Alex Marchant's Blog, page 20

#HistoricalFiction Writers ‘Interview My Character’ Blog Hop – now underway!

The first two interviews on this exciting blog hop have now been posted. Read about both Angle-Saxon warrior Byrhtnoth and fifteenth-century lady Eleanor Elder in their own words at:

https://jenblackauthor.blogspot.com/2019/06/come-and-meet-byrhtnoth.html

and

https://historytheinterestingbits.com/2019/06/08/5261/

Why not let them introduce you to what may become some of your new favourite books?

The rest of the schedule for the Blog Hop is as follows:

Matthew looks forward to saying hello on 20 July!

 

Interview with SchoolsHistory.org.uk: #HistoricalFiction, research, classroom visits

Dan Moorhouse of the Schools History website and Facebook page was kind enough to interview me about my books and working with schools for English and history lessons. It begins:

Alex Marchant writes historical fiction set against the background of the Wars of the Roses. The Order of the White Boar and The Kings Man use the life of Richard III to weave stories that are ideal for readers from Key Stage 2 upwards. In this interview Alex outlines uses of the books in several Primary Schools, the research that goes into her books and offers insights into the way in which historical fiction is written.

Your books are set against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses and the life of Richard III. What was it that caught your attention about this period and your particular interest in Richard?

My first real encounter with King Richard III was in the school library when I was about 14 or 15 – browsing the shelves for my next read, I came across a book with the intriguing title The Daughter of Time by an author called Josephine Tey. I’d always been fascinated by history, particularly the medieval period, and often read historical fiction (Rosemary Sutcliff, Geoffrey Trease, Henry Treece among others), but this turned out to be something quite different….

The rest of the interview can be found at:

https://schoolshistory.org.uk/topics/alex-marchant/

 

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With students from Grange Tech College, Bradford

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mybook.to/WhiteBoar

mybook.to/TheKingsMan

#HistoricalFiction Character Blog Hop! Starts 3 June

Do you enjoy historical fiction? Not sure where to find your next favourite author – or character?

For something a little different, why not follow the upcoming Historical Writers Forum ‘Character Blog Hop’!

Along with sixteen other historical fiction authors, I’ll be interviewing a character from someone else’s novel here on my blog, and in turn, one of my characters will be interviewed by another author.

We’ll each be sharing all the other interviews on our blogs and Facebook, etc., so why not come along and meet us all? 

#UKIndieLitFest takeover – this Sunday 7pm by attending author Alex Marchant

It’s now only two days to go till my take-over of the UK Indie Lit Fest social group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukindielitfest/

Come along at 7 pm BST on Sunday 26th for an hour of chat and giveaways about King Richard and historical fiction – and a little more!

You have to be a member of the group to take part so don’t be surprised if you’ve received an invite to join – and do just follow the link if you haven’t! https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukindielitfest/ (Don’t be offended if I haven’t got round to inviting you directly – there’s only so many invitations I can send out at once! Thank you to everyone who’s responded so far.)

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And don’t forget – it’s not just me. Lots of other attending authors, covering every conceivable genre (probably!) will also be doing take-overs over the next few weeks. You never know – you may well find your next favourite author(s)! 

#UKIndieLitFest take-over, Sunday 26 May at 7pm – be there! #giveaways #HistoricalFiction

Now that all the submissions for ‘Right Trusty and Well Beloved…’ are safely gathered in (bar one or two possibly…I’m not so strict that I can’t extend the deadline a little  ), my thoughts are turning to my next event (mainly to distract me from the very difficult process of selecting the pieces for inclusion…)

Next Sunday evening 26 May from 7pm BST, I’ll be hosting a one-hour take-over of the Indie Lit Fest social group in advance of attending the festival on 27 July this year – and it would be lovely to see some of my WordPress, Twitter and Facebook friends and fellow authors there!

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It’ll be on the first anniversary of my first virtual launch – of ‘The King’s Man’ – and I’ll be celebrating that anniversary – and another very important anniversary from some 30 years ago…more about that on the day.

There will be competitions, giveaways and general chat. So why not come along and see what’s going on – even if you can’t make it to the festival itself in July!

I’ll be taking the liberty of inviting a few friends along to join the group in advance, as you have to be a member to participate – so please don’t be surprised at any invitations you might receive! Of course, you don’t have to wait to be invited… 

Hope to see you there 

12 hours to go… Final call for submissions to ‘Right Trusty and Well Beloved….’ #RichardIII #anthology

There’s little less than 12 hours to go until the deadline for submissions to ‘Right Trusty and Well Beloved…’, the new anthology of short fiction and poetry inspired by King Richard III to be sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).



We’ve received a wonderful variety of submissions and have so enjoyed reading them so far – will there be a few more still to come?



Don’t forget – please send your short story or poem to me at AlexMarchant84@gmail.com by midnight BST tonight for your chance to be a part of this new charity anthology, and to be in with a chance to win one of our lovely prizes, generously donated by contributors to the previous anthology, ‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name‘, including Frances Quinn’s exquisite artwork.

Counting down… to the #submission deadline for #RichardIII anthology of #shortstories

Counting down…



Just 4 days to go until the deadline for submissions to ‘Right Trusty and Well Beloved…’, the new anthology of short fiction and poetry inspired by King Richard III, to be sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK.

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I’ve really enjoyed reading the many fantastic submissions so far – enough to fill the book twice over. But do you know what? I’d love to have enough to fill it thrice over! Or… four times (whatever the word for that is?) Even though it will mean it’s even more difficult to make my final selection…

‘A Yorkshire Childhood?’

My latest regular blog for Authors Electric – inspired, as you can see, by Saturday’s event at Harrogate Library when Maggie Cobbett and I discussed two very different – although in some ways not dissimilar – Yorkshire childhoods.

Early twentieth century / late fifteenth – can there be similarities? Is an off-cumden qualified to talk about a Yorkshire childhood in any era?

The full blog can be found at: https://authorselectric.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-yorkshire-childhood-alex-marchant.html

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‘Book launch for Grant Me the Carving of My Name’ by Jennifer C. Wilson

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Shall I claim family visits or good weather (and therefore gardening in the race to tame our plot before it becomes jungle, as it does annually, albeit wildlife-friendly jungle) for why I haven’t yet blogged about last week’s launch of Grant Me the Carving of My Name in York?

Fortunately Jennifer C. Wilson has stepped into the breach with her blog about it here:

Thank you Jen! Very glad you enjoyed it.

‘Robin of Sherwood’, 35 years on

Apparently it’s 35 years ago since the start of a rather iconic British TV series – Robin of Sherwood. The anniversary has been brought to my attention by Mary Anne Yarde, who will be posting a series of blogs involving reminiscences from cast and crew and others less directly involved in the programme:

https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2019/04/nothings-forgotten-nothing-is-ever.html

Robin was a retelling of the Robin Hood tale, steeped in the myriad myths and legends of ancient Britain, including that of Herne the Hunter. All your favourite Robin Hood characters were there – although many were portrayed somewhat differently to more traditional retellings. Will Scarlet, for instance, was a rough vengeful ex-soldier (played by a very young, very Cockney Ray Winstone), not the rather effete, lute-strumming Errol-Flynn-sidekick of 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood.

[image error]Despite the series’ mysticism and pagan roots, it was also a pretty gritty version of medieval England – similar in some ways to its predecessor Arthur of the Britons, also made by ITV more than a decade earlier, which depicted a King Arthur (Oliver Tobias) very much mired in British v. Saxon conflicts of the post-Roman period, rather than the High Medieval morality tales of Morte d’Arthur. Perhaps it also drew on the Monty Python-style of portraying medieval England in Monty Python and the Holy Grail – all filth and rebellious peasants, with a bit of fantasy thrown in. Rewatching that film recently, I was strongly aware of the influence it must also have wielded over The Blackadder, the original series of course (I have to offer at least one sideways glance at something Ricardian in every blog post…)

 

I’ve not watched Robin of Sherwood since it first aired in 1984, when I was a wee bit older than Mary Anne – old enough to rush out and buy the soundtrack album by Donegal group Clannad (on vinyl of course – what else was there?) as soon as I could. I guess it helped that I’d been smitten by Clannad a couple of years before when they provided the haunting theme for Belfast drama Harry’s Game, starring Ray Lonnen, a favourite actor from another fave series Sandbaggers (I could go on with this TV-favourite-head-tennis for ages!) I still have that album – now on CD too for listening in the car – and it still takes me back to the mystic forests of ‘The Hooded Man’. Maybe it’s time to watch it all again…

I’ll be looking forward to reminiscing along with Mary Anne and her guests over the next few weeks.

Mary Anne’s blog spot, Myths, Legends, Books and Coffee Pots, can be found at:

https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com

 

Alex Marchant is the author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+:

mybook.to/WhiteBoar

mybook.to/TheKingsMan

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