Jessica Knauss's Blog, page 4
November 6, 2020
Lands of Legend: The New York Public Library Invites You
We all miss those magical times when we could travel. Now you have a chance to travel without leaving the safety of home.
Thanks to the generosity of the New York Public Library, you can join yours truly, author of Seven Noble Knights, on a Google Meet virtual tour of medieval and modern Spain. You'll learn the legend of the seven noble knights, see the places where it all happened, and learn the ways Spanish people today celebrate this legend. Photographs, anecdotes and excerpts bring this fascinating country alive. I'll also answer your burning questions!
Register at the bottom of the page linked here, under the book cover and my photo, to receive a link to this program with a reminder 10 minutes before event.
You can preorder Seven Noble Knights so that you'll receive it on release day, December 11.
Or, if you're a NetGalley member, you can pick up your review copy right now and ask questions about the story on December 5!
Lands of Legend await you!
October 26, 2020
A Prolific Spanish Author and the Seven Noble Knights
He should smile, with all the money he made from writing! Maybe the mustache is too heavy. Manuel Fernández y González (1821–1888) used words to gain notoriety and to finance what his contemporaries considered a “bohemian” lifestyle. He wrote dramas, poetry, and more than 300 (300!) novels. Although he doesn’t quite reach the level of infamy of Edward Bulwer-Lytton in English (the “It was a dark and stormy night” author), his Spanish Wikipedia article describes his writing this way: “a feverish imagination, a certain Andalusian grace and genius, excessive verbosity, especially in dialogue… a defining lack of solid learning, bad taste, and a lack of self-criticism.”
Anyone who wrote (or in later years, dictated) 300 novels can’t be hampered by self criticism. King of the episodic novel (novels published in newspapers over the course of several weeks and, only later, bound as a book), Manuel Fernández y González put the words out there. Period. He worked in an atmosphere of incessant creation because he was paid per page. Of course he wrote a lot of dialogue—it fills up a page faster than anything else. Revision or even just reading over what he’d written wouldn't have contributed to the bottom line. It’s unlikely if not impossible for great literature to come out of such an atmosphere, but I can’t help but stand in awe before that way of doing business.
It's inspiring, in a way. The words are out there for the writer to seize!
Some might consider the current self-publishing atmosphere to be similar to the nineteenth-century word machine. I haven't found a way to follow the volume model, so instead I do a lot of revision in an attempt to ensure that the writing is actually good.
The only reason I've heard of Manuel Fernández y González is that one of his 300 novels was Los siete infantes de Lara (1853), based loosely on the same legend I took inspiration from to write Seven Noble Knights. The novel is almost 150,000 words in the original, many of them uncalled for. But within that haystack, there are plenty of exciting and amusing needles. Twists and turns and surprises. It was first released to the reading public chapter by chapter in a Madrid newspaper that cost one peseta per issue.
If I had a lot more time on my hands, I would do an edition of Los siete infantes de Lara and present a "good parts" translation (à la The Princess Bride) here in installments, just like the first time it was published.
As things stand, there already exists in English a much more carefully researched and developed version of this tale with fewer words, a modern storytelling pace, and irresistible medieval details: Seven Noble Knights. You can get it December 11, or you can preorder it now, while it's the cheapest it will ever be, or, if you're into that kind of thing, pick it up at NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks for sharing my excitement!
October 23, 2020
Short and Sweet Radio Interview on Chat & Spin
These people in the Cantigas de Santa Maria
are listening to oldies from the 1280s.
Click here to listen to the Interview with J. K. Knauss on Chat and Spin Radio. Fast forward to 1:36:00 to skip an hour and a half of awesome 80s music to just hear the chat.
Chat and Spin Radio is an indie Internet radio station based in the UK and broadcasting to 750,000 listeners daily. They play the best music, which is to say 80s jams (they take requests!), and have little chats with an astonishing variety of literary personalities. Ron Clark was kind enough to sit down with me for a short spell (less than ten minutes) yesterday evening. As I mention above, click here and fast forward to 1:36:00 to listen.
Here's a transcript in case you have technical issues:
Ron: And the time now on Chat and Spin Radio in the UK is 7:36 pm, and we've got our next guest on the line right now. Who's calling and where are you calling from?
J. K.: My name is Jessica Knauss. I'm an American, and I live in Zamora, Spain.
Ron: Jessica, you've written books, you're an author, and you want to mention a book that's coming out in December.
J. K.: Yes, so, my medieval epic novel, Seven Noble Knights is going to be released by Encircle Publications on December 11.
It takes place in Spain, in the year 974. Gonzalo, a brave but hotheaded knight, unwittingly provokes tragedy at his uncle’s wedding to beautiful young noblewoman Doña Lambra: the adored cousin of the bride dead, his teeth scattered across the riverbank. Coveting Gonzalo’s family’s wealth and power, Doña Lambra then sends Gonzalo’s father into enemy territory to be beheaded, unleashing a vengeance that devastates Castile for a generation.
A new hero, Mudarra, rises out of the ashes of Gonzalo’s once great family. Raised as a warrior in the opulence of Muslim Córdoba, Mudarra must make a grueling journey and change his religion. Then, he chooses to take his jeweled sword to the throats of his family’s betrayers. But only when he strays from the path set for him does he find his true purpose in life.
So, as you can hear, the book is in two parts. It's a substantial read, and that’s because the feud that starts at the wedding continues for years, with the villain laying waste to the beautiful land, never knowing that the hero is just waiting for the right moment to stop him and put things right. Mudarra does this at great personal cost. He’s perfectly competent to avenge his family, but he has a lot of doubts about whether he’s doing the right thing.
I personally really like to get lost a book, and feel transported to another world when I’m reading. Seven Noble Knights, is, I’m happy to say, one of those books. You can let it absorb you into its sights, sounds, smells. So, if you’re looking to escape from this dismal year the whole world is having, Seven Noble Knights could be a great option.
Ron: It certainly can. The book is is great thing to read during all this. It's a form of escapism to read the book, and possibly to write it, as well.
J. K.: Yes, indeed. In times of great anguish, we always to turn the artists, and so we should appreciate them.
Ron: Seven Noble Knights is coming out on December the 11th. Just tell me how can people purchase that book, and also if anyone wants to get in touch with yourself, how do they do that?
J. K.: Seven Noble Knights is now available for preorder in both ebook and softcover at Amazon. It will be available at many more outlets on December 11.
Preorders are very helpful to the book and the author, so if you’re interested at all, order Seven Noble Knights now and receive it on December 11! The ebook is specially priced at only 99 cents for preorder in America, that's only 77 p in the UK. And December 11, the price goes up! It won’t be on sale after that, so take advantage of the bargain.
You can find much more information about Seven Noble Knights and my other books, which are a world apart, at my website, JessicaKnauss.com.
Ron: Okay, Jessica. Is there anything else you want to mention?J. K.: I thought I would mention what inspired me to write this book, if that would be of interest. There I was, innocently studying for my PhD in medieval Spanish literature, when my thesis advisor handed me an article she’d written about the meaning of the bloody cucumber incident in a lost medieval epic poem. I’m naturally attracted to the bizarre, and this was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever heard. So of course I had to read the historical records of the legend, and it turns out, throwing random vegetables at your enemies was a common enough occurrence in the Middle Ages in Spain that there are a couple of laws against it. And this ended up being one of the least interesting things about the legend.
I didn’t get to focus more on this material until long after I’d finished my PhD, when it seemed to me that the best way to handle the exotic locations and complex characters would be to write a novel. The legend has had many adaptations in the Spanish-speaking world, including comic books and movies, in the hometown of the main characters, they have a rock opera that they do every year, but I strongly felt that readers in English would love this story, too.
Ron: Okay, then, Jessica. Thank you very much, and the very best of luck with the books as well.J. K.: Thank you very much for having me. It's been a pleasure.
Ron: That was Jessica on the line from Zamora, Spain. Thanks very much for coming on.
October 11, 2020
A Legendary, Epic Road Trip
Lara. I took this photo through the car window because it was too cold to open it.
It's only two months until Seven Noble Knights becomes available from Encircle Publications! What better way to celebrate than by remembering a "legendary" road trip where I unexpectedly met my characters.
In January of this year (that nostalgia-inducing time before the pandemic arrived), I went to beautiful Burgos to visit my friend Daniel. Burgos in January is not for the faint of heart. But at least they're used to the cold there, and build their apartments accordingly.
As you might imagine from previous posts, Daniel and I are far too intrepid to let a little freezing temperatures keep us inside the apartment staring at each other. "Let's take a drive through Lara, where your novel Seven Noble Knights is set," he said.
Formidable hills in Torrelara I'd seen a little bit of Lara on a few occasions, but my friend was ready to show me "deep Spain" as I'd never seen it before, so I put on all the layers I'd brought and borrowed a couple more, and off we went.
This rings a bell... Mambrillas de Lara
We were minding our own business, looking for things like Romanesque architecture and dinosaur tracks, when there appeared to be a random scene from Seven Noble Knights painted on the side of a building. My frisson of recognition was confirmed when we saw the other corner of the building:
It couldn't be anything other than the scene with the foreboding flights of birds before the heroes head off into battle. I was practically out of the car before it stopped.
My heroes and me in Mambrillas de Lara
October 6, 2020
Happy Book Birthday to a Great New Escape into Another World
I'm pleased to announce that my author friend Hunter S. Jones has gotten together with loads of other great authors to bring you Once Upon Another World: A Twisted Fairy Tale Box Set.
Not all fairy tales are as they appear.
Was it actually Red who hunted the wolf? What if the prince was the one in distress? Did the straw really get spun into gold? How well did those glass slippers truly fit?
Where princesses do their own rescuing, princes aren’t who they first appear to be, and beasts are friends, not foe—and maybe something more…
With stories spanning from true love’s kiss to reverse harem, skyscrapers to ancient castles, sweet romance to steamy nights, these alluring tales will satisfy readers of fantasy and romance alike.
Discover 22 twisted fairy tales with a happily ever after unlike anything you’ve ever read before.
Authors included in the box set are: Monique Singleton, Joel Crofoot, Zack Hacker, D.E. Chapman, Erin McFadden & K.L. Bone, Jaclyn Roche, L.R.W. Lee, JB Trepagnier, Silvana G. Sanchez, Cassidy K. O'Connor, Jude Cocaigne, M.L. Garza, Hunter S. Jones, Aldrea Alien, Amari Ara Dreamer, D.C. Gambel, Krista Ames, K.A. Fox, Christa Ann, Iris Sweetwater & Chandra Trulove Fry, and Lianne Willowmoon & Phillip Shadowdragon.
You're sure to find something you like for the generous price of $1.99.
Get it in your choice of digital formats here.
October 4, 2020
Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID: A Live Event (You Can Now See a Replay)
The New York City chapter of the Historical Novel Society cordially invites you to a live internet event you can attend for free on Tuesday, October 6, at noon Eastern Time. Please adjust for your time zone--I'll be joining from Spain, so 6 p.m. for me.UPDATE: This event took place as planned, and it turned out great! See the replay on YouTube.
Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID will unite eight of the nine international bestselling authors from the We All Fall Down anthology for the first time ever! Although the title might sound like a bit of a downer, the overwhelming takeaway from these stories is that the human spirit has survived even the darkest times... and it will survive these dark times.
The authors attending will be:
* Yours truly, Jessica Knauss writing as J. K. Knauss
You're sure to find a new favorite in historical fiction.Sign up here to join via Zoom, where you will be able to ask the authors your own questions during the session!
Register here to watch on Facebook live and submit your questions ahead of time.
You'll receive a link to the event the day of. Our NYC chapter of the HNS has lots of experience with these events and things are all set to go smoothly.
At the end of the meeting, three attendees will be chosen to receive a free copy of We All Fall Down in Kindle or epub.So join us for a chat about hope and resilience! See you there!
Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID: A Live Event You Can Attend
The New York City chapter of the Historical Novel Society cordially invites you to a live internet event you can attend for free on Tuesday, October 6, at noon Eastern Time. Please adjust for your time zone--I'll be joining from Spain, so 6 p.m. for me.Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID will unite eight of the nine international bestselling authors from the We All Fall Down anthology for the first time ever! Although the title might sound like a bit of a downer, the overwhelming takeaway from these stories is that the human spirit has survived even the darkest times... and it will survive these dark times.
The authors attending will be:
* Yours truly, Jessica Knauss writing as J. K. Knauss
You're sure to find a new favorite in historical fiction.Sign up here to join via Zoom, where you will be able to ask the authors your own questions during the session!
Register here to watch on Facebook live and submit your questions ahead of time.
You'll receive a link to the event the day of. Our NYC chapter of the HNS has lots of experience with these events and things are all set to go smoothly.
At the end of the meeting, three attendees will be chosen to receive a free copy of We All Fall Down in Kindle or epub.So join us for a chat about hope and resilience! See you there!
October 2, 2020
Map It Out! Seven Noble Knights' Hand-Drawn Artwork
When the first publisher accepted Seven Noble Knights for publication, they asked for a map showing the locations mentioned in the novel. It seemed natural, as the medieval sources of Seven Noble Knights were obsessed with geography, and during the writing, I could often be found hunching over a finely detailed Spanish road map or trying to calculate distances with Google Maps.
I had always hoped to have something cartographic and beautiful in my book, to orient the reader and because I love maps. I knew I wouldn't be able to cobble together anything that met my artistic standards or that was specific enough to Seven Noble Knights, so I looked for a map artist who could include everything I wanted.
Nuno Alexandre Vieira has a lot of impressive artistic credentials under his belt. He won me over when he said he was from Portugal and knew the Iberian Peninsula well.
Nuno very generously sold me the license to do whatever I wanted with it in perpetuity, so I get to use it in the new edition, too!
It's exciting to see the places in Seven Noble Knights, to have this artifact in the real world that attests to the presence of my beloved story. One of the first things I did was print a copy, and it's decorated my writing area ever since.
It's black and white because the book won't be printed in color—that may contribute to the aged feel. The lettering was done by hand and I can't imagine anything about this map being any better. The artist should win an award for it.
Looking at the places mentioned, I'm proud to say the only one I haven't yet visited personally is Covadonga. I write about it as an almost mythic place in the novel, though no scenes take place there. Covadonga is in Asturias, which at this moment has the pandemic under control. What better time for a visit?
What places on this map have you visited?
Seven Noble Knights will be available December 11 from Encircle Publications. Thank you for sharing in the excitement with me.
July 27, 2020
Cover Reveal and Mark Your Calendars! Seven Noble Knights is Back!
As you know, my medieval epic of family, betrayal, and revenge, Seven Noble Knights, has found a new home in wonderful, Massachusetts-based Encircle Publications. I couldn't be more pleased to be working with this group of professionals.
I recently had a strong sign that I've made the right choice in signing with Encircle. They surprised me last week with a proposal for the cover design.
I love it. My newsletter subscribers were the first to see it, and now I'm thrilled to share it with everyone.
The colors are attractive, the fonts subtle and easy to read, and the sword-and-shield graphic lend the right hint of medieval battles to be fought. I hope this cover will attract all the right readers.
Interior of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba2009 Jessica Knauss The cover's red-and-white arches, so lovely and fantastical, can be visited in the real world in my beloved Córdoba, Spain, which is the stage for some of the most dramatic and vivid chapters in the book. I think this cover will make the novel an attractive souvenir for people visiting the Mosque-Cathedral or the Medina Azahara archaeological complex.
Encircle also let me know that the release date has been set for December 11, 2020.
Mark your calendars! Blog tours and giveaways are coming up soon!
Stay safe and well out there.
April 14, 2020
Distraction and Inspiration in Lockdown: An Interview with WWII Fiction Author Alexa Kang
I hope all the readers of this blog are staying safe and healthy at this unprecedented time. 
In spite of social distancing, I’ve recently met a wonderful author and would like to introduce you to her. Alexa Kang writes fascinating WWII historical fiction. Today she’s going to share with us how she’s holding up during what we in Spain call confinement, some of the inspiration for her latest book, and why now is a great time to read. Jessica Knauss: Are you currently in quarantine/confinement? How has it been for you so far?
Alexa Kang: I’m in the Boston suburbs and am in “lockdown” here like everybody else. To tell the truth, not much has changed for me. Writing has been my main focus for about three years now. It’s a very solitary pursuit. I was planning to slow down on that front and take on some non-writing related projects. Those are on hold now, and I’m actually glad to have this isolated time to keep writing!
JK: What activities are helping you stay sane?
AK: For us writers, it’s very important to stay active. Since we can’t go to the gym, my friends have recommended “Yoga with Adriene” on YouTube. Adriene is a fantastic yoga instructor and really helps me to destress and relax!
JK: What is your latest series about?
AK: My latest series is “Shanghai Story.” It is a drama trilogy that starts in 1936 Shanghai. It chronicles how China fell into World War II.
JK: What inspired you to write this series?
AK: My genre is WWII fiction, and I’ve been wanting to write about the Pacific front, as there are so few novels about the war in the East, especially one set in Asia that centers on politics, and the narrative is from a male perspective. My bilingual skills and my cultural understanding of East Asia gives me a unique ability to bring this story to readers in a very authentic way.
JK: What makes it different than other books in its genre?
AK: Aside from being a WWII story set in Shanghai, the heart of this series is a love story between Clark Yuan, a Kuomintang operative and son of a prominent Chinese family educated in America, and Eden Levine, a Jewish refugee from Munich. Interracial romance between an Asian man and a Caucasian woman in fiction is still rare today. Before the first book was published, I was quite nervous if that might impact sales. But it turns out, the audience was receptive beyond my expectations. This series is still selling very well today.
JK: Tell us more about the characters.
AK: The hero, Clark, is a KMT agent. He comes from a wealthy family of industrialists, as technological advancement was a big part early 20th century history onward. As I was introducing a main male character who is unusual in fiction, I wanted to make him someone Western readers can relate to, and even fall in love with. So, when the story begins, he is just returning home after graduating from college in America. He has lived and studied abroad for six years, and is quite westernized. He has two younger sisters, and is the oldest and only son. That makes him someone very important and influential in Shanghai. From there, we follow the story through his eyes.
My main female character, Eden Levine, gave me a great opportunity to tell a story about Jewish people who escaped to China. Leading up to WWII, almost all the countries in the world refused to grant Jewish refugees entry. China was one of the rare few that allowed Jewish escapees from Europe to enter without a visa. This story gave me a chance to write about the challenges the Jewish people faced when they had to begin a new life in a country with a culture that was entirely foreign to them.
JK: Are any of your characters based on real historical people?
AK: My main characters were not based on real people, but I did incorporate some real historical figures. In the first book, I have a delicious chapter of the first meeting between Clark and Soong Mei-Ling, China’s first lady. Like Clark, Soong was educated in America. She graduated top of her class at Wellesley. She was very ambitious and cunning. I had a lot of fun writing her.
JK: What was your favorite scene to write?
AK: My favorite scene was one where Clark and his sister took Eden to the Paramount Nightclub, a popular dinner and dance club. Before WWII, Shanghai was the most international city in the world, full of glitz and glamour. At the Paramount Theater, I got to show readers the decadence of the city full of big bad jazz music, bottomless champagnes, and ballroom dancing, with people from all over the world. It was fun to step back in time and make this scene come alive.
JK: I think the readers can sense your delight as you wrote! What was the hardest?
AK: The hardest scene for me was one where I had to retell the torture and death of an important character in Book 3 after Japan took over Shanghai following Pearl Harbor. I can’t say more without giving too much away. To write that scene, I had to read up on historical facts of how the Kempeitai(Japanese secret police) treated their prisoners. It has been generally acknowledged that the Japanese military and Kempeitaiwere even more brutal than German Nazis. WWII was a very ugly time in history. A lot of things happened that show us how flawed we humans can be. For us WWII fiction writers, sometimes we have to delve into all that, and decide how much to share with readers in our stories.
JK: At this moment in human history, do you think your books are a good escape? Or can they inform and inspire the reader for our current challenges?
AK: Despite the subject matter of WWII, I think my books can be a good escape. They take us to a different time era, away from what we’re hearing about every day. Also, they show us that we’ve been through worse, and that we can overcome huge challenges and obstacles. Compared to WWII, what we’re facing today is nothing. We’re not going hungry. We don’t have bombs and missiles dropping onto our homes. We’re not asked to go to battlefronts to shoot at each other and sleep for months in foxholes in rain, smoldering heat, or snow. We’re asked to stay home, eat, and watch TV. It really puts things in perspective when we learn about history.
JK: That’s what I always think! Any time in history has had at least as many challenges as we have, and fewer advantages. (Yes, I’m thinking of the bestselling anthology We All Fall Down .)
Alexa, thank you for being here virtually and bringing your unique stories to readers.
Readers, check out Alexa Kang’s books and escape even while you #StayHome. You might even feel inspired or strengthened!
Alexa’s website • Facebook
