Journeys by Victoria Chatham

AVAILABLE HERE

I have a cousin in Australia who loves to travel. She and her husband are currently in Vietnam, and the photographs she shares on Facebook are stunning. My daughter and her husband also love to travel. I have lost track of all the countries they have visited, which included Vietnam. I’ve been to Spain (several times) and have visited New Zealand, Mexico, parts of the USA, Western Canada, and much of the UK.

The harbour, St. Ives, Cornwall, UK.

Journeys are a bit like reading or writing a book. A is the beginning, and Z is the end, with all sorts of interesting bits between them. In the case of reading a book, I, as a reader, want to be swept along in a romance, intrigued by a mystery, drawn into the details of a historical novel, and entertained. I know by Page 5 if this is a book I will continue to read or put aside. If I keep reading to the end, I’ll know if that’s it or if it’s a book I’ll keep and read again.

The Kelpies, Falkirk, Scotland

Writing any book is a journey, and to all who complete a book, thank you and well done. So many begin the journey and then, for whatever reason, fall by the wayside and never complete it. Some plain run out of steam, having lost their way in their plot. Others don’t realize how hard it can be to write a complete book with all the elements involved. At times, it seems like a juggling act of keeping characters, settings, plots, secondary characters, and sub-plots in the air.

While some writers are naturally gifted, others must work at learning the craft of writing, which sometimes seems like a never-ending journey. What is the Oxford comma? Should I use colons and/or semi-colons in my text? What is a mixed metaphor or a simile, and do dangling modifiers matter? Yes, they all do if you want to make your text smooth and not jolt your reader out of the story.

A fascination for the Regency era set me on my writing journey. A love for the elegance of Edwardian ladies’ fashions prompted me to set up a series of books in that era. I’ve written contemporary Western romance and will soon begin a new writing journey with cozy mysteries.

A Regency Lady's Bonnet

Much like the conundrum of an author using their real name for one genre and having a pen name for another, there is the thought that if an author starts out in one genre and changes to another, they could lose readers. The other side of that coin is that an author could also engage a new set of readers. It is all down to personal choice. I don’t read all one genre but like to mix it up depending on why I am reading. It could be a romance today and a thriller tomorrow. Likewise, much as I have enjoyed writing historical romances, I have also enjoyed writing contemporary Western romances. We’ll see where the cozy mysteries take me, but I believe my tagline, History, Mystery, and Love, covers each of those genres.

Victoria Chatham

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NB: All images are from the author's personal collection.

Staring at the wall

 Having had numerous book, plot, and writing discussions with Lynn Folsted, my physical therapist during my recovery from back surgery, I wasn't surprised when she sent me an interesting quote.

"Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called 'mad' and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called 'writers' and they do pretty much the same thing." - Ray Bradbury

I forwarded that quote to several writer friends who universally responded, "Amen!". Writing a book is a marathon that involves hours, days, weeks, and months of staring at a wall while listening to the voices of your characters. Yes, my characters have voices. Each of them is an individual, with a backstory and personal history that makes their voice unique. They "speak" as I write dialogue, often taking me places not included in my rough outline. They sometimes roust me from bed, demanding that I record their thoughts before those ideas are lost with the sunrise.

In general, a writer's life is solitary and remote from the outside world. Characters who never existed, do things that never happened, in places you won't find on any map. The whole story exists only in the writer's mind and on the pages we write. Our goal is to engage the readers, and transport them to our fictional places, and intrigue them with our fantasies. I use the names of "real" towns, counties, restaurants, in my books. Although the names are real, the places are pure fiction, and the events have never occurred anywhere except in my mind. 

I met a panel discussion moderator at the Left Coast Crime mystery convention. She hadn't previously attended any events like that convention and was in awe of the writers and readers. Being an introvert, as many authors tend to be, she had been reluctant to put herself into a setting with hundreds of people who wanted to ask her about her books, characters, and writing process. Smiling, she said to me, "I've found my tribe." Yes, there we were, among four hundred "book people", all talking about books, and meeting readers who were in love with our fictional characters and stories. 

To be honest, it's humbling to speak with a reader who enjoyed one of my stories. Having created the characters, story, and places "in a vacuum", it's reassuring to hear someone say, "I love CJ and Pam. Their banter is so real".  Having spent months staring at the wall (or computer screen), I hope that what I've written resonates with the readers, but I really don't know until I hear it from you. I get some feedback from beta readers and my editor, but until they read the manuscript, I'm staring at the wall, with an image of a rural location and unfolding events rolling out like the scene of a movie in my mind.

It's not nearly as exciting or enchanting as it might seem. On the other hand, there are times when the scene unfolds so fast that my fingers can't keep up with the dialogue and events. I hope that I'm writing something special, but until someone reads it, I'm never entirely sure.

Check out the latest Pine County Mystery, "Conflict of Interest". The Pine County Sheriff's Department is called in to investigate a murder in nearby Kanabec County when it's discovered that the victim is the missing girlfriend of the (fictional) county attorney's son. I spoke with the Kanabec County Attorney, who thought the premise was amusing and very close to current events. She suggested including a "current" premise, involving computers. I didn't tell her that was exactly where this story originated.

Check out my books at Hovey, Dean Pine County series - BWL Publishing Inc. (bookswelove.net)

https://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Interest/dp/B0D15858V6

Will a German Soldier Defy his Own Country? And Commit Sabotage? by Diane Scott Lewis

 

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Winner of Best Historical for 2023

How do I make a German officer during WWII sympathetic?

I make him a real person caught in a terrible war. He loathes Hitler's increasing madness. But how does he commit sabotage and escape the regime? Falling in love with an Englishwoman complicates his plans.

August von Gottlieb was nearly killed during Hitler's purge of enemies, when he tried to warn friends of the coming danger. While he healed, still in the army, his wife was diagnosed with cancer. He had children to feed and doctor's bills to pay. He rose in the ranks, and saw more and more of what a horrible madman Hitler was.

Now a widower and stationed in France, he's in charge of the southern region of Brittany. August tries to keep order, waiting for the secret war machine on its way to his port. A machine he hopes to destroy. The war can't go on like this with the slaughter of innocents.

An Englishwoman, with her own tragic past, is also trapped in this chaos, unable to return home after the German invasion. Norah must confront August to free her young cousin from arrest. He now watches her sketching birds in the woods. Is she a spy?

He requests she sketch his picture to find out more about her. The money he offers is too good for her to pass up. They come to know one another and an attraction neither of them wants develops.

A forbidden affair will turn Norah into a pariah, but her love for August, and knowing he's a decent man, keeps her steadfast.

The war machine is coming. August must finalize his plans, and find a way to slip off to Switzerland with Norah as his superiors breathe down his neck.

"A formidable and unforgettable tale of bravery, betrayal, and profound love. Where secrets and impossible choices can mean the difference between life and death. Truly a heart-wrenching and heart-pounding love story set amidst the chaos of war." History and Women

 Diane lives with one naughty dachshund in Western Pennsylvania

Mr Rochester - Ultimate Bad Boy!...by Sheila Claydon

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In my last three books (the Mapleby Memories trilogy) my heroines all travelled back in time, and in Many a Moon, the final book, the hero did as well. It took a lot of research to get the historical facts right and stepping into the past and finding a way to link it to the present was taxing at times. Writing them was also a lot of fun. Now, however, I'm in the middle of a real journey into the past courtesy of the writer Charlotte Bronte, and what an eye-opener it is proving to be.

I last read Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte's first published novel (1847) when I was 15. It was one of the set pieces to be studied for what were then known as O'Levels in the UK. Exams, that if passed, enabled pupils to continue to study at a higher level. I loved it and because I loved it, I ended up in trouble. Instead of reading at the class speed, which meant working through the book chapter by chapter twice weekly, I went ahead and finished it without listening to my teacher's explanations. Nor can I remember a single word of what she said when I was forced back into concentrating on my lessons.  I never forgot the story of Jane Eyre, though. And I passed the exam!

Now I am reading it again because  my eldest granddaughter gave me a copy for Christmas with the words, 'this is a bit of a random present because I'm sure you will have read it before, but because you like books I thought you'd like this one.'  

She was right. It is an illustrated hardback copy of the second edition of Jane Eyre. She illustrated the original herself and my book, although a pale copy, still has pages edged with gold leaf, and there is an attached green silk bookmark. It is altogether splendid to look at and very heavy. And on the first page is Charlotte Bronte's dedication to non other than the writer William Thackeray. Using her nom-de-plume of Currer Bell, she says:

             'Finally, I have alluded to Mr Thackeray, because to him-if he will accept the tribute of a total stranger-I have dedicated this second edition of "Jane Eyre"' - 

    December 21st 1847

The language is, of course, much more flowery than words we would use today, and she often uses a dozen words where one or two would suffice.  She also makes a great use of semi-colons in places where modern writers would mostly use full stops and some actual words are used slightly differently too, but oh my goodness, apart from that it could easily be a Books We Love romance.  

Jane Eyre is an orphan who has overcome a difficult childhood and made her own way in the world. How she achieves this, becoming so close to a modern day feisty heroine with a mind of her own, is almost laughable. Her morals and ethics are inevitably those of the nineteenth century but she makes the reader very aware that, although she has no intention of flouting them, at times she considers them a burden.

Then there is Mr Rochester. Rich. Entitled. Charismatic. The ultimate bad boy hero! He also has much to overcome but for many years he travels, socialises and generally indulges himself in an attempt to forget his problems. Then he meets Jane. She has been employed as governess for his charge, Adele, an young orphan he has rescued from a dalliance he once had in France. It is then that the reader begins to see his softer side. It is clear that little Adele loves him, and soon Jane, much against her will, begins to love him too. 

Their courtship is very different from modern day romances, with Jane deliberately keeping Mr Rochester at arm's length, apparently for his own good as well as her own peace of mind. She also frequently challenges him, disagreeing with some of his attitudes. Only previously used to women looking for a husband within the upper reaches of society, not to someone who has to work for a living, he is both intrigued and enchanted by her spikiness. Persuading her to marry him, he deliberately overlooks the fact that he already has a wife of many years, albeit one who is insane (the actual word used to describe her in the book) and kept locked away. 

Charlotte Bronte's description of her heartbreak when she discovers this, while flowery and at times very long-winded, has the same passion as that of any modern day romance. Mr Rochester's explanation does too. But while he expects Jane to stay with him, she, true to the morals of the day  as well as her own peace of mind, determines to leave him forever. Of course there is eventually a happy ending, although it isn't as problem free as modern happy endings. Nevertheless, in Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte proves herself to be one of the earliest, and for its time, erotic, romantic fiction writers.

There are others of course. Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote about love amongst the British landed gentry at the end of the eighteenth century, but always from a critical viewpoint, commenting upon the need for women to make a good marriage in order to be financially secure. Charlotte Bronte is different. Her story is one of real passion. She undoubtedly wrote from the heart, weaving parts of her own life into the story. It is known she spent some time in a boarding school and also worked as a teacher and then a governess, all things that feature in the story. It is also known that she corresponded with a married man, thought to be the love of her life. Known too is the fact that she suffered a thwarted romance. She eventually married, aged 38, but sadly died soon after, probably from pregnancy complications. 

What is especially noteworthy, however, is that she  wrote from a first-person female perspective, a style so innovative that it drew a harsh response from some critics despite being universally loved by readers. Jane Eyre has variously been considered coarse, vulgar, improper, and a  masterpiece. It has never been out of print. 

And despite (to the modern ear) the sometimes overblown descriptions of both her surroundings and the conversations she has, mainly with Mr Rochester, but with other characters in the story too, you can really hear her speaking across the centuries. She might have written Jane Eyre in 1847 but her voice talks directly to the reader and it is the voice of a modern woman. It is also the voice of a woman in love.

M is for (Not Murder) by Helen Henderson

 

Fire and Redemption by Helen Henderson
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I am doing the A to Z Challenge again this year. M could be for murder if you write mysteries. Or M could be for Medraut, the colorful dragon on the cover of Fire and Redemption. While sitting on the glider on the front porch another idea came to mind. M really is for Mosquito.

There are two kinds of mosquitos easily found in the area. The small, almost invisible unless they are in a swarm No See 'Ems and the kind you saddle and ride. Often you never see the No See 'Ems, their presence is made know by the buzzing in your ear in the quiet of the night or the line of itching, red welts.

I have lived in various mosquito habitats including farms, woods and Waterfronts. And for a period of time I lived on a Pacific island in what could be called jungle adjacent. However none were as bad as the area I now live in. According to the experts, the weather here is suitable for mosquitos nine months of the year. I used to have a tee-shirt captioned the New Jersey state bird. And the picture? A long-legged, wide winged mosquito. I swear when their legs are spread clinging against the window, they cover my palm. As I said, saddle them up and ride them. No, wait, that is the dragons I love to fly with.

Whether big or small, now that the warmer weather is knocking on the door, M is for mosquito.

To purchase Fire and Redemption: BWL

~Until next month, stay safe and read.   Helen

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky who have adopted her as one the pack. Find out more about her and her novels on her BWL author page.