Alex Marchant's Blog, page 24
November 27, 2018
Quest to find a loyal young supporter of #RichardIII! #Giveaway
Do you know someone under the age of 18 who is already a confirmed Ricardian?
At our launch of Grant Me the Carving of My Name on Sunday, one of our contributors offered a *very* special prize. Wendy Johnson of the Looking For Richard team wants to reward a young Ricardian with a lovely ‘goody bag’ of Richard-related items and also (perhaps for the adult who nominates them) a copy of The Search for Richard III: the King’s Grave signed specially by Philippa Langley. Please do respond here or on the original post with details of your young Ricardian!
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Wendy with other members of the LFFR: David Johnson, Philippa Langley and John Ashdown-Hill (Photo copyright P LAngley)
Wendy’s post is:
“Wendy Johnson also has a challenge for any young Ricardians here today – or anyone who knows of any youngsters who are willing to fight (figuratively only of course) for his cause…
Wendy has an extra special prize to give away. She’s not only put together a goody bag of Ricardian presents suitable for a young Ricardian (bookmark, white rose brooch, a book about castles, etc.), but also she has a copy of Philippa Langley’s book about King Richard, The Search for Richard III: The King’s Grave, signed and with a special message from Philippa herself. (Perhaps an incentive for the adults here to encourage entry by their youngsters – or simply to nominate them!)
Wendy sees bringing young people to Richard’s cause as vital in the quest to reveal the real Richard III. And she would love to hear from you if you know of (or are) someone aged under 18 who has a particular interest in him – and has perhaps done something special to promote knowledge about him. This could be anything from doing a project about the real man, writing a story about him, drawing a picture of him as he was (not as Shakespeare would have us see him), speaking up for him in front of people who perhaps know little about the real man – or whatever you feel shows this young person represents the next generation of Ricardians and strivers after truth!
Please nominate any young person you feel is suitable – perhaps your child or grandchild, niece/nephew, friend, student, whoever – and post something that supports that nomination – a photo, perhaps of the project or drawing, or an anecdote, or whatever you can.
The challenge will remain open for seven days to make this easier (till Sunday 2nd December; please DM Alex Marchant if you need more time or suggestions) – and then Wendy will choose the winner.”
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(Alex with Molly at Haworth and another young Ricardian at Bosworth)
The original post can be found at the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/271580673561044/
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November 25, 2018
Virtual launch of ‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name’charity anthology inspired by #RichardIII
An invitation to one and all to join us this afternoon between 3 and 8 pm GMT (10 am to 3pm EST) to launch the Richard III inspired anthology of short stories Grant Me the Carving of My Name, to be sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).
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The event will take place on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/271580673561044/
There will be lots of chat, prizes, giveaways, some but not all with a Ricardian theme. And one very special prize will be awarded to a young Ricardian, so please keep your eyes peeled if you have any young friends or relatives who are supporters of King Richard!
The approximate timetable for author slots is as follows:
3pm start – introduction
3.15 Audience with King Richard himself (ably assisted by Dames Larner & Lamb – authors of ‘Dame Joanne’s Talke Thinge’ and Dickon’s Diaries)
4pm J.P. Reedman (author of ‘Five White Stones’ and I, Richard Plantagenet)
4.45 Wendy Johnson (author of ‘Bowyers Tower’ and ‘Beyond the Rood’, member of the Looking for Richard Project team)
5.30 Joanne R. Larner (author of ‘Abduction’ and Richard Liveth Yet)
6.15 Narrelle M. Harris (author of ‘Long Live the King’ and ‘Myth and Man’, and numerous books in various genres, including the Duo Ex Machina series)
7pm Jennifer C. Wilson (‘Return of the King’ and the Kindred Spirits books) and Marla Skidmore (‘Purgatory’ and Renaissance: The Fall and Rise of a King)
Official end is at 8pm, but all competitions and giveaways will be open for at least 24 hours. Also authors who have been unable to join us on the day will be checking in later – so do let us know if you have any questions for them!
We hope to see you there!
And don’t forget you can buy your ebook or paperback of ‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name’ on Amazon at mybook.to/GrantMetheCarving or direct from me at AlexMarchant84@gmail.com.
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Full details of the anthology are as on the following press release:
Richard III novelists collaborate on charity anthology
When: Publication date 21st November (paperback), 24th November (ebook)
Where: Can be purchased via Amazon worldwide and from contributing authors
An international group of authors who have all been inspired by England’s last Plantagenet King, Richard III, are working together to raise funds in support of Scoliosis Association UK through sales of a collection of their work.
Grant Me the Carving of My Name is an anthology of 15 short stories by a dozen authors from the UK, Ireland, the USA and Australia. It takes its title (with her permission) from a poem by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy which was read by Benedict Cumberbatch at the king’s reburial in Leicester in 2015.
The collection also features a Foreword by acclaimed historical novelist Philippa Gregory, author of The White Queen, which was dramatized by the BBC in 2013 and featured a rare positive portrayal of King Richard, by Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk, War and Peace).
The book
As Philippa Gregory states in her Foreword, ‘This collection has come about – as so many good things do – from a dream and a joke’ – when editor Alex Marchant and Wendy Johnson, a key member of the Looking for Richard Project responsible for rediscovering the king’s grave, joked about getting together to publish short stories they had written about this most controversial king. The enthusiasm of the other authors approached to contribute led to the dream becoming a reality.
The collected stories offer an alternative view of this often-maligned king and range from glimpses of his childhood and domestic life, through battles and rebellions, to explorations of the afterlife and his historical reputation. By turns elegiac, mystical, brutal, light-hearted, uplifting, there’s something for everyone within these pages.
The charity
King Richard himself suffered from scoliosis – a lateral curvature of the spine that would have become increasingly disabling and painful as he aged, and was only revealed during examination of his skeleton after his grave was excavated in 2012. Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK) supports children and adults with the same condition throughout the UK today and was the obvious charity to support with proceeds from this book.
The editor and authors
Alex Marchant is author of two books, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, telling the story of the real King Richard III for children, although they’ve also been enjoyed by adults. Called ‘a wonderful work of historical fiction’ by the Richard III Society, The Order has received a Discovered Diamond award from the Discovering Diamonds review website.
The contributing authors have published numerous novels between them, not just about King Richard, with subjects and genres ranging from King Arthur and Robin Hood (J. P. Reedman) through crime and fantasy (Narrelle M. Harris) to humour and romance (Jennifer C. Wilson, Joanne Larner and Susan Lamb), together with non-fiction books, particularly the acclaimed new biography Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me by Matthew Lewis.
The contributors
Narrelle M. Harris http://www.narrellemharris.com/
Wendy Johnson http://revealingrichardiii.com/index.html
Riikka Katajisto https://riikkanikko.blogspot.com/
Susan Kokomo Lamb http://www.facebook.com/Dickiethird/
Joanne R. Larner http://www.joannelarner.wordpress.com/
Matthew Lewis https://www.amazon.co.uk/Matthew-Lewis/e/B0088LP1H0/
Alex Marchant (editor) https://alexmarchantblog.wordpress.com
Máire Martello A playwright based in Manhattan
Frances Quinn https://www.deviantart.com/echdhu
P. Reedman http://author.to/ReedmanRichardIII
Marla Skidmore http://mybook.to/TheRiseofaKing
Richard Unwin http://www.quoadultra.net/
Jennifer C. Wilson https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jennifer-Wilson/e/B018UBP1ZO/
Grant Me the Carving of My Name is available as a paperback and an ebook through Amazon at mybook.to/GrantMetheCarving and via editor Alex Marchant and contributors.
There will be an online launch between 3 and 8 pm GMT on Sunday 25th November at https://www.facebook.com/events/271580673561044/
For more information, please contact Alex at:
01535 647746 / 07929 084124
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November 20, 2018
‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name’ – paperback now available! #RichardIII
I’m delighted to announce that the paperback of Grant Me the Carving of My Name, our anthology of short fiction inspired by King Richard III, with all proceeds going to Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK) is now available in paperback from Amazon, and soon will be via my email address – AlexMarchant84@gmail.com. The title is courtesy Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy from her poem and Philippa Gregory (The White Queen) kindly supplied the foreword.
The ebook will be published on Saturday 24th November, and is currently available for pre-order along with the paperback at mybook.to/GrantMetheCarving
The ideal stocking filler for all Ricardians – and soon-to-be Ricardians! – this Christmas!
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November 18, 2018
‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name’ – #RichardIII anthology
I’m delighted to say that our anthology of stories inspired by King Richard III is now ready for print and therefore we’ve brought forward the publication day. We expect the paperback to be available via Amazon during the next few days, with the ebook on sale from Saturday 24th November (when pre-ordered copies will now be delivered), rather than 1st December as previously. The books can be ordered at mybook.to/GrantMetheCarving
The book will be officially ‘launched’ online on Facebook on Sunday 25th November between 3 and 8 pm GMT (to be confirmed). Come along and join the authors for chat, Q&As, competitions, giveaways – and whatever else we come up with between now and then!
Our authors are Narrelle M. Harris, Wendy Johnson, Susan Lamb, Joanne R. Larner, Matthew Lewis, Maire Martello, Frances Quinn, J. P. Reedman, Marla Skidmore, Richard Unwin and Jennifer C. Wilson and as many as possible will be coming along to the launch or contributing.
The writer of our Foreword, historical novelist Philippa Gregory, will of course be invited – but you won’t be surprised to learn that we can’t guarantee her attendance!
Don’t forget to let all your friends know who might be interested – in Richard III, historical fiction, short stories, charity fundraisers, etc. The more the merrier!
More news nearer the time!
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November 16, 2018
‘The King’s Man’ – another excellent review from Wendy Johnson of the #LookingforRichardIII team
With all the fun of putting together the anthology, I’ve been somewhat neglecting my own authored works (well, not entirely, as I have been hiding away to revisit the fifteenth century occasionally, and am pleased to say I’m about a quarter of the way through book 3 of The Order of the White Boar… and very much enjoying being back in the company of my young characters – most of them, anyway!)
And as other self-published authors know full well, books don’t market and sell themselves! Time to get all that back into focus perhaps…. though the actual writing is so much more fun!
But just as I was thinking about returning to all that promotional stuff, along came something that made it all seem worth while: a fabulous new review of The King’s Man. And this from Looking for Richard Project member Wendy Johnson, who was kind enough also to review The Order for The Court Journal, the publication of the Scottish branch of the Richard III Society earlier this year (see Another fantastic review….6 April).
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The Looking for Richard Team (l – r): Dr David and Wendy Johnson, Philippa Langley and Dr John Ashdown-Hill (Photo copyright Philippa Langley)
Thank you so much to Wendy (who is also a contributor to Grant Me the Carving…) and to the editor of The Court Journal for allowing it to be reproduced here in advance of publication.
Book Review: The King’s Man: Alex Marchant
Readers of Alex Marchant’s Order of the White Boar will be pleased to know that its sequel, The King’s Man, is now available. This excellent series of Ricardian novels was initially intended for younger readers, but the skill and knowledge of the author means that these books can be read and enjoyed by any age group.
The Order of the White Boar introduced readers to Matthew Wansford, son of a prosperous York merchant, and an aspiring squire, whose unparalleled singing voice has earned him a place in the household chapel of Richard duke of Gloucester, at Middleham Castle. The first book in the series concluded with the untimely death of Edward IV: Matthew and his faithful hound, Murrey, being last seen accompanying the duke on his doleful journey south towards London.
Book Two opens at a vital point on the journey: Duke Richard’s arrival in Northampton. Along with Matthew, and his master, Duke Richard, the reader is instantly sucked into a dangerous vortex of Woodville intrigue. It is clear that Matt’s life in Yorkshire has not prepared him for the vicious world of power and politics in which he now finds himself. And the boy witnesses another facet to his master’s character, as Duke Richard’s acumen and agility of mind show him to be more than a match for Queen Elizabeth’s family, as he manages to evade their unscrupulous attempts on his life.
As the party continues towards the capital, Matthew is required to provide company for the youthful Edward V. Whilst Matthew hopes to rekindle his former friendship with the young king, the arrest of the boy’s uncle, Earl Rivers, has left Edward guarded and unhappy.
The author skilfully interweaves the tumultuous events of 1483 into the story of Matthew’s departure from the duke’s household and his apprenticeship with printer Master Ashley. Life in London allows the boy to hear, at first hand, the news that explodes throughout the capital as the young king is declared illegitimate and Duke Richard is offered the crown. Matt also learns of events through letters sent to him by his former friends, Alys Langdown and Roger de Kynton, with whom he founded the Order of the White Boar. The fourth member of the Order, King Richard’s son, Prince Edward, continues to write to Matthew from his home at Middleham, each of the young people employing the cipher they invented together in happier times. As can be imagined, this code is to come in extremely useful, on more than one occasion, as danger looms for both Matthew, and his former master, the king.
Once again, characterisations are expertly drawn, and the reader learns to love and hate the many figures, real and imaginary, who populate Matthew’s life experiences. Affection is felt for the honest and reliable protagonist, sympathy and concern for the eager Edward of Middleham and admiration for the loyal and dutiful King Richard.
Matthew’s nemesis, Hugh Soulsby, also returns to the story, offering us more than one reason to despise him, as his family throws in their lot with Lord Stanley.
Unlike Matt, the reader knows which way events are set to turn, and it is difficult to remain impassive as the day of Bosworth dawns and Matthew is entrusted with a final duty for King Richard: a vitally important letter, which must be delivered at all costs should the battle go awry. Alex Marchant holds the reader’s heart in her hands as she describes the sorrowful events leading up to and following the battle, as Matthew witnesses the arrival of the king’s corpse into the town of Leicester.
Loyal to the end, Matthew soon finds himself pursued by those eager to take possession of King Richard’s sealed letter. The story builds into a crescendo as Matthew, Alys and Roger are reunited in a bid to execute King Richard’s final plans.
As the reader approaches the climax, it is clear that Matthew Wansford is now a young man of destiny, who, like King Richard, seems pre-ordained to follow a fated life of danger and upheaval. However, his noble master has left an indelible imprint, and loyalty beyond the call of duty now draws Matthew on towards an indefatigable service for what remains of the House of York.
A well-researched and cleverly wrought sequel, The King’s Man continues the story of a brave and loyal youth, whose trials and tribulations are set to lead us into the third volume of this excellent trilogy.
What will the future hold for the Order of the White Boar? The only thing we can be sure of is that it will be an exciting ride.
Wendy Johnson
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Watch this space! #GrantMetheCarving #RichardIII
Some news is imminent about the publication of Grant Me the Carving of My Name! Watch this space over the weekend…
Meanwhile, a blog from one of our fabulous contributors, Narrelle M. Harris:
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November 13, 2018
Dotting the ‘I’s … an editor’s role? My latest blog on @AuthorsElectric
Sharing from AuthorsElectric.blogspot.com…
I’ve worked in publishing for a long time now in various capacities. My first job was as desk editor for a small press in Gloucestershire – back in the days when galley proofs were still a thing, and my first job was proofreading medieval city records in Latin (letter by letter…). The company was leading the way in computer typesetting, but overall little had changed since Gutenberg.
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After a spell back in archaeology, I moved briefly into medical, then management publishing – where I learnt numerous buzzwords and reluctantly retailed the bulls**t beloved of that sector. Being pushed towards management didn’t appeal – neither wrangling staff nor overseeing the editing of magazines – so I moved back to what first drew me to the industry – working directly with collections of words that other people had lovingly crafted.
Newly freelance, I targeted academic publishing companies as potential clients – that’s where I’d started and where I felt I could best use my skills. I’ve always written fiction and also briefly flirted with a move into fiction editing (an interview with Walker Books was spurned in favour of a sunny French archaeological dig), but for most of my freelance career I’ve worked for university presses and similar non-fiction publishers. My days are spent wrestling with the minutiae of referencing systems, polishing academics’ prose, spotting missing commas, framing queries and suggested rewordings as diplomatically as possible, and far too often being sidetracked into social media when googling what was a legitimate editorial query….
More recently, with the extension of my career into writing fiction for children, other opportunities are opening up for me, and sometimes I’ve wondered whether to offer my editing skills to fellow independent authors. After all, to an extent these skills are transferable to fiction and might well help to avoid the frequent criticism of some self-published books – that they are littered with silly typos and errors.
[Two of my favourite typos (both spotted one day in a single project – not by an indie author), are cavalry substituted for Calvary and canons for cannons…]
Yet, while I have on occasion edited fiction over the years, and yes, can spot stray punctuation, incorrect spelling, dodgy formatting and the like, I’m well aware that fiction copyediting is a very different beast from non-fiction. An author’s voice is such a subtle thing, and we all have our own personal ways of telling our stories. I suspect I would struggle to tread that apparently fine line between helpful, light-touch editing and – well, telling an author they’d used too many adverbs, or asking whether they really wanted their characters to do that!
I’ve had a flavour of the potential difficulties recently, having invited some fellow authors to contribute to an anthology of short fiction about our favourite king, Richard III, to sell as a fundraiser for Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). A dozen kindly agreed, and a similar number who heard about it on the grapevine are keen to contribute to any future project. I’ve enjoyed the whole process, from reading the stories as they came in to the satisfaction of seeing everything come together and pressing that button for Amazon pre-order. And yet … here are a disparate group of authors with a wide range of styles and views – all writing about a single man, who has – to say the least – a controversial reputation and a history that has been interpreted in myriad ways over the centuries. We’re all Ricardians – who believe the man was unjustly maligned after his death – but we still have many different approaches to his story.
A clutch of Ricardian authors, plotting an anthology, Alex, Marla Skidmore and J. P. Reedman, Bosworth 2018
I found myself adopting the lightest of light-touch approaches, pulling back from queries or changes that I might have made with hardly a thought in my day job. Afraid of imposing my views or my style. Would the Richard in my stories have said or done this or that? (Answer: it doesn’t matter – this Richard isn’t ‘mine’!) Might that comment be a tad controversial for some of our potential readership? (Hmmm, could be, but it has to stay…) Should I back away from any mention of the arguments over his reburial location? (Eek – the trouble that caused!) Alien abduction – hell, why not? An adverb here or there – no matter…
When all is said and done, these stories belong to the authors who wrote them. I may be named on the title-page as editor, but that just denotes my role as facilitator – doesn’t it? I simply gathered the people and stories together, dotted the ‘I’s and crossed the ‘T’s, checked the headings matched, chased up a well-known historical novelist to write the Foreword (yes! [punches fist in air] – we got her!), uploaded it all for sale. It’s not my job to tell anyone how or what they should write. Their names are on their stories: they’ll take the praise – or the flak.
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Grant Me the Carving of My Name, now on pre-order!
Have I got the balance right? I hope so. I guess time will tell. My fellow contributors have been appreciative of what I’ve done, and pre-publication buzz is building – as are the pre-orders (currently we’re #4 in Amazon’s historical fiction short stories ranking and 170 in the overall chart – although as we are up against Wolf Hall and all three volumes of Lord of the Rings, I must admit I’m still bemused as to how those rankings work). The book includes a ‘call for contributors’ for a second anthology. If that goes ahead, will my editorial ‘policy’ be the same? Hmmm…..
November 11, 2018
‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name’ – anthology inspired by #RichardIII sold in support of @SAUK now on pre-order
I’m pleased to say that ‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name’, the anthology inspired by King Richard III to be sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK), is now available for ebook pre-order on Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KDPSQ79/ priced £2.99.
The US site appears to be lagging somewhat with full details, but hopefully you can find it at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KDPSQ79/ (the US price will be $2.99, and free to read on Kindle Unlimited worldwide), or at your local Amazon site.
The book will also be available in paperback, priced £5.99 or $7.99 (other markets at local rates).
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The blurb is as follows:
‘A boyhood mishap in York. A ghostly walking tour of Leicester. A deadly snowstorm on the moors above Middleham. Alien abduction in the very heart of the city of London. Loss of a beloved brother, death of an untrue cousin.
Just some of the events recounted in these tales inspired by King Richard III.
Elegiac, mystical, brutal, light-hearted, uplifting. Will you find your favourite Ricardian author within the pages of this anthology?
Sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK) with a Foreword by Philippa Gregory (The White Queen) and edited by Alex Marchant
With contributions from Narrelle M. Harris, Wendy Johnson, Susan Lamb, Joanne R. Larner, Matthew Lewis, Máire Martello, Frances Quinn, J. P. Reedman, Marla Skidmore, Richard Unwin and Jennifer C. Wilson. Cover illustration by Riikka Katajisto.’
Sounds like the ideal Christmas present, doesn’t it?
November 10, 2018
‘Grant Me the Carving of My Name’ – a #RichardIII anthology – cover reveal
I’m delighted to announce that we now have a full cover for the upcoming anthology of short stories inspired by King Richard III, Grant Me the Carving of My Name, which will be sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). The ebook will also shortly be available for pre-order – watch this space! (The paperback will also be available from 2nd December – if not before…)
The cover has been designed by Dan Rendell using the image of King Richard kindly supplied by Riikka Katajisto. I’d like to send Dan huge thanks for the time and effort spent on the cover – it really is much appreciated.
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The book will be available in both ebook and paperback, for which the blurb is as follows:
‘A boyhood mishap in York. A ghostly walking tour of Leicester. A deadly snowstorm on the moors above Middleham. Alien abduction in the very heart of the city of London. Loss of a beloved brother, death of an untrue cousin.
Just some of the events recounted in these tales inspired by King Richard III.
Elegiac, mystical, brutal, light-hearted, uplifting. Will you find your favourite Ricardian author within the pages of this anthology?
Sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK) with a Foreword by Philippa Gregory (The White Queen) and edited by Alex Marchant
With contributions from Narrelle M. Harris, Wendy Johnson, Susan Lamb, Joanne R. Larner, Matthew Lewis, Máire Martello, Frances Quinn, J. P. Reedman, Marla Skidmore, Richard Unwin and Jennifer C. Wilson. Cover illustration by Riikka Katajisto.’
Sounds like the ideal Christmas present, doesn’t it?
November 5, 2018
Guest blog for Jaffareadstoo – ‘Northern Writers’
I’m delighted to have been invited to write a guest blog for the fabulous Jo Barton of the Jaffareadstoo blog spot. Jo asked me what it meant to me to be an author based in the north of England – how the landscape and people have shaped my writing, and what it means to be an author in this region.
You can find the full guest blog at:
https://jaffareadstoo.blogspot.com/2018/11/northern-writer-alex-marchant.html
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