Sharon Kay Penman's Blog, page 99

"More snow--we're all going to die!"

I’ve posted before about how much I enjoyed Priscilla Royal’s new mystery, Covenant with Hell. So I am delighted to report that Covenant with Hell has been nominated for Left Coast Crime’s Historical Mystery award.

On a less cheerful subject, I hope that all of my friends and readers in the American south come safely through that nasty winter storm sweeping up the coast. These are not states accustomed to coping with snow—understatement of the year. We usually don’t get that much snow in South Jersey, either, our attitude very similar to a sign I was told appeared on a Seattle freeway recently: “Snow is coming. We’re all going to die!” Even when a snow of only a few inches is predicted, we panic and rush to grocery stores like a plague of locusts, sweeping the shelves bare of staples like milk and bread. Of course that is very amusing to you hardy souls in the Midwest and Canada where a snowfall is not even noticed till it reaches a foot or more. But when the tail end of that southern snowstorm drops a few more inches of snow on South Jersey on Wednesday, Holly and I are housebound until it thaws. Fortunately spaniels are much more sensible about such matters than some of my past dogs; I had a Norwegian elkhound who loved to go out and take a nap in the middle of a blizzard and one of my poodles liked nothing better than a three mile hike through snow higher than her head, even though she came back from these treks looking like a poodle popsicle. So….stay safe and warm, guys. Spring is only two months away.

Gracie's Gifts

For the past two years, I have been publicizing the blanket drive for Gracie’s Gifts at this time of year. Many of you were touched, as I was, by this brave struggle to bring some good out of the worst sort of sorrow, so I am posting about the the new blanket drive for those who’d like to publicize it, too, or to donate a blanket to babies in need.
GRACIE'S GIFT

On March 6, 2003, Holly Sonneborn (Patrice's daughter) gave birth to beautiful Grace Sonneborn. She had OI, and only live 19 precious hours. During Gracie's brief time, she was given a homemade blanket.
Every year on March 6th, Holly honors Gracie's memory by donating blankets collected from so many generous people to Temple Hospital's Maternity Ward. Temple's Maternity Ward was chosen because it's patients are among the poorest in the city of Philadelphia. Sometimes these blankets are the only new thing these babies receive.
Any new or homemade blankets are gratefully accepted.
This started out with a donation of 25 blankets and last year over 1000 were donated, thanks to the generosity of people like you.

If you can contribute, please message Patrice Batyski on Facebook,

The empress and the sociopath

On January 27, 1186, Constance de Hauteville wed the eldest surviving son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich von Hohenstaufen. She was eleven years older than he, and for the first eight years of their marriage, she was believed to be barren. But to the amazement and skepticism of the medieval world, she became pregnant in the spring of 1194, and was delivered of a healthy son in late December of that year, who would later gain greater fame than either of his parents. She was forty by then and Heinrich’s enemies—who were legion and well-deserved—claimed the entire pregnancy was a hoax, a scheme concocted by Heinrich to get a male heir. Constance was outraged by this malicious slander and showed remarkable courage and fortitude by inviting the women of the town of Jesi to watch her give birth, determined that none would be able to deny the legitimacy of her son. I’ve mentioned often that Constance is a character in Ransom and is also the star of my first-ever short story, A Queen in Exile, which appeared this past December in George RR Martin’s anthology, Dangerous Women. I have great admiration for Constance, wed to a man who had neither honor nor mercy. She deserved so much better, and I am grateful to that medieval mosquito who infected Heinrich with malaria and brought about his unexpected and sudden death in 1197—assuming that he did die of malaria, for dysentery has also been suggested, as has poison. While there is no evidence of the latter, if it was true, the question would not have been, Who would have wanted to murder Heinrich? It would have been, Who would not have wanted to murder him?

Librarians and Good Samaritans

Yesterday I went to Philadelphia for the A.L.A. convention. The weather was snowy, windy, and very cold, but Putnam’s had arranged transportation for me, fortunately. It was great fun getting to meet so many book-lovers; I owe librarians a huge debt of gratitude as they have been very helpful over the years in promoting my books.
Not much else to report. There is one bit of good news, though. Remember that story last month of the blind man whose guide dog saved him when he fell onto the subway tracks in NYC? Orlando, the dog, was 11, too old to continue as a guide dog, and his owner could not afford to keep him and a new guide dog, too. But the story drew national attention, with this happy ending, thanks to the generosity of those who heard about it. http://www.today.com/video/today/5418...

The most dramatic moment of the Middle Ages?

Another day, another minus-zero windchill. My new image of heroism is my little spaniel bravely trudging out into the snow to answer nature’s call. Good luck staying warm to all my friends in the US and Canada, and the opposite wishes for my friends Down Under. Meanwhile, here is an amazing story featured on one of my favorite websites, Medievalist.net Pedro and his family make my Angevins seem as wholesome and benign as the Waltons.
http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/1...

Bad weather and a forgotten queen

I am still housebound thanks to the polar vortex that followed our last snowstorm. I figure at this rate the snow ought to have melted by St Patrick’s Day. My sympathies to all of my readers and friends–if not braving frigid air, you all seem to be dealing with deadly droughts (California and Southwest) or horrific heat (Down Under.)
Meanwhile, I am happy to report that Sharan Newman’s new biography of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem is available for pre-ordering on Amazon. Melisende died in 1161, before the time I’ll be covering in my Outremer novel, which opens in 1172, but Sharan’s book gives an excellent perspective on the history and customs of the kingdom. I was able to get an ARC and enjoyed it very much. And Melisende is an interesting figure in her own right.
http://www.amazon.com/Defending-City-...

E-books and black swans

A good day for my fellow football fans. Go, Denver and San Francisco!
And here is a wonderful quote from the multi-talented Stephen Fry, which a Goodreads friend kindly called to my attention: "Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators". Stephen Fry is a comedian, writer, actor, and director. I hope he is also a prophet, for it is my heartfelt wish that e-books merely supplement “real” books, not replace them.
And here is a link to a delightful video of surfing swans http://www.care2.com/greenliving/4-bl...

The King's brother

I forgot that today was the birthday of Edmund, Edward I's loyal and likable younger brother; fortunately Jayne didn't! I enjoyed writing about Edmund and his worldly French wife, Blanche in The Reckoning. Secondary characters normally don't get much time on center stage, but they often have interesting stories of their own.
And here is an interesting article about e-book readership, with encouraging news for those fearing that they will totally supplant "real" books. http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/e-b...

Interview with Bernard Cornwell

http://sharonkaypenman.com/blog/?p=437

INTERVIEW WITH BERNARD CORNWELL

I am delighted to have this opportunity to interview one of my favorite authors, Bernard Cornwell.  Since I discuss his books often on my Facebook pages, I know that he is a great favorite with my readers, too, and several have asked if they could submit questions of their own.  So this meeting of the unofficial Bernard Cornwell Fan Club now comes to order!

Bernard, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview.   Your American fans have been waiting impatiently for The Pagan Lord to be published on our side of the Atlantic and this finally happened on January 6th.    I have yet to read a book of yours that I did not greatly enjoy: your Sharpe series, your Grail Quest books, stand-alone novels like Agincourt, just to name a few.  But I confess that it is your Saxon series which resonates the most with me, for Uhtred is simply magnificent, as mesmerizing as he is unique.  He is the ultimate outsider, a Saxon raised by Danes, a man of conflicting but fierce loyalties, impulsive, hot-tempered, swaggering, skeptical, sardonic, and always highly entertaining.  I would wager that he is the most popular of all your characters, even though you’ve created some memorable ones in other books.

Q.   How did Uhtred come into being?  Did he spring fully-formed from your head like Minerva?  Or did he gradually assert himself, finding his own voice as the writing progressed?

A. I’ve never been able to plan anything; neither a book nor a character. The only way I know how to write is to begin at the beginning and see what happens! So he emerged slowly. I did know from the start that he would choose paganism over Christianity, which gives him a certain orneriness (not that he needs more). I suppose it’s a fairly common theme in my books; Sharpe is an officer up from the ranks which puts him at odds with the more privileged; Starbuck is a northerner fighting for the south, and Uhtred is a stubborn pagan in a very orthodox Christian setting. As for the rest?  He just muscled his way onto the page.

Q.  Did you start out with a road map, knowing from the first how Uhtred’s story would end?

A. Oh, I wish!  I don’t even know how the chapter I’m writing now will end! In fact it’s a complete rewrite. I finished chapter three of the new Uhtred story last week and realized that he said, ‘You see? Nothing happened.’ And he was right, nothing had happened, so I hit the magic delete button and have started again. The only glimpse of a road map is the Battle of Brunanburg which took place in 937AD and is really the end of Uhtred’s story because it’s that battle that establishes England as a country (and the series is about the making of England). So I have a destination, but the map in between is murky (‘here be dragons’). And Uhtred will be so old by 937 that I’ll have to make some awkward decisions before then. It was E.L. Doctorow who said that writing a novel was rather like driving on an unknown country road at night, the way ahead illuminated only by very feeble headlights, and that’s true for me. I envy writers who can plan a whole book (or series) then write to the plan. I stagger from one crisis to the next!

Q. Our fellow historical novelist, Priscilla Royal, would like to know if you intend to carry the story into the reign of Athelstan?

A. Very much so! Athelstan was the victor of Brunanburh and the first man who could legitimately claim to be the King of England, so yes!

Q. Priscilla is much more knowledgeable about this period of English history than I am; I confess that I am learning as I read your books, and I tend to accept Uhtred’s views as gospel.  So naturally I am not all that fond of Alfred.  I think you’ve been scrupulously fair, though, in your depiction of Alfred, and I am curious about your own feelings for the man?

A. I hope my admiration for him shines through Uhtred’s rather sour view.  The standard view of Alfred is a warrior king, witnessed by the statues of him which show a man built like a linebacker, clad in mail and carrying a huge sword. In truth he was a very sickly man whose chief passion was Christian scholarship. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a warrior, but it does suggest that the truth might be more nuanced. My take on him is that he was a very good man, a very very intelligent man, and an honest one. He was also a puritan and Uhtred, like me, has a strong distaste for puritanism. On a beam over my desk I painted in letters of red and gold Sir Toby Belch’s admonition from Twelfth Night; ‘Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?’

Q. This is from Shelly.   Is AElfwynn Uhtred and Aethelflaed’s secret love child?

A. No, sorry!

Q. This is from Jo, who says she has always wondered what or who inspired the “fabulous character” of Skade?

A, I really have no idea. I wish I could suggest something exotic. But I do like my female characters to be strong (and Skade certainly qualifies). One of the things that annoys me is the inevitable sequence in a film where a man and woman (or boy and girl) are running away from the villains, and you know, sure as eggs, that the woman will trip over.  That is such garbage, and I try to avoid it.

What’s emerging in the new book is a much stronger treatment of Aethelflaed, Alfred’s daughter, who successfully ruled Mercia after her husband’s death at a time when female rulers were as common as hens’ teeth. We know she led campaigns against the Danes, so she was a considerable warrior, yet somehow she’s been forgotten by history and she deserves to be better known.

Q. This is Stephanie’s query.  “How old could a successful warrior (and by successful, I mean one who has not yet been killed or seriously maimed) expect to live?   How many reasonable fighting years does Uhtred have?”  She confesses that she is just trying to get a better idea of how many more books are left in the series!

A. I think the sensible answer is that if a man survived into his 50’s he had far exceeded the average life expectancy, though we know some folk lived on into their 80’s and beyond. Stephanie has touched on a problem I’ve yet to solve, which is what to do with Uhtred as he gets much older. I really don’t have an answer yet, though I’ll have to find one soon.

Q. I am convinced that no writer does better battle scenes than you do, whether it be in Uhtred’s scary shield wall, with the Black Prince’s lethal archers, or in the Spanish hills with Sharpe and Harper. So Paula’s question is mine, too.  She says, “When I read the battle scenes, I feel like I’m there with Uhtred in the shield wall.  I am walking step by stealthy step and jabbing upwards with my sword.  Where do you think this comes from?  Is it years of research, a vivid imagination, or a bit of both?”   I would add another question, asking if you’d rather fight battles with Uhtred, with Thomas of Hookton and his archers, or with Sharpe and his Chosen Men?  Which of these wars is the most fun to write about?

A. Years of research? Yes! But perhaps the greatest influence was Sir John Keegan’s book The Face of Battle. John was born with a deformed foot so could not serve in the armed forces, yet at heart he was always a soldier. He became a military historian and lectured at Sandhurst (Britain’s West Point) and was ever curious about what was it really like to be in combat? That was an experience he had been denied and many of his friends, who had served, were reticent. The books didn’t help much – most military histories were very dry and full of technical stuff, so he wrote The Face of Battle to find his answer. The point he made is that it’s impossible to understand any conflict without comprehending what the men (mostly men) involved experienced; what they saw, felt, smelled, touched and heard. I try to remember that, and that, of course, means imagining the answers. I was struck recently by an archaeological report from Towton where England’s bloodiest battle was fought in 1461. A forensic scientist examined many of the bodies found in the grave-pits and discovered that the men were so terrified by the experience that they had shattered their own teeth by gritting them too hard. That’s a frightening image, and one backed up by one of the chroniclers of the battle of Poitiers who reported the same thing. I suppose if I had to make a choice I’ll go with Sharpe, only because there’s going to be much less hand-to-hand fighting. The experience of a Saxon shield-wall, or the clash of men-at-arms in a mediaeval battle is truly horrifying; think of an NFL player encased in armor coming at you with an axe. No wonder that many accounts suggest that men were often drunk!  As to which era is most enjoyable? Whichever one I happen to be writing about at the time!

Q. Historical novelists often have to risk alienating or shocking their readers, for while I do not think human nature has changed over the centuries, beliefs and superstitions and society’s expectations obviously have.   Some writers try to soften the harsh edges of historical reality to make their books more palatable for today’s readers; for example, writing a novel set in the Ante-bellum South in which the major characters are all secret abolitionists, or having a female character in a medieval setting be a dedicated feminist or determined to marry for love.   You never fall into these traps, presenting Uhtred’s world as it was—hard-scrabble, brutal, and often bloody.   Have you ever been tempted to take the modern sensibilities of your readers into consideration when writing a scene likely to trouble them?    Maybe easing back a bit on the throttle?    I confess I can’t find any evidence of that, though!

A. I have, yes!  I sometimes think I’ve gone over the top and I’ll delete . . . . and for some reason I’m reluctant to use the efficacious word even though it was certainly the commonest word in Sharpe’s time. I’ve always been amused by the objections people have to the F word, but they happily accept blasphemy. Why? Sharpe can take the name of God in vain a hundred times and no one notices. Oh well.

Q. I could think of many more questions, but you have things to do, places to go, and most importantly, books to write.  So I will conclude by asking the question we all want to know.

Can you tell us how many more books remain before you end the Saxon series?   Is this negotiable?  And is there any chance at all that Richard Sharpe might march again?

A. Again, I wish I knew! At least about Uhtred. Certainly another four or five? Maybe more? I just don’t know! I do have an idea for one more Sharpe book – I kept back the Battle of Sorauren for my old age, though God knows I’m in that already. I’ve just finished my first (and only) non-fiction book, the story of Waterloo for the bicentenary in two years, and I was VERY tempted to write Sharpe straight afterwards, but resisted the temptation and launched into another Uhtred instead. I do miss Sharpe. I once started a Sharpe book with the words ‘Sharpe was in a good mood,’ and of course it didn’t work, but I really hope the grumpy bastard will march again soon!

Bernard, thank you again for stopping by.  I loved The Pagan Lord, of course, and Uhtred continues to dazzle readers, even if he will never be named Father of the Year!   The only downside to a new Bernard Cornwell novel is the realization that there will be a long wait until the next one.

January 14, 2014