Sharon Kay Penman's Blog, page 80

Time and Chance's rebirth

I am very happy to report that Time and Chance is now available as an e-book in the UK--at long last! Here is the link. I think this is a very eye-catching cover, she says modestly. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Chance-S... Now all of my books, both historicals and mysteries, are available as e-books on both sides of the Atlantic, for my British publisher was able to get Saints back on the Amazon Australian site, after it had inexplicably been dropped.

Lest we forget

Today is Veteran’s Day and I thought it would be fitting to post this link to the ceramic poppies that are now spilling out of the moat at the Tower of London, 888,248 to be precise, one for every British or Commonwealth soldier who died in WWI. Think about that for a moment; it is hard to grasp it, that so many young men lost their lives, that there was so much suffering, and all for what? I’ve always thought that the most haunting epitaph for this bloody, needless war was the one spoken by Sir Edward Grey in August, 1914: “The lights are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetimes.” All we can do is to remember all those who died and grieve for what might have been. http://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/the-p...

Richard 1, Henry 0

I had good news this morning. Ransom made it to Goodreads semi-finalist round for Best Historical Fiction; wherever they are, I suspect that Richard casually mentioned this to Henry this morning. Voting in the semi-finalist round is today through the 15th. https://www.goodreads.com/choiceaward...…

The real Westeros

This is a fascinating (at least to me) article in which George RR Martin discusses what Westeros really looks like, the HBO series notwithstanding. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10...

Return to reality

It must seem as if I do more disappearing acts than Houdini, but I had the second cataract surgery this week, and this time it was not as easy. I had one bad day with a lot of discomfort and my vision was so blurred that I wished I could trade Holly in for a Seeing Eye dog. But thankfully, I am doing much better now and very grateful that it is over and done with. It is nice to be able to use the computer again, too; I’ve been working today on a Goodreads Q & A session which has been a lot of fun, giving me an opportunity to talk about writing in general and Ransom in particular. Next on the agenda is doing a blog about the trip to Israel. Oh, and I suppose I will need to get back to the book. I don’t know how much longer I can keep the deadline dragon trapped up in the attic; I hear ominous thumping noises in the night and his smoky breath has begun to pollute the upstairs air.
Thanks to Rania for so admirably continuing our Today in History posts on Facebook. Hers are always much more comprehensive than mine, as I tend to post only about events or people of special interest to me, and not surprisingly, they almost always are medieval.
I hope to be able to start posting photos, too, of our travels—with all credit to my official photographer, Ms Paula Mildenhall!
PS The photos can be posted only on Facebook, of course. Such a shame we can't do that on Goodreads!

A King's Ransom and "my" turbulent Angevins

I had very good news yesterday. A King’s Ransom has been nominated on Goodreads as one of the best historical novels of 2014. I first learned of this honor from one of my Facebook friends; my readers could put M-16, the CIA, or the Mossad to shame when it comes to surveillance! But my publicist and editor at Putnam’s soon e-mailed me about it, too. Some very good books are nominated, but I still hope lots of people vote for Ransom, of course; otherwise Richard will be impossible to live with, . https://www.goodreads.com/choiceaward...
I amuse myself sometimes by imagining Henry and Richard engaging in some celestial rivalry about their respective books, arguing whose books got better reviews or were on more bestseller lists or gained the most Amazon stars, etc. And Eleanor merely smiles, knowing that she is a greater celebrity in modern times than either of her men. Meanwhile, John is sulking since he has always had to share billing in my books with his brothers and suffered the indignity of having Dragons stolen out from under him by his Welsh son-in-law, Llywelyn Fawr. When it comes to the public (as opposed to academic) perception of our Angevins, I’d say Eleanor and Richard win that one, for Henry is probably best remembered for words he never said: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” And sadly the forgotten son in his own family remains just as unknown today; mention Geoffrey and you’re likely to get a blank look and a “Geoffrey who?” At least John and Richard can share in the reflected fame of Robin Hood!

The young prince

I was busy watching football yesterday, the first chance I’ve had to do that in a month, so I am a day late with this entry. On November 2, 1470, one of medieval history’s most ill-fated princes was born, the first son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. The boy was named after his father and was born in sanctuary at Westminster, where Elizabeth had taken refuge after Edward fled England for exile in Burgundy, one jump ahead of his cousin and former ally, the Earl of Warwick. It was an inauspicious start for young Edward as his father’s fortunes were not looking very promising at that moment and few expected that he’d be able to recapture his lost throne. He did, of course; Edward was always at his best when things were at their worst. He was also at his worst when things were at their best, though, and his premature death at age 40 would doom his sons, his brother Richard, and the Plantagenet dynasty. Ironically, November 2nd was also the date of the Duke of Buckingham’s execution in 1483. I see this as ironic because I remain convinced that Buckingham is the most likely suspect in the disappearance and probable deaths of the “princes in the Tower,” young Edward and his brother, Richard. Although Edward was never crowned, he is still known as Edward V, rather illogically since Henry II’s eldest son, who was crowned—twice—is not counted among England’s kings. My theory is that the Tudors insisted upon recognizing young Edward as a crowned king in order to bolster their contention that Richard III was a usurper, and that future historians simply followed suit. That still does not explain, of course, why Hal, the young king, has been obliterated from England’s royal history; his queen, Marguerite, who was also crowned, is not even accorded a mention in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

An honorable earl, a not so honorable king, and a larger-than-life Renaissance sculptor

I am a day late, but I can’t ignore the death of one of my favorite medievals, the honorable Robert of Gloucester, half-brother to the Empress Maude, who died on October 31st, 1147. Robert’s loss forced Maude to retreat back to Normandy, for he’d been her mainstay during her quest for the crown. One of my favorite scenes in Saints was when Robert’s iron control finally cracked and he shocked Maude by lashing out at her, claiming—quite truthfully—that he’d have been a better ruler than either Stephen or her. But he was barred from the throne by his illegitimate birth; interesting to speculate how different English history would have been had that not been true. Of course that would mean England would have been denied the Plantagenet dynasty, and that would have been a catastrophe for historical novelists!
November 1st, 1210, is another sad day in the history of medieval Jews, for John ordered the imprisonment and torture of the wealthier ones until they paid the tallage that he’d imposed upon them of 66,000 marks. According to the historian John Baldwin, Philippe Capet was then inspired to resume his own harassment of French Jews. While virtually all medieval Christians harbored some degree of anti-Semitism, a poison they breathed in from birth, John’s primary motivation here seems to have been financial; he needed the money. Philippe, however, was motivated both by bias and greed; in stark contrast to his father, Louis VII, who did what he could to protect the Jews in his realm, Philippe believed in the blood libel.
And on November 1st in 1500, the 16th century sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini, was born. I mention him because he also penned an autobiography that is great fun to read, even if it does contain more fiction than fact. Benvenuto seems to have been the life of every party and his colorful accounts of his swaggering adventures (including murder) offers a fascinating view of life in Renaissance Europe.
Lastly, a belated Happy Halloween to one and all. And today is All Saints Day, an important date on the medieval calendar.

Home at Last

I am home, happy but exhausted. I must thank Stephanie and Paula for introducing me to the alien concept of “vacation,” where people do not multi-task, do not work at all, just relax and have fun. Of course the work portion of my travels was highly satisfying, too; we were in Israel, after all!
I am resting up now, while my chiropractor does his best to get my recalcitrant back into alignment again, but I will be doing a blog about my travels, of course, and sharing a lot of photos on Facebook. Meanwhile, here is a photo of Holly and her kennel soul-mate, Bebe. They were obviously having so much fun together that I did not feel quite as guilty about putting her in the kennel as I usually do.
PS The photo of Holly is on Facebook, of course, since I can't post photos here. :-(

I didn't really drop off the face of the earth

I am sorry I have been AWOL this week, but my back pain flared up again on Monday, much worse than during our time in Israel. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make the trip to Minnesota on Friday, but my chiropractor, AKA Master David the bone-setter, the name I’ll use when I let him infiltrate one of my books, worked his usual magic and I think I ought to be able to manage it as long as I am careful—and lucky, of course. I get home next week and once I’ve rested up, I’ll start working on the blog about the Israeli trip—and making Facebook and Goodreads visits again, of course.