Linda Acaster's Blog, page 2

Of Amazing History and Annoying Tech

One of the immersive World War II exhibits at Eden CampEarly May was full of the Coronation of King Charles III. The Union flag bunting saw another airing, the Pimm's stood ready, and smoked salmon & cucumber sandwiches were indulged. I sat glued to the TV throughout, not so much awed by the pageantry, but by the weight of history behind it. I'd chosen a good channel to follow, hosted by a softly

Spring has finally sprung with Covid, Orwell’s 1984, and King’s Fairytale

One of our front borders. Spring has sprung while I've been busy coughing.Hello! Yes, I know it’s been a while. Despite rumours to the contrary we haven’t emigrated, we have had Covid. And no, it wasn’t me who brought it home. Omicron is supposedly endemic now, so I guess we’ve done well getting this far before embracing our first bout.Was it bad? Not particularly. I’ve had worse influenza in the

Valentine's Promotion on TWO Romances

 For the love of Romance, from 10th until 15th I have stepped price promotions via Amazon UK and Amazon USA on both my Historicals. Beneath The Shining Mountains is set in the region now known as Wyoming and Montana in the USA; the date the early 1800s. For the Apsaroke people, the place is Apsaroke lands; the time, the good years between the coming of the horse and the arrival of land-hungry

Nothing New About Story-TELLING

 Here we are at the end of January with the first blogpost of the month. If Christmas was quiet, January has been manic for all the wrong reasons. Despite this, I actually managed a few non-fiction shorts for Medium and attended a couple of writer events.The Romantic Novelists’ AssociationHalfway through the month was a digital meeting of the Northern Chapter of the RNA – Romantic in name now,

All Things Father Christmas - including Santa and NORAD

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images via PixabayHere I am, back again with my traditional Christmas post, because, as with all good Traditions, it has the right amount of fact while not taking itself too seriously. And at the end of yet another tumultuous year, we do need a bit of not taking oneself too seriously!  Let it raise a smile as snippets are retold over a glass of something warming

Garlic and Silver Bullet at the Ready: It's Halloween!

Image courtesy of PixabayHalloween fiction, as its contemporary street "decorations", can be cute or can be gory. Or thoughtful. Or unsettling. Its aim is not to make readers flinch, but to make them read on, knuckles tensing, while the hairs on the back of the neck prickle and rise. Slowly.  Its main ingredient is dread, the anticipation of the inevitable, signalled at the edge of vision by a

The British Monarch's Royal StandardIt is with sadness, ...

 The British Monarch's Royal StandardIt is with sadness, and inevitability, that we hear of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96 years. She was the longest ever reigning monarch of these islands, and will be sorely missed. Her sense of country, and of duty and of service to her country, will not be surpassed. “The Queen is dead. Long live the King!”

The mystery of the missing Mystery - launching the paperback of THE FOREVER HOUSE

The paperback of The Forever House is finally live! Hurrah!! And yes, it is a Mystery, the first of my titles which can truly be placed in the genre, though mysteries have been woven through the subplots of a number of my novels, as has History. The two come together in The Forever House. ...Reading the inked imprints of a manual typewriter was like going back in time: the conveyance between

Some skills we hone. And some we mess up.

 After taming new wordprocessing software to my will (ooh, calm down there...) the good news is that the interior of the paperback of The Forever House is finally finalised: headers, footers, blank pages, et al. Hurrah! and all that jazz. Do you like the Half Title page? I thought I did quite well with that.However, just as when reading a good-news missive from an agent or editor, we know there's

A Brilliant Break and a Brilliant Review

We've had a few days down London way - Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens, Stratford-up-on-Avon - and doubtless I'll be writing about the visits when I get myself back on an even keel.I returned to a mountain of washing and a garden going rampant after much-needed rain, but found awaiting me a brilliant review for The Forever House by Terry Tyler, writer of dark suspense and member of Rosie Amber's Book