A.L. Lester's Blog, page 14

Why ‘The Fog of War’?

As I may have mentioned, just in passing, The Fog of War is out tomorrow. One or two people have pointed out that it’s a slightly peculiar title juxtaposed with the 1920s art-deco cover and what the heck is going on? I have a confession, then. Mr AL named it. I mean, of course I … Continue reading "Why ‘The Fog of War’?"

Author expectations versus reality

I’ve been writing one way and another since Miss Lowe told me off for using ‘again and again’ repetitively in my story about a man climbing a mountain circa 1978. I don’t think I’ve ever really thought of myself as ‘a writer’ or an ‘author’. It was always something I was going to become in … Continue reading "Author expectations versus reality"

Interview: Change of Plans by Addison Albright

Addison Albright is visiting today to talk about her new release, please give her a warm welcome! Thank you so much, Ally, for having me here on your wonderful blog today! (Hello Addison, thank you so much for visiting!) Hello, Ally’s lovely readers! I’ve got a new release out—my first in over a year—and I … Continue reading "Interview: Change of Plans by Addison Albright"

#TheWeekThatWas

The last couple of weeks have been hard here at Lester Towers. It’s the school holidays…cruising on down to the end of week two out of seven now. Littlest needs constant entertainment otherwise she starts driving her wheelchair around the house throwing things on the floor. And by ‘constant’ I mean you can’t go and … Continue reading "#TheWeekThatWas"

The difference between writing in the 1920s and 1970s. And a bit about colonialism in historical romance.

With The Fog of War coming out in August I thought it might be interesting to blog about the differences between writing in all the different time-periods I seem to dip in to. I went straight from writing The Flowers of Time, set in in India in the 1780s to Taking Stock in England in … Continue reading "The difference between writing in the 1920s and 1970s. And a bit about colonialism in historical romance."

Guest Post: Ellie Thomas, Artistic Inspiration

Thank you so much, Ally, for having me as your guest today! I’m Ellie Thomas and I write Historical Gay Romance. In this blog, I’ll be chatting about my latest story with JMS Books, released on July 10th. It’s a Hot Flash entitled A Roll of the Dice. It can be uncanny how inspiration comes … Continue reading "Guest Post: Ellie Thomas, Artistic Inspiration"

Why Paranormal?

Why do I set a lot of my stories in a paranormal universe, you ask? It’s a question I often grumble about to myself. I am slightly resentful of my writing-subconscious, because it doesn’t want to make things easy for me. I love writing historical stories, the research, the social history, getting into how people … Continue reading "Why Paranormal?"

#AmReading

This week, sapphic time-travel with One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston and two well-know gay romances that I’ve been listening to in audio, For Real by Alexis Hall and the Adrien English series by Josh Lanyon. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston This is by the author of Red, White and Royal Blue, which I … Continue reading "#AmReading"

Ofelia Grand: Remember Us

Let’s welcome Ofelia Grand today! She’s talking about her re-release, Remember Us. It’s a story about older characters and memory loss and I love it, although Ofelia doesn’t like the first-person POV very much! Hello, everyone! Thank you, Ally, for letting me drop by today. At the beginning of this month, one of my short … Continue reading "Ofelia Grand: Remember Us"

Definitely not Magical Realism: The Border Magic system

So, The Fog of War is out next month and I thought it was probably time for another post about how the magic system works–that seems to be one of the main questions that comes up when I do Q&A’s about the series. Basically, my process can be summed up if you visualise me sitting … Continue reading "Definitely not Magical Realism: The Border Magic system"