Hope C. Tarr's Blog, page 7
July 11, 2017
VIDEO! Hope Visits the DM Zone
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New VIDEO! Hope Visits the DM Zone
The post New VIDEO! Hope Visits the DM Zone appeared first on Hope C Tarr.
June 29, 2017
Roger Seiler’s MASTER OF ALASKA #HistoryMatters
Big meaty historical novels with lush settings, larger-than-life characters ripped from the pages of history and, if you’re lucky, a dollop of romance–or more. A few months ago, I had the pleasure of hosting Roger Seiler, author of MASTER OF ALASKA, at Lady Jane’s Salon®, the monthly romance reading series I co-curate in Soho. Though the Salon focuses on romance fiction, on occasion we add historical fiction and nonfiction to the mix. In the case of MASTER OF ALASKA, I’m so very glad we did!
Master of Alaska is an historical fiction novel of Aleksandr Baranov, the first governor of Alaska. The book opens in October 1790 when Baranov leaves Russia and sails to Kodiak to become the chief manager for Catherine the Great’s colony in the far Northwest of North America.
Baranov is shipwrecked, rescued, and adopted by the Aleut natives. To save his men from starvation, he marries Anooka, daughter of the tribal chief, despite having a wife back in Russia.
Baranov spends the next twenty-eight years in Alaska surviving natural disasters, a massacre, meddling Russian authorities, a British plot, and an assassination attempt. It is largely owing to his efforts that Alaska is part of the U.S. today.
Enjoy this excerpt from MASTER OF ALASKA and then find the book on amazon and in select bookstores.
After Aleksandr Baranov had reached the Russian settlement at Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island, he took command of the colony. The Aleut village chief, named Grigor by the Russians, had learned to speak Russian and invited Baranov into his longhouse to confer. As they sat in front of the central fire, Baranov took from his pocket a bright copper plate engraved with Tsarina Catherine’s coat of arms and gave it to Chief Grigor as a gift.
Chief Grigor’s eyes widened in amazement as he examined the copper plate closely. “This is important,” he said.
It was exactly the reaction Baranov wanted. He continued, “I look for a long future of friendship between us. We can help each other in many ways. I must explore Montague Island, over here, and need some of your men as guides.”
“Great Nanuq, do you have a woman?”
Baranov was taken aback. “I have a wife in Russia.”
“In Russia? What good is that? Take my daughter for wife. Then I be your father, and we work together as one. This way we make powerful alliance.”
Before Baranov could react, Chief Grigor turned and called out to his daughter in his Native tongue, “Anooka, come here!”
From a dim recess of the lodge, a slender seventeen-year-old in deerskins approached with unusual youthful dignity. She had glistening long, black hair flowing over her shoulders, and set in an oval face were the high cheek bones common to many Natives. Her big, warm, brown eyes looked out from under lovely arched eyebrows. Clear, tan skin, a straight, pretty nose, and a mouth with soft lips completed her. To Baranov, Anooka was strikingly beautiful. Though reserved, the self-confidence of her rank allowed her to glance at the strange Russian in front of her, and then she faced her father.
In the Kenaitze dialect of the Alutiiq language, the chief told her, “Turn around and face the great Russian Nanuq.” She did so. With no hint of shyness, she looked Baranov right in his eyes. Her intelligent dark eyes held his stare as an equal for a long moment, until she yielded a slight smile, revealing perfect white teeth, and looked down.
Nanuq quickly collected himself and, wanting to get back to the negotiations for guides, replied, “Chief Grigor, your offer is most generous. But as I said, I already have a wife in Russia.”
Grigor insisted, “But not here. How long has it been, great Nanuq, since you’ve had a wife at your side?”
Baranov stared at him in silence. He didn’t want to offend the man, but the proposal was absurd.
The chief tried once more. Certainly an alliance with this Russian Nanuq would greatly benefit his own stature in the eyes of his people—and especially their southern enemies, the hated Tlingit.
“I see. Well, you need a wife here! And we need a strong alliance.”
“A Russian can only have one wife.”
“Poor man! Poor man!” said Grigor in mild disappointment. He knew that making such alliances, especially with one as strong as Nanuq, could take time and much negotiation. But just how strong was Nanuq, anyway? Maybe he should be tested. There was more than one way to impress the Tlingit with Kenaitze power. Grigor motioned to Anooka to return to her work.
“Well, then, the least I can do for you is give you the guides you need.”
Anooka sat on a blanket in the back of the longhouse, where she had been making a bear claw necklace for her father. Why did Father want to give her to this man? Though short, he looked strong and intelligent, but strange. Could she ever want him? She knew what she wanted would count for nothing. Her father would decide, and she had to trust him to choose well for her. She would ask one thing: that her father wait until he really knew a man before he made his choice. As his daughter, she deserved at least that, and the chief had only just met this Nanuq.
Baranov looked into the shadows for Anooka, straining for another glimpse…
Award-winning filmmaker and author Roger Seiler grew up in Alaska from the age of three. In his late teens, Roger was a king salmon sport fishing guide on Alaska’s Naknek River and a commercial salmon fisherman in Bristol Bay. He graduated with Honors from UCLA with a BA in Theater Arts – Film. While at UCLA, Roger worked with actor Karl Malden and director Francis Ford Coppola.
As an in-house filmmaker for IBM, Roger made more than 30 documentary films, including “The Inner Eye of Alexander Rutsch,” which had a special screening at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and won the CINE Golden Eagle Award, as did three of his other films.
Roger lives in South Nyack, NY with his wife Sally. An ardent reader and supporter of libraries, he has served on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie-funded Nyack Library for 40 years, 16 as Board President. Master of Alaska is his second book. Find him on Twitter @MasterAlaska and on Facebook at Master.of.Alaska. https://www.masterofalaska.com/
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June 22, 2017
Meet Hope at the #HNS2017 Book Fair in Portland, OR
READERS FESTIVAL BOOK SIGNING
3:45 pm – 5:15 pm
Portland Hilton
Pavilion Ballroom East & West
621 SW 6th Avenue, Portland, OR
Sponsor: The Historical Novel Society
Find Hope at the Saturday Book Fair where she’ll be signing several of her historical titles plus offering a special giveaway – a signed copy of TEMPTING – to one lucky reader.
Registration information here: http://hns-conference.org/program/rea...
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September 7, 2016
Video! Hope & Lady Jane’s Salon Visit RT BOOK Reviews
RT BOOK Reviews (basically, the Publishers Weekly of the romance industry) caught up with my Lady Jane’s Salon® co-founders, Leanna Renee Hieber and Ron Hogan, and I and offered to host us for a special VIP virtual Salon for September. (Our collective response–“Yes, please!!!”). Check out the under two-minute video, which includes Yours Truly reading from TEMPTING, out now in Spanish (ebook + print) as No se puede vivir sin amor.
The post Video! Hope & Lady Jane’s Salon Visit RT BOOK Reviews appeared first on Hope C Tarr.
New Video! Hope & Lady Jane’s Salon Visit RT BOOK Reviews
RT BOOK Reviews (basically, the Publishers Weekly of the romance industry) caught up with my Lady Jane’s Salon® co-founders, Leanna Renee Hieber and Ron Hogan, and I and offered to host us for a special VIP virtual Salon for September. (Our collective response–“Yes, please!!!”). Check out the under two-minute video, which includes Yours Truly reading from TEMPTING, out now in Spanish (ebook + print) as No se puede vivir sin amor.
August 1, 2016
A Very…TEMPTING Giveaway!
TEMPTING, praised as “an absolutely gorgeous Victorian romance,” is now available in Spanish as NO SE PUEDE VIVIR SIN AMOR! Download the e-book at any of the following:
Amazon
iBookstore
Kobo
Amazon Spain
Gandhi (México)
Share the love – leave a review! Help get the book to its first 10, 15, 20, and 25+ reviews on any of the above platforms and, at each milestone made, I’ll give away one e-book copy from my critically-acclaimed Men of Roxbury House/Los Hombres de Roxbury House #historical #romances: VENCIDA, INDOMITA and RENDIDA to one randomly selected reader-reviewer, in Spanish or English – your choice!
Suffering from “digital fatigue”? No woes or worries – the print book will release worldwide this September 2016.
Get TEMPTING in Spanish!
TEMPTING, praised as “an absolutely gorgeous Victorian romance,” is now available in Spanish as NO SE PUEDE VIVIR SIN AMOR! Download the e-book everywhere digital books are sold, including Amazon Kindle and Amazon Spain.
Share the love – help get the book to its first 10, 15, 20, and 25+ reviews on Amazon and/or Amazon ES. At each milestone made, I’ll give away one e-book copy from my critically-acclaimed Men of Roxbury House/Los Hombres de Roxbury House #historical #romances: VENCIDA, INDOMITA and RENDIDA to one randomly selected reader-reviewer, in Spanish or English – your choice!
Suffering from “digital fatigue”? No woes or worries – the print book will release worldwide this September 2016.
May 18, 2016
New Interview! + Giveaway!
Where do I get my ideas? What is the essence of “story”? And of course what’s the skinny on lit agents — check out my latest interview HERE.
GIVEAWAY: Share the interview link on Facebook or Twitter thru 5/31/16 and be eligible to win an ebook copy of TEMPTING – Spanish release set for this fall! (One winner, randomly selected).
January 26, 2016
TEMPTING Coming Soon… In Spanish!
If my travels to England, France, Italy and Peru have taught me anything (and here’s hoping they have), it’s that the romance fandom is ever so much bigger and broader than the borders of these United States. Thanks to my wonderful overseas publishers, on any given day I’m as likely to receive an email or Facebook ping from a romance blogger in Honduras as I am one in my own backyard of NYC.
And now my wonderful Barcelona-based publisher, Libros de Seda is bringing out a FOURTH book of mine. This fall 2016, TEMPTING will release as No se puede vivir sin amor—literally, You Cannot Live Without Love. ((Truth!)) Finally romance fans in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, and Peru as well as the U.S. will have the opportunity to read Simon and Christine’s unconventional Victorian set love story in their native language. For now, sit back and savor the stunning cover! Read the FREE (English) excerpt here. Treat yourself to the digital and audio book versions!
And if you’re in NYC or thereabouts, join me at Lady Jane’s Salon® on Monday, February 1st, 7-9pm at Madame X when I’ll kick off the Month of Candy Hearts & Papier Mâché Posies by reading a sneak snippet from my new historical women’s fiction novel–and giving away some cool prizes, too!
Feliz año nuevo! Feliz San Valentín!
