• Cornish Rogues
  • A Little Slice of Raunch
  • Blog
  • Books By Shehanne Moore
    • Loving Lady Lazuli – London Jewel Thieves
    • Splendor- London Jewel Thieves
    • The Viking and The Courtesan -Time Mutants
    • His Judas Bride
    • The Writer and The Rake -Time Mutants
    • Reviews
    • the Unraveling of Lady Fury
    • O’Roarke’s Destiny
  • Meet My Characters
  • Time Mutants.
  • The Brotherhood of Wolves
  • The Starkadder Sisterhood. London Jewel Thieves
  • The World of Lady Fury
  • A native of Scotland, I believe -About
  • The Starkadder Sisters Jewel Thief Quiz
  • contact

shehanne moore

~ Smexy Historical Romance

shehanne moore

Tag Archives: Location

Location in writing. Four places in #Glencoe

03 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by shehannemoore in Author Interviews, blogging, book tour, Glencoe, heroes, heroines, highlanders, Romance, Scottish, writing

≈ 58 Comments

Tags

Glencoe, Highland Romance, highlanders, His Judas Bride, Location, Location in writing, Scottish, The Deivl's Staircase, The Hidden Valley Glencoe, The Lochan Glencoe

 

Shey – Yup. Indeed I’ve been meaning to blog it and show off a few pics of that weekend….ages ago now.

 

Shey….including the moveable summit there above. I say that cos mountains in Glencoe are a bit like writing books that way. You think you’re there when you’re not. Indeed you could say that about this whole biz.

But location? Yep. Kate Furnivall said something last post about it being another character in a book and for me that says it all.   It may not have goal, motivation or conflict BUT you ignore it at your peril if you want to bring your book to life.  So I always look to choose a location, or invest a place, a house for example, with characteristics that will hopefully do that.   

Glencoe has been a special place for me, for many years.  And when it came to thinking of what I could

blog about this book, well, it’s a place of savage grandeur , I thought given I’ve a lot of different readers now, so why not the places that found their way into the book?

Besides I got Christmas baking to do and get in the freezer.

In writing His Judas Bride, I wanted to write about the Highlands as I know them. And the clans as history tells us. That’s with a lot of bloodshed and savagery, oh and double crossing. 

So….  Location one that found its way into the book–

One -The Devil’s Staircase.

The most obvious way to stop her from leaving Lochalpin—and it was written in his blood, he damn well would—was to station men at the top of the pass. He’d done that. Hell. Four days now. He’d done everything.

 

Seen above there in the snow….. which used to cut the Highlands off in the winter months often as not. So yeah, there’s a  ton of snow in this story. There’s also the Staircase.

In 1692, the path was the approach route for the (apparently delayed) troops coming from Kinlochleven to provide reinforcements for the Massacre of Glencoe in which 38 people died at the hands of billeted soldiers, who had come as ‘guests’ – the only Trojan hamster…oops… horse way in to the glen at that time.  I may have renamed Glencoe,  Lochalpin, but the Trojan horse principle is the core of the book.

Famously? In personal terms? Well the scene of a turn back off the range behind it in June, covered in ice, in Arctic conditions.  

TWO – The Hidden Valley

 Not once in the last hour, as she’d edged along that treacherous gully, expecting to pepper the rocks hundreds of feet below, with her bones at any moment, had she any idea anyone was followinghidden valle

Famously, the scene of one incident where our party handed out hotel towels– be prepared is my  mountain motto, specially with things taken from everyone else, sure the hotel was delighted NOT–and formed a chain across a raging burn to rescue a stranded party, as you do in Glencoe….

 ‘And the Macdonalds hid their stolen cows here?’  I asked the first time I was ever here.  I mean the coos must have had quite a climb, how they got along the rake with their big cloppers, never mind the one slip and that’s it bit,  I couldn’t tell you. But ideal for giving Kara second thoughts about getting out the place again once things start to fall apart.   Oh, and maybe taking you dudes to, next time I visit……

Location three

The Lochan –

Knew it, didn’t he—what a stunning specimen he was. More stunning in fact than the plate-glass loch, the iced mountains that rose like sentinels around it.

img035

All right…man made under the most romantic circumstances by Lord Strathcona, https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/she-had-seduced-him/ so here doubling as the lovely loch of Lochalpin. Naturally in the story it has a castle out on the loch, and the Black Wolf and his bunch of bandits live in underground caves on the shore…so let’s not hang about here either…..

Famously- okay, ‘fessing up here.. our party once got rid a large half tree trunk here that had been cluttering our boot.

And lastly

 Four – Eilean Munde…….

‘“Has no one told you about the Isle of the Saints, then?”

“The w-what?” But perhaps that was because she’d always been more acquainted with the Isle of the Sinners.eilean

 

No not a person. A place. The burial island  once used by the Stewarts of Ballachulish, the MacDonalds of Glencoe and the Camerons of Callart. The clans shared the island and the maintenance of the graves, even when they were responsible for putting one another in them.  Also the site of a chapel built by St. Fintan Mundus…naturally chapel and island  doubles for the Island of the Saints, a place Kara rather unwillingly becomes acquainted with. Famously in my own book of life, near the spot where we wrecked the local cafe’s grass when our car sunk into it…..

That’s good dudes, cos see that island. Next time that’s where you’re going.  And since you can’t swim it’s where you’ll be staying too. Now I am gonna to open the voddie and do the cossack dance…….

To love, honor, and betray…

To get back her son, she will stop at nothing…

 

Dire circumstances have forced Kara McGurkie to forget she’s a woman. Dire circumstances force her to swear to love and honor, to help destroy a clan, when it means getting back her son. But when dire circumstances force her to seduce her fiancé’s brother on the eve of the wedding, will the dark secrets she holds and her greatest desire be enough to save her from his powerful allure?

 

To save his people, neither will he…

Since his wife’s murder, Callm McDunnagh, the Black Wolf of Lochalpin, ruthlessly guards heart and glen from dangerous intruders. But from the moment he first sees Kara he knows he must possess her, even though surrendering to his passion may prove the most dangerous risk of all.

 She has nothing left to fear except love itself…

Now only Kara can decide what passion can save or destroy, and who will finally learn the truth of the words… Till death do us part.

https://amzn.to/2PSe9SR

 

Surviving in Berlin with Kate Furnivall

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by shehannemoore in Author Interviews, book tour, New book, writing

≈ 64 Comments

Tags

Apple cake, Berlin, Brandenburg gate, Brliliant New Book, Europe after WW2, Kate Furnivall, Location, Location in writing, New book, Refugees, The Survivors, Word War Two

 

 

Kate. Hi there, dudes, it’s great to be with you again. Thank you for inviting me over. I heard from Cat Cavendish and from that Aussie troublemaker Noelle Clark that I should think twice before accepting the invitation because it could be … well … traumatic. But I’m not nervous. Because we have an understanding, don’t we, Bobby Bub? *wink wink*

Okay, you ask what made me pick Germany as the setting for my latest book, The Survivors.

The choice was triggered by what I saw on my television screen night after night – the desperate flight of refugees arriving frightened and exhausted in flimsy boats on the shores of Italy and Greece. It was heart-breaking to watch. It got me thinking about how Europe dealt with the problem of refugees in the past. Have we learned nothing?

It seems not.

I started to delve deeper and became totally engrossed in the story of the millions – yes, millions – of refugees who flooded across Europe at the end of World War 2. Homeless, jobless and starving, many fleeing from Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, it was the biggest mass migration in the history of mankind.

So what did the Allied Military Government do?

They set up camps throughout Germany, just like we do today, to house the refugees. Some were in disused factories or military barracks, some in vast purpose-built enclosures. All had pretty basic facilities. Too often they were dangerous places. But they held out the offer of a dream of a better future.

To me it felt SO relevant to what is happening now and I knew I had found my story – a young mother and her child in one of the Displaced Persons camps in Germany, forced to confront the shadows of her wartime past when a man she knew in Warsaw enters the camp disguised as a refugee.

 Kate : I’m sorry, Bobby Bub, but all the hamsters in the camp were tossed into the stewpot with onions and garlic. Very tasty, apparently. Note to dudes:- steer clear of refugee camps!

 

Kate.

I wish I knew. To be honest, it varies. Sometimes it’s the characters who come to me first, walking into my life as bold as brass. But at other times it is the location that spills into my mind first, seducing me with its beauty or its history. This was particularly true of my last book, The Betrayal, which was set in Paris 1938. All that glamour and decadence. Oh, those delicious hot Parisian nights that I had to research …. I’m looking at you, Bobby Bub.

Kate. – I regard the location in each of my books as a character in the story, with a voice of its own. In The Survivors it’s not just the Displaced Persons camp location, but also the bomb-damaged cities of Berlin and Hanover that play a major role in the twists and turns of the plot.

At one point my main character Klara is taken to a scary prison in East Berlin and when she escapes, all hell lets loose. I loved stalking through the blackened ruins of the city at night with her, aware of its presence looming over her, feeling its breath on her neck. Yes, location for me is a crucial part of my books.

 

Kate.  The Survivors does exactly what it says on the tin – it is about those who endured the war and now have to survive the peace. At its heart lies the question of how far a mother will go to protect her daughter. The answer is to hell and back. Klara, who lost her husband early in the war, is a strong and resourceful young woman whose love for 10 year-old Alicja is absolute and unshakeable. This is what drives the story through its many heart-stopping moments.

Klara and Alicja are incarcerated in the Displaced Persons camp with thousands of others, caught in a twilit existence somewhere between night and day. When the arrogant Oskar Scholtz walks into the camp pretending to be a refugee, she knows he is a threat to her life. But more importantly a threat to her daughter’s life. Because they both know the truth about his Nazi past. Klara decides he has to die, but they begin a dangerous game in which neither can trust the other. Klara is helped by her close friend Davide and by Hanna, the camp’s mighty laundrywoman.

But who will leave the camp alive?

It is a taut and at times tough thriller about love, loyalty and survival. I believe its themes resonate very strongly with the world around us today.

 

Kate.  Berlin is a beautiful city full of parks, bicycles and fun. We’ll have a fab weekend there, Bobby B. I’ll take you first to explore the must-see thrills of the magnificent Brandenburg Gate, the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, the historic remains of the Wall and the Reichstag parliament building, reconstructed by our own British architect Norman Foster. Then we’ll head on down to Hackescher Markt for a spot of Apfelkuchen and beer, and a breeze round its warren of exquisite shops – chocs and leather goods to die for.

But for me the place in Berlin that I love most is right in the heart of the busy city – the awesome Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman. It is so moving, it brings me to tears without fail every time I go there. Photographs do not do it justice. It swallows you whole in a maze of tombstones. Utterly brilliant.

In the evening we will enjoy a delicious dinner in the revolving Sphere restaurant at the top of Berlin’s television tower. Not scared of heights, are you, BB? It is 680ft high. Stunning views across the city.

 

After that we’ll hit the nightspots in Friedrichsheim where the bars and clubs rock to live music all night.

I’m packing my case as we speak …

 

Kate..

I certainly do. I am a sucker for German Apfelkuchen … that’s Apple Cake. It’s always moist, spicy and deliciously moreish. Sehr lecker! Here is my fave recipe:-

3 large eggs

300g sugar

250ml vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300g plain flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

600g peeled and finely chopped tart apples, I use Granny Smith

150g chopped pecans

Icing

250g cream cheese

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

250g icing sugar

 

Instructions

 

1 Preheat oven to 170c degrees. Spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.

2 In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract until completely combined.

3 In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.

4 Add dry ingredients to wet and stir to combine.

5 Fold in apples and pecans. Pour batter into prepared pan.

6 Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool.

7 Make frosting. Place cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.

8 Add vanilla extract and icing sugar. Beat until smooth.

9 Spread on top of cake. Store leftovers in refrigerator

 

Kate. My next project? I am VERY excited about it. The story is set in France in 1953 – a new era for me – during the escalating nuclear threat of the Cold War. The story takes place in the Camargue, the French region famous for its gorgeous wild white horses and black bulls. The divisions within a family lead it into a sinister web of secrets and lies. Think Soviet spies, think danger, think thrills.

Thank you, dudes, for inviting me over. I really enjoyed catching up again.

Bobby B, you got your passport ready?

*** THE TOP TEN BESTSELLING AUTHOR ***

Directly I saw him, I knew he had to die.’

Germany, 1945. Klara Janowska and her daughter Alicja have walked for weeks to get to Graufeld Displaced Persons camp. In the cramped, dirty, dangerous conditions they, along with 3,200 others, are the lucky ones. They have survived and will do anything to find a way back home.

But when Klara recognises a man in the camp from her past, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins.

He knows exactly what she did during the war to save her daughter.

She knows his real identity.

What will be the price of silence? And will either make it out of the camp alive?

Kate Furnivall had the shock proof of her life when she learned just over a decade ago that she was part Russian. Not a demure all-English rose after all then. It changed her life. Triggered those Russian genes into action. Inspired by her grandmother’s dramatic St Petersburg life-story at the time of the Soviet Revolution, Kate wrote her first historical novel, The Russian Concubine, which hit the New York Times Bestseller list and was sold in 25 countries.It hooked Kate into the thrill of setting powerful emotional stories in dramatic far-off locations. She took to travelling with a vengeance – Russia, China, Malaya, Egypt, Bahamas, Italy, France. All became backdrops for her sweeping tales set in the first half of the 20th century when the world was in turmoil.

Research trips were riddled with wonderful adventures and weird discoveries that enrich her books. She delves into dark themes as well as intense love stories, and strips her characters to the bare bones in times of crisis to see what they are made of. Her books are full of tension, twists and thrills, atmosphere and romance.

Kate was raised in Wales, went to London Uni and worked in advertising in London. She now lives in blissful Devon with her husband, snuggled up close to Agatha Christie’s house for inspiration. She has two sons and a manky cat.

Kate has written ten historical novels, two of which have been shortlisted for the RNA Historical Novel of the Year Award.

 

Aspects Of Writing. On location with Michael Dellert

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by shehannemoore in Author Interviews, blogging, book tour, heroes, heroines, writing

≈ 85 Comments

Tags

Action, Adventure, Location, Medieval, Michael Dellert, The Romance of Eowain, Tips on location for writers, Writing Locations

dickens map

 

zmed 4545454

zsilv moan 3

zsilv moan zsilv zmed 565

zsilveee zdick

zsilvpool zsilvdungggg zdickenss zdickensin s zsilvoie6

zmed-bbbbbbwil

zsilvbbbbbbb zsilvpet zcat zbvooo zant

Michael. Writer, editor, consultant.

cropped-mdellert-dot-com_3

Before I answer, let me say what a great honor it is to be interviewed by—uhm—hamsters. I can’t say I ever imagined this glorious day would come.

As to your question: Is there such a thing as a petty hamster? I wouldn’t have thought that so grand and magnificent a creature as a hamster might have lesser cousins?

zsilvin dunge

But a petty hedge-king, that’s a king over a very small territory, a mere tribe of some 3000 souls. The “hedge” of such a kingdom might be the shrubberies we know today, or stone walls, or even a hedge of spears.

Hedge-King-in-Winter-Amazon

The word “hedge” is used in the sense of a form of protection (“a hedge against a loss”) and also in the Samuel Johnson sense of “something mean, vile, of the lowest class.” So a hedge king is a king of the lowest class, responsible for the protection of his people. Ancient Ireland (the inspiration for my stories) had several ranks of king, from the 150 or so merely tribal kings up to the High King of All Ireland himself, so to avoid confusion, I use “hedge king” to denote the lowest rank of those kings. Rather a lot like a Scottish Laird or an English Baron, only before the days when the kings of Scotland and England could claim any real authority over such lesser lords and they could still put on grand airs and call themselves “kings.”

zmed-bbbbbbbubb zsilvie

MICHAEL.

I think location is at least as important to a hamster as it is to a writer. A Syrian Hamster in the arctic wouldn’t last very long, I expect. Hamsters spend most of their time during the day in underground locations to avoid being caught by predators. So a hamster in an above-ground location at high noon is at much more risk than a hamster abroad at twilight. So it seems location should be very important to a hamster.

zmed dor

In the same way, location is important to a writer.

Location can help develop a character’s backstory, for one thing. A character raised in New York City or Edinburgh has a very different set of environmental influences on his character development than one raised in remote monastery of the Himalayas, for example. Different religious influences, different linguistic influences, different historical influences, and so, different characters.

Location in a story can also be important because it can be used to establish the “character” of the story in terms of tone, suspense, and the opportunities for conflict and action. My own stories are set in a small kingdom surrounded by potential enemies who provide lots of opportunities for storytelling, and who limit in a way what kinds of stories I can tell, as well as the way I tell those stories. A peaceful suburban subdivision would provide a much different set of storytelling opportunities, and require a much different kind of a story-telling style.

zlocation

zant4

Another reason why location is important is because it can be used to drive the story forward toward its conclusion. The use of the light, darkness, weather, and climate in a location can determine the tone of the story at different points and help to reinforce the emotions that the writer seeks to elicit from the reader in those story moments. When the hero is facing his most desperate moment in the story, a dark and stormy night on a desolate, rocky, wave-swept isle can be just the right location to reinforce the dark night of the soul that the hero (and by extension, the reader) is experiencing.

So location is important to a writer because it influences the behavior of the story, just as location can influence the behavior of hamsters.

zhamsta411000000

Michael

I would have to say both. For one thing, you can never separate the character from the setting in which he was raised. Even if you physically pick him up and plop him in another setting, he will—at least initially—behave as if he were still in his original setting. This is why the “stranger in a strange land” archetype is such a popular one in literature.

zmed19

However, the setting of the story might be very different than the setting from which the characters originate, or it might be the very same setting. Which to choose depends on what kind of story one wants to tell. In my recent book, the main character and the antagonist are both native to the setting of the first act of the story, while the romantic interest is a stranger in their land. In the second and third acts of the story, all of the characters travel to yet another setting that is similar to their own, but more hostile to them because they’re strangers in it.zmed-

zmedginge

By varying the setting like that, I was able to heighten the tension for all of the characters involved, and limit the resources available to them in resolving their conflict.

In comparison, the main character of my second book was a complete stranger from a far distant country, with a different language and a different culture. Placing him into a setting with which the other characters were already familiar allowed me to highlight elements of the setting to which the other characters were blind. This allowed me to bring a sense of wonder to that story that might not otherwise have existed if the main character were a native to that setting.

A Merchants Tale_Final Cover.indd

ztink-t99

ztinchal

zhat

zmed56565656566

Michael.

I would have to say harder, although I enjoy the challenge. My fantasy world is very “low fantasy,” in the sense that it’s grounded very much in the historical realities of our own world. That being said though, we moderns are still a long way removed from the medieval agricultural society in which my stories are set. In some ways, describing “Earth” from such a far distant past is as difficult as describing Mars today. One has to set up the context for occupations like “harrower” for a modern audience. He’s the fellow who follows along behind the sower of seeds and closes the furrows in the soil where the seeds have fallen, so that birds—and hamsters—don’t steal them. As well, one has to know that such an occupation ever existed in the first place. So a lot of research goes into the “everyday life” part of my fantasy world.

On top of that, the fantasy part requires at least as much research (how have other fantasy storytellers handled magic and dragons,

ztinerb

for example) and then some imagination (what new element can I add to that wider genre discussion about magic and dragons?) as well as a fair bit of logic (if magic can do anything with the wave of a wand, why do we need harrowers?).

By comparison, a more contemporary story in a non-fantasy setting doesn’t need to explain who the plumber is, what the sink is, or why the crack of the plumber’s bum is showing. That’s just the way our real world is.

zsilvvvef

zmed-bbbbu

Michael.

I definitely mapped out my medieval setting, and not just the Celtic part of it either. Because I wanted a deep sense of realism in my story, I mapped out a whole continent. But that scale of mapping is not necessarily very detailed. The smallest-scale map I had when I started writing the stories was about 1/3rd mile per 1/4 inch, and covers about 300 square miles, showing all the villages, settlements, rivers, streams, roads, and trails in the hedge-kingdom of Droma.

DromaFinal_full-web

zdickensnsnsnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

zsilvvvvvvvvvv

But as I’m writing the stories, I often find myself mapping out much smaller areas (a battlefield, a village) in greater detail. I’m a very visual person, and these maps help me to visualize the setting in greater detail.

“Oh, look, that part of the hill is really more like a cliff. Guess the hero’s army can’t go charging up that way. But what if the hero and a small band of warriors scaled that cliff? Would the villain at the top be expecting that? Especially if the hero had the rest of his army mounting a diversion on the other side of the hill, where the going is less steep?”

And so on like that. By visualizing the setting, I can find limits and opportunities for the story-telling.

ztony

Michael.

In a way, I have already set my books in the Greater New York City area. I grew up in a very rural community on the far northwestern fringe of the New York area, and that location has influenced my writing immensely already, with its slower pace of life, its farmlands, and its large swathes of wilderness to explore.

DSCN1898

But yes, I’ve considered stories set in a more urban contemporary setting. I have a work-in-progress that I turn back to now and again called “Last New Jersey Exit” that is set in New Jersey and New York City during our own modern period. Of course, that’s a very different kind of a story than those I’m currently publishing. No wild-eyed warriors charging over the hills with spears and chariots (more’s the pity, really).

zh

Michael.

I think some writers sometimes make the mistake of plopping very contemporary attitudes down in a location that can’t support them. For example, in my medieval setting, literacy isn’t common, and the number zero hasn’t been introduced yet, so one has to imagine a middle-class adult merchant who has maybe a modern six or seven year old’s education, trying to do basic arithmetic without using a base-10 math system or the number zero. I’ve seen other writers in similar settings who make it seem like the modern developed-country literacy rate of 90%+ would be common in such a setting, and it just isn’t so.

zdickens 333

One also has to be careful about cultural artifacts. We have this idea that Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were running about the English countryside in full suits of plate mail armor. In fact, the stories from which those images derive were written during the later medieval period, whereas Arthur himself would have existed (if at all) during the late Antiquity period, centuries before such suits of armor were invented. So one has to do one’s research and be careful about the kinds of technology that are available in the time and place of one’s setting. One can’t bring a gun to a knife fight if gunpowder hasn’t been invented yet.

Another common mistake writers make with location is that they tell us about it (“look, a cherry tree”) rather than showing it to us (“the drooping branches of the pink-coated cherry blossom swayed in the wind”), and fail to engage all of the senses (“I saw a kitchen,” versus “the kitchen smelled of cold chicken broth, rotting bones, wilting lettuce, and the desperate sweat of many generations of misfortunate cooks”).

zdickwords

While people are generally very visual creatures, smell (as one example) is particularly acute and strongly associated with memory. And a raunchy, lustful scene will seem very flat without the touch of silk, leather, and latex that might be present in that location.

ztincksc

facebook silvee

I highly recommend spending time in the sort of locations in which one expects to set a story. Take the time to notice the feel of the air at different times of day and year, and how people move and behave in that setting.

New Yorkers on the streets of the city move very differently in June than in January, and they move very differently on the streets of Los Angeles than native Angelenos do—LA natives actually wait for traffic lights to change before they cross the street, even if there’s no traffic; New Yorkers don’t.

Notice the smells and the sounds. Taste all the foods, and even things that aren’t food. Learn to describe the feel of things: smooth, rough, bumpy, and so on.

If one has the opportunity, travel broadly, to settings quite different from familiar ones, and try to know them as intimately as possible. Get a sense for the scope of the world we live in, and the scope of the world in one’s story, and appreciate how setting and location influence attitudes and behaviors.

Takes notes of all of this, and keep those notes handy and dip into them liberally while writing. This will lend a deeper sense of realism to one’s stories, which will draw readers in and have them believing in the world of the story as deeply as they believe in their own world (which is really just a different kind of story, after all).

zsilvwordssss

zdicke

Michael

 The Romance of Eowain is a novel that questions the nature of love. The two primary characters have been maneuvered into an arranged marriage for political reasons, and this arrangement has been sanctified by their religious order for its own mysterious reasons, but the two characters are very concerned that “love” (whatever that is) should be a part of their decision to marry. This is especially important to the female character, who has the right to refuse the arranged marriage, but also wants to do right by her family and her kingdom.

FB-The-Romance-of-Eowain-PreOrder5

So the two characters struggle to understand what love is and whether they can find it in each other. They are opposed by the rival cousin of the hero, who wants both the bride and the kingdom for himself, and questions about loyalty, trust, pride, honor, respect, and family obligations are all raised.

It’s also an adventure story, so the characters find themselves carried from one harrowing threat to the next in their quest for an answer to the question: “Can two people in an arranged marriage find love?”

zmed-bbbbbbbubb290909

zsilvdungeon 3

Michael

I’ve just started working on the fourth book in the series, I already have a draft written for the fifth book in the series that needs rewriting, and I have material for another half-dozen books beyond that. So a resounding yes, the Matter of Manred Saga will definitely continue.

Beyond that, I also write creative advice that I publish on my Adventures in Indie Publishing blog at mdellert.com. I’m also developing a soon-to-be-released novel-writing course. And of course, I’m always dabbling with other stories—both in this setting and beyond—as the mood strikes me. I try to stretch the limits of my craft to bring my readers the best stories I know how to write, and readers can keep up with news and information about my projects through my Adventures in Indie Publishing newsletter.

The-Romance-of-Eowain-PreOrder3

“I would not sell myself so cheap as to be nothing more than a pawn in such a fickle game. If peace and goodwill are to come of our marriage, then peace and goodwill must go into it first. And so I tell you true, and may the Gods and the Ancestors punish me if I prevaricate: I do not yet know my own heart and mind in this matter.” – Lady Eithne of Dolgallu

The Hedge King’s family has feuded with hers for a generation. Marriage between their two clans would bring peace.

But the Lady Eithne of Dolgallu has a right to refuse his marriage suit, and withholds her decision from him like a badge of honor.

Meanwhile, his cousin Tnúthgal jealously covets his throne, a renewed threat of banditry endangers his people, and rival heroes emerge to challenge his reign.

And what interest do the mysterious priests of the Order of the Drymyn have in Eowain’s wedding plans?

Can young King Eowain hold his kingdom together?

Can he convince the Lady Eithne to be his bride?

Can two people in an arranged marriage find love?

Find out in this exciting, new, full-length adventure novel, The Romance of Eowain!

The Romance of Eowain is the third installment in The Matter of Manred, a new cycle of medieval romances, action adventures, heroic fantasies, mysterious priests and their dark and forgetful gods, brought to you from the fantasy fiction workshop of Michael E. Dellert.

Now Available!

Launch Week Specials!

Order a signed author edition and get

a digital download of

the complete, same-as-print

Hedge King in Winter and A Merchant’s Tale

ABSOLUTELY FREE!

You’ll can also get a free digital download of the exclusive bonus PDF

The Epistles of Eithne & Eowain

AND

The Wayfarer’s Guide to Droma

AS WELL AS

Membership in a unique and exclusive online Facebook community!

This offer is only good through

Midnight Eastern Time 19 July 2016

through my own online bookstore!

Order TODAY!

I have often walked down the street before, or there weren’t any parking wardens in Regency London

25 Sunday May 2014

Posted by shehannemoore in Glencoe, heroes, heroines, writing

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

Broughty Ferry, Carbet Castle, KInnettles castle, Location, Mount Grace Priory, Richmond, The Georgian Theatre, writing, Yorkshire

I sense a little rebellion in the ranks today. hamst24

ham 2

which I would never have believed.

hamst

squirrel

hamst2444

Excuse me, Fez, Ratsy and you others,  there is no need to be quite so aggressive. The squirrel is here to make a point.  The point is that as writers we need to be a bit like that…that is the cute little fellah

squirrel

squirreling stuff away. I don’t just mean the hoards of stuff we accumulate in drawers.images1

 

Sorry…wrong picture. Of course I meant…imagesThough, seriously, yesterday Mr Shey was wondering how an area looked c1914 and there, to my squirreling credit I was able to unearth from a rom someone sent me when I used to edit, an exact picture. imag0067-1-1

There is it, the long gone, Carbet Castle, home to certain Dundee Jute Barons…And not just Carbet, there’s Kinettles Castle,

images fo kinnetles There ‘s Broughty Ferry from Carbet Castle….

 

carbet 4

 

Some of the inhabitants of Carbet Castle out for a stroll in Angus Glens.

glamz couple

In fact that rom is an archive. I could bore on all day on the subject of Carbet Castle. Interiors, dogs, motor cars,

images45 fashion, not to mention everywhere the family and their servants went.

This is  judicious squirreling. Then there’s the other type. You know the kind where non writers just see a house, or a street, but the writer type is busy cataloguing it all for later use.

imagesJTEPK551

My apologies. Of course that should have read….

imagesGI6DAE6DYes cataloguing.  And not the most obvious bits of places  either.

Mount Grace priory in Yorkshire

imagesmmmm

didn’t interest me half as much as what was built on the back of it-imagesmmmmhere seen as a model obviously…I am saying nothing this time… the monk’s cells, or rather the only one that was left… imagesmmmmOoh look, Saff and Dev are even standing there…not quite, since he probably had her pinned to the door for immoral purposes…  but I have to say I loved the idea of a cell that wasn’t. A place  that, to quote the  hero of Loving Lady Lazuli, was a

‘nicely appointed dwelling. An upstairs, a down, with pleasant rooms and a square of garden.

images45

 It helped me create the character of a woman who was done with certain things and wanted to hide away, so she lives there instead of in the house itself. And its simplicity does quite interest Devorlane too…

Christ. All there was, was a bed. If he ignored the candelabras, the bedside table, and the simple wooden chest in the furthest corner that was.

imagesmo

Let’s face it , it is mainly what he is interested in…. Did I say hero?  I lied. He’s an anti hero.

Vikings? Well, obviously when a rat ran over my foot in a recreated farmhouse…I think it was at the Hollufgard…I certainly squirrelled that one away.

I don’t have a photo. Don’t be silly. I think the camera is still in there unless the rats stuffed their ratty gubs on it.

Glencoe…..?  I have blogged Glencoe and all the bits of it that appear in His Judas Bride to bits.laz glenc 022

That little jewel of the Regency north…Richmond? imagesmmmm

Well, what really interested me about Richmond was the Georgian Theatre

imagesQEPBYSTR

certainly before Mr Shey got a parking ticket  and then into a pissing contest with the head of the roads services or whoever he was. But you can see it is an amazing place. imagesWBLUJTYW33

And I’ve just loosely used it in a scene in my second jewel thieves WIP. Not the parking ticket bit. There weren’t any traffic wardens in Regency London.

As for the history and that of the amazing Butler family who owned it as part of a circuit of five theatres and the actors and actresses who trudged that circuit on foot in all winds and weathers? Well, that  may  turn up yet in another story. Who knows? What I do know is……..

imagesSQIBHK45

Hmmmmmmm…..

types-of-hamsters

 

 

 

The Writer and The Rake

Splendor Book Trailer

O’Roarke’s Destiny Book Trailer

The Viking and The Courtesan Book Trailer

Loving Lady Lazuli Book trailer

His Judas Bride Book trailer

The Unraveling of Lady Fury book trailer

I write like
Stephen King
About Stephen King | Analyze your text
     
The Viking and The Courtesan is a Sceal Book Award finalist

The Viking and The Courtesan is a Sceal Book Award finalist

reviewers choice perf5.000x8.000.indd reviewer 4reviewertoppick2 LATEST GUESTIE.....

guest blog with the recipe hunter

reviewer 5 src="https://shehannemoore.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/zk.jpg?w=300" alt="LADY FURY'S LATEST BLOG" .> captain kidd two https://furiousunravelings.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/the-belief-that-captain-kidd-left-buried-treasure-added-to-his-legend/ reviwer777777epic blog ward miranda singsrespect award <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-12525" championssrc="https://shehannemoore.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/sisterhood-of-the.png?w=300" alt="sisterhood of the" width="300" height="300" />versatile-blogger-awardblack-wolf-blogger-award real-neat-blog-award-from-jez_farmer-8-dec-2014<img class="size-medium wp-image-11192" src="https://shehannemoore.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/hears-as-one-sue-dreamwalker-drumbeat-award_thumb.jpg?w=300" alt="Heart's as one, dreamwalker's drumbeat award" width="300" height="277" />

infinitydreamsaward real-neat-blog-awardvery-inspiring-blogger-award-cool from Lace Winter

reviewer 9 reviewer 11 reviwer 111 reviewer 8 reviewrw 909000 Blog of the Year Award 1 star jpeg reviewer 12323 reviewer12 reviewr 1919 reviewr 90900933 reviewer89898989     best blog

Top Posts & Pages

  • Last Year...
  • A Little Slice of Raunch
  • Sometimes In life ....
  • Men in Kilts. Why do we love them?

Recent Posts

  • Last Year…
  • Sometimes In life ….
  • When Leslie Met the Dudes
  • Noelle Clark and some Christmas Orphans….
  • On joining the Whitby Ladies …..

Categories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 12,466 other followers

Archives

Recent Comments

shehannemoore on A Little Slice of Raunch
Jane Risdon on A Little Slice of Raunch
shehannemoore on Last Year…
Charlotte Hoather on Last Year…
shehannemoore on A Little Slice of Raunch

Blogs I Follow

Posts I Like

  • My Photo Someone's Quote: 189/… on Picture Perfect Memories for life
  • Coumshingaun Lough on Making memories
  • Caring for your lips: 10 quick… on When Women Inspire
  • Why not on A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent.
  • Arsenal 3 Newcastle 0. on susiesopinions

https://twitter.com/ShehanneMoore

  • Coumshingaun Lough inesemjphotography.com/2021/01/18/cou… via @Inessa_ie 9 hours ago
  • DREAMER, ZEUS & THE OLD LADY zoolonhub.com/2021/01/19/dre… via @ZoolonAudio 10 hours ago
  • RT @RLSte: Hard pass twitter.com/NovelCreations… 19 hours ago

Shehanne Moore

Shehanne Moore

Blog Stats

  • 120,041 hits

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cookingium

Ruelha

As long as there's breath, there will always be HOPE because nothing is pre-written and nothing cannot be re-written!

Site Title

Made for you

VozYcuento

El arte al narrar

BestOfWrite

Reviews, stories and much more...

Affiliate Marketing Tips

Beginner Affiliate Marketing Training

Flutterbys-louisa

Travel/poetry

Rivella49's Blog

DAL TICINO/SVIZZERA

Red Paper News

Daily World News

Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

@AndSmelly

Perspective on Trauma

Building Perspective on Trauma, Loss, Attachment, Familial Pain, and Moving Forward: LaDonna Remy, MSW, LICSW

TRAVEL FOODIES

Your Worldwide Food Guide

My experience

#Rehana's 🔥🔥🔥🦋🦋motivational thoughts

bb9u9.wordpress.com/

Technology World

The latest news on technology

𝗦𝘁𝘄𝗮𝘆𝗻𝗲 𝗞𝗲𝘂𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸'𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽

Discover ©SK's 🆆🅴🅴🅺🅻🆈 🅵🅻🅰🆂🅷 🆂🅰🅻🅴🆂 on our Site | We offer unique graphics and artwork designs on T-shirts, Apparel, Mugs, Bags, Posters & Prints and much more gifts for Whole the family, our T-shirts are available in a huge variety of styles, sizes, colors and designs for all kinds of occasions.

NO MIDDLEMAN ART GALLERY Edge of Humanity Magazine

Here comes the Sun

World affairs with Vikas

Smexy Historical Romance

What are you up to during the Lockdown??

A little to the left, a little to the right... But stop why don't you take a look inside?

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy