#WritersCoffeeClub Jun 5
What climes and climates feature in your work? Why those?

There's the Sahara desert (in volume 1) and a frosty English winter (in volume 2). Why? Because my hero was born in Seville and grew up in Morocco before joining the Order of Santiago. He was then sent on a Papal mission to England early in 1349.

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#WritersCoffeeClub
June 2nd

What do you hope sticks with a reader long after?

The careful plotting of links between volume 1 and 2. If all goes well, volume 3 will achieve the same.

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#ScribesAndMakers - 1st Jun. Choose an adjective to describe how you're feeling about your creativity this month.

Optimistic.

The optimism is essential, but may not be well-founded.

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#WritersCoffeeClub 1/6: In what ways do your real-world surroundings appear in your work?

A Roman road near where I live appears in volume 2, and Oxford University gets a mention, but as the trilogy is set in the 14th century nothing else fits.

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"Stinging lye on barrel-bed;
two halves that never more shall meet.
My hands a canvas—roughened red,
the painting of a life’s defeat."

Read "Washerwoman's Lament, 1764", a new #histfic #poem by Kataryna Zharkovna

https://sites.google.com/view/sundial-magazine/poems/washerwomans-lament-1764

#WritersCoffeeClub 29 May: What (in terms of writing) do you fear?

That our digital civilization will abandon long-form literature in favour of little picture books.

I hope the trend is reversible, but I'm not sure.

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Holiday Reads:

SAND ROSES is a tale of resistance, sisterhood and the shameful past of two colliding nations.

https://www.hhousebooks.com/books/sand-roses/

#literaryfiction #histfic #amreading #books #fiction #bookstodon

#PennedPossibilities 1025: Would you or have you ever killed off a member of the main cast? How would or how did you feel afterward?

Yes I have. Volume 2 of the trilogy is set during the bubonic plague of 1348/9, so yes, most of the cast didn't make it. How did I feel afterwards? It had to be done.

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#WritersCoffeeClub May 26
In what ways does your work defy expectation?

I write real-world historical fiction, without dragons, magic or wizards. This is apparently unfashionable.

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