Blog Tour – Page 10

I’m delighted to welcome S.P. Somtow and his book, Nero and Sporus, to the blog #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome #LGBTQFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome S.P. Somtow and his book, Nero and Sporus, to the blog with an excerpt.

Excerpt

“Can you not posture in such a boyish manner, domine? You’ll ruin the effect.”

“What effect?”

“My dear domine, can you turn that wrist more daintily? Can you not stampede about the room like a raging adolescent lad?”

“Is that not what I am?”

“You will play a role, domine. And if you don’t do it well, it will fare badly for us, as well.”

Realizing that their fates as well as mine rested on my performance, I sat still while they padded my hips and chest a little, and while a cosmetician painted my face with delicate strokes, and two others teased and piled my hair.

And presently I found myself looking at my reflection in a mirror of polished bronze and I was transformed. My hair was elaborately coifed and extended with a tall wig. Exotic fabrics caressed my skin, and an outer layer of rich purple left no doubt as to my Imperial status. The fibula I recognized was holding it all together at one shoulder. Lead white gave my face an unearthly pallor and my lips were stained blood-crimson.

I stood taller. Arrogance flecked my lips. I felt ennobled. Entitled, indeed.

I was not just the Divine Poppaea Sabina, Mistress of the World. I was an idealized version of the Empress. And I have to admit that, in these garments, my way of moving, my way of walking, shifted towards the feminine. It was instinctive. I never felt beautiful as a boy, but as a woman, as an Empress …

Perhaps it was just a role, but I was pulling something from deep within myself.

Here’s the Blurb

Finally available in one volume! The decadence of Imperial Rome comes to life in S.P. Somtow’s Literary Titan Award-winning novel about one of ancient history’s wildest characters.

The historian Suetonius tells us that the Emperor Nero emasculated and married his slave Sporus, the spitting image of murdered Empress Poppaea. But history has more tidbits about Sporus, who went from “puer delicatus” to Empress to one Emperor and concubine to another, and ended up being sentenced to play the Earth-Goddess in the arena.

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Meet the Author

Once referred to by the International Herald Tribune as ‘the most well-known expatriate Thai in the world,’ Somtow Sucharitkul is no longer an expatriate, since he has returned to Thailand after five decades of wandering the world. He is best known as an award-winning novelist and a composer of operas.

Born in Bangkok, Somtow grew up in Europe and was educated at Eton and Cambridge. His first career was in music and in the 1970s, his first return to Asia, he acquired a reputation as a revolutionary composer, the first to combine Thai and Western instruments in radical new sonorities. Conditions in the arts in the region at the time proved so traumatic for the young composer that he suffered a major burnout, emigrated to the United States, and reinvented himself as a novelist.

His earliest novels were in the science fiction field and he soon won the John W. Campbell for Best New Writer as well as being nominated for and winning numerous other awards in the field. But science fiction was not able to contain him and he began to cross into other genres. In his 1984 novel Vampire Junction, he injected a new literary inventiveness into the horror genre, in the words of Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, ‘skillfully combining the styles of Stephen King, William Burroughs, and the author of the Revelation to John.’ Vampire Junction was voted one of the forty all-time greatest horror books by the Horror Writers’ Association, joining established classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. He has also published children’s books, a historical novel, and about a hundred works of short fiction.

In the 1990s Somtow became increasingly identified as a uniquely Asian writer with novels such as the semi-autobiographical Jasmine Nights and a series of stories noted for a peculiarly Asian brand of magic realism, such as Dragon’s Fin Soup, which is currently being made into a film directed by Takashi Miike. He recently won the World Fantasy Award, the highest accolade given in the world of fantastic literature, for his novella The Bird Catcher. His seventy-plus books have sold about two million copies world-wide. He has been nominated for or won over forty awards in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

After becoming a Buddhist monk for a period in 2001, Somtow decided to refocus his attention on the country of his birth, founding Bangkok’s first international opera company and returning to music, where he again reinvented himself, this time as a neo-Asian neo-Romantic composer. The Norwegian government commissioned his song cycle Songs Before Dawn for the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, and he composed at the request of the government of Thailand his Requiem: In Memoriam 9/11 which was dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy.

According to London’s Opera magazine, ‘in just five years, Somtow has made Bangkok into the operatic hub of Southeast Asia.’ His operas on Thai themes, Madana and Mae Naak, have been well received by international critics.

Somtow has recently been awarded the 2017 Europa Cultural Achievement Award for his work in bridging eastern and western cultures. In 2020 he returned to science fiction after a twenty-year absence with “Homeworld of the Heart”, a fifth novel in the Inquestor series.

Currently he has just finished Nero and Sporus, a massive historical novel set in Imperial Rome.

To support S.P. Somtow’s work, visit his patreon account at patreon.com/spsomtow. His website is at www.somtow.com.

Connect with the Author

Follow the Nero and Sprous blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

I’m delighted to welcome Amanda Roberts and her new book, Lady of the Quay, to the blog #LadyoftheQuay #Tudors #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalMystery #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Amanda Roberts and her new book, Lady of the Quay, Book 1 in the Isabella Gillhespy Series, to the blog with a snippet.

Snippet

‘Drink?’ I asked, gesturing towards the cabinet. He removed his hat, threw it onto a chair, and shook his head.

‘I’m here on business.’

That had never stopped him before. My heart had already sunk into my stomach, and his curt reply sent it plummeting to my feet. I had envisaged a cosy chat, me resting on my settle, him in his favourite chair, either side of the fire. A scene we had populated so many times in the past. But I already knew that was not going to happen. I did not sit down, but faced him, both of us standing somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the room.

‘Well?’ I challenged him to speak first. If we got the business out of the way we might be able to move on to resolve the more personal difficulties that stood between us, a wall as impenetrable as those surrounding Berwick. But like our town defences, every wall has its gates. I just needed to find Will’s gate.

Here’s the Blurb

Knowing she is innocent is easy … proving it is hard

1560, Berwick-upon-Tweed, northern England

Following the unexpected death of her father, a series of startling discoveries about the business she inherits forces Isabella Gillhespy to re-evaluate everything she understands about her past and expects from her future.

Facing financial ruin, let down by people on whom she thought she could rely, and suspected of crimes that threaten her freedom, Isabella struggles to prove her innocence.

But the stakes are even higher than she realises. In a town where tension between England and her Scottish neighbours is never far from the surface, it isn’t long before developments attract the interest of the highest authority in the land, Sir William Cecil, and soon Isabella is fighting, not just for her freedom, but her life. She must use her wits and trust her own instincts to survive.

Lady of the Quay introduces an enticing new heroine who refuses to be beaten, even as it becomes clear that her life will never be the same again.

From the author of the award-winning ‘The Woman in the Painting’.

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This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited

Meet the Author

Amanda Roberts has worked as an Editor in business-to-business magazines for over 30 years, specialising in out-of-home coffee, vending and foodservice/catering, including Editor of the global gastronomy title: ‘Revue internationale de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs’.

She currently freelances, editing UK-based healthcare titles – HEFMA Pulse, Hospital Food + Service and Hospital Caterer. She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society and West Oxfordshire Writers. She also volunteers for Tea Books (part of Age UK) to run a book club/reading group for elderly people in the community.

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I love celebrating book birthdays, and today it’s the 5th book birthday for Luminous by Samantha Wilcoxson HistoricalBiographicalFiction #HistoricalFiction #RadiumGirls #TrueStory #BookBirthday #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Here’s the blurb

Tragic true story of a radium girl.

Catherine’s life is set on an unexpected course when she accepts a job at Radium Dial. The dial painters forge friendships and enjoy their work but soon discover that an evil secret lurks in the magical glow-in-the-dark paint. When she and her friends start falling ill, Catherine Donohoe takes on the might of a big corporation and becomes an early pioneer of social justice in the era between world wars.

Emotive and inspiring – this book will touch you like no other as you witness the devastating impact of radium poisoning on young women’s lives.

It’s too late for me, but maybe it will help some of the others.

~ Catherine Wolfe Donohue

Buy Link

https://mybook.to/luminous

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Meet the author

Writer, history enthusiast, and sufferer of wanderlust, Samantha enjoys exploring the lives of historical figures through research and travel. She strives to reveal the deep emotions and motivations of historical figures, enabling readers to connect with them in a unique way. Samantha is an American writer with British roots and proud mother of three amazing young adults. She can frequently be found lakeside with a book in one hand and glass of wine in the other.

Samantha’s most recent release is a biography of James Alexander Hamilton published by Pen & Sword History. She is currently writing a trilogy set during the Wars of the Roses for Sapere Books.

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I’m delighted to welcome Deborah Swift and her new book, Last Train to Freedom, to the blog #WW2 #TransSiberian #Russia #Japan #WomensFiction #Spies #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Deborah Swift and her new book, Last Train to Freedom, to the blog with Researching Last Train to Freedom and the Sugihara Story.

Researching Last Train to Freedom and the Sugihara Story

Last Train to Freedom is set in WW2 during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, and with the threat of the Nazis over the border. The parallels to today’s political situation in Ukraine could not be clearer.

The book tells the story of Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi and Soviet oppression. Because of the current situation, although I was fascinated by the Trans-Siberian Express, I was not about to go and take the journey myself. My initial research was largely based around websites such as the Holocaust Encyclopedia and then books and papers found via JStor and other trustworthy academic websites.

The main story is about how Japanese Consul Sugihara enabled the escape of thousands of Jews by giving them visas – against the wishes of his government. One man held the fate of so many lives in his hands. The best overview I found of events was In Search of Sugihara by Ellel Levine.

Sughara’s wife Yukiko wrote a memoir about the events called No Visa (Rokusen-nin no Inochi) which is widely available, and tells the inside story of her husband’s frantic signing of visas before the consulate was shut down by the Soviets. Being aware that applicants were in life-threatening danger, Sugihara ignored his superiors’ orders and, from July 18 to August 28, 1940, he issued over 2100 life-saving transit visas.

‘My husband and I talked about the visas before he issued them. We understood that both the Japanese and German governments disagreed with our ideas, but we went ahead anyhow.’

Sugihara spoke to Soviet officials who agreed to let the Jews travel through the country via the Trans-Siberian Railway. I used detailed maps of the journey and researched each of the stops along the way to get a sense of where events might take place along the journey. Finding out about Russian trains of the 1940’s was quite a journey in itself – how did the doors open? What were the carriages like?

I gleaned much of the information from trawling through memoirs looking for telling detail. The escape on the Trans-Siberian Express was recorded by many in their memoirs, most notably I Have My Mother’s Eyes (A Holocaust Memoir Across Generations by Barbara Ruth Bluman, Light One Candle: A Survivor’s Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem by Solly Ganor and One More Border: The True Story of One Family’s Escape from War-Torn Europe by William Kaplan. There are also several recordings on YouTube which tell the story, for example this one about the Lermer family.

The story takes place in three geographical locations – Lithuania, Moscow, and Japan, and all needed research, not to mention the journey across 6000 miles of Siberian wilderness! About half way through I wondered, have I bitten off more than I can chew here? But by then I was hooked on the story and just ploughed on, my huge collection of books and papers growing all the time.

I used many other books to give me a sense of the culture and background, especially to grasp an idea of the Russian mindset, and also the culture of Japan for when my fictional refugees eventually arrive in Kobe.

Trains, trains, trains! I watched an awful lot of old steam train videos to get a sense of how steam was built up to power the engine, what sort of noise it might make and how it might behave in snow. I became a train buff for about six months, visiting the National Railway Museum to get a sense of the sheer weight and size of these old trains.

I hope that anyone reading the book will feel, as I did when researching, that they have really been through the middle of Siberia, and I hope they will enjoy the journey.

Last Train to Freedom is out in ebook, paperback and audio.

Here’s the Blurb

‘Taut, compelling and beautifully written – I loved it!’ ~ DAISY WOOD

‘Tense and thought-provoking’ ~ CATHERINE LAW

1940. As Soviet forces storm Lithuania, Zofia and her brother Jacek must flee to survive.

A lifeline appears when Japanese consul Sugihara offers them visas on one condition: they must deliver a parcel to Tokyo. Inside lies intelligence on Nazi atrocities, evidence so explosive that Nazi and Soviet agents will stop at nothing to possess it.

Pursued across Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Express, Zofia faces danger at every turn, racing to expose the truth as Japan edges closer to allying with the Nazis. With the fate of countless lives hanging in the balance, can she complete her mission before time runs out?

‘Such an interesting and original book…. Informative, full of suspense and thrills.’

~ Netgalley Review

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Meet the Author

Deborah Swift is the English author of twenty historical novels, including Millennium Award winner Past Encounters, and The Poison Keeper the novel based around the life of the legendary poisoner Giulia Tofana. The Poison Keeper won the Wishing Shelf Readers Award for Book of the Decade. Recently she has completed a secret agent series set in WW2, the first in the series being The Silk Code.

Deborah used to work as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV and enjoys the research aspect of creating historical fiction, something she loved doing as a scenographer. She likes to write about extraordinary characters set against a background of real historical events. Deborah lives in England on the edge of the Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge.

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I’m excited to share the cover for Warriors of Iron, the second book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy #newrelease #WarriorsOfIron #histfic

It’s happy release day to Men of Iron, the first book in the Dark Age Chronicles Trilogy #newrelease #MenOfIron #histfic

Listen to me waffle about it.

Here’s the beauty

Image shows the book cover for Warriors of Iron by hstorical fiction author MJ Porter

Preorder Link (releases 13th July)

books2read.com/WarriorsofIron

Here’s the blurb

During Britannia’s tribal age only the strongest prevail…

Britain AD541

Seeress Meddi has been restored to her rightful position of influence within the Eorlingas tribe. But a heavy cloud hangs over the tribe’s survival with the escape of the treacherous Elen who seeks to exact a bloody vengeance following Meddi’s reinstatement and her downfall.

Meddi knows Elen will return to settle the blood feud and the tribe must be ready to face this deadly threat with iron. They must toil day and night to harness the power of the lost magiks to make the weapons needed to overpower Elen.

Meanwhile, Wærmund, a warrior of Saxon descent, has escaped his enforced captivity and vows vengeance against his captors. He too hungers for the promise of sharp blades and travels West to find those who can fashion iron into blades sharp enough to kill. But when a lone woman befriends the band of warriors, promising him even more than that, he’s beguiled by her tale of deceit amongst her own tribe, so reminiscent of his own.

Unbeknown, Meddi and Wærmund share a common enemy and one who is just as belligerent as they are…

Curious about the trilogy? Check out my blog post for more details below

Blog links

The Dark Age Chronicles

https://mjporterauthor.blog/2015/03/28/a-discussion-of-early-anglo-saxon-sources/

Image shows a map of Early England showing the places mentioned in the text of the book — The Dark Age Chronicles Map

Purchase Link for Men of Iron, the first book in the trilogy

books2read.com/Men-of-Iron

Image shows the book cover for Men of Iron by historical fiction author MJ Porter

Posts

I’m delighted to welcome Paul Bernardi and his new book, Uprising, to the blog #Uprising #HistoricalFiction #AngloSaxon #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Paul Bernardi and his new book, Uprising, book 2 of the Rebellion series, to the blog.

Here’s the Blurb

Summer 1067.
Northumbria.

Oslac, thegn of the village of Acum, feels cheated – having been robbed of the chance to kill his enemy by his own kinsman.

Instead, Gundulf, the erstwhile Lord of Hexham and murderer of Acum’s villagers, is now awaiting justice for his crimes in Bebbanburh, Earl Oswulf’s fortress capital far to the north.

But when Oslac narrowly escapes death at the hands of Gundulf’s assassin, he realises he will never be safe while the Dane lives. Summoning his closest companions, Oslac heads north to demand Oswulf put an end to Gundulf’s life – only to find the prisoner has escaped.

Tracking the fugitive into the wild hills and dales of Northumbria – places far beyond the reach of Oswulf’s power – Oslac falls into Gundulf’s trap when the earl’s warband is ambushed with catastrophic consequences.

Elsewhere, unrest in the north of England is growing. Impotent in the face of Norman avaricious brutality, the Saxon nobility can do nothing to prevent their ancestral lands being passed to foreign invaders. It can only be endured for so long, and a reckoning is coming.

Once again, Oslac must put aside his personal vendetta to join with the few remaining great lords of Anglo-Saxon England in what may prove to be the final, climactic stand against their Norman overlords.

The song of swords will echo across the land once more.

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Meet the Author

Paul Bernardi studied Anglo-Saxon and Medieval history at the University of Leeds more years ago than he cares to remember. He has been an author of historical fiction since his first novel (a second world war drama) was published in 2017. Since then, he has reverted to his favoured period, publishing six more novels (so far) set in 11th century England, mainly around the time of the Norman Conquest.

Paul Bernardi’s books are published by Sharp Books.

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I’m delighted to spotlight Metropolis by Colin Garrow, a historical crime novel set in Edinburgh #blogtour #histfic

Here’s the blurb

Edinburgh, 1936. People are disappearing. The police are clueless. Can Finlay MacBeth track down the perpetrator before someone else goes missing?

Haunted by his recent past, Professor Finlay MacBeth returns to his home town to take up a new post at the university. Within hours, his reputation for solving the occasional murder prompts the police to ask for his help. Four men—seemingly unconnected—have vanished into thin air. MacBeth must find whatever it is that links the men before the kidnapper strikes again.

But the police aren’t the only ones interested in MacBeth’s activities, and the amateur sleuth soon discovers that finding the missing men is the least of his problems…

In this thriller series set in Edinburgh, Metropolis is book #1 in the Finlay MacBeth Thriller series.

Book cover for Metropolis by Colin Garrow

Purchase Link

https://geni.us/ps3XiW

Meet the author

Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has worked in a plethora of professions including taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate.

He has published more than thirty books, and his short stories have appeared in several literary mags, most recently in Witcraft, and Flash Fiction North. Colin lives in a humble cottage in Northeast Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and the occasional song.

He also plays several musical instruments and makes rather nice vegan cakes.

Connect with Colin

Check out my reviews for Colin’s other books

I’m sharing an excerpt from Tangled in Water by Pam Records HistoricalFiction #Prohibition #Mermaid #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Excerpt

“Hello there, Nattie, honey,” called Mimi in her honey-sweet voice as she popped out of the door behind the curtains.

Mimi wasn’t much older than the chorus line girls. She was like a big sister, looking out for them, scolding and nagging, doing her part to make the performances alluring. Mimi liked to say “alluring,” and then she would do a mouth pucker and put one hand on her hip and the other in the air with her wrist cocked like she was holding a bunch of potatoes. Nattie only made the mistake of mocking her once.

Mimi had been a model when she was very young, or so she said. That was hard to imagine. She walked like a penguin on stubby short legs. And she wore glasses, big round frames that made her look like an owl. If Antonio was around, she took them off, an interesting fact to ponder. Just like the come-and-go French accent. Mimi lack conviction.

The game’s exhausting, isn’t it, Mimi? You have to breathe it, Mimi. Be it. Look at me. I bleed turquoise. Piss magenta. Fart like a flounder.

Today, Mimi was carrying a stack of costumes over her arm, all neatly repaired, booze stains laundered, ready to be delivered backstage. Nattie could see long white gloves with buttons and black lace and see-through fabrics with tassels and snaps for flinging off and dropping on the stage.

Ba-da-boom. Hey, baby.

Sometimes the girls ripped too hard. Or the men.

Ba-da-boom. Take it off, baby.

Snaps had to be reattached, tears stitched up or patched. Mimi, the penguin seamstress, made the inconvenient flaws go away so they could come back again. And again. Maybe she needed stronger thread, maybe wires reinforced with defiance. Or electricity. Wouldn’t that be a hot, sizzling hoot?

“Nattie, have you brushed that hair of yours this week?” asked Mimi, hand on hip, her mouth all puckered. “My God. And to think I have a new crown for you to wear. A gift. Real jewels. And I have to bobby pin it to that rat’s nest?” The woman shook her head. No accent needed for that.

Here’s the blurb

1932. Natalia is 16 and a bootlegger’s daughter, playing the mermaid mascot on a rundown paddlewheel used to entertain brewers and distributors.

A sequined costume hides her scarred and misshaped legs, but it can’t cover up the painful memories and suspicions that haunt her. An eccentric healer who treats patients with Old Country tonics, tries to patch wounds, but only adds to the heartache. A fierce storm threatens to destroy everything, including a stash of stolen jewels.

1941. Prohibition is over, but the same henchmen still run the show. Nattie’s new mermaid act is more revealing, with more at risk. When the dry-docked paddlewheel is bought by the US Navy for training exercises, the pressure escalates further.

Can Nattie entice a cocky US Navy officer to help her gain access to the ship for one last chance to confront her past, settle scores, and retrieve the hidden loot? Is there a new course ahead?

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Ebook

Paperback

Hardcover

Meet the author

Pam and her husband, Mark, recently uprooted from the Midwest to move to Savannah, Georgia, the perfect place for enjoying the beach, historic architecture and Spanish moss.

She’s recently retired from writing content for software companies and now focuses on writing fiction, camping, and exploring historic cities.

Pam is the author of three historic novels.

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I’m welcoming the Boy with Wings by Mark Mustian to the blog, with a fab post about historical research LiteraryFiction #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Historical research for BOY WITH WINGS

Boy With Wings is set mostly in northern Florida, where I’ve lived all my life, and as such I had some familiarity with the historical predicate of the story, but not all of it. I knew almost nothing about sideshows, or “freaks,” which necessitated quite a bit of research on the subjects.

People have asked where the idea to write the book came from, and I tell them that perhaps it was from attending the North Florida Fair as a child and seeing “The World’s Smallest Horse” or the “Wild Man from Borneo.” Somewhere along the way I saw the 1932 Tod Browning movie “Freaks,” and this spawned more interest. When I told my agent I was thinking of writing a novel that delved into this area, he asked if I’d read the novel Geek Love, which I hadn’t, and did. This spawned more research.

There are a number of books cataloguing human oddities that were helpful to bring an understanding of this arena, including Freak Babylon by Jack Hunter and American Sideshow by Marc Hartzman. Eventually I found the book Truevine, by Beth Macy, which sets forth the story of the albino brothers sold into the circus who became known as Eko and Iko, billed as sheep-headed wonders from Mars. I learned a lot from these books, including the fact that for some, including Eko and Iko, their lives became perhaps better than if they’d remained at home.

I also discovered the book Freaks, by Leslie Fiedler, an examination of what attracts us psychologically to human oddities, and the documentary “Sideshow: Alive on the Inside,” by Lynn Dougherty. One of the most insightful finds, though, was a biography of a gentleman named Ward Hall, who for fifty years ran sideshows across the United States. After my book was published, I did several appearances with the current sideshow performer Short E. Dangerously, who paid me one of the highest compliments a historical fiction writer can receive when he told me that I “nailed what it was like to be in a sideshow” and asked me about my research. When I told him about the Ward Hall book, he exclaimed: “I knew it! I was in a Ward Hall show for several years!”

I had a little general knowledge of turpentine camps, as I remember as a child passing rows of pine trees with little tin pans affixed to their trunks. The research in this area involved locating pamphlets and books describing such operations, and a visit to the Florida Forest Capital Museum State Park in Perry, Florida, where displays show how turpentine is extracted from trees and distilled.

Some have asked why I set the novel in the 1930s, and what I research I conducted regarding the Great Depression. I wanted the story to take place at a time things were changing, in some ways for the better and others ways not. By the 1930s, sideshows had seen their heyday and were starting to phase out. The South was still segregated, but cracks were beginning to show in that, too. In the book, I have the show admitting Blacks for the first time in an attempt to garner more revenue. I did quite a bit of research on places, events and language of the time, as I wanted the reader to feel like she or he was there, reading old newspapers, seeing small towns and their quaintness and prejudices, experiencing the people and their foibles that are in some ways not unlike those today. That’s to me what the best historical fiction accomplishes, and I hope I’ve come close to achieving it.

Here’s the blurb

“A brilliant fever dream of a novel, a haunting coming of age story reminiscent of both Franz Kafka and Charles Dickens.”

~ Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Jackal’s Mistress

*Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2025 First Place Winner*

What does it mean to be different?

When Johnny Cruel is born with strange appendages on his back in the 1930s South, the locals think he’s a devil. Determined to protect him, his mother fakes his death, and they flee. Thus begins Johnny’s yearslong struggle to find a place he belongs.

From a turpentine camp of former slaves to a freak show run by a dwarf who calls herself Tiny Tot and on to the Florida capitol building, Johnny finds himself working alongside other outcasts, struggling to answer the question of his existence. Is he a horror, a wonder, or an angel? Should he hide himself to live his life?

Following Johnny’s journey through love, betrayal, heartbreak, and several murders, Boy With Wings is a story of the sacrifices and freedom inherent in making one’s own special way-and of love and the miracles that give our lives meaning.

Buy Link

https://books2read.com/u/mdxEoR

Meet the author

Mark Mustian is the author of the novels “The Return” and “The Gendarme,” the latter a finalist for the Dayton International Literary Peace Prize and shortlisted for the Saroyan International Award for Writing. It won the Florida Gold Book Award for Fiction and has been published in ten languages.

The founder of the Word of South Festival of Literature and Music in Tallahassee, Florida, his new novel, “Boy With Wings,” is out in 2025.

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I’m delighted to welcome Janet Wertman and her new book, Nothing Proved, to the blog #HistoricalFiction #TudorFiction #ElizabethTudor #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Janet Wertman and her new book, Nothing Proved, to the blog with a guest post.

Guest Post

Thank you for having me on your blog to talk about my historical research, though I feel a little guilty given how much more information I have available to me than you do! The Tudor Era really marks the beginning of careful documentation of the historical record – and it’s all carefully indexed. The touch of a button opens the records of the Privy Council, writings of ambassadors, details of state trials. I can examine floorplans of castles and paintings of gardens long gone, I can watch videos of hawking parties and court dances, listen to period music played on antique instruments. But that much bounty can actually be overwhelming, so I focus my research in predictable thematic waves to get the narrative where it needs to be.

As my very first step with a new story, I start with books, or rather, I have always started with books and I am working on a way to do so again. I lost some amazing volumes in the January fires – things like The Social History of Lighting, Lady Hoby’s Diary, Conyers Read’s two-volume biography of William Cecil, and a host of other biographies, all of which told slightly different versions of the history. That’s the toughest part about researching: the inconsistent reports, the unreliable biographers. Of course, that can also be a bit of a hall pass for an author!

Anyway, once I have an idea what my story will be, I start to assemble dates into a detailed timeline, cherry-picking the ones I intend to use or need to keep in mind, and jotting down notes. From that, I outline the actual novel, date-stamped to keep me honest. Then the writing, which sends me down mid-course rabbit holes for scene-level information: the where, the why, the time of day – and an understanding of the relevant political context: that’s where letters come in. Any letter will have something to recommend it, but ambassadors’ letters are usually a goldmine. When I was writing The Boy King, I happened upon one relating how Edward VI plucked a dead falcon as a warning to his Council…yes I used that. Did I know that a similar rumor once surrounded Charles V? Yes, but again, the source gave me a hall pass…

Beyond that comes the truly granular part of the research, taking me back to books and websites and everything in between. The descriptions of Elizabeth’s clothes and dresses were helped along by Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d, an amazing resource that assembles inventories of the Wardrobe of the Robes, descriptions of the royal artificers, the different fashion styles and fads, and so much more. Descriptions of small household furnishings were invented with reference to the New Year’s Gift Exchanges 1559-1603, another rabbit hole to mine. Of course, sometimes the warrens are empty. Back in The Path to Somerset, I needed to show Henry closeted at Oatlands after learning about Catherine Howard’s infidelities. I wanted to find the period equivalent of him sitting in his bathrobe eating ice cream from the tub. It was easy enough to find the sumptuary laws that justified a silk night robe with a black jennet lining…but apparently he would have been scooping whale blubber and that would have required too much explanation to use. Instead, I had to simply give him empty wine goblets and a tray of half-eaten food.

I will say, for the early part of Nothing Proved, I run into a bit of your problem (and the problem of any other writer of Saxon England): few sources that mention my main character, and none that really show her interacting with her closest friends…so my initial task was to cross-reference the official records of Elizabeth’s doings with those of the other people in her orbit and come up with the intersections that the story required. I knew that Robert Dudley was keeper of Somerset House while it was in her use, I knew that William Cecil began to work for her just a month after a significant wedding they both would have attended, and so I was able to capture the depth of their respective relationships. In the end, big and small all come together. That is the beauty of research done right.

Here’s the Blurb

Danger lined her path, but destiny led her to glory…

Elizabeth Tudor learned resilience young. Declared illegitimate after the execution of her mother Anne Boleyn, she bore her precarious position with unshakable grace. But upon the death of her father, King Henry VIII, the vulnerable fourteen-year-old must learn to navigate a world of shifting loyalties, power plays, and betrayal.

After narrowly escaping entanglement in Thomas Seymour’s treason, Elizabeth rebuilds her reputation as the perfect Protestant princess – which puts her in mortal danger when her half-sister Mary becomes Queen and imposes Catholicism on a reluctant land. Elizabeth escapes execution, clawing her way from a Tower cell to exoneration. But even a semblance of favor comes with attempts to exclude her from the throne or steal her rights to it through a forced marriage.

Elizabeth must outwit her enemies time and again to prove herself worthy of power. The making of one of history’s most iconic monarchs is a gripping tale of survival, fortune, and triumph.

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Meet the Author

By day, Janet Wertman is a freelance grantwriter for impactful nonprofits. By night, she writes critically acclaimed, character-driven historical fiction – indulging a passion for the Tudor era she had harbored since she was eight years old and her parents let her stay up late to watch The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.

Her Seymour Saga trilogy (Jane the Quene, The Path to Somerset, The Boy King) took her deep into one of the era’s central families – and now her follow-up Regina series explores Elizabeth’s journey from bastard to icon.

Janet also runs a blog (www.janetwertman.com) where she posts interesting takes on the Tudors and what it’s like to write about them.