Shehanne Moore's Blog

What’s a ball without a gown designed by Resa…?

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WRYSON’S ETERNITY By RESA MCCONAGHY

As a huge fan of Shehanne Moore’s spirited, independent female characters in her period romance novels, this book has been long awaited.

“If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for.” –Oscar Wilde

The “Nicking Coat”

Oppressed & beaten by a beastly husband (Baronet Byron Jones), Lady Jones flees. To afford her vagabond lifestyle, she engages in petty thievery, lying, sleeping in forests and dealing with the less than savoury.

I now realize the hat is scripted black.

As she uses her coat like a tote bag for her nicked loot, I figured a man’s frock coat would have large pockets and the roominess required.

Shehanne – I just love the coat and hat. So her. I do love you calling her coat the ‘nicking coat.’ The woman lived rough for a bit.

Resa – Then one day, she haps upon a deserted cottage; where Gil Wryson haps upon her.

Shehanne – And that was it, but she had to like the wee life she’d set up for herself in Pencliff enough not to bolt and go back to the awfulness of life on the road. AND everything…even the way the mail worked and money worked with regard to banks in these days– all the things that made her life so difficult on the run– fitted..

The Ball & the Gown

In terms of defining what Eternity might wear, I looked at the out going Georgian era and the incoming Regency era.

Resa – I was tortured waiting! Was the ball in, or out? Why did you end up putting  the Ball in, and how did it serve the story?

Shey – … Okay Resa, well the simple answer to why I put it in, having decided for her to leave beforehand,  is YOU. Yeah, there you go. I thought about the fact that I’ve a ball or a dance/party, or a feast/dance  in quite a few books and these are tied with pivotal  moments in the plot.  

I also thought if she leaves in the morning  right after saying she’s going, then he is going to find it hard to forgive her–they have somehow come together in the planning and prep for  this ball. But she has  a huge reason to quit while she’s ahead here in terms of news she’s just got. I thought of you and the beautiful gowns you have designed for my ladies down the years and I thought what is a book without a ball and what is a ball without one of your gowns?

My first thought of the ball gown.

 Shehanne -I also thought when it comes to Wryson EVER forgiving her, when it comes to  her thinking, she just might have  got something in the bag, with regard to  ‘the future?’ Him too. ’Well? That ball and what happens at it, then sets up everything in terms of her state of mind as she goes to tackle what she must  tackle. It paves the way for how she is only paying half attention to what she really needs to have her eyes fully on because she’s let something into her life she can’t let in.    

Shehanne – It let me trowel on a bit of passion and anguish and quite a mess, shall we say, regarding what happens next? Things she feels responsible for, secrets she is going to have to keep, things about herself,  she doesn’t know she can overcome.   SO yeah, I think sticking to my original plan would have been wishy washy.

Resa – When her ball gown was first spotted in Gonetta’s, before I read on to any description of the gown, I immediately saw the green one in my mind. 

Shehanne – OOOOHHHHHH… the one Wryson had to pay for from Gonetta’s cos she’d have nicked it otherwise.

Resa – YES, the one Wryson pays for – BUT – it is the image I got in my mind (being a costume designer) before I got to the parts where you describe the gown – a backless cream gown. . Can you believe how different our visions are? What do you think about that? 

Shehanne – I think it is great actually that the visions were different. It said to me that you were really picturing her–and green is a noted color she wears. I imagined  she was drawn to the shop  and it reminded her of past balls, even if the main one she remembers was the night she got pitched into a Turkey oak, after first chucking herself at the man she loved.

--this is backstory before Wryson lands on her doorstep--

It reminded her of not living  hand to mouth on the road. So she wandered in and got herself a fitting with the intention of   dancing  on her own in Dark Falls--which we know she does-- in that gown.

Alas it defied her nicking abilities. But she probably told herself she could maybe nick the dosh. She’s very good at NOT getting things done too. But being her she probably got fitted for more than one.

So it was kind of deliberate on my part not to describe the gown at that point, because she is also capable of going there and nicking some other  gown off a rail of made but not paid for gowns.

Resa – I honestly like your gown better. What do you think about that?

Shehanne – What can I say but awwww…. truly, and you know a description can always be changed in a book.

Resa – Well, I am thrilled you had a ball. It is a pivotal bit, and if it was a movie, the big money beauty scene. Of course the carriage bit is the big money stunt scene.

Shehanne – Alas, I always see book scenes as movies. One of my fav freelance regular writing gigs ever was for girl’s comics for DC Thomsons. YOU HAD TO WRITE IN STORYBOARDS. YES!! So many frames per episode, dialogue/thoughts and instructions to the artist only on each frame. Always end with a cliff hanger.

Back in London

Resa – Here are the drawings, for court & carriage! The full skirt outfit would have already been in her closet before she escaped. The other, would be a new dress, the latest Regency fashion.

Shehanne – Yes, I forgot she has a fancy new coat for the court scene, her ‘other’ fellah having had enough of her special one.

Shehanne – It is what I imagined… Fashionable, dressy because she would need to be both and not look like  a ragbag.. There is the bit about Billy having taken her famous coat —obvi she left the cottage in that coat and he would have seen to it that she got some decent clothes  in London, given she is going to vhave to go a court of law. And yes the first illustration there above would have been the kind of dress she’d have worn to balls before and during her marriage to Byron.

Inspirations

Resa – So I was inspired to draw Eternity in a metaphoric sense. I had thought “Hair of flames” because what comes out of her mind and mouth is so fiery, literally, but this came out of me. Did I capture her in that metaphoric sense?

Shehanne –  You have captured her perfectly. You always have the sense of my ladies but she’s off the scale in many ways.

She’s wild, she’s free, she’s guarded, she’s bruised, she’s moody, she’s mouthy.  She walks tightropes when it comes to functioning. She is her own worst enemy, Above all else she is a survivor and it has been of some horrific things. She is really very difficult and you have amazingly captured all of that.  Wryson is of course not in the best of places himself, but even if he was he’d still be emotionally confused by her.

Resa – You recently posted about Mary Eleanor Bowes, the great-great-great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth the Second. At 11, she was left the richest heiress in England, between 80 and 120 million in today’s terms.  Twice married, she was beaten, burned and more by her husbands.

Shehanne – I thought I’d blog a little of some of the inspirations cos I started as I aye do, with no plot just the idea of picking up the woman who makes a very fleeting, at a distance, appearance in “O’Roarke’s Destiny” and setting her in an abandoned house cos I love abandoned houses.

“Suppose she is sitting there and passing herself off as whatever and then Wryson turns up and says it’s his house,” I thought. Then I obvi had to suss it out from there and I also thought at that point of the dreadful hubby and the unhappy countess.

Read about Mary Eleanor Bowes on Shehanne’s blog

Shehanne – Despite a descendant marrying into royalty and giving birth to Elizabeth 2nd, the story is not THAT well known. But it is interesting on so many levels. I primarily used the violent hubby because I needed a reason for Lyon to have a hold on her.

Resa – You built a strong, feisty female character, in a time where women had no rights. It’s inspirational.

Shehanne– You are right re: the lack of rights. I gather that Mary was not sympathized with because of the lovers, because of a lot of things she did and it was quite something that she actually got a ruling in her favor.

About Shehanne Moore

“I christen all my characters with care. I actually love thinking of what their name is going to be.“

A native of Scotland, I believe -About

Wryson’s Eternity is available on Amazon. Just click on the book cover and go there!

Shehanne – I did do a play list for the story… it is a bit long, possibly the longest I’ve done for a book play list.

Resa– It’s a fab Play List. If anyone cares to listen just click on the enhanced drawing of Eternity on the right, and it will take you there!

From Shehanne’s Play List!

I have read all of these fab Shehanne Moore Books.  Just go to an Amazon anywhere, to find them!

LINK TO RESA’S ACTUAL POST.

Wryson’s Eternity

ABOUT RESA MCCONACHY

About

Eternity Jones, the unfortunate Lady Grange and Billy Barkitt….

Fact 1–It is said that to  understand Lady Grange, one must first understand that when she was 10, her father was hung for murdering the judge who had ruled against him in an alimony lawsuit.

Fact 2–Wig, or no…. In 1707,  she married Lord Grange, younger brother of the sixth earl of Mar who’d led the failed Jacobite uprising against the Crown in 1715, alternatively known as the attempt to restore the crown to the son of the deposed James 7th of Scotland. and 2nd of England.

Fact 3–Allegedly the marriage took place after she held a gun to his head.

Fact 4–in 1732 having had  enough of her fiery temper and drinking, not to mention her threats to blow the gaff about his dicey 1715 connections because of an affair he was having, he had her beaten, gagged, forcibly removed from  her home—not his, since they had been living separately for two years at this point–and, with some teeth missing from her jaw,  whisked off on a tour of the Scottish Islands, lasting several years.  

Fact 5–The imprisonment of the longest duration began and ended on Hirta the largest island of the St Kilda, archipelago the island at the edge of the world,–35 nautical miles (65 kilometres) west-northwest of North Uist and uninhabited since 1930 when the then population. of 36 was ‘evacuated.’ An island it took days in an open boat to reach and a place where no-one spoke English.

Fact 6–While Lady Grange availed herself of the joys of living in this….

her husband held a funeral for her in Edinburgh. This just might help explain why none of her many children lifted a finger to help her during the 10 years she was on St Kilda, spending her days sleeping, drinking and walking the wild, windy shores. Equally Lady Grange had removed all her children from her will some years previously.

Fact 7 –in 1738 a letter she wrote to her lawyer, Thomas Hope of Rankeillor– who had no idea she was being kept as she was— was smuggled off St Kilda possibly by Roderick MacLennan, the island’s minister. The stir the letter caused was sensational, which in turn caused Lord Grange to get his friends to block Thomas Hope from getting a search warrant. However he paid for a boat and twenty armed men. By the time he reached St Kilda, Lady Grange had been moved. She died in Skye in 1745–co-incidentally the same year as the Jacobite rebellion and the place Charles Stuart, the grandson of the deposed James 7th of Scotland and 2nd of England. AND the place the ‘Bonnie Prince’ escaped to in a boat rowed by Flora Macdonald, a journey immortalized in song and a woman who was not in any way a Jacobite supporter and who was imprisoned in London for aiding his escape.

Fact 8– Already allegedly buried– but not– in Edinburgh, she was allegedly buried in Skye in the Trumpan churchyard. although equally allegedly a third burial was held at Duirinish Skye, where a large crowd gathered to watch the burial of a coffin filled with dirt and stones…..

Fact 9–Of course there is no fact 9, just the disclaimer that the forthcoming Wryson’s Eternity was not inspired by Lady Grange . But she does have a lawyer, she keeps in touch with, a Billy Barkitt of

A man she was once in love with.

For whom the timing was wrong.

—‘Decent as a nun’s drawers, their backside too. ‘About as interesting into the bargain,’-

Shey—- Right now? That would be telling. But I leave you with the song from the playlist that in the end is his. By a Scottish band too.

Can the man with no past have a future?

Let me forget you ever lived …

When it comes to the woman he loved, handsome, hunted, ‘rogue’, Gil Wryson has done just that, even forgetting his own name, until he crosses swords with a mysteriously brash woman who has stolen his house—at least he thinks it’s his house. But so long as she doesn’t steal his heart, surely he candeal with the fact she’s not only unlike any woman he’s ever known, she’s hell-bent on betraying him to the man who is hunting him?

Let me die if I cease to remember you …

Despite stealing other people’s houses, clothes, food, money, identities and children, Lady Eternity Jones draws the line at thieving hearts.  Once she swore never to forget her first love.  Now she has, her memories are of one thing only. Her abusive, murderous husband.  So if survival means suffering a cocky, darkly tortured mess of a man in ‘her’ home, in order to get her hands on his secrets, she’ll do it.

It’s a lot more than maybe. There’s no maybe with a corpse …

But Gil Wryson isn’t the only one being hunted. When the race is against time and time is running out,he needs her to help him remember. But does she need him to help her forget?

Eternity Jones and the Unhappy Countess

FACT 1 —Mary Eleanor Bowes was the great-great-great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth the Second on her mother’s Bowes-Lyon side,.

FACT 2 –At 11, she was left the richest heiress in England by her industrialist father–between 80 and 120 mill in today’s terms.  Unusually for the time the fortune was subject to a prenuptial agreement.

FACT 3– 23 years later, this well educated, poet and botanist  was cowed, hungry covered in bruises from beatings and wearing underwear borrowed from servants.

FACT 4– Her first husband was the Earl of Strathmore of Glamis Castle, Angus, fame,

but since her father’s will also stipulated that her husband should assume his family name, the Earl changed his name from John Lyon to John Bowes. Hence the Bowes-Lyon. Mary’s fortune restored the castle while he drank and she took lovers.

FACT 5 Following his death,  on her way to marry her latest lover, she instead tied the knot with one ‘Captain’– he wasn’t–Stoney, an Anglo Irish MP. after he was stretchered–apparently dying having apparently fought a duel on her behalf — into the church where his recovery once she’d agreed, was miraculous.

FACT 6 In addition to beating and burning her for eight years, not to mention kidnapping her off the street at one point, . Stoney also lugged her about the country on horseback  naked apart from a blanket in the hope she’d die of cold…after signing everything over to him first of course.

Fact 7– Mary was eventually rescued by  servants. Stoney lost the divorce case and Mary thereafter lived a very quiet  life.

Mary’s biographer, Wendy Moore –no relation to Shey although Shey did once interview her– was of the opinion that servants were often swayed by bribes in these days. However she also said that Mary’s gardener would rather die for her than do her husband’s bidding. And she did command loyalty from her immediate maids.

Fact 8 –Thackeray’s The book the Luck of Barry Lyndon and made into a film starring Ryan O’Neal and Marisa Berenson,  was based on  Mary’s story.

Non cliff jumping with new Author Alex Gunn

ALEX GUNN – Of course, hard to imagine why anyone wouldn’t!

ALEX GUNN –Unfortunately not – they probably wouldn’t have gotten on with the dog! Besides, their propensity for adventure and mischief may have been a little too much for me to deal with. My friend’s hamster escaped his cage one time then turned up about a week later covered in fluff (thankfully no worse for wear)! I’m sure he had a great time, but that sort of thing would be too much for my heart to take…

ALEX GUNN I did take some inspiration from my own experiences and people in my life when writing the characters and storylines, though I’m happy to say that some of the more harrowing experiences were embellished for the sake of drama! Thankfully my wonderful father (with his own years of writing and editing experience) helped to temper that streak in me and help make it a little more grounded. Nonetheless, I like to think that it presents a reasonably realistic picture of small-town life in the nascent years of social media, and I’m hoping it will be as much a learning experience for any readers as it is an enjoyable one.

ALEX GUNN – –My first two years of secondary school were at Arbroath High School, followed be a move to Bell Baxter High School in Fife at the beginning of my third year. I can’t say I had the easiest time at either location, as while I managed to form little pockets of friendships my somewhat bohemian personality was not always well-received by my fellow students.

Arbroath in particular was not the easiest time for me, often feeling like the butt of others’ jokes and not quite knowing how to fit in with my peers.

Bell Baxter, by contrast, was an interesting setup as the school was located in a smaller town with many students bussing in from smaller surrounding villages, meaning I had to share two trips a day with other Newburgh students (many of made it their business to make these journeys rather unpleasant for me). Nevertheless, I managed to make some pretty special friends and while I can’t say I miss school an awful lot, it was my later teen years where I finally started to feel a sense of belonging and change because of them. This notion of having come out the other end of a challenging childhood is something I have tried to reflect in Soft As Nails, as I fervently believe that no one need be defined by their early years and we all have the chance to do better for ourselves.

ALEX GUNN —Ah… I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that as like most authors and creatives I’m actually very shy and humble.

But yes, I’ve done a few Edinburgh performances in my time, largely as part of local theatre company Cat Like Tread who specialise in Gilbert and Sullivan performances, as well as a three-week run of Avenue Q in 2022 because my friend couldn’t do it and they needed someone else who could sing in a decent American accent. I’m still not totally sure how I managed to do that alongside my day-job but now I can legitimately add “professional puppeteer” to my CV so I’m not complaining.

ALEX GUNN —As long as you tell everyone how great I was then please do! And tell your friends: I’ve never performed to an all-hamster audience before and we could probably make a killing since we could fit loads more of you into the seats!

ALEX GUNN –A nice walk along Victoria cliffs (dog optional) was something that always helped clear my mind back in the day, and I heard other (braver and more reckless) people would recommend cliff jumping if you were feeling especially adventurous!

Once you’ve worked up an appetite there, you simply must head down to the harbour to get yourself some Arbroath Smokies – I promise you’ll never go back to regular fish!

If you’re looking for even more adrenaline, enjoy watching the Red Lichties play a game of footy as Gayfield Stadium and finish the day off with some arcade games at the nearby Pleasureland (gosh, I’m getting all nostalgic just thinking about it).

Hoping to use the no doubt resounding success of my first published work as a springboard into other creative works, including another book I have started, a webcomic series, and some poetic endeavours if I have any time left over! I’ll also be sure to let you know about my next festival performance: every ticket sold helps convince my castmates that I’m just as popular and talented as I have convinced myself I am! Watch this space…!

Scotland . . . 2005

The Rainbow Parliament sits in Holyrood. Myspace and MSN Messenger are kings.

And 16 year old Trey Weaver, expelled from school in an east coast town after letting himself be provoked into a series of violent attacks on his fellow pupils, is hoping to start a new life when he moves with his mother and stepfather to the bigger pond of Glasgow.

When Trey gets to know Tess Granger, the daughter of a local bar manager, he dreams that things might finally be on the right track. Tess is tired of being lusted after for her looks, and Trey seems – well, there’s something about him. A bit different.

But there’s a serious complication in the formidable shape of brutal gang leader Jonathan “Nails” Milburn, who is estranged from his father and lives in a nearby squat with his addict sister Karen. Nails has his own designs on Tess, and he’s not keen to take no for an answer.

The scene is set for a titanic struggle between Trey and Nails, which for better or worse will change the lives of all the major players forever.

Meet the Author

Alex Gunn was born in Arbroath in Angus, Scotland in 1989 and spent his formative years there before moving to the North Fife town of Newburgh with his family in 2003. He was educated at Inverbrothock Primary School and Arbroath High School, and latterly at Bell Baxter High School in Cupar. Although not based in major population areas, these are two of Scotland’s biggest comprehensive secondary schools, drawing from diverse and difficult catchment areas.

Alex completed an honours degree in Politics and Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 2011, and worked at a number of jobs reflecting his interest in neurodiversity before undertaking postgraduate studies and training as a social worker specialising in the protection of children. He is currently employed in a senior role by the City of Edinburgh Council, and in his spare time enjoys among other things video gaming and performing in musicals at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Soft As Nails is Alex’s first novel. The first draft, loosely based on his experiences at secondary school, was completed in the summer of 2006, as he was awaiting the results of his SQA Higher Grade exams. It underwent several revisions over the following few years, but then things happened, as they do, and it’s taken until now, nearly 20 years later, to revisit the project and get it into a state fit for publication.

!

“I died. I died cos I ceased to remember. I ceased to remember you.”

SHEY… Well no. Can you imagine the mess, if someone wrote all over you and then someone wrote all over that? Providing anyone wanted to.

Shey – Cos in the 17th century, letters were often “written over” by folding them to form their own envelope, a practice known as  to protect privacy and prevent them from being read by unauthorized individuals. Not looking at anyone. That was called letterlocking. That is the answer to you guys’ first question. AS for the second.? When I asked her, she said, two words. ‘Hamsters? Nice….”

Shey…well I wouldn’t go that strong… When she smiles, asks a question and says, ‘ Nice…’ she doesn’t mean it as a compliment…But look she sent you this little card about herself.

Shey…Obviously… So to return to the postal biz in the 17th century…

Shey– Yeah it is set a century later by which time the practice was dying out. But Eternity is very frugal of necessity…….more of which will be explained later.

Now another thing is that she also of necessity keeps in touch with her lawyer, a man she was once in love with –obviously she can’t carry bags of gold about and bank noes were often only acceptable in the area they were printed in. So, to answer your question re the died quote…. That is something she says to him………… You can see the reasons why next post……

For now I leave you with this…This one is about the postal service after all…

Can the man with no past have a future…..?

 Let me forget you ever lived …

When it comes to the woman he loved, handsome, hunted, ‘rogue’, Gil Wryson has done just that, even forgetting his own name, until he crosses swords with a mysteriously brash woman who appears to have stolen his house—at least he thinks it’s his house. But so  long as she doesn’t steal his heart, surely he candeal with the fact that the only one who stirs his memory,  is not only unlike any woman he’s ever known, she’s hell-bent on betraying him to the people who are hunting him?

Let me die if I cease to remember you …

Despite stealing other people’s houses, clothes, food, money, identities and children, Lady Eternity Jones draws the line at hearts.  Once she swore never to forget her first love.  Now she has, her memories are of one thing only. Her abusive, murderous husband.  So if survival means suffering a cocky, mess of a man in ‘her’ home, in order to get her hands on his secrets, she’ll do it, provided she can get her hands on other things as well.

It’s a lot more than maybe. There’s no maybe with a corpse

But Gil Wryson isn’t the only one being hunted. When the race is against time and time is swiftly running out, can the man with no past, have a future? He may need her to help him remember. But does she need him to help her forget?

We resume abnormal service

                      PROLOGUE – Paris 1793

        Losing your memory at the best of times was bad enough. The sticky cobblestones in the Place de la Revolution, where tumbrels trundled, drums beat and crowds bayed, was the worst.

       “Jesus Christ, where the hell’s LeBoeuf?

He swore he’d get her out of here.” Somewhere to his bewildered left, Gil Wryson’s booted feet ground to a halt. His voice cut through the crowd like shattered glass.   “What the bloody hell are we meant to do now?”

       “Montclair, eh? Well? Well? Fancy seeing you here, you treacherous piece of shit. Your little love bird today. You tomorrow.” He doubled over the iron fist that sank into the pit of his stomach, his scuffed high-sided boots slithering in the sticky, congealing mess beneath them.

SHEY …. Cos to answer your question, folks would probably have eaten you lot in Paris in 1793.

So how about you shut up? And start again while you’re about it????

PROLOGUE – Paris 1793

   Losing your memory at the best of times was bad enough. The sticky cobblestones in the Place de la Revolution, where tumbrels trundled, drums beat and crowds bayed, was the worst.

 “Jesus Christ, where the hell’s LeBoeuf?

 

PROLOGUE – Paris 1793

Losing your memory at the best of times was bad enough. The sticky cobblestones in the Place de la Revolution, where tumbrels trundled, drums beat and crowds bayed, was the worst.

 “Jesus Christ, where the hell’s LeBoeuf?

He swore he’d get her out of here.” Somewhere to his bewildered left, Gil Wryson’s booted feet ground to a halt. His voice cut through the crowd like shattered glass.   “What the bloody hell are we meant to do now?

          “Montclair, eh? Well? Well? Fancy seeing you here, you treacherous piece of shit. Your little love bird today. You tomorrow.” He doubled over the iron fist that sank into the pit of his stomach, his scuffed high-sided boots slithering in the sticky, congealing mess beneath them.

Always going to fail.

       The plan was always going to fail. From the second he and Gil Wryson had hatched it, laid out their gold, in a tortured city where the streets ran with blood and one wrong move was death, it had been doomed. Or she wouldn’t be standing there, barefoot, her auburn hair turbaned in white, beneath the cathedral that towered to a searing blue sky.  Except it wasn’t a cathedral. Any more than the row of soldiers standing like skittles, were there to protect her, the waiting tumbrel, to take her home, the drums hammering out a tattoo with his heartbeat, a serenade.

        London, with its smells of old curiosity shops, clatter of carriage wheels, its night ladies prowling mysterious cobblestoned mews, didn’t beckon, despite his  promise they were going home. They were going home, together.

      Now, when he most needed to think if there was some way, of freezing time, of pulling her from that platform, of grabbing a musket from one of the soldiers and ending this agony, he couldn’t. 

He couldn’t do anything except swallow the searing agony in his     gut and tug his hat off his sweating head. It seemed respectful somehow and respect was as much as he could offer her now.

         Dover.

        His life. His love. The woman he’d promised to save. Last night, in that rank, candle-less cell, death hadn’t just looked at him, through bars only it could squeeze through, hadn’t just laughed, it had spat in his face.  Did he really think he could somehow better what the Fates intended?

        As every whispered prayer he’d ever known died on his lips, the blade flashed down. The day’s wine for the cheering mob sprayed across his face.

        Dover.

       My life. My love.

       Let me forget you ever lived . . .

Let me die if I cease to remember you …

Despite stealing other people’s houses, clothes, food, money, identities and children, Lady Eternity Jones draws the line at thieving hearts.  Once she swore never to forget her first love.  Now she has, her memories are of one thing only. Her abusive, murderous husband.  So if survival means suffering a cocky, darkly tortured mess of a man in ‘her’ home, in order to get her hands on his secrets, she’ll do it.

It’s a lot more than maybe. There’s no maybe with a corpse …

But Gil Wryson isn’t the only one being hunted. When the race is against time and time is running out,he needs her to help him remember. But does she need him to help her forget?

In the house of Aberglasney with Catherine Cavendish

Haunted and Historic – the house and grounds of Aberglasney by Catherine Cavendish

Catherine Cavendish-– Many stories abound of haunted houses of all kinds – from ordinary terraced dwellings in unremarkable streets through to grand mansions and palaces. I have written about quite a few of them myself.

Catherine Cavendish –Yet there is often far more to these magnificent locations than purely bricks and mortar. They are frequently set in exquisitely landscaped gardens fashioned by such luminaries as Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and Gertrude Jekyll. And some have developed their own personality, their own character –

and their own legends and ghost stories.

Such a mix of beauty

– and darkness –

can be found at the historic Aberglasney House and Gardens in Llangathen near Carmarthen in Wales.

The house itself is positioned at the grand end of the scale and the area it stands in has known some gruesome battles, including one particularly bloody conflict in 1257. Even the surrounding fields have names which hark back to their violent past – Ca Tranc (Field of Vengeance) and Cae’r Ochain (Groaning Field).

It is believed that a certain Bishop Rudd acquired the estate of Aberglasney in around 1600, during the final years of the reign of Elizabeth I. For the next 110 y ears, the house stayed in his family before being sold to the Dyer family in 1710, followed by another sale in 1798. This pattern continued until troops occupied it during World War II. Ten years after the war ended, the estate was split up and the house and home farm were bought by a local man called David Charles. Sadly he couldn’t maintain the building and the place was left to fall into decay and dereliction.

 Then, it was bought in 1995 and is being fully restored to its former glory by the Aberglasney Restoration Trust. As far as the house’s ghosts are concerned, life appears to have gone on largely ignored by them. They had other agendas and there are reputed to be between 90 and 130 spectral beings.

In the 1630s, the first of a series of reports of ghostly happenings tells of a maid who saw five candles floating around, apparently of their own accord, in a newly plastered ‘blue room’. The next day, five maidservants were found dead in their beds. A stove left burning to dry the plaster had asphyxiated them while they slept.

To this day, this is one of the most active rooms in the house as far as ghostly sightings and experiences are concerned. Visitors have been touched, felt someone brushing past them and have generally been spooked by their time in that place. In the 1930s, a worker, clearing ivy from the window of that room almost fell off his ladder. He swore he saw five girls in old fashioned dress peering out at him. The house was empty and derelict at the time. Could it be that the ghosts of the five dead maidservants had made an appearance?

An East India Company surgeon, Thomas Phillips, who owned the house in 1803, has appeared to gardeners, servants and tradespeople over the years and has become more active recently when tour guides have heard his ghostly footsteps.

Another ghostly encounter has been with a young servant girl who stands in the corner of the basement, apparently cooking.

With ongoing restoration work, it seems the ghosts of Aberglasney have much to occupy them.

So, there is plenty to interest the ghost hunter inside the house, but what of outside? 

Catherine Cavendish– And then we come to Pigeon House Wood,

at the rear of the building. It too is beautifully designed. Planted with deciduous trees, it offers a peaceful walk. But as visitors descend the earthen path, some have experienced an increasing sense of unease which intensifies until at the edge of the wood, it morphs into sudden fear and an icy coldness. So often was this reported that a reputable medium was consulted in 1999. She reported that a fugitive, on the run, had been chased through this wood and was shot, right at the point where those affected by the phenomenon had felt it most. Evidently meeting such a violent and sudden end released his emotions which were absorbed by the earth around him.

The landscape holds many secrets in my latest novel…

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‘Fear her now, fear the queen,

As in her stone she reigns supreme…’

When Jonathan agrees to accompany his girlfriend, Nadia, on a trip to Landane, he imagines a short relaxing break in the countryside.  But he quickly discovers that Nadia isn’t just drawn to the ancient Neolithic stone circle, she is obsessed by the megaliths. One in particular. Within hours, her personality begins to change and it isn’t long before Jonathan starts to fear for her sanity.

Reaching far back into the past and up to the present day, those same stones have demonstrated powers beyond reason and, as Jonathan’s girlfriend becomes increasingly distant from reality, some of the ghosts of the past begin to reappear. Now it isn’t only Nadia who is in danger.

What is the secret of the prehistoric standing stones of Landane? What lies within them? And why does an ancient piece of folklore ring so true?

 Publishing on January 14th, 2025

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About The Author

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Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine Cavendish is the author of a number of supernatural, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories.

Her novels include: The Stones of Landane, Those Who Dwell in Mordenhyrst Hall, The After-Death of Caroline Rand, Nemesis of the Gods Trilogy, Dark Observation, In Darkness, Shadows Breathe, The Garden of Bewitchment. The Haunting of Henderson Close, The Devil’s Serenade, The Pendle Curse and Saving Grace Devine.

The Crow Witch and Other Conjurings is a collection of her previously published and brand-new short stories.

Her novellas include: The Darkest Veil, Linden Manor, Cold Revenge, Miss Abigail’s Room, The Demons of Cambian Street, Dark Avenging Angel, The Devil Inside Her, and The Second Wife

She lives by the sea in Southport, England with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat called Serafina who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why that practice should not continue.

You can connect with Cat here:

Catherine Cavendish

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You can find out more about the glorious Aberglasney estate here

Crashing with Kate Furnivall

KATE – – -Well, dudes, pin back your ears (oops, I forgot, you’ve only got tiny ones ) and listen to this. All I had to do was gaze at the pics of you guys, all different – some smart, some slow as sloths (naming no names!),

some tetchy, others calm and cool, but all cute as buttons. And it set me thinking. About identity. What makes us who we are? What separates us from others?

And can we turn ourselves into someone else? Or will the real ‘me’ always be there, bubbling just beneath the surface? This is what I decided to explore in my new book The Crash.

Kate – – — The story is one of intense intrigue and danger in Paris. It is set against the backdrop of a devastating train disaster that occurred in 1933, the worst in French peacetime history. Hundreds were killed and injured on that terrifying night just before Christmas. Amid a web of mystery and crime, my story follows Camille Malroux’s desperate search for her missing brother Gilles who vanished after he was injured on that train.

     

      Camille is determined and resourceful, a young woman who has learned to pay attention to details. She is the daughter of a Parisian prostitute and was brought up in poverty, but yearns to be respectable. She has striven hard to create an exemplary identity for herself and works now for the French Civil Service, wearing her highly polished shoes and neat white blouse each day. But her fierce loyalty to her brother leads her on a search for him and each layer of truth that she peels back sends her spiralling down dangerous pathways. This is where she needs again all the cunning and skills she learned as a child on the filthy backstreets of Montparnasse in Paris.The train crash is the catalyst that alters their lives. But can it alter who they are?

     Gilles operates mostly on the wrong side of the law. Though injured in the chaos and darkness of the crash, he is sharp enough to swap his identity card with that of another casualty in order to escape those who are pursuing him.

   Especially the police.  As he attempts to flee into the night, he finds himself taken to the home of a woman he has never met who embraces him as her husband. When she slides a spoon of heavy liquid between his lips, is she trying to help him? Or harm him? And when Camille races to the hospital to seek out her brother, who is the bandaged stranger she finds in possession of Gilles’s wallet?

     This triggers a world where tragedy and suspense collide, where sinister forces are lurking in the shadows. The fight for survival blurs ethical lines. I love to put my characters in a situation where they are forced to face morally difficult decisions – and then I wait to see which way they jump.

Kate —- Well, in the 1930s Paris was a vibrant hotbed of thrills and excitement. With its glossy cream of society flaunting their diamonds and furs at the Café de Paris, or savouring the Jazz Age on the Left Bank alongside struggling writers and artists at Le Dôme, like Hemingway and Gauguin. It was a time of wildness and a new kind of freedom. The tragic train crash came like a knife to the heart of this world.       So you see, dudes, why I chose to set my story in Paris. Camille and Gilles Malroux were chancers. And the City of Light offered them a whole world of opportunity.

Kate–—Ha ha! Of course we will always have Paris, dearest Bobby Bub. The image of you in your sexy French beret, when I was researching The Betrayal, will be engraved on my heart forever more.

Kate– Duh! I just told you why. (Remember when I said earlier, “some smart, some slow as sloths”? Well I leave you to guess which category this one falls in. BECAUSE THE REAL TRAIN CRASH OCCURRED JUST OUTSIDE PARIS! So that’s where the story takes place. Got it, okay?

Kate — That’s interesting because I don’t find it difficult at all. History fascinates me and is teeming with all kinds of exciting stories begging to be told. I have hugely enjoyed digging them out, whether set in the ancient beauty of Italy, the broken postwar city of Berlin or in the windswept sands of the Sahara. It is the history and the settings that inspire my stories. I am constantly finding new ideas there. I love to lift the surface skin and find out what makes these characters from history tick and how major events impact on the lives of ordinary people. When people are stripped of their facade, it’s what’s underneath that fascinates me and draws me into their lives.

Kate –I have lots of favourite parts. The research (I go down so many rabbit holes, it’s a wonder I’m ever seen again), the days when the words flow as smooth as hot chocolate, the moment when I’ve been struggling with how to end a scene and then suddenly see the light. And of course the WONDERFUL point when I finally type THE END.

     But my most favourite part is starting a book. The beginning. Those first few chapters. At that early stage everything is possible. The book can go anywhere and take me off into thrilling and startling places and to ideas I haven’t yet even thought of. I am like a child on Christmas Eve, thrumming with anticipation. In those first chapters I am getting to know my characters and how exactly they will interact with each other, with me and with the setting. As the book progresses it becomes more like hard work to keep all the balls in the air, but at the start it is like falling in love. 

Kate – -Oh BB, you are such a charmer, enough to turn a girl’s head. Well now, I’d love us to hop on a plane and whisk away to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. You up for that? The city is as charming and handsome as yourself

     Let’s go at tulip time – in April. I’ve never seem the fields of vivid colour, so it would be an adventure for us both.

And we could explore the windmills themselves. Did you know that they are used for pumping water and as sawmills, as well as for grinding flour? I had no idea. It is such a fascinating complex mechanism and the Dutch are now world leaders in the high tech process of shifting water from one place to another.

     Then let’s have a relaxed traditional lunch of lekkerbekje (fried fish) or stamppot (basically sausage and mash) in one of the lovely pavement cafes beside the beautiful canals in Amsterdam. Over a beer you can whisper to me all the goss on the other dudes.

Not even a Philistine like you, BB, can visit Amsterdam without sticking your twitchy little nose into the glorious Van Gogh Museum. So after lunch we’d pop over there and I promise you that its powerful paintings will knock your whiskers off! 

A magnificent sunflower sits on every table in the Van Gogh Museum cafe.

we wouldn’t stop there. We’d round off our day with a romantic canal dinner cruise with a bottle of darn good Dutch gin

and after a few glasses I’d serenade you with the old favourite – A Windmill of Old Amsterdam.

I saw a hamster!

Where?

There on the stair!

Where on the stair?

Right there!

A little hamster with clogs on

Well I declare!

Going clip-clippety-clop on the stair

Oh yeah!

The simple reason I’ve not yet finished this book is I don’t want it to end. THAT is actually how good it is. And I am not just saying that because Kate was kind enough to send me a copy because I have been a fan of hers since her very first book. The vividness of the writing and the description, the storyline, the evocation of the period it is set in, is that brilliant, I want to savour every word, over and over. These are the things I will say when I do properly review this.   It is a wonderful book.

If you were given the opportunity to disappear and start your life again, would you take it?

Paris 1933. Four people’s lives are dramatically torn apart by a single terrifying event. Two days before Christmas the express train to Strasbourg crashes into a local train in the winter darkness outside Paris. On board is Gilles Malroux, a man with a shady past and a strong reason to avoid the police. In the mayhem of the crash he is badly injured but to avoid capture by the police he swaps identity papers with one of the other victims of the impact. Gilles tries to flee in the dark but finds himself taken to the house of a woman he doesn’t know but who calls him Davide. She nurses him. But is the bitter medicine in the spoon she puts to his lips healing him or harming him?

Camille Malroux is Gilles’ sister. She works for the French Civil Service and is trying to climb the ladder of respectability after a childhood in poverty. When she is informed by police that her brother is seriously injured in hospital, she rushes to his bedside, only to discover it is not Gilles. It is a heavily bandaged stranger. He is unconscious and has her brother’s identity papers in his locker. Only by digging to discover the true identity of the bandaged man in the hospital bed can she hope to trace Gilles.

But Gilles is sinking into further danger. He is drugged. A priest and a doctor hover over him, as if waiting for him to die, and constantly the woman who calls him Davide is at his side. What is it she wants from him?

The Crash is thrilling historical fiction about identity, revenge and survival.

Kate Furnivall didn’t set out to be a writer. It sort of grabbed her by the throat when she discovered the story of her grandmother – a White Russian refugee who fled from the Bolsheviks down into China. That extraordinary tale inspired her first book, THE RUSSIAN CONCUBINE. From then on, she was hooked.

Kate is the author of ten novels, including THE SURVIVORS, THE RUSSIAN CONCUBINE, THE LIBERATION and THE BETRAYAL. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages and have been on the Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller lists.

Fascinating a fire with Ada Jenkins

ADA .. I was drawn to write a book about Scotland’s fires as fire is such a potent and uncontrollable force. It has always been with us and causes great loss and destruction. Despite this, it is something which has rarely been written about. I wanted to highlight the role which fires have played in Scotland’s past. 

ADA .. The fires I have written about have had many different effects on Scotland’s history. Some of them are emblematic of what is happening at a particular period of time, such as the destruction of Elgin Cathedral. Others resulted in changes to the way buildings were constructed, and the way in which fire safety was tackled. Often, it takes a great tragedy to bring about change. 

ADA . .There are many fires which I left out. The intention with the book was not to discuss the fires that caused the greatest destruction, or the greatest loss of life, but rather to present a snapshot of a range of different fires. This is the reason why the book is a miscellany, rather than a history. There are many more fires which could have been included . . . . . . . .

ADA . .It was just a coincidence that I ended up with thirteen fires, just as I was also about to say, that when it comes to more fires, of course that is for someone else to delve into, although it is strangely appropriate. I would also say, of that 13, the most interesting fire to write about was the Gaumont Cinema, Edinburgh. Even though it was not the biggest or most significant fire I wrote about, I very much enjoy going to the cinema, and it was poignant to write about a little-known and not really remembered cinema from the past. I’m glad that lesser known buildings — such as the Gaumont and Scotway House — will be remembered in my book.

AFA . . Yes, it is said that the Hellfire Club were responsible for starting the Tron Kirk fire in Glasgow. As with so much about the Hellfire Club, it is shrouded in secrecy. But given some of their other activities, it is entirely possible that they were responsible for this fire. It was interesting whilst researching the book to uncover stories like this. Most fires start with a person who either makes a mistake or deliberately starts a blaze; uncovering these stories was a very interesting part of the process.

ADA . . I have a few projects which I am working on at present, although until they are a bit more developed . . . . . . .

I’m keeping them under wraps for now! I very much enjoyed the process of writing Scotland’s Fires, so there will be something from me in the future. 

SCOTLAND’S FIRES-A MISCELLANY

Fire is a dangerous and destructive part of Scotland’s history. It has destroyed buildings of all types, ruined towns and cities, and taken countless lives. This short booklet contains a miscellany of stories from these fires and remembers some of what has been lost. It does not seek to record all the fires that have occurred in Scotland, or even the most destructive. Rather, it tries to show that fire has always been with us, and to demonstrate the heroism and sacrifice of those who have sought to tame this most destructive of forces.

My Reivew……

All right, so the author already had me at Scotland. Then there was the fact it was possible to download this book for free as part of a special newly released offer from the author. The fact there was a chapter recounting a fire in my home towm I knew nothing about, meant I delved in there and then. The fact the writing style was so quietly ‘chatty’ while offering so much history in such short chapters, meant I then read the rest in one sitting. This isn’t a book of facts dully presented, it is a vivid and historically detailed recounting of devastating fires that were either part of Scotland’s history–such as the deliberate destruction of Elgin Cathedral by the Wolf of Badenoch–or that importantly shaped change in building techniques in Scotland’s cities. This book is dedicated to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and in memory of firefighters who have lost their lives. Ada Jenkins does them proud. I highly recommend.

A LITTLE ABOUT ADA . . . I have always had a love of reading and books. Having studied English Literature at university, I have found that books and reading have been a constant part of my life ever since. I set up my website, The Introverted Bookworm, to review books which I have read. This has been a very interesting experience and has allowed me to connect with authors, readers, and other reviewers. I’m looking forward to continuing this and my writing journey going forward. 

Ghost Wolves, hamsters & Freya Pickard.

FREYA PICKARD. – The Kaerling isn’t actually a hamster, guys.

The Kaerling is a dark fantasy series set in the mysterious world of Nirunen. It tells the tale of 4 companions who are drawn together on a quest that none of them signed up for.

Volume 14 of The Kaerling is called Ghost Wolf

and concentrates on two of the companions, Erl and Tari, as well as including threads from some of the secondary characters

FREYA — While there aren’t any hamsters in Ghost Wolf. There is, however, a pale wolf that appears to be a ghost. It glows in the dark and when you attack it, it doesn’t bleed! It disappears into mist and reappears without warning. Sometimes it makes no sound, yet at other times, Tari feels its hot breath on her hand. It can also climb sheer slopes and appears intent on chasing Tari and Erl to their deaths.

FREYA –I suppose a hamster could be mistaken for a miniature Ghost Wolf, if a hamster had luminous fur and yellow, baleful eyes. But I think that any such hamster would likely be stepped on by accident, because the main characters wouldn’t be able to see it clearly.

And I’m not sure the fear thing would work either. The horses are terrified of the Ghost Wolf, screaming and rearing, foaming at the mouth,

bolting in a panic etc. I don’t really think that a hamster would have that kind of effect on the horses. And the horses have to be freaking out, because Tari’s mare bolts down the wrong path, leading them away from the place they’re trying to reach. What is a Ghost Wolf if not a hamsster I hear you say. Well, it is a wolf that is a ghost, or appears to be a ghost. Whether or not this is actually a ghost, remains to be seen. But even when Tari and Erl manage to escape from their supernatural pursuer, they are still haunted by the spectral beast, as is revealed at the end of the tale.

The Ghost Wolf also kills a horse at one point. Have you guys ever killed a horse? Or eaten one? I imagine your teeth are sharp enough to bite through the skin to get to the nice, juicy innards, but I think you may take a bit longer to get to the nice bits than a lupine predator.

FREYA PICKARD – This story tells of Erl and Tari’s flight through a thick, dense pine forest, with the Ghost Wolf on their trail. Quite why it is hunting them, they don’t know. They’re worried about being hunted by bandits. The spectral lupine pursues them through forest, plain and mountain, to the edges of the famous Chandarin desert. Meanwhile, Tari’s friend, the abducted acolyte Lally, experiences life as a slave in Orosturbe, the kaerling city. Ashlar, Stio and Rue find Tari’s trail and follow it, thinking they’re on the right road to finding the scrip the King’s Assassin insists on getting hold of. And, we’re also introduced to High Priest Kenril, a nasty chap who probably eats hamsters for breakfast, and who is set upon releasing the dark god currently bound in Shambana, a fire mountain. As you can see you should read it because Ghost Wolf will take you to places you never imagined existed and because Tari and Erl are two of the loveliest characters I’ve ever written about!

FREYA PICKARD – – Yes, some of my characters are able to communicate through mind-speak. Tari can’t, she has no magic ability, being a water diviner. Erl also has no ability or power, but, because his twin sister, Otta, is a power user, he can communicate with her mind to mind across the miles. But in this tale, he discovers that something like a dark, slippery wall of ice is preventing him from contacting his sister. So, for the first time in his life, he feels alone. Without Otta’s guidance, he feels a bit lost and finds the responsibility of looking after Tari and finding the right path for them to travel, a bit overwhelming.

 

FREYA PICKARD ––Yes, I write humorous fantasy (Dragon Slayer) as well as romantic fantasy (Isu Magan) but neither of these series contain hamsters

.

BUT This is something I will seriously consider when I get back to writing about the Dragon Slayer, as I think you guys would fit in very well with that kind of humour!

 

FREYA PICKARD— Finishing The Kaerling series! I’m currently working on volumes 16-18 which I hope to release in 2025. After that I’ve only got another 9 volumes to write! And then … Who knows? I’ve got a lot information about the First Age of Nirunen, particularly about the legendary Eran Silver Hand, that I’d love to shape into a novel, probably without hamsters, but there maybe a few hedgehogs in it as well as supernatural Stags and a plethora of eerie monsters!

Blurb for Ghost Wolf

They’re running from a ghost and have no idea where they’re running to …

“This is the type of work that should be taken seriously by fantasy fans.” Chris S

When Tari and Erl take refuge in a pine forest in order to escape from bandits, they hadn’t expected to be hunted by a pale wolf.

Trying to return to Port Haru no Hana, the two young companions are constantly chased in the opposite direction by the hungry-eyed lupine predator.

If they can’t find Lored and Otta again, how will they ever be able to find Orosturbe by themselves?

If you enjoy dark fantasy tales that keep you guessing and bring you genuine, changeable, real characters, you’ll love this! Readers of Robert Holdstock, Frank Herbert and Ursula Le Guin will enjoy this tale.

Biography

Pushcart Prize nominee (2022), Freya Pickard, is the author of both Vampirical Verse and The Kaerling series. Vampirical Verse is her expression of life after cancer and chemotherapy using vampires and other dark monsters to speak her dark thoughts. The Kaerling is an epic fantasy set in the strange, uncompromising world of Nirunen. Her aim in life is to enchant, entertain and engage with readers through her writing. She finds her inspiration in the ocean, the moors, beautifully written books and vinyl music (particularly heavy metal and rock). She enjoys Hatha Yoga, Bhangra and Yogalates, and in her spare time creates water colours and pastel drawings of the worlds in her head.

Social Media Links

Blog: https://dragonscaleclippings.wordpress.com

Twitter: @FreyaPickard

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreyaPickardAuthor/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@freyapickard1096

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/170054797-freya-pickard

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FreyaPickard

Purchase links for Ghost Wolf

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1518432

iBooks https://books.apple.com/gb/book/ghost-wolf/id6477492777

Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghost-wolf-freya-pickard/1144826279;jsessionid=A5F1125CDDB03BFB0D46967888C58203.prodny_store02-atgap15?ean=2940179841746

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/ghost-wolf-10

Videos for Ghost Wolf

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