N.B. Dixon's Blog, page 23

Smashwords summer sale

Get fifty % off both Heir of Locksley and Knight of Sherwood in the Smashwords summer sale. The sale runs from July 1st until July 31st. Join for free now and get fantastic bargains on thousands of books including Heir of Locksley and Knight of Sherwood

Upcoming Radio Interview

Next week, I’ll be recording an interview for RNIB Connect Radio, a UK radio station created for and presented by people who are visually impaired. As a VI person myself, I listen to the station regularly, and I’m honoured to be doing an interview with them. I’ll be sure to share listening information when the time comes.

Writing Update

Well, my new year’s resolution to blog more often is officially dead. If there’s ever a prize for intermittent blogger of the year, then I definitely qualify. In my defence, I’ve had a few problems writing book four of OL. Book three is now with my publisher, and after several rocky starts, book four is now finally under way. I also discovered a new fantasy series that has rather distracted me. Those are my excuses, pathetic as they are. I’d promise to do better, but regular readers will know how good I am at keeping it. I will, however, let you know as soon as a release date for Earl of Huntingdon is announced.

Subscribers to my newsletter should know that the newsletter feature will soon be removed from the website. Owing to both WordPress and Mail Chimp being incompatible with my speech software, I have now given up on the idea of a mailing list, but you can still keep up with my news by following me on any of my social media platforms. Speaking of which, I’d like to thank Cat for her lovely Facebook post.

Until I write again.

Read an Ebook Week

In honour of Read an Ebook week, I have joined with many authors in making my books available at a reduced price for a limited time. Right now, there’s fifty percent off Heir of Locksley and Knight of Sherwood over at Smashwords. For those not in the know, Smashwords is a website which allows authors to publish their books for free, and allows readers to download ebooks in a format of their choice. Visit my Author page and use the coupon code RAE50 and take advantage of this great offer while it lasts.

Interview with Barnaby Eaton-Jones

Any regular readers of my blog will know that I am a huge fan of the Robin of Sherwood TV series, and the more recent audio adventures. Today I am delighted to welcome Barnaby Eaton-Jones, the producer of the audio series.

Q:
How did you come to be involved in the Robin of Sherwood audio project?

A:
The short answer is that I set-up and ran the 30th anniversary convention for the show, where the two Robin of Sherwoods (Mr Praed and Mr Connery) appeared on stage together for the first time, and I was then asked to be co-producer by an audio company – if the audio licence they were enquiring about to make a new series came to pass. It didn’t, sadly. But, at that convention, I was gifted an unproduced script to give back to the Richard Carpenter Estate (that had been auctioned off and was in the possession of Rowena Sayer). This became the basis of a new bid to acquire the licence to do this as a one-off and it was then successful.

Q:
What were the main differences between recording the audio books and the full cast adventures?

A:
The script. It’s as simple as that. With a full-cast adventure, you’re writing as if it’s a television episode – creating pictures with dialogue and with sound effects and music. That may require a little explanatory chatter now and again, which should be natural rather than shoehorned in (not as easy as it seems!). With an enhanced audio book, you’re writing – again – to create pictures in the imagination of the listener but you have the added advantage of a narrator telling the story. So, you have one voice, reading a story, rather than a collection of voices acting out a dramatization. I rather like the halfway house in-between, which we trialled with the recent Christmas Special ‘Sanctuary’, where we had a narrator but we also had a self-contained set of voices to read in the character’s dialogue. So, it was half audio book, half audio play; and it seemed to work really well.

Q:
What have been your greatest challenges?

A:
There have been many! The main one was when the original co-producer and his audio company upped sticks and left a few weeks before going into studio with ‘The Knights of the Apocalypse’. That meant having to re-cast, re-book studio dates and find a new audio company to release KOTA. And then, a few weeks before going into studio with the enhanced audios, my new co-producer upped and left too. Fortunately, his was for health reasons and he’s returning in 2018, but it does appear that Sherwood is jinxed. Ahem.

Q:
What was it like working with so many well-known actors?

A:
Joyful. It wasn’t intimidating or frightening, as they had all stayed so close as friends and they were just a lovely happy bunch. It was nice to have got to know the majority of them through the 30th anniversary event I ran, so we weren’t strangers. But, they’ve been a very, very supportive bunch. I still have to pinch myself sometimes when my phone flashes up Jason Connery’s name when he rings. If it all ended tomorrow, I hope they’d still talk to me and be happy doing the reunion convention weekends, because it’s all being so much fun. They are genuinely fantastic actors to be around.

Q:
Have there been any particular moments that have stood out for you?

A:
Yes. Many. Here’s my Top Five (which I’m sure would change if you asked me again tomorrow!)…

Standing in for Jason Connery during ‘The Knights of the Apocalypse’ (we recorded over four days, with as many actors as we could get for each session. When we were missing actors, I filled in the voices) and having to tell Marion, in the form of Judi Trott, that I loved her in the script. At the exact point I was saying it, my phone was buzzing in my pocket. When I pulled it out, it was a missed call from Michael Praed! Ha. You see, the first Robin is still clearly jealous that the second Robin stole his lady away from him! Ahem.

A local BBC News piece about the new audio adventure had been picked up by the main BBC News website and then proceeded to garner a million hits in a very short space of time. There’s clearly a lot of love for this telling of the legend!

The Premiere in London, with news crews and a fantastic bunch of fans crowded into a lecture hall to hear the first half an hour of ‘The Knights of the Apocalypse’.

Getting the licence, after so many negotiations, to continue on with ‘Robin of Sherwood’ as an official entity; which has created what I hope will be very long-lasting friendships with my co-producer Iain Meadows (from Spiteful Puppet) and Harriet Whitehouse (Richard Carpenter’s daughter, who runs his Estate).

Being filmed on Ray Winstone’s mobile phone whilst I was in ‘battle’ with Jason Connery during their recording session for ‘The Knights of the Apocalypse’ – I was playing the big villain and fighting with Connery’s Robin. Ray found it so amusing, he filmed it! Ha.

Q:
You narrated one of the Robin of Sherwood audiobooks yourself. How was that experience for you?

A:
It was genuinely thrilling. It wasn’t going to be me. I mean, I wanted to do it – especially as the script was written by someone I’ve known since I was a teenager (we both watched ‘Robin of Sherwood’ together!), but I did ask three of the original cast – one after the other – to be the narrator but each one had scheduling issues because of the fixed studio date. I’ve done voice acting and narration before, so I’m not a novice, but it’s not something I do regularly. We recorded everyone else in that particular audio first (Michael Praed, Nickolas Grace and Andy Secombe) – all of whom were brilliant. Then, I had less than an hour left on the clock to get through a script that was also less than an hour. So, it’s pretty much all done in one take and I’m rather proud that I didn’t mess it up!!

Q:
What does the future hold for the Robin of Sherwood audio adventures? Can we expect any more beyond the 2018 release?

A:
I genuinely don’t know. We have a period where we get to renegotiate the licence towards the middle of this year before it runs out towards the end of the year. Rather boringly, we have to work out whether it’s financially and creatively viable to continue on. Not many people know that the main movers and shakers behind this whole thing are myself and Iain Meadows – neither of whom take a penny for our jobs, in order that we can funnel everything back into the production. Now, we can’t keep doing that, especially as we both have other projects that we are getting paid for. So, it really is down to how many units the public buy of the audiobook downloads, or pre-ordering the Summer 2018 box-set of four adventures; as that will make the decision for us!

I’d like to thank Barnaby Eaton-Jones for a wonderful interview, and to encourage my readers to give the series a try if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it, and your support may even lead to future releases.

Interview with Author Jenny Kane

It’s a great time to be a Robin Hood fan, with a new movie expected, and the popular Robin of Sherwood TV series now enjoying a revival on audio. After the first full cast dramatized adventure was released in 2016, the producers, Spiteful Puppet, announced the release of four more adventures featuring the original cast, to be released later this year. In December 2017, a group of specially commissioned audio books, each read by a member of the cast was released.

It is my very great pleasure to welcome back Author Jenny Kane, who is here to tell us all about her own involvement in the project.

Q:
How did you come to be involved in the Robin of Sherwood audio project?

A:
It was a stroke of pure luck. The producer of the audio books, Barnaby Eaton-Jones, and audio writer Iain Meadows, both came across my novel Romancing Robin Hood a couple of years ago. When they were looking to recruit a writer for the new audio series they asked me to send in a Treatment (a story outline). I still can’t believe I was the lucky one whose story was taken up.

Q:
Were the story ideas given to you, or were they your own?

A: The Waterford Boy was my own invention- based on an idea I’d had when I was 14 yrs old. All I knew was that the story had to conform to what would be expected from Robin of Sherwood, and that it had to last 60 -70 mins.
Mathilda’s Legacy was a little different in that I knew beforehand that Michael Craig would be the narrator. It made sense to write something revolving around the Earl of Huntingdon. It was Barnaby’s idea that I write a story that had Robert of Huntingdon as a teenager.

Q:
What have been your greatest challenges?

A: The whole thing! I’d never written a script before. I had to Google to find out what a ‘Treatment ‘ was before I even started – but no way was I going to miss the chance to write for Robin of Sherwood- even if I never made it past the ‘interview’ stage.
Also- because Robin of Sherwood is a programme so close to so many people’s hearts, I felt a huge responsibility to get it right. Obviously, I knew I couldn’t please everyone- but I wanted to be as true and faithful to the original Richard Carpenter tales as I could. I had (have) a huge fear of letting people down.
I felt it was important to make sure every one of the characters we love had something to say. RoS is after all a group story. That was tricky- especially with Nasir!
Q:
How does writing short stories compare with writing novels?

A:
Script writing is much much harder. When you write a story you can give the whole picture. With an audio script you have to tell the whole story by explaining visuals using sound and dialogue. Too much description becomes too dull, and too little, and your listener hasn’t a clue what’s going on.

Q:
How did you feel hearing your stories read aloud for the first time?

A:
It may sound unprofessional to say it- but I felt emotional- stunned- amazed….I admit I had a lump in my throat when the theme music burst into life.

Q:
Did you have any involvement in the recording process, or with the actors narrating your stories?

A:
No. My job was over once the words were written, edited, tweaked, and my episodes were given the OK by both the Carpenter estate and ITV.

Q:
Do you have a favourite story and why?

A:
Mathilda’s Legacy. I didn’t expect to write a second tale- that was a fabulous surprise
It was also an honour and a privilege to create the character of Mathilda, Robert of Huntingdon’s mother. I loved playing with the history of the period (there really was a siege in Nottingham castle), and introducing us all to Robert de Rainault when he was just a sheriff-in waiting!
Q:
Will you be writing any future tales for Robin of Sherwood?

A:
I would love to. It all depends on how many copies of the audio books already available are sold. The project is self funding. We’re all doing this for love not profit! So if we make enough sales and enough people like what I’ve done with RoS- then maybe…

You can now buy these audio downloads- as well as 2 other amazing stories from Spiteful Puppet for only £5.99 each-
The Waterford Boy- “Robin is angered by the Sheriff’s new people tax… but his rage is nothing compared to that of Will Scarlet when he hears Alwin mutter the name, D’Marelle. For Will and the recruiter have met before… many years ago…”
Mathilda’s Legacy- “David realised why his offspring behaved in the way he did. After all, Robert of Huntingdon was Mathilda’s son. He was her legacy. The moment couldn’t be put off any longer. It was time to tell his son the story of how the Earl had met Robert’s mother…”
And don’t forget….
The Templar’s Promise, read by Phil Rose – “On the run and desperate for help, Brother Michael offers Robin and the outlaws the chance to secure a fortune in gold. If Robin is to get his hands on it, he must face betrayal and an enemy who is every inch his match…”
and
The Blood That Binds, read by Nickolas Grace – “The Hooded Man will face an adversary who is playing a long game, one that will see Herne’s son fulfil a destiny and set blood against blood in more ways than one…”

Bio
Jenny Kane is the author of the full length romance novels Abi’s Neighbour, (Accent Press, 2017), Another Glass of Champagne (Accent Press, 2016), Abi’s House (Accent Press, 2015), the best selling contemporary romance novel Another Cup of Coffee (Accent Press, 2013), and its novella length sequels Another Cup of Christmas (Accent Press, 2013), Christmas in the Cotswolds (Accent, 2014), and Christmas at the Castle (Accent Press, 2015).
Keep your eye on Jenny’s blog at www.jennykane.co.uk for more details.

Jenny also writes historical crime as Jennifer Ash. Recently she wrote an audio script for the revival of ITV’s 1980’s television series, ‘Robin of Sherwood.’

Jenny’s timeslip novel, Romancing Robin Hood will be re-released very soon.

Jennifer Ash’s medieval crime novel, The Winter Outlaw, will be published in March 2018

Social Media Links
Web site – www.jennykane.co.uk
Twitter- @JennyKaneAuthor
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/JennyKaneRom...

Amazon Author Page – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jenny-Kane/e...tc20?qid=1492502979&sr=8-2-ent
Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...Kane?from_search=true

Happy New Year

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my wonderful readers a happy 2018.

For me, 2017 was a great year. It ended on a high note with the release of Knight of Sherwood, and the positive feedback I’ve received. One blog even declared it their book of the year, which does wonders for any author’s ego.

So, what does 2018 have in store? All going well, this year should see the release of the third OL book, Earl of Huntingdon. It will be winging its way to my publisher within the next week or so. Next, I’ll begin researching for the fourth and fifth books in the series. While the first two books were heavily influenced by the Robin Hood legend, the next three will concentrate on actual historical events in which our hero is caught up, while at the same time staying true to the spirit of the Robin Hood tale. I hope to begin writing book four later in the year. Watch my blog and news pages for regular updates. Also, why not follow me on Facebook or Twitter, or sign up to my mailing list. In the meantime, here’s to a year full of reading, writing and researching, and of course, re-connecting with my readers (when I actually remember to do a blog post).

Knight of Sherwood final tour day

Yesterday was the close of the Knight of Sherwood tour, and it closed with a bang. I’d like to thank Boy Meets Boy Reviews for their truly wonderful review. My thanks also to Lovebound Promotions for organising and hosting the tour. To all those of you who entered the giveaway, good luck. Thanks to all of you for taking part and following me on the tour.

Knight of Sherwood blog tour day 6

The penultimate day of the tour, and a busy one it’s been. There’s another chance to enter the Knight of Sherwood giveaway, as well as yet another exclusive excerpt over at Fan Girl Moments
Also check out the interview over at Lizz’s Reading Life
Find out how I come up with my book titles, and what I like to do in my spare time.

Knight of Sherwood blog tour day 5

Another great review at Drops of Ink
You can also read an exclusive excerpt at Always Love Me Some Books
Don’t miss another chance to enter your name for a free copy of Knight of Sherwood. The giveaway hasn’t long to run, and I’d hate for you all to miss out.