Saturday, October 23, 2010

Book and Author News - Indulgence in Death

Look for the Indulgence in Death ad in the 11/18 (on sale 11/1) issue of The New Yorker and its accompanying tablet edition ad.
Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb goes on sale, Nov 2. Read a new excerpt that goes along with the ad.












 The 4th book in Nora Roberts' Bride Quartet, Happy Ever After will also be released November 2, 2010.






Kathryn Johnson, author The Gentleman Poet will be doing a blog tour for her new book.  The book is getting very good reviews--even in Hollywood.  Here's a list of her blog appearances:

10.24.10 Risky Regencies  Guest author interview and giveaway           

10.29.10 Peeking Between the Pages   Guest blog and giveaway                     
11.05.10 SOSAloha  Guest author interview and giveaway
11.06.10 Historical-fiction.com   Guest blog and giveaway                  

11.12.10 Novel Thoughts  Guest blog and giveaway   

11.17.10 Word Wenches  Guest author interview

From Eileen

I've entered an essay contest for my favorite makeup--Bare Essentials.  You can see my funny entry--and vote for me.


Happy Reading,

Eileen 

Friday, September 3, 2010

Interview with Kathryn Johnson author of The Gentleman Poet

Today, author Kathryn Johnson joins us to chat about her new book, The Gentleman Poet, A novel of love, danger, and “The Tempest”which comes out on Tuesday, September 7th. !

Many scholars believe one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, The Tempest, was inspired by a shipwreck and true tale of survival that captured the imagination of 17th-century London. In the book, Kathryn proposes the questions what if the greatest playwright of all time didn’t simply read about the wreck of the Sea Venture off the Bermuda coast? What if Will was on board, fleeing powerful enemies, daring one last great adventure?  A very intriguing plot.


BAnews: How much of The Gentleman Poet is real—actual history, that is—and how much is fiction?

Kathryn: Many of the names for characters and their roles came directly from the ship’s manifest and from the account of the wreck written by one of the passengers, William Strachey. I also relied a great deal on the timeline provided by Strachey’s journal. But what these characters actually said to one another—or how their individual adventures played out—all of that is purely my imagination at work.

BAnews: Can you give us an example of the mix of real and fantasy in the story?

Kathryn: Sure. In Strachey’s account of the days the survivors spent on the island, which amounted to about 9 months, he mentions that a serving girl Elizabeth Persons married the ship’s cook. So one assumes that a romance developed and that, despite their dire circumstances, love was still alive and families were being formed among the group. So in the story, Elizabeth and Thomas the cook fall in love.

BAnews: You’ve set The Gentleman Poet in 1609. Can you tell us what in the story might be relevant for us in the 21st century?

Kathryn: Well, many things in life never change. People in times past worried about how to support themselves and their families. They took risks, as we do, in their careers and life choices. They feared disease, war, persecution, getting old, loss of loved ones. So the characters in my story are very similar to people we meet every day in the 21st century

BAnews: Tell us about the research you did for the book. Did you spend a lot of time in archives, studying letters and other records?

Kathryn: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. was an amazing help. They have, I believe, the largest collection of Shakespeare-related material in the world, including several of the priceless and rare First Folios, a collection of Shakespeare’s plays printed by his friends after his death. There I found two amazing accounts of the shipwreck of the Sea Venture, which was bound for Jamestown in 1609. It was this ship and its survivors who, legend tells us, inspired Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest.

BAnews: Any exciting research trips?

Kathryn: I also went on location, so to speak, in Bermuda (tough work if you can get it—LOL!), which is the setting for most of the story. I spent two weeks touring the island and studied some of the artifacts salvaged from the wreck, which still lies in the coral beds just east of the Bermuda coast. And by the way, Bermuda is a super spot for a reading vacation—full of legends, ghost stories, and there are guest houses where you can stay very reasonably, some of them centuries old that were built as homes for privateers.

BAnews: What about survivors. How many made it to shore after the wreck?

Kathryn: That’s one of the amazing things about the historical account. It tells us that there were 150 crew and passengers aboard the Venture when it ran aground on the reef, less than a mile from land. They’d just suffered four terrible days at sea, nearly sinking in a hurricane. But here they were within sight of land, and the captain somehow got every single person safely to shore. And there they lived for 9 months, building a new ship, which eventually carried them the rest of the way to Jamestown. Talk about courage and persistence!

BAnews: That is amazing. But how did Shakespeare find out about this wreck without the modern advantages of the Internet, Facebook, twitter, telephone, email, or even telegraph messages?

Kathryn: Most scholars believe that Strachey’s account traveled back to England on a ship from Jamestown. When Londoners learned that the Sea Venture hadn’t been lost and its passengers were still alive, it was huge—something akin to man walking on the moon. Shakespeare must have seen a copy of that letter. Read his play, The Tempest, and you’ll see that the similarity with the wording with some parts of Strachey’s account is uncanny. For instance, Will seems to have lifted whole phrases from the ship’s historian to use in his opening storm scene!

BAnews: But then again, Shakespeare was famous for borrowing from other writers—

Kathryn: Exactly! Will was the ultimate literary recycler. But what he did with those characters and stories…oh my! That’s why he lives today through his plays. That’s why hundreds of theaters and festivals across the country, and around the world, still perform him. And I guess that’s why I just had to write this book. I took my cue from Will. I borrowed his tempest and put it in my novel.

Thanks Kathryn for stopping by. We'll all look forward to reading The Gentleman Poet.  For more about Kathryn and her book, check out her website, gentlemanpoet.com  Kathryn also provides writing tips on her writebyyou.com website.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Alison Buckholtz on NPR today

Alison Buckholtz will be interviewed on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" today, July 27th at 2 pm discussing military families in a time of war, Standing By, and her Slate column, "Deployment Diary."  Suzie Schwartz will be on with her. Tune in if you can!  If you miss the live broadcast, you can listen to the posting on npr.org.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

RWA Conference in Orlando

Romance Writers of America's annual conference is this week--Wednesday, July 28th - 30th at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando.  Best-selling author Nora Roberts will be the Keynote speaker .  Fans can meet her at the 2010 "Readers for Life" autographing session on Wednesday July 28, from 5:30 - 7:30 in the Pacific Exhibit Hall at the Dolphin Resort.  Nora's new book The Search was recently #1 on the NY Times bestseller list. 

Here's a list of other authors attending the signing.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Summer Reading

Book and author News – Summer Reading



If you’re looking for something fun to read at the beach or just lazing around this summer, you’re in luck.


July 6th – The Search by Nora Roberts - a riveting novel where a canine search and rescue volunteer fights danger and finds love in the Pacific Northwest wilderness.

Read an excerpt


Enter the Ultimate Nora Roberts Sweepstakes Ten winners will receive autographed copies of Vision in White, Bed of Roses, and Savor the Moment as well as the Vision in White game.
http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/37957

July 6th – the Wicked Wyckerly by Patricia Rice

When he becomes seventh Earl of Danecroft, rakish John Fitzhugh Wyckerly also inherits a crumbling estate and massive debts. Determined to do right, he reclaims his illegitimate daughter Penelope and heads to London in search of a very rich wife.

Abigail Merriweather's farm has been quiet since she lost custody of her four young half-siblings-until a roguish gentleman named Fitz stops for a rest, his rebellious daughter in tow. His etiquette is questionable, his parenting deplorable-so why does Abby delight in his flirtations? And when she seeks a suitor to help her regain the children, why does Fitz keep popping up?

Read an excerpt
http://patriciarice.com/teaser.pdf