Meet My Main Character - Sebastian Alder from LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR

Thank you to my dear friends, ANITA DAVISON and FRANCINE HOWARTH for inviting me to join in this blog hop. The timing is excellent as my first foray into Regency Romantic Suspense, LORD SOMERTON’S HEIR has just been released.

What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or an historic person?

Meet Captain Sebastian Alder, a career army officer in Wellington’s army. Badly wounded at Waterloo, he is facing a dire future as a soldier on half pay until the day a strange woman, calling herself the dowager Lady Somerton appears at his bedside.

Of course he is totally fictional… but very real to me :-)

When and where is the story set?

You may have guessed from the mention of Waterloo… It is set in England in 1815 (Regency)

What should we know about your character?

Sebastian is, of course, the heir to the Somerton estate, something of which he had no knowledge. He had been brought up in a country parsonage and joined the army at the age of sixteen. That has been his life. 

He has a strong protective trait and takes his responsibilities toward his two younger siblings very seriously. However even they don’t know the dark memories he is masking.

What is the main conflict he must face?

As the new Lord Somerton, Sebastian finds that his inheritance is tainted by debt and the profligate living of his late cousin. Not only must he cope with the practical difficulties of his sudden elevation, he must rise to accepting his onerous responsibilities which include dealing not only with restoring the fortunes of the estate but also his late cousin’s widow, Isabel, who has been left destitute and two rather odd “cuckoos in the nest”. 

Questions arise about the manner of his cousin’s death and it begins to look like he also has a murder to solve.

What is the personal goal of this character?

To keep everyone he loves, and has a responsibility for, safe.

Where is LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR available?

Everywhere good ebooks are sold!

Kindle (where it has been on pre order sale for .90c! Hurry you may still catch it) 

Itunes  (where it has also been on pre-order sale for .99c)

Barnes & Noble

For the other retailers, visit the Escape Publishing site. Click HERE

I have passed this on to three excellent authors who write wonderful historical novels...

Tea Cooper (Australian)
Regan Walker (Regency/nautical)
Beverley Eikli (English Civil War, Georgian, Regency, Colonial Africa)

ABOUT LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR

Can the love of an honourable man save her from the memory of a desolate marriage?

From the battlefield of Waterloo to the drawing rooms of Brantstone Hall, Sebastian Alder’s elevation from penniless army captain to Viscount Somerton is the stuff of dreams. But the cold reality of an inherited estate in wretched condition, and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his cousin’s death, provide Sebastian with no time for dreams, only a mystery to solve and a murderer to bring to justice.

Isabel, widow of the late Lord Somerton, is desperate to bury the memory of her unhappy marriage by founding the charity school she has always dreamed of. But, her dreams are shattered, as she is taunted from the grave, discovering not only has she been left penniless, but she is once more bound to the whims of a Somerton.

But this Somerton is unlike any man she has met. Can the love of an honourable man heal her broken heart or will suspicion tear them apart?

TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR, I WILL BE RUNNING A RAFFLECOPTER CONTEST FOR THE MONTH OF MAY.

Prize:  An Alison Stuart "goody bag" worth over $50 - details on my website

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Writing Process

Writers supporting writers… I am always happy to help my writing colleagues and one particular friend, Anita Davison, my partner in crime (quite literally as we are both tinkering around with Cosy Mysteries at the moment) and fellow 17th century passionista, has invited me to join a blog tour with a difference. A fabulous way to get to understand the way writers work (or don’t…) and to meet some "new to you" authors. Welcome to the WRITING PROCESS BLOG TOUR.

Anita Davison… whose blog is http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com.au/, also writes as Anita Seymour and I am currently reading her wonderful fictionalisation of the life of Elizabeth Murray - ROYALIST REBEL. Loving it!

Here goes:

1)     What am I working on?

Start with the hard one! Right at this very moment I am in the middle of edits for  an English Civil War set historical romance, CLAIMING THE REBEL’S HEART, for which I am very happy to do the "Cover Reveal" today. 
For more information and to read an excerpt, visit my WEBSITE:  click HERE.
Release date:  January 22, 2014.

With Christmas looming I am allowing myself the luxury of a short break while I mull over my next project - which is an English Civil War set historical romantic suspense - THE BRIDE IN THE BOX.

Sitting on the backburner is the long awaited sequel to my “King’s Men” series (BY THE SWORD and THE KING’S MAN) and I am also planning two other stories to link to CLAIMING THE REBEL’S HEART. One day the English Civil War will be the “new Regency” and I will be there!

Also on the back burner is the aforementioned “cosy mystery”, Harriet Gordon and the Burmese Ruby - set in Singapore in 1910.

So many ideas…so little time!

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I write across genres. Back in the dark past when I actually had an agent he sat me down in a cafe in New York (yes… really!) fed me coffee and doughnuts and told me I had to make up my mind as to whether I was writing romance or historicals because I couldn’t do both. I have mulled over that piece of advice for many years and have gone on completely disregarding it.

In today’s publishing world, that distinction is less important than it was back in New York in 1999. In those days it mattered that a publishing house could put a label on a book that could distinguish it clearly…Romance, Historical, Crime. What the epublishing world has done is blur those boundaries and made it acceptable to write across genres.

3)     Why do I write what I do?

I like to write the books I like to read - historicals with a romantic theme and if I also want to add a ghost or two or a mystery to be solved or even a bit of time travel…I do. I need action and adventure in my tales. Straight romances are just not my thing and while I love a good historical, I still need two characters I can engage with and who have at least got the promise of a HEA. Sad endings are just not too sad…

4)     How does my writing process work?

Let me start by saying I am an “organic” writer (or “pantser” if you prefer). My stories begin with characters and an inciting incident, a good strong setting and a piece of history and, of course (because I do write romance!) a Happy Ever After…all of these ingredients form the basic skeleton of the story and it is up to my characters to make the story happen. This is a method fraught with difficulty… you go up dead ends, you suffer sagging middles… but that magic moment when your characters start talking back to you and you are walking their journey with them makes it all worthwhile.

Writing mysteries presents more of a challenge than a straight historical romance because you do need to have a compelling mystery to solve and that requires a little thinking about….! I am discovering ways to manage the need to plot with the pantsing method of writing and getting a little more efficient about the process. My husband is aghast as I arrive at the dinner table with the announcement “I know who did it!”. Being an engineer he just rolls his eyes. It is absolutely beyond his comprehension that I could write books without plotting every nuance. Tried that once… got bored…

Next week (15th December) watch out for two special writing friends. If you love historical romances these are the writers for you.

JOANNA LLOYD Born in Papua New Guinea, like many other ex-pats, Joanna was sent to boarding school in Australia. Having always had a voyeuristic fascination with human behaviour, she studied psychology and spent twenty years conducting workplace and family law mediations. This exposed her to the very best and worst of human behaviours. After the degenerative process of muscular dystrophy caused her to be wheelchair bound, she transferred her fascination to the written word. She is the author of two historical romance novels – Beyond Innocence, and Shadow Beneath the Sea. She lives and writes in tropical Far North Queensland – her version of paradise.

You will find her blog at:http://joannalloydauthor.wordpress.com/
(Joanna will be taking tea with Ms. Stuart on December 20).

MAGGI ANDERSEN Maggi Andersen lives in the countryside outside Sydney, Australia, with her lawyer husband. After gaining a BA in English and an MA in Creative Writing, and raising three children, Maggi now indulges her passion for writing. She writes in several genres, contemporary and historical romances and young adult novels. You’ll find adventure and elements of danger in everyone.

You will find her blog at:http://www.maggiandersen.blogspot.com

FINALLY... As my little Christmas present to my readers, my time travel romance (with an English Civil War setting), SECRETS IN TIME, is on sale on Amazon only from 9-14 December for $0.99c! Good, quick holiday reading!  To go directly to AMAZON click HERE

Getting to Know You...The Liebster Award

I've been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award Challenge by ANITA DAVISON (also writing as Anita Seymour), author of the Royalist Rebel and also by ANNIE SEATON, author of A Holiday Affair and other great books...and also a fabulous freelance editor. Rather than do two different blogs, I have joined them together!

The purpose of the challenge is to help bloggers increase their followers. I have to tell you eleven little known things about me and then answer eleven set questions and nominate eleven other bloggers to take the challenge after me.

For the nominees below:
Post on your own blog, linking back here, with eleven random facts, answer my eleven questions and nominate eleven new bloggers with eleven questions to ask them!  Don't forget to link back to me so I can read your answers :-)

OK here goes: 

Alison on the Camino Santiago de Compostela

Eleven little known facts about Alison Stuart:

•  As a child I almost died of meningitis
•  I am an Anglican Church lay reader
•  I have walked the Camino Santiago de Compostela (or at least the last 115kms)
•  I have visited a refugee camp on the Thai Burma Border to teach a group of amazing young women at the Karen Young Women’s Leadership School about the United Nations conventions on the rights of women.
• I love needlework - cross stitch and patchwork/quilting
• I am owned by 2 cats - the Kat brothers, Oliver and Toby
• I am a Capricorn
• I own very few "How to Write" books - hubris or fear?
•  In my younger days I did a bit of amateur musical theatre...mostly Gilbert & Sullivan which probably accounts for the Ruddigore references in GATHER THE BONES.
• My favourite thing to do on holidays is go on ghost tours. 
• I only like dark chocolate...good dark chocolate. 

Alison (far left) at the Karen Young Womens' Leadership School in 2006

Annie's Questions:

1. What sort of books do you like to read? Crime and mystery.
2.  Do you believe in love at first sight? Yes
3. When the coffee runs out, what do you like to drink? Gin and tonic
4. Do you prefer sad or happy endings? Has to be a happy ending. Too many sad endings in real life.
5. If you could meet anyone and spend an hour with them alive or dead, who and why? I would like to meet my great+ grandmother Helene deMestre and find out the real story behind her 3 husbands...
6. What did you do all day before the internet was invented? I did a lot more sewing and needlework and I actually wrote books.
7. What is your favourite movie?  Depends on my mood...but  LOVE ACTUALLY is a repeat viewing in my house.
8. What is your ideal holiday destination?  My husband and I love getting out into the Australian outback...even if it takes 3 days driving!
9. What's your favourite thing to do when you're not writing?  Needlework
10. Do you have a book in your house that's just destroyed because you've read it so much?  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (the original edition I bought in Haworth when I was 11)
11. Do you set yourself some strict rules while writing?  Rules are made for breaking...

Anita's Questions

1. Belgian chocolate or Pino Grigio?  Belgian chocolate - purchased from the Corne Royale shop in Brussels just off the Grande Place...
2. Ryan Reynolds or Matt Damon?  Those are my only choices...?
3. Ben and Jerry’s [any flavour] or crème brulee?  Creme brulee...never tasted Ben & Jerrys (American icecream isn't it?)
4. Orlando Bloom or Johnny Deppe?  Tough call...Loved Orlando in LOTR and Johnny in Chocolat,
5. Roasted duck breast or grilled goat’s cheese?  Can't I have both?
6. Gourmet dinner out or nachos and salsa in front of the TV?  See answer to 5 above...
7. Jamie Oliver or Raymond Blanc? Jamie!
8. Christmas turkey with cranberry sauce or goose with spiced orange sauce? See answer to 5 above...
9. Jason Statham or Daniel Craig? Daniel.
10. Who would you cast as the hero in a film made of your latest novel?  Only one actor could have played Paul Morrow in GATHER THE BONES - the young Nigel Havers
11. Who would you cast as the heroine in a film made of your latest novel?  For Helen Morrow, the Australian heroine of GATHER THE BONES - Jessica Marais

Nigel Havers contemplating the role of Paul Morrow!

And now for my nominees:

• Rachael Johns (Award winning stories from the Australian outback)
• Suzi Love (Hot regency)
• Imelda Evans (contemporary romance)
• Louise Reynolds (contemporary romance)
• Nicola Flockton (contemporary romance)
• Bronwyn Stuart (gorgeous regencies)
• Keziah Hill (erotic romance and romantic suspense)
• Ella Quinn (gorgeous regencies)
• Karen Aminadra (Jane Austen expanded)
• Maggie Nash (romances with spice)
• Jennifer Brassel (contemporary with a touch of supernatural)

And here's my questions for them:

1. Gold or silver?
2. Best book read in the last 12 months?
3. Happiest memory of childhood?
4. Favourite season?
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world and money was no object...where would you go and why?
6. Favourite TV show?
7. What is the one skill you wished you possessed?
8. What is your most favourite post from your own blog?
9. What is a favourite post from someone else's blog?
10. Any phobias?
11. Two sentences to describe your latest (or just about to be released book)?

Hope you enjoy getting to know some "new to you" authors :-)

The Next Big Thing - I've been Tagged

I've been tagged in The Next Big Thing by fellow writer Anita Davison. Anita and I 'met' through our mutual passion for the seventeenth century and have shared our ups and downs over the last five or six years.  I’m just thrilled that her first “mainstream” novel Royalist Rebel  is coming out in January. I can’t wait.

According to the NBT instructions I am here to tell you all about my next book by answering these questions and then to tag five other authors about their Next Big Thing.

So here I go!

What is the  title of your next book?

SECRETS IN TIME is coming out in April 2013 from Lyrical Press. 

I was hoping I would have a cover to brag about but my Publisher got the full brunt of Hurricane Sandie and has been without power for weeks on end.

It’s only a short book (about 45K words) compared to my previous books which have all nudged 100 thousand words. So it will be a quick read.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This is my first unabashed romance. It originated from a writing exercise I did with my writing group in Singapore way back in 2001. I can’t remember what the task was but I was going through some snippets of writing a couple of years ago and came across it again. It caught my eye and I found myself drawn to turn it into a story.

What genre does your book fall under?

Time Travel! I have always LOVED time travel books and in this book I manage to combine my two passions – the English Civil War AND time travel!

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

That is such a hard question. Sometimes I have certain people in mind but most of the time I like to keep it fairly vague and allow the readers to impose their own images on my characters faces but if I’m pushed to it:

NATHANIEL – Gabriel Aubry (with dark auburn hair)

JESSICA – Aussie actor Jessica Marais

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

For love, a man will cross time itself.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Lyrical Press which published my last book, GATHER THE BONES, is bringing out SECRETS IN TIME as an ebook. However I will make it available in print shortly after its release.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It’s hard to say because I wrote it in bits and pieces. When I said I picked it up a couple of years ago, it was when my father was in his last illness (He had suffered from Alzheimers/Dementia for a number of years). In his last days I would come home from sitting with him and just write and this was the story I wrote. It was something I felt compelled to do, almost as if I needed to escape from the reality of what was happening in my world. After his death it took me a year to come back to it but once I settled into it, SECRETS flowed.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I loved Suzanna Kearsley’s book Mariana. It's once of the best time travel books I've read.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I think I’ve answered this question above. No one particular inspiration, just a combination of factors.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

It’s not just about romance, there are strong family ties that bind the characters too. What will a father do for a beloved son?

That's it from me. I am looking forward to sharing SECRETS IN TIME with you.

And here are some more lovely historical authors I've tagged to tell you about their Next Big Thing!

Suzi Love 

Bronwyn Stuart

Marianne Theresa

Joanna Lloyd  

Christina Croft  

In the meantime while you are waiting impatiently for SECRETS IN TIME, don't forget my latest release GATHER THE BONES is out and getting some great feedback. If you like mystery, history, romance and ghosts with a dash of Downton Abbey, this is the book for you!