Nan Hawthorne's Blog, page 8

[TOPIC] Pretending: The Lost Art of Childhood

Maybe I had to become a storyteller. How else would I get through life after leaving behind my most valued childhood ability: pretending?

It was more than just fun. Much like the alpha state one falls into when engrossed in a book, I felt a change in my brain chemistry when acting out some elaborate role. There was an abandon to it that took me out of my real life and sent me into one more to my liking. The melodrama of playacting was much preferable to the drama of home and family life.

I don'...

[EVENT] 15 August 1040 - Out, Out, Damned Scot! My Turn

15 August 1040 - MacBeth is crowned King of Scotland.

Read about it in MaacBeth's Niece by Peg Herring.

Excerpt from Macbeth’s Niece:

Lady Brixton looked much smaller than when Tessa had first met her. She had lost weight but seemed
also to have shrunken, so that even her frame seemed smaller and more fragile than when she had been in health. Eleanor opened her eyes and smiled at Tessa, but it was a tiny smile.
“I’ve brought you a letter from Jeffrey that came while we were away. Auntie just gave...

Interview with Nan Hawthorne, B.R.A.G. Honoree

Read full interview at Layered PagesI would like to introduce Author Nan Hawthorne, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion. If you have any enquiries about IndieBRAG and you are a self-publishing author please visit our website at www.bragmedallion.com Nan thank you for the pleasure of this interview. You write about a period of time in our history that I'm fascinated with and would like to know more about. Please tell us about your book, An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England.

[BIO] Emma Goldman - Activist

Emma Goldman was a Lithuanian-born self-educated woman who defied the mores of her day. She took stands against military service and homophobia and for free love, contraception, and, most famously. anarchism.

Goldman emigrated to the United States when she was sixteen. Married briefly, she was divorced and went to live in New York City. Her political involvement took a radical turn after the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886, where an unknown bomb thrower turned a rally in support of striking wo...

[TOPIC] How Towns Developed In Anglo Saxon England

According to archaeological and literary sources the fortified and and well-organized towns in Roman England were virtually abandoned after the Romans took ship and sailed back to mainland Europe in the 5th century. The people left behind, the Britons, and the later Saxon invaders were simply not town people. Their homes were individual farms that might develop into a cluster of cottages in which family members lived. But in these largely agrarian communities, the walled towns excited either...

[TOPIC] How to Tell When You Have Reached a Mature Age

Sore joints? Failing memory? Sensitive tummy? Graying hair? Everyone else seems so young?

Nope. At least that's not what I discovered this evening while watching the DVD "Sharpe's Mission".

In an opening scene I looked at Sharpe, played by much yummy Sean Bean. One sexy man, and that's a fact.

Then I looked at Major General Ross played by James Laurenson. Older, craggy as all get out, but I thought he was sexy too. Not quite as much as Bean, but...

But, I thought to myself, can I see myself with...

[HUMOR] Catheters? I thought the abbot said to burn the Cathars!

Originally posted 10/31/08.

TODAY IN MEDIEVAL HISTORY: The End of the World or At Least Today in Medieva...

TODAY IN MEDIEVAL HISTORY: The End of the World or At Least Today in Medieva...: It must be December 31 in the year 999 CE  because i have it on good authority that the World is Coming to an End! Well, that's rather a...

[HUMOR] Beloved Toys of the Middle Ages

No medieval childhood was without its nostalgic toys. here are but a few.

Agincourt Barbie

England's sweetheart comes with two full outfits, a full suit of plate armor with sword (pictured) and leather armor with long bow and arrows.  For England, God.. and Barbie!




Suzy Kingmaker (not shown)

For the aspiring "sword behind the throne" able to cook the goose of either Edward Plantagenet or Edward of York.


Tickle Me Henry

Tickle him and he giggles, belches, farts and says "I love you!", "Marry me...

[TOPIC] In Praise of Purely Fictional Characters

I'm glad my interest is in writing purely fictional characters. It's so much safer.

If you thought the presidential debates were tough, try the Saint Richard III/That Nephew Murdering Bastard debates. I was one of those who discovered Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time and for years would not hear a word said against darling Dickon. I remember one Ghostletters scribe with her episodic tale of a young girl not only in love with but hot for Richard III. That Susan Higginbotham is writing a novel w...