MaryAnn Bernal's Blog, page 478
January 6, 2013
Angels Cried: Help the victims and families in Newtown
Angels Cried: Help the victims and families in Newtown: Paperback version now available at Createspace and Amazon . On 12/14/12, tragedy struck. Authors and artists combined, so that ...
History Trivia
January 6
1017 Canute I crowned King of England. He was also King Canute II of Denmark and King Canute of Norway, and because of the empire he built in Britain and Scandinavia, he is sometimes known as Canute the Great.
1066 Harold Godwinson (last Anglo-Saxon King of England) was crowned, most likely in Westminster Abbey.
1367 King Richard II of England was born.
1540 King Henry VIII of England married Anne of Cleves. The marriage lasted six months after which time Henry obtained a divorce and married Catherine Howard.
1649 English Civil War: The Rump Parliament voted to put Charles I on trial.
1661 English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully tried to seize control of London.
1017 Canute I crowned King of England. He was also King Canute II of Denmark and King Canute of Norway, and because of the empire he built in Britain and Scandinavia, he is sometimes known as Canute the Great.
1066 Harold Godwinson (last Anglo-Saxon King of England) was crowned, most likely in Westminster Abbey.
1367 King Richard II of England was born.
1540 King Henry VIII of England married Anne of Cleves. The marriage lasted six months after which time Henry obtained a divorce and married Catherine Howard.
1649 English Civil War: The Rump Parliament voted to put Charles I on trial.
1661 English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully tried to seize control of London.
January 5, 2013
History Trivia
January 5
1066, Edward the Confessor, King of England, died. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, and ruled from 1042 to 1066. 1477 Charles the Bold was killed at the Battle of Nancy at which time Burgundy became part of France. 1500 Duke Ludovico Sforza conquered Milan.
1554 A great fire occurred in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
1531 Pope Clemens VII forbade English king Henry VIII to re-marry.
January 4, 2013
History Trivia
January 4
46 BC Julius Caesar defeated Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Greece in pursuit of his rival, Pompey, whom he later defeated at Pharsalus.
871 At the Battle of Reading Ethelred of Wessex fought and was badly defeated by a Danish invasion army.
1642 King Charles I of England sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament.
1698 most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.
46 BC Julius Caesar defeated Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Greece in pursuit of his rival, Pompey, whom he later defeated at Pharsalus.
871 At the Battle of Reading Ethelred of Wessex fought and was badly defeated by a Danish invasion army.
1642 King Charles I of England sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament.
1698 most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.
January 3, 2013
An Interview with Author Mandy Ward
Welcome to Meet The Author! Today Mandy Ward has stopped by to give us a little insight into her life and her books. So let’s get started.
Please tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a mother to two imaginative children, partner to a long-suffering fiancé and slave to a pair of cats. My hair colour is usually dark, although it varies between purple, red or brown, and I like to wear comfortable clothes to write in.
I'm trained as a secondary school teacher; however, my son was diagnosed with Aspergers, so I am currently a SAHM (Stay at Home Mum) until he settles in at High School properly.
When did you start writing?
I started telling stories as a child - I'd tell them to myself to put myself to sleep. I went through the usual teenage poetry phase, but instead of writing soppy, drippy teenage angst, I wrote about prostitutes, adulterers and Haggis...
My real writing started at University where I wrote short stories to try and avoid the reports, essays and projects my course insisted on. However, I didn't start getting published until 2004 or so...I think! It's a bit hazy.
What projects have been published?
In Print format, I have three children's rhyming stories, "Pika the Phluph and the Gribblebid Tough," "The Grungegogglers Mess" and "Father Christmas and Quinza the Linzer." These stories are produced in collaboration with my children (they helped with creating the characters and world) and my friend, Maria K., who illustrates the books.
In Electronic format, I have a collection of short stories called, "The Necklace of Harmony," a novella called, "The Tower and The Eye: A Beginning" and a novel called, "The Angel's Crown" from a series called, "The Secret of Arking Down." I'm planning on releasing these e-books in Print format this year.
Tell us about "The Angel's Crown" from "The Secret of Arking Down" series.
It is a combination of things. In one aspect, it's a growing up story, where the main character, Jenni, discovers who she is, both to herself and to other people. It's an adventure in more than one sense, because, not only does Jenni have to grow up quite quickly, she also has to find a particular object to stop the world of her birth being destroyed, so she does a lot of travelling.
How did you select the title of your novel?
As the book evolved in the first draft, I found myself with a lot more world than I had story for - an occupational hazard in my genre!
Several other stories suggested themselves, each taking a different character from the first book as their main character and needing a different object to fix a problem. The objects became the titles of the books, so "The Angel's Crown" is basically the object that Jennie is looking for.
What was your inspiration?
Initially, I was inspired by a particular house in my village, but as the story grew, I found myself bringing in various things that were clearly inspired by books that I have read. For example, what happens to Aderyn Archington after he dies is inspired by "The Ship Books" by Anne McCaffrey.
Science Fiction fans may well be able to see where other things I have used came from; I watch a lot of Dr. Who, Star Trek, SG1 and Firefly, so it is inevitable that ideas have crept across subconsciously.
That's the beauty of ideas and inspiration though; they don't lie dormant in whatever place they started. A receptive mind seeing them will always pick up on a great idea and adjust it to their own need, be that need a real scientific experiment or a way to get a character from one place to another quickly.
What are you currently working on?
One of my New Year's Resolutions is to finish the most important WIP's first, so I am alternating between "The Secret of Arking Down" series books and "The Tower and the Eye" series.
What are you reading at the moment?
I love Fantasy and I'm being seduced (enthusiastically) into reading Steampunk. I've read the whole of Gail Carriger's "Parasol Protectorate" series and Raven Dane's "Cyrus Darien and the Technochromicon." I just finished "Dark Running" by M. Cid D'Angelo.
I'm currently re-reading "The Hobbit" by Tolkien. There are so many great authors out there that "normal" people don't seem to find out about and I love finding new ones, but the old ones seem to reconnect something inside me.
What do you like to do in your free time when you're not reading or writing?
I watch Castle, Dr. Who, NCIS, Big Bang Theory, Two Broke Girls, Firefly and Ql. I also design and make jewellery, knit, glass paint...picking up crafts is a bit of a hobby!
I need to get more active though, so I am going to practise Yoga and Belly Dancing at least once a week as well as walk down to pick my daughter up from school every day.
Do you have any advice for other authors?
Read "On Writing" by Stephen King and "Sometimes the Magic Works" by Terry Brooks - both are excellent books from gentlemen who have had a great deal of success and know what works.
The one major thing I took away from "Sometimes the Magic Works" was a mantra that I have on a poster on my wall in front of me:
Read, Read, Read Outline, Outline, Outline, Edit, Edit, Edit,
Repeat
Only because I keep forgetting what I am really doing is writing (I tend to get carried away with my outlining and end up creating whole worlds with no attached story). I adjusted it to look like this:
Read, Read, Read Write, Write, Write Outline, Outline, Outline Write, Write, Write Repeat
And finally, can you tell us some fun facts about yourself, such as crossed skydiving off my bucket list.
I haven't actually managed to cross anything off my bucket list yet...Fun Facts huh? Hmmm...I know - I have a lot of names!
I'm known as Barn owl to a lot of the girls in my village. I am one of the Leaders at a local Brownie Guide Pack and that's my Leader Name. It's also one of my favourite birds, hence, why I picked it.
I also help with the Girl Guide Unit, but there, they just call me by my first name, although that can get confusing because one of the other leaders has the same name!
To several people from various websites, I'm known as the Tiger Princess; I am also Kira Morgana for Fantasy / Children's books and A.E. Churchyard for Dark Fantasy / Science Fiction; makes me easier to find!
I am called "The Ed" on Welcome to Wherever; my webzine and I have various names to various members of my family, most of which are embarrassing.
Where can we find out more about you, and where can we purchase your books?
I’m all over the place – it’s one of the reasons I chose to use the pen names that I have!
To find my books:
Kira Morgana’s Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B004UKPFQA
Literary Underground: http://litunderground.com/KiraMorgana.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KiraMorgana
My Bio
Mandy thought she was a Teacher, until Life pointed out to her that she is actually a writer. As her Cats, Kids and Partner approved, she decided to agree with Life.
Currently she is working under the pen names of "Kira Morgana" on a five book Fantasy Novella Series, as well as a number of other projects, including a Children’s Rhyming Story Series in collaboration with Maria K; and as “A.E. Churchyard” on Science Fiction and Horror.
As If that wasn’t enough, she spends a week or two a month putting together “Welcome to Wherever” and volunteers at a local Guide Troop.
She does all this from a body in South Wales, UK. Where her mind is, she hasn’t yet worked out…
Other Links
Blog: http://tpsworld.wordpress.com/
Webzine: http://welcometowherever.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/kira_m_author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The.Tiger.Princess
Ngaire Elder: Rave Review for author, Mary Ann Bernal's, Concord...
Ngaire Elder: Rave Review for author, Mary Ann Bernal's, Concord...: 5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing Historical Fiction into the 21st Century January 2, 2013 Amazon Review By Marky The Wizard A cracking read fro...
History Trivia
January 3
106 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero was born.
1098 Walkelin, first Norman bishop of Winchester, died.
1431 Joan of Arc was handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon. Legal proceedings began on 9 January 1431 at Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government where Joan was found guilty of heresy, and was burned at the stake on May 30.
1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine.
1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther, German theologian and Protestant reformer for heresy, in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
106 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero was born.
1098 Walkelin, first Norman bishop of Winchester, died.
1431 Joan of Arc was handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon. Legal proceedings began on 9 January 1431 at Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government where Joan was found guilty of heresy, and was burned at the stake on May 30.
1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine.
1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther, German theologian and Protestant reformer for heresy, in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
January 2, 2013
The Briton and the Dane Concordia by Mary Ann Bernal - Book review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bringing Historical Fiction into the 21st Century
January 2, 2013 Amazon Review By Marky The Wizard
A cracking read from Mary Ann Bernal for the fourth book in her series. All her hallmarks are there - sumptuous description of the period, accurate, sharp dialogue and a central plot which shrewdly functions as allegory for modern relationship dilemmas. The strength of this book is in the characterisation: Concordia is feisty, vain, arrogant and subtly alluring. Brantson is noble and forthright, a Galahad by any other name. Chad and Thayer are mysterious and exotic, laced with a hint of danger. The interaction between all of the principals is well observed and at times, thrilling. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it - and not just for fans of historical fiction.
