Alison Stuart's Blog, page 3

MINING FOR GOLD - RESEARCHING THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER

Before I begin let me say that nothing in my background has really equipped me to write stories set in gold mines. I completely bombed out of the maths and science stream at school at the age of fifteen. My world was always history and literature and the creative arts. I studied Law (and history) at university.

I’ve worked as a lawyer and also served in the armed forces so I am eminently well qualified to write about war and soldiers. I understand that world! I can knock over a book set in the English Civil War as if it were an integral part of my DNA, but hard rock gold mining…? This requires hard rock research!

So why on earth would I choose to set a series of books around a gold mine and how, did I go about researching the technical aspects of nineteenth century mining?

I am fortunate (some would say… blessed) to be married to a mechanical engineer. Now if any of you have a mechanical engineer in your life, you will know what I mean when I say they know everything about everything… and they really do.

Mr S, my engineer, comes from a long line of tin miners in Cornwall. We have visited Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall where his ancestors worked for generations and nothing quite beats the experience of going down into those hand-hewn tunnels. I can see why they emigrated to Australia! Sharp eyed readers will note the odd reference to Geevor in the book. (see pic of author in Geevor Mine below)
The instinct to fossick for gold is in Mr S’s blood and that is how we first came to Walhalla one February many years ago, armed with gold pans and ambition. Needless to say, in all our many trips to Walhalla he has never found a speck of gold… except once and that incident still rankles. (He found a lump of quartz and broke it open… being a good host he gave it to the young tourist who was with him who threw it away claiming it had to be fools gold. Every time we go back to Walhalla Mr S looks for that lump of quartz. C’est la vie.)

So, I have resident expert on all things mechanical and gold related and to give him credit, he’s been brilliant… in fact never has he been so engaged with anything I have written as these Maiden’s Creek books. So much so that he ‘suggested’ it would be wonderful to show the world that mechanical engineers are true hero material. After 35 years of marriage, I am still starry eyed about this wonderful man so I agreed and this is why the hero of THE GOLDMINER’S SISTER, Alec McLeod, is an engineer.

But, between us, there were a number of times I nearly gave up on poor Alec. When Ian (Alec’s brother) says to him: 
‘She’s strong and healthy and properly raised. That’s all you need in a wife.’
‘No it’s not. I need a companion who shares my interests.’
Ian laughed. ‘Machinery and mines? Really, Alec?’
‘My point exactly, Ian.’
That was me, silently screaming at my hero…

However, he comes good in a solid, engineer way and turned into one of my favourite heroes. Is he modelled on Mr S? Not really… Mr S is not a tall, good looking Scotsman (Mr S is a tall, good looking South Australian!).

However even a detailed blow by blow description of the gold mining process (see my eyes glaze over?) is no substitute for seeing the real thing in action and, being a visual person, I took myself off for a day’s research at our fabulous Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. Apart from indulging myself in a little ride in a coach (authenticity is very important), I braved the wonderful volunteers who keep the authentic gold processing equipment running. These men are fanatics… they live for their steam driven engines and to have a tame visitor who seems genuinely interested in steam boilers- see pic below-, piston engines and battery stampers is their idea of heaven (cue lots more explanation!).

I have to say SEEING these great machines in action is worth a million words. It has left me in awe of our nineteenth century forebears and their inventiveness. What staggers me more than anything is how they moved what were ENORMOUS pieces of heavy equipment into the inaccessible sites of the Walhalla goldfields. I give you as an example… the wheel from the Morning Star mine (pic below) can still be seen and has, amazingly, survived bushfires. Walking in to get to it is no mean feat today, let alone carrying it in piece by piece and assembling.

Much of the equipment for the Walhalla mines was shipped to Port Albert, loaded on to bullock drays and hauled over the mountains. No train reached Walhalla until the early 1900s by which time the mines were in decline. And I can't go without mentioning the fabulous guides at Walhalla's own LONG TUNNEL MINE (on which the Maiden's Creek Mine is closely based). They are so knowledgeable and so passionate about this amazing tribute to the tenacity of our forebears. If you get to Walhalla... put this top of your visiting list! 

And mining was inherently dangerous. In THE POSTMISTRESS I touched on one of the risks of the hand drilling operation. In THE GOLDMINER’S SISTER, Alec worries about the new, more efficient pneumatic drills that are coming and he is right to be concerned. These drills would be nicknamed ‘the widow makers’ because the dust they produced killed so many miners. But by far the biggest risk to the mines were collapses and I spent some time researching one of Australia’s worst mine disasters, the Creswick Mine Disaster.

When the Australasian Mine collapsed in December 1882, 22 men lost their lives. And to get a taste of what it would have been liked to be a miner trapped in a mine, Sovereign Hill has a recreation of the Creswick Mine Disaster experience. Nothing, but nothing, beats a sensory experience – even though you may only be in the dark for a few seconds with rushing water coming at you…

The other joy at Sovereign Hill were the schools and being term time, they were in full swing with modern children at the desks and terrifying teachers in crinolines. I remember taking my own sons to a school there and they were very grateful to be schooled in modern times, although in some ways my own schooling of the 1960s hadn’t really progressed much further! The living museum provided me with plenty of material for Eliza’s school in Maiden’s Creek.
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Even though I am writing about matters outside my direct experience, the wonderful thing about research is access to good books, knowledgeable people and, if you are lucky, hands-on three-dimensional experiences. I hope I was somewhat successful in bringing all of that together in the book but most of all I hope you love my schoolmistress heroine, Eliza and my engineer hero, Alec, as much as I do!

RELEASE DAY FOR THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER!

"There’s some will say that Maiden’s Creek is the town of lost souls and broken hearts. We come looking for refuge from our past." Welcome back to Maiden's Creek... whether you first visited this isolated gold mining settlement in the remote mountains of Gippsland THE POSTMISTRESS or you are new to town, you are assured of an interesting visit.

The year is 1873 and over a year has passed since Caleb and Adelaide Hunt left Maiden's Creek to travel to England. Caleb's Shenandoah Mine is now under the management of his partner, Will Penrose, and his position at the Maiden's Creek Mine has been taken by a Scottish Engineer, Alec McLeod. Alec has left a tragic past behind in Scotland and he and his brother, Ian, have come to Australia to start a new life. 

When he took on the Shenandoah mine, Will Penrose wrote to his sister, Eliza asking her to join him. It has not been easy for Eliza, a teacher in a girl's school and responsible for her mother, to make the voyage but on a cold, winter's day she finally arrives in Maiden's Creek... 

Readers of THE POSTMISTRESS will recognise the townspeople ... Netty and Amos Burrell, Lil and her girls, the bankers and their wives... and there are a few new faces in this town of secrets!

THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER is on sale in print everywhere good books are sold in Australia and New Zealand, as an ebook (click HERE for your favourite links) and also in audio from Audible, Amazon and other audio retailers. And if you would like an autographed copy please click HERE.

WIN AN ARC OF THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER

I have an Advance Review Copy of THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER to give away!
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To be in with a chance to win this autographed print copy, just sign up to Alison Stuart's Newsletter before 20 May! (And as a bonus everyone who signs up gets a free book!). CLICK HERE TO ENTER

KUDOS FOR THE POSTMISTRESS

It was announced this morning that THE POSTMISTRESS made the BETTER READING Top 100 list (she comes in at #36!). 
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This is a reader voted list and includes classics and best selling international authors...so THANK YOU to all those readers who gave her your vote and to my team at Harlequin MIRA who had such faith in this story. I am thrilled. 

You can see the complete list HERE

A JIGSAW CHALLENGE TO HELP YOU PASS THE TIME...

While writers have been practising social isolation for years, many of you are struggling and it is fascinating to see people turning back to old fashioned entertainment such as jigsaw puzzles.
 
So here is a bit of fun while we all bunker down. Every Sunday afternoon (AEST) I will post up an online jigsaw puzzle featuring one of my book covers. Bearing mind I have 12 book covers, this should see us through to return to normality (whatever that will look like). There will be a prize for the first person to complete the set!

YOU WILL FIND THE JIGSAWS at www.alisonstuart.com or on my Facebook page @AlisonStuartWriter

JIGSAW CHALLENGE WEEK 1 289[image error]BookBrushImage360

COVER REVEAL: THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER

My absolute favourite part of the whole book production process is seeing a new cover for the first time. Have the 'cover fairies' seen what I see in my book? And I have to say I have been singularly blessed with the design team at HQN/Harper Collins Aus. Hot on the heels of the stunning cover for THE POSTMISTRESS, comes this cover for THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER. Thank you 'cover fairies'... you have done me proud :-)
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The Goldminer's Sister will be released on 8 July and is available for preorder now!
The Goldminer's Sister Gold is a fever. Will it lead her to love ... or death? A suspenseful romance set on the turbulent goldfields of 1870s Australia, for readers of The Postmistress and The Woman in the Green Dress.

1873. Eliza Penrose arrives in the gold mining town of Maiden's Creek in search of her brother, planning to make a new life for herself. Instead she finds a tragic mystery - and hints of betrayals by those closest to her.
Mining engineer Alec McLeod left Scotland to escape the memory of his dead wife and child. Despite the best efforts of the eligible ladies of Maiden's Creek, Alec is determined never to give his heart again.
As lies and deceit threaten Eliza's life, Alec steps in - although he has problems of his own, as he risks his livelihood and those he holds dear to oppose the dangerous work practices at the Maiden's Creek Mine.
When disaster draws the pieces of the puzzle together, Eliza and Alec must save each other - but is it too late? PREORDER LINKS for THE GOLDMINER'S SISTER PREORDER: The Goldminer's Sister

LOVE IS IN THE AIR...

Yes, it's two days to Valentine's Day.

Did you know that St. Valentine was a priest in 3rd century Rome, beaten and beheaded by the Emperor Claudius for secretly carrying out marriages (a practice prohibited by the Emperor who wanted the men in his army to  have no emotional attachments)?
Actually there are several candidates for the title of St. Valentine... but it doesn't matter.One of them was executed on 14 February and somewhere along the line became the patron saint of courtly love and epilepsy. 
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I have had great fun this Valentine's season by letting my inner contemporary romance author loose and penning a novella for a Valentine's Day anthology. BE MINE:VALENTINE NOVELLAS TO WARM THE HEART contains FOURTEEN (yes 14!) wonderful stories and is available on Amazon for just 99c (or free if  you are with Kindle Unlimited). 

And writing as Alli Stewart, my contribution is HEALING HEARTS.... 
It had only taken a moment… a flash of lights, a scream of metal and Chris Kingsley’s life had turned on its head.
In the months since her best friend, Sarah had died, Meg Taylor and Sarah’s husband, Chris had been there for each other but Meg’s fiance has returned from London for their long planned wedding and Meg and Chris’s comfortable routine is about to end. It is time for both of them to let go of the past and start living again.
But what will it take for these two broken hearts to realise that they belong together? Maybe a nudge from St. Valentine, may be the answer. 

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO PURCHASE... BUY: BE MINE!

The Postmistress is longlisted for the Booktopia Favourite Australian Book Award

Hot on the heels of the ARRA nomination, it is wonderful to see THE POSTMISTRESS in august company on the long list for the Booktopia FAB (Favourite Australian Book) Award 2019.

Voting is open to all and closes 31 January. VOTE HERE Hint: You'll find THE POSTMISTRESS on page 5. ​BOOKTOPIA LAUNCHES NEW $5K PRIZE FOR AUSTRALIAN AUTHORS
 
Australian online bookstore Booktopia are today announcing a new book prize for Australian authors, the Favourite Australian Book (FAB) award for 2019. The $5k prize will be awarded to the book determined to be the favourite of the Australian book-loving public via an online poll on the Booktopia website.
 
The longlist of nominees has been selected by Booktopia staff, reflecting the Australian books first published in 2019 that Booktopia staff members loved and want to champion, across fiction, non-fiction, children’s and lifestyle titles.
 
You can view the longlist and vote for as many, or as few books as you like at https://bit.ly/2RmiA6h
 
The winner will receive a cash prize of $5k, a trophy, and year-long highlights across Booktopia’s website, social media and content platforms.
 
The FAB Award replaces the Australia’s Favourite Author poll that has been run in previous years.
 
Key dates:
 
Friday 17 January - longlist announced and voting commences
Friday 31 January - voting closes
Monday 3 February - winner announced

An Award nomination to start the year...

Some awards are extra special and the Australian Romance Readers Awards are just such awards, because the nominations come directly from readers. It doesn't get any better than that...

Which is why I am thrilled by the news yesterday that THE POSTMISTRESS has received a nomination in the historical category. The winner is announced on 7 March, but really this is one award where I am genuinely delighted to receive the nomination itself.
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Thank you readers! 

(And if, by any chance, you are an ARRA member...voting is open!)

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Australia burns...

While I hasten to assure everyone that apart from smoke days, I am a long way from the fires but I doubt there is anyone who doesn't know someone directly impacted by the awful bushfires.

It has been amazing how the community, both here in Australia and overseas have responded to the crisis and my own writers community has set up an online Twitter auction under the hashtag #AuthorsforFireys. There is some amazing books and more on offer.

When I wrote THE POSTMISTRESS I set it in beautiful Gippsland and, for those who've read it, you will know that a bushfire plays a huge role in the story. Last year a real bushfire directly impacted the real town (Walhalla) on which Maiden's Creek is based. This year's fires are further to the east so fingers crossed Walhalla stays safe. Just to give you some idea of the scale of these fires... ​Below are some images from the fire that nearly took Walhalla last year...(reproduced with consent of the photographer)

If you would like to bid on a signed copy of THE POSTMISTRESS (bids are currently at Aus$100), the link is: https://twitter.com/AlisonStuart14/status/1213965230662799360 .

Auction ends Sat 11 at 11pm Australian time.