, has been involved in four anthologies, and maintains a regular blog. Her short story, “The Sharing of a Husband”, portrays a woman in Utah who is forced to accept the introduction of polygamy by church decree…

Author Spotlight: Richard Buxton

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I first “bumped” into historical fiction author Richard Buxton on the blog tour circuit. His novel, Whirligig, came out around the time as mine and, coincidentally, both novels dealt with civil war, though his tackled the American Civil War. I found it ironic that we were both interested in the war across the pond instead of the one closest to home. In my case, it would be my neighbour’s war, but still close enough. When the Historical Novel Society (HNS) anthology, Distant Echoes, came out, I recognized Richard’s name amongst the contributors, and I was keen to finally read his…

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…