Alex Beecroft's Blog, page 45

Because I am contrary

As November draws to a close, and all over the internet come the cries of NaNoWriMo participants reaching their 50K goal for the month, I have achieved my In2.5NoEdMo.

My individual month of editing two and a half books – if a novella counts as a half book – turned out to be almost as strenuous as the writing challenge. But I finished it on Friday, had a weekend, and started work on my WIP again today with a grand total of 1051 words. The plan had been to finish this WIP during NaNo, but you know what they say about the plans of mice and men.

Most of my work time today was spent reading what I had already written, so that I could pick up the tone and characters from where I put them down, and I'm pleased to say that I definitely enjoyed what I have so far – this gives me hope for the rest of it.

I doubt it will be finished this year, now. December is not a great month for buckling down to anything other than Christmas. But we'll have to see. I might be able to get the rough draft done by the end of January, God willing, if I work hard and nobody else gets ill.

Oh, oh, and I have seen the mockup of the cover art for UtH: Dogfighters and it's even better than the cover art for UtH: Bomber's Moon. Probably my favourite cover ever, in fact. I can't wait to show everyone

Book recommendation

I should probably be ashamed, shouldn't I? Given that I met JL Merrow at the UK Meet in 2010 and have been following her blog ever since (not to mention working on the BritFlash and "Tea and Crumpet" anthologies with her) I should probably be ashamed that I've only just got around to reading one of her books.

However, I can't be, I'm far too busy going "OMG, this is brilliant!"

I read Muscling Through over the weekend, and I knew within a page that I hadn't been this excited about discovering a writer since encountering Josh Lanyon. Her characters absolutely leap off the page, and they're so extremely loveable that I found myself enjoying a contemporary novella in which not much happens except for a slight misunderstanding. Normally this kind of thing bores me rigid, but JL Merrow proves that if you're a good enough writer you can do anything and make the reader love it. Plot wise this was the professional equivalent of curtain fic, and I didn't care because I was captivated watching the two of them pick out curtains, they were so adorable together while doing it.

I'm still buried under editing, so this is not a proper review, it's just an "OMG! You must read this, you'll love it!" So, to conclude, "OMG! Do yourself a favour and read Muscling Through. It's wonderful."

(In my head, blond curly-haired Tom Hiddleston played Larry, and Tom Hardy played Al. This made the reading experience even better for me, but you should probably substitute actors to suit yourself )

5 stars from Speak its Name

Yay! This is wonderful By Honor Betrayed is a SiN five star read! I can't say how delighted I am. After such a long time with nothing new out I'd lost any confidence I might have had about whether I could do this writing lark. So getting some lovely reviews gives me a big boost to carry on. Thank you to SiN!

This part amused me:

Sex-wise, I think this is probably the smuttiest book that Alex has ever written, as she leans towards the more veiled sex scene as a rule, but the sex here is postively coarse (but great!). To quote one of the judges on Strictly Come Dancing "It was filthy and I loved it!"

as the only review I have on Amazon so far doesn't think there's enough sex. I'd like to think I can add the two opinions up to make "there aren't many sex scenes, but the ones there are are good."   I had to save some writing space for the swashbuckling!

A- review of By Honor Betrayed

Ooh, what a lovely review this is from the Thrifty Reader blog:

http://thriftyreader.blogspot.com/2011/11/e-book-review-by-honor-betrayed-by-alex.html

"By Honor Betrayed was delicious. That's the only way to put it. The desire between Tom and Conrad can almost be felt. Everyday touches between master and servant take on a whole new meaning. This was heady stuff."

"Delicious" makes me hurt my cheeks with grinning. Thank you so much to ~ames~

Under the Hill: Bomber's Moon Cover Art

When I get ill, I have a tendency towards melodrama. The truth is that I have a tendency towards melodrama at all times, but when I'm ill it manifests itself in the purest form – in weeping and loud declarations that I can't bear it any more and I want to die. My life is over, I will never again be well enough to achieve anything. I might as well just give up now and allow myself to gorge on chocolate and sleep.

The sleep part is problematic because long periods of having no time alone (such as weeks in which at least one member of my family is at home all day long because of illness) give me stress, and stress gives me insomnia. So I spent a large part of last night on the sofa unable to sleep because of the ticking of the clock, while unable to sleep in my bed because my husband was breathing. How unreasonable is that?!

The chocolate part is problematic because I've been on a low fat diet for over a year, and I know that if I once let it slip I could pile the three stone lost back on in as many weeks. I'm only at the 'I resent the fact that I can't have chocolate' stage as yet. I'll have to be much more wrecked before I actually give in and eat.

So my righteous misery has been gathering speed for so long, deprived of my normal sources of comfort, that I was quite unprepared for it to be interrupted by cover art. But lo! Cover art I have, and it is good

In fact I think it may be my favourite cover art ever. The guy looks like Chris! The stone circle is stone-circley! The Lancaster is a Lancaster! And the over-all colour scheme is lovely. I like the text, I like having a single character rather than a pair on there. I like the fact that he's got clothes on – I like everything

I was quite on course for a well deserved tantrum today, but now I think I'll just look at my cover art again and chill. Life is possibly worth living after all.

Release day for By Honor Betrayed!

Still in the grip of family wide illness (my daughter has it today) it's nice to have some good news, such as a new book being out   Today is the release day for By Honor Betrayed, and in Googling to find out where it was being sold I came across a new review of it too.  Huzzah!  This makes me smile despite the gloom.  I award myself a big splash page to celebrate – under the cut to spare my friends' list the grief of frantic scrolling.

 

BLURB

Lieutenant Conrad Herriot and Seaman Tom Cotton have been master and servant for over a decade, and friends for almost as long. When Tom is injured during a skirmish, Conrad forgets himself and rushes to Tom's side, arousing suspicion about the true nature of their relationship.

All Tom wants is the chance to consummate their love and embark on a new life together, outside the law that condemns them. Yet he fears Conrad won't risk his career and his honor to become Tom's lover.

Conrad believes his lust for Tom will damn his soul. There's also their difference in class—a gentleman doesn't socialize with a common tar. As Conrad struggles to refute the gossip on the ship, he must decide whether to commit the crime the crew's already convicted them of, or part from Tom for good to save both their necks…

A new Age of Sail novella from Alex Beecroft, with ships, seduction, soul-searching, a highwayman, a hanging, and pirates.

Available from All Romance Ebooks in Epub format or from

Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com in Kindle format

REVIEWS

From Heroes and Heartbreakers

From MM Good Book Reviews

EXCERPT

The instinct of hand-to-hand combat, honed over ten years at sea, suggested that Conrad should seize and pull that outstretched hand. The man would drop the musket and he could pick it up, be armed against them both.

Instead he wiped some of the rain from his hair and put his hat back on. "I'm not a fool, despite the measures I am forced to by desperation. The money is in my bank. You will have five hundred pounds if you but turn up at the hanging and cause an affray. The other five hundred I will send by packet ship to Bermuda, and you may have it there when I and my friend arrive safely. By that time I hope we will have proved to you that we are useful crew members and, having overcome your natural desire to slit our throats and throw us overboard, we may continue as shipmates."

"Thought of everything, have you?" One-Arm's eyes did not soften—they were flat and grey as sharks' eyes, incapable of compassion—but the rest of his face smiled, as if amused.

"I hope so, yes. Thinking things through is a speciality of mine. For example, I should mention that once I have performed the rescue, you need have no fear of my going to the authorities with your names. By that time I'll be as wanted as you are."

"You don't have our names to tell." One-Arm pushed him in the centre of the chest with his own sword, cutting his new coat. The blade pricked cold over his breastbone but did not break the skin. He took that as a hopeful sign.

"No, but I can have, given half a day's gossiping in the taverns of Plymouth."

"And so we had best kill you now."

They came to the point, at last, and Conrad's calm held as it would have held in battle—a calm with something fey behind it, even joyous. "Yes," he said, holding that fishlike gaze. "Kill me for the trinkets in my pockets or help me for a thousand pounds. Your choice."

He had been pushed back until there was nowhere left to retreat or recoil. He was as dangerous as a bear at bay before its den, and perhaps it showed, for One-Arm gave a falsely jovial smile and grasped him by the wrist.

"Not my choice at all, my lad. But I'll take you to the captain. You can put your proposition to him. I dare say he will be in a good mood. 'Tis his wedding day, after all."

The windows of the inn were running, inside, with condensation as heavy as the rain. With the heavy doors closed behind him, damp smoking from his shoulders before the establishment's parlour fire, Conrad waited under Eyebrow's gaze while One-Arm invaded the snug. Sounds of drunken singing, out of tune, and a woman's voice, raised scolding shrill, escaped the inner door as he returned with a tall young buck in tow.

Fresh-faced, a little younger than Conrad, with his best suit on and his hair powdered white, the newcomer didn't look like a ferocious villain. But his blue gaze was full of intelligence, lancet sharp. "Now, sir, why do you think you can interrupt my wedding with your petty troubles? Or offer me—me!—so small a bribe?"

The inner doors trembled and swung open. A deep fug of tobacco smoke and kipper-smell and wet wool billowed through the gap, followed by a figure that struck Conrad dumb. Cascading black ringlets loose on her narrow shoulders, her breasts and hips all the more noticeable for being crammed into a naval midshipman's uniform—the blood of its original owner not fully washed from its collar—she set herself foursquare in front of the captain, hands on hips, and harangued him.

"Eric Cobham, I was promised a proper wedding, with a proper wedding breakfast after. And now there ain't no music, and none of them can sing better'n a scalded cat, and where's my dancing I was promised? You said—"

Cobham's face was a picture of contrition. "I'm sorry, my love. The fiddler got away. Jumped overboard when we sighted Plymouth. I thought you knew."

"Course I knew. I just bleeding well thought you'd do something about it!"

Conrad could have laughed for relief. Instead, he cleared his throat, loud. "Excuse me, ma'am? I play the violin. Would that help?"

"You're fucking hired," she said. "Eric, see to it."

~*~

Text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Beecroft

Cover Art Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited

Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Interviewed on the Romantic Novelists' Association blog

In the good news category, I have a lovely interview up on the RNA blog (the RNA being the British equivalent of the RWA.)

http://romanticnovelistsassociationblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-alex-beecroft.html

And in other good news, I found a backup of my website (done in August!) which has enabled me to get it back up on its different server in days rather than weeks.  I've taken the chance to give it a new header and add pages for By Honor Betrayed and Under the Hill.

In bad news, instead of this illness improving I just continue to develop different symptoms. But I'm still healthy enough to sit in front of a computer, so I won't complain too much.

Testing testing

So, new website host, but does the crossposting still work? This is how we find out

NoNaNo

Every year, I hope to do Nanowrimo.  This year I planned to do it.  I had even plotted out an 80k long book and written the first 30k in the hopes of finishing off the next 50k during Nano.  I don't know why I did this, because every year the edits on my existing books arrive during November, unfailingly, and they – of course- have priority.

Same again this year   Not that I should complain, because I'm half way through the edits on Under the Hill, having finished UtH: Bomber's Moon but not yet started UtH: Dogfighters.  After having worked on it so long that I was sick of it, and sent it off to the publishers while I was sick of it, I'm now experiencing that wonderful writerly joy that comes with the realisation that "OMG, this is actually good stuff!"

I've also been given a sneak peek of the first stab mockup of the cover, and I can say "eeeeeee!" with confidence, because I love it.  I know it's a bit early to be gushing over UtH, and I ought to be talking up By Honor Betrayed, but eeeeee! new cover art without a single naked man on it, and with all of the elements I asked for.  Couldn't be better.

This is the one encouraging thing to happen during nearly a month of discouragement. First my husband was away and I was ill, then my husband came back and he was ill, while I continued feeling bad. Then both my daughters were grotty and upset for various reasons, while I continued to be ill, and now they're still depressed and my husband and I are still ill.  And soon we'll have to worry about Christmas. Aargh!

Still, By Honor Betrayed is out in 5 days, so that gives me something to look forward to.  (But it also reminds me I have a blog post to write, and a page to make for my website, and a book trailer to put together, and thank God I wrote my guest posts early or the hair I'm currently pulling out would be falling out on its own.)

Melodrama, I haz it.

First review of By Honor Betrayed

Wow! A first review of "By Honor Betrayed" and it's not even out yet!  I appear to have cranked the sense of danger up a bit too high for this reviewer, but it's ok because she enjoyed it enough to come back for more anyway

This was my first Alex Beecroft read and I'm sure it won't be my last.  Guess I'll just have to make an appointment with my primary doctor to insure my poor heart can stand anymore stories like this.  It was fast-paced, well plotted, and historically accurate and is highly recommended.

Thanks a lot to Portia at MM Good book reviews!

Mega thanks too to Jo for doing me proud with a fantastic spread of posts on her blog.  I thought I'd just link to the next two for easy access

Interview, in which I answer some very interesting questions

Jo's reviews of the books of mine she's read.